Original subtitles

In this episode of American Greed, radio host Dawn Bennett is a famous financial

advisor. This is a time period to control your own financial destiny. Who

listeners and clients her sporty online startup is the next big thing.

Think like Lululemon on steroids.

To investors, she claims outrageous profits.

That $3 million is worth over $6 million.

You're crazy to fuck with it. But the feds say she's running a $20 million

You don't steal $20 million without having a certain amount of charm.

She was spending millions upon millions of dollars on expenses that exclusively

benefited herself.

And when investigators close in, she conjures supernatural forces to save

herself. We can only imagine that Ms. Bennett cast this spell dozens of times.

Usually situations aren't that dire. Usually people don't let them get that

Oh, my God.

In the Tony, D .C. suburb of Chevy Chase, Maryland, FBI agents executing a

search warrant raid two luxury penthouses on August 2, 2017.

They're looking for evidence of a financial fraud that's cost dozens of

investors $20 million.

In keeping with their suspicions, they uncover incredible spending.

It looked like I was walking into the ladies' department at Neiman Marcus.

There was an entire large closet full of high -end ladies' shoes, Noah Blahnik,

Jimmy Choo, Christian Louboutin.

But what they find in two freezers is beyond anything they could have

We found some strange things.

That was the only time in my career at the FBI that I've come across anything.

even remotely close to that.

Their sinister discoveries suggest the private desperation and epic downfall of

a woman who was once a darling of Wall Street.

We run a portfolio that's balanced, and we do it at 30 % less risk than the S &P

500, and we're up over 25%. In the late 2000s, Dawn Bennett.

CEO of Bennett Group Financial Services appears to be the poster child for

success. She was very high profile. She knew how to use the media to

get on programs and get quoted in publications. She was seen as somebody

really had figured it out.

An accomplished woman in a male -dominated world, Bennett commands

With TV appearances and her very own weekly radio show.

Hi, everybody. This is Dawn Bennett. Welcome to Financial Mythbusting.

Dawn Bennett's radio show, Financial Mythbusting, is one of these programs

where you buy the airtime. They tended to be a little bit political sometimes.

She was, I think, leaned a little bit to the right.

Bennett began her career in 1987, working at different firms, including

Mason, before launching her own advisory business, Bennett Group Financial

Services, in 2006.

This former client, we'll call Carl, who asked to be filmed in shadow, hires her

in 1995 after a recommendation from his aunt.

Don's very outgoing, very intelligent.

We've talked for a long time about just anything.

With consistently positive results, he stays with her when she goes out on her

own. The whole time I was with her, we were buying stocks, buying mutual funds,

buying platinum, buying gold, selling stuff as needed.

Bennett's Washington, D .C. firm grows with lightning speed.

And in 2009, with a purported $1 .1 billion under management, financial

Barron's names her number five on its list.

of the top 100 female advisors.

And later that year, number 26 overall.

Part of the Barron's list criteria was assets under management. It's not their

only criteria, but it's one of the criteria to get on their list.

Bennett revels in the rankings.

In a press release, Bennett says, it's an honor to be chosen among the

of financial advisors in the country.

by such a prestigious financial magazine as Barron's.

That honor is one that Bennett will repeatedly use to make both existing and

potential clients believe that they're in the hands of one of the industry's

best.

She would always call me with how wonderful she was.

I'm number 13 in the country, top financial advisors, top female, top

that. And that's part of the thing that led me to trust her.

is that I wasn't her only investor.

Former model and television personality Steve Santagotti is the author of the

New York Times bestseller, The Manual.

A true bad boy explains how men think, date, and mate, and what women can do to

come out on top.

The guy always pays for the first date. That is true as ever. Oh, come on. Any

guy that doesn't should be slapped around. You can get a Ph .D. in

and you'll never know what I know about women by actually living it and by doing

it, so to speak.

After the publication of his book, Santagati becomes well -known as a

relationship expert who makes frequent appearances.

Sharing his decidedly male perspective.

That's a really scary thing, especially for men, because we have to be lulled

into commitment. You're not going to think we have commitment phobia, are

No, not at all. I would never say that on TV.

But before his book is published, he has a chance encounter in the lobby of a

publicist's office with Dawn Bennett, who's just starting out on her own.

Dawn Bennett's in there. She's very buttoned up.

And, of course, we start talking.

And I asked her what she does, and she said she's a financial advisor.

So I started asking her questions. She goes, well, I'm starting my own thing.

Santagati says he expresses interest in having Bennett manage his funds, but

knows he probably doesn't have enough capital.

She goes, no, I'll take you on.

She goes, absolutely, because you're just, you know, I'm just starting, and

normally you're right, a million dollars is the least we'll take.

My whole relationship with Don Bennett started off with me believing she...

was doing me a favor by taking in such a small fry that all her investors were

big, smart, multi -multi -millionaires, and that I was just a little guy that

she was doing a favor for.

Santagati eventually gives Bennett all the funds from his book, TV appearances,

and the sale of a home he built in Vermont.

I didn't need much money to survive, so I would just take everything and give it

to Don.

I literally believe that putting my money with Don Bennett was as safe as

putting it in the bank. And Don made you feel that way.

He says he appreciates what he believes to be Bennett's conservative approach.

As Bennett tells Barron's in 2009, I'm competitive, but I'm not going to chase

greed.

While Bennett says she won't chase greed, she doesn't shy from excess as

evidenced by the spoils of her wealth.

She had office space in Chevy Chase in an expensive retail location.

She had two penthouse condos right down the road, also in Chevy Chase, that

overlooked Washington, D .C. She had three different automobiles, expensive

automobiles. She was very well put together, very well dressed.

Perhaps most extravagantly, Bennett rents a luxury suite at the Dallas

Stadium. for $500 ,000 a year.

The length of the lease was 20 years, so ultimately that was a $10 million

purchase that she made.

For clients and listeners who tune into her weekly radio show called Financial

Mythbusting, Bennett represents herself as a guru in her field.

This is a time period to control your own financial destiny.

But when American Greed returns...

Some investors will discover perhaps the biggest financial myth that needs

busting is that of Dawn Bennett herself, and some clients will pay the price.

I worked with some of the biggest names in television, and now I'm living in a

van?

With a portfolio nearing a purported $2 billion in assets under management, Dawn

Bennett is once again named to Barron's list of top financial advisors.

In 2011, she's ranked number two in all of Washington, D .C.

On her weekly radio show, she regularly touts her firm's accolades and

successes.

That's what we're practicing with the $1 .5 billion that we have right now with

money under management and growing.

Client Steve Santagati doesn't think he's taken any risks.

With his entire life savings in the hands of a pro like Don Bennett, he says

never thinks twice about the security of his nest egg.

Santagati gives Bennett a total of $1 .1 million, and at first, she gets it up

to $1 .5.

But in 2011, things began to change.

And I just started watching everything go down.

First, it was dropping in like $10 ,000 or $20 ,000 increments.

And I didn't really get too nervous about that.

And then it started dropping hundreds of thousands.

And I'm watching it go down, tune, tune, tune, tune. I'm like, oh, my God, I'm

down to like $700 ,000. I'm down to $600 ,000. I'm down to $540 ,000.

As his account dips below $200 ,000,

an 85 % plummet, Santagati calls on a friend in finance to look at what's

happened.

And he looked at it, and he was like, oh, my God.

According to Santagati, he will learn that Bennett concentrated him in

investments without explaining the stakes, even though he insisted on being

conservative and that she borrowed heavily on margin against his account.

He says... to generate more commissions.

And as Santagati is losing money, he believes Bennett is making it hand over

fist, raking in $350 ,000 in fees on his account alone.

Santagati eventually pulls his last bit of money from the firm.

After 1 .5 at my highest, I ended up with $180

,000 left.

That's it.

My whole life's work, everything from paper route to the book, all that money,

everything you've done for your entire life was gone.

Don Bennett claims Santagati wanted a highly aggressive portfolio, which

Santagati says simply isn't true.

Without steady income from his career, Santagati sells everything he owns and

uses what's left to buy a 300 -square -foot shack in Maine with no heat and an

outdoor shower.

He plans to live there in the summer. Then he converts a Ford transit van that

he can live in the rest of the year.

Santagati is dumbfounded at his reversal of fortune.

I worked with some of the biggest names in television, and now I'm living in a

van?

It wasn't drugs. It wasn't alcohol.

It wasn't gambling.

It wasn't bad relationships.

It was a crook.

I was robbed.

He's not alone.

Other Bennett clients say they are suffering staggering losses as well.

Several, including Santagati, filed complaints with the Financial Industry

Regulatory Authority.

As shown in this FINRA broker check report, Bennett fights the allegations.

When the complaints from customers started to mount, they started to show

really, really egregious stuff.

Simultaneously, The Securities and Exchange Commission is examining claims

Bennett has made about her assets under management and client performance.

But by then, Bennett, a former competitive swimmer, is diving headfirst

another pool.

In 2010, Bennett launches a side business, an online luxury sports gear

clothing retailer, DJBennett .com.

She cast DJ Bennett as a company that would give Under Armour a run for its

money. Think like Lululemon on steroids.

We're talking ski pants that are hundreds of dollars and tennis shoes

and boots that were in the thousands of dollars. So she was looking for a very

upscale clientele.

This video on the site's homepage sells customers on the DJ Bennett lifestyle.

plainly lays out who she was looking for as her target clientele. It was people

who had a lot of money and a lot of free time on their hands.

To complement her online luxury retail business, she opens an appointment -only

showroom adjacent to her investment firm in the Chevy Chase Pavilion.

There, Bennett serves up champagne and craft beer while clients peruse the

products.

Bennett repeatedly says that her retail business will rival Under Armour, and

soon she'll offer some of her brokerage clients an extraordinary opportunity to

get in on the ground floor.

When American Greed returns, suspicions of fraud.

I said, Don, are you Madoffing me right now?

I said, how is this legal?

And later, just what is Bennett keeping in her freezers?

Dawn Bennett is still running her financial advisory business and her

radio program.

But she wants more.

She's also launched an upscale online retailer, DJBennett .com.

The website's professional promotional video appears designed to attract a

wealthy clientele.

But by December 2014, Bennett learned she's under investigation by regulators.

when she gives testimony to FINRA.

She was already in getting into some deep water or some hot water with

regulators. They were already looking into her claims of having more assets

under management than she had, claims of having better investment performance

than she had.

Furthermore, clients at her advisory firm have begun to abandon her.

According to the SEC, by 2015, Bennett herself is only earning around $100 ,000

in annual commissions.

Her financial advisory business was tanking. You know, the amount of money

she was managing was evaporating very quickly, and she

was losing money.

She sunk a lot of money into her sporting goods business.

And so she reached a point where, according to investigators, that she was

dire financial straits, but still living a very posh lifestyle.

A lifestyle that includes that personal $500 ,000 annual lease for a skybox at

the Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

Bennett falls behind on the rent.

Making matters worse, Bennett's online high -end retail business is a flop.

DJBennett .com was losing millions of dollars year after year. In 2012, the

business lost over $1 .4 million.

In 2013, it did even worse.

And then by 2015, it was losing over $6 .5 million annually.

Strapped for cash and under mounting pressure, Bennett begins actively luring

investors in her DJBennett luxury sporting goods business.

using a business plan that promises high profits.

Many are clients who hired her as their financial advisor.

I had no issues with Dawn, no reason to distrust her. I've been with her since

1995.

After a relationship of 20 years, Carl is intrigued when Bennett offers him an

investment opportunity in her retail venture, DJBennett .com.

According to the information she shows him, The company is thriving.

She told me how she was doing more business in the DJBennett .com than she

on the Bennett Group Financial Services.

And the majority of the business was from China.

It's the same pitch that she makes to her other investors.

She tells them, listen.

This is a great investment, just like I would invest your retirement funds or

life savings into something else through the relationship that we already have.

But instead of putting into outside stocks or some other investment,

you can put it into my company, and I will guarantee you a return.

Bennett asks investors to buy convertible and promissory notes.

Loans for which he guarantees an unbelievable rate of interest.

So Ms. Bennett would promise them 15 % annual returns and also the opportunity

to either withdraw the money at any time or to convert the debt into equity

and actual ownership in this company that Ms. Bennett claimed was exceeding

expectations. For some, the offer at first sounds a bit too good to be true.

There was one period of time where I specifically asked her, you know, Don,

you Madoffing me right now? I said, how can you tell me that it's a 15 % return?

I said, how is this legal?

And she's told me that this is my money. This is the company's money.

I can give you whatever return I want to on the money.

Bennett supplies investors with financial statements that show a

company.

According to the financial statements that Dawn Bennett was providing to her

investors, DJBennett .com was making money hand over fist, year after year.

top of that, the projected revenues that were in these financial statements were

just through the roof.

Carl transfers everything he has with Bennett Group Financial Services and

invests it all in DJ Bennett.

I was the largest investor.

I made five, six different investments.

Many of her investors find Bennett incredibly convincing.

In emails later used against Bennett in court, one client declines her offer

because he needs the funds to care for his bedridden wife.

But Bennett will not take no for an answer and eventually wears him down.

He let her know about his wife's condition and about their financial

circumstances and his wife's predicament and that he couldn't tolerate any risk.

And even knowing that, Bennett still took the entirety of his life

savings, I think almost $850 ,000 to invest in her failing business and

DJBennett .com. There were examples of...

Dawn Bennett being remarkably aggressive, especially when she was

effort at less sophisticated investors.

On one occasion, she physically drove the victim to the bank in order to

have that victim wire out money.

There's surveillance footage from the bank where Ms. Bennett is right there at

the teller stand with the victim.

As Bennett concentrates her efforts on her retail business, her advisory firm

remains under scrutiny.

In September 2015,

the SEC announces charges that from at least 2009 to 2011, Bennett and Bennett

Group Financial Services woefully misled the public.

Bennett had claimed to have between $1 .1 and $2 billion under management at

firm. But when investigators start to dig, they can't find she ever had more

than $407 million.

According to SEC filings, those fabrications were submitted to Barron's

ultimately used to secure Bennett's high rankings on the publication's top

financial advisors list.

She inflated her assets to get on the list, and then once she was on the list,

she would use that status.

and her assets, her inflated assets, on her radio program and other marketing

programs. So it was basically, she had her own little system there just feeding

on itself, which was all really based on the initial lie.

At the time, Barron's tells Investment News that they compare the numbers

advisors submit against the SEC database.

They were kind of stuck in the situation of using the assets under management

that Don Bennett was reporting to regulators.

The SEC also contends Bennett lied about clients' performance to bolster her

stature.

To clients and D .J. Bennett investors, Bennett rushes the charges off.

She said the reason for it was that she was very outspoken about President

Obama's way of looking at finance. She described it as a witch hunt.

Next on American Greed, Bennett turns to an unlikely place to solve her

problems.

but they're only getting worse.

Came back from lunch one day and had a voicemail from the FBI. We need to speak

with you and know this is not a joke.

In the serene San Juan Islands of Washington State, Ben Collins operates

website puja .net.

A spiritual man who discovered Hinduism in his youth, Collins founded the site

to center on puja and yaga rituals, traditional ceremonies involving

to deities.

Generically speaking, the goal of any of these rituals is to remove obstacles to

success in life.

For a small fee, Collins arranges for these rituals to be done by priests at

temples in India.

In mid -2015, Collins notices his site has a new customer, financial advisor

entrepreneur Don Bennett.

Don found us on the Internet, although I don't know exactly how or why in the

beginning, but she started participating.

And after a few months... She was spending more money than most people do.

So I gave her a call and said, you know, I'm Ben Collins. You know, how can I

help you?

Bennett tells Collins she's being investigated by the SEC, but she paints

herself as the victim.

She emails him, I am in a very tough fight going against my enemies, and I

all the help I can get.

She wants to see what she could do to increase her prosperity and solve these

problems with the SEC.

She never shares whether she identifies as Hindu. But soon, Bennett is spending

$1 ,000 a day for 100 priests to pray on her behalf.

I would say to her, Don, you know, you don't have to do this much.

You know, why not dial it back a little, take a long -range view.

And she said, no, Ben, the money is not the point. At my peak, I was making a

million dollars a month.

Don't worry about the money.

Quite honestly, Don could be a bit of a bully. She could be extremely insistent

on getting whatever it was she wanted.

In only two years, Bennett pays Collins more than $800 ,000 for the rituals.

We were supporting probably 200 priests.

And their families, for two years we provided them with some very steady and

reasonable income.

So some good came out of it from our side.

Despite the prayers, regulators don't back off.

In late 2015, an employee at a bank in Maryland becomes suspicious when an 80

-year -old customer comes in requesting a withdrawal to invest in Bennett's

online startup, DJBennett .com.

The elderly woman provided some financials that Don Bennett had given

DJBennett .com, which caused the bank branch representative to do some quick

research. And the bank branch representative found the 2015 SEC press

into the investigation into Bennett Group Financial Services.

And at that point, the bank branch representative actually called the SEC.

The SEC then also begins to investigate DJBennett .com and ultimately calls

in the FBI.

Came back from lunch one day and had a voicemail.

This is Agent Custer from the FBI. We need to speak with you and know this is

not a joke.

Until then, Ben Collins has no idea that the money Bennett paid him is coming

from investors who believe they are funding Bennett's luxury retail sporting

goods venture.

D .J. Bennett.

He immediately cuts off contact with her and cooperates with investigators.

As the FBI discovers, India is not the only place investor funds are going.

Bank records reveal that funds from investor deposits come in and go

out to pay law firms representing Bennett, the mortgages on her

and her personal credit cards.

And there were hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on places and things such

as cosmetic procedures, Neiman Marcus.

Over $130 ,000 were spent on these gems that were supposed to have

mystical or spiritual properties. One stone in particular was a 21 -carat

sapphire. They cost over $80 ,000 of investor money.

Investor funds also go directly to the Dallas Cowboys, to whom Bennett owes

hundreds of thousands of dollars on her luxury suite lease.

The timing of the money coming in and the money going out was almost

instantaneous.

Almost as if she was waiting for the money to come in and she knew exactly

she had to do with it.

Other funds go to pay earlier investors.

One day I came into work and the FBI was in my office and they pulled out a

binder and they said that Don Bennett is running a Ponzi scheme.

I didn't believe them.

Meanwhile, when investors and creditors try to reach Bennett to redeem their

funds, she dodges them as an FBI wiretap reveals.

Good morning, Bennett Group. How may I help you?

I would like to speak with Dawn Bennett. I'm a client.

She is out on travel at the moment. Can I take a message and relay it to her?

Where is she traveling? Out of the country?

She's out of the country at the moment.

In Asia.

I'm sorry.

She was very sick last week and now all of a sudden she's out of the country?

Yes. A fairly routine example was If an investor called and said, you know, I

need my money back, that employee would tell the investor, well, Don Bennett's

in China.

But according to the FBI, during those time periods, Bennett never leaves the U

.S.

We found credit card expenditures at times where she represented, she was out

the country, you know, at Starbucks down the street.

There was one particular...

time period where she told me she was one place and I talked to them. They

no, she's not.

Would it surprise you to know that she never went to China?

And then I said, okay.

That was where the lie was revealed.

Next on American Greed, investigators execute a search warrant and the case

takes a dark and surprising turn.

It said something like, I cross and cover you. I command you not to speak. I

command you to hold your tongue.

Dawn Bennett was once a respected power player in the financial industry.

But in July 2016,

the SEC bars Bennett from the securities industry for inflating her assets under

management. and client performance at her financial advisory firm.

At the same time, the FBI is conducting a criminal investigation into a possible

Ponzi scheme involving Bennett's retail sportswear business, DJ Bennett.

On August 2, 2017, FBI agents raid Bennett's office and her two penthouse

condos in Chevy Chase.

Their findings include evidence of both excess...

and guilt.

In the office, they uncover what appears to be a list of excuses an employee was

to provide to callers who were attempting to reach Bennett.

One of the penthouses, Bennett's residence, is filled with valuable Asian

-influenced furniture and art.

And the other?

The other one she used almost exclusively as a closet.

And the closet had all sorts of designer items in it.

There were over 700 pairs of these high -end shoes, some of which still had the

$1 ,000 price tag still on them. At first glance, you could say, well,

that was the inventory for her company. But as it turned out, all of those shoes

were the same size, and they were her shoe size.

But perhaps the strangest evidence comes from the kitchen and a back room.

There, investigators find two freezers jammed with mason jars, the lids each

labeled with mysterious letters.

So when we opened the mason jars, there was this kind of sandy sludge, and it

didn't smell very good.

Nearby, they find biographical information on SEC attorneys

Bennett's case.

Attorneys whose initials match the letters on the mason jars.

And they find instructions for a beef tongue shut up hoodoo spell.

It was a printout from a website in which a person could cast a spell

using certain ingredients, which included beef tongue, lemon juice, red

say the magic words.

I'm paraphrasing here, but it said something like, I cross and cover you.

I command you not to speak. I command you to hold your tongue.

We can only imagine that Ms. Bennett cast this spell dozens of times to

thwart the government investigation against her and to get the SEC to hold

tongue. Anyone who would be...

Utilizing the beef tongue shut up spell would be someone who is in a very dire

situation.

Sarah Best is a hoodoo practitioner and owner of Conjured Cadea, which sells

potions and objects used in the creation of spells.

Best says hoodoo should not be confused with voodoo, which is an actual

religion.

Hoodoo is an earth magical practice.

It's a folk magic tradition that utilizes natural objects, curios,

herbs, to bring about a desired effect.

She's not connected to Bennett's case, but knows the beef tongue shut up spell

Bennett seemed to perform.

Typically, it would be used to stop somebody from slandering you or

about you.

It could also be used to, we would use the term, shut someone up.

or if maybe they were going to speak against you in a court case.

According to Best, those performing the spell would first acquire a tongue from

a butcher.

You would cut a slit down the center of the beef tongue, and in the slit you

would put a photo or a name paper, we would call it, of the person that you

would want to stop from speaking against you.

And then you would sew it up.

Best says the spell is nothing to mess with. She's only done it once.

And she says it's very unusual if Bennett did it multiple times.

It's a very serious working and it's not something that's taken lightly.

Usually situations aren't that dire. Usually people don't let them get that

When the FBI's findings are later released, former Bennett clients are

That was kind of...

Way out there.

That was in the wackadoodle range, to be honest.

Up next on American Greed, Bennett may have tried to shut up investigators, but

she can't seem to hold her own tongue.

But I'm asking you as my friend to keep it committed until October 31st. Please.

I can't do it.

Oh, God, help me.

The government has amassed a preponderance of evidence that Don

running a fraud.

But there's one more nail to be hammered into the coffin.

Investor Carl agrees to record his conversations with Bennett for the FBI.

Every conversation was, we're doing really well.

But when Carl asks for some of his money back... There were times when Don

Bennett was saying it was impossible because for...

sort of obscure financial reasons. We won't be able to return the money to you

right away.

I'm asking you as my friend to keep it committed until October 31st, please.

I can't do it.

Oh, God, help me.

Is there any way that you can?

Anyway, I'm just begging you because I really do not have the time to sit there

and, you know, reorganize a financial thing right now. I just don't. And for

the right reasons.

And then there were other times when Don Bennett was communicating to this

investor that this is a terrible idea for you because we're making so much

at this company that you don't want to withdraw your money. I'm only asking for

my money.

Oh, by the way, I know. But here's part two.

I have made you, this company, still, because of your equity step -up, that $3

million is worth over $6 million.

You're crazy to fuck with it.

On August 25th, 2017, investigators arrest Bennett at a rented vacation home

Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Bennett is charged with 17 counts, including wire fraud, bank fraud, and

false statements on a loan application.

According to the government, from December 2014 through April 2017,

Bennett ran a Ponzi scheme.

And investor funds meant as loans to her retail sportswear company were actually

going to fund her lavish lifestyle, as well as pay back earlier investors.

Prosecutors alleged that at least 46 people invested $20 million in the

At her trial, the jury never hears about Bennett's alleged hoodoo practice.

Instead, a parade of victims testify.

that they trusted Bennett with their life savings and ended up losing it all.

This was money that these folks had set aside for ailing family members, for

their own long -term care, for their grandchildren's education, so that they

could retire and so that they wouldn't have to return to the workplace.

So the loss of these funds was just absolutely devastating.

Bennett does not testify.

But her attorneys argue that, like Amazon once was, DJBennett .com was a

that someday would have been a huge success, and that she herself had sucked

millions of her own dollars into the venture.

Don Bennett's defense was that I wasn't lying.

I told these investors that the company was successful, and I believe it was

successful. I believe it was going to be successful.

Sure, I wasn't making...

massive profits, but I viewed my company as a startup, she would say.

But the jury doesn't buy it.

The evidence showed that while she was promising to use her investors' money

solely to further the business interests of her investors and of DJBennett .com,

that she was spending millions upon millions of dollars on expenses that

exclusively benefited herself.

In October 2018, Bennett is found guilty on all 17 counts.

She's later sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay $14 .5 million

in restitution.

Dawn Bennett does not respond to American Greed's requests for an

But at her sentencing, Bennett states, I am so profoundly humiliated that it

will be difficult to ever shake off.

She's appealing her case.

Carl only gets back a quarter of what he invested.

Made me feel like a fool, obviously.

All my plans, everything that I had tried to accomplish, I had done.

And then, okay, it's gone. I need to start over again.

Former client Steve Santagotti never invests in Bennett's sporting goods

But he still considers himself one of her victims.

And in March 2017, prior to Bennett's arrest, a FINRA arbitration panel

awarding Santagati $1 million to cover his losses and legal fees.

The award is paid out by insurance.

Now, in coastal Maine, Santagati lives a simple life in a small house he built

by himself.

But he'll never forget the toll that hiring Don Bennett took on him.

I would love to see Dawn Bennett face to face again in jail.

Not so I could go there and go, I told you so.

Ha ha ha.

Look at you, you scumbag.

I want to look her in the eyes.

A victim of her theft.

And just be able to say, I know.

We all know who you are now.

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