All language subtitles for American Greed s07e04 Deadly Payout

In this episode of American Greed, the
ringleaders of A &O Resource Management

are putting an old twist on a new scam.

The insurance company will always pay
the death benefit to your client.

The A &O management were incredibly
bold, brazen, and creative in the

and quality of lives that they devised.

They take a legitimate business and
pervert it into a $100 million life

insurance fraud.

They believe that they can outsmart the
authorities, and they certainly believe

they can outsmart investors.

But A &O is just a lie that grows,
devouring the guilty and the innocent.

They're swimming in a tank of sharks.
When that happens, people in the

surrounding areas, they're the ones that
get bitten.

In the fall of 2004, 33 -year -old
Christian Allmendinger and 30 -year -old

Brent Unkow decide they're ready for a
career change.

The investment consultants have toiled
for the Houston branch of Hibernia Bank

long enough.

They came from this banking background,
which is generally something that's, you

know, it's a pretty conservative
industry.

But they took a very different approach.

Houston Chronicle reporter Lauren Steffi
says that they also share a taste for a

flashier life than most mid -level
bankers can aspire to.

They seem to be very interested in all
the trappings of success, if you will.

They like the fast cars.

They like the beautiful women. They
wanted to show that they had hit the big

time.

They've discovered that Texas is
becoming the epicenter for a little

investment that's exploding in
popularity called life settlements. The

premise is that an investor buys a life
insurance policy and continues to make

the premiums, and then when the person
dies, they collect the benefit.

It might seem morbid, but life
settlements allow people to sell their

insurance policies for cash before they
die.

They get the money up front. Maybe they
have a terminal illness, for example, or

something, and they want to use that
money to pay their medical bills.

Investors then hold on to the policies,
waiting to collect their payout when the

insured dies.

Life settlements are an investment in
death, and by 2007, they become a nearly

$12 billion industry.

IRS Special Agent Rick Raven says life
settlements can be an attractive but

risky investment.

The key to a life settlement investment
is that the premiums be paid. I can't

stress that enough. If they lapse, the
life insurance policy is worthless.

But another problem is longevity risk.

Because if the insured lives past their
life expectancy, the investor loses

money paying their premiums until they
die.

Allmendinger and Oncow see opportunity
and a market to exploit.

They resign from Hibernia Bank in
November 2004 and immediately open A &O

Resource Management as equal partners
and co -vice presidents.

Investigators say Allmendinger was the
brains of the operation.

And as excerpts from this A &O sales
tape show, he was never shy about

exaggerating A &O's successes to lure in
money.

We normally keep about $100 million of
the policies that we warehouse just

waiting for clients.

Currently, this industry is about a $15
billion industry as of this year, and we

only see it growing.

That was all smoke and mirrors to entice
investors to invest in this company.

They offer higher than average returns.

But to collect, investors must be
patient, says U .S. Attorney Neil

You need to wait four to seven years,
which is the lifespan of the insurance

policy, before you're going to start
seeing any money. But once you do, it's

going to be 10, 12, 15 percent.

Allmendinger and Oncow purchased life
insurance policies from a clearinghouse,

and we sell them as bonded life
settlements.

To entice investors, they offer two
guarantees.

What A &O was promising investors was
that those premiums would be paid up

front, or those premiums would be placed
in escrow, and they wouldn't have to

worry about those premiums not being
paid because that was the number one

A &O's bonded life settlements offer a
unique protection from longevity risk,

those policyholders who live too long.

Re -insurance bonds that pay out the
full policy on a predetermined date.

even if the insured is still alive.

If the insured should outlive the
policy's expiration date, it's not going

matter to your client because the bond's
going to pay out the entire death

benefit on that date.

In 2005, A &O sets up shop in this
office building just outside downtown

Houston. Until now, they've been relying
on their own bank contacts and word of

mouth to grow the company.

But the Houston market is exploding for
them.

The two of them could not sell these
things quickly enough to grow the

the way they wanted to, and so they
started looking for people that could

in to essentially be distributors, to be
sales guys.

Thirty -year -old marketing whiz Adly
Abdul -Wahab lives in nearby Spring,

Texas, and he's got just the connections
they need.

He was the jet fuel that was poured on
the fire, basically, because he had a

company that had a network that had, you
know, sort of the distribution system

already there. He took these products,
and that's when things really began to

take off.

Although investigators say Abdul Wahab,
who calls himself Wahab, is a relentless

salesman, he also brings something else
to the table.

He brings sort of what you might say is
the traditional con man background to

the whole thing. You get the sense that
he was the guy that really knew how to

make this thing work.

Abdul Wahab claims he's graduated from
Louisiana State University, but that's a

lie. He also fails to mention that he's
recently pled guilty to felony forgery

charges for trying to pass fake money
orders at a local Neiman Marcus.

But Abdul Wahab's not going to let a
criminal pass slow him down, and he

at the chance to aggressively market A
&O, even if it means selling a lie.

Up next on American Greed.

The money and the greed take over, and
they lose sight of what's right, what's

wrong.

Faced with a choice, the A &O partners
must make a decision.

Walk away from millions or start
covering their track.

They were lying about what they were
delivering. They were lying about who

were. They were lying about their
background.

Paula Whitaker Hancock has taught high
school classes in Houston for 23 years.

She's also earned two master's degrees,
started a couple of private schools, and

more recently opened a crisis and
counseling center.

I did a lot of counseling in my private
schools, helping families, helping

children, and that was my love, was
helping people.

The true center of her universe, though,
like any single mom, is her 25 -year

-old son, Ryan.

He was my only child.

I worked like a dog.

For all those years.

And so I wanted my son to have a good
future.

Paula's determined efforts pay off.

To her delight, she somehow saved a
million dollars.

Her estate planner suggests she invest
this money with a new company he's

representing called A &O.

She agrees to meet the two A &O
principals, Christian Allmendinger and

Unkell.

When they come to visit, she's impressed
by their presentation.

Both of them driving up in twin Hummers.

So they looked very prosperous.

Italian suit.

Young men in their late 20s, early 30s.

Over the course of four months and
repeated visits, Allmendinger and Ancal

her down.

They ask her to invest $1 million, and
they offer to personally match her money

with $1 million of their own.

And so I thought, well, maybe something
that they invest in would be more

secure than other types of policies.
Because if this loses, they're going to

lose. They promised her a 100 % return
on her investment, adding up to $2

million after six years.

They also tell Paula the investment is
completely guaranteed by a Costa Rican

reinsurance company called Provident
Capital Indemnity.

PCI will pay on the maturity date, even
if the woman named on the policy is

still alive.

It was a guarantee. You had insurance.

And so this was a win -win. If she
passed away, the $2 million came.

Even if she didn't pass away at the end
of the six years, you would still get

the $2 million.

In January 2006, she takes money from
her savings, her retirement, and her

business, investing $1 million with A
&O.

Of course, when you're dealing with
thieves and criminals, they don't follow

what they thought.

Paula Whitaker Hancock's million dollars
seems like a lot, but it's just the

beginning of what A &O is taking in.

Most of their initial success is based
on word of mouth and a marketing

that doesn't let the truth get in the
way of a sale.

By July 2005, less than six months after
they've opened shop at a Houston office

building, A &O's website falsely claims
to have satellite offices in San

Antonio, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

All lies, says IRS Special Agent Rick
Raven.

You read further on this website, and it
talks about the 150 people nationwide

that A &O employed, including CPAs,
insurance and security attorneys.

A &O had four employees who did mostly
clerical work in the Houston office.

But even if their marketing materials
are a lie, their ambitions aren't.

To expand the operation, they've begun
aggressively training a growing

nationwide sales staff composed
primarily of independent insurance

As part of the training for the agents
were included all of these lies about

success of A &O to essentially brainwash
their agents to help them then go out

and spread more falsehoods about A &O's
success.

These deceptions quickly bring A &O to
the attention of Letha Sparks. She's an

investigator for the Texas State
Securities Board.

Fifteen years of tenacious financial
detective work has earned her an

affectionate office nickname, Lethal
Letha.

Lethal Letha realizes there's a big
problem.

Under Texas law, A &O's bonded life
settlements are considered securities

than life insurance. But most of A &O's
sales force are insurance agents, not

licensed securities brokers.

If you have an insurance license in
Texas, you can sell a life insurance

to somebody. You can sell health
insurance to that person. Or you can

a fixed annuity.

That's all you're permitted to sell.

But the big commissions A &O pays are
enough to make many sales agents ignore

the law, including that estate planner
who connected Paula Whitaker Hancock

A &O.

He did not have the license I found out
later.

$10 ,000 went to him as commission, so
dollar signs in someone's eyes are the

things that make you maybe turn your
head.

Fudging the truth pays off for A &O.

Between 2004 and 2007, they would take
in nearly $80 million from more than 600

investor contracts.

And much of that money is just sitting
around in A &O's accounts to keep the

policies going.

It's a perfect storm of opportunity and
temptation.

In reality, that money just passed
through those escrow accounts or went

directly to the pockets of the
principals of A &O.

Chris Allmendinger will siphon nearly $8
million for himself.

He buys a fleet of sports cars,
including a Lamborghini, Bentley, and a

Maserati.

He spends more than a million buying
this 14 -room mansion less than three

from A &O's office.

There's an infinity pool and hot tub
overlooking the terrace backyard.

Houston is a strange city in that it has
a lot of residential areas that are...

Very exclusive, but right in the heart
of the city. And that's where this is.

He fills it with a $100 ,000 Steinway
Baby Grand piano and a bar with a pool

table. And he jumps into Houston's
social scene, lavishly spending on

fundraisers and charity benefits like
this costume party.

It was important to him to appear to be
wealthy and to have the trappings of

wealth and to flaunt that wealth.

That's what he did.

Partner Brent Oncal is no slouch himself
when it comes to raiding A &O's

accounts.

He buys this nearly 7 ,000 -square -foot
mansion, complete with nine bathrooms,

in another exclusive area of Houston
near A &O's headquarters.

Not a shabby place at all.

It's a nice area. It's a secluded area.

It's near downtown, but it's one of the
tonier.

Addresses in Houston.

The neighborhood comes with an exotic
appeal.

Wild peacocks roam freely through the
yards.

Almendinger and Ancal finally have the
life they've dreamed of. But to keep it,

they need to find more money.

Fast.

The more you work the scam, the more
money you start getting, the more you

to keep it going. And that's where they
always get into trouble.

Next on American Greed.

One of A &O's top salesmen can't sell
his policies fast enough.

And we're going to maximize our assets,
and we're going to be our own bank.

But ripping off a former federal agent
is never a good plan.

I look at them like a mad dog.

They've committed a crime, and they
could be put down.

One of ANO's top sales reps is Richmond,
Virginia -based Tommy Bromseth.

Leverage is really important, but you
know what's important also about

You've got to have the right tool.

He's a 66 -year -old insurance agent and
a former pastor still heavily involved

in his church.

Recently, he's been preaching a new path
to financial salvation in marketing

videos touting ANO's life settlements.

I'm looking forward to sharing with you.

Some great idea of a strategy that will
help you double your net worth, double

your IRAs, double your 401ks, all
without incurring any risk.

Bromseth may not live quite as nicely as
his A &O bosses, but he's quickly

become an important part of their
operation.

10 % guaranteed.

Between July 2006 and November 2007,
Bromseth will sell more than $3 million

worth of ANO products to area investors.

Get up on the couch. Give us a call.
It'll be the best time you've ever

One of Bromseth's friends and clients is
Philip Kersey, not the sort of person

who's going to fall for any old story.

He spent 28 years as an agent of the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and

During that time, we worked moonshine.

We worked gun trafficking, explosives, a
lot of different things.

Over the years, he's seen his share of
smooth talkers and heard enough tall

tales to keep his eyes open.

I did get a good experience in law
enforcement and reading people, and I

shouldn't be.

considered a gullible person.

In 2006, Kersey's living just outside
Richmond, Virginia.

He's unhappy with his annuities and
looking for better returns.

I had gone through two years with a zero
growth, both years, and we were

talking about other opportunities, other
options, and that's when the life

annuities came up.

Tommy Bromseth jumps on the chance to
push A &O. He talks about the bonded

settlements being zero risk, guaranteed,
will double your money in seven years

or less.

Kersey examines A &O's website
carefully. He likes what he sees.

Everything that I checked, everything
that I looked for, came back positive.

The better this thing got, the more
guaranteed it got.

the more I should have been afraid of
it.

Philip Kersey finally pulled the trigger
and invests $105 ,000 at the

end of 2006.

The maturity date for my contract with
that policy was May 1, 2010.

And on that date, they promised to pay
$145 ,990.

That's a return of 10 % per year.

It sounds great.

But Kersey doesn't know Tommy Bromseth
is only a local insurance sales agent.

And legally, he's not allowed to sell
securities like A &O's bonded life

settlements. I don't think there's any
question that Tommy knew what he was

doing was wrong.

He was making way too much money doing
it. I think he just led me down a path.

Back in Texas.

Regulators like Lethal Letha Sparks are
wise to what's going on.

They've been dogging ANO partners Chris
Armendinger and Brent Oncow for months,

trying to force them to clean up their
act.

They were targeting mostly senior
citizens.

They were targeting retirement accounts,
targeting in some cases teachers,

retired state and federal employees.

Under pressure, the partners decide it's
time for some changes.

They shut down their Texas operation and
reincorporate in Illinois, at least on

paper. It was really a cynical, shameful
ploy to try and suggest that somehow

they were bringing, you know, order to
the criminal chaos when in fact they

not.

The new A &O address isn't in Illinois,
though. It's in a gleaming high -rise in

Houston's Galleria District.

just around the corner from their
previous office building.

They also changed their bonded life
settlements to a new product.

They moved on to what they call the
capital appreciation bond, where they

a portfolio of life insurance policies,
and investors would actually invest in

the securities that came out of that.

They continue to aggressively inflate
their track record and marketing

materials.

This website also talks about their past
track record of leveraging $375 million

into $800 million in less than five
years with a rate of return of 16%. Just

made up money to show unwitting
investors how successful their company

This is almost eye -popping and drew a
lot of investors in.

Their marketing efforts became more and
more reckless and more and more alluring

as time went on.

But their most important move is a
personnel change.

When Allmendinger and OnCal promote top
salesman Adly Abduwahab to full partner

in the fall of 2006.

It's a marriage of inconvenience for
Allmendinger. He and Abduwahab don't

each other. But they do have 80 million
reasons to work together.

This case is all about greed. It really
is about these principles trying to draw

in as much illegal, illicit money
through whatever means from innocent,

unsuspecting investors.

Next on American Greed, as the innocent
get caught deeper in A &O's web.

Everybody could have been a winner in
this, but the greed overtook it, and

that's what ruined it.

The con men turn on each other.

And that's where we get a level of
creativity here that borders almost on

Paula Whitaker Hancock has invested $1
million with A &O, hoping to create a

nest egg for her only child, Ryan.

But 12 months after she sends her check,
the unspeakable happens.

On January the 29th, 2007, my son died.

My life was over because he had been the
center of my life.

It's like going over the cliff.

You see no future. My future was him.

Ryan was 25.

in the prime of his life, but his
breathing stopped prior to routine back

surgery.

Determined to make something good from
her tragedy, Paula creates a nursing

scholarship in his name at nearby Lone
Star College.

That gave me a vision, gave me a
direction of something that I

could do with my life.

It was continuation to help people, but
the legacy.

What's the most important thing?

She also starts a foundation in his
memory.

I made up my mind to set up the Ryan
Paul Whitaker Memorial Foundation

and to do what Ryan wanted to do, and
that was to help people.

And the A &O money was to be used for
that foundation.

But Paula doesn't know that A &O owners
Chris Allmendinger, Brenton Cowell, and

Adly Abduwalhab have been using her
money and that of hundreds of other

investors for their own pleasure.

As soon as the checks cleared, they were
sent to A &O, and A &O could do

whatever they wanted to with the money,
and they did.

By the summer of 2007, constant pressure
from state regulators convinces

Allmendinger it's a good time to unload
A &O.

and let someone else worry about the
never -ending questions.

Allmendinger decides he's done, he's
out, and he's going to sell his stake in

the company.

On call says, yeah, I'm out too, I'm
selling my stake, but that's not what he

did.

Liars and thieves typically come to a
disagreement, and we saw that to a

here.

OnCal and Abdulwalhab decide they aren't
ready to walk away from A &O's millions

just yet.

Together, they hire an attorney named
Russell Mackert to handle a different

than the one Allmendinger expects.

Operating out of a nondescript Houston
office, Mackert engineers the sale of A

&O to a company named Blue Diamond in
Nevis, West Indies for $2 .2 million.

Allmendinger thinks they are all
clearing $750 ,000 to walk away from A

But the sale is just a show.

And Abdulwalhab and Oncaller handed
checks for just $750 to sell the sham.

Allmendinger was literally tricked out
of his involvement in the corporation.

And that's where we get a level of
creativity here that borders almost on

The sales contract is signed by a
mysterious man named R .J. Stevenson.

only thing seen from Stevenson is a
signature.

R .J. Stevenson is sort of like...

a character out of an Ian Fleming novel
in the sense that this is a wholly

fictitious person who the fraudsters
create his identity because they think

name sounds vaguely British.

The purpose of this sham sale is
twofold. First, it allows Abdulwalhab

to kick Christian Allmendinger out of
the company he started.

But it also further insulated...

Mr. Onkel and Mr. Abduwahab from the
state regulators that were looking at A

They now were claiming that they sold
the company, had nothing to do with it.

To bury their secret further, Abduwahab
and Onkel have attorney Russell Mackert

sell Blue Diamond to another fake
company named Physicians Trust, also

Nevis.

It's a lucrative series of transactions
for Mackert. He'll eventually bill A &O

$250 ,000 for his services.

But it's a much better deal for Abdul
Wahab. Between 2005 and 2008, he pockets

more than $8 million.

He moves from this exclusive gated
community just north of Houston to a

-dollar mansion with seven bedrooms and
a swimming pool surrounded by an acre of

landscaped property.

He was siphoning off his share of the
proceeds to buy vehicles, a BMW, a Jeep,

very large custom -built estate.

Certainly fraud, waste, and abuse of
investors' money.

He buys a Ferrari and BMW and drops $60
,000 on watches and jewelry.

Ever the good son, he even gives $1
million to his family.

Unaware their funds are being looted,
Investors like Philip Kersey are looking

forward to their payouts.

Kersey's money is scheduled to arrive in
May 2010.

But in 2007, just months after investing
$105 ,000, the former ATF

agent begins to smell a rat.

When he has trouble changing the
beneficiary on his account, he calls the

headquarters in Houston.

I felt like I was talking to a
storefront with one person in it.

answering phones.

It just didn't have the feel of a large
company.

And I guess that's one of those things
where being an investigator for 30

it piqued my interest.

Soon after, Kersey gets a call from
Tommy Bromseth, the sales rep who sold

the investment.

He was very quick to come back to me
after I called the office.

And basically what he let me know was,
hey, if you need anything, call me.

Don't call the office.

And that was my second feeling that
something wasn't quite right.

But Bromseth knows the right things to
say to calm his fears.

We had a discussion about going out to
visit A &O. But before we could go, he

told me one day that he had already
been.

And he gave me this brilliant rendering
of what A &O looked like.

Marble floors, big building, nice, great
people.

I guess you could say being a fool, I
believed him.

Despite his misgivings, Kersey decides
to sit and wait, hoping his investment

will be secure until its 2010 maturity.

But the clock is ticking.

It was just a matter of time before A &O
unraveled at that point. It was just a

few short months. But in those few short
months, both Brent and Adley were able

to continue to stipend assets out of
that company.

Coming up on American Greed. The A &O
fraud was a mirage in the financial

that when you got up close, it just
vanished.

The feds get wind of A &O, and now
they're closing in.

None of these things can go on forever,
and so they always collapse.

Would you fall for A &O's promises?

Listen to their sales pitch at
AmericanGreed .CNBC .com.

Feeling greedy?

Want more than your share of behind -the
-scenes dirt? Follow at AmericanGreedTV

on Twitter. We'll be right back.

Adly Abduwalhab and Brent Oncal have
successfully kicked partner Chris

Allmendinger out of their life
settlement scam.

And they've hidden their involvement by
selling A &O to two West Indies shell

companies.

To throw off regulators, they've
invented an imaginary Englishman named R

Stevenson to serve as the front.

Well, if somebody doesn't exist, they
have no history, it makes it very hard

the regulators to find out who this
person is, and so it became a convenient

field, if you will, for this
reconstituted A &O.

But to sell the ruse, Ancal and
Abdulwalhab need a real person to run

company and meet with nosy
investigators.

Essentially, they were stealth owners,
if you will, in this company, and so

needed a figurehead to be the public
face of the new A &O.

In September 2007, they recruit Brent
Oncow's former fraternity brother, David

White, to be president.

He really didn't know what was happening
at the company at the time he came in.

He thought he was being asked to
actually step in and help turn around a

legitimate enterprise.

White quickly realizes he's caught in a
scam.

But when he meets with securities
investigators, including lethal Letha

he does everything he can to protect his
bosses.

He lied substantially, significantly
when he came in, voluntarily.

And usually when people come in
voluntarily, they're going to be

So it was one big lie after another.

The biggest lie he spread is that A &O
is keeping enough money in the escrow

accounts to pay premiums when they come
due.

Unbeknownst to them, that money that was
supposed to be paying the premiums

continued to go into the pockets of Mr.
Onkel and Abdul Wahab.

But he also assures them he is in
contact with R .J. Stevenson, the

owner of A &O's new parent company.

physicians trust.

He claims to have spoken to Mr.
Stephenson by phone, but when he's asked

telephone number, oh, my cell phone just
died. I don't know it.

White's presidency is short -lived.
After five months of questions and lies,

resigned from A &O.

Attorney Russell Mackert steps in to
publicly run the company.

In 2008, the investigation into A &O
picks up speed.

Letha Sparks sends investors, including
Philip Kersey, a letter asking about

their A &O experience.

Basically, I sent them all the
information I could.

I sent them everything they asked for.

Thanks to the hard detective work of
Letha Sparks, A &O comes to the

of a whole different level of
investigators, the federal government.

Civil regulators are often kind of the
early warning system. Often they're the

canary in the coal mine that may catch
wind of something before it ever comes

the attention of criminal investigators.

That's exactly what happened here.

The Financial Task Force is created in
Virginia, bringing together the FBI, the

IRS, and the U .S. Postal Inspection
Service to take down A &O. All this

us to...

do a deep dive, something that could
have taken a whole lot longer that we

able to do in a series of months, and
then stop the fraud in its tracks.

Double your money in seven years or
less.

Amazing. One local A &O salesman comes
to their attention almost immediately.

The video star, 66 -year -old Richmond
resident Tommy Bromseth.

When we initially began speaking with
Bromseth, there was some hesitancy

initially, but as we...

got more involved, he became more
cooperative and began to reveal

that was usable in our investigation.

Peeling the layers, investigators
realize Abdul Wahab and Ancal have been

running the operation from the shadows
all along.

We quickly realized the scope and
expanse of this and the impact that this

had on victims across the country.

More than $20 million has already been
looted from A &O.

Now, Abdul Wahab and Oncal make a last
series of money grabs, with Attorney

Russell Mackert helping them every step
of the way.

$12 .6 million of A &O money was taken
out of the A &O bank accounts and run

through Mr.

Mackert's attorney account.

And from that, Mr. Oncal got over $4
million.

plus a Ferrari that was over $400 ,000.

As A &O spirals out of control, the
lawyer desperately tries to keep the

afloat. Mackard was left to take the
calls from the concerned investors when

was readily apparent to them that this
was a thinking ship and was in that role

as sort of the face of the corporation.

Mackard needs to pay $120 ,000 a month.

to keep A &O's life settlement policies
active.

But most of the money in his escrow
accounts has already been bled dry.

But the bigger problem is Provident
Capital indemnity.

PCI is the Costa Rican company that
guarantees to pay out policies even if

insured live past their maturation
dates.

But now PCI is refusing to pay.

Mr. Mackert even sent a letter out to
the investors telling them...

Looks like PCI is not going to pay off,
so by December you're going to have to

be prepared to make premium payments
because we don't have any money to pay

premiums.

Unknown to Mackert, PCI's owner has been
running his own unrelated scam, and

he's about to be arrested for defrauding
clients around the world.

Well, it turned out PCI had its own
global fraud to the tune of a half

dollars. And so the poor investor...

essentially get screwed both ways.

Unable to pay the premiums, attorney
Russell Mackert has run out of options.

In September 2009, he places A &O into
Chapter 11 bankruptcy, forever

investors' hopes of recovering their
money.

Once you enter the bankruptcy process,
one of the first things you have to do

state your assets and liabilities, and
it became very clear that the money was

no longer there.

Up next.

The con men scramble to save themselves.

When a house charge comes down, it comes
down quick.

And their victims are left to pick up
the pieces.

There are days that I just want to lay
down and not get up.

But I have to get up.

And I have to do this for my boy.

When A &O collapses in 2009, federal
investigators are stunned by the scope

the scam.

In less than five years, prosecutors
believe the company has stolen more than

$100 million from 800 investors.

If you're taking that money that's
supposed to pay the premiums and you're

sticking it in your pocket and buying
toys with it, that's a fraud.

Of the missing money, nearly $30 million
has gone straight into the pockets of A

&O's management team.

The rest has been spent on sales
commissions, paying into the escrow

and on an outside scam run by the
reinsurance company Provident Capital

Indemnity. It is like a small cancer
that starts, and then it spreads, and

it metastasizes and moves.

In September 2010, Adli Adewalhab and
original partner Christian Allmendinger

are indicted on charges including
securities fraud.

Although Christian Allmendinger was
driven from A &O in 2007, nearly $80

disappeared while he was in charge.

He was forced out, but that didn't make
him any less culpable, any less sort of

the genius behind this conspiracy.

was willing to acknowledge that role and
his culpability.

Faced with overwhelming evidence, most
of the conspirators quickly cooperate.

Brett Oncal has pocketed more than $13
million.

He pleads guilty to money laundering and
mail fraud and is sentenced to 10 years

in federal prison.

Attorney Russell Mackert pleads guilty
to bulk cash smuggling and mail fraud.

He didn't necessarily...

concoct the fraud or direct sales agents
out into the field to market the risky

products, but he played a key role in
it.

Mackert is sentenced to 15 years.

David White, the figurehead president,
who spent less than six months at A &O,

pleads guilty to a single fraud count
and receives a five -year term.

Salesman Tommy Bromseth also pleads and
receives a three -year sentence.

He's released 14 months later.

Only Christian Allmendinger and Adly
Abduwalhab decide to test their fate and

to trial.

Prosecutors are ready, and the evidence
is overwhelming.

This was, in some respects, an
incredibly sophisticated and complicated

But on the other hand, as we said to the
jury, this case is ultimately about a

bunch of fraudsters who lied to old
people and stole their money.

And at the end of the day, it was as
simple as that and as sad as that.

After a trial that lasts only 10 days,
Allmendinger is found guilty on all

counts and sentenced to 45 years in
prison.

Two and a half months later, a jury
deliberates less than three hours before

convicting Adli Adewaham. He's sentenced
to 60 years in prison.

These are effectively life sentences.
These are white -collar criminals who

never going to...

walk free outside the walls of a federal
prison.

They've lost everything, their families,
reputations, and freedom, and destroyed

hundreds of victims' lives in the
process.

It's enough to break your heart.

They went from having a reasonable
income that was supposed to last for the

next 10, 15, 20, 30 years to having
absolutely nothing.

Christian Allmendinger's mansion sits
vacant, waiting to be auctioned by U .S.

Marshals. The property has been
repeatedly vandalized, and now the scum

pool offers only a tantalizing hint of
what once was.

The house will be sold through
forfeiture, but investors have little

recovering much money.

Philip Kersey invested $105 ,000 in
2006.

and hoped to make another $41 ,000 six
years later.

Instead... We went through the
bankruptcy proceeding, and as a result,

July the 6th, 2012, they sent me a check
for

$4 ,670 .86.

So that was the end result.

Paula Whitaker Hancock still struggles
to pick up the pieces of her life.

She's lost $1 million, but she is
determined that A &O won't tarnish the

of her son, Ryan.

I love coming here because I can feel my
son's spirit, and this is his legacy.

It's not about stealing, and it's not
about the awful things. It's the good

things that make, I think, our country
wonderful and the blessings that we

It's all part of Paula's daily efforts
to remind herself that the greed of A &O

can't destroy or define her life.

Every child is a gift, and he was my
gift.

I didn't get to keep him as long as I
wanted to, but I will continue to do

everything that I can to leave the
legacy that he wanted, and that's

people. I won't let them steal that.

I will never let them steal that.