All language subtitles for American Greed s10e06 The Bar Girls Trap

In this episode of American Greed,
they're foreign.

And when they were speaking, they had an
accent. They said, do you know where

we're from?

Flirty. The one very more taller,
sophisticated. The other one was more

like the girl next door.

And fun -loving. Very disarming. They
compliment you. You're very, very nice.

You're a nice American.

Thanks.

They're bar girls, also known as B
-girls. And once they get a hold of a

attention... The girls would straddle
the guys, rub up against the guys, grind

on the guys.

And his credit card, the game's over.

Every three minutes, $2 ,000, $3 ,000,
$5 ,000, $800 tip, $700 tip. But behind

the smiles and the seduction, a scheme
run by the Russian mob exploits Florida

law. Listen, guy, I'll bust your head
right here.

I'm a police officer and I can do it.
And runs up a bar tab for the record

books.

The limit of the credit card was the
only thing that stopped them.

They exceeded the greed limit.

Forget about Gecko. Greed is good. Greed
is not so good. Eventually you'll get

nailed.

is a Fox 29 weather authority update.

I'm John Valera's happy St. Patrick's
Day.

It's been a magnificent day with
temperatures well up there into the 60s.

of sunshine for sure. Big question is
how long will it last? Details coming

For TV weatherman John Valera, it's been
a long winter of forecasting snow and

ice.

Now that the February sweeps ratings
period is over, Valera's can relax a bit

and enjoy his springtime ritual.

Jetting off to Miami Beach.

Head to the beach, pool, got the
workouts in, play golf, come back, do a

dinner, you know, have a couple of
drinks and just chill out. And you

just chilled and relaxed and had a good
time.

Miami is an adult playground.

A place where the normal rules of
society don't always apply.

If you're a guy my age and you pull up
to a club in a Ferrari with a 28 -year

-old stripper with a tattoo, they give
you applause.

You're not humiliated. I mean, I would
be humiliated, right? But Miami, man,

you're going good.

On the night of March 27, 2010, John
Belaris leaves his room at the Fountain

Blue Hotel and gets in a taxi heading
south on Collins Avenue.

He gets out at the Delano Hotel and
heads in for sushi and drinks.

Here's the thing about Valeris.
Everywhere he goes, he's mobbed by fans.

You can see it in this news clip.

Who's on that phone?

I'm talking to my mother. Tell her I'm
in front of you.

I was always accessible.

I grew up blue collar on Long Island
and, you know, playing baseball. And so,

you know, I was a very approachable guy.

Even here in Miami, people recognize
John Valeris.

Some Philadelphians on spring break see
him and say, Hey, John, what's the

weather going to be?

The bartender is also from Philly.

Two women at the side of the bar take
note of this banter.

And then they came up from behind and
said, Hey, you're a weather presenter in

this country.

And I looked at him, and I said, I don't
know about him, a weather presenter.

And he goes, yeah, he's a weatherman.
He's a meteorologist. He goes, oh,

very interesting.

Valera says the women appear to be in
their mid -20s, and they're well

Miami could be over the top quite a bit.

South Beach, they were not that way.
They were sophisticated.

I had a European look to them. And when
they were speaking, I had an accent.

They said, do you know where we're from?
And I said, Poland.

I just, they said, no Estonia. I said,
oh, okay.

And then they, we started talking.

Baleris, who is drinking Pinot Grigio,
orders a round for his new friends.

One is named Marina, the other, Anna.

They were visiting. They found most
Americans not nice.

You seem to be an exception to the rule.
You're very nice and friendly to us.

And I said, why wouldn't I be?

You know, I think both Americans are
nice.

I mean, you come up to me, you're
talking to me, I'm going to be nice to

I said, you're not yelling at me for a
bad forecast.

Remember saying that, you know, I don't
have to duck. I'm going to be nice. I'm

in a good mood. I'm in Miami and I'm
enjoying some food and a couple of

at the bar.

Valera says that after a drink, he heads
out to the bar by the pool.

The two girls join him.

John insists that the girls never offer
to have sex.

On the other hand, he says, he is open
to whatever the night might bring.

I wasn't at, you know, a bingo church. I
was at South Beach, Miami.

I'm a single guy. It may cross your
mind.

It could cross your mind. It's normal to
cross your mind.

It's not a crime in thinking that you
may be getting together or maybe not.

knows?

I don't know, maybe 10 minutes elapsed,
a few minutes elapsed, and they came by

and said, do you want to do a shot with
us? I said, no, I don't want to do a

shot.

You know, I don't want to do a shot. I'm
having Pinot Grigio.

I'm lining up for a shot, right?

And I said, no.

But the girls are persistent.

But then they came over again.

And they said, you're not doing a shot
with us. And then the one came behind me

and sort of wrote much. Please do just a
shot with us. Let's just have a shot,

you know, do it for, you know, our
country. And you're kind of said, OK,

a shot.

And then they like running it.

And the other one put a shot down. I
thought it did the shot. OK.

You know, there's not too much that goes
on after that that I can truly

remember.

One thing he does remember.

The women suggest they go to an art
auction to benefit victims of the

in Haiti.

I said, all right, I'll stop in. I'll
stop in.

I remember getting in the cab, and the
only thing I remember after that was

someone holding my arm.

I felt that, like, shining, shining
things.

At one point, he remembers passing out.

And then they got me up. They said, are
you okay?

You know, I remember I said, whoa, you
must have, you like Drinker.

I said, yeah.

And they said, oh, you bid on the
painting. I said, what?

I bid on a painting.

I said, okay.

Yeah, it's a painting. Come on, we're
going to take it back to your hotel.

And I'm looking at the painting. I
remember, but I said, hmm.

I checked for receipts.

I wanted to see, A, what I paid for the
painting, and if it's going to be a

charity write -off, I've got to have the
receipt.

There are no receipts to be found.

And then I noticed as I was checking the
drawer, my sunglasses were missing.

You know, expensive sunglasses.

Then I thought something was up. I had
the painting there, sunglasses. I said,

they took him.

They took him, all right.

But the B -girls aren't finished with
him yet.

They're really, really good.

You know, and they're the best.

They're the best of the best.

Up next.

These curvaceous criminals are cold
-hearted crooks.

He took pride in the fact that they
could screw over a guy without having to

screw up.

After waking up with a throbbing head
and a mysterious painting at the foot of

his bed, John Belaris is a little
confused.

I don't know exactly what happened,
because you don't remember anything, but

know there's a painting there, there's
no receipt, your sunglasses are missing,

you're in your full clothes, but you
have red wine on you, and you have

I said, they took me.

But if they took him, there's this
curiosity.

His wallet is there, with all his credit
cards.

And then later, after the swim, he sees
there's a message on his hotel phone.

Hello, it's Marina. So sorry, we took
your sunglasses by accident.

We hope you like the painting.

And they left their number.

They're saying they have their sunk my
sunglasses, and they made a mistake.

I called them back.

I said, hey, what the heck?

You know, where's the receipt? What's
the painting? Oh, I said, I bid on this

painting. Oh, you bid very heavily.

Bolares can't remember bidding at all.

But this much he does know.

He has an acute case of buyer's regret,
and he wants their help to return the

painting. Okay, if you don't like it,
we'll return it to the vendor, and we'll

return your sunglasses.

Okay.

So what exactly is Bolares thinking at
this moment?

You know, listen, everything was there.
My wallet was there. I mean, if they

were going to rip me off, would they
come rip me off? My wallet's there.

So what kind of a red flag are you going
to have with that?

You're not.

So John agrees to meet the girls again.

He says he simply wants his stuff
returned.

But Playboy writer Pat Jordan says it's
only natural that some other motivation

could be in the mix.

You wake up smelling a perfume with two
red lips, you think you did well, and

you don't remember it, though.

So maybe you go back to second night.

John meets the girls once again at the
Delano, at the same pool bar.

And they say, hey, John.

I said, okay. I came over. I go, hey, we
got your sunglasses.

So sorry. They look like our sunglasses.

We were a little drunk.

We had a good time.

It was fun.

They drink more Pinot Grigio and make
plans to return the dreaded painting.

At one point, Valera says he leaves the
girls to go to the bathroom.

He believes they take that opportunity
to spike his drink.

Because after that, things get very
blurry.

He remembers getting into a cab and
heading to the nightclub where they say

bought the painting.

When I walked in, the only thing I
remember is a bar and a person handing a

purse to Marina.

That's it.

There's no way that from Pinot Grigio
that I'll take that kind of a ride, you

know, or like, no.

Total gone. Total.

Put the black out.

The next day is Groundhog Day, a painful
replay.

But this morning, there's a ray of
light. The painting is gone.

It looks like his new friends from
Estonia have made good on their promise.

And I remember they came back to the
room and they took the painting.

That was it.

Valeris feels sick, much worse than the
day before.

But he manages to get on a plane back to
Philadelphia.

And when he shuffles home, dead tired,
he gets a call from American Express.

They say his credit card has a boatload
of suspicious charges.

Originally, they said $27 ,000 and
change, and then they called back and

upped it to $43 ,670.

I said, where did this transaction take
place?

They said at a place called the Caviar
Bar.

I said, I don't know what the Caviar Bar
is. Obviously, this is a mistake.

I just knew something went on with my
credit card, and then it came to me it

them.

I called Marina.

I said, hey, hi, how are you? I said,
listen, what did you guys do? I said,

you did was a crime, I do believe. If
you use my credit card without my

authorization, that's a crime.

Oh, no, we would never do anything like
that. I said, no.

What did you do?

And I actually said to them, who are you
working for?

Belarus files a fraud claim with Amex
and refuses to pay the charges.

To his surprise, as he tells it, Amex
takes the merchant's side.

They were horrible. The chief
investigator said to me, I've seen this

times.

You're acting like a big shot, and
you're spending money.

And I said, wait a minute.

You've seen this a thousand times on my
account?

Valeris asks for proof of the
transactions, and the credit card

receipts to him at work.

And I called him back and said, that's
not my signature.

And I said, look at the time stamps.

Every three minutes, $2 ,000, $3 ,000,
$5 ,000, $800 tip, $700 tip. He's just

barely exaggerating.

The money trail shows that Valeris'
first transaction at the caviar bar is

.21 in the morning.

He's charged $1 ,888 for Palme d 'Or
champagne.

It retails for about $100.

Fifteen minutes later, he's charged $2
,495 for a bottle of Cristal.

Gratuity is $499.

Nineteen minutes later, another charge
for just over five grand.

I hate champagne, okay? I'll do the
toast at a wedding, but I don't like

champagne.

Thirty -nine minutes later, he
apparently buys the painting.

Spelled here, Panting, for $2 ,480.

Of course, that's before gratuity.

And that's just the first night.

The second night, Valera starts earlier
and does even more damage.

$27 ,194 in just one night.

I would have been dead.

According to Valera, the fraud
investigator says the caviar bar's

Pavlenko... is a legitimate businessman.

American Express declined to speak with
American Greed, citing privacy concerns.

But Baleris believes the Amex
investigator was fooled by Pavlenko.

She goes, I have a photograph, you know,
of you. Having a good time, I go, oh

yeah, what is this photograph?

She goes, well, it's you sitting down
with lipstick, you know, an imprint of

lips on your cheek.

Let me see this picture.

I said, how did you get this picture?
Stan sent it.

I said, why would Stan send pictures of
me if he wasn't planning on doing

something?

Don't you see that, I said?

Don't you see that your Stan was setting
me up?

This is a crime. I'm telling you it's a
crime.

Nope.

Case closed.

Hung up the phone.

I could never get back to her again.

Valeris makes calls to the police in
Miami Beach.

And that's where Officer Luis King comes
in.

The Miami Beach PD allows officers to
work off -duty as security for

And the Miami branch of the FBI, which
is investigating fraud in nightclubs,

knows Officer King has a history of
undercover work.

The FBI sees a way in.

They had told me briefly about a...

that they believe the club is involved
somehow in fraud, possibly drugging

clients there.

The FBI persuades King to go undercover
and find out what's going on in five

clubs owned by Russian businessmen.

They call it Operation Caviar Beach.

A few days later, King meets with one of
the owners, Isaac Feldman.

Feldman sells condos in Sunny Isles
Beach, known as Little Moscow.

In this YouTube video he posted,

Feldman celebrates his birthday at the
office.

Now he's branching out into
entertainment.

Feldman tells King the Stars Lounge is a
high -end private club.

that employs young girls to reel in
customers.

Immediately working vice here in Miami
Beach, I recognized that right off the

beat. It's called B -Girls. B -Girls,
also known as Bar Girl.

Working undercover, Officer King gets a
front row seat to the wildest show on

South Beach.

Up next, see the B -Girls in action.

The girls would straddle the guy, rub up
against the guys. They would grind on

the guys.

Anything they can to keep them
interested and keep them in the club and

them drinking.

In August 2010, Miami Beach Police
Officer Luis King goes undercover at

Star's Lounge.

He plays the role of an off -duty cop
doing security.

And a camera hidden in his key fob
captures images which are reviewed every

night by the FBI.

One of the first people he meets is the
man who plays the heavy, Alec Oleg

Simchuk.

He told me that there's not going to be
any prostitution, that he ran clubs in

Estonia and Latvia, and that he was
going to run it exactly the same way

Simchuk tells King his team of bar
girls, or b -girls, doesn't need to sell

They can make more money selling
overpriced liquor.

And it's safer.

Tim Chuck says he's killing it in
Latvia, and Miami is ripe for the

They were very successful.

The cheapest bottle of wine they had
went for $129, and those we found at

Publix for $3 for a $35 bottle of
champagne.

They would sell them for $2 ,500.

The most expensive one I saw them sell
was...

Came out to $17 ,000.

The Russian owners love having a cop
around.

They just assume he's corrupt because
that's how it worked in the old country.

Still, the bosses keep their distance at
first.

They didn't open up to me right off the
bat. The girls...

I had more contact with them. One way
King earns goodwill is by letting the

girls use his iPad.

And they love to take pictures.

And all that was to be able to gather
that information and to try to show what

was going on inside the club and also to
be able to identify the girls later on.

The captain of the team is one of the B
-girls who took John Valeras for a ride.

Her name is Marina.

A 24 -year -old from Latvia.

Marina. She was a heavy drinker, and she
could hold her liquor.

She was having a toast to vodka. They
loved vodka.

She knew how to party. She could dance
with the guys. She could get the guys

motivated and get them up there dancing
so that they would drink, and she would

get them partying. And she knew how to
bring out the party animal in pretty

all the guys.

Anna, a 25 -year -old from Latvia, is
the other B -girl who duped Valera.

She's also one of the leaders of the
pack.

But she was extremely good. She got
another client for close to $40 ,000

Albert Takalov is another partner in
this game.

He runs the bar and recruits the girls.

King says 50 girls come and go during
his eight -month undercover operation.

Her name is Victoria, Christina,
Anastasia.

Most are from Latvia and Estonia and are
in their late teens or early 20s.

One of the things that they would try to
recruit the girls was that they weren't

coming for prostitution purposes, that
they were coming to entertain gentlemen,

to bring them to the club as promoters.

This B -girl looks innocent in a Minnie
Mouse sweatshirt when she poses on a

plane. Leaving Latvia.

When she arrives in Miami, Louise King
is the first American she meets.

Pick them up at the airport and help
them get set up. When they arrived, I

take them to Walgreens or one of the
local stores so that they can buy an air

mattress. Most times they would buy the
queen size so that two of them could

sleep on one mattress.

If sharing a cheap mattress doesn't
sound like the glamorous life on the

party scene,

That's because it isn't.

It was all the organization that paid
for the flight for the girl. They would

buy a plane ticket for them to come
over.

They would hold that over their head in
that they would not buy a ticket for

them to fly back unless they worked and
produced and earned money for them to

fly back.

Otherwise, they wouldn't buy them a
ticket. They would be stranded here.

King says the transformation of the
young women is unbelievable.

This is Anastasia before she became
involved with Oleg Simchuk's group.

She was very shy when she first started.
By April, she was a totally different

individual. She was on the wild side by
then.

These two were 18 years old. They were
both from Russia.

Oleg Simchuk used to like trying to take
these two girls home on a regular

basis.

and they did not like having to go with
him. But when they would hear that Oleg

was coming into the club, they would
take off running outside the club.

That's how much they disliked having to
go home with Oleg.

Because the B -girls don't like to be
prey.

At heart, they're apex predators.

Up next, pure greed.

They were motivated on pure greed, and
the limit of the credit card was the

thing that stopped them.

In Miami Beach, when the clock strikes
midnight, it's time for the B -Girls to

go to work.

This is Ocean Drive. This is the main
area of entertainment here on Miami

The Cleveland there, in this area, was
the main hunting ground that I would

bring the girls out for them to find the
clients.

Also, just right down the street,
mangoes.

The B -girls hunt in teams of two, and
they have a keen sense of when to

One of the key things I would ask, what
are you looking for? Are you looking for

a watch, or what are you looking for?
And one of the things that the girls

on coming back to is that you can always
tell if a guy has money by their shoes.

If it's high -quality, extremely
expensive shoes, then they got money.

The girls move in, lavishing attention
on their mark.

If he's with friends, they try to
separate him, divide and conquer.

And they tease him, playing on his sense
of machismo.

They would love to hit on a man's ego
and tell him, let's take some shots.

And the other one poured a shot down my
throat and said, I did a shot, okay?

But the girls were served water and the
men were served vodka.

And they were masters of having...

The clients drink an incredible amount
of vodka in a short period of time.

Once the guy is good and liquored up,
they say they know a place around the

corner that's quiet where they can talk.

They're master manipulators of the male
psyche, says Pat Jordan, who wrote about

the b -girls for Playboy.

I'm just looking for a guy who thinks
he's a player.

They're like a Playboy cartoon.

Two gorgeous women going up to some
nerdy guy in glasses at a bar and saying

he's the hottest thing they've ever
seen. A real player would know right

I mean, me? Two bar girls coming up to
me? I'd say, well, you want a

grandfather? But it's got to be a guy
who thinks he's a player.

And that self -delusion only grows
stronger as the night gets longer.

Their main success is when they would
start actually coming back in.

would be between 4 and 5 o 'clock in the
morning. Some of them can barely walk

as they come into the club, and they're
prime targets at that point.

King takes American Greed to Washington
Avenue, just off the main drag.

The Russians run three clubs within a
few blocks, Tangier Club, Star's Lounge,

and Steel Toast. This is the main strip
that they would pick the clubs to work

at. Here on Washington Avenue, they had
it both here.

Right across the street, they had
another one.

And earlier, the Stars Lounge was just
one block down further south.

As seen from the hidden camera, the B
-girls pretend that they don't know the

bouncer checking IDs, even though he's
their boss.

Once inside, the mark finds that the
club is largely empty.

It's just him, a bartender, and a few
women.

They would dance for him.

You had a lot of touching. The girls
allowed themselves to be touched by the

client pretty much as much as they
wanted to. They promised a lot to the

whether it was just company or just
talking to them, or they promised them

have sex with them later on that night.

The B -girls take 20 % of all the booze
they sell, and it's absurdly overpriced.

The mark doesn't know it, but each swipe
of his card can cost $2 ,000, $3 ,000,

even $5 ,000.

The B -girls are so delirious with greed
that they'll sell anything, according

to one story that King says Marina tells
them.

At one point she was telling me...

that she had gotten some guy out of
Philadelphia.

It was some TV guy.

She was telling me that she got him for
$48 ,000 and sold him a picture that we

used to have on the wall, and she
pointed to a bare spot that you could

see the picture frame right there on the
wall.

She was so proud of that. She said, I
bid on this painting. Oh, you bid very

heavily.

The girls took pride, and they kept on
saying this thing. They took pride in

fact that they could screw over a guy
without having to screw him.

They were so proud of that. And they
kind of looked down on other girls, and

they said, why are these girls
prostituting when they can make just as

more money taking advantage of guys?

Up next, how the Russian mob exploits
Florida law and brings down the hammer

when a mark decides to run.

Hey! Hey!

Hey! Come here!

Police officer!

Hey, I'm a police officer! Come over
here! To hear more about Officer King's

undercover investigation of the B
-Girls, go to cnbcprime .com slash

Greed. We'll be right back.

By four or five in the morning, most men
in Star's Lounge can't even see

straight. It's the perfect time to
present the bill.

And that's Marina's job.

She's got a little trick to separate men
from their money.

She covers up zeros with her thumb and
tells them where to sign.

Then the other girls who brought them in
would try to distract them by...

by caressing them, by kissing them, and
they would do anything they could to

distract and pull their attention away
from what the actual bill was. And they

were extremely successful at that.

Occasionally, the B -girls have to take
control.

One guy in particular that I remember,
he was so drunk, they were getting

buckets of ice water and throwing it on
top of him. One girl sat on his chest

and just started slapping him to wake
him up so he could sign his bills.

But not all the men are slobbering
suckers.

Sometimes the B -girls bring back a guy
who can really hold his liquor.

Or perhaps a new girl is clumsy in her
sleight of hand.

In those cases, the Marg senses a trap.

The first night that I was there, I was
in plain clothes, and an individual took

off running.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Hey, hey, hey, come here.

And I had to chase him down, threaten
him, and threaten to handcuff him.

Yes,

in Florida, it does matter.

The Russians cleverly exploit Florida
Statute 509 .151.

more commonly known as the innkeeper's
law.

The innkeeper's law in South Florida
prevents tourists coming down and

off restaurants and stuff by running out
on the tab and going, you know, hopping

the next plane back to Ohio.

Running out on a bill of more than $300
is a felony in Florida.

It was a very convincing argument to get
somebody to pay.

Put your hands behind your back.

You're going to take care of that bill?

Let me out.

No. Listen, guy, I'll bust your head
right here.

I'm a police officer and I can do it.
All right, let me out. Okay. Let me out.

No. Just let me out. No.

Please, let me settle it.

You're going to go settle it? Yeah,
yeah.

Give me your wallet. We're going to walk
back and settle it.

I would tell him, listen, your bill is
$5 ,000.

You either pay the $5 ,000 now or you're
going to be paying the $5 ,000 when you

post bond.

Which is it going to be?

On more than one occasion, I had people
yelling at me, calling me corrupt.

And it was just part of the undercover
deal.

It's a clever fraud.

And one B -girl tells King she makes as
much in two weeks as she does in a year

back home.

The lion's share goes to the owners.

Just one pair of high -performing B
-girls can bring in a quarter million

dollars a month for the club.

Olexemchuk. would buy cars. He had a
BMW, he had a Hummer.

Albert Takalov purchased a new vehicle
for his wife.

They would go on trips. They would spend
as much money as they could. The

Russians tell themselves they're in the
entertainment business.

And it's true that they follow the
number one rule of showbiz.

Always leave them wanting more.

Because once the card's maxed out, the
show's over.

There was one guy in particular that I
remembered. He got taken, I think, for

about $5 ,500.

The girls actually dumped him inside the
club, and they went out through the

back door.

He hung around that club for the longest
period of time, hoping that they would

come back.

And I'm telling him, the girls are gone.

And they kept on telling me, get them
out of here so that the girls can bring

new guys in.

But he refused to leave, thinking they
would come back.

Drunk, broke, and dejected.

The men are kicked to the curb.

And sometimes they quite literally lose
their shirts.

The girls, as a trophy, would love to
take the men's shirt. I don't know why.

If they got a really good client and
they got them for a lot of money, they

would take their shirts as a trophy.

Next on American Greed, the B -girls go
all the way.

They exceeded the greed limit, whatever
there is on a greed limit, you know.

Forget about gecko, greed is good. Greed
is not so good. Eventually you'll get

nailed.

After eight months of working
undercover, Officer Louise King has

trust of the Russians running the B
-Girls scam.

King makes speeding tickets and parking
citations disappear, and he fixes any

hassle with the city of Miami Beach.

Albert Takalov and Alex Simchuk trust
him so much, they make King a partner

entitled to 5 % of the profits.

And what that did was that opened up...
The books to me. I got to see them. The

records show that hundreds of men have
been victimized and defrauded of more

than $2 million.

With this key evidence in hand, the FBI
decides it's time to put the B -girls on

ice. But how should they bring all the
players together at one time?

King has an idea. The B -girls recently
threw a 21st birthday party for him.

That actually gave me the idea to when
they finally, to bring them all together

at the end was to throw another party.
King tells the gang he's getting

to sergeant. It's great news. With more
power, he can do even more for them.

They stage a promotion party for King.

We ordered stone crabs and a big spread
for all the

girls. And when everyone's assembled...

King sends a text to his handlers at the
Bureau.

And five minutes later, the FBI walks in
the door.

And it was over.

The bosses and the B -girls are taken by
surprise and arrested without incident.

And I know before the raid, I said to
one of the feds, I said, can you do me a

favor? When you go in, because they told
me they were going in, tell Marina that

the weatherman says hello.

Because they bragged about what they did
to me.

They got greedy.

After filing a civil lawsuit against
American Express, John Belaris

gets his money back.

But his fight costs him much more than
$43 ,000.

The Philadelphia media goes nuts with
the story.

Belaris even merits his own cartoon.

And the way the press make things look,
like it was called The Hangover, the

real -life hangover.

And, uh...

Making it look like I just had a fun
time in Miami.

Pat Jordan writes a piece for Playboy.

Valeris doesn't like it.

And his boss at the TV station really
hates it.

You're an embarrassment.

You're an embarrassment to the industry.
You're an embarrassment to me.

You're an embarrassment to everyone.

You should be embarrassed in front of
your daughter.

You're an embarrassing individual to me.

But still believes he has no option
other than to let

him go.

John, when you decide to go to Miami and
not be with your little girl and hang

out with Russian hookers, what do you
think we're going to do?

And he goes, it's all perception.

And that was it.

I don't think there was any call from
Philadelphia TV weather viewers

to have John Belaris fired.

He was a weatherman.

He wasn't Bill Murray in Groundhog Day,
you know, who thought he was better than

what he was doing. John liked the
weather.

Belaris says his lost weekend ultimately
costs him $2 million in lost wages,

and he believes he's been blackballed.

No one gave me the opportunity.

I mean, it's over. I mean, there's just,
you know, I've come to the realization

I'm not getting back into the TV
industry because there's, you know, as

say, cricket.

Nineteen defendants are charged with
multiple counts of wire fraud and money

laundering.

Thirteen defendants plead guilty,
including Marina Tursina and Anna

The B -girls do a short time in prison
and then are deported to their home

countries.

Alex Simchuk flees to Russia.

He lands on the FBI's fugitive list,
where he remains for over a year.

On October 10, 2012, in a federal
courthouse in Miami, the trial begins

Albert Takalov and four others.

But where is Alex Simchuk?

In a bit of courtroom drama, the former
fugitive makes an appearance as the star

witness against his former comrades.

And he has a harrowing tale of life on
the run.

He testifies that while smoking a
cigarette in St. Petersburg, a man

him and says,

Good people from Miami don't want you to
testify.

You have a beautiful wife. Stay at home.

His leg is snapped and the bone is
broken.

Simchuk testifies that despite the clear
warning, I don't want to be on the run

all my life. I want to put everything
behind me.

Alex Simchuk pleads guilty and gets
three years in prison.

At trial, one defendant is acquitted,
but the other three are found guilty of

wire fraud and money laundering.

Stanislav Pavlenko gets six and a half
years in prison.

Isaac Feldman, eight.

And Albert Takalov gets 12 years in
prison.

If it wasn't for Belarus being actually
pretty tough

and insistent, they would still be
operating.

You know, it's like the guy who sees a
murder, everybody sees the murder and

nobody will testify because they're
afraid.

And one guy stands up in court, puts his
life on the line and testifies. John

didn't know whether the Russian mob was
a real serious Russian mob, you know.

that was going to whack him or anything
it took a lot of courage by valeris to

come forth because he he knew the what
people were going to say about him that

he was going to be ridiculed and my hat
goes off to him

though they hail from the baltic states
the b girls are

masters of american greed they're
experts at exploiting a man's naive

that tonight is his lucky night. If you
go to South Beach thinking you might get

laid, I'll guarantee you you'll get
screwed.