American Greed · Sextortion · Cosby
Plus: some hard data on how police funding relates to success
the true crime that's worth your time
Your Friday night just got a lot Greedier. Now I’m wondering why CNBC doesn’t just hire me, because that tag line is good, right? Anyway, you all know American Greed, of course — Sarah and I have sung its praises for its solid mix of scandal, process-ey detail, and fairly non-triggering crimes.*
The show, which a CNBC press release reminds us is “CNBC’s longest-running primetime original series” (narrow category but whatevs) is doing two marathon nights in coming days. The first is tonight (Friday, June 3) and the second is June 8. Here’s the remarkably DVR-able lineup for this evening:
8 PM THE LIFE & CRIMES OF JOEL GREENBERG
Joel Greenberg is a privileged millennial from a rich Florida family who one day decides to run for Seminole County Tax Collector – and wins. Once in office he embarks on a breathtaking series of crimes, ranging from fraud to sex trafficking. Eventually the Feds set their sights on him – and it quickly becomes clear that his case may be bigger and stranger than anyone had imagined.
9 PM THERANOS CEO ON TRIAL
American Greed reveals fresh details [Ed note: really? Are there any “fresh details” left in that case?] about one of the most infamous alleged corporate fraud cases of the 21st century – Theranos, and the blockbuster trial of founder and former CEO Elizabeth Holmes. Former employees, whistleblowers, and even a family friend-turned-foe provide new insights into the company’s leadership and the mysterious long-term relationship between Holmes and her top deputy, Sunny Balwani.
10 PM HOW WEWORK WENT WILD
Inside the astonishing rise and near-collapse of WeWork, the office space start-up co-founded by its polarizing former CEO, Adam Neumann. Called one of the greatest salesmen of all time, Neumann mesmerizes venture capitalists with grandiose promises to “elevate the world’s consciousness” – even though WeWork is less high-tech wonder than traditional real estate leasing business. Investors put in an eye-popping $12 billion… then largely turn a blind eye as Neumann’s behavior becomes erratic and the company approaches the brink of bankruptcy.
11 PM THE BIGGEST THEFT OF ALL TIME?
Jho Low may be one of the biggest partiers that New York and L.A. have ever seen - he hangs with stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx, buys his own movie studio, and dates Victoria’s Secret models. He’s also accused of being one of the biggest thieves the world has ever seen. Authorities say he’s the mastermind of an international scheme to steal over $4 billion from the government of Malaysia. American Greed unmasks this man of mystery and uncovers fresh details about the theft that rocked the globe.
And here is Wednesday:
8 PM THE ‘CON’ IN CONGRESS
California Congressman Duncan Hunter and his wife Margaret look like the perfect political power couple. But instead of serving the public, these partners in life become partners in crime, conspiring to help themselves to hundreds of thousands in campaign dollars. The Congressman also secretly helps himself to multiple mistresses. When prosecutors indict both the Hunters after years of illegal spending, Duncan promptly shifts the blame to his loyal wife--who turns the tables and agrees to help the Feds.
9 PM INSIDE EL CHAPO’S EMPIRE
Everyone knows “El Chapo” – a.k.a. Joaquin Guzmán Loera, billionaire drug lord and for years the world’s most wanted man. But few are familiar with the betrayal that helped land him in American custody. Meet the Flores twins, Chicago-born drug dealers who earned the trust of the boss of the Sinaloa cartel – then helped the Feds put him away for life. Today, the twins are in hiding, but for the first time on television their wives sit down to share what life was like at the heights of the drug trade – exclusively with American Greed.
10 PM THE IMPOSTER
Ed Shin is an entrepreneur, churchgoer, family man – the very picture of success. But when his business partner suddenly vanishes from view, prompting the family to seek answers, a private eye digs into Shin’s past – and what he learns is horrifying. American Greed sits down with victims and former friends of Shin to piece together this tale of embezzlement, betrayal, and ultimately… murder.
11 PM THE KINGPIN NEXT DOOR
The stunning story of a suburban Eagle Scout turned Dark Web drug lord. Aaron Shamo launches a new type of American drug ring – recruiting other Utah millennials to help him manufacture deadly counterfeit opioids and sell them online. That is, until the Feds break down his door and put an end to his illegal entrepreneurial dreams.
I can’t help but notice that AG is hitting the “millennial” angle pretty hard, which suggests that they haven’t heard that we all have Gen Z now, but that’s really the harshest thing I have to say. I’ve already set my relevant devices to record, and I urge you to do the same. — EB
*Given the past few weeks of domestic violence shaming and mass shootings, I am all about property and financial crimes these days. BRING THEM ON.
Do you think the Heard/Depp case has edged Bill Cosby’s latest trial out of the public eye? Sure, outlets are covering it, but I’m not seeing the same level of wall-to-wall scrutiny that the celebrity domestic violence/libel case did.
So here’s a recap: Cosby is in the midst of a civil trial in LA brought by Judy Huth, who was not in W. Kamau Bell’s excellent We Need to Talk About Cosby. Some have said that that’s because her allegations are less credible, but I don’t think that’s it — her case was actually filed in 2014, but was put on hold in favor of his criminal trial. Avoiding a TV appearance while a lawsuit is underway seems pretty standard, and not reason to doubt someone.
The latest report from the New York Times says that much of the courtroom discussion thus far has dealt with the impact sexual assault has on memory. According to Huth, Cosby assaulted her 47 years ago, so it’s understandable that recollections are key. Most notable, perhaps, is that Cosby’s defense is less focused on disputing the allegations, and is more focused on disputing when it occurred. Here’s what I mean:
Ms. Huth says in her suit that she was assaulted in 1975, several days after she and a friend met Mr. Cosby on a movie set in a park in San Marino, Calif., where he was shooting a film.
Days after the first meeting, at Mr. Cosby’s invitation, the two women went to his tennis club, Ms. Huth’s lawyers have said, drank alcohol he offered and followed him in their car to the Playboy Mansion. Once there, Ms. Huth has said, Mr. Cosby forced her to perform a sex act on him in a bedroom.
In disputing Ms. Huth’s account, Mr. Cosby’s lawyers have challenged her recollection of their meeting, suggesting it had happened years after when she said it did, when she was no longer a minor. In their opening remarks, his lawyers sought to discredit the account by pointing out that the women, by their own accounts, remained at the Playboy Mansion for hours after the alleged encounter with Mr. Cosby, swimming in the pool, mixing with famous actors, and watching a movie.
Huth’s case is one of the only ones against Cosby that have yet to be settled; it’s expected to last a week or more. As of publication, Cosby has not appeared in the courtroom. — EB
I will leave you with two excellent longreads you can dip into at your leisure this weekend. Both kept me going during an unpleasant bit of air travel this week, my hope for you is that you can read them in circumstances with fewer coughing people, better food options, and way more leg room.
Inside an FBI agent’s hunt for an Israeli sextortionist [LA Times]
West Covina fed Tanaz Korami chased Elad Gaber all the way to Tel Aviv. Gaber extorted sexual acts via webcam from 200 girls (most from the U.S.), some as young as 12. The scam was shockingly simple:
He would start by finding blackmail material: suggestive or nude images. He sometimes got them by secretly recording group video chats among teens on Stickam, a Los Angeles livestreaming site that is now defunct.
Gaber would then track the girl down on Facebook and impersonate a handsome blond boy to befriend her. His screen names included “Ethan Hunt,” “David Clint” and “Rach Hollis.”
He would tell the girl to join him in a live video chat, then play on her fear of humiliation: If she refused to “cam,” he would threaten to release the compromising images to friends and family members now visible to him on Facebook.
What follows is Korami’s long and exhausting slog to track down Gaber’s voctim and Gaber, himself. It’s an 11-year epic, deftly told by Michael Finnegan. — EB
Why Are Police So Bad at Their Jobs? [American Prospect]
Alexander Sammon’s data-driven report can make your eyes glaze over at times with its facts and figures, but I don’t see any other way he could have debunked the myths presented at pretty much every law and order press conference, town hall, and mailing.
Using information provided by the FBI, Sammon lays out how crime has continued to drop across the U.S., but “the rates at which police forces are solving crimes have plunged to historic lows. In the case of murders and violent crime, clearance rates have dipped to just 50 percent.” By comparison, the wild-and-wooly 1980s saw a 70 percent clearance rate. That’s quite a drop.
Not for nothing, clearance rates have dropped to all-time lows at the same time that police budgets have swollen to all-time highs, suggesting that more funding has actually resulted in police being less effective. “It is a great public mismatch in understanding, training, and expectations,” [University of Utah law professor Shima Baradaran] Baughman told me. “Increases in police officers or police budgets have not been shown to reduce crime or make us safer.”
To make matters worse, clearance rates can be easily manipulated and are not synonymous with actually solving crimes, just with making arrests. That means that those rock-bottom numbers are actually skewing reality in favor of cops, who are arresting the rightful perpetrator of a crime at rates even lower than those at which they’re clearing cases. “All they tell us is whether there has been an arrest made in a case,” Baughman said, “not whether that person is actually the one that committed the crime or is eventually convicted of the crime … That’s why I think convictions are a better measure of whether the crime was actually cleared.”
We’re going to hear arguments that we need more police and more funding them with greater and greater frequency this election season. A careful read of this article might go a long way when faced with someone who saw a smash-and-grab video on Tik Tok and is now “refund the police” advocate. — EB
Next week on Best Evidence: Kyle McLaughlin, the Constitution, and the modeling industry.
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