Original subtitles

He's dealing with a Category 5 controversy involving cash, payments,

prostitutes. Meet Nevin Shapiro, the man who kicked off the controversy with

stunning admissions of gifts to players and broken NCAA rules.

He's a hustler. You can tell he's a hustler.

A big -time part of the Miami scene, Shapiro lives a life of tropical

indulgence. South Beach is known for its nightlife, yet Mr. Shapiro was known as

Mr. Big in South Beach.

He takes in nearly $1 billion with false promises of huge return.

The truth was there was no business.

It was simply money in, money out.

But the fun can't last forever.

Ponzi schemes don't have happy endings. They're not designed to have happy

endings.

It's August 2011 in Miami, Florida.

As day dawns on a new football season, fans of the University of Miami eagerly

await their team's debut.

Miami filmmaker Billy Corbin directed The U, a documentary about the team.

In Miami, it's safe to say that fans have been spoiled in that at the start

every new season, we've come to expect...

that this could be yet another national championship.

But this year, from the University of Southern California to Ohio State

University, scandals have tainted college football.

Little do the Hurricanes' loyal fans know, the real deluge is about to begin.

It's the University of Miami's worst nightmare. The damning result of an 11

-month investigation by Yahoo Sports.

In it, convicted Ponzi schemer Nevin Shapiro claims he gave improper benefits

at least 72 Hurricanes athletes and seven coaches.

The expose makes Nevin Shapiro a well -known name among sports fans.

But who is the man who has jeopardized the future of Miami football?

And how did he steal the millions that made it all possible?

Shapiro tells American Greed it's a story that involved greed, usury, fraud,

scandal, and cover -ups.

Ever the pitchman, he says, you need eight documentaries to fill this story.

Born in April 1969 in Brooklyn, New York, Nevin Shapiro moves at an early

age to the city he'll make his lifelong home, Miami, Florida.

It's often said that Miami is a sunny place for shady people. Really, the

state of Florida is and always has been.

Shapiro is raised by his single mother and attends Miami Beach High School.

Linda Jackson is an attorney who now represents some of Shapiro's lenders.

also attended Beach High around the same time as Shapiro.

There are people there that have a lot of money, get cars on their 16th

birthday.

Nevin was a small guy.

He didn't come from a family with money, and he tried to compensate for that.

In Miami Beach, Shapiro tries to prove himself based on what Jackson says is

town's own formula of success.

It's money and prestige, and nobody really cares how you got your money.

In the years to come, Shapiro will flaunt his newfound wealth and prestige

many ways.

But foremost is his association with one of his oldest interests, sports.

Nevin was a sports fanatic.

Not even kind of. Nevin was a sports fanatic.

In high school, Shapiro plays basketball and wrestles, but his real passion is

football.

Growing up in Miami in the 1980s, he witnesses the rise to dominance of the

Miami Hurricanes.

There's no question in my mind or anybody in this room's mind who's the

one team in America.

The Miami Hurricanes are the number one team.

Miami in the 1980s was the outlaw town, and the University of Miami Hurricanes

had a reputation as the outlaw team.

Even among the Canes' extremely loyal fan base, Shapiro sticks out.

You definitely couldn't say anything bad about the Hurricanes. In Evan's face,

in his presence, there would be problems.

Shapiro attends the University of South Florida, but never manages to get his

degree in his chosen field, criminology.

He reportedly leaves school after punching a referee in the face during an

intramural football game.

Investigative reporter Tim Elfrink wrote about Shapiro for the Miami New Times

newspaper. I don't think it's a stretch from what I've heard about Nevin to

speculate that he might have some kind of Napoleon complex going on. I mean, he

always had an explosive temper.

The incident on the field is not the last time Shapiro's temper will get the

best of him.

In 1995, while trying to sneak 20 friends into a Miami nightclub on his

birthday, Shapiro was stopped by the owner and goes berserk. I've heard from

people who were there who described it, just how completely unwarranted it was

and how brutal and bloody it was.

Shapiro punches the club owner so hard it knocks out part of a front tooth and

destroys his tear duct.

To writer Tim Elfrink, it's a defining moment for the con man.

He thought he had the power and the connections to get them in this place.

when he got caught, he just he lashed out. He lost it.

In the years to come, Shapiro will ensure he has the wealth to afford him

into any club in Miami Beach. You know, when Shapiro shows up, he walks right

into the nightclub and gets the best table.

And there it is. You know, that's what it's about.

Getting there is still a few years off.

Shapiro first dips his toes into the world of exclusivity when his mother

marries a man named Richard Armand Adam.

Adam eventually moves the family to a Tony mansion and has a yacht. But he

has a secret.

The first time he experienced real wealth and this real change in living,

through a pretty sophisticated white -collar crime.

Adam will later serve time for running a complicated multi -million dollar

lending fraud.

As events will show, Shapiro fails to learn the lesson that crime doesn't pay.

It's hard to believe he didn't learn something from Adam or at least get some

idea of how this might work.

When Shapiro leaves college, he begins work at a grocery diverting company

called Atlantic Wholesale in 1993.

Diverting involves purchasing already sold products at a low price in one

then reselling them somewhere else at a profit.

Kay Balby works with Shapiro on the sales floor at Atlantic.

Well, he had this cute little innocent face, but there was this power behind

him. It was almost like he was bigger than life.

He reminded me of maybe Doogie Howser and Arnold Schwarzenegger wrapped into

one. From the outset, Shapiro already seems to have his sights set high.

He just always looked like, you know, he was ready to close a deal. He was cocky

and confident at the same time.

When making a sale, Shapiro has more than just good deals to offer.

He was a statistical genius in terms of sports.

He could start talking sports right away and instantly connect with that person

on the other end of the phone.

If his home life is tainted by fraud, so is the profession he finds himself in.

In 1996, 36 people working for another South Florida diverter, Premium Sales,

are charged with running a massive investment scheme.

Michael Goldberg is a Fort Lauderdale lawyer who represents some of Shapiro's

victims. He's an expert on Ponzi schemes.

I can't imagine anyone could be in the diverting industry that did not know of

premium sales because it was one of the largest Ponzi schemes of its time.

It's not long before Shapiro is running a scheme that follows closely in premium

sales nefarious footsteps.

Thanks to our real lack of institutional memory in Miami, Nevin Shapiro was

literally able to pick up that scam where they left off several years later.

Nevin Shapiro grows up amidst the wealth and decadence of Miami in the 1980s and

90s. At home and at work, fraud is never far away.

And when it comes time to start his own scheme, it seems like he's in the

perfect place.

Miami is not an old money kind of a town. It's not like New England. It's a

place where people can come in with a name that no one knows and a lot of

and throw it around and they're instantly accepted by society at large.

After leaving college, Shapiro heads home to Miami and enters the grocery

diverting business in 1993.

Five years later, he opens his own diverting company, Capital Investments

The company purportedly buys low -priced groceries in one market, then ships

them elsewhere to be sold at a profit.

Paul Fishman is the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey.

There's an opportunity in that line of work, as in others, for somebody who is

savvy businessman or businesswoman to make a pretty decent profit on the

between what they can buy stuff for and what they can sell it for.

Shapiro pitches capital investments as an international diverter.

There's big money to be made in overseas deals, he says, but to get at the

profits, he needs investor financing.

It's a very simple story to tell the investor, something they can easily

understand. for short -term bridge loans.

The key was to offer not only the high rate of return, which was attractive,

that they also would turn around the investment very quickly. So it gave the

impression that not only was there big money to be made, but it was also fast

money. With the return Shapiro is offering, investors and their money come

rolling in.

Some lenders Shapiro brings in himself through connections in Miami.

Others... including those who will eventually go to the Federal Bureau of

Investigation, hail from New Jersey.

But the lion's share comes to him via Naples, Florida.

Nevin Shapiro went to Naples for the same reason that Bernie Madoff went to

Beach and Willie Sutton robbed banks, because that's where the money is.

Situated on Florida's Gulf Coast, Naples is a migratory zone for Midwestern

snowbirds looking for a warm place to spend their retirement.

The picturesque town lies a two -hour drive across Alligator Alley from Miami.

But it might as well be a million miles away.

I think if you were to take a photograph of the city of Miami and then look at

the negative, it would look a lot like Naples.

With a distinctly Latin flair, Miami is young and flashy.

Naples, on the other hand, is filled with retirees and has a decidedly

-down country club feel.

An abundance of investment firms line Naples' main track, competing to help

wealthy retirees grow their nest eggs.

Shapiro wants in on the action.

But far from home and very out of his element, he needs an inside man to pitch

capital investments.

The story told itself well, but I don't think that the flash of Miami Beach

would sell too well in Naples directly.

Shapiro wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes.

with the Naples community.

In 2003, he meets the man who will grant him entree into this world of

affluence, Sidney Jack Williams.

Jack was one of the Naples people.

He was their neighbor. He played golf with them. He belonged to the same

club. He knew them and he was embedded in that community.

Williams is a successful real estate investor who hails from Indianapolis,

Indiana.

On his company's website, he boasts of doing real estate deals across the

country worth more than a billion dollars.

By the end of 2003, he's invested $3 .5 million with Shapiro.

It's not long before he becomes capital investment's main pitch man.

Jack's neighbors saw him driving fancy cars and living a very nice lifestyle.

And when he told the story of how he was doing it, making money on this

diverting operation in Miami, it attracted his neighbors who wanted in on

great investment.

Many of the investors Williams brings in live in and around Indianapolis.

Some are fraternity brothers from his days at Ball State University in Muncie,

Indiana. People considered him their friend. They trusted him. It was not

calling Smith Barney and saying, I want to buy a stock.

These are informal deals. They're pretty much done in the clubhouse after a

round of golf.

Williams says that an investment in Shapiro's diversion deals is a, quote,

-brainer. In some cases, he offers a personal guarantee.

In all, he brings in 60 investors and $307 million.

In emails to Shapiro, he refers to himself as the Bank of Naples.

And like a bank, Williams charges fees.

His friends don't know he's paid for everyone he brings in and eventually

pockets $12 million in commissions.

If Williams brings lenders in, Shapiro knows just how to keep them happy.

And by 2004, the need to do just that is growing.

That year, Capital Investments begins operating in a loss.

Just why remains uncertain.

Shapiro's lawyer claims that around this time, her client begins sinking money

into a business deal that goes bad.

Shapiro tells American Greed, I got robbed myself for $25 million, which

my derailment.

I really don't know of a Ponzi scheme operator that actually just says, I'm

going into it for the Ponzi.

They get behind and they just can't admit.

that they're messing up, and they double down. And then they lose on that double

down, and it's over.

In order to hide his losses, Shapiro needs to bring in more and more new

investors to pay off the old investors.

And it seems he knows just how to do it. He was a charismatic guy.

He could deliver a sales pitch, you know, and he could definitely reassure

that your money was safe.

Shapiro assures investors that putting their money in capital investments is

risk -free.

And if his words aren't enough, he has plenty of documentation to prove it.

There was a lot of paper, serious paper, legitimate -looking paper, that

suggested that this business was not only real but extraordinarily

But it's all fake.

Making up financial statements nowadays is not an awful lot harder than a click

of a mouse.

Shapiro has his accountant and his CFO, a father and son team made up of

Alejandro and Roberto Torres, help him create these false documents.

They put together multiple invoices showing purported deals between Capital

Investments and other companies that investor dollars are supposedly

Tax filings claim that Capital Investments has gross sales in 2006 of

million.

That was $54 million more in sales than he actually had.

The real number is zero.

From 2005 through the end of 2009, capital investments does no real

But in Naples and elsewhere, that doesn't keep lenders from receiving

believe to be interest payments.

The interest was not interest at all. The money that was being paid to

was actually money from other investors.

It was simply money in, money out.

Capital investments is a Ponzi scheme, plain and simple. In all, Shapiro will

raise more than $930 million in investor funds.

It's 2005 in Miami Beach, Florida, and Nevin Shapiro's grocery diverting scam

in full swing.

From nearby Naples to Indianapolis, Indiana, there's no shortage of people

want in on his so -called grocery diverting deal.

His lenders are happy. From what I'm told, they got their money to the day,

the minute, on time.

Investors who are getting paid off are satisfied investors, and satisfied

investors generally don't complain.

Investors aren't the only people making money at Capital Investments USA.

He was diverting just enough of that incoming money to satisfy the demands of

his investors. Otherwise, he was using it just for his own personal use.

Shapiro's take eventually adds up to a cool $35 million.

And he's not afraid to spend it.

South Beach is known for its nightlife, yet Mr. Shapiro was known as Mr. Big in

South Beach.

The lifestyle that he was leading was pretty open and notoriously glamorous.

At the center of that lifestyle, it's the perfect place to entertain.

You came in, you and you were his guest. You can pretty much have whatever you

wanted, you know, tons and tons of beautiful women.

Like it was like utopia.

Outside the mansion, Shapiro parks a Mercedes S65 AMG on which he makes a

monthly payment of forty seven hundred dollars.

And I have to admit that when I actually saw that in the draft charging

documents, I thought it was a mistake because I didn't know you could lease a

car for forty seven hundred dollars a month.

On the weekend, there's a doc that's just right for tying up his 58 -foot, $1

million yacht.

He was almost living the stereotype of Miami Wells, the rich playboy in South

Beach that, you know, maybe goes all the way back to Miami Vice.

The same year he buys his mansion, Shapiro also picks up a condo in the

He invests $7 million in a North Carolina golf course.

and he blows through cash like a man obsessed.

He pays credit card bills for himself, his mother, and his girlfriend that

amount to more than $2 .2 million.

On top of this, he shells out more than $100 ,000 a year for courtside seats to

watch the Miami Heat.

It's here that he sits near the team's resident entertainer, DJ Irie, and rubs

elbows with Miami's A -list.

Prominent business people, politicians,

You name it. He would usually know who's around him and say what's up. And if he

didn't, by the end of the game, he knew them.

A world -renowned turntablist, DJ Ivory is a fixture on the South Beach

nightlife scene.

On the left here is Mansion Nightclub, where they just do these huge, massive

celebrity jumping parties.

Singers, rappers, actors, actresses.

huge sports figures, you name it.

Nevin would actually come to Mansion.

At one point, he was there almost every weekend.

He'd have one of the best areas in the club. No matter what club he went to,

he'd have one of the best areas because the clubs all knew that when Nevin was

there, he was going to spend money.

Nevin had achieved unparalleled access.

He had the kind of access that not many other people had.

Shapiro also obtains access to the A -list celebrities that not many other

people meet.

It's reported that he entertains Miami Heat star Dwayne Wade on his yacht.

He also has a picture of Shaquille O 'Neal holding him above his head and

reportedly gives the Heat star player a pair of diamond -encrusted handcuffs as

a gift.

Not quite 40, Shapiro has the keys to the kingdom.

He's the American dream.

You know, he's made it. He's enjoying the finer things in life. And he's

it with the people that he cares about.

One recipient of Shapiro's largesse is the athletics program at his beloved

University of Miami.

Inside the Hecht Athletic Center, the con artist gets his name on the Nevin

Shapiro Student Athlete Lounge.

He becomes a golden cane and gives $130 ,000 to the school's athletics program.

Documentary filmmaker Billy Corbin reads from the inscription on a plaque that

once hung inside.

Despite the fact that he attended college outside of Miami, his heart has

bled green and orange.

For the tremendous philanthropic support he provides, the University of Miami is

proud to name the Student Athlete Lounge after Nevin Shapiro.

What kind of message does that send, not only to the student athletes, but the

athletic director, the head coaches, the assistant coaches, about the kind of

access that this man has bought and has been granted.

Shapiro's philanthropy is on display in one famous picture of the school's

president, Donna Shalala, accepting a $50 ,000 check from him.

The old saying is, as long as the champagne is flowing and the checks are

clearing, nobody asks any questions.

But Shapiro's checks come with a price.

He was someone who felt like that his contributions to the university gave him

the right to have a lot of control and be able to associate with whoever and

whenever he wanted.

It's not until his Ponzi scheme unravels that the depth of his association with

Miami's athletes and coaches is revealed.

For now, though, potential investors see Shapiro as the embodiment of success.

They see that you're living a high life, that you seem to be successful, and

they start to equate that with the credibility of the investment itself.

Amidst all the flaunting, there is one way Shapiro spends money that the public

doesn't see.

He liked to bet, and he didn't do all that well.

My sources, who were pretty close to Nevin, told me that most weekends he

bet $25 ,000 apiece on several different games, and sometimes more than that.

Shapiro's own lawyer will later tally his gambling losses at $9 million.

That may have been fueling the scheme, too, just this constant need for new

to keep paying his debts and keep gambling.

Despite his less -than -stellar track record...

Shapiro will later say some investors look to him for betting tips.

And why not? He seems to be a guy who can't lose.

In 2008, money from investors is flooding into Shapiro's company and

straight back out as supposed interest payments.

That year, he moves a whopping $616 million into and out of Capital

bank account.

He says that when his accountant sees the numbers, she responds with three

simple words.

What the?

It's the end of 2008.

Across the country, financial tides are turning.

And the biggest Ponzi scheme ever is revealed.

Welcome back. It is official. The U .S. economy is. The word is that the street

remains at this moment shell -shocked. You have a lot of wealthy investors who

thought they had $50 million in net worth. Most of it was made up. They wake

today to realize they had no money.

For Miami's Nevin Shapiro, the end is drawing near.

People are starting to question, well, if the economy is collapsing, how can my

investment be doing well?

When the economy goes bad, when credit is harder to get, when people have less

money to spend, Ponzi schemes tend to fall apart faster because it's harder

the people who are perpetrating them to maintain the facade.

As the financial system implodes, questions arise.

And Shapiro does not have the money to pay his lenders.

He is, in part, a victim of his own lavish lifestyle.

He was so heavily leveraged and was spending the money so fast that only one

investor who said, hey, give me my money back right now, caused this to start to

unravel.

At first, Shapiro falls behind in making so -called interest payments.

As 2008 turns into 2009, investors begin to ask questions, and Shapiro offers a

litany of excuses.

His accountant was on vacation and he couldn't get... The paperwork done.

It was a bookkeeping error, and they'd send the check right out. We didn't get

paid from the company that was supposed to pay us for the delivery of goods.

People heard different things at different times.

Shapiro's smooth talking works temporarily, and lenders allow him to

payments. The con man uses the time he buys to try to find new money, but no

is willing to pony up.

He just stopped being able to pay off his investors, and eventually investors

started to complain.

From Naples to Indianapolis, investors start to wonder if their money is tied

in a Ponzi scheme.

When they ask Shapiro for their money back, they're met with more stalling.

By June, legal threats are heading Shapiro's way.

The man at the helm of capital investments starts making desperate

In July, he begins selling off jewelry.

The next month, he gives one investor the keys to his condo in the Bahamas.

But nothing can stave off the inevitable.

The problem with the Ponzi scheme is there's really not an exit strategy.

Eventually, it has to come to a halt.

In November 2009, a group of lenders filed papers in Miami, forcing Shapiro's

company into bankruptcy.

In the words of the trustee, the capital investment scheme comes to a screeching

halt.

Eventually, creditors will claim that Shapiro owes them more than $120

By now, though, his problems extend far beyond the question of how to pay

creditors back.

Prior to the bankruptcy, an unidentified investor from New Jersey goes to the

FBI in Newark, saying he's lost $500 ,000.

Word started to spread among investors with capital investments that the FBI

Newark were conducting an investigation.

So very quickly, it went from a $500 ,000 loss to almost a $32 million loss.

Agents from the FBI, led by Michael Ward, and the IRS Criminal Investigation

Division, led by Victor Lesov, get to work.

He was just saying, invest this in the deal. Yeah, you made 17%. How do you

to reinvest it and do it again? And many of them worked. They dig into the reams

of paper backing up Shapiro's claims that capital investments was a going

concern.

A key piece of evidence comes in the form of invoices.

that Shapiro created with his CFO and accountant's father and son, Roberto and

Alejandro Torres.

Capital Investments apparently created a false invoice with a real company's

name on it.

We were able to take those invoices back to that company, interview them, and

corroborate that this, in fact, is a false invoice.

We look at one false invoice, that gives us a rise to question whether or not

there are other false invoices.

And as the investigation continued, that's exactly what we found.

found that there was no ongoing business concern associated with capital

investments.

Shapiro's financial house of cards is about to come tumbling down.

I believe the first person that was interviewed was Roberto Torres, the

financial officer, who immediately admitted that there is no legitimate

going on here.

And in each subsequent interview we would do after that, we would receive

same story.

Eventually, agents questioned the man at the top of capital investments, Nevin

Shapiro.

After running the company for more than a decade, it seems that he's grown tired

of spinning lies and deceit. At the first interview with Nevin Shapiro, he

admitted that there was no legitimate business associated with capital

investments.

In April 2010, the Miami businessman surrenders to FBI and IRS agents in

He's charged with securities fraud and money laundering.

On April 21st, he makes his first appearance in court.

Mr. Shapiro, we're here today for an initial appearance.

Can the government kindly advise the defendant what he's charged with and the

potential penalties he faces?

Yes, Your Honor. The defendant is charged with a two -count complaint

alleges a broad -based scheme to defraud numerous investors of approximately

$880 million.

So do I understand what you're charged with and the potential penalties that

face?

Yes. Okay.

Though he does not sound happy to find himself before a judge, Shapiro

reportedly tells his attorney he's glad the scheme has come to an end.

Months later, he pleads guilty to one count of securities fraud and one count

money laundering.

Shapiro admits to running the massive Ponzi scheme and using the scam to fund

his big shot lifestyle.

He also admits that he used investor money to give student athletes cash and

jewelry and feted them in Miami restaurants and clubs.

Supporters of the Miami Hurricanes worry about the repercussions of Shapiro's

admissions. At the fan, they were very depressing because no one knew

what the ultimate consequence could be of this.

When American Greed returns, feeling alone and forsaken, Shapiro tells all in

attempt to bring down the Miami hurricane.

At the end of the day, if things aren't going his way, if through everything, I

don't care. You know, it's about me.

In September 2010,

Nevin Shapiro pleads guilty in New Jersey to running a massive Ponzi

Nine months later, he returns to court for sentencing.

In arguing for leniency, his lawyer asks the judge to consider that her client

has an immense gambling problem.

She also claims that Shapiro perpetrated his fraud to keep capital investments

afloat after losing millions in a deal gone bad.

The judge doesn't buy it.

People get into debt in all sorts of ways, and there are lots of legal and

responsible ways for people to deal with that. It is not an excuse.

if you're in debt for whatever reason, to go out and rip people off to the tune

here of $80 or $90 million.

The judge sentences Shapiro to 20 years in prison and orders him to pay $82

million in restitution.

To this day, Shapiro's level of contrition is questionable.

In emails to American Greed, he says that sometimes you are forced to plead

guilty on something that you don't believe you are guilty of.

But Shapiro's story doesn't end there.

The con man's life has undergone a massive change.

He once inhabited a palatial mansion and sat courtside at heat games.

Now he makes his home in a small cell where game time seating options are

limited.

Inside, there's plenty of time to sit and think.

You have to remember, prison is a really lonely and depressing place, especially

for the type of personality that Nevin Shapiro is.

Here's someone who spent a lot of money, lavish gifts on individuals, and then

when he thought that, okay, now that I'm in trouble, I need you to step up and

help me, when these people failed to do that, I do think that it had an impact

on him.

Facing 20 years, Shapiro begins to seek revenge on those he once considered to

be his friends.

His most intense ire is reserved for his once beloved University of Miami.

In August 2011, the bomb the Hurricanes football fans feared finally drops.

The mighty Miami Hurricanes dealing with a Category 5 controversy involving

cash, payments, and prostitutes that threatens to bring down the team.

Yahoo Sports conducts a massive eight -month investigation into alleged NCAA

violations involving Shapiro and the University of Miami.

Shapiro tells reporter Charles Robinson that over the course of eight years,

he's provided 72 college athletes, mostly from Miami, with benefits that

violated NCAA rules.

He claims he's provided them with cash, meals, clothes, and jewelry. He says

he's partied with them at his mansion, on his yacht, and in nightclubs and

joints. He even says he's provided prostitutes for players and in one case

for an abortion.

What's more, he accuses members of the school's athletic staff with complicity.

Back in Miami, the story drops with a thud.

That's even louder than the original story of his massive Ponzi scheme.

This was the guy that was just always so cool, you know, and always just a

really nice guy to me. Like, when that story broke, I was just disgusted.

I was absolutely disgusted.

Some Hurricanes fans, like Billy Corbin, choose to downplay the report.

Corbin says Shapiro's photos prove nothing.

It appeared to me that the Yahoo Sports writers did a 11 -month extensive

investigation of University of Miami students' Facebook pictures.

But Yahoo says they've corroborated Shapiro's claims with other sources, as

as reams of phone and financial records.

From what I saw, they did their homework, you know. I don't think they

Nevin was telling them at face value.

Still, many ask, why trust a con man?

I don't think you should draw the conclusion that simply because someone

convicted felon, he or she shouldn't be believed.

Weeks after the story breaks, the NCAA suspends eight players for taking gifts

from Shapiro.

The University of Miami says in a statement it is fully cooperating with

NCAA and is conducting a joint investigation.

Michael Ward of the FBI sees the players Shapiro courted not so much as co

-conspirators but as victims.

Nevin Shapiro is a manipulator. I mean, he was able to seduce investors with a

promise of large dollar amounts.

And then he turns those same seduction techniques and he turns them on to 18,

19, 20 year olds offering them gifts and parties and sex. And I mean, those are

tools of seduction that have been used going back centuries.

For reporter Tim Elfring.

Shapiro's desire for revenge harkens back to an earlier episode in his life.

I go back to that incident when he was a young man in South Beach and soccer

punched this club owner. You know, I think his instinct was to worm his way

as a power player as best he could. And when things went wrong, he lashed out.

Shapiro himself says the story isn't over.

He tells American Greed that the incident with the University of Miami

become, quote, an urban legend by the time it all shakes out.

When American Greed returns, investors wait it out to see if they'll get any of

their money back.

Yet people in their 60s and 70s are now moving in with their children because

they can no longer afford their home.

In the summer of 2011, Devin Shapiro was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

for running a $930 million Ponzi scheme.

Shapiro admits that the company he started in 1998, Capital Investment USA,

no real business between 2005 and 2009.

But when did his fraud actually start?

Shapiro tells American Greed that he was loaded legitimately and that he made a

lot of people a lot of money.

But according to the FBI's Michael Ward, from the outset, fraud is hardwired

into the DNA of Shapiro's business operations.

Now there were periods of time where there was some legitimate business being

conducted, but it was not a viable business opportunity in that they were

out returns to investors that far exceeded the legitimate business income

could be generated.

In 2011, Shapiro's accountant and his CFO, a father and son named Alejandro

Roberto Torres, also plead guilty to one count each of securities fraud.

They are both sentenced to four years in prison.

Then, in September 2011,

Sidney Jack Williams pleads guilty to filing a false tax return.

He admits he failed to declare $6 .4 million in commissions Shapiro paid him

signing up investors.

He's sentenced to a year in prison.

To this day, no one can say just how much Williams, who had his own money

invested in the scam, knew about the Ponzi.

It's hard to believe that he did not know that it was a Ponzi scheme at some

point. I don't necessarily know that he knew it was a Ponzi scheme.

Could he have put his head in the sand?

Sure. For many, the con has taken a heavy toll.

You have people in their 60s and 70s who are now moving in with their children

because they can no longer afford their homes.

They're retired.

They're ready to...

live out their years out there and they're now they're destitute they're

people um are out 82 million dollars and that's money that they may never get

back one investor in indiana writes the bankruptcy judge saying he lost his life

savings 190 000 he says he's now sick broke and facing

foreclosure the bankruptcy trustee continues his attempt to get back money

this victim and others.

So far, he's recovered $19 million, including $130 ,000 that Shapiro donated

the University of Miami.

In addition, the university has also agreed to pay back $83 ,000 for money

Shapiro gave directly to current and former athletes.

The challenge of recovering more continues.

The trouble is compounded by the playboy lifestyle on which Shapiro lavishly

spent his money.

you can't retrieve money spent at strip clubs. So those are just lost assets.

Meanwhile, the NCAA continues to investigate Shapiro's involvement with

University of Miami.

The con man sits in a cell in Louisiana.

To those who were taken by Shapiro, a question remains.

Why did the fraudster do what he did?

If I had to boil it down into one word, I believe that Devin Shapiro's primary

motivation was greed.

I think he was the kind of guy that was ultimately probably more interested in

power and prestige than he was in the money. And I don't know what motivated

him, but in the end, whatever risks he decided to run, whatever calculations he

decided to make, turned out to be a really bad bet for him.

In Miami Beach, Shapiro's wealth and free spending once opened every door.

But after the scam and the Yahoo Sports investigation through which Shapiro

attempted to bring down the U, the con man, is no longer king.

In the core of Nevin Shapiro, he's someone that looks out for himself.

And at the end of the day, if things aren't going his way, it's screw

everything.

I don't care. It's about me, you know? And that's not the Nevin that I thought

knew.