All language subtitles for American Greed s12e18 Scams on Film and God and Gold

In this episode of American Greed, John
Rogers is amassing one of the biggest

and most impressive photo archive
collections in the world.

These archives are extremely rare.
They're extremely valuable. And we're

obtain priceless images.

And that's what we do.

But the business he claims is worth $32
million is rooted in fraud.

With John Rogers, you can't believe
anything he says.

And you can't believe what he shows you
either. Nothing.

Because most of it was...

Investors are duped into sending him
millions of dollars based on counterfeit

pieces of sports memorabilia. Could be
card collections, could be trophies,

could be signed baseball bats.

It could be anything.

But what it adds up to is stacks and
stacks of cash.

American Greed has an exclusive prison
interview with John Rogers.

I mean, I could have sold kilos of
cocaine, I would have made less money.

And later... We are living in perilous
times.

Dr. Larry Bates may sell books and DVDs
preaching the value of silver and gold.

The Bible is very clear. It says if you
don't work, you don't eat. But his

clients are the ones in peril.

Your money was gone. As soon as it made
it to him, it was gone.

As the walls close in, feds are left to
wonder, what are they hiding?

In March 2014, the FBI records a
conversation between Chicago sports

dealer Doug Allen and a Little Rock
entrepreneur, John Rogers.

As long as you don't say to me that you
were shipping me off, you never heard of

John. John?

Doug Allen is under indictment for
rigging memorabilia auctions. And he

he's giving up his friend and partner,
John Rogers, to the FBI.

But on this day, Rogers is the one
wearing the wire.

Doug did something unforgivable to me.
John Rogers speaks to American Greed

prison in Arkansas.

You don't want to rat. People like that,
they ought to be shot, I think.

But I took an exception for Doug Allen.
I said, you know what?

This scumbag.

John Rogers did not expect his career to
end up this way.

Chicago Daily News, Chicago Sun -Times.

We'd like to buy every newspaper in the
country is our goal.

Well, you know, John, for us, kind of
came out of nowhere.

George Walden reports for the magazine
Arkansas Business and covers the

improbable rise of John Rogers from a
kid collecting baseball cards to a titan

of business.

Like a lot of boys did growing up, you
know, you buy a pack of baseball cards

and you get a stick of gum.

and collect the cards. He just stayed
with it and started trading and wheeling

and dealing. And I think he started
eventually getting into memorabilia.

the years, Rogers brings in millions of
dollars trading collectibles as the

industry explodes.

But that's only the beginning.

Rogers is focused on creating the
largest photo archive in the world.

He was one of the first people to
realize the value.

in original photos.

These archives are extremely rare,
they're extremely valuable, and we're

obtain priceless images, and that's what
we do.

John Rogers goes across the country
pursuing old photo archives from some of

biggest newspapers in the world,
offering to turn celluloid collecting

digital images that can print cash.

His idea was, you know, these are
undervalued assets, and the newspapers

you know, looking, what do we do with
all these photos?

tons and tons of photos, but we're not
making any money with them.

And at some point it clicked with him
that, hey, why don't I work out a deal

where I'll take your collection on and
digitize it, put metadata on it, make a

searchable, digitized library for you.
And so he was going out and sort of

rescuing these historic treasures is how
he pitched it to a lot of people.

So his plan was to amass the largest
private photo collection and then use it

a revenue stream in the future by
licensing these photos, making them

to the different newspapers, sharing the
digital images with them. He would sell

the originals. He would maintain digital
images as well, and they would share in

the future revenue from the digital
rights on each one of those photos that

sold. Saving America's photographic
history, which we did.

Newspapers were hemorrhaging fashion in
08 and 09.

They were throwing their archives away.
They were throwing negatives away.

And we digitized some of the nation's
largest archives, and we did them

perfectly.

Rogers finds that there's money to be
made in some of the most famous and

private collections as well.

Yes. This is my grandfather with Jeff
Keith and Bob Feller, and this picture

one of my favorites of him.

He looks so handsome in his suit. In
1929, Debbie Miller's grandfather,

Brace, began taking photos at Chicago's
Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park.

And he would continue to do so for more
than 60 years.

He loved baseball. It was his whole
life. I mean, everything was baseball.

the years, Brace amasses one of the most
remarkable baseball photo collections

in the world.

It's Ernie Banks' first day as a
ballplayer.

They're really few.

It's just one of many incredible moments
in baseball history that Brace managed

to capture. As Brace enters his 80s, his
eyesight begins to fail, and he retires

in 1994 after producing approximately 1
.2 million images.

He hands over his collection to his
daughter Mary, and with her niece

they run the business of selling off
prints to interested parties.

One interested party is John Rogers.

Around 2005, he started ordering photos.

He would call up and say, well, I need
everything you have on Ernie Banks.

So he would call and he would talk to my
aunt. I can't believe this, you know, a

mass collection. And, you know, it's so
nice that you have this to preserve

baseball. And he had such a love of
baseball, he would say. But preserving

images is getting increasingly difficult
for Brace's family.

They start to disintegrate.

So that's kind of what was happening
near the end here. Some of them were 75,

100 years old.

In the digital age, Miller and her Aunt
Mary decide to try to preserve the

collection by digitizing the photos
themselves.

They quickly learn that it's a Herculean
task.

There were 57 file drawers, three feet
deep, and they had two rows to each file

cabinet. We went through four drawers
out of 57.

It took us three years, and we saw what
a big test this was going to end up to

be. John Rogers has a solution.

He offers $1 ,350 ,000 for the
collection.

He will digitize all the images and
provide digital copies to the family.

In return, Rogers will own the
copyrights of the photos.

Most important to the family, however,
is that George Brace's legacy is kept

intact.

Still, parting with the collection is an
agonizing decision.

It was sad to see them go, but we knew
what had to be done.

It costs millions of dollars to run the
size of operation Rodgers is trying to

create, but his reputation is on the
rise.

There are people out there willing to
invest, including fellow collectors.

The Home Run King himself, Hank Aaron,
and this is a very special bat to me

because it is from his rookie year.

Getting involved in collecting, it
started with my father. My father got my

brother, Steve, and myself involved.

And my dad wanted to teach us how to
respect money and bond together.

Over 20 years, George Dimo says his
family has collected more than 150 game

-used bats and scores of other
autographed photos and memorabilia by

most famous players in baseball history.

Oh, we loved it. It's not even liking.
We loved it. We got to go to baseball

games. We got to hang out with my
father. I mean, we got extremely lucky

life. The way the sports media world
went up in value, none of us were

it, could not afford to collect right
now with the stuff that we have.

But John Rogers can.

When Demos is first introduced to
Rogers, he doesn't even know Rogers is a

collector. But he does know that Rogers
is attempting to build a massive photo

archive business, and he's intrigued.

In 2013, he agrees to give the business
a loan and is paid back with interest

just as planned.

Rogers checks to see if he'd be
interested in going further.

He's like, hey, what do you think? Do
you think everything's going well? I

yeah, I said everything's going great.
He's like, well, since this is going so

well, would you like I'll pay someone
this off and we'll do another deal? The

deals are often fast and loose,
documented only by text messages and e

sent between the two parties.

But what the deals lack in
documentation, they make up for in

All of the loans are backed up by
Rogers' extensive memorabilia collection

photo archive as collateral.

I did eight deals with him, and he kept
rolling them and rolling them, and I

never had a check that didn't cash.

When American Greed returned, there's
just one little problem.

What John Rogers offers as collateral
isn't worth the cardboard it's printed

And the suspicion is he just grew more
bold and bold over time when he was

getting away with it.

By the end of 2013, George Demas hands
over nearly a million dollars in loans

and investments to John Rogers' photo
archive business.

But despite his seeming success, Demas
has his suspicions.

I was trying to get my head around how
this much income was coming in from

photographs. I couldn't get my head
around it, so I asked him if I could fly

and see his operation, and he said,
yeah, you know, open arms.

First stop, the Rogers Photo Archives.

where Demas sees dozens of employees
working away.

The next stop, Rogers' home, is even
more impressive.

And it was something on the order of,
you know, 12 ,000 plus square feet.

was a hidden vault, I'm told, in the
basement where he kept his personal

collection of valuable sports
memorabilia.

The backyard had a designer pool with
what people described as a mini version

the Playboy Grotto.

But Demas should trust his instincts.

Selling photos doesn't make this kind of
money, at least not the way Rogers does

it. As we sort of figured out later, he
was, you know, spinning straw into gold

because he really wasn't making any
money at all. He was losing money, and

only way he was keeping it afloat was
through investment and loans through

banks. I was, for one, a cocaine addict
at the time. Not an excuse. I met a lot

of addicts in rehab that didn't become
con artists, criminals.

Another painful part of the story,
but...

The entire company, in fact all of John
Rogers' wealth, is based in fraud.

They suspect he was probably doing
counterfeiting as far back as the 90s.

Could be card collections, could be
trophies, could be signed baseball bats

famous ballplayers. It could be any
number of things.

According to John Rogers, it goes back
further than that.

Probably around 13 is when I became a
forger. I started off as fun, and I

learned pretty quickly it was a natural
talent I had. Did Babe Ruth, he did Ty

Cobb. I believe probably one of his
favorites was Mickey Mantle. He did

presidents. We found some JFK stuff.

He did actors. He did actresses. Marilyn
Monroe we found.

He did the Beatles.

It was nothing for me. When Muhammad Ali
died, I sat down and took 10 ,000

Muhammad Ali photos and lithographs. I
had a talent.

Once by God, once by the devil, whoever
gave it to me, I was born with it. I

could create millions of dollars with my
hands and my brain.

And I started leaning on the forgeries
and the fake items even heavier to get

the deals done.

John Rogers trades in other people's
names over and over again with unwitting

investors.

There's an old saying.

Believe nothing what he tells you and
half of what he shows you.

With John Rogers in this case, you can't
believe anything he says.

And you can't believe what he shows you
either.

Nothing. Because most of it was bogus.

Investors were giving him millions of
dollars.

Banks were giving him loans.

All of it was based on, hey, I'm holding
all of these sports memorabilia pieces.

It's in my safe.

You can come check it out. They did come
check it out.

The problem was it was fake.

It was like printing money, basically. I
mean, I could have sold kilos of

cocaine, I would have made less money.

When American Greed returns, John
Rogers' fraud comes to light, and it's

investors who are overexposed.

His world started crumbling around him,
and people were starting to talk more

and more like, oh, it's going to get
worse before it gets better.

In late 2013, after George Demas has
loaned or invested hundreds of thousands

dollars with John Rogers' photo archive
business, Rogers reaches out for one

more deal. But this time, it's for
Demas' most prized possession.

This is the bat that Babe Ruth used to
hit the first home run out of Yankee

Stadium in 1924 off Hall of Fame pitcher
Walter Johnson.

He's like, you know, I really want to
get a nice piece of baseball mail to be

my collection.

Would you be willing to part with your
Babe Ruth bat?

I said, that's like the holy grail of my
collection. That was meant to help my

kids out throughout college and
throughout their life, not just mine.

sell that bat, he's like, well, if I
came to a deal with you for you and your

brother to be able to accomplish that,
would you part with that? I said, I

listen to anything.

Rogers offers a deal.

It was $3 million in addition.

Until we pass away, we would get
residual income off the newspaper for

archives.

Rogers is supposed to hold on to the
prized baseball bat until his loan to

is paid off.

But agreements don't mean much to John
Rogers.

He gives me a phone call and says, hey,
I got a really big offer on this bat and

I would like to sell it. Help me out.
It's like you can't sell it. I get my

money back. But Rogers needs the cash to
keep the business afloat. So he

arranges to sell the bat without Demas's
knowledge for much less than the

millions it's actually worth.

Not too many people can write a check
for $750 ,000.

And he needed the money like yesterday.
So obviously the heat was coming on and

he had to know about it. The heat is on.

The Department of Justice has had Rogers
under investigation for a few years

now. And in 2014, they have what they
need to move forward, including a

cooperating witness.

One of the turning points was an
individual named Doug Allen who came to

after being charged in his own fraud
case and said, John Rogers is committing

fraud. Doug Allen agreed to cooperate
with the government.

and the FBI in their investigation.

Doug Allen is under indictment for his
time at Mastro Auctions, Chicago -based

sports memorabilia auction house
previously featured on American Greed.

partner in the company, he is accused by
the government of artificially raising

prices of products placed in auction.

As a sports memorabilia enthusiast, he
knows John Rogers well.

Reluctantly, he agreed to cooperate.

And as he began...

doing this, I personally was having some
feelings like maybe he wasn't fully

on board with Team America.

While telling the FBI that he's doing
what he can to corral John Rogers, Allen

is actually alerting Rogers about the
FBI's investigation.

Doug Allen was the one who tipped John
off that the FBI was getting ready to

raid his office. Then John turned the
tables and told the FBI that, hey, by

way, Doug Allen told me you guys...

We're going to be right in my office.
And at that point, I guess it was every

criminal for themselves, and John turned
it on him. With no honor among thieves,

Rogers calls FBI agent Brian Busocas out
of the blue and rats out Doug Allen for

giving him the heads up.

I just remember the first words, Brian,
this is John Rogers here.

And then went on to tell me all about
Doug's being a double agent. He had done

some stuff, but he didn't want to be a
part of what Doug was doing.

Doug Allen.

He comes to me after he wears a wire in
front of me and my wife at the time.

And he does another unforgivable thing.
He tells me he wore a wire, which puts

me in a horrible position. Now I'm
definitely going to get charged with

obstruction of justice.

So we self -reported it. My attorney
said, you've got to do it. You don't

another choice.

And in the end, I was glad we did it.
Rogers admits to the government that he

forged an unknowable amount of
memorabilia items and used them to

from banks and investors.

One of the first things he wanted to do
is he said, I will wear a recording

device for you and I will record Doug
Allen telling me about how he tipped me

off. And he did that very thing. He met
with Doug Allen and they recorded the

conversation where Doug Allen told John
Rogers, don't tell anybody that I told

you that the feds were coming.

I know for me, OK, talking about
protecting myself under no circumstance.

After the recordings, John Rogers pleads
guilty to one count of wire fraud, but

hopes his cooperation will earn him some
points in sentencing.

But Rogers can't seem to help himself
from double -crossing people that give

their trust.

John Rogers and Doug Allen are similar
in this way.

They both agreed to cooperate with the
government at one point.

Doug Allen, rather than cooperating,
actually defrauded the FBI by becoming a

double agent.

John Rogers just kept defrauding new
victims.

So that was John. For every one step
forward, it was two steps back.

He went back to all the basics. He would
continue to forged items, bats, balls,

gloves, that sort of thing, because it
doesn't take much. You know, the skill

a Sharpie, that's all you need.

new fraudulent activity, all of his
cooperation went down the drain.

By the time Rogers faces a judge, his
guilty plea to one count of wire fraud

earns him 12 years in prison.

George Demas has a price to pay as well.
He tracks down his Babe Ruth bat, and

the buyer generously agrees to sell the
bat back to him for a price much less

than its believed market value.

Demas' other investments with Rodgers,
hundreds of thousands of dollars, are

lost. But according to Rodgers, not lost
forever.

George will be paid, every guy.

That's one thing I want viewers to know.
Let me tell you, John Rodgers can't be

defeated. That may sound arrogant and
dubious.

The old John Rodgers could, but me being
now clean and sober, having a clear

head, realizing right from wrong,
following God's will instead of my own

And when I come out... It was bigger and
better than we ever did. There's no

doubt about it. Some do have their
doubts.

The judge handed down a $23 .5 million
restitution on him of 26 known victims,

but the word is there were a lot more.

It's just a lot of these people didn't
want to go to the trouble because they

thought, I'm never getting this money
back.

I'm not even going to bother.

We did collect a few items that were
authentic or that they do have some

that we are able to obtain.

What we're going to do is attempt to
sell those items through legitimate

houses to try to lower down the loss
amount, the restitution amount.

Unfortunately, it's not going to make
these people all whole.

George Brace's legacy will also never be
whole again. The government arranges to

sell what's left of the collection to
various buyers, but the family is left

empty -handed.

Rogers never pays them the nearly
million dollars he still owes them for

photos. And to add insult to injury,
they never even receive a complete

collection of the digital copies he
promised.

Part of this whole tragedy, I believe,
is that a part of baseball, I believe,

history is missing.

It's devastating to the family because
it was part of my grandfather's legacy

and, in essence, our family's legacy as
well.

And this technically was...

It should have been my aunt's
retirement.

So it's just been very hard to feel so
taken advantage of.

I just don't know how someone could be
so selfish and cruel.

Next on American Greed, Dr. Larry Bates
sells books and DVDs claiming that the

Bible shines a light on how to prepare
for the coming financial apocalypse. The

Bible is very clear. It says if you
don't work, you don't eat.

But his investors are left in darkness.

It was tragic, just to be totally honest
with you. The stories that came out at

trial were heartbreaking.

Thank you for calling

FAMC -IRN. If you know the extension of
the...

Executive office, this is Kinsey. In May
2013, a woman in Texas records a

conversation between her and the
Memphis, Tennessee office of First

Monetary Consultants.

Is this a business?

I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone.

In 2010 and 2011, she sent the company
$400 ,000 to buy a stash of gold Swiss

francs, but hasn't received a single
coin.

I've been waiting for over three years
now.

Imagine yourself.

Having called the company in good faith
and sold all of the inheritance and

everything that you had saved for years,
and then all of a sudden they never

call you again, imagine if it was you.
What would you do?

She receives an unconvincing answer.

Okay, well, I would wait to speak with
Dr. Bates. He's the one who can do

something about that.

Mr. Bates was actually a very well
-respected individual in the community.

had been a banker. He had been with the
Tennessee legislature.

But he was best known for the selling of
precious metals.

He started that business in the early
80s.

and in fact had developed a good
reputation of performing in the

It's a reputation built by writing
books, appearing on television and

producing educational DVDs. And welcome
back to the special briefing on economic

and political crisis. The industry is
quite straightforward.

Larry Bates and his company, First
American Monetary Consultants, simply

the link between individuals who want to
buy gold and companies that want to

sell it.

You give him money, he would purchase
the gold, and he would get the gold, and

then he would ship it to you.

Actually, a very simple transaction that
goes on every day.

But this company isn't concerned with
the every day.

As he demonstrates in his promotional
materials, it's focused squarely on the

final days.

His target market was Christians.

And he talked about how it's predicted
that troubled times are coming. And he

would talk about how the Bible advocates
for the importance of gold.

Gold and silver is money. Anything else
is credit.

It's been that way for 5 ,000 years.

Bates puts his image and name on books,
gives seminars.

sends out newsletters, and appears on
Christian broadcasts nationwide.

He even starts his own radio syndicate,
the Information Radio Network.

What is the world coming to?

Well, a large part of the world is
coming to news and views on the

Radio Network every weekday afternoon
from 1 to 3 Eastern.

The end of the pitch, be it on TV,
through the radio, or in books, is

same. Buy precious metals and buy them
through...

F -A -M -C.

Those of you watching the video, you'll
see a number on your screen. You can

call and get a free economic package.

But Bates offers more than just economic
resources to investors.

He reveals the tools to protect their
assets, some of which can be found in

storage shed.

There's a little bit of a conspiracy
aspect of what he advocated. He talked

about, in some of the literature,
something called midnight gardening, for

example, as a way to hide your assets
from particularly the government.

And what he advocated was getting a
piece of PVC pipe and putting your

metals inside the pipe, sealing it up,
digging a hole someplace safe, maybe

backyard, several feet down, burying the
PVC pipe, then putting a piece of

metal, like a metal bar on top of that.
And so if somebody came looking for it

with a metal detector, for example,
they'd find the metal bar, but not the

pipe buried below.

Larry Bates was selling more than we're
just investor in precious metals.

He was selling really a way of life. And
there were a lot of people who bought

into that the country was heading in the
wrong direction, that it was facing

economic turmoil.

Many of these people were religious, and
they viewed Larry Bates as a religious

person who would not steal their money.
He doesn't just seem like he won't

steal. As seminar footage proves, he'll
stand on stage and actually pray for his

investors. I'm going to be obedient
right now because I feel the Lord

to pray over every one of you for a
spirit of boldness.

Let's bow your heads while we pray.
Father, in the name of Jesus.

She and I went to Israel, which was a
dream for her. She always dreamed of

going back to, you know, tour the Holy
Land.

Joshua Benson's mother, Lynn, is a
devout Christian.

And like many Christians across the
country, she hears a voice crying out in

wilderness. Barry Bates on the
Information Radio Network.

We would listen to the radio show. It
was called Unraveling the New World

Across the nation and around the world,
welcome to Unraveling the New World

Order. It's live talk at its best.

It seemed very sound. It was, okay,
here's how the system works.

Here's... how you can be wise about it,
and it was very biblically based, so it

sounded trustworthy.

From her home in Denver, Len Benson
sends FAMC $50 ,000, essentially her

life savings.

Joshua says she expects her gold to
arrive in a matter of weeks.

It doesn't. Less than half is delivered.

But the delivery method is worth its own
weight in gold, a visit from Dr.

Bates himself.

I remember him coming to the house.

opening the package, delivering it, and,
you know, I was kind of honored. Wow,

he's in our house. He's here.

The personal touch only affirms their
belief in their Christian neighbor.

It definitely came off as honorable and
trustworthy, and we

found out otherwise.

When American Greed returns, more than
300 investors follow the light and end

in the wilderness.

In order to make an order with FAMC, you
had to provide full payment up front

for your entire order.

So your money was gone. As soon as it
made it to them, it was gone.

Larry Bage may believe in more than just
an economic apocalypse on the horizon.

Hear about it at AmericanGreed .CNBC
.com.

Want inside information from the show?

Join the Greed social network.

Like us on American Greed's Facebook
page.

We'll be right back.

More and more clients of FAMC are
beginning to discover Larry Bates may

their best interest at heart.

But his biggest lie is that he's using
their money to buy gold.

The customers are paying their money in
advance of getting the coins.

And so the money was coming in, but it
was being spent on other things.

By 2008, for example, there was below
$15 million in unfulfilled orders.

And by the next year, it was like $23
million.

The people that we were dealing with,
obviously, were folks who waited the 30

60 business days, didn't get their
coins, and instead started getting a

series of excuses for why. their coins
weren't being delivered. And that ranged

from problems with the U .S. Mint to
problems finding the quality of coins

Dr. Bates wanted them to have, problems
with the coins being held up in customs.

There were European coins coming from
overseas.

None of that was true.

These people were not looking to get
rich fast, weren't looking to have their

investment doubled. These people were
looking to have a safe spot to park

money. But despite the outpouring of
faith, Larry Bates doesn't count his

blessings. He spends them. Because of
the collapse in 2007 and with gold and

silver prices rising.

More and more customers started
investing with FAMC, and there was a

of money that came in. And then starting
in 2008, Larry Bates started peeling

out thousands and thousands of dollars
and pushing it to his own personal

investment account.

Larry Bates took about $2 .5 million in
customer money out of FAMC's primary

bank account. And over a period of time,
he took that $2 .5 million and made

about $5 million off of it in his
trading.

But instead of putting that money back
into FAMC to buy precious metals for his

customers, he took it out and put it in
his own personal account and used that

to build the 11 ,000 -square -foot
mansion that's about an hour and a half

outside of Memphis where he and his wife
lived.

And the fruits of his labor don't only
go to Larry Bates. He provides shelter

for his children as well.

Their son Chuck and his family was
virtually right next door.

This was on a 300 -acre piece of
property that was located in a very

of West Tennessee.

A perfect place for midnight gardening
to flourish.

Bates' younger son, Robert, also uses
the proceeds to buy a house of his own

share with his new bride and Larry
Bates' secretary, Kinsey Brown Bates.

while waiting for society to collapse,
the Bates family uses their client's

money for earthly pleasures.

Generally, it was just sort of a
luxurious lifestyle for Larry Bates and

family. They were spending well more
than they were taking in as a profit

margin. Over the course of the 10 years
approximately that we focused on, there

were over $2 million in credit card
charges for various things.

And members of the family played their
role in the family fraud.

Chuck and Robert had been with the FAMC
since the early 2000s. Kinsey Bates

answered the phone.

She... would talk to a lot of the
customers.

She took many of the calls of customers
crying and pleading for their money.

And many times she would just give an
excuse.

These phone messages are from 2009.

You have seven calendar days to get gold
or refund to him. He's a police officer

and will issue a fraud complaint and you
will get a personal visit.

This one talked about a $50 ,000 check
that had been sent in four months ago,

and the next step was to get an
attorney.

This individual, again, for 5 -8 in
February 2010, is saying he's going to

the attorney general.

You know, something else that they would
do that allowed this to continue for so

long is that people would be complaining
about, give me my coins, I want them.

And they would say, well, look, this is
a perfect time.

for you to sell your gold coins and get
into silver.

We see that silver is getting ready to
skyrocket.

It's the exact pitch Lynn Benson hears,
much to her dismay.

They called her to say, hey, we kind of
forecast that the price of silver

is going to really go up. So if you
exchange your gold for silver.

When the price goes up, you can sell it
back to us and make a profit.

Benson drives from Denver to an FAMC
satellite office in Fort Collins,

with the $15 ,000 of gold she had
received, and gives it back to FAMC,

exchange it for silver.

At this point in her life, with her
health deteriorating and her prospects

fading, she needs the money.

The 2008 crash, she got laid off and
started doing freelancing, graphic

that she studied, and in copywriting,
just looking for freelance work.

But she didn't find much of it, and this
was basically what she had to live off

of, but she didn't have access to it.

As the months go by, she sees no coins
and no silver lining.

She got to a point saying, I don't care
if it's silver or gold. I just need my

money. You know, I'm losing my house. I
need it fast.

Her house falls into foreclosure. And
without access to her money, she can't

afford to pay the premiums on her $100
,000 life insurance policy created for

her three children and loses it.

Had to file bankruptcy.

Had to downscale twice after losing the
house.

She moved into a one -bedroom apartment
and then even couldn't keep that up.

I had to move from the one -bedroom
apartment into just a room in somebody's

house that was renting a room. The
stress of all that, plus filing

plus losing her life insurance, you
could visibly see it taking a toll on

her body and her health.

Suffering from multiple debilitating
illnesses that only multiply under the

stress, she is desperate, and she lets
the Bates family know about it.

That is cold, rude, and uncaring.

Try moving out of your home when you're
so weak you can hardly open a jar.

I guess that's no big deal to you.

All of you have ignored my situation,
which shows you don't give a rip.

And that's what surprises me the most,
is that there was no sympathy, no

apology, just very... Almost everyone
that we

encountered as a victim in the case,

heard about FAMC through some sort of
religious programming.

They prayed on people that were truly
good Christian people and have

faith that the Bates were trying to do
the best for them. The stories of how

loss of this money impacted folks were
just heartbreaking.

I mean, it was everything from inability
to pay for medical care for themselves

or loved ones.

One story came from a woman whose
stepdaughter came down with cancer and

have the insurance to pay for the
chemotherapy.

Larry Bates was well aware of the harm
that he was inflicting. He was well

of the need that many people had for
this money.

They're telling them, they're emailing
them, yeah, they know.

These just make me shake.

And this was when we took her off of
life support.

Len Benson passes just weeks before
Joshua's wedding in May 2015.

Yeah, she suffered.

The stress of all that, plus filing
bankruptcy, plus losing her life

all took a toll on her body at once.

She wanted, you know, to take care of
us.

you know, pass on an inheritance to her
kids and grandkids.

She looked forward so much to having
grandkids, and unfortunately was not

to meet them.

All Joshua can do is wonder why it had
to be this way.

Just the cold, you know, writing off is
what really,

you know, is disturbing.

And I would just like to know why.

A lot of investors want to know why, and
their number is increasing.

When American Greed returns, a locked
storage unit, a pair of bolt cutters

through a gate.

What is the Bates family hiding?

Obviously, it was very important to them
to cut the lock off the storage unit to

get in to get their stuff.

Our investigation actually was initiated
because there was a Shelby County

Sheriff's deputy that was contacted by a
victim that reported that they had been

victimized by the Bates family. And they
contacted us to let us know about the

fraud. The U .S. Postal Inspection
Service and the FBI combined to identify

victims across the country for a total
loss of more than $21 million.

It's enough to put Larry Bates in front
of a jury to face 46 charges, including

wire fraud and conspiracy.

Chuck, Bob, and Kinsey faced multiple of
the same charges as well.

He pled not guilty, so did everyone
else, and we proceeded to trial. It was

about a five -week trial.

We put on probably 40 to 50 victims from
around the country.

But not one of the victims seems to
elicit an ounce of remorse from the

family. There was absolutely no emotion
whatsoever.

They could tell the most horrific and
heartfelt story, and there was no

expression on any of the defendants'
faces.

Of course, according to the Bates
family, none of this is their fault to

with. Larry Bates, his defense was that
it was just a bad business. The business

just went bad, and it didn't work out.

What the entire family expected or was
hoping for was some type of divine

intervention.

To the end, they felt that somehow that
they were going to be delivered and that

a not guilty verdict was going to come
back.

We're the victims of a John conspiracy.
These are totally bogus allegations.

They just need to come and confess their
sins because let me just tell you,

God's going to deal with them.

If the Divine does intervene with the
jury, it's not on behalf of the Bates

family. They came back in less than a
day, and so it was gratifying to us that

they heard the proof and were able to
process it and come to a fairly quick

conclusion of guilty on all counts as to
all of the defendants in the case.

Despite a clean sweep of guilty
verdicts, all four defendants are

bond before sentencing. But they don't
bide their time while awaiting judgment.

The Bates family always professed the
government would be coming after their

money. And this time, they're actually
right, when authorities make an

interesting discovery during a search.

They came across a lease to a storage
bin here in Memphis, Tennessee.

This was very late in the day, and they
actually placed a lock on the storage

facility. It's obviously gated, so you
hear in a second that there's Bob and

Kenzie pulling up.

Once they get in, we think that they
realize that there have been locks

on at least one of the units at that
point. And so Bob makes a phone call and

subsequently walks up to the front
entrance. He had called a friend of his

asked that friend to bring a pair of
bolt cutters up to the storage unit. And

here you see in the clip that he's
starting to bring out bags and what look

be suitcases.

from that storage unit and putting them
inside of the SUV.

We don't know what was in the bag, but
obviously it was very important to them

to get to the bags and cut the lock off
the storage unit to get in to get their

stuff. And so our position to the court
was that there was something they

wanted, like the coins or potentially
bulk currency, that they wanted for

themselves.

Although the government believes the
Bates family may have stashed some money

away, there is still a reckoning to
face. On September 5th, 2017, Larry

sentenced to 262 months, almost 22 years
in prison.

Chuck and Robert Bates each receive more
than 12 years, and Kinsey Bates is hit

with more than five.

Appeals from the four defendants are
pending, and they all neglect to respond

requests to speak to American Reed.

But in poor health, Larry Bates may
never breathe free air again.

However, the others probably will. And
the U .S. Attorney's Office is

that if there is hidden money out there,
it will see the light of day. We did

determine that, at least in what we
could find through the paperwork, that

coins were purchased than what was
delivered.

I think when you look at the big
picture, There are precious metals out

and I'm convinced that we will find
them.