All language subtitles for American Greed s08e02 Young Lust Goes Bust

In this episode of American Greed, at
age 54, real estate investor Ed Okun

appears to be having a classic midlife
crisis.

He's burning through cash and declaring
his love at first sight for a woman half

his age.

And I can't believe she married him.

But the money Okun spends is not his.

It belongs to people who just wanted to
keep it safe.

It never occurred to me that the money
could be taken out of an escrow account.

But Ed Oken, deeply in love, just can't
stop. He bought three jets,

a helicopter, a salon, luxury condos,
luxury homes.

There was no end to his grief.

It is said that the difference between a
man and a boy is the price of his toys.

Before Ed Oken had a Lamborghini and a
Ferrari.

Before he had three private jets.

Before he had a 130 -foot yacht.

He was a chubby kid in Toronto.

As the little boy called Eddie grows up,
he does not grow tall.

His adult height is 5 '5".

His stepbrother, Norman Griesdorf,
thinks that explains a lot.

He was short, had a complex, had to
prove that he was as big as his

father or his family, and that he could
do things.

Not really interested in doing a lot of
work, but interested in showing that he

had success.

At the age of 21, Okun meets Carol May.

They fall in love.

And in a few years, they marry.

I met Eddie when I was 19 years old.

He seemed like the kind of person that
was going to go far in life.

The newlyweds stay in Toronto, where
Oken tries his hand first as a music

producer and then as a real estate
investor.

He even wants to make life easier for
his in -laws.

He encouraged my father to...

perhaps take some of his retirement
money and send it up to him.

My father liked Eddie very much, and so
he trusted him and he sent up money,

quite a bit of money at that time.

There is nothing to worry about. Young
Eddie's investments seem to be doing

for him.

Probably just in the few years we were
together, he bought...

Seven or eight different cars. We had an
Aston Martin and we had a Mercedes and

we had a BMW, which is, you know, it's a
bit much for a 22 -year -old.

It really was a bit much.

And there is more.

They also have a yacht, the Endless
Summer.

He even had a captain.

The captain would stay on it all the
time and take care of it and take it

to Florida with Eddie.

I think it was his first taste of big
living and definitely liked it.

But the good times do not last long.

What happened was through, I guess, the
last, you know, maybe the third or

fourth year of our marriage, his
personality really seemed to change and

became angry and he was always screaming
at everyone, including me

and the dog.

It made me very uncomfortable, so I
wanted to get out of the marriage.

Preparing to divorce Oken, Carol
discovers that he is behind in payments

personal and business loans totaling $1
.5 million, and she, as a cosigner, is

expected to pay up.

The debt was overwhelming for anyone,
but particularly someone who's 22 years

old. I'd never worked. I didn't even
have a job.

Carol settles with the banks, but things
do not work out as well for her

parents. They discover Ed did not invest
their money.

He spent it.

So that money was gone, and my father
pressed charges. He pressed criminal

charges. But he then withdrew those
criminal charges because Eddie started

making threats.

And my father was afraid that maybe he
would hurt me.

And now, as Okun has seemingly become an
angry, frightening bully, he

disappears, off to set up a new life in
the USA.

And then he was gone.

And nobody was really anxious to find
him.

And 32 years later, in 2005, at the age
of 54, he is on wife number two

and owns a company called Investment
Properties of America.

which buys, sells, and manages shopping
malls and industrial buildings.

How he portrayed himself was a
successful real estate entrepreneur who

locate undervalued real estate, shopping
malls, things like that, and then

basically flip them and sell them for
large profits.

Okun still likes big boats.

In February, he attends a boat show in
Fort Lauderdale.

where he meets Simone Bolani.

Simone Bolani was from Brazil.

She was a very attractive young woman in
her mid -20s when she met Ed Oken.

I believe she was one of the young
ladies who was showing yachts to

buyers.

Oken tells friends he falls in love with
Simone immediately, and soon he files

for divorce from his second wife.

He is robbing the cradle, and that's not
all.

Next on American Greed.

I'm the groom.

And I love my wife.

Witness an over -the -top wedding, and
you'll never guess who pays for it.

At the start of 2005, Ed Oken seems at
the top of his game.

He's setting up a new life in Miami.

He has a new girlfriend, Simone Bolani.

And he has a new business, Investment
Properties of America, known as IP of A,

that owns and operates shopping malls
and warehouses from Indiana to

Its headquarters are in Richmond,
Virginia, in a small office park 12

downtown.

There is just one continual problem for
Okun. His company is not making money.

He cannot pay his bills.

In 2005, his commercial real estate
holdings were losing money at a rapid

There was actually documentary evidence
that one of his largest properties was

so cash -strapped that they didn't have
enough money for gas for the security

vehicles in the mall.

Assistant U .S. Attorney Michael Dry is
part of a federal task force that

investigates Okun.

It includes agents from the Postal
Inspection Service, the IRS, and the

In about 2005, his company was in a
severe cash crisis, and he was going

a messy divorce.

And at that time, he's ordered to pay $8
million to the wife through the

divorce.

Divorce settlement wasn't finalized. He
was under enormous pressure to settle

the divorce proceedings.

He also needs cash to shower Simone
Bolani with anything and everything.

The jewelry, the clothing, the shopping.
I mean, what we heard was that Ms.

Bolani got whatever she wanted from Mr.
Oken.

And that summer, as cash -strapped Okun
searches for money, he finds it in

Boston in a business called the Atlantic
Exchange Company, known as AEC.

It's a type of business called a
qualified intermediary, known as a QI.

The sole function of a QI is to hold
money for real estate investors who want

defer paying capital gains taxes.

According to the U .S. Tax Code, Section
1031,

People who sell an investment property
can defer taxes on their profits if they

reinvest the money in 180 days and never
touch the money.

They must give their money temporarily
to a qualified intermediary.

So if you're a client and you give your
money to a qualified intermediary,

you're not investing with a qualified
intermediary. You're basically just

saying... I'm giving you my money. Hold
my money.

Within 180 days, I'm going to ask for
that money back so I can buy a new

property.

In the summer of 2005, Ed Oken looks at
QI businesses and sees the answer to his

problems.

Oh, these are gigantic piggy banks that
just hold a large amount of money

waiting for transactions.

At the time, AEC is holding roughly $170
million in what are called client

exchange funds.

And in August, Okun gets a loan, buys
the Atlantic Exchange Company for $4

million, and immediately gets access to
the nearly $170 million in customer

money.

Helping him with the transaction is a
former paralegal, now his chief

officer, Lara Coleman.

He was his assistant? Yes.

Really glorified title.

But yes.

Anything he asks is done.

Coleman did not respond to American
Greed's request for an interview, but in

video deposition for use in a civil
lawsuit, she explains how she helps Okun

the cash he needs from AEC.

Ed asked that all the money be moved to
Richmond.

I opened bank accounts at Bank of
America.

The money was transferred, and I would
send out wires or issue checks,

on what the...

transaction involved.

It's just that easy because as Brian
Lefevre, a special agent with IRS

investigation knows, no one regulates
qualified intermediaries.

Qualified intermediary is not
necessarily regulated like a bank.

There are exchange agreements which
govern what you're supposed to do with

money. However, you don't necessarily
have someone looking over your shoulder

make sure you're abiding by the exchange
agreements.

And so Okun and Coleman can take funds
that were supposed to be an escrow and

use them to pay Ed Okun's bills and to
fund his fantasy life.

The day after he purchased the company,
he wrote a check to his ex -wife for $8

million.

He then took money from the depositors
that was in AEC and used it to pay back

the loan that he had taken to purchase
AEC.

And just eight days after he buys AEC,
he takes $4 .1 million and uses it to

close on this house on Miami's
prestigious Hibiscus Island.

Finally, the piece de resistance. In
November, he puts $8 .6 million of AEC's

client money for the purchase of a 130
-foot yacht.

He kept a full crew, two stewardesses
and a captain on full staff.

It was beautifully furnished and was
very exquisite on the inside.

He names the yacht after his bride -to
-be, Simone.

They are married in December.

I'm the groom.

And I love my wife.

And I can't believe she married me.

The wedding, like almost everything
these days, is paid out of the AEC

account. More than $200 ,000.

No expense is spared for Simone.

In months to come, Okun will buy her
clothes, jewelry, even her own hair

reportedly, so she doesn't have to wait
for an appointment.

And she is giving him what he calls...

The best dream of his life.

We're expecting a baby.

We found out last Wednesday it's a
little boy.

That could make our yacht broker, Tom
Moran, very happy.

There's a sequel coming, so he's going
to buy a boat.

It's as if the money will never run out.

And for a while in Richmond, all is
going well.

Although Okun is taking money out of
AEC, the well -established business

continues to draw customers, and their
new deposits cover the closings of

who put their money in months earlier.

Now, have you ever heard any term used
to describe a situation where you take

new funds and use it to pay prior
transactions?

Yes, ma 'am. What term? A Ponzi scheme.

I'm sorry? A Ponzi scheme.

And was there a Ponzi scheme going on in
the QI zone by Okun? Yes, ma 'am.

By the end of 2005, Okun has taken an
estimated $55 million in client exchange

funds.

And at that time, Okun finds himself in
that inevitable spot where every Ponzi

scheme leads.

What had happened by then is he depleted
the client exchange funds so much out

of AEC.

that the new client exchange funds
couldn't keep up with all the

from the prior clients.

It's time for Ed Okun to find new cash
flow.

Next on American Greed, the outrageous
demands of working for Ed Okun. People

couldn't get their work done because
they were off buying diapers and

and baby formula and FedExing it to New
Hampshire because he didn't want to go

to a grocery store.

Outside Washington, D .C., in Silver
Spring, Maryland, video editor Bonnie

Schloss is trying to build a retirement
fund.

The bulk of the money in her nest egg
came from her sister Linda, who died of

leukemia at the age of 42.

I really would have preferred to have my
sister, but

she was gone.

She had worked at an ad agency, become a
partner.

and had some money that she left.

And in some ways, this was her taking
care of me.

At first, Schloss used the money Linda
left to buy a rental property nearby her

home. She is now looking to diversify
and wants to sell the building.

She estimates that her capital gains tax
will be $50 ,000.

And that was a lot of money for me. So I
decided I would try and pay... part of

the taxes and defer the rest by buying
another investment property.

And there were regulations to it. You
had to give it to what they called a

qualified intermediary.

Which seemed fine to me, the government
telling me to do this.

Schloss looks online for a qualified
intermediary and finds one nearby.

It's called Security 1031 Services.

headquartered in Connecticut, known as
SOS.

What she does not know is that Ed Okun
has purchased SOS from its owner, a

lawyer named Todd Pajonas.

Okun came in, bought the company, and
soon after that made Todd Pajonas the

of 1031 Tax Group, which was a company
created a kind of umbrella that would

hold all the qualified intermediaries
that Okun was purchasing.

When Pajonas goes to work for Okun, Okun
tells him that he has borrowed money

from AEC to invest in real estate.

And he has a standard answer for how he
will pay it back.

I'm selling a mall. I've got a great
deal in the works.

I'm going to make $100 million on this.

Everybody's going to be whole.

That's what he kept saying over and over
again.

But the malls he says he will sell are
mortgage to the max.

IP of A properties are losing as much as
$900 ,000 a month.

So Okun uses QI funds to cover the loss
and to buy more toys.

You know, you name it, Mr. Okun bought
almost any sports car you can imagine.

He bought three jets, luxury condos,
luxury homes.

And the QI accounts get frighteningly
low.

In March, Pajonas writes to Okun that
our reserves are below $10 million, a

dangerous level.

If we don't get some money, we will be
staring into an empty vault.

Pajonas understood that if you miss one
exchange, if one client is at a closing

table and doesn't get their money, that
basically no other clients in the future

are ever going to give you their money.

And so he keeps the emails coming.

In April, he writes, we are one wire
transfer away from oblivion.

Okun's response?

He buys a $10 million house on Lake
Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.

He buys Simone a $36 ,000 diamond
necklace and an $86 ,000 diamond ring.

And in July, he sends an email to Laura
Coleman showing her our new toy.

Check it.

Only $800 ,000.

It's a helicopter.

Did you ever observe when you were
working with Mr. Okun, him being

wasteful with the money?

Yes. Everything was wasteful. I mean,
everything from the loans he obtained to

overpaying for real estate.

I mean, we had...

in my Richmond office where people
couldn't get their work done because

were off buying diapers and cigarettes
and baby formula and FedExing it to New

Hampshire because he didn't want to go
to a grocery store.

But for Okun, there are no worries
because there is no need for the money

ever run out.

It was a never -ending pool of money as
long as when the money got short, Mr.

Okun could find another qualified
intermediary to buy.

And that is just what he does.

This summer, he purchases three more.

Generally, he paid for all of the QIs
except for one with other client

funds. He never really brought his own
money to the table.

And then in August, an accountant
discovers that Okun purchased two

condominiums with AEC funds.

He tells Todd Pajonas.

And this is when Pajonas...

has a eureka moment. Oh my God, this
isn't just Ed investing this in

real estate.

Mr. Oken is using this for his own
luxury lifestyle.

And so at this point, Tal Pajonas is
sounding the alarm. He's jumping up and

down. There was a part in the trial
where I asked Pajonas, were you worried

about this?

And he leaned forward and he said,

I was scared every day I woke up.

Finally, in September, Pajonas calls for
a meeting on the Simone.

He is determined to force Okun to sign
promissory notes that will guarantee

he will pay back the money.

Todd was livid.

I mean, he was almost violent. I
actually thought that there would be a

altercation on the boat.

And they were screaming and yelling and
cussing at each other.

And Todd said he'd kill him. He had to
sign it right now.

Right now.

And was Mr.

Okun reluctant to sign this document?

He didn't want to sign it. He didn't
want to sign any of it.

And he did, in fact, sign it. He did.

And Okun does pay back a small
percentage to the qualified

But a few months after the meeting on
the yacht, an internal accounting shows

that a staggering $118 million is
missing from the QIs.

But Jonas writes to Lara Coleman, Ed may
have millions of dollars at stake, but

we have our lives, reputations, family,
and freedom at stake.

This man will be the ruin of us all.

Next on American Greed.

Oken's own lawyers let him know he is
probably breaking the law.

He went apoplectic initially.

His initial response was, need to fire
these folks.

In the fall of 2006 in Richmond at the
offices of Investment Properties of

America, Eric Perkins is a fairly new in
-house attorney.

Things are going well for him until
October when he learns disturbing news

his boss, Ed Oken, is borrowing money
from escrow accounts.

He asks his supervisor, Chief Operating
Officer Lara Coleman, about it.

And her response was, there aren't.

And she said there may have been a
couple in the past, but those have been

off. It is, of course, a lie.

Okun has taken millions of QI dollars
that he has never paid back.

And then Coleman tells Perkins another
lie.

On top of that, the whole practice of
that had been vetted and approved by a

number of outside firms.

Okun kept going from day one.

Don't worry. I have a legal opinion.

I have a legal opinion that says I can
do this.

Perkins looks into it and finds that
Okun has received all kinds of legal

on this.

Even starting in 2005 when he bought
AEC.

The language is straightforward.

AEC should not be in the business of
lending money.

It became clear at some point in that
time frame that I'd been lied to.

As he continues his research, Perkins
learns that the IRS does not regulate

qualified intermediaries. What protects
the customers is the contract they sign,

called an exchange agreement.

Most of the time, those exchange
agreements provide that the funds need

held either in a financial institution,
in an escrow account, or a segregated

account.

It's obvious to Eric Perkins.

Ed Oken is violating his customers'
contracts.

We weren't talking about a situation
where someone is driving 68

miles per hour in a 65 zone. The
companies were going 120 in a school

In November, Perkins and other in -house
advisors write a memo to Ed Oken and

Laura Coleman, making their views loud
and clear that Ed Oken could face

criminal prosecution.

Basically, the memo says you got to
stop. You got to pay all the money back.

It was a very forceful memo, putting
everybody on notice.

These are my conclusions.

Ed Oken is outraged.

He went apoplectic initially.

His initial response upon receiving it
was, need to fire these folks.

He sends an email.

This guy will not run my business. I
want him terminated tomorrow.

And he looks to a Richmond law firm for
another opinion.

He soon gets the answer.

The firm writes that his conduct could
result in civil and criminal liability.

He is told to pay back the money. And
they add, we will cease to render any

professional services.

Meanwhile, Perkins makes the decision to
submit his letter of resignation to

Oken. What he did was as senseless as it
was callous as it was

stupid. I mean, you just can't find a
rhyme or a reason

for why he did this.

And as Perkins walks out the door, Todd
Pajonas is not far behind.

In November, a closing comes due and
money is short.

Pajonas starts screaming again.

It's unclear completely whether it was a
mutual firing and quitting, but that

was Pajonas' last day in the office.
Oken had the locks changed, ordered

everybody not to let Pajonas back on
site.

Weeks before, Pajonas negotiated a
severance package for close to $1

with Okun. It contains a confidentiality
agreement.

After months of working to stop Okun
from raiding the QI accounts, Pajonas

there is nothing more he can do.

And that Okun sets his sights on another
qualified intermediary.

Even though he's told to pay the money
back and he's told that this is

Ed goes out and buys another qualified
intermediary. He needs a new piggy bank.

Coming up, Okun attempts to woo his
victims with a stunning claim to fame.

And he said that when Fly and the Family
Stone were playing at Woodstock, Ed was

the drummer there.

And you're just going, wow, this guy's
amazing.

But you wouldn't like him when he's
angry.

Read Okun's irate emails 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.

Of all the stories about Ed Oken's
greed, the one that for many tops them

takes place in January 2007.

when he hosts a dinner party for six at
a restaurant in the Bahamas.

He owes close to $120 million to his own
customers' accounts, and he can't make

his own payroll.

But he serves cognac that costs more
than $1 ,000 a shot.

The bill for the dinner comes to $56
,000.

Some call his behavior reckless.

Michael Dry disagrees.

Reckless would be the understatement of
the year to describe Ed Oken.

It wasn't reckless. It was a total
disregard for what he was doing with

people's money and the destruction in
people's lives that his

behavior was risking on a daily basis.

People like Candace Graham in Portola
Valley, California.

She has just sold the building where she
ran a business with her ex -husband.

She wants to take the $3 .1 million she
made on sale and invest it in multiple

properties. And I was in my 50s, and I
was beginning to think of, you know, how

will I retire?

And it just was not safe to have
everything in one place.

She puts the money into a QI called 1031
Advance, located in San Jose,

California.

It is owned by a woman named Janet
DeShiel, who has just met Ed Oken.

He's like, oh, you're a QI, I buy QIs.

I kind of laugh, and he's an odd little
man, and he's just kind of frenetic.

DeShiel's QI is holding approximately
$30 million, and Ed Oken, low on cash,

wants access to that money.

And why did Oken buy 1031 Advance?

It was supposed to be a short -term fix
to the liquidity problem because he was

going to blow exchanges. He wasn't going
to be able to pay old exchangers.

And so Okun invites DeShield and her
partner to a meeting on the Simonet. The

gentleman who met us was the captain.
His name was Captain Jack.

And he gave us the full tour.

At one point, he stopped us and said,
see this picture? And it was a picture

Sly and the Family Stone. And he said
that Ed was a drummer. And when Sly and

the Family Stone were playing at
Woodstock, Ed was the drummer there.

And you're just going, wow, this guy's
amazing.

Okun arrives on board and offers to pay
DeShield whatever she wants for her

business.

And also offers her the job of running
all of his QIs.

She accepts.

He mentioned to her that a small
percentage of client exchange funds were

invested in commercial real estate, but
he assured her that it was a very

small percentage and that the client
exchange agreements allowed for it. And

said he'd gotten legal opinions, that
his attorneys had blessed it, that there

are no problems with it. At first, Okun
borrows $2 million.

then another $8 million for investment.

And then one day his accountant slips up
and tells DeShield that money is

actually needed to cover payroll at his
real estate company.

When I found out that $700 ,000 had been
used to pay bills and it wasn't in an

investment or in any way secured, I knew
everything

was wrong. And I knew clearly that
they'd been lying to me.

As DeShield considers what to do, she
comes up with a plan to force Oken to

the money back.

She opens a secret bank account and
begins to send new customers deposits

Why I did that is I wanted to stop
putting money in their

alleged cookie jar.

I sincerely believed that Ed Oken had
that money. He had properties. He had

these exotic cars. I'd seen them.

And I thought, okay, I stopped the flow.
They'll start putting the money back

because they have to in order for the
exchanges to keep going forward.

But then she learns Okun is negotiating
to buy two items. One is another

Gulfstream jet, and the other is one
more qualified intermediary.

And that QI company held between $900
million and $1 billion.

She realized if he gets his hands on
this, she knew what was going to happen.

And so in April, just four months after
she began working for him, Janet

DeShield goes to Washington, D .C. and
blows the whistle on Ed Okun.

I was escorted by three attorneys into a
windowless room in a federal building

and poured out my story to them.

The feds asked her to return to Okun's
Richmond office wearing a hidden video

camera.

The federal agents wired me in, and then
I took a cab in and walked through the

offices to give them, like, a visual map
of where everything was. So I popped my

head in and say, Hi, Kathy. Hi, such and
such. What are you doing in here?

And a short time later, Janet DeShield
resigned, and Okun's offices in Richmond

received some unexpected visitors.

I don't even know how many federal
agents showed up at the offices, guns

bulletproof vests, and herded everybody
into a conference room.

At that time, across the country,
hundreds of Okun's unsuspecting

like Bonnie Schloss, believed their
money is safe.

Schloss has $335 ,000 in one of Okun's
QIs and is making plans to buy a condo

hotel in Hollywood, Florida.

That is the view looking out from my
room.

And she is not the least bit worried
about her money.

The 1031 agreement says, right at the
beginning, section 2, exchange

account.

SOS 1031 agrees to establish an
exchange... escrow account.

And it never occurred to me that the
money could be taken out of an escrow

account.

Next on American Greed, a desperate
victim calls Oken demanding her money.

I got a phone recording that was the
music recording that said, I'm too

sexy for my shirt, basically, over and
over again. And then I really knew I was

dealing.

with a complete disaster.

In April 2007, as federal agents are
raiding Ed Okun's office, Candace Graham

California is ready to move forward
buying an investment property.

She has $3 .1 million with Janet
DeShield's qualified intermediary. And

calls DeShield's office to let her know
that she will need her money.

She was not in the office.

And the office staff hemmed and hawed.
And finally, after much questioning, I

found out she was no longer with the
company.

Graham learns that DeShield has sold her
company to Ed Oken.

When I tried to call Ed Okun, I got a
phone recording that was very, very

strange, and it was a music recording
that said, I'm too sexy for my shirt,

basically, over and over again. And then
I really knew I was dealing with

a complete disaster.

In time, she learns that Okun is under
federal investigation, and the money

she thought was safely in escrow... is
gone.

I absolutely panicked. This is
everything I had worked for for my

And I didn't know what to do.

It just was devastating.

At that time, outside Washington, D .C.,
Bonnie Schloss gets the same news.

And I said, wait a minute. How could
this possibly happen?

I did what the government told me to do.

I put it in an escrow account that had a
bond on it.

She is not alone.

As many as 250 people think their money
is safely on deposit in Okun's qualified

intermediaries when the plug is finally
pulled on his game.

Many of the victims lost their life
savings.

They counted on these investment
properties as income so that they could

so that they could pay bills, so that
they could send their kids to college.

I mean, these were horribly sad stories.

For months, in his bunker on Hibiscus
Island, Okun is still hoping to avoid

prosecution. And he keeps up the story.

He can get a loan. He will pay
everything back.

And even today, in a telephone interview
with American Greed, he makes this same

claim.

I was recapitalizing all of my real
estate with a $250 million loan to pay

whatever I owed the QIs, shut them down,
and be able to go acquire more real

estate.

But Okun has no ability to get a loan.

Later, the findings of a bankruptcy
trustee discover that even the yacht has

$8 million loan against it.

Ed Okun is out of money.

And that explains his next step, which
was reported to the feds in March of

2008. The team received a phone call
from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's

indicating that Mr. Okun and Simone had
just traveled to Palm Beach County from

Miami to pawn approximately a million
dollars worth of jewelry, and they

received about $200 ,000.

back from that pond and we became very
concerned that mr oaken had become

desperate and was preparing to flee
immediately the investigators prepare

a 27 count indictment charging oaken
with conspiracy to commit mail and wire

fraud and money laundering he is
arrested at his house on hypiscus island

days later and is adamant that he has
done nothing wrong

Mr. Okun now portrays himself as a
victim, a victim of a rogue system, a

rogue prosecutor, rogue postal
inspectors, folks who didn't follow the

and he just keeps blaming everyone but
himself.

Okun maintains that recent court
decisions support his case.

I was advised I could do this, and I
can't, as the law now proves.

qualified intermediary owns the property
and owns the funds outright.

Because we own them, we are allowed to
use and invest the funds in any manner

see fit without any restriction.

And he points out he never missed a
closing until the feds ruined

As long as you can meet your closing
demands, there's nothing restricted or

regulated about this business. And you
can basically invest it in whatever you

want.

For Okun, that's a defense for his
victims.

It's an outrage.

There's no excuse for this. This is an
industry that the government created.

It's a multi -billion dollar industry,
and there's no regulations on it, and

I've been the victim of it.

The qualified intermediary is not a
qualified intermediary.

It's just somebody who is not a
disqualified intermediary.

Since 2008, settlements from bankruptcy
and class action lawsuits against Okun's

banks and insurance companies have
brought in almost 70 % of the money he

And now Okun's victims are working on
behalf of future victims.

Bonnie Schloss is constantly trying to
meet with members of Congress to ask for

stronger regulation.

My goal is so it doesn't happen to
anybody else.

You know, there's no excuse for it.

There are simple changes that could be
made in the law to make it safer.

Back in Richmond, Lara Coleman pleads
guilty to conspiring to commit wire and

mail fraud. She is sentenced to five
years in federal prison.

Ed Oken believes he is innocent and
stands trial in March 2009.

Bonnie Schloss is there every day.

He was never sorry.

He never once said he was sorry.

Even at the trial, he was given a chance
to say anything. He said nothing. He

watched all of us.

And no emotion, no nothing.

Okun is convicted on all counts.

At his sentencing hearing, there is a
surprise witness, his first wife.

I went to the sentencing because...

They might think that this was new
behavior.

And, of course, I knew that it really
was part of his personality. And this is

who he was.

And he had been like this a long time.

After hearing from Okun's victims
directly, the judge hands down a

will mean life in prison for Ed Okun.

In August, he is sentenced to 100 years.

A lot of people I've heard say, well,
murderers don't get that. Why did that

happen?

But the problem is they don't
understand.

You've got hundreds of people that have
had their dreams stolen by this man, and

he doesn't have the decency to apologize
or to empathize or to say, I'm

sorry that happened to you.

A hundred years was the correct sentence
for him. The judge got that one right.

I'm Steve Stevens.

I don't take bets. I'm the one that
tells you who to bet on. All we do is

baby.

I don't care if it's a pissing contest.
As long as I got the information and it

pays, that's all that matters. All new
Money Talks. Welcome to Las Vegas.

Right now.