All language subtitles for American Greed s11e06 Sticky Fingers Life in the Fraud Lane.eng

In this episode of American Greed, Sandy
Jenkins and his wife Kay are living big

in Texas.

The running joke was that Sandy got a
new car every time he needed an oil

change. I remember asking, did he win
the lottery?

Because most people just didn't spend
like that.

But how can an accountant at a bakery
making $50 ,000 a year pay for such

extravagance? It's easy when you're
spending somebody else's dough.

It made me sick of my stomach.

How can you look at people in the eye
and betray trust like that?

Then, a self -proclaimed financial whiz,
Gregory Lowes lives his life in the

fast lane, spending millions on a
professional race team.

In many respects, people looked at him
as the American success story.

He shares his investment ideas with his
friends and even his church.

He indicated that he had a way to create
safe, reliable investments, getting an

average return of between 6 % and 8%.
But what's really fueling his successful

lifestyle are fast -paced lies.

We all assumed he was rich. We didn't
know he was a thief.

In the center of downtown Austin, Texas,
sits Lady Bird Lake, a quiet oasis

where visitors come for fun and
relaxation.

But in July of 2013, the lake hides a
secret.

An off -duty University of Texas police
officer had been taking a walk along

Lady Bird Lake and noticed something in
the water right along the trail.

It's a watch, a gold Rolex that sells
for more than $5 ,000.

That's strange.

But even more strange, he spots another
watch, and then another.

He ended up recovering, I believe, 16 of
those watches just in this little area

along the trail, and a gold coin and a
gold bar.

Someone has tossed close to $500 ,000 in
valuables into the lake.

But why would somebody do that?

Believe it or not, the answer begins
with fruitcakes.

Welcome

to

Corsicana, Texas, an hour south of
Dallas and 50 years away.

Corsicana's a small town.

It has been about the same size for as
long as I've ever remembered.

Known as the birthplace of the Texas oil
industry, the town should be famous for

the black gold found here more than 100
years ago.

But move over, big oil.

That's not what put Corsicana on the
world map.

That honor belongs to these little gems.

Yes, that's a fruitcake.

Collins Street Bakery has been a family
-owned and operated business in town for

more than 100 years.

The McNutt family bought the business
from a German immigrant baker in 1946.

And over time, and with the recipe of
hard work and careful expansion, they've

achieved fruitcake greatness.

Selling more than one million deluxe
fruitcakes a year, Collins Street Bakery

has become a household name.

Their iconic tin can can even be seen in
the movie The Godfather.

And while the dense cake has the
reputation of being just a bad joke to

the bakery and to Corsicana, it's a
source of pride.

If you travel and you're from Corsicana
and you mention virtually anyone

anywhere from Corsicana, they'll say,
oh, that's the place where the fruitcake

comes from.

It's a big business, but at its core,
Collin Street Bakery is still a small,

family -run company.

Bob McNutt is president and CEO.

He took over the business from his
father, who also took it over from his

father. We have a great history of
longevity.

I can't tell you how many husband and
wives have worked here together, and

really a family atmosphere.

In 1998, the bakery adds a new member to
its family, a young bookkeeper by the

name of Sandy Jenkins.

Sandy grows up the son of a grocer in a
small town not far from Corsicana.

He earns a degree in business
administration and reportedly gets a job

local utility company as an accounting
clerk.

He and his wife Kay move to Corsicana
and become active members at the local

Baptist church, where Sandy becomes a
deacon and Kay helps out in the kitchen.

When Sandy's job is eliminated, A fellow
church member steps in.

They were praying for Sandy to get a
job.

So my CFO brought him in and said, hey,
you know, what do you think about him

for this position?

The pay isn't much, only about $25 ,000
a year.

And with his shy personality, Sandy has
a hard time fitting in at the bakery.

I liked him. He was very dry -witted.

but very quiet, very under the radar.

You know, you walk in a room and you
wouldn't necessarily notice Sandy.

And that bothers Sandy.

He's always felt invisible and always
wanted to be more.

He's longed for the finer things in
life, even as a child.

Allegedly, at just 12 years old, he
starts a modest watch collection, buying

them used from relatives and friends.

He enjoys nice clothes when he can.

and is even voted most fashionable in
high school.

But years later, he still resents not
being able to lead a full life of

He works hard and manages to move up at
the bakery.

Within a couple of years, he was
promoted to controller and was making

,000 per year.

But he still can't afford things like a
new car or a bigger watch collection.

He just saw other people doing well, so
he wanted more money to spend on

himself and Kay.

I can recall, you know, having a
conversation with him, and he just felt

bitterness toward Bob because he always
said that he was born with a silver

spoon in his mouth and he wanted what he
had.

Collins Street Bakery is making big
money.

and even has plans to expand their
business.

In 2004, we decided to put in some
stores, particularly on the highways.

In 2005, the bakery makes an astounding
$35 million in sales, all while

Sandy still can't afford that new car.

That's when Sandy Jenkins decides he
deserves a bigger piece of the pie and

starts helping himself.

It started small.

He initially was taking money from petty
cash, and he got away with it for a

while. When that goes unnoticed, he
moves on to a bigger scheme.

Sandy's job was to handle the money
coming in and deposit, and then write

checks for what we owed and send them
out. The way that the bakery had their

bill payment set up was just use an
electronic check with the bakery's

president's signature, and Sandy was
able to print those checks himself.

But what if Sandy wrote those checks for
things he wants?

He starts racking up charges on his
credit card to the tune of $20 ,000 and

plans to have the bakery pay the bill.

Instead of writing a check to a standard
bakery vendor, Jenkins writes a check

for $20 ,000 to his personal credit card
company.

He makes sure Bob McNutt's electronic
signature is in place, presses print,

mails it out.

To hide his fraud, he marks that check
as voided in the account system.

It wouldn't show up anywhere but a
report of voided checks.

And nobody was looking at voided checks.
And Sandy knew that based upon his

inside knowledge of how the bakery was
operating.

But he still has to cover the amount of
money being deducted from the bakery's

account.

That's easy.

He just creates another check for $20
,000 to a legitimate bakery vendor.

and makes sure the check number is one
off than the one he sent to his personal

credit card.

He enters the new check into the system,
but never mails it out.

It's an almost foolproof plan.

And since Jenkins is also in charge of
balancing the books, it's the perfect

recipe for fraud.

With this system in place, Sandy and his
wife Kay are finally able to afford the

things they've always wanted.

They lived like they were on one of
those millionaire shows.

Overnight went from driving the GMC
Astro van to a brand new Lexus, and then

another Lexus, and another one, and
another one, and a Rolls Royce, and a

Bentley, and a Mercedes.

It just went on and on.

That first fraudulent check for $20 ,000
soon turned into hundreds of checks,

totaling almost $2 million a year.

They buy a vacation home in New Mexico
worth more than...

$650 ,000.

Kay buys Louis Vuitton handbags and mink
furs.

They start taking vacations and flying
private jets to places like Napa, Aspen,

and Santa Fe. They frequently go on
lavish shopping sprees, averaging more

$98 ,000 a month on their Amex.

The personal shopper at Neiman Marcus
had nicknames for Sandy and Kay Jenkins

because they were there so often. Sandy
was Fruitcake and Kay was Cupcake.

Fruitcake is finally able to expand his
watch collection into one that is worth

millions.

In 2006 alone, Cupcake buys five Rolex
watches totaling more than $50 ,000,

the same amount as Sandy's annual
salary.

And when the bill comes due, Sandy
Jenkins just prints out another check to

cover the costs.

Meanwhile, Bob McNutt tries to figure
out where the bakery profits are going.

It looked as though our advertising was
not as successful as it was because our

expenses were reported to be higher than
in fact they were.

We were building our store, so we
thought, well, maybe that has something

with it, with the expenses for these new
stores.

We couldn't figure it out.

It seems like Sandy's dirty little
secret is safe.

Next on American Greed, Sandy is asked
to explain a problem with the books.

There was a ghostly look that came upon
him.

I had a feeling that something was
wrong.

Sandy Jenkins continues to play the part
of a loyal, trustworthy, hard -working

employee at Collins Street Bakery.

But in reality, he's anything but.

He's been creatively stealing almost $2
million a year while he and his wife Kay

live the sweet life.

But in the small town of Corsicana,
their new luxurious lifestyle starts to

raise a few eyebrows.

He did things people of small means
could not do. And it was obvious

you saw Kay, the jewelry she had on, she
wore it frequently and a lot of it.

People start to ask questions.

I can remember asking one of the
employees, you know, did he win the

Because most people just didn't spin
like that.

And Sandy Jenkins has answers.

Well, he says, yeah, I inherited money.

And my wife, you may have heard,
inherited money as well.

I noticed one day that he had this
beautiful car. I said, Sandy, how did

this? And he said, I'm a car trader.
It's just what I do, and I'm good at

it. Unlike Sandy, Kay is self -conscious
about what others might think.

It got so extreme that Kay Jenkins felt
uncomfortable with some of the vehicles

that he was buying.

Because she knew that within the small
town, of course, of Tanna, people are

going to start asking more and more
questions when you're driving a Rolls

down the street.

To blend in better, when Kay purchases a
new car, she buys the same car in the

same color, just a newer model every
time.

Kay always liked a powder blue Lexus.

And there was one instance where Sandy
went and got her a slightly different

color blue Lexus. And when he brought it
home, she said, no, no, I want the

powder blue so that nobody knows I got
another new one.

Sandy's been careful to cover his tracks
and make sure if any questions arise,

there are explanations in place.

Symmetric Walker joined the Collins
Street Bakery as an accounting assistant

2011.

When I was trained,

I was told that there was a glitch in
the system.

And so sometimes you would have checks
that would be off a digit.

It really never caught my attention.

That is, until one day in June of 2013.

Normally I would see a discrepancy in
the check number.

This time there was a discrepancy in the
amount.

The check was for $10 ,000, but the
system was reflecting a check of $20

The account says the check was sent to a
postmaster Corsicana.

But when Walker pulls a photocopy of the
check, she notices something even more

strange.

The check is made out to Capital One
Bank.

I knew from working here that we didn't
have an account at Capital One.

We didn't have any credit cards at
Capital One.

And so I was trying to figure out how it
had gotten on there. I was like, oh,

no, we have fraud, you know, on our
account.

And so I took it to Sandy.

This is the moment Sandy Jenkins never
wanted to face.

I showed him what I found.

And there was a ghostly look that came
up on him. And just based on that look,

had a feeling that something was wrong.

Jenkins quickly comes up with a story.

He said he paid a post office bill with
a credit card because he didn't think

one of their checks would go through.

It didn't make sense because we've never
had a problem with presenting our

checks to the post office.

And so I started doing some
investigation of my own.

I pulled up our bank account online and
started looking at random checks,

and then I started noticing a pattern.

She goes through the voided check
register report and finds 16 other

totaling at least $250 ,000 that were
made payable to Jenkins' personal

accounts, including American Express,
Neiman Marcus, and Bank of America.

Suddenly, all of those private jets and
luxury cars Jenkins drove start to make

sense. When I learned about the theft,
it really made me sick in my stomach.

How can you look at people in the eye
and betray trust like that?

I remember he attended my father's
funeral.

How much money did he steal that week?

Jenkins is fired and is escorted out of
the building.

Next on American Greed, Jenkins knows
his days of rolling in dough are over.

before he sinks, he has one last move of
desperation.

He started throwing some of the most
valuable items from the jewelry safe

Lady Bird Lake within arm's length of
the shore.

Employees at the Collins Street Bakery
have just learned that one of their own,

Sandy Jenkins, has been embezzling from
them for the last eight years.

We saw the opulence. They grew and grew
and grew.

Just didn't connect it with Sandy.

It is a family business. And if you
can't trust your family, you can't trust

anyone. We're a 120 -year -old bakery,
and we've been doing it the same way

after year, and never a problem.

After being fired from the bakery, Sandy
Jenkins knows it's only a matter of

time before he is arrested.

Sandy's terminated in June of 2013, and
he immediately goes home and starts

talking to his wife about what's
happened.

They decide to pack a bag and get out of
town, but it isn't just clothes they

are packing.

Sandy and Kay gather up a shopping bag
of luxury items. Some of their...

Prize possessions, the watches that they
really liked the most.

Sandy described it at one point as his
retirement fund and took it to Austin.

Weeks later, on July 24, 2013, the FBI
executes a search warrant on the Jenkins

home.

In Kay Jenkins' closet, we found a
ledger where she had been keeping an

list of some of the things that they
purchased.

For example, there's a list of rings.

Three -carat platinum ring, $25 ,000.

Five -carat, $64 ,000.

Seven -carat oval, $125 ,000.

And there were boxes of shoes that had
never been worn, handbags that had never

been used, multiple pieces of luggage in
the same size that did not appear to

have been used.

Sandy Jenkins is alerted to the FBI
activity at his house.

One of his neighbors calls and says,
hey, you know, your house is being

searched. What's going on?

And at that point, we determined that
Sandy Jenkins picks up that bag and

off with it.

He drives to Lady Bird Lake and heads
down to the water.

One by one, Jenkins removes the items
from the bag and tosses them into the

lake.

Watch after watch and Rolex after Rolex
sink to the bottom of the cold, dark

water.

Is he trying to hide evidence?

Or does he plan to come back for his
prized possessions once things die down?

We may never know.

A couple of days later.

An off -duty University of Texas police
officer was out by Lady Bird Lake and

found some of these items in the water.

A dive team is enlisted and soon
recovers approximately $500 ,000 worth

valuables from the muck, including about
40 watches.

The serial numbers found on the items
lead police back to the Jenkins, and

is arrested.

In all, he steals more than $16 .5
million from Collins Street Bakery and

over 888 fraudulent checks to his
personal accounts.

He is indicted and pleads guilty to
conspiracy to commit money laundering,

fraud, and making a false statement to a
financial institution.

He is sentenced to 10 years in prison
and is ordered to pay more than $12

million in restitution.

Kay Jenkins pleads guilty to one count
of conspiracy to commit money laundering

and is sentenced to five years of
probation.

She is also required to send a letter of
apology to the bakery.

Sandy Jenkins was not only stealing from
the stockholders, but everybody who

worked at a desk or a mixing bowl or at
the oven or on the truck.

He was taking away from people's
livelihood.

feeling the weight of the responsibility
for having let down so many people

myself. You know, I thought about,
should I step aside?

And I just thought about it, prayed
about it, and I just said, look, there's

nobody that knows this business any
better, and there's nobody that can

this business any better.

You just got to make sure you got the
right people, and you got to move

In the end, Sandy Jenkins may have lived
the life he dreamed of for a short

time.

But the lesson he learns is you can't
always have your cake and eat it too.

Next on American Greed, a successful
race team owner may not be what he

We all assumed he was rich.

We didn't know he was a thief.

This is the start of North America's
premier endurance auto race, the Rolex

Hours of Daytona. It's a 24 -hour sprint
race.

They go all out. The engines are running
at 8 ,000 RPMs for 24 hours.

It's an exciting race.

Racing at over 100 miles an hour,
drivers fight for the lead.

Your heart's beating in your ears.

Your forehead, your temples, you feel it
in your chest. The adrenaline will just

completely take you over.

After 24 grueling hours at the wheel,
the team called Farnbacher Lowell's

home a win.

It's a big victory for one of the
owners, Greg Lowell's, a self

financial whiz who's relatively new to
the professional racing world.

Lowell. is a proud first -generation
Greek -American who started out as a

stockbroker. Craig was very charismatic.

He came from the stock market
background, and he knew how to wine and

know, he had the right lingo and the
attitude.

He moves to Connecticut in the 90s after
landing a job at A .G. Edwards.

He does well and wants to connect with
other local Greek residents, so he joins

St. Barbara's Greek Orthodox Church.

People reached out in our church to
someone new, and quickly we reached out,

he got very involved in the community
very quickly.

People are attracted to his charming
personality, and soon Lowes forms close

bonds with some of the parishioners.

There was one couple, Nelson Nicholson
and his wife Carol, who they themselves

didn't have any children, and they
welcomed Greg Lowes into their family,

treated him, and considered him to be
their own son.

Greg Lowles actually had his children
refer to Mr. Nicholson as grandfather.

Lowles manages to leave his job at A .G.
Edwards and starts his own company,

Aperon Capital Management.

In many respects, people looked at him
as the American success story.

He always had nice cars. He was dressed
nicely.

He was what many of the Greek immigrants
aspired to be for themselves or their

children.

The church takes notice of his financial
acumen and asks Lowell to join a

special financial board.

As a member of the endowment fund, Greg
had oversight responsibility for a

number of different financial aspects of
the church itself, from church picnics

to educational courses, the theological
mission, and maintaining the grounds of

the church. The church looks to Lowell's
for guidance on how to invest their

money safely.

Through his company, he offers to invest
in bonds that will protect their

principal but also offer high returns.

Greg indicated that there was a bond
fund called Nightbridge Holdings that he

was able to get access to, but the only
way he could do that was if there was

sufficient funds. And so the concept was
that he would pull money from the

church and from some private investors
and be able to get some participation in

this bond fund that was going to bring
in a high rate of return, somewhere

7 .5 % to 8 % when traditional
investments were earning a fraction of

The church agrees and gives Lowes almost
$2 million to invest.

Soon, Lowes comes back with good news.

Well, the endowment fund would meet
monthly, and Greg would give monthly

statements that would show very good
returns.

Through Greg's efforts, we were doing
very well.

Yes, it appears Greg Lowes is a godsend,
and personally, he's doing better than

ever.

He's even able to fund an expensive new
hobby, luxury auto racing.

Greg had a 2002 Porsche Twin Turbo, and
he came to me for service, and he didn't

even know that there was such a thing
called club racing and that you can

your car on the track.

He was very excited about it. He starts
as an amateur, doing Porsche club racing

at local tracks, but is soon introduced
to Horst Farnbacher.

a professional race team owner.

For years, the horse team has won races
in Europe. But the cost of owning such a

team can be astronomical.

A full season of racing in a single car
requires somewhere between $800 ,000 to

$1 million to pay for the crew, to pay
for the car.

So that's not peanuts.

The team decides to try its luck in
America.

But they need an additional investor.

Greg Lowell told us that he had a lot of
money.

that he wanted to take an active part in
working with us.

He invests, and the team become
Farnbacher Lowell.

Farnbacher Lowell ran very well.

Every race we were competitive, and we
won many races.

Lowell's doesn't stop there.

Under his new Farnbacher Lowell's
entity, he also decides to build a new

business, an amateur race car servicing
center.

in Danbury, Connecticut.

He took members of the community there
to see it for the grand opening.

The facility was top of the line.

It was impressive.

I looked up and I said, this place will
never make money.

Spencer Cox has been operating his own
servicing business for years, but agrees

to come work for Lowell's at his new
facility.

It was beautiful, but it was the Taj
Mahal.

The rent was insane. We had porters and
helpers and office staff.

This industry doesn't generate this kind
of money. Where's the money coming

from?

He said he was a hedge fund guy. We
figured he just had deep pockets.

He does.

They're just not his.

Next on American Greed, Lowell revs up
investors and pushes his spending into

high gear.

Hear more about Gregory Lowell's
spending at AmericanGreed .CNBC .com.

Want inside information from the show?

Join the Greed social network.

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page.

We'll be right back.

Gregory Lowes is living life in the
winner's circle, both on and off the

He loved being around the top drivers of
the world and the fact that he could

talk to the president of Porsche
Motorsport.

All of those things fed his ego.

He's also been busy working his
financial magic for St. Barbara's Greek

Church.

He appears to be successfully investing
money from their endowment fund in bonds

that have been getting steady returns of
about 8%. When the church needed funds,

Greg would come up with them. For
example, annually when it was time to

scholarships to our youth, Greg would
produce a check for the amount of the

scholarships, $40 ,000 or $50 ,000.

Fellow parishioners have heard the good
word about his prosperity and now want

him to invest their money as well.

After all...

If the church trusts him, why shouldn't
they?

Over a period of time, individuals would
approach Greg saying, gee, I understand

you're doing well for others or for the
church. Can you find a way to get me

involved?

A lot of the elderly people didn't want
to invest in the stock market or another

internet bubble.

So there was a sense that he was kind of
letting them in on something that paid

a good return.

Lowell's obliges, and individual members
entrust their life savings,

retirements, and 401ks with him.

Millions of dollars are handed over to
Lowell's to invest safely.

We're talking, you know, six, seven,
eight hundred thousand dollars of a nest

egg that they thought not only would
support them, but they would be able to

pass it on to their children and their
grandchildren.

Mr. Nelson Nicholson, who had... Treated
Lowell like a son. Gave him literally

millions of dollars to control and
purportedly invest.

And Greg has given them no reason to
worry.

They could see their investments growing
on each monthly statement.

Gregory Lowell seems heaven sent, a
financial guru, a professional race team

owner, and a friend to all.

They really came to trust him as
somebody who was part of their church,

part of their community.

I think their defenses were down and he
really was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Despite his official -looking
statements, it's all lies.

He hasn't been investing in safe
-growing bonds.

He's been putting those millions into
his own personal bank account.

What Mr. Lowell essentially did was he
established multiple bank accounts. I

think there were about eight to ten
different bank accounts. And he would

provide a name for each individual
account.

And each name would be the name of one
of the bonds.

So he set up at Citibank Knightsbridge
Capital, which was just a checking

account. When he told people he was
investing their money in Knightsbridge

bonds, when he sent money from that
account, it would actually show up on

statement from Knightsbridge.

If investors request money or an
interest payout, Lowell simply finds

investors and shuffles around their cash
to make his payments.

What should be a diverse portfolio of
safe investments is really just one big

checkbook. Money just was transferred
back and forth, back and forth, to suit

the needs of whatever Mr. Lowell was
seeking to do at that particular time.

And what is Mr.

Lowell seeking to do?

He moved into a bigger house, expanded
the house.

He expanded the garage to have a five
-car garage. He filled in landfill to

in tennis courts. He had a pool, and he
traveled around the world. Trips to

Milan, Italy, trips to Europe. He stayed
in nice hotels.

And it appears Lowell's has been using a
significant amount of money for one

other expensive passion,

Farnbacher Lowell's Racing.

It may be a winning team, but it's a
money pit.

It cost about $120 ,000, just the
operational cost of that race, excluding

cost of the car.

I think the payout at that time was $24
,000 if you win.

Not very much.

From winning races at those funds, you
could never fund a team.

Even the Grand Amateur Car Servicing
Center is funded by lies and stolen

retirement funds.

These race car guys, they get addicted
and they just start throwing millions of

millions of dollars. So I've seen this
all my life.

You know, they talk about drug users
selling jewelry.

I can tell you a hundred stories about
people selling, you know, kitchen

appliances to pay for a set of tires.

For years, Lowell's is able to shuffle
money around and gain enough new

investors that no one catches on to his
scheme.

But after a while, Lowell's church
investors alone aren't enough to keep

racing addiction afloat.

He then turns his eyes to the track and
starts using his connections there to

get new investors.

They met him on the side of the
racetrack, and he told them that he had

at Goldman Sachs that he could just pick
up the phone and call at any time,

seeing what appeared to be a very
profitable, very successful racing car

business. led those investors to believe
that, you know, he was very successful

at managing money as well.

He was a great salesman when it came to
his financial acumen.

Greg kept talking about Perrin and all
of these people getting 8 % interest. 8

is a lot.

Then, okay, fine, let's try this.

Goebbels invests $600 ,000 with Lowell,
and just like the church parishioners,

He also receives official monthly
statements.

1099 statements and monthly statements
from apparent capital management showing

how much money was being made. It was
very believable.

Lowell's might be able to fool people
for a little while longer, but when the

stock market stalls, he fails to find
new investors, and bills start piling

Next on American Greed, Lowell's begins
losing control and starts slamming on

the brakes.

Vendors would call us and say, I can't
ship, I haven't been paid. We actually

got thrown out of our hotel rooms and
all of our stuff put on the hallway

because the credit card was denied.

Gregory Lowles has been busy living life
in the fast lane, promoting himself as

a successful investment broker and
professional race team owner.

But when Lowles can't come up with the
funds to pay the bills for his pro race

team and his car servicing center,
people start asking questions.

There was always a delay in people
receiving their funds on time. It was

probably March, April 2009 when it
really started to get bad.

People were hounding me for their money.

I continued to defend Greg based on my
discussions with him.

Oh, don't worry, you know, liquidity is
just a short -term issue.

Peter Goebel not only manages the
Farnbacher Lowell's pro team, but has

invested $600 ,000 personally with
Lowell's investment company, Aperon

Management.

Word spreads in the race community that
Lowell's company might not be what it

seems. And Goebel becomes alarmed.

I, in fact, did ask him specifically, I
said, Greg, is there any relationship

between apparent capital management and
its monies and Farnbacher Lowell's?

His answer came very quickly and direct.

No, there is absolutely no relationship.
Don't worry about it. Your money is

safe and apparent.

But that's a lie.

Other investors start asking similar
questions.

People started to notice something was
wrong.

He was not able to keep up with the
monthly interest payments, and he was

kind of falling behind.

And then Gregory Lowell's house of cars
comes crashing down.

In early December of 2009, the church
received a phone call from a gentleman

from California asking why...

His loan wasn't being repaid.

And the church office said, what loan
are you referring to? And he indicated

that Greg Lowles had borrowed money from
him claiming he was on behalf of the

church.

That was the start of this horrific
discovery.

Our FBI office in Bridgeport and in New
Haven started to get phone calls from

victim investors.

And eventually the investigation became
exposed for what it was.

He never made any investments. He simply
stole that money for himself, for his

own personal use.

By now, Lowell knows he's caught.

And with the weight of his massive fraud
looming over him, he reportedly tries

to end his life.

He was in his multi -car garage with one
of his fancy high -performance vehicles

running. He was sitting behind the car.

And his son found him there and, you
know, called the paramedics.

I think it was a feeble attempt to try
to shirk the responsibility.

You know, I'm messed up, I'm deranged,
I'm sick, I'm demented. Whatever term or

medical phrase you want to use to try to
make it seem like it wasn't his fault.

While at the hospital, Lowles makes his
confession to law enforcement and is

later arrested.

He is indicted on 32 counts of
securities fraud, wire fraud, mail

money laundering.

The racing community is stunned.

Well, I was angry, of course.

Probably angry not so much at him as I
was at myself for my stupidity. I felt

badly for Varnbacher.

Horst Varnbacher and I worked very hard
to establish a prominent name in racing

in the United States.

I felt badly for that because it got
dragged into the mud.

The service center is shut down, and
Spencer Cox loses his job.

When we closed, I basically had to start
my life over, and now it's been six and

a half years for me to rebuild what I've
had previously before I met that man.

The Greek community and St. Barbara's
Church are devastated.

The church itself invested $2 .1 million
from its endowment fund, meant for

scholarships and church repairs.

The dream was to build a gymnasium where
our kids could congregate, and here it

is seven years later.

That money's gone.

The only thing that's there is the weeds
coming out of the foundation.

The impact to the individual
parishioners was remarkable.

People lost their life savings, their
retirement.

Victims write letters to the court
telling their own stories of betrayal.

Greg Lowe's has caused so many problems
for my family.

We have been under so much stress and
our days are mostly filled with pain and

sadness instead of happiness. And I,
along with my husband, have worked and

sacrificed my whole life. I also gave
him my deceased husband's life insurance

policy and even took a second mortgage
loan on my current residence. It's a

shame because before passing away, my
husband told me to trust and consult

Lowles regarding our finances.

He has taken everything from me.

Overall, he steals almost $27 million
from more than 250 victims.

He gives a tearful apology, but the
judge doesn't buy it. Telling Lowles he

quote, the most sinister defendant I
have ever sentenced for this category of

crimes.

He is sentenced to 25 years in prison
and given a $27 million bill to repay.

The impact of Gregory Lowles' greed
-fueled wreck.

will be felt by generations to come.

There was a soullessness to it, the way
that he abused these people.

He lied to their face. He continued to
interact with them, even though he had

stolen their money, in order for him to
be in a position that maybe he felt that

he deserved in life.

But he certainly didn't.

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