All language subtitles for American Greed s06e04 Baby Broker Scams

In this episode of American Greed, meet
the attorney who swears he can make the

dreams of couples wanting children come
true.

These people weren't looking for money.

They wanted a family, and he preyed upon
that. He promises babies for a hefty

price. I'm thinking, oh, my God, there's
a baby.

How are we going to come up with all
this money?

But Kevin Cohen is actually a merciless
con artist, brokering deals that shock

investigators. I've never seen anything
like this before. He has every angle to

get out.

And he callously exploits the hopes and
desires of people just wanting to be

parents. It really is incredible that
anyone would do this. And, you know, had

he stabbed me in the heart, it would
have been less cruel.

August 2010.

41 -year -old Kevin Cohen sits in an
interview room at the Nassau County

District Attorney's Office on Long
Island.

You know that you've been arrested and
charged with a crime in Nassau County?

Yes.

This long -haired Kevin Cohen is a far
cry from the clean -cut attorney he once

was. You knew you were taking money for
something that you didn't have.

I'm not trying to suggest...

that it was right or justified at all.
I'm just telling you what it was.

But this is the same Kevin Cohen who was
accused of stealing nearly $300 ,000

and leaving a two -year trail of broken
promises and heartache in his wake.

I concocted everything.

How did you choose what to concoct? I
made it up.

Cohen's final strange journey to jail
begins a little over a year earlier in

March 2009 when he meets Deborah and
Milton Josephs of Port Washington, New

York. The Josephs, desperate for a
child, have been trying to adopt an

They've placed ads in newspapers and
chased leads across the country with no

luck. It just didn't pan out. We got a
couple of calls, but this was over a

period of about two years.

And then we were introduced to Kevin
Cohen.

Cohen is practically a neighbor. He
lives in the upscale community of Roslyn

Heights, less than 15 minutes away from
the Josephs. When we went to his house,

we sat down with him and he talked about
the whole process of what would happen,

of how the next few months would pan
out.

Relaxed and friendly, the 41 -year -old
adoption attorney quickly puts the

Josephs at ease.

He just came across as a nice, normal
guy.

A lawyer that was doing this area of law
because he'd been adopted himself and

wanted to help other couples that wanted
to adopt children.

Cohen offers to help the Josephs
navigate the complicated and emotional

of adoption, a process that some
estimates suggest ends in failure almost

of the time.

He's a master manipulator.

And he knows how to read people. He
knows how to tell people exactly what

want to hear. And he is very good at it.

Today, Cohen has great news.

He knows a teenage college student named
Erin who wants to give up her baby when

it's born.

There's this child in Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania.

It's going to be born late August. Even
the timing works out well for it. So we

had the summer to prepare for this
child.

Cohen shows the Josephs Aaron's medical
records, and he even offers a sonogram

of the infant.

The record he gave us seemed legit.

There was a pediatric practice in
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, that he gave us

Aaron's medical history, and I googled
that at the very beginning, and it was

there.

But there's a catch.

To facilitate the adoption, Cohen needs
$35 ,000 deposited into his bank account

for medical and legal expenses.

He made sure that the number that he was
asking for wasn't an extraordinary

amount of money. It wasn't a low amount
of money. It was right in the realm of

what it would cost to adopt a child.

Cohen tells them if they want the baby,
they need to act immediately.

He said we had to sign the papers there
and then, that there were other couples

that were interested, and I think we
wired the money the following day.

A few days later, Cohen comes back with
even better news.

He's found a second birth mother in
Lincoln, Nebraska, who was also willing

give up her child in early August as
well.

He presents us with an option, almost an
insurance policy, by saying to us, if

Erin didn't work out, then we could have
the first option on the baby in

Nebraska, or we could even take both
children if we wanted.

This insurance policy is great news, but
it costs the Josephs another $30 ,000,

$25 ,000 for expenses and $5 ,000 for
additional fees.

In the span of two weeks, we've given
this man $65 ,000.

During the summer of 2009, Cohen visits
the Josephs' house regularly, offering

updates on the pending births of two
baby girls.

He kept us appraised all the time of the
progress of the birth mothers and their

pregnancies. and that they'd had another
scan and everything was fine.

But in August, Cohen delivers the
Josephs some disappointing news.

Both birth mothers are experiencing
complications and delivery dates have

pushed back several weeks.

He kept telling us everything was fine.
He'd spoken to the doctors, everything

was fine. At this point, we trust him
implicitly.

The dates are pushed back again into
September.

To ensure a smooth adoption, the Josephs
decide to split their efforts.

I was going to Nebraska.

Deb was going to Pennsylvania.

Whichever child was born first, we were
going to adopt that child.

Deborah hurries to Pennsylvania and
waits anxiously in a hotel room for

call.

But when it finally comes, it's more bad
news.

He called her and said that the cord had
got wrapped around the baby's neck

during the birth, and she couldn't go
into the hospital.

Cohen assures them the baby is fine, but
that Aaron is in no condition to sign

adoption papers.

Disappointed, Deborah returns home only
to learn the Nebraska adoption, her

insurance policy, has also fallen
through.

The second birth mother has disappeared
from the hospital, and Kevin Cohen is

nowhere to be found.

He wasn't answering his calls straight
away.

I think then our suspicions began to get
aroused.

Milton does some investigating about the
Pennsylvania birth mother.

Erin's name has been redacted with a
black marker on all the medical records

they have. But her last name is just
barely legible.

I held it up to the light and just about
make out O'Malley.

Erin O'Malley.

The Josephs hired a private investigator
to dig into Cohen's story about the

mysterious Erin O'Malley.

Within days, he confirms that their
lawyer has fed them nothing but lies.

His words were the red flags popping up
everywhere.

You need to go and talk to the Nassau
County DA.

Up next on American Greed, Cohen parlays
his reputation and background to

perfect an almost unbelievable scam.

He preyed upon their vulnerability.

He used and abused them to get the only
thing he cares about, which is money.

Kevin Cohen's descent from respected
lawyer to scam artist has been a

process, as Cohen later explains to a
court psychiatrist.

I've always admired people who are able
to go through a great deal of adversity

and to come to grips with it and to rise
above it. And I try to be one of those

people. And I try to be too much.

Born in New York in 1968, Cohen is
himself adopted.

and raised in the exclusive Long Island
town of Roslyn Heights.

Kevin was the only child, and he was the
D child.

He had everything, Kevin.

Attorney Matin Emuna has known Cohen
since they were 10 years old and has

briefly as his defense lawyer.

Kevin was a friend to everybody.
Everybody liked Kevin.

He was, in fact, very much involved with
the community affairs programs or

school activities.

Early success comes easily for Kevin
Cohen.

He receives an Ivy League education,
graduating from the University of

Pennsylvania in 1990.

He's a really smart man, but everyone
agreed Kevin was much more interested

in... having this perception of being
successful, than he was in actually

anything and putting in the work to
become successful.

He attends the Benjamin N. Cardozo
School of Law.

But in 1993, his mother dies suddenly.

This blow leads to bouts of severe
depression.

And how did you do in school?

Terrible.

My mom got sick in the middle of my
first year.

And life was never the same after that.

Cohen graduates and passes the bar in
the late 90s. But instead of pursuing

he starts an Internet greeting card
company.

The seed money is provided by his
wealthy father, a pattern that has been

repeated throughout his life.

Due to the fact that that money was
handed to him, without him working that

for that money, he did not know how to
appreciate the dollar the same way.

You and I would.

Cohen struggles for seven years, trying
unsuccessfully to make the business

profitable.

Spent over a quarter million dollars in
cash on that business, tipped it all

away.

Several years of my life tipped it all
away.

Did he ever earn any money?

No.

The business went nowhere, and
eventually his father stopped funding

upset him.

Cohen dabbles in other questionable
businesses with similar results.

He had one get -rich -quick scheme after
another, and he was going to license

clean -seat toilet covers for public
restrooms. He was going to franchise an

Australian -Mexican restaurant, but he
never had the means to do any of it.

In 2002, his father dies.

And when he passed away, you know, about
$3 .5 million estate.

And I was left with a nice side trust.

And it was set up because you saw that I
wasn't right. Something wasn't

clicking. Cohen receives a monthly
stipend of $2 ,400.

A year later, he marries and continues
to live in the Rosalind Heights home.

He wanted everyone to believe that...

His parent status was now his status,
except he had never done anything to get

there. His wife has a son from a
previous marriage, and within a few

Coens have two daughters together as
well. The expenses of his growing family

quickly outpace the $2 ,400 he receives
each month.

He's got three kids.

They're all well -dressed. He's well
-dressed.

I mean, they're going out to dinner.
They're living a life.

He can't foot the bill for any of it.

In 2004, Cohen tries a new business
venture.

He parlays two unsuccessful stints with
law firms and rebrands himself an

adoption specialist.

He opens the not -for -profit company
Adoption Annex in a Roslyn, New York

a few miles from his house.

He convinced a government agency to give
him a million dollars for what he said

would be the best thing to ever happen
to adoption.

The adoption annex is touted as the
first center of its kind in the country,

haven for people looking for adoption
support.

It wasn't an agency. It was more of a go
there for what the procedure is to

adopt a baby, go for counseling there if
you're...

prospective adoptive parents to find out
exactly how and what you need to do.

Adoption Annex doesn't broker adoptions,
but it does offer Cohen a legitimacy

he's never had before.

Adoption Annex made him an adoption
expert.

He could go anywhere he wanted.

People would Google him and come up with
the adoption annex.

Who's more legitimate than that?

Cohen soon finds himself struggling to
pay rent.

but he hopes that a gift shop and
admission fees will keep the adoption

open. He had talked about franchising
adoption annex, selling T -shirts and

mugs, but the adoption annex didn't do
anything.

Cohen tries to maintain a facade of
success, but the adoption annex is

hemorrhaging money, and maintaining his
affluent lifestyle is draining him every

day.

Several hundred thousand dollars in debt
on top of what I spent on the annex,

which was about three quarters of a
million dollars.

Cohen has only one real asset left, the
house he lives in, which is still

controlled by the trustee of his
father's estate.

Now he had a $750 ,000 mortgage he
couldn't afford.

And even though he couldn't afford any
of it, a few months later he started a

$400 ,000 expansion on this house that
he could barely pay the taxes on.

When he's refused a refinancing request
in 2008, Cohen forges the trustee's

signature on loan documents.

The

trustee

turns him in, and Cohen is arrested on
December 12, 2008.

He's charged with grand larceny,
forgery, and identity theft.

Out on bail and sinking deeper in debt,
Cohen scrambles to find money.

When this scheme started, he was at the
end of his rope. He couldn't borrow from

anybody anymore.

He had to make money quickly.

Next on American Greed, Cohen begins
stalking desperate families who are

to spend almost anything if it means a
chance to adopt a baby.

He was a predator, and he's greedy.

All he wanted was money, and he didn't
care who he hurt.

Kevin Cohen, who bills himself as a
respected adoption attorney, has fallen

hard times.

Friends wouldn't lend him any money. He
couldn't borrow from a bank. He couldn't

remortgage his house anymore.

He's out of money, and he's out on bail.

Recently, he's been arrested for forging
a trustee's signature on mortgage

documents.

He found himself in a situation of his
own making where there was really no way

out for him.

And that's when he started the scam.

Later in custody, Cohen will try to
explain why.

In December 2008, he puts the word out
through friends that he knows a woman

wants to give her baby up for adoption.

I made up adoption birth mother
situations that didn't exist in order to

people put money in escrow into my
escrow account.

Almost immediately, desperate families
reach out to him, including Michael and

Elise Romberg in Georgia.

We were introduced to Kevin by a family
friend in New York who was in charge

of his children at a temple during day
school.

Just outside of Atlanta, Michael and
Elise Romberg can hardly believe their

luck.

Cohen knows a college student named
Francesca in Yuma, Arizona, who wants to

give up her baby.

He needed a family to adopt this baby,
and he needed somebody quickly.

The Rombergs are already very familiar
with the adoption process.

They are both adopted and have recently
adopted two daughters as well.

Cohen, himself adopted, knows what
strings to pull.

He stayed away from what would make us
feel worse and kept with what made us

feel better, and we were on the hook the
whole time.

He also comes with an impressive list of
references.

We searched the Internet, and we found
nothing but glowing praises for Kevin

Cohen and his adoption advocacy.

Found nothing about his arrest record.

The problem is Cohen needs $30 ,000
immediately, much more than the Rombergs

afford.

They tell him there's no way they can
come up with that much money that

He seemed very caring and supportive.

And so it didn't seem odd when he called
back a couple of days later with a

lower price.

Cohen counters and says he only needs $7
,500 to cover medical expenses.

He, being desperate for money, was at
that point willing to take whatever he

could get.

Cohen tells the Rombergs he can get the
rest of the money from his not -for

-profit company, the Adoption Annex. But
he needs the $7 ,500 right away.

I needed to take a quick loan out
because he needed the money the next

The Rombergs find a $6 ,000 loan with a
whopping 30 % interest rate and scrape

together another $1 ,000.

But they still can't meet Cohen's price
until their two daughters step in to

help. We came up about 500 short, and
the kids definitely came forward and

just take it. It's yours.

That was a wonderful moment.

Kevin knew that. They told Kevin that,
and he still took the money.

The final check they write is actually
paid to the landlord of the building

houses Adoption Annex.

This is a check that we sent in Kevin
Cohen's name to East Coast Abstract,

we assumed was an escrow house because
that's what they did.

It later turned out to be his landlord,
and this money was to help him pay his

back rent.

Cohen shows the Rombergs detailed
medical records for the supposed birth

Francesca. And then he offers the one
document that always seems to seal the

deal. Well, when I saw the sonogram,
that's my baby.

This is my baby. This is a real live,
you know, we'll see you in a couple

months.

Though he won't reveal Francesca's last
name, Cohen does give the Rombergs

plenty of background information about
her.

She was a dancer. She was not planning
on having a child, and she wanted a

complete dance school.

Knowing their sedan is too small for
three kids, the Rombergs buy a minivan.

It's just another expense as they
prepare for the arrival of their new

You have to have the onesies, you have
to have receiving blankets, you have to

have formula and bottles.

When everything was said and done, I
think we put out somewhere close to $50

,000.

About a month before the delivery date,
Cohen sends them a medical report with

more good news.

This is an email from Kevin Cohen
stating it's a girl and how big she is

much she weighs at this point.

In May 2009, the Rombergs tell Cohen
they plan to come to Yuma for the birth

the baby they've decided to name Sylvia
Ann.

At that point, he told us that it's
probably not the best idea to go until

baby's born, because you never can tell
what's going to happen.

The Rombergs ignore his advice.

They pile into their new van, making the
2 ,000 -mile trek across the south to

Yuma.

They have no way of knowing that Cohen
has painted himself into a corner.

At least three other families are
converging on Yuma, all thinking they

going to adopt the same baby girl.

We sort of set up right in front of the
hospital saying our baby is in there

somewhere. And, you know, there could
have been four other families doing the

same exact thing.

But we didn't know it at the time.

To buy time, Cohen tells the Rombergs
the birth father has changed his mind

decided to keep the baby.

He was very hopeful but not encouraging
and no guarantees, obviously, that the

father would come around in a couple of
weeks.

Then, to further placate them, Cohen
tells the Rombergs of a woman named Erin

Pennsylvania who might soon be willing
to give up her baby.

We actually drove home in a fairly good
mood.

After all that, because he had dangled
that in front of us and basically taken

all the negative possible out of the
first adoption attempt.

Cohen dodges a bullet.

None of the families converging on Yuma
have realized his betrayal.

He just continued as normal.

He talked his way out of that one, and
he'll talk his way out of the next one.

The Rombergs speak periodically with
Cohen over the coming months, but his

updates about Aaron are vague.

I had requested receipts and accounting
at this point for the entire process

because I was getting a little fed up
with the lack of information.

And he was never forthcoming with any of
those items.

Eventually, the calls and emails
stopped.

Next on American Greed, Cohen moves on
and is looking to steal more money, one

broken promise at a time.

He didn't care who he hurt. He didn't
care who he ran over or what dreams he

shattered or hearts he broke.

He just wanted money.

And that's disgusting.

Kevin Cohen, a self -described adoption
specialist, runs his first series of

adoption scams in December 2008.

By the summer of 2009, the attorney
finds himself buried under a mounting

of debt.

and plagued with bouts of depression.

The adoption annex was bleeding him.

I believe that the construction of his
house was bleeding him.

His mental state, just all three of them
are all at the same time.

In fact, the adoption annex, Cohen's
much -hyped adoption advocacy center,

been unable to pay rent for months.

Like his previous failed business
ventures...

Cohen is forced to quietly shutter the
annex, still owing his landlord $40

Despite his debt, Cohen continues to
overextend himself, maintaining the

pretense of upper -middle -class
success.

He's, like, over a million dollars in
debt, most of which is his personal

expenses. He's driving around in
Escalades that he can't afford.

That summer, he built a $32 ,000
driveway on this house he couldn't

And to pay for it all, he's scamming
money from desperate families looking to

adopt by promising them babies who don't
exist.

I was trying to go in to get myself out
of the hole that I had put myself into

throughout all those years of spending
seven figures when he didn't have it to

easily spend.

Using his credentials as an adoption
specialist, Cohen quickly realizes there

an almost limitless pool of families to
steal from.

He had victims that were poor.

He had victims that were same -sex
couples. He had victims that were single

moms. There was no prejudice involved at
all. He just ran the gamut.

Unlike a lot of financial schemes, these
people weren't looking for money. They

weren't looking for a return on an
investment.

They just wanted a baby.

They wanted a family.

And he preyed upon that.

The scam he runs is simple.

To earn people's trust, he approaches
his targets indirectly.

You told friends what before they...
Because I have access to a situation.

Do you know anybody?

That you had access to a baby?

Yes.

He said the same thing to at least 20
people.

And they started talking to people they
knew. And every one of his victims

referred to him by someone who knew
someone who said you can trust Kevin

The would -be parents are told the money
they give him has been placed in escrow

to pay for medical costs and other
expenses.

Cohen's attention to detail sells the
scam well.

He produced expense sheets breaking down
birth mother expenses.

He took out phone numbers in the name of
fictitious birth mothers and then

billed showing phone calls between him
and the birth mothers, all of which was

just completely made up and fictitious.

To support his stories, he provides
medical records to prove the birth

healthy.

He Googles

legitimate doctors and adds their forged
signatures to his bogus medical

records. So he made sure that if anybody
was going to check on who this doctor

was, that they were very reputable.

He provides a sonogram of the baby.

Sometimes he gave people it in black and
white. Sometimes he gave it to them in

color.

Sometimes he split it and gave them one
picture on one date and the other

picture on the other date.

But even the sonogram is yet another
lie.

There was one sonogram, and he
manipulated it however he wanted.

He would put a different birth mother's
name on it, a different testing date on

it, a different hospital date on it, but
it was all the same picture.

When due dates approach, Cohen invents
complications that invariably derail the

adoption process.

Something would happen.

Either the birth mother changed her
mind, the father was now in the picture,

I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, this has
never happened to me before.

I'm so sorry, we will find you a baby.

Before it is over, he's duped at least
13 families across the country.

At the end, he was kind of just on a
mission.

Get as much money as possible.

In the fall of 2009, his story threatens
to unravel when two disappointed

families run out of patience with his
broken promises.

He had two clients, one in New York and
one in Florida, who were at their wit's

end. They were both threatening to go to
the police if he didn't give them back

all the money that they had given him.

One Florida family who paid Cohen $30
,000.

demands he open his books and explain
where the money went.

Accused him of trying to steal money
from them. He was all apologetic.

Told them it was big misunderstanding.

The couple calls Cohen's bank and learns
there's no money in their escrow

account. The Florida couple then called
Kevin Cohen and he said, that's

impossible. I'll have the bank manager
call you right back.

Cohen makes a desperate and bold attempt
to throw them off the scent once and

for all.

On September 22nd, he calmly walks into
his local Bank of America.

Shown here on security cameras, he asks
to use a phone.

He pretended to be the bank manager,
vouched for Kevin Cohen, said he had

sufficient funds in his account.

But his plan has a flaw.

When the couple calls back minutes later
to ask a question, they learn the

manager they think they spoke to is
actually out of the country.

Furious with Cohen?

The family demands their money back.

He couldn't give them that, so then he
literally got in touch with a friend of

his and found a couple that were
vacationing in Israel that were looking

adopt a child, but he needed the money
that day. They had a wire for him, $40

,000.

That $40 ,000, stolen from yet another
family, buys Cohen some time.

But questions are being asked, and he's
scrambling to hide the damage he's done.

That week, he's at Kinko's, running off
photocopies, creating packets.

He's impersonating the bank manager.

His house of cards is coming down.

Coming up, the walls are closing in, and
Cohen makes a final series of frantic

phone calls to steal more money with
empty promises.

You feel violated.

You feel stupid.

It was devastating.

I felt like somebody punched me in the
stomach.

To read more transcripts of Kevin
Cohen's psychiatric interview, visit

AmericanGreed .CNBC .com.

We'll be right back.

Ben and Bridget Vogt of Long Island have
almost forgotten they already have a

history with Kevin Cohen.

In 2006...

He represented the guardians of a baby
they tried unsuccessfully to adopt.

Kevin Cohen was the attorney for the
adoption. And not that anything Kevin

at least not that we're aware of, but
the guardian decided to keep the baby

themselves.

For three years, the votes lose touch
with Cohen.

They don't know he's been arrested for
trying to steal his late father's house

from his trust fund or that he's fallen
on hard times.

But Cohen remembers them.

I mean, there's no doubt in my mind. He
prayed upon us specifically.

Cohen reaches out to them in September
2009.

When he called, it was kind of out of
the blue. And one asked us if we were

still looking to adopt a child, if that
was something that we were even

interested in.

And we were.

He says he knows a Pennsylvania college
student named Aaron O'Malley.

who's willing to give up her child for
$22 ,500.

He said, I need the money up front right
away so I can assure the birth mother

that you're legitimate, you're serious,
and you want to go forward with this

adoption.

Cohen's in a hurry.

Later that day, he shows up at the
Vogt's house.

He had Erin O'Malley's medical records
showing that she was up to date and she

was healthy.

Records from an OBGYN stating that the
baby was healthy.

And then the one.

The trump card was. It was the sonogram.

You can see the baby's feet.

Little head.

By now, Cohen has run this scam at least
12 times.

He knows the routine.

Everything that he had looked
legitimate. The sonogram had the name of

mother on the bottom. It had the date.
It had the time. I mean, so it looked

very, very real.

Cohen even offers them an out if
something goes wrong.

He gave us a document stating that any
money that we put forward, if an

did not take place, we would be refunded
fully by him and or the adoption annex

that he was representing.

That night, an excited Cohen calls with
more good news.

He said, oh, would you be interested in
seeing a picture of Aaron?

And I said, of course I would.

Within an hour, he forwarded me a
picture of a really pretty girl.

The votes quickly find a loan with a 13
.5 % interest rate, but they'd like to

shop around for a better deal.

Cohen doesn't want to wait, and he
offers his own financial twist to keep

moving.

He said that the adoption annex would be
willing to make up the difference if we

could guarantee and sign documents right
now.

What the votes don't know is that
adoption annex has ceased to exist

year earlier.

Their focus is about finally adding a
baby to their family.

It was very easy for him to dangle a
baby in front of you because you

desperately wanted that child.

There's a lot of hope and there's a lot
of yearning involved in wanting a child.

Within two days, the votes have
deposited the $22 ,500 into Cohen's Bank

America account.

I got a final call from him saying
everything's taken care of, no problem.

We'll talk to you in the next couple
days.

And that was the last I've ever had any
correspondence with him.

What they also don't know is Cohen is
under enormous pressure to steal more

money. He could have very easily walked
away from this, but in the end it was

his greed that got him.

He's currently shopping Aaron O'Malley's
alleged medical records to at least two

other families, including Deborah and
Milton Josephs.

Also on Long Island, the Josephs have
been waiting months for Cohen to follow

through on the two separate adoptions
he's promised them.

Looking back at that summer, the pieces
of the jigsaw just didn't fit into

place. The Josephs have paid Cohen $65
,000 to facilitate adoptions in

Pennsylvania and Nebraska.

But Cohen says the Nebraska mother has
disappeared, and Aaron in Pennsylvania

refusing to sign the adoption paperwork.

I think then our suspicions began to get
aroused. You know, what's going on

here? Why is this not working?

Milton calls the Pennsylvania hospital
where Erin is supposedly staying.

He said, can I speak to Erin O'Malley,
please?

They said, we've got no record of any
Erin O'Malley here, which I thought was

very strange.

Milton then calls the Nebraska hospital,
only to learn there wasn't a pregnant

woman there either.

The Josephs take their suspicions to
Nassau County Assistant District

Karen Bennett and Chief Investigator
Chuck Rabando.

They had a letter from a doctor. They
had their retainer agreement, their

attestation of due diligence.

Phone calls to the hospital confirm
there is no pregnant Erin O'Malley in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

So how did Cohen come up with the name
of this phantom mother?

Investigators will later learn the name
O'Malley has particular and twisted

significance to Kevin Cohen.

O'Malley was his real birth mother's
name, maiden name.

It was a little bit of a shocker. Up
next, investigators find out just how

damage Cohen has created in two years
and how much hope he has turned to

It was probably the worst case I've ever
investigated, being that it was so

repulsive on how he played on these
families' emotions.

I've never seen anything like this
before.

Deborah and Milton Josephs.

desperate to adopt a child, have given
$65 ,000 to attorney Kevin Cohen.

In return, he's given them lies and
distractions.

He saw us as a cash cow, I think, and he
preyed on our emotions.

Frustrated, they've contacted the Nassau
County District Attorney's Office.

Cohen's been running his scam for more
than two years.

It takes investigators less than nine
days to collect enough evidence to

they have a bizarre case of fraud on
their hands.

We spoke to anyone that we could speak
to who knew him.

We did a full financial investigation on
him. And everyone we spoke to basically

told us the same story.

On September 25, 2009, police arrest
Kevin Cohen outside his home.

The day he was arrested, he looked every
bit the part that he was playing.

He looked like the Ivy League grad who
belonged in the large house in Roslyn.

Search warrants reveal Cohen has every
intention to expand his operation.

We found that he had just gone to
Kinko's a few days before and made a

stack of color sonograms so that he
could give them out to his next victim.

And he acknowledged that the only reason
the scam stopped was because he was

arrested.

For Benjamin and Bridget Vogt, it is an
abrupt end to a whirlwind week.

Only four days earlier, they gave Cohen
more than $22 ,000.

I was angry. I was angry about
everything that was going on. How could

come into my home, meet with my family,
and steal money from us like that?

Not only the money, but everything
emotionally that he stole from me and my

wife.

Michael and Elise Romberg, who have been
waiting eight months for a baby, are

stunned to learn of Cohen's betrayal.

It really is incredible that anyone
would do this, and, you know, had he

me in the heart, it would have been,
let's crawl.

Before it's over, 13 couples come
forward claiming they've been scammed by

during the past two years.

All told, he stole nearly $300 ,000.

Literally almost every one of the
victims said, I can't even believe that

somebody could be that cruel to do
something like this.

Speaking with a court psychiatrist,
Cohen defends his actions.

claiming he's simply been misunderstood.

It was never a question in my mind to
any of these people that I was not going

to give them the money back.

He claims his depression has become
bipolar disorder and he is not

for his erratic behavior.

It's everyone else's fault that no one
diagnosed him properly earlier.

Everyone should have seen that he's been
mentally ill for a long time and no one

did anything to help him. So poor Kevin,
poor Kevin, poor Kevin.

In fact, Cohen seems eager to absolve
himself of all blame.

You don't look particularly sad in
talking about what you did.

I mean, sometimes, frankly, I've
forgiven myself.

The courts are not so forgiving.

Kevin Cohen is soon indicted on 69
counts of larceny, fraud, and forgery.

Cohen, who has never been a trial
lawyer, decides to represent himself.

As with everything else, Kevin believes
that he's smarter than everyone else and

decided that no one could represent
Kevin Cohen as well as Kevin Cohen.

He faces 92 years in jail.

To this day, I don't believe that Kevin
had the mental state to stand trial and

try the case himself.

By the time trial begins, Cohen has
undergone a startling transformation.

He no longer looks like the clean -cut
suburban lawyer he once was.

Now his hair is long and unkempt, and he
goes days without showering.

That's what this jury saw.

They saw a crazy -looking person who was
saying, I'm crazy.

To counter Cohen's appearance,
prosecutors showed jurors photos of what

looked like only months before.

You could hear a gasp.

And then everyone just looked at the
picture and looked at him, looked at the

picture and looked at him.

And they started to get it, that that's
the person that all of these people

trusted, not the guy sitting here now.

During trial, he's asked by prosecutors
to justify the pain he's caused.

And his response was that he calculated
in his mind.

the amount of pain and suffering that
his actions would cause them. Then he

rationalized this to himself by saying,
but these things happen in adoption all

the time, and they would get over it.

The trial lasts four weeks.

After seven hours of deliberations, the
jury returns its verdict.

Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty.

It was just a great feeling to hear
guilty every single count.

And interestingly, while the former of
the jury was reading the guilty verdict,

he couldn't care less. He wasn't paying
attention.

On December 7, 2010, Kevin Cohen is
sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison.

Though broke, he's also ordered to
return the $296 ,000 he stole.

Fortunately, the families he scammed are
able to take advantage of a New York

lawyer's fund.

that makes partial restitution to
victims of attorney fraud.

So the lawyer's fund reimbursed most of
the victims only for the amount of money

that they had paid Cohen, not for what
they spent on cribs and all of that.

Out of the 65, we got the 60 back.

We were reimbursed simply the amount
that we paid directly to him for

or for fees for the mother.

And that is all.

All the other expenses, they're gone.
We'll never get those back.

The victims of Kevin Cohen have learned
a harsh lesson about greed and that some

thieves steal more than just money.

It was all a scam, and they were
devastated.

And he can sit there and say, these
things happen, they'll get over it.

not over it.

They don't know how you get over that.

Kevin Cohen is a thief.

A thief of dreams and of money and of
hearts.

And that's all he'll ever be to me now.

Next American Greed. He wasn't really
that good a businessman, but he was a

good conman. Living the life on a $3 .5
billion scam.

An all -new American Greed. Scams,
scoundrels, and suckers. Next on CNBC.

Business intelligence.

CNBC.