All language subtitles for American Greed s13e11 Starstruck Studio Swindle.eng

In this episode of American Greed.

Carissa Carpenter is a budding movie
mogul who wants to build the next

Hollywood. She had this unbelievable
ability to tap into people's dreams. But

Carpenter needs the perfect spot for her
billion -dollar project.

And several small towns want a starring
role.

They thought it was real, and they
thought it was going to provide 2 ,000

And I'm honest and honorable, and I'm a
good woman. Her one -woman show runs for

nearly 20 years.

She found an unlimited number of willing
people with lots of money to say, yeah,

I want to be part of that. But there's
no Hollywood happy ending for Carpenters

Investors. She told people that she put
hundreds of millions of dollars of her

own money into the project, and that was
not the case.

I didn't steal their money.

They made an investment.

What can you say? You know, some days
you just got to go tip your hat to her

ability to swindle.

Abundant fields of sunflowers and tomato
crops surround the sleepy town of

Dixon, California.

But in 2013, the small community 20
miles west of Sacramento is in the white

-hot spotlight.

The biggest movie studio in the world is
going to be built in the middle of its

fertile farmland.

This was cast as a $2 .8 billion movie
studio project. There was nothing small

about it.

According to the project supervisor,
Carissa Carpenter, the movie studio will

the envy of the film industry.

She was going to build it bigger and
better than anybody else in California.

She had this team of investors who were
all these Hollywood moguls who were

going to come in and build this thing in
Dixon.

Carpenter says the new studio will
provide thousands of high -paying jobs

this community of just under 20 ,000
residents.

The city manager and the mayor at the
time were all in. They thought this was

the greatest thing that was ever going
to happen to Dixon and they were going

be the ones who brought it home.

There were opportunities for small
businesses in town to ramp up their

due to filmmakers being in town.

visiting restaurants or, you know, other
stores.

They talked about how great it was going
to be to have movie stars in town, Tom

Cruise coming through, Robert De Niro.

At a Dixon City Council meeting in March
2013, Carpenter triumphantly announces

that her company, Morning View LLC, has
successfully secured the land necessary

to officially begin the project.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

We did it. We got 300 acres.

It is time for Morning View to move
forward.

Please, it's taken us 14 years and
technically 16 and a half to get here.

individuals and everybody's put every
ounce of blood, sweat and tears into

company. But Carissa Carpenter's grand
statement isn't exactly the triumph it

appears to be.

According to federal authorities.

Her presentation is just the latest
chapter in a decades -long con.

Ms. Carpenter's penchant for theatrics
made her an almost one -of -a -kind

fraudster, at least during my career as
a prosecutor.

I don't think there's any question she
was a con artist.

Dixon is just the most recent target of
her scam.

Since the late 1990s... Carpenter has
seduced residents in more than half a

dozen communities with the lure of
Hollywood and making herself rich in the

process.

She had this unbelievable ability to tap
into people's dreams. She would offer

all kinds of stories about potential
financiers. One of them was supposed to

someone that was related to the Hapsburg
family.

You know, she had told us, I think on
several occasions, that she was a child

star. of some kind.

It's true that Carpenter has some kind
of ties to Hollywood, but separating

from fiction is a tricky proposition.

Carissa Carpenter is a very complicated
woman.

We trailed her for years, and I still
don't think I have her figured out.

In the mid -1990s, Michael Raniero is a
Northern California entrepreneur and

aspiring actor.

By chance, he meets Caritha Carpenter on
a casting call.

I first met Caritha sort of on a dare
from my wife to go out and be an actor.

There was a casting call that she saw in
the paper, seeking actors for upcoming

film projects.

So I went, and that's when I met
Caritha.

At the time, Carissa Carpenter runs a
casting agency.

He says she helps him land some bit
parts in films and television series.

She got me in a TV movie with Cheryl
Ladd called Tangled Web. She got me in

Cameron Coe film Almost Famous.

She put me in a movie with John Travolta
and Edward O 'Neill called Lucky

Numbers.

Carpenter tells clients she has an
extensive Hollywood background.

She claimed that she was the youngest
child actress for the William Morris

agency and that at some point she'd had
an accident and so she had to switch

from acting to being an agent.

In the 1990s, Raniero says Carpenter's
agency is well known in Northern

California and works with a number of
respectable Hollywood studios.

Carissa Carpenter lives in an exclusive
gated community in the Sacramento suburb

of Granite Bay.

Raniero says he's blown away when he
visits the home.

The home that she bought here in Los
Lagos was probably a $4 million home.

She had some cred.

Kimberly West is a neighbor of Carissa's
in Granite Bay.

They strike up a friendship.

Initially built on their husband's
uncommon first name.

When I heard her husband's name Everett,
which is unusual, I was like, Everett?

My husband's name's Everett. And so
that's how we met.

Carissa Carpenter lands her neighbor's
walk -on roles in a few movies and TV

shows.

Dr. Quinn, medicine woman.

In fact, someone came up one time and
said,

Are you James Seymour?

I'm like, no.

She's in that tent over there.

Around this time, Carpenter tells her
friends that she wants to take her

to the next level.

She has a dream of building her own
movie studio in Northern California.

She's pretty dynamic. She's come across
like, you know, we're going to have the

sound stages and we're going to have,
it's going to be, you know, like a

universal studio along with the sound
stages.

Kimberly says her husband, Everett
Parsons, is especially intrigued by the

proposal. He came from Texas, so he
really loved cowboy movies.

He just got really excited about the
whole thing, more than I did.

Everett Parsons is newly retired.

After a career working for the
department store Montgomery Ward, he

took a buyout from the company.

Kimberly says Carissa Carpenter takes a
special interest in her husband when she

learns of his financial situation.

I know she was really pushing it
whenever it got a buyout, and she

enticing him to get more involved.

Michael Raniero says Carissa Carpenter
also pitches him on the movie studio.

So her pitch to me was, well, first it
was very secret.

You know, can't let this out. We have
the opportunity here to bring Hollywood

Northern California and do so on a grand
scale.

The dream isn't that far -fetched. Los
Angeles may be the center of the world's

film industry, but in the 1990s,
Hollywood begins to make inroads north

border.

Vancouver, obviously, was a location
that was highly desired.

actually a relatively short plane
flight, you could tell that there was a

tipping point happening.

Carissa Carpenter has a grand plan to
keep the movie business in the golden

state. And she said she had done a study
in 1994 where they showed the lack of

space in Hollywood, in Los Angeles, and
the weightless of people. Sometimes

productions were waiting, you know, two,
three, four years to have a soundstage

to create their film.

Carpenter says...

With the right plan, they could make
millions.

So she made a pitch to me, and that's
when I wrote my first check for $50

I said I wanted in, and so I got in. She
gave me my stock, and that was that.

Michael Raniero and Everett Parsons held
form a board of directors for Carissa's

new project, Declaration Studios.

Raniero says the project has
approximately 20 initial investors.

Carpenter claims many are big -name
Hollywood players who prefer to remain

anonymous.

She had said that George Lucas was
involved in some way. He was going to

his clout into the project.

She was very, very vague about all of
that. He says Carissa Carpenter is also

willing to put her money where her mouth
is.

She said she had put in close to $4
million at that point in time.

Next on American Greed, the Declaration
Studios group is ready to put their

plans into action.

But unforeseen circumstances derailed
the project.

Anytime she was backed into a corner,
she would say that she was having open

heart surgery. It was hard to keep track
of what all the health problems were.

Carissa Carpenter has her executive team
in place and by 1999 is in search of

the perfect location for her dream movie
project, Declaration Studios.

She, I think, really believed that she
was going to do something amazing.

Carpenter is the project's chief
executive officer.

Carissa in stature, she only stands
maybe slightly north of five feet tall.

she's not super tall.

She's a bundle of energy.

She comes off very intelligent, very
dynamic.

She liked being in the limelight.

The group sets its sights on vacant land
just east of Sacramento.

There was a property in El Dorado Hills
that was exactly what she wanted.

Huge tract of land out there, and she
was very, very excited about it.

The land is hilly and rugged.

but is wide open and could provide the
perfect spot for the studio.

And she had one of the biggest
developers in town helping her to look

land. He told me that he had heard
George Lucas had flown in twice on his

helicopter to look the property over.
Over the next year, the group takes

to secure the land rights.

Michael Raniero says he puts in another
$50 ,000 to help the venture move

forward.

So when the additional 50 came in and I
had the chance to get more shares and

increase my ownership,

of course, I'm in. I see everything
that's happening. This is going to close

quickly. I can feel it.

Everett Parsons puts in a couple hundred
thousand dollars of his own.

You know, I knew money was really tight
because he'd given most of it to her, as

he called it, you know, investing in
that project.

But the project is spending a lot of
money.

She had attorneys involved.

She had accountants involved.

She had architects involved.

She always paid top dollar for the
advice that she was getting.

Carissa Carpenter's personal expenses
are also extensive.

Expenses such as stays at the finest
hotel, designer clothing, even horses.

If you are giving an investment, that's
for capital to use in the business,

right? Not for the owner of that
business to, you know, live in luxury

We had advised her, look, take a salary,
spend it however you like.

But when you ask for reimbursement for
the company for something that might not

quite be a business expense, that's not
quite how you do it because that can be

questioned.

She also likes to travel.

She traveled a lot to Europe. She would
often use that as an excuse or a lure

for investors, telling them that she had
financiers in Europe who were going to

fund the project. But really, she was
just using investor money to fund her

lifestyle.

Kimberly West says that she and her
husband, Everett Parsons, accompanied

Carissa on one trip to London.

We had a beautiful dinner with the
Lloyds in London. They brought out some

-end $400 bottles. Well, we paid for
that anyway.

But we had this lovely dinner by the
London Bridge.

Carissa Carpenter eventually divorces
her husband, ditches Granite Bay, and

her sights on Southern California. When
she was negotiating one of the deals,

she was staying at the Beverly Hilton at
that time.

She would be taking meetings and meeting
with investors and people.

So she said she had to be down there.

Everett Parsons declines an on -camera
interview with American Greed, but tells

us on the phone that he personally pays
for her weeks -long stay at the Beverly

Hilton. He even gives Carissa his wife's
car.

I mean, he even gave her my Mercedes.

I mean, he'd be paying next thing I
know. He's paying her.

phone bills and their rent and all kinds
of crazy things.

Carpenter also claims to have extensive
medical bills.

She had every ailment imaginable from
heart to cancer, things I've never heard

of. She told us on several occasions
she'd had a hysterectomy, and I think

only get to have one of those.

In an exclusive interview with American
Greed, Carpenter insists her medical

issues are legitimate.

My medical issues are consistent and
have been since 1991.

I've had 51 major events since 1991.

So I have worked through and continue to
work regardless even if I was in the

hospital. She also disputes the
accusation that she misused investor

No, that's not true.

Let me explain. I sold and loaned.

On a portion of my percentage of stock.

Now, when you're doing a private
placement memorandum, you can borrow

loan on money on your personal stock.

In late 2000, the Declaration Studios
Group receives unexpected bad news.

The El Dorado Hills site allegedly has
environmental problems.

El Dorado Hills, we hit asbestos.

It was at that point where costs

started rising. So to get that abated,
you know, the cost of the project was

starting to increase.

But the group is in luck.

Next on American Read, Carissa Carpenter
quickly lines up a new location.

She had the land together. She had the
people together. She thought that.

The financiers would come in, say this
is perfect, and we'd be off to the

After an initial setback, Carissa
Carpenter has a new location for her

studio.

just north of Sacramento in Sutter
County.

She even gets a full -page spread in the
local newspaper.

And I'll never forget the picture. It
was on the front page of the Sacramento

Bee. And it showed her in the middle of
the Sutter property with an umbrella,

and it said Dreamer on it. She was so
happy with that article.

She described this Disneyland -like...

village she was going to build with a
studio on this farmland.

Carpenter tells the paper that the
project has major backers.

She said that she could get the White
House on the phone to clear any hurdles.

She could get George Bush on the phone.

But the excitement is short -lived.

Just like the El Dorado Hills project,
there seems to be a problem.

Carissa tells her board she needs more
money.

to see the project through.

We were in contract to buy the property,
and she put an amount down when she

signed the contract, and then six months
later, $150 ,000 was due as good faith

to continue the transaction.

Michael Raniero contributes another $50
,000 to keep the dream alive.

Other board members put up the remaining
money.

If we hadn't have done that, we would
have lost this property.

So we were kind of, we were forced into
it, in my perspective.

Raniero says he drops a total of $150
,000 into Declaration Studios.

Everett Parsons tells American Greed he
invests over $400 ,000.

He just ran out of money.

We had no more money to give her.

He ran out of money. He kept going until
it was gone.

Despite their investments, the
Declaration Studios project in Sutter

falls apart when the board says Carissa
Carpenter failed to close the deal.

When we lost that last deal, then things
got really weird. Things got real.

Her board of directors got wind of the
fact that she was spending money

extravagantly, and they confronted her
on it. And we all resigned on the same

day.

The whole board left on the same day.
And then she disappeared. The planning

people in Sutter County said, yeah, she
was going through the permit process and

then vanished.

Late in 2001, Carissa surprisingly
resurfaces almost 3 ,000 miles away

in South Carolina.

But her dream has changed slightly.

She tells a new group of potential
investors that she wants to build an

animation studio that will rival the
Walt Disney Corporation.

She went to South Carolina. She managed
to meet with the governor of South

Carolina to discuss building a movie
studio there. She met with all the

and shakers there.

Carpenter is a special guest at dinner
parties and is given a helicopter tour

across the state to scout locations for
her studio.

And they wined and dined her there
because there was a California woman who

going to build a movie studio in South
Carolina. It was going to be great.

But the South Carolina project falls
apart when local officials say Carissa

Carpenter fails to make down payments
and misses deadlines.

The heat was really turned up on her
because the people that she was dealing

with in South Carolina were not like me
where...

I made a bad decision.

Time to move on. They felt that they
were wrong. They felt that they were

misled. And then that project fizzled.

She just disappeared.

Next on American Greed, Carissa
Carpenter's scheme has unexpected

Anyway, I just can't take it anymore.

I was shocked. I was devastated.

After the failures of the El Dorado and
Sutter County projects, the financial

situation in the Parsons' home is tense.

I was getting pretty upset financially
trying to hold the fort myself. So I was

getting pretty upset with him. Like,
what a waste.

You know, he worked so hard his whole
life.

But what happens next is even more
unexpected.

One afternoon in 2002,

Kimberly West is stunned when her
husband fails to pick her up from work.

I didn't know where he was. My daughter
came and got me. She took me home, and

we just chatted for a long time, and I'm
like, where is he?

She eventually sees there's a message on
her answering machine.

I was so... I couldn't believe it. I

was, like, in shock.

Kimberly says her husband leaves due to
his financial setbacks.

Everett Parsons tells FBI investigators
that his investments with Carpenter cost

him his marriage.

I was devastated.

First thing that went through my mind, I
said, uh...

Besides him being my husband, I thought,
I just lost my best friend.

The couple eventually divorced.

As for Carissa Carpenter, by 2004, she
set her sights on a new location south

of Sacramento.

She was purporting to build a $3 .49
billion city,

essentially. It was going to have a
movie studio. It was going to have golf

courses. It was going to have hotels.

The River Islands development is an
actual massive planned community just

outside of Stockton.

There was only one problem with that
deal, is that she had no connection to

River Islands project whatsoever.

Susan Deloso is the president of the
River Islands development.

She says the executive team does
initially take meetings with Carissa

in 2004.

And that's when she approached us about
putting a movie studio in the business

park, which would have brought lots of
jobs and lots of fame. And so we were

definitely eager to talk to her.

Well, everyone in my team, including my
lawyers, had tons of meetings with these

people. But the proposed deal falls
through when Carpenter's actions once

fail to match her rhetoric.

She would always miss dates by being in
the hospital or she had a strange

disease that was rare. And when things
would come up that she would have to

provide some financing or come up with
some of the cash that we had agreed to,

it just never happened.

However, Carissa Carpenter is determined
to see her dream through.

Over the next few years, federal
authorities say she hijacks the

business plan.

real work that was being done by real
companies and purloining it and making

part of her scheme.

Well, this is really interesting.

So over the years, Carissa apparently
put together two marketing brochures.

There are definitely maps and pictures
from the project that she took off our

website.

Carpenter's brochures make it seem like
the River Islands project is her vision.

She tells people that she drops $123
million of her own money into the

development.

She's absolutely making false statements
about how much money she's obtained and

what's included in these documents is
completely fraudulent about any

To fund her latest project, federal
authorities say she looks outside of

California. Over the next six years, she
finds a trove of willing investors in

Utah. It's my understanding that she had
a connection with Utah brokers, and

they were looking for an investment for
their clients. And Ms. Carpenter happily

supplied them with tales of this
development and even offered stock in

-believe company.

Eric Fry is one of the Utah investors.

He says he first encounters Carpenter
during a pitch meeting in a hotel around

2006.

So we go down there, and she's there, of
course, and, you know, it's all about

her and her childhood and how she was
the only blue -eyed blonde in all of

Japan, so they just ate her up.

Fry says she's persuasive. She claimed
she was going to own the utility

districts and get us, you know, every
time a toilet flush, we'd get paid.

time a light turned on, you know, we
were going to make money off of that.

Fry says he takes out a home equity loan
and invests $125 ,000.

Authorities say Carpenter raises over $1
million from the Utah Investment Group.

One of the big spending sprees was right
after she collected the money out of

Salt Lake. You know, there were
diamonds, there were fancy dogs.

There was one boyfriend she had, and she
promised him...

that once the company got going, he was
going to get a Maserati.

A few investors actually make the trip
to California to see their investment in

person. I had a gentleman from Utah who
showed up at our front door, and he

basically walked in and said, Hey, I'm
an owner. I'm an owner. Show me the

And so I chatted with him and said, What
do you mean you're an owner? We don't

have any outside investors in our
project. But he was a little dismayed

left my office.

The Utah Investment Group says they
tried to confront Carpenter, but she

numerous excuses and eventually
vanishes.

The River Islands executives say they
sent Carpenter numerous cease and desist

letters and even contact the FBI.

Unfortunately, it didn't lead anywhere.
They may have opened a case, but we

never really heard back from the FBI of
any follow through.

Next on American Greed, a little digging
into Carissa's past.

uncovers a lot of dirt.

We found a series of liens of that bill
that hadn't been paid. She just didn't

pay her bills.

After the River Island debacle,
Carpenter resurfaces in the East Bay.

Vallejo, California, in 2010.

She pitches her movie studio for Mare
Island, a former naval base that's been

vacant for over a decade.

Vallejo was a town with severe financial
problems. They'd been in bankruptcy.

And so she came to town and said, I'm
going to build this project.

Once again, Carpenter lines up
legitimate development teams and

her dream project.

So a lot of times what would happen with
these companies is they would do some

preliminary work with the hope that
someday if the project actually came to

fruition, they would get a large payout
at the end. What Ms. Carpenter would do

was make it appear that they were
substantially involved.

The feds say Carpenter once again misses
crucial deadlines.

No one would be willing to move forward
because they had reached a point where

simply they needed to see the money. It
was time to put up or shut up. And so

Ms. Carpenter would then move off to
another location.

telling her investors that something had
happened, but she'd found the next

golden location.

In 2013, that golden location is Dixon,
the farming community just west of

Sacramento.

And it's really hit with a bang because
people always, I think a lot of

Dixonites have big hopes of development
coming to Dixon, like a major industry

or something like that.

Bill Paul is a local author who has
written a book about Carissa Carpenter's

grand plans for Dixon.

Carissa Carpenter knew how to put
buttons to get people to react here in

city. There were promises of jobs for a
lot of local people.

She had real solid members of her team.
Her lawyer was a former legislator

here, the head of the state Republican
Party. These were real players.

Carissa tells officials that she needs
300 acres in Dixon before her plans can

move forward.

They spent a lot of time trying to
convince landowners to sell or initially

sign letters of intent.

American Greed reaches out to several
Dixon City officials about their

interactions with Carpenter, but they
decline comment.

We uncovered no evidence that Ms.
Carpenter ever took any real steps to

the property. In fact, those involved
said it became really obvious that this

was not a legitimate or serious effort
to buy land, despite what she was

the city council and others.

During this time, Sacramento Bee
journalist Margie Lundstrom says she

an anonymous tip from a Dixon City
official.

I remember when I got the original tip
saying,

Something isn't right here.

$2 .8 billion studio in a small town
down the road. At the time, that was

six times the price of the new arena
that was going in in Sacramento for the

Sacramento Kings.

I mean, it just on its face didn't make
sense.

Over the next several months, Margie
Lundstrom and Sam Stanton, a husband and

wife reporting team, dig into Carissa
Carpenter's background.

The more we looked, the more...

Odd, it seemed, and I found a court file
in Los Angeles involving the sale of an

$18 .5 million Beverly Hills mansion to
her, in which, you know, she never

paid for the mansion. And so once I read
those documents, I thought, okay,

there's something here.

According to their investigation,
Carpenter is a serial grifter.

A default car loan, an eviction notice.

file after file after file with her not
paying her bills. A picture was starting

to develop.

The reporters identify at least 19 tax
liens and dozens of civil actions

Carpenter over the past 20 years.

She owes over $50 ,000 to a dentist in
Beverly Hills.

And everywhere I looked, there was
another case against her involving

furniture she hadn't paid for or
cosmetic surgeries she hadn't paid for

bounced checks.

And at some point we thought, well, we
need to get to her and ask her about

because at the time she was telling
Dixon that she was going to build this

massive multi -billion dollar studio.

In the spring of 2013, Sam Stanton lands
an interview with Carissa Carpenter.

So I drove to Los Angeles to interview
her.

And I thought, well, I'll be going to
her movie studio or somewhere in

Hollywood, presumably.

And instead, we met at a TGI Fridays in
Simi Valley.

Stanton says Carpenter thinks the
interview is another puff piece on her

venture. But the interview quickly
turned serious.

I spent quite a bit of time asking her
about the plans and the project and her

investors. And after...

About an hour, I switched gears and
said, you know, tell me about these

you don't pay and these checks that
bounce and these court cases against

And I'm honest and honorable and I'm a
good woman. And everybody that's been

with this program and this project from
day one has stayed with me.

Stanton asks Carpenter about the $50
,000 she owes to the Beverly Hills

There's a case pending against you now.

Right.

My teeth all broke from falling and
cracked open all my teeth in my mouth.

And he didn't finish the work.

And I had four abscesses that went into
an infection into my heart. So I have

not been able to get that finished.

And when I get well, I'll pay up.

Stanton says Carissa Carpenter has an
excuse for everything.

Yeah, her identity had been stolen.

She was working with the Secret Service.
She was working with Interpol.

There was always an excuse.

Carpenter says the River Islands fiasco
was just a misunderstanding.

We were in the process of trying to
finance it, and everything went sideways

when the real estate market broke.

We lost our financing, which is why we
didn't end up closing.

In 2013, the reporter's story about
Carissa Carpenter and her shady past is

featured on the front page of the
Sacramento Bee.

In Dixon, the piece hits hard.

The Sacramento Bee articles came like a
bombshell.

Many residents don't want to believe
what the reporters find.

They blame the newspaper for trying to
sabotage the proposed movie studio and

Dixon's chance at millions.

The reporting was very accurate. It was
very detailed, very in -depth.

But even so, there were some in the
community who said, oh, it was a hit

You know, they're out to get her.

Next on American Read, Carissa Carpenter
does whatever it takes to stay out of

prison.

She claimed, for example, that she
needed money to join an order of knights

would provide her a title of baroness.
And if she could just get this cloak.

and become Lady Carissa, as she referred
to herself, she would be immune from

prosecution.

After the publication of the Sacramento
Bee Exposé, federal authorities begin an

investigation of Carissa Carpenter.

What was revealed is she's just a
charlatan who really had no substance

all about selling the dream and getting
lots of people's money to fund her out

-of -control lifestyle.

And that appears to have been her entire
career.

We interviewed witnesses back to the
80s.

So it seems to have been quite a long
-running scheme.

In 2014, federal prosecutors in
Sacramento hit Carissa Carpenter with a

-count indictment, charging her with
mail fraud, wire fraud, and making a

statement to a government agent.

She was lying on documents and then
sending those documents either in e

to folks in other states to perpetuate
the scheme.

The government officially says Carpenter
pockets over $3 .5 million.

That was official. That's the official
kind of number. There's certainly a

chance that it could be more. Federal
authorities say that Carpenter spends

investor money on herself rather than
the development of any movie studio, and

that she never actually invests any of
her own money into the project.

She would live a fairly luxurious
lifestyle, and it was essentially this

only business and only source of income.

We identified numerous instances of
investor money being used to pay off or

credit cards.

She lived kind of always on the edge
with respect to her finances, living a

she couldn't afford, but for the fact
that she was able to take investor

Federal investigators contact George
Lucas.

The Hollywood legend submits a
declaration to the court saying he's

met Carpenter.

We were able to obtain a declaration
from Mr. Lucas who attested that he was

involved in Ms. Carpenter's project at
all and had no intention of being

involved.

After her indictment, Carpenter begins
making regular court appearances, but

many devolve into spectacles. Ms.
Carpenter, at least in my opinion...

attempted to faint three times at three
different proceedings.

One time an ambulance came and went up
to the 14th floor of the courthouse,

whatever it was, put her on a stretcher,
took her down to the first floor, put

her in an ambulance.

One time she tries to dodge prosecution
by becoming a member of the Knights

Templar, the ancient and mysterious
religious order.

She had somehow became convinced that
she could escape prosecution by becoming

baroness. To become a baroness, she had
to purchase a cloak.

And if she could just get this cloak and
become Lady Carissa, as she referred to

herself, she would be immune from
prosecution.

After years of delays, in July of 2018,
Carpenter pleads guilty to two counts of

mail fraud and one count of lying to a
government agent.

The rest of the charges against her are
dropped.

She's sentenced to six and a half years
in prison.

The feds say her scam lasts
approximately 17 years and involves

victims.

The day of her sentencing, I couldn't
believe it. They were talking about the

different victims, and they were reading
off names we had never heard of.

It's unbelievable, the amount of people.

Carpenter is incarcerated at a federal
medical center in Texas.

American Greed reaches out to her in
prison.

She tells us that she never
intentionally set out to deceive

I didn't steal their money. They made an
investment.

Could I have made better decisions?

Yes. Was I responsible at the end?
Because as a CEO and chairman,

I am responsible.

Given the chance, Carpenter says she
would have conducted business

I wouldn't have trusted a lot of people.

I probably would have stopped after the
first city.

I think the company grew, and it grew.

And the larger we got, the greedier
people got, and the more stars in the

Carpenter says her health is failing in
prison.

But if she survives, she says she has
one goal.

I wish I was able to make good on my
promises.

If I stay alive, I will.

And I will do everything I can with
every penny I've got to make things

I don't know how, but I'm going to try.

Many victims say they doubt that will
happen.

And the reviews are in on this Hollywood
flop.

And the only restitution investors
believe they'll ever receive is the

Carissa Carpenter behind bars.

I feel like she got what she deserved at
this point. I still have a lot of

unanswered questions, but it is really
gratifying that right now she is in

prison and there's, to our knowledge,
nobody else turning over $150 ,000 to

for a movie studio that may or may not
be built.

So there was just a lot of pain
associated with it. She caused a lot of

And knowing she's in jail and in prison,
I mean, yeah, I don't wish that upon

anyone. But at the same time, shame on
her.

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