All language subtitles for American Greed s07e07 Windy City Wipeout Miami Burn

In this episode of American Greed, in
Chicago, Charles Martin owns a lucrative

currency brokerage, but lives like a
Hollywood big shot.

I think that was his goal in life, to
become a superstar.

It's a game of make -believe with a very
high price tag.

He dropped a million dollars on private
jet travel, a 2006 Bentley, Ferrari,

BMW, Land Rover, hundreds of thousands
of dollars at a strip club.

And when the credits roll, he and his
partners stick their clients with the

bill. What dawns on me is nobody's going
to get a dime back ever.

And later, Miami accountant Juan Carlos
Rodriguez promises to make his friends

rich. He was like a brother to my
husband.

I mean, truly, my husband considered him
to be family. He offers them a

guaranteed investment in blue chip
stocks.

But this is no way to treat a brother.

It really was, in every way, a complete
ripoff.

Instead of delivering the big fat rate
he promises, Rodriguez betrays those

closest to him. This man who has been
her friend for 20 plus years took her

entire life savings and bolted with it.

Winnetka, Illinois, one of Chicago's
wealthiest suburbs.

Most mornings here are quiet.

But in the second floor offices of One
World Capital Group, a foreign currency

exchange, the atmosphere on June 15,
2007, is anything but calm.

Investors have heard unsettling rumors,
and they're flooding the company with

requests to pull their money.

Every five minutes, the fax machine
would ring and spit out a new redemption

request. People would call, and they
would ask, you know, when's this going

be processed?

It's a crazy day.

It is Jared Boyer's second week at One
World.

Today, the results of a routine audit
have set off a panic, and the staff is

anxious. People were just scared, 70 %
of the business, all walking out the

at once.

Scary times.

But when Boyer pays a visit to the
firm's accountant, his worst fears are

realized.

I walk into her office and she looks
really pale.

And she says, I just don't have enough
money to pay all these people.

A forex dealer like One World should
never have a problem repaying its

customers.

Accounts are held in trust until a
customer authorizes a trade.

A customer's money isn't supposed to be
touched. It should always be there. This

shouldn't be an issue at all.

But client funds are missing, and One
World is on the verge of a $16 million

collapse.

I'd been working there for two weeks at
that point, and I started really to

wonder what I'd gotten myself into.

In 2005, One World Capital Group is just
a dream of 40 -year -old Charles

Martin.

Martin works in Chicago's renowned
futures trading industry.

At the time, computers are taking over
the jobs once held by humans on a

floor.

As positions become scarce, Martin
decides to reinvent his career in the

or foreign exchange market.

Sue Herrera, financial journalist and co
-anchor of CNBC's Power Lunch, knows

this market well.

The foreign exchange market is the
biggest market in the world. It's bigger

the stock market. It's bigger than
what's called the futures market.

It's also one of the most volatile
markets in the world.

And with great risk comes great reward.

Each day, major banks and brokerage
firms trade upwards of $3 trillion,

it all on the rise and fall of
currencies around the globe.

With a brokerage of his own, Martin
could take a small piece of this very

pie. You want a piece of what's the most
lucrative. And at times, the foreign

exchange market is incredibly lucrative.

But the National Futures Association, or
NFA, requires $250 ,000 in capital

to start a forex brokerage.

So Martin approaches Jack Walsh, a co
-worker 17 years his senior, about

partnering up.

The two couldn't be more different.

Charles was the most overbearing,
boisterous,

just had to be the center of attention
at all times.

And Jack was a jeans and a collared
shirt type of guy who enjoyed his scotch

really just hung out in the back of the
scenes.

But the odd couple manages to put
together the cash.

And in 2005, Walsh, the quiet behind
-the -scenes guy, officially registers

World Capital Group with the NFA.

Oddly, he leaves his boisterous partner
Charles Martin's name out of the

paperwork. They set up shop in the
Chicago suburb of Winnetka.

Now, they just need customers.

Freedom Rocks would like to welcome you
to the world of zero guesswork

investing.

Mark Ventilet is the founder of Freedom
Rocks, a multi -level marketing company

based in Las Vegas.

In 2005, Freedom Rocks purports to
educated subscribers about speculating

Forex market. The idea is to make this
complicated high -risk trading more

accessible to retail investors.

There were thousands of people all over
the world, and we joined in together,

and we went through some of the ups and
downs in the markets, but we had a

pretty good time over the years.

As his members grow into the thousands,
Vin Salet needs more brokers to handle

all the trades.

One World Capital seems legitimate, and
Vin Salet recommends it to his

subscribers.

According to Boyer, The influx of
business puts One World on the map.

Freedom Rocks was huge to One World.
They were easily, you know, 50 to 70

percent of all of One World's accounts.

And without them, One World wasn't much
of a business.

One World is up and running.

Within a year, the broker amasses $34
million in customer deposits.

And it's not long before Charles
Martin...

flaunts his newfound success.

Patrick O 'Neill owns Little Ricky's, a
bar just down the street from One

World's office.

Charles would pull up every day with a
different car. It would be the red

Ferrari, the black Bentley. It would be
the Denali, the Escalade. He had a fancy

BMW. An ongoing comedy, basically.

Along with customer Denny Niles and bar
manager Marie Albrecht...

O 'Neal recalls Martin's lavish tipping
at the restaurant.

Pretty regularly. He would throw the
girls $100, and $100 were his...

Standard. To carry out people, as Marie
said, were tripping over each other,

trying to fight to take care of them.

Oh, he's mine tonight. He's mine
tonight.

Take turns.

Martin's partner, Jack Walsh, also
enjoys the comforts of their new life.

He buys this $1 .5 million house.

The duo's outward success is comforting
to potential clients.

This woman, who we'll call Judy, handles
the trades for dozens of Forex

investors. In 2006, she gets a
recommendation to move her clients'

One World.

She appears in silhouette due to her
role as an unnamed witness in the later

investigation.

When you see lavish spending like that,
maybe it should be a red flag, but it

really wasn't. To me, it just said, oh,
they're doing great.

Judy speaks with Jack Walsh about
trading through one world.

He was very friendly. He was very open.

I did not get the impression that he was
a super expert in the forex in

particular, but I really didn't care
because he had a staff to handle all

Comforted by Walsh's professionalism,
she migrates her clients' accounts.

I wound up transferring somewhere
between 80 and 100 accounts, probably

million, maybe a little bit more.

In addition, she and her husband put a
portion of their own savings, some $125

,000, in the new brokerage. All the
funds are deposited into what's called a

margin account at One World.

And as long as Judy's trades are
successful, that money belongs to her,

World. They should never have access to
your funds unless you have given them

explicit access to your funds.

It's untouchable. Or at least it's
supposed to be.

Next, a routine audit reveals missing
money and a sordid past.

He had a felony drug conviction dating
back from the 90s. And Judy is seeing

red. I view Jack and Charles as two
clowns. Two...

Idiots that didn't know how good they
had it.

In early 2007, Charles Martin and Jack
Walsh are riding high on the success of

their Forex trading brokerage, One World
Capital.

But Martin, the much more flamboyant of
the two, apparently isn't satisfied with

the life of a Forex trader.

He uses his newfound fortune to live a
movie star lifestyle.

At Little Ricky's, Martin's favorite
bar, his friends recall his outrageous

stories about flying private jets to
celebrity charity events.

He lived so large.

Every time he'd go out of town, he'd
come back and have stories about people

he'd spent time with.

I think he liked to think that he was
part of that group as well. I think that

was his goal in life, to become a
superstar.

His voicemail on his phone was Sylvester
Stallone saying, Charles is not in.

Please leave him a message. I forgot
that.

In February, he rents a luxury box to
watch the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl

Friends say Martin, seen here at an
event in New York, invites Vanessa

and her future husband, Nick Lachey, to
join him. In May, Martin sponsors a

charity event in Las Vegas.

According to Denny Niles, who tags
along, it's a celebrity -filled weekend.

Tiger Woods and that whole group, and
Jon Bon Jovi and his group.

Bon Jovi was there. Yeah. I was there
for four days, and it was nonstop

celebrities.

Just next door to Little Ricky's, Martin
opens his own film production company.

Charles' office was decadent. He had $25
,000 desks filled with

expensive wine, cognac.

Johnny Walker blew.

He wanted to impress, and it was
impressive.

He invests in an independent film called
Breaking Point, starring Tom Berringer

and rapper Busta Rhymes.

Why are you even asking me about this?

I ain't seen her in a long while.

Shot on location in New York, Martin
lavishes money on the film and its

Boyer recalls a time Martin's more
conservative partner, Jack Walsh,

Martin about an unexpected charge at a
hotel incurred by one of the film's

stars.

There was $20 ,000 worth of damage, and
Jack said, well, we're not paying for

this. And Charles said, well, you've got
to keep the talent happy.

Martin may fancy himself a hotshot
producer.

But perhaps he should be paying more
attention to his Forex brokerage.

In June 2007, the National Futures
Association completes a routine audit of

World's records.

It's the first crack in the facade that
will soon come crumbling down.

The report states that Charles Martin is
ineligible to work in the Forex

industry.

FBI Special Agent Brent Potter explains.

The NFA audit found out that he wasn't
even supposed to be there because he had

a felony drug conviction dating back
from the 90s and as a result was

barred by the NFA from any official
position with a futures commission

or a Forex dealer.

Martin was arrested in 1996 for cocaine
possession.

So his partner Walsh deliberately kept
Martin's name off the books when he

registered One World with the NFA.

But when NFA auditors started dropping
in on One World's office, Martin had to

take cover.

Martin was in the habit of actually
showing up at the One World Capital

early in the morning and checking in
with some of the staff that was there

then beating feet over to his office a
few blocks away in Winnetka, staying

there for the remainder of the day while
the NFA audit staff was on site and

then returning to the office sometimes
after hours to again check in with Walsh

or some of the other employees.

But in interviews with clients...

NFA auditors have learned that Martin is
a de facto partner at One World.

His game of hide -and -seek is over.

And there's more.

Mark Vincilet's Freedom Rocks
subscribers account for more than half

World's client base.

When he reviews the NFA report, he
learns that customer money is being

for company expenses.

There were two things in the audit
report that were primarily troubling.

The first one was that they were having
a hard time accounting for customer

funds. And the second one was that there
was an allegation they might be mixing

the customer funds with corporate funds.

And both of those are an absolute no -no
in the brokering world.

On June 15th, he tells his members what
he's learned.

We wanted to make sure that people...

could understand what was going on, that
these were not normal allegations, and

that they could make the best decision
about what to do with their money.

That day, Freedom Rock subscribers flood
One World with requests to withdraw

their funds.

Martin does his best to stop the panic.

He says the money is simply stored in
offshore accounts.

Charles would always say that he had
money at HSBC Hong Kong, and he had

at Credit Suisse, and all these foreign
banks that were overseas.

One world staggers along after the
Freedom Rocks traders pull out, and

eventually the panic subsides.

But Jared Boyer just can't shake the
feeling that something isn't right.

One morning in late July, he confronts
Martin about the shortfall in customer

accounts.

I see Charles walking down the street
with his Starbucks in hand, and I walked

up to him and said, Charles, I need to
see the money. I need to see it.

Can I see it?

He said, no.

And I said, well, I can't work here
anymore then.

And he patted me on the back and wished
me well and said, just leave without

making too much noise.

And so I did.

Even to his friends at Little Ricky's,
it's obvious that there's trouble with

Charles Martin.

His car's not as flashy.

His tip's not so big.

I just saw his wife driving all of a
sudden a minivan, and it wasn't a brand

-new minivan.

And then he had a nanny.

that used to drive a Range Rover, all of
a sudden sees in a car that looks like

a kid's college car.

And the tips went from what the server
said. The tips stopped coming in at

They started coming in at $50 and down.

As summer turns to fall, Forex account
manager Judy gets a call from a fellow

One World client.

He says One World is late paying out his
$100 ,000 redemption.

She gets Walsh on the phone.

I called Jack and said, listen, my
friend said that he's been trying to get

money out. And Jack says, oh, I'm sure
that's not a problem. I'll look into it.

And he called me back and said, oh, no,
it's not a problem. He'll have his wire

tomorrow.

But the wire doesn't come.

Instead, over the next few weeks, Judy's
friend is met with a string of excuses.

There was always a problem. The girl who
did the wires was sick that day. They

lost it in the shuffle, and they had to
request the wire again.

Whatever, on and on and on, day after
day after day.

Something is very wrong at One World,
and Judy has a pit in her stomach.

What dawns on me is nobody's going to
get a dime back ever.

We have almost $8 million tied up, and
we're not going to get any of it back.

Next, find out where Martin is really
putting all those dollar bills.

He would go up to a private room with
some of his friends. They would have a

number of strippers to themselves.

On December 6th, Judy.

A Forex accounts manager and One World
client sees something she's never seen

before. On any given day when I come to
my trading screen, this is the column I

care about the most, and it's the one I
look at first. It's the margin level. It

should be uniform all the way down my
screen, right around 1 ,000%, and that

tells me that all these accounts are
vested equally.

But that day, her screen looks
different.

All of these blank lines here tell me
that these accounts have been

They've been drained and stopped out.

It can only mean one thing.

Someone at the other end is taking the
money out of these accounts right in

front of my eyes.

Judy calls the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission, or CFTC.

And I said I can show you a crime in
progress right now.

On December 13, 2007...

The CFTC issues an injunction freezing
One World's assets.

They contact the FBI, and Special Agent
Brent Potter is assigned to the case.

The situation is dire.

They had something well under $100 ,000
as far as capital on hand, but customer

liabilities were approaching $20
million.

So there was no way that they had enough
money to repay their clients.

Potter teams up with Special Agent Jason
Gibson from IRS Criminal Investigations

to determine where the money went.

We reviewed bank statements, credit
cards.

We conducted witness interviews. We
tracked down every dollar that we could

possibly see coming out of One World
Capital Group.

The two soon realized that Jack Walsh
and Charles Martin have simply been

helping themselves to the customers'
margin accounts.

What you could see is that money being
posted by the customers from Margin was

essentially just being taken right out
and being paid largely to Walsh in the

form of wire transfers to his personal
bank account.

From there, Walsh wired money to Charles
Martin's account.

And from Charles Martin's account, there
was spending to extremes that I've

never seen before in my career.

The total damage, more than $10 million.

Charles Martin bought a Bentley,
Ferrari, Suburban, Land Rover, BMW,

,000 on commercial airfare in addition
to $1 million in private flight time,

around $1 million at elite hotels, $50
,000 at toy stores, $30 ,000 at an area

liquor store, over $100 ,000 at an
electronics store, sets of underwear

company called Brioni that retailed for
over $250.

Martin even manages to spend $1 million
at a strip club in Manhattan.

He would spend well in excess of $10
,000 a night there. He would go up to a

private room with some of his friends.

They would have a number of strippers to
themselves.

All the while, Martin and Walsh have
been paying redemption requests using

clients' money.

From the moment an investor came in,
their initial deposits were turned

and used to fund redemptions for
existing One World clients.

So their money didn't even, in some
cases, fit in One World's account for

whole day after they deposited the
funds. It almost defies imagination.

In January 2009, agents arrest Martin
and Walt.

They're charged with wire fraud.

Special Agent Potter interviews Martin
in custody.

Potter asks why he stole his client's
money.

Martin says they'd lose it anyway.

Martin was of the opinion that about 70
% of Forex traders would lose all or

nearly all of their funds within about
two or three weeks.

He just figured I'll steal it before
they have a chance to lose it and

never know the difference.

Meanwhile, Jack Walsh claims he was
duped by his partner.

Walsh essentially professed ignorance as
to what was going on. He was just

trying to keep the books as best he
could, and Martin was primarily the one

spending all the money that had been
siphoned out of customer trading

In May 2011, Martin and Walsh each plead
guilty to three counts of fraud and tax

evasion. Martin is sentenced to 17 years
in federal prison.

Walsh gets 12 and a half.

Agent sees countless pieces of antique
furniture, sports memorabilia, and other

toys belonging to Martin and Walsh. But
they're worth just a fraction of the $16

million they owe more than 1 ,000
investors.

Judy personally loses $1 million to One
World, in addition to the funds of her

312 clients.

At the same time, she and her husband
are hit with another unexpected blow.

We had three sources of income.

One was trading the forex itself. The
second one was I did charge a fee to

for my clients, and that was extremely
lucrative as well.

And then the third, we both had full
-time jobs with a company that declared

bankruptcy themselves, and our pensions
were reduced about 90%. So we were wiped

out.

She and her husband declare bankruptcy
and lose their dream home in

My husband put six years at least of
this into his life. He hand -built this

house from the bottom up, this
beautiful, gorgeous house, and we lost

Ultimately, Judy blames Martin and
Walsh's insatiable greed for ruining

of lives.

I view Jack and Charles as two clowns,
two...

Idiots that didn't know how good they
had it. And they were too greedy to

just let it ride as the business that it
was.

Coming up next, a Miami money manager
commits the ultimate betrayal.

You got a guy who looks a dying man in
the eyes and the woman who he loves and

professes that he's going to look after
her.

The whole while knows that he has
absolutely no intention of doing that.

October 27, 2010.

In this Miami strip mall, Araceli Mercy
Valle reports to her regular job as an

assistant at an accounting firm called
Varez Tax.

Michael Haber is her attorney.

October 27th is a day just like any
other day.

Mercy opens the office, fires up the
photocopier, gets everything ready to

and roll, and business begins as usual.

The only difference between that day and
any other day is, J .C. never shows up

for work.

JC is Juan Carlos Rodriguez, her boss, a
tax expert and financial advisor.

He's a CPA, but today he's MIA.

Valle has known him for more than 20
years, and since the recent death of her

husband, he has been Valle's pillar of
strength.

JC became somewhat of a confidant.

for Araceli. He became somebody that she
could ask very interpersonal questions

to, somebody who she could rely upon to
help her in her most dire hour.

But it's just one of JC's two faces, at
least according to the clients who are

showing up today looking for him.

Where is JC? Why is JC not here? I need
to talk to JC. If I don't talk to JC

right now, I'm going to the FBI.

They claim Rodriguez owed them money.

And a lot of it.

Vanier herself has her entire savings,
$125 ,000, invested with her boss.

Confused, she frantically tries to get a
hold of him.

Calling, texting, even going so far as
to try and call JC's wife and text JC's

wife, because he's not responding to
Araceli at this point either. So Araceli

getting more and more concerned by the
moment.

Finally, at about 1 .30 p .m., she gets
a response.

It reads, I am so sorry. I ruined your
finances and betrayed your trust and

as a sister to me. I let you down big
time, and I feel really bad.

I think something clicks, and she
finally realizes that this man, who has

her friend, her brother for 20 -plus
years, took her entire life savings and

bolted with it.

Before he opened an accounting office,
Rodriguez was a comptroller at an

aircraft repair company in Miami.

Rodriguez was a sort of social director
among the predominantly male workers.

Mildred Geraldo's husband worked there.
She recalls the name they adopted for

themselves,

the Dudes.

Juan Carlos was seen as the organizer of
everything that they did. They would go

to Dolphin Games.

Football games, NASCAR, concerts,
vacation.

They turned everything into some type of
a function.

And that's how the dudes came to be, as
they like to call themselves.

As leader, Rodriguez earns a level of
trust in the brotherhood.

They trusted him implicitly. They were
brothers. I believe they looked up to

a lot.

In 2001, Rodriguez leaves the repair
shop to join his brother's CPA business

called Varez Tax.

Naturally, his old friends become his
new clients.

And according to FBI Special Agent Cade
Cannon, Rodriguez offers them more than

just tax advice.

People would come into Varez to have
their taxes done at the end of the year.

He'd say, hey, um...

I have a way that you can earn money to
pay any tax liability. I will invest

your money in the stock market, and I
will guarantee you a rate of return.

Through a company he calls MDN
Financial, Rodriguez claims to invest in

bonds, and precious metals.

If investors leave their money with him
for six months to a year, they earn a

guaranteed check every month.

Hernan Mejia is one of the dudes.

When he cashes out his pension in 2009,
he and his wife, Ophelia, meet with

Rodriguez.

We did trust him a lot, and since we
trust him, that's the reason why we also

had him do our income tax, our yearly
income tax.

Rodriguez tells them they can avoid
paying taxes on the money by rolling it

into his MDN Financial, and he gives
Mejia this flyer.

claiming they can earn a big fat rate
guaranteed.

This is the flyer that he gave my
husband, and he had the different

plans depending on the amount of money.
We were going to be investing $40 ,000,

so in turn we were going to be receiving
an interest, 22%, which amounted to

$750 a month.

The Mejias sign a contract for six
months of payments.

You know, why not?

I mean, to receive a check of $750 a
month, just by having the $40 ,000, it

better than putting it into a bank.

About 10 times better than putting it in
the bank.

Rodriguez is offering rates of return as
high as 50%. But trusting investors

have no idea how improbable Rodriguez's
offer really is.

Sometimes I would think, you know, how
does he do this? But we say, well, maybe

he's investing in the stock market or in
some other, you know, institutions that

we don't know of, and maybe that's how
he's getting the high interest rate.

And according to prosecutor Robert Luck,
word spreads quickly.

It was a mom -and -pop, word -of -mouth
sort of thing. Someone would do well and

get invested, and they would tell their
family.

They would say, hey, mom, I'm investing
with Mr. Rodriguez. You should go over

there with me and see about investing
with him. It's a great deal. Here's what

I'm getting.

Soon, MDN Financial has more than 100
investors.

And in June 2009, Rodriguez moves into a
gated community along the coast.

He appears to be a real success.

His wife is driving a BMW.

His kids are attending private school.

He's supporting his own children and his
stepchildren.

So this is someone who is living a very
good lifestyle, while in 2008, 2009,

2010, a lot of the country is really
suffering.

Next, friends of the miracle moneymaker
discover he's really a two -timing tax

man. I mean, this was a friend that we
trusted, and for him to do this to us,

it's really, really strange.

See more testimony from Rodriguez's best
friends at AmericanGreed .CNBC .com.

Want inside information from behind the
scenes of the show? Join the Greed

social network.

Like us on American Greed's Facebook
page. We'll be right back.

In 2009, Miami accountant Juan Carlos
Rodriguez... claims to be a stock market

guru, investors in his company MDN
Financial get unbeatable returns in an

otherwise down economy.

Araceli Vallee has worked with Rodriguez
for more than 20 years, first at an

aircraft repair company, and now as his
assistant.

Over that time, the two have grown
close.

Her attorney, Michael Haber, speaks on
her behalf.

If she needed surgery, if her financial
planning was an issue, if her children

were in jeopardy, whatever it was, there
was a relationship there that she could

trust his advice or felt that she could
trust his advice.

In November, Vallier's husband of 22
years is diagnosed with lung cancer.

She goes to her boss for financial
guidance.

What should I do? I've got a mortgage.
I've got children. There's college

issues. There's all of these things that
we have to consider and deal with. The

first thing that he suggested was that
she take out an equity loan.

Knowing she will get a life insurance
payment when her husband passes,

suggests she take out a home equity loan
of $65 ,000, then invest that money

with him.

And then she would receive and exchange
payments back on a biweekly basis of $1

,500 every two weeks.

Over the next few months, she invests
almost $125 ,000 with her boss.

And Vallier is thankful for the biweekly
payments.

She's able to have a little bit of peace
of mind.

She's got extra time with her husband.
Every moment that she has to spend with

him is precious, and she doesn't have to
worry about dollars and cents because

she's got checks coming in.

What Valle doesn't know is that her
money isn't coming from any investments

Rodriguez's. Not a single dollar, not a
single dollar was invested in any sort

of stock, bond, precious metal, or other
standard investment.

And it really was, in every way, a
complete ripoff.

Rodriguez is just using new investors'
money to pay off his existing clients

pocketing the rest.

Now he's running out.

By the summer of 2010, things are dire.

The money coming in isn't enough to pay
both his obligations financially and the

annuity payment he has obligated himself
to pay.

But clients have no idea how broke he
is.

And his friends continue to flock to him
for advice.

In June, Mildred Giraldo walks into
Jaycee's office with some news.

She's sold her administrative services
business.

It's more money than we've ever had.

I called Juan Carlos to see what can we
do with this money. It's a lot of money.

And he said, don't do anything. Don't go
to the bank. Just come to my office.

I'll meet with you in the back room.

I do have to say that he's never shown
so much interest in me as he did when

this happened.

Rodriguez tells Geraldo she will have a
huge tax burden as a result of the sale.

But if she invests the proceeds with his
MD in financial, she can write it off

as an expense.

Then he can pay it back to her on a
weekly basis.

She's inclined to trust his advice.

He was like a brother to my husband.

I mean, truly, my husband considered him
to be family.

The couple agrees to put in a total of
$135 ,000, some for 4 % interest

and some with no interest at all.

He said in three months you will get
your money back and then we'll do your

taxes and everything will be fine.

But it's not long before Rodriguez
misses a weekly payment. In July,

husband calls about the missing check.

Rodriguez shrugs it off.

Well, he told Javier that it was not
carved in stone, the agreement, and that

only made me furious.

By October, the Giraldo's weekly
payments have stopped coming altogether.

But Rodriguez always has an excuse.

He kept making promises, kept blaming
the banks, kept blaming the fact that it

was a holiday and the monies were just
not coming in.

Finally, at this strip mall in Key
Biscayne, Geraldo draws the line.

On October 27th, I was fed up with the
runaround that Juan Carlos was giving

So I gave him an ultimatum to meet me
here at the bank at 11 a .m. with the

amount that he owed me before I was
going to the FBI.

Next on American Greed, Rodriguez faces
his best friends in court.

He had a very cynical look. It was a
look of I could care less.

October 27, 2010.

At a bank in Key Biscayne, Florida,
Mildred Geraldo waits anxiously for Juan

Carlos Rodriguez.

He owes her more than $100 ,000.

I waited for an hour inside the branch,
and the person that I sat with felt

really sorry for me because he could see
the grief that I was experiencing while

I was waiting.

At noon, Rodriguez is officially a no
-show.

And Geraldo goes ballistic.

I went completely crazy. I proceeded to
report him to everyone I know. I called

his office. I called everyone I could
possibly call.

And after that, I went directly to the
FBI.

Geraldo and her fellow investors flood
the FBI with complaints.

Special Agent Kate Cannon takes the
case.

From the very beginning, it was obvious
that what Juan Carlos was offering was

simply too good to be true.

A 50 % rate of return in six months, no
one can pay those kind of returns.

Authorities find that since 2007,
Rodriguez has taken in $5 million in

investments. Close to $4 million was
paid back to some of his 115 clients.

The other million?

There was no stable of cars, there was
no private jets to Europe, but what you

have here is someone living above his
means and in a very good lifestyle.

In March 2012, agents arrest Rodriguez
and charge him with six counts of wire

fraud. He pleads guilty to one count,
and on September 7th, his victims

in the courtroom for his sentencing
hearing.

When he walked... into that courtroom,
he had a very cynical look.

And it was a look of, I could care less.

Rodriguez pleads to the judge that he
can make his victims whole.

Mr. Rodriguez believed he could always
pay it back.

He still believes he can pay it back. He
asked the court to allow him to not be

sentenced to jail at all so that he
could work to pay back the investors the

millions that they had lost.

But then his longtime friend and
employee, Araceli Valle, takes the

She witnessed the scam up close, but had
no idea what was happening.

That just shows you how good he was at
kind of hiding what was going on and who

he truly was with his assistant who
worked with him day in and day out,

know what was going on.

Instead, Rodriguez stole $85 ,000 from
her while her husband was on his

deathbed.

Her testimony is damning.

You got a guy with 20 years invested in
a relationship with a married couple who

looks a dying man in the eyes and the
woman who he loves and professes that

going to look after her and then the
whole while knows that he has absolutely

intention of doing that.

The judge ultimately sentences Rodriguez
to seven years.

and he is ordered to pay back more than
$1 million in stolen funds.

The court has ordered that for as long
as Mr. Rodriguez lives, 10 % of his

income, in whatever form that is, needs
to be paid back to the victim. So slowly

but surely, money will accrue.

Mildred Giraldo and her husband are out
more than $100 ,000, almost half the

proceeds from the sale of her business.

This was a business that I built, and it
was something that...

I worked really hard at accomplishing.
And this man just came and just wiped it

out from under us.

Mildred's husband, Javier, and the rest
of the dudes still get together.

But without their faithful leader,
Rodriguez.

He's the brother to Javier.

So the ultimate betrayal was to my
husband. And that, of course, makes me

angry because there's no way that my
husband does not feel responsible.

For what has happened.

Ophelia Mejia and her husband are out
their $40 ,000 investment.

But in 2011, they get another unpleasant
surprise.

An IRS bill for $25 ,000 in back taxes.

Rodriguez's tax advice was a lie.

This is the letter that states that.

It actually reads, you did not place
your funds into a recognizable financial

institution.

Mejia and her husband have to refinance
their home to pay the unexpected bill.

But again, it's the sense of betrayal by
Juan Carlos Rodriguez that cuts

deepest.

Financially, thank God we have health,
and we both have good jobs, so we will

recuperate on that.

Emotionally, I mean, this was a friend
that we trusted.

And for him to do this to us, it's
really, really shameful.

Very, very shameful.