All language subtitles for American Greed s12e20 From Bar Bouncer to Millionaire Fraudster

In this episode of American Greed, bars,
nightclubs, strip clubs, and big -name

acts turn to insurance executive Jeffrey
Cohen for the financial protection they

need when crowds and booze mix.

It's the what -ifs. That's what
insurance is for, the what -ifs. With

from coast to coast, Cohen's company
brings in more than $100 million, and he

lives large.

He had a Porsche, he had a Bentley, an
Aston Martin close to $200 ,000.

But prosecutors say it's all a facade.

Unexpectedly, we were notified by Jeff's
companies that I was not on the policy.

According to the government, Cohen uses
a mountain of fake documents to make it

appear his company has the cash it needs
to provide the help he's promised.

One of the things that was unique about
this case was the number of different

false representations.

were involved.

And when the feds close in, they say
they're surprised by what they see.

He did have a quality that most other
fraud defendants don't have.

And by what they hear.

Because most other fraud defendants
don't do what he did.

It's the afternoon of June 20th, 2014.

A former insurance executive named
Jeffrey Cohen heads north in his white

SUV.

Not long ago, a judge in Delaware
ordered the liquidation of Indemnity

Corporation, or IIC.

The company Cohen says he built with his
own blood, sweat, and tears.

A friend will later testify that Cohen
has seemed off.

like something wasn't right.

And as he drives, he speaks into a
recently purchased audio recorder.

The only difference between a soldier
killing somebody or an operative or a

police officer or anybody is that
there's a written law that says they can

says that I can't.

Cohen will later admit in court that in
recent days he has been gathering

information on James Travis Laster, The
Delaware judge who ordered the

liquidation of indemnity.

And on Lieutenant Governor Matthew Den,
the state's former insurance

commissioner. He will also testify that
with this information, he visits both

their homes.

Pretty surreal, considering I'm driving
to Delaware right now to doubt out

how I can attack Den and Laster.

In case it's not obvious, this is no
typical insurance story.

And Jeffrey Cohen is no typical
insurance executive.

Robert McClintock is a Baltimore artist
who alters photographs to make them look

like paintings.

Though he says he usually avoids human
subjects, In 2012, one of Jeffrey

employees at Indemnity Insurance
Corporation contacts McClintock, asking

be willing to paint the boss.

Well, they just depicted this guy, Jeff,
as a unique individual, and he's just

different in the insurance industry,
which I don't know what that meant, but

could tell the guy had an edge.

McClintock takes the job.

And soon he receives the photo that
Cohen wants transformed into a large

portrait of himself.

His face was contorted, like, don't mess
with me. And he was flipping the bird.

It was just kind of an old brother, you
know. Who is this guy?

What's he up to?

Jeffrey Cohen's rise to insurance
infamy.

started shortly after high school, when
he says he began working not as a

broker, but as a bouncer.

Cohen will later say he went on to learn
other aspects of the nightclub industry

as a bartender, a server, a manager, and
even a partner running clubs.

But after learning the ropes, Cohen says
he finds himself drawn to the decidedly

less exotic family business.

His father owned an insurance company.

His understanding of both sides of that
business, the insurance side, from

having that in his family, as well as
being involved in the bar business for

many years, from our understanding, it
was that he put those two together and

created the specialized insurance
business.

Cohen says that in a bar one night, he
sketches out a business plan on a

beverage napkin.

Nightlife establishments need insurance,
and his company, which will come to be

called Indemnity Insurance Corporation,
will provide it.

Britt Swan is a Washington, D .C. area
bar owner who says he first turns to

Cohen for coverage in the early 2000s.
He was pleasant. He was helpful. Didn't

seem to have no in his vocabulary.

He said he could take care of it, and he
did.

Swan and others say...

that the insurance Cohen's company
provides is a vital necessity at

establishments which are, by their very
nature, full of risk.

Well, outside of your normal slip and
fall, assault and battery, you do have

real big problem of over -serving or
intoxicated patrons, people claiming

you over -served them or you intoxicated
them.

If a patron's over -served at the bar
and gets in an accident or harms others.

that bar that served that patron could
obviously be held liable and be sued for

that.

Swan says that in exchange for the
premiums he pays, he expects help if

something bad happens.

Well, if a claim came up, I would expect
that he would assign someone to it.

They would, of course, come gather the
facts.

And if we were at fault, I would expect
them to make it right.

But if they found that we were not at
fault, I would expect them to defend us.

Indemnity's website states that no other
carrier can offer the level of

protection and risk management that we
deliver every day.

And bars shopping for insurance can do
more than just take Indemnity's word for

it. Thanks to Cohen, the company has the
rating to prove it.

AMBEST is widely respected in the
insurance industry. It's a rating agency

that's used by lots of policyholders and
by other insurance companies in

determining very important aspects to an
insurance company's operations.

It says something about the financial
stability of the insurance company and

quality of the insurance company. And it
also reflects the size.

You need to have enough surplus in order
to pay any potential claims that would

come through.

Cohen's relationship with AMBEST begins
when he first visits their New Jersey

headquarters in 2008.

Cohen will later admit in court that he
tells AMBEST one of his companies, LMNH,

will have $7 million in assets safely
stashed away.

Later, he sends them a copy of a bank
statement from RBC, the Royal Bank of

Canada. showing LMNH has $12 .5 million
in its account there.

In turn, indemnity receives an A-, or
excellent rating, due in part, A .M.

says, to the company's excellent
capitalization levels.

The A - rating was a big deal for the
company. It allowed him to have certain

brokers. offer his product to potential
policyholders.

That allowed his company to grow because
it showed that his company had a lot of

cash on hand, basically, so he would be
able to cover those large claims in case

they did come in from large venues or
large clients.

Though Cohen will later say the rating
had little effect on his business, he

sends out gloating posters to those who
doubted him.

featuring a hand gesture he seems to
like.

And he mentions the rating prominently
elsewhere.

Mr. Cohen would then put it on various
things associated with indemnity,

including the website and mailings that
indemnity had and other methods that he

used to grow the company.

Despite the gloating, Cohen says his
company was more than just an AM Best

rating and that the nightlife
establishments he insured were thrilled

service he offered.

According to Cohen, his employees help
bar owners design their space and train

employees to prevent potentially
expensive incidents before they occur.

And when the inevitable happens, Cohen
and others say, Indemnity Insurance

Corporation has a legal strategy of
fighting claims and not backing down.

As we alleged in court filings and
presented evidence from other cases

the country, It appeared to be indemnity
practice to be highly aggressive in

defending its claims.

Andrew Cohen, who is of no relation to
Jeffrey, is one of many lawyers who

himself on the opposing side of an
indemnity lawsuit.

After representing a family in a
wrongful death suit against a bar

indemnity, Jeffrey Cohen sues him
personally.

It was no holds barred. It was scorched
earth. It was unlike anything anybody

I've ever practiced with in almost 25
years has ever seen.

In court, Cohen admits he can be
belligerent, arrogant, and sometimes

a prick.

And as the video deposition shows, just
getting him to answer a simple question

can at times be difficult.

What's your current address, Mr. Cohen?

When? What's your current address? When?

Where do you currently reside? That
means at the moment. Currently means at

moment. Where do you reside now?

Checking.

Next, see how Jeffrey Cohen's risky
business pays off.

I've actually been in two of the four
homes that he owned.

They were both very beautiful homes.

Something you would see, like, in a
movie.

For years, businesses in the nightlife
industry paid big bucks to Indemnity

Insurance Corporation, expecting the
company to cover them if and when the

unthinkable occurs.

To prove the company's ability to do so,
Jeffrey Cohen turns to insurance

ratings agency AMBEST.

The evidence we presented in court
showed that he had multiple different

interactions with them.

He sent them emails. He called them on
the phone. He went up to A .M. Best

headquarters and met with them. And so
there was an extensive interaction

between A .M. Best and indemnity and
between them and Mr. Cohen.

But the ratings agency is not the only
entity to whom he must demonstrate his

company's ability to pay up when booze
causes trouble and trouble leads to

claims. State regulators are looking at
the financial condition of the insurance

company. The insurance industry is a
highly regulated industry.

Because the individual policyholders,
they want to be able to give their money

and trust that the company that they're
giving the money to has the ability to

pay claims.

After reviewing Indemnity's books,
regulators give Cohen's company the

up.

And with all the right boxes checked,
Indemnity continues to sign up bars,

clubs, and other party -filled venues.

When he first launches, Cohen says it's
just him and his dog.

But he claims in court that his company
grows to employ close to 100 people.

From his main office in suburban
Baltimore, indemnity provides coverage

than 3 ,000 policyholders from coast to
coast.

In addition to watering holes in
restaurants, Cohen testifies that he

insures big -name acts like the Rolling
Stones, U2, and Jay -Z.

American Greed was unable to confirm
this assertion. From 2008 through

2012, he brought in over $100 million of
premiums. Cohen's business is

booming, and he seems to be enjoying his
success. According to documents

presented in court in April 2008, when
he received his AM Best rating, his

salary is already $44 ,000 per month.

Five years later, it has more than
doubled.

In 2012, 2013, it was close to $100 ,000
a month in salary.

He would also have $100 ,000 or $200
,000 bonuses on top of that.

Cohen's companies buy or lease him a
Porsche, a Bentley, two Lexuses, an

Martin, a Land Rover, and a Mustang,
whose combined value is more than $1

million.

These vehicles sport license plates such
as Risk Taker.

As evidence at his sentencing will show,
Cohen also owns a waterfront home in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and another
outside Baltimore.

The one in Maryland was full of high
-end furniture, spiral staircases as you

walk in that are in a very open foyer,
something you would see, like, in a

movie.

According to evidence presented in
court, Cohen spends more than half a

dollars of company money on private jet
trips to Florida and back.

Court transcripts say he owns a $50 ,000
Rolex and buys his wife a $260

,000 engagement ring.

And a newspaper report citing court
records says Cohen spent $83 ,000

over two months primarily at adult
entertainment venues in Las Vegas.

According to the article, Cohen denied
the allegation, saying it was actually

$100 ,000 and that it was for legitimate
marketing purposes.

Up next, Jeffrey Cohen's business seems
legit. But when a bar owner looks for

help, he learns he's on his own.

My only thought at the time was he had a
million reasons to do that because our

policy limit was a million dollars. And
he just wasn't going to pay anything.

Mr. Cohen, before the break, you
mentioned the name Brit Swan.

Who is Brit Swan?

A human being.

In October 2009, Britt Swann receives
word that his Washington, D .C. bar,

Modern, is being sued.

It was alleged that we failed to check
the ID of a young lady, and as a result,

we served her alcohol and she became
intoxicated.

Subsequently, after that, there was an
automobile accident in which a passenger

was killed.

and the family of that passenger began a
lawsuit against us.

Attorney Andrew Cohen, who is no longer
in private practice, once represented

the family who files the lawsuit.

They went to the court system to seek
accountability for the death of their

daughter. Based on all the factors at
play in the case, we believed that we

damages. in excess of the million
-dollar insurance policy that we could

proven at trial.

For an uninsured bar, damages like this
could be disastrous.

But Modern has been paying for coverage
through Indemnity Insurance Corporation,

and Swan says he thinks Cohen's company
has his back.

Unexpectedly, we were notified by Jeff's
companies that I was not on the policy.

And as a result, I was not an additional
insured, and he was pulling the legal

defense team away from me.

To do so, Indemnity produces an
insurance document called a binder that

coverage to Modern's operator, J .C.
Mudd.

But never mention Swan's company, the
bar's owner, Georgetown Bibliotheque.

However, attorney Andrew Cohen says he
obtains a different version of the

binder, which in sworn testimony he
calls the original unaltered version.

Toward the top of the page, under
additional comments, Georgetown

Inc. is added as it named in short. And
that's, of course, the critical point,

that Georgetown Bibliotheque was added
to the policy.

But then if you look at the binder that
we referred to in the litigation as the

altered binder, that line is missing. It
appears to have been deleted.

And as a consequence, all the text
underneath that line has moved up so

this version the word approval is out of
this box and there's no white space

between it and the words underneath it,
whereas on this version the word

approval is in that box and there is
some white space underneath it. So to

casual observer, it certainly looks like
the original binder was simply altered

to have the reference to Georgetown
Bibliotheque deleted.

While Jeffrey Cohen points out that no
court has ever ruled on whether he

altered the binder, in court documents,
prosecutors say the insurance executive

fraudulently denied coverage in the
case.

Though Cohen denies these assertions,
prosecutor Joyce McDonald says there's a

reason for his alleged switcheroo.

The problem that Mr. Cohen was
addressing by denying coverage and by

the policy.

was not having enough money to pay the
claim.

Cohen maintains he never lacked money to
pay claims.

And for years, he has been showing
AMBEST and various state regulators that

company has plenty of money available to
help bars and other nightlife

businesses who've come to him for
insurance.

But does it?

In 2012, Delaware's Department of
Insurance begins a routine examination

indemnity, and an analyst comes asking
questions.

My understanding is that the Delaware
insurance commissioner's employee was

trying to verify the assets of the
company. She was trying to verify funds

were available in case the company
needed it.

As part of the review, the analyst seeks
independent confirmation of a $5 .1

million balance and then that he claims
to have a certain bank.

In court, Cohen later admits that he
directs the analyst to send a

form to the bank, providing an address
in Cockeysville, Maryland.

After sending the blank form to this
address, the analyst gets it back,

with the name of a real bank employee.

It confirms indemnity's $5 .1 million
account balance.

But something isn't quite right.

The analyst for the Delaware Department
of Insurance followed up with a

confirmation by attempting to contact
the named individual on the bank

confirmation. Gets a hold of that
individual at the bank. That individual

represents that they didn't sign a
confirmation.

They don't know anything about it, and
it gives her great concern.

Cohen later testifies that the address
he provides doesn't belong to a bank.

It's just a P .O. box in a suburban post
office that he says he opened days

before sending it to regulators.

He was the one controlling what
information was being sent out on behalf

P .O. box and also receiving the
information that was coming in. He

be this.

representative from this particular
financial institution in order to

back to the regulators.

According to voluminous court records
and Cohen's own admissions, this is not

one -time deal.

A federal appeals court will find that
Cohen has created a web of false and

fraudulent financial documents to help
him misrepresent the financial status of

his company.

One of the things that was unique about
this case was the number of different

false representations that were
involved.

Typically, he would doctor up a bank
statement showing that a certain bank

holding money for him. Whatever he
needed at the time, either to get an

rating or to defeat an audit or to
pacify the regulators, he would create

something fraudulent to get that done.

AMBES declined and offered a comment for
the show.

And Cohen says he is doing more than
just making fake financial documents.

In his plea agreement and under cross
-examination, he admits that for years

he's been tricking auditors when they go
to verify the money indemnity says it

has in the bank.

He's done so by setting up e -mail
addresses that sound like those of real

banks. He says he's been providing these
addresses to auditors, then using them

to pose as bank employees.

to falsely confirm his own account
balances.

So he was the one receiving the
confirmation.

He was the one that was posing as the
bank to confirm that balance and sending

it back to the auditors. The auditors
think that they're getting it

independently from the bank, or in
essence, he's confirming his own fake

balance.

Though he admits in court that he's
faked multiple confirmations, Cohen will

later tell a jury that his company was
extremely profitable and that he always

had enough money to pay claims.

But federal prosecutors argue that
Cohen's true financial picture becomes

when you subtract his misrepresentations
and factored out a multimillion -dollar

IOU owed to indemnity from another Cohen
-controlled company.

It's an asset that prosecutors call
uncollectible, though Cohen vehemently

disagrees.

So this was the exhibit that we
introduced during the litigation to talk

the reported assets of the company
versus what the agent's investigation

right? Right. The blue represents what
Cohen was reporting as being the

available funds to pay claims, and he's
consistently showing a $15 million

surplus, and it jumps up to $23 million.

But the red is what the government was
able to prove was the truth.

Including a negative balance in 2011 of
$10 million.

That money needed to be available in
case somebody came through with a claim

that he needed to pay out.

It's the what if.

That's what insurance is for, the what
if.

Next on American Greed.

Caught red -handed, Cohen admits to many
of his crimes.

And later, investigators make a chilling
discovery.

These particular items were being
brought to our attention, and it started

seem like this was not the typical white
-collar case.

For years, Jeffrey Cohen's company has
been ensuring hot spots across the

nation.

But the party's about to come to an end.

In May 2013, Delaware officials filed
papers in the state's Chancery Court.

claiming that Indemnity Insurers
Corporation is in a precarious financial

position due to multiple acts of fraud.

In response, Judge James Travis Laster
grants an order allowing the seizure of

Jeffrey Cohen's life work.

They put the insurance company into
receivership because they found that,

it wasn't being operated well, but
secondly, that it was not able to meet

obligations to...

It's insured and that it didn't have
enough funds to operate on a going

basis.

And so it couldn't continue.

Approximately two months after the
seizure, the state moves to liquidate

business that some refer to as Cohen's
baby.

And he is, in his own words, kicked out
of indemnity.

Cohen still asserts that at the time,
his company was financially healthy,

it was not legally insolvent, and that
any problems his policyholders later

faced were caused by the receiver who
took over, not by him.

The Delaware Department of Insurance
declined to comment to American Greed.

Mr. Cohen doesn't take well that the
company shut down.

It's a company that he started himself.

from the ground up, grew to a large
insurance company.

According to Judge Laster, Cohen shuts
off indemnity's phone service and

attempts to shut off his electricity.

Judge Laster also finds that Cohen
violates numerous court orders,

requiring him to return a company -owned
Mustang and an Aston Martin to the

people now in charge.

The Ford Mustang was parked directly in
front of the front doors of the office

building, blocking the entrance.

The Aston Martin was parked in the
parking lot, but in a fashion to block

through the parking lot.

But justice is coming for Jeffrey Cohen.

In October 2013, attorneys working for
the state of Delaware bring what they've

learned about Indemnity Insurance
Corporation to the U .S. Attorney's

federal investigators in Baltimore.

They had discovered that a bank
confirmation had been forged, and that

$5 million, which is a significant
amount of money. They felt it was a

financial fraud and that we should look
at it.

Months later, agents search Cohen's
former offices, where they seize various

records. Eventually, investigators find
that Cohen's fraud extends far beyond

the misrepresentations first uncovered
in Delaware.

It was obvious he was a very smart man.
And you could actually see it in the way

he committed the fraud.

He learned as he went what the different
regulators or auditors were looking for

and how they would proceed. And he was
very energetic and he was on it, but he

was clever in what he did.

On June 24th, a grand jury indicts
Jeffrey Cohen on five counts of making

statements to an insurance regulator.

And the next day, agents come to Cohen's
home with an arrest warrant in hand.

Our thought is that this is going to be
a search warrant for financial documents

to documents that provided evidence of
the misstatements to the regulators.

According to an FBI memo of his
interview with federal agents from that

Cohen admits he booked a bank statement,
posed as bank employees to confirm

various bank account balances,

and says he faked it till I made it.

Next. Until now, the case against Cohen
has seemed like many other frauds, but

agents' chilling discoveries turn the
investigation upside down.

One of the investigators who was
searching said, oh, you have to come see

notebook. And I was like, well, what's
in the notebook?

He's like, you have to come see.

What has Cohen been planning?

Inspect the strange items uncovered by
investigators at AmericanGreed .cnbc

.com. Want inside information from the
show?

Join the Greed social network.

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We'll be right back.

As one group of agents talks to Jeffrey
Cohen about the fraud at Indemnity

Insurance Corporation, or IIC, others
searches more than 8 ,000 square foot

home, where they find much more than
just evidence of a nightclub insurance

scam.

One of the investigators who was
searching came up to myself and another

agent and said, oh, you have to come see
this notebook.

And I was like, well, what's in the
notebook?

He's like, you have to come see.

Inside a plain purple pad, two words
stick out.

Targetless. NSA area, D .C. federal
building.

Maryland government and judges, Delaware
folk, IIC folk.

Always carry a loaded .45 for end.

Have to carry at all times. Keep local
when anywhere.

Avoid cameras on exit or wear disguise.

As evidence in court will later show,
this is not their only discovery.

In Cohen's Lexus, agents find a
contractor's clipboard containing

on James Travis Laster, the Delaware
judge who permitted the liquidation of

Cohen's company months earlier.

It also contains maps with directions to
Laster's home and the home of

Delaware's former insurance
commissioner, Matthew Den.

And there's a page with another kind of
directions as well.

These are how to make a thermite
firebomb.

most useful in riot situations.

As they continue their search, agents
find more.

This is a tactical backpack that was
found in Mr. Cohen's residence, packed

several wigs. Wig here, another wig
here, third wig here,

a Smith & Wesson special ops knife, a
gas mask.

Emergency bandage trauma wound dressing
for hemorrhage control. A military cap

with a spike weapon that you can use to
put on the back of your head.

One mask, another mask, another mask.

Artificial mustache.

We didn't understand why someone would
have this packed up right ago.

Then, in Cohen's garage, agents make
another concerning discovery.

A large black rifle with an unusual
scope.

The rifle allows someone that's not that
experienced or maybe very inexperienced

at shooting any type of firearm and
gives them the ability to be very

Through that scope, they can look at
their target up to hundreds of yards

and as long as they can hit that button
and tag it at some point, whenever the

gun senses that it hit the target again,
it'll fire the gun.

It's not the only weapon seized by
agents as they search Cohen's home and

other location.

On any search warrant, you don't know
what you're going to find when you go

through those doors, but this was very
out of the ordinary.

Agents have been asking Cohen about his
insurance scam, but now they have other

questions. Cohen tries to assure them he
never meant harm to anyone.

According to an FBI memorandum of his
interview from the day of his arrest, he

explains his notebook by saying he was
writing a story about a guy who goes

and then changes the world.

The backpack, he says, represents his
interest in prepping, a .k .a. preparing

for the end times.

And he says he picked up the rifle
because he thought it was cool and

he'd take it to Africa to hunt with it.

He later says the wigs and mustache were
for a masculine Wonder Woman costume

for a masquerade ball.

Law enforcement officers and prosecutors
don't buy it.

They arrest Cohen that day on charges
related to his insurance fraud, and the

judge orders the detention of the former
insurance executive.

Next on American Greed.

Prosecutors present disturbing courtroom
evidence of what they call Cohen's

dangerous attempts to intimidate, harm,
and kill others.

He admitted he went to Delaware.

That's well past taking notes in a
notebook for some screenplay or novel

thinking of writing.

After agents make a number of
discoveries at Jeffrey Cohen's home, he

assure them that none of this is what it
looks like.

But investigators piece together their
own timeline of Cohen's recent

activities, a timeline which, according
to prosecutor Harry Gruber, indicates

that Cohen was on the cusp of doing
something truly heinous.

The investigation is what the
investigation is.

I can't assume to know what exactly was
in Mr. Cohen's mind, but the particular

fact that we put together appeared that
they all related to one another.

According to the timeline and other
evidence presented in court, on the

of June 4th, the former insurance
executive inquires about the purchase of

rifle later found in his garage, saying
he's looking for something for this

summer.

Two days later, he purchases the domain
whyidedit .com.

Cohen admits in court that on June 9th
and 10th, he emails himself the firebomb

instructions later found inside his
Lexus SUV, and evidence shows that 50

of ammonium nitrate are shipped to his
house.

Ammonium nitrate is typically used for
fertilizer, but it was also one of the

main ingredients in the Oklahoma City
bombing.

On June 12th, Cohen's birthday, he picks
up his new $25 ,000 weapon, which in an

email he says he will use for target
shooting and collecting, not hunting in

Africa, calling it such a piece of
awesomeness.

A couple of days after purchasing the
rifle, Mr. Cohen goes to a shooting

We actually were able to extract or
download the memory from that scope.

which showed what Mr. Cohen was doing
with the rifle.

Shots of him at the shooting range,
shooting human silhouettes from up to

yards away.

Over the next few days, Cohen purchases
fuses, incendiary ammo, and a $3 ,500

night vision monocular.

He updates his will and cashes out a
quarter -million -dollar life insurance

policy.

Then, on June 19th, evidence presented
in court shows that he begins a series

Internet searches related to bombs and
to people with whom he's butted heads in

the past.

Investigators testify that the next day,
June 20th, Cohen prints out maps to the

homes of Judge James Travis Laster and
Delaware's former insurance

Matthew Den.

Cohen later admits that the same day, he
takes a trip north.

recording his thoughts on a new audio
recorder as he goes.

It's pretty surreal considering I'm
driving to Delaware right now to scout

how I can attack Dan and Laster.

Hearing him on the road driving to
Delaware, you can picture him in this

He talks about reasons for killing,
about being calm.

I'm not crazy.

I'm perfectly calm.

I methodically planned this little recon
scenario out.

That, coupled with the evidence we had
seen about the target list, the

directions to these homes.

I don't think anybody would ever
understand.

It was very eerie to hear that. How
someone can do something that others

is so horrific, but it seemed completely
normal to the person committing the

act, I guess.

Cohen will later claim these audio
recordings were kind of like a creative

writing assignment.

He claims he went to Dan's house not to
attack him, but to research a political

attack ad about him in a race against
Cohen's lawyer to become Delaware's

attorney general.

He says he visited Laster's home to
obtain information he needs to serve him

with a lawsuit.

And Cohen will also argue at sentencing,
that the explosive materials were for a

hydro generator and a flame -spitting
guitar he was building.

But the feds argue in court that the
evidence points elsewhere.

So this just all put together painted a
pretty troubling picture of what Mr.

Cohen may have intended to do in the
very near future.

Cohen is arrested just five days after
his trip to Delaware.

When he goes to trial at the federal
courthouse in Baltimore in June 2015,

represents himself.

Though he admits in his opening argument
that he misrepresented some of the

financials, he says he did so because he
thought it would help make him look

bigger if he sold his company or went
public.

Four days into the trial, Cohen pleads
guilty to charges of wire fraud,

aggravated identity theft, making a
false statement to a regulator and

obstruction of justice.

Then, in December 2015, a judge
sentences him to 37 years in prison

and orders him to pay $137 million in
restitution.

This loss amount, determined by the
judge, equals the premiums that

say indemnity collected through fraud
minus the claims they say Cohen's

paid out.

Cohen, who says his company actually
paid over $40 million in claims, has

protested the $137 million loss amount,
which is the main factor in determining

his nearly four -decade sentence.

Though he does not plead guilty to any
charges related to what prosecutors call

his attempts to kill and use physical
force against others, the judge says

probable that Cohen meant to harm Den,
Laster, and two lawyers working for

Delaware.

As of 2017, Cohen called the assertion
he intended harm completely ridiculous,

borderline fraudulent, and at a minimum,
frivolous.

But to people like attorney Andrew
Cohen, who testifies the FBI told him

was keeping tabs on him, the fear is no
less real.

It was very disturbing.

At the time, my children were young.

And I have a wife, I have a family, and
I realized then that my

personal safety and the safety of my
family may very well have been in

As we litigated this case and
experienced some of the tactics that

to bear, we speculated about where this
might go someday.

But we never in our wildest dreams
thought that it could end up where

it did.

Cohen continues to litigate matters in
Delaware related to the seizure and

liquidation of his company, to file
lawsuits against various parties, and to

fight his case, including the recent
filing of a motion to vacate his

Despite repeated requests, Cohen
declined to answer questions for this

of American Greed.

Even after pleading guilty, Cohen
maintained that no one lost any money

of his deceit and that no policyholder
was harmed.

Not everyone agrees with this sentiment.

There are a large number of
policyholders. They were paying for an

insurance company.

That rating was based on fraud.

They were paying for a company that had
the money to pay out claims if they

arose. That money in surplus was not
there.

Ultimately, when the company was shut
down because of his fraud and because of

his lack of financial wherewithal, these
policyholders were left without an

insurance policy.