All language subtitles for American Greed s13e06 The House Flipping Reality Star Fraudster.eng

In this episode of American Greed... Run
away, buddy boy, run away.

Leave it to the real men. Scott Minogat
is a trash -talking star... Go!

...of a fix -it -and -flip -it TV show.

I love buying properties in this area.

Rentals equal cash flow. Cash flow makes
me very happy.

Minogat parlays his reality fame into a
house -flipping -and -furniture -store

empire in the Valley of the Sun.

Where Scott Menaged always comes first.

He was an arrogant person, very cushy,
very demanding.

He was having a lot of fun, taking a lot
of money, jetting around, living a high

lifestyle, gambling in Vegas, flying
over to Israel. He was enjoying himself.

But when Menaged's $30 million lie
begins to unravel, his unwitting partner

up dead.

Scott Menage described Denny Chittick's
death as a gift. He said, it's a dead

man's word against mine.

Set in Phoenix, Arizona, Property Wars
premieres on the Discovery Network in

2012.

51 ,000. Let's go. This is a strategy
game. I'm going to do whatever it takes

defend my territory.

This 30 -episode series is a snapshot in

time, capturing the aftermath of the
financial crisis and the housing market

free fall.

Arguably, no other city got hit as hard
as Phoenix.

It was a really, really...

Crazy time. It was scary.

Doug Hopkins has been a fixture in the
Phoenix area real estate market for more

than 20 years.

All of a sudden, poof, the floor just
fell out. And houses that were

bought for $300 ,000 were worth a third
of that, $100 ,000.

What the lenders did, because nobody
would buy these, they wound up

the notes substantially to make it so
that...

People at the courthouse steps would buy
them so banks wouldn't have to take

them in as inventory.

And so we would go down and bid on them.

The massive number of properties, quick
turnaround, and daily bidding wars

between potential buyers makes for a
ripe reality TV show.

Here I come, baby.

And Property Wars producers want Doug
Hopkins on the show.

But at first, Hopkins has reservations
of how it would affect his bottom line.

I didn't want to be a part of it. At the
time, I was the biggest investor in

foreclosures in Arizona. I didn't want
anybody knowing what was going on. But I

took a look at it. I woke up one morning
and I decided, you know, what the heck,

I'll give it a shot.

Hopkins appears on the show with a
varied crew of house flippers and

all looking to cash in on an
unprecedented foreclosure market.

We would bid every single day. It's a
live auction. When there's thousands of

dollars on the line, it tends to create
some animosity, tends to create some

enemies. There was a lot of my
competitors that I really liked, and

some that I didn't like very much at
all.

One of his biggest competitors and co
-star is Yum Top Scott Monaghan,

a New York transplant who was making a
name for himself flipping houses in

Phoenix.

I didn't know who Scott was at the time.
He was mostly bought houses on the west

side of town. I bought some on the east
side of town. And that kind of changed

once the cameras started rolling. From
the beginning, Scott Monaghan rubs Doug

Hopkins the wrong way.

The biggest problem I see in the East
Valley is called Doug Hopkins.

Doug Hopkins is always used to getting
his way in the East Valley.

No more. I'm coming in and I'm taking
him down.

I've been buying and selling real estate
for almost 20 years. I'm the biggest

buyer of trustee sale.

Though it may seem like a made -for -TV
feud, Hopkins says the bad blood is

real. Scott and I never got along.

We were civil for the most part because
we had to spend time together filming

every day. No, he was not a person that
I would call a friend. He was not a

person I would hang out with. He was not
a person I would go have a beer with.

He was an arrogant person, very cushy,
very demanding, didn't treat people very

well. He thought everything was all
about him. And the feeling appears to be

mutual.

Let him stay on his neck of the woods
and I'll stay in mine and we're good to

go.

I'm not looking to go to dinner with the
guy anytime soon.

There was actually a couple of episodes
that we almost came to blows. And that

was real.

Scott keeps pushing me up, and I'm way
past my number. But there's no way I'm

letting him walk away with this one. Go
300 more.

149. I hate losing this jackass. Forget
it. Forget it. I'm out.

Timber!

I really wanted this house today. And to
lose to Scott, of all people...

That weasel better watch his mouth.

You know, he said some comments that
really, really aggravated me. And

you just get fed up with the antics, and
I'd had enough that day.

You're a freaking bully is what you are.
You try to bully people around. What

bully? You ain't gonna freaking bully me
around. What bully? Get off my

property.

Get off my property. I ain't freaking
leaving.

It's very rare that I can get that
worked up. I can get mad, but it's very,

rare. I haven't been in a fight since.

High school, and I was ready to go a
couple times, and it's probably a good

thing that some of the producers stepped
in.

Go! Go, get out of here! Get out of
here, jackass.

Despite all of his on -screen antics, by
2014, Manogat's TV personality

has helped him go from outsider to big
-time Arizona real estate mogul.

Scott Manogat had a pretty good
reputation, and he had a big reputation.

Scott was on TV. He was a star of a
reality TV show.

And a lot of people watched that show
and he was a local star.

You know, Scott was always bragging
about all the money that he was making

Vegas. He would go up to Vegas and he
would come back and he would describe

duffer bags full of cash.

I know he bought big fancy houses to
live in. He had new cars all the time

you know, just did his thing.

Before Menaged was an infamous, fast
-talking man about town, he was born

Scott Menaged to an Israeli -American
family in New York.

Around the late 1990s, he heads to
Arizona to try his hand at real estate

catches the eye of Eric Weinbrenner,
himself a rising star in the foreclosure

business.

I met Scott in 2002, 2003 through real
estate.

He was a very aggressive person that
used to fix and flip.

And in this line of business, you need
someone that's aggressive. And then also

his dad had capital. So I'm like, all
right, it's kind of like a win -win, an

aggressive, hardworking person with a
dad with capital because we could always

utilize funds.

I decided to have him come into my
office and, in a sense, partner up with

He was a super aggressive person.

On average, we're buying 10, 12 houses a
day. We're making great money in 2008,

9, 10, 11.

According to Weinbrenner, he and
Monaghan are each clearing more than a

dollars a year.

And their profits are only growing.

That's why the falling out that leads to
the end of their business relationship

is so odd.

It all comes down to a $100 bet.

Scott and I always worked well together
and trusted him to a point, obviously

over -embellished stories, things of
that nature, but he said he was going to

hike Camelback.

Camelback Mountain is known as a
strenuous and potentially dangerous

especially in desert heat that pushes
over 100 degrees.

And Weinbrenner thinks it's an easy bet.

After all, Scott Monaghan's idea of
exercise...

seems to be screaming into a phone.

And I'm like, oh, okay, I bet you can't
make it to the top. And he's like, oh,

no, no, no, I can't, I can't, I can't.
I'm like, oh, all right, I'll bet you

$100.

So, therefore, he, the next day, I said,
oh, did you hike Camelback? And he

goes, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I said, did
you see my house down below?

He goes, yeah, I saw it. It's beautiful
up there. I'm handing him $100 and went

on my way.

Later, Weinbrenner runs into an employee
who was with Scott Monaghan on his

supposed hike.

to the top of Camelback Mountain and
asked him if Scott made it.

I'm like, Matt, I'm just curious if
Scott actually made it to the top. He

um, well, you are my boss. No, he didn't
even make it a quarter of the way up.

I'm like, okay.

Weinbrenner stews on the alleged lie for
a couple of weeks, then confronts

Menaged. I'm like, excuse me, I
understand that you didn't hide

you stole $100 from me.

And he goes, no, no, no, no, I paid you
on one of the deals.

And I'm like, no, I don't think you did.
I'm like, which property? He goes, oh,

I can't remember.

Therefore, I said, we're done.

Get out of my office, pack your crap,
we're done.

I said, we run way too much money in and
out of these accounts, anywhere from

$12, $15, $16 million a month.

If you're willing to steal $100 from me,
you're willing to steal $100 ,000.

It was the last time Weinbrenner worked
with Scott Monaghan.

And while he may have unknowingly dodged
a very expensive bullet, others are not

so lucky.

Next on American Greed, Scott Monaghan
wants to build a house -living empire of

his own.

All he needs is millions of dollars in
cash up front.

What could go wrong?

I looked over at my wife.

I said, well, I hope we don't end up on
American Greed.

You ready, doggie boy? Here I come.

The Monaghan Express coming right into
the East Valley.

Scott Monaghan's hit reality show,
Property Wars, is picked up for a second

season of bidding, buying, and fighting
over the Phoenix area foreclosure

market.

And by 2014, Monaghan wants to up his
game.

Just before the bid, Scott rolls up like
he already owns the place.

What a beauty!

That's so typical.

It's a great property. What are you
talking about? He's so freaking cocky.

thinks he can just show up and make
money. It doesn't work that way.

Monaghan's main rival and Property Wars
co -star, Doug Hopkins, is buying up as

many properties as he can.

There was brand new houses that were
just built in 2005, 2006 that sold for

,000 and $400 ,000 that we were buying
at the courthouse steps for $100 ,000.

And I'm sitting there going, this is
insane.

I've got to buy as many of these as
possible. I've got to figure out a way

buy as many of these as possible. At our
peak, my company was buying between 200

and 300 properties a month.

Scott Monaghan wants to dethrone Hopkins
as Arizona's foreclosure king.

In order to win big, Monaghan needs
cash, a lot of cash.

For this, he turns to a man named Denny
Chittick.

Denny Chittick was a local, what we call
a hard money lender. A lot of these

houses, they have to be paid for the
next business day.

Hard money lenders can provide cash
quickly and to higher risk borrowers.

In return, they collect interest rates
of 18, even 20%.

Denny Chittick is the sole owner and
operator of Densco, a lending company he

started up after making money in the
sale of a tech company.

and then he was a he was a very nice guy
very good good dude i did a lot of

loans with him myself and i had a lot of
my clients do loans with him i bet i

borrowed anywhere from 80 to 100 million
dollars back and forth from him and it

always handed on a basically on a
handshake or very very organized man

organized always looked up to him as a
good businessman

Scott Menaged built a very personal
relationship with Denny Chittick. And

Menaged was somewhat of a celebrity.

So he was somewhat of a local star. I
think the local star aspect plus just

interpersonal relationship, spending a
lot of time together, having coffee and

drinks and being in each other's homes,
built up a bond of trust between Denny

Chittick and Scott Menaged.

Densko funds loans with the help of its
investors, a group that has grown to

about 100 very close family and friends.

who all come in with personal
connections and includes Denny

parents.

Denny Chittick knew his investors.

It was his family members. It was his
friends and people he'd met throughout

life. Everyone, he knew them all, and
they all knew him, and they trusted him

completely with their money.

Anthony Burdett has been a CPA in El
Paso, Texas, for more than 40 years and

nearing retirement.

His stock portfolio takes a big hit
during the financial downturn of 2008,

he's looking to shore it up when a
friend tells him about an alternative

investment opportunity.

In our talk, he just said, Tony, I've
invested in a hard money lender out of

Arizona. He said, I'd like you to check
it out.

And he gave me the website.

The money lender is Denny Chittick.

Burdett's friend went to college with
Chittick's parents.

I really was impressed with them. They
were just very good, salt -of -the

people. And so I said, hmm, okay, the
apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

so I did a lot of due diligence, a lot
of homework. I really got in there and

drilled down.

Burdett finds 10 years of stable
returns.

Densko's key promise is that every loan
Chittick makes is secured by the first

deed of trust of the property purchased.

Meaning, if something goes wrong, he can
be the first to foreclose on the

property to get his money back.

That first deed of trust holds all the
marbles. That's where your security is.

Tony Burdette has spent his life working
and saving, and he wants to enjoy his

retirement. My wife and I, I guess the
word is frugal, but we look for value on

everything. And we didn't take some
vacations because we wanted to, you

have a good, comfortable retirement. We
got the kids through school.

That part was done.

After deep diving into the financials,
Burdett believes that the Densko

investment is a safe path to reaching
his goals.

And he invests $400 ,000 with Denny
Chedick.

By 2013, Scott Monaghan is one of
Densko's biggest borrowers. He claims to

purchasing tens of millions of dollars
worth of foreclosed properties with

Densko's cash.

Properties such as this one at 771 West
Marlette Avenue in Glendale, Arizona.

Monaghan claims he bought this four
-bedroom foreclosure at auction.

secures a loan from Chittick for $120
,000 and puts Densko as the beneficiary

the first deed of trust.

He then either flips or rents the
properties at a pretty profit in order

back his high -interest loans.

Everyone seems to be making money.

Everyone seems happy.

We had visions of extended vacations
and, you know, having...

a new car, just silly things like that.
But still, it's things that, you know,

are important to you. After all, Densko
has a 10 -year track record of smart

business decisions and steady returns,
even in a volatile housing market.

But that track record is about to come
to a screeching stop.

Next on American Greed, Densko's number
one borrower turns out to be its number

one enemy.

These businesses operate a lot on trust,
and they ran very well for Denny

Chittick for quite a long time until,
unfortunately for him and his investors,

he met Scott Monaghan.

Phoenix area house flipper Scott
Monaghan is living the life of a real

tycoon.

Kicking back at his multi -million
dollar Arizona mansion.

Complete with a lazy river meandering
through a lush backyard oasis in the

desert.

The property war star and foreclosure
king is on top of the world.

Scott Monaghan appeared to be a very
successful businessman. He was a star.

of a reality TV show, and he was a big,
big deal.

Guys, I'm on a totally different level
than you two.

Monaghan's foreclosure deals are not
only making him a rich man, but are

providing huge returns to his lender,
Denny Chittick, and his group of

investors.

They trusted Scott, and Scott needed
more and more money, and he would go to

buddy, Denny Chittick, and say, Denny, I
need some more money, and Denny would

go to his friends and his family and his
business partners and say, I need some

more money, and he would funnel millions
of dollars more to Scott Monaghan so

Scott could supposedly continue to buy
more real estate.

Scott Monaghan seems to think he's too
big to be confined to the house

business. and decides to open several
discount furniture stores throughout the

Phoenix area.

Menaged's former partner, Eric
Weinbrenner, takes notice.

I'm like, where is he getting all this
money?

Like, honestly, I would sit back and go,
what the heck is going on here?

But I'm like, hey, and I actually
started talking to him again in 2015, I

believe. He goes, the furniture
business. He goes, well, I'll sell a $1

couch and I'll make $800.

He goes, you're buying a $150 ,000 house
and you're only making $1 ,500.

All you have to do is sell two couches.

And I'm like, oh, maybe he's right.

He was always bragging about how much
money he made, whether it was through

buying homes at auction, whether it was
all the money he made at his furniture

store, or he was bragging about all the
money he made in Vegas.

I had no reason to not take him for a
person at his work, that he was making a

lot of money. He was buying cars, he was
buying houses, he was living a lavish

lifestyle. He was talking about all the
high -end restaurants that he had dinner

at the night before and that sort of
thing.

You know, I knew he was spending money.

He started marketing his furniture
company more and more. I kept seeing

billboards. I'm like, wow, that guy's
doing great.

Scott certainly seems to be doing great.

Until the end of 2013, that is.

When Menaged tells his lender, Denny
Chittick, we have a problem.

Scott Menaged had actually come to him
and said, my cousin had come in and

started to run the business, and my
cousin had run off with some of the

So a lot of this money that was supposed
to be invested in real estate just

wasn't. It was gone.

Menaged owes Densko $5 million.

He assures Chittick he can make it back.

He just needs more time.

And more cash to flip more houses.

Now Denny Chittick has an agonizing
choice.

Tell his investors and risk losing
everything?

Or work with Scott Menaged and try to
make things right?

He said that he couldn't tell the
investors at that time. He didn't have

heart to tell them at that time what had
really happened because they would have

lost faith in him.

And they would have all asked for their
money back.

And he didn't have the money to give
back to them. So he had been working to

to turn this really terrible situation
around.

He creates what he calls a workout
agreement with Monaghan, in which Densko

lends Monaghan even more money and
expects to be paid back fully.

Within a year, Monaghan claims to have
purchased hundreds of properties.

with Densko as the title holder and owes
Densko $30 million.

Monaghan is making the 18 % interest
payments and Denny Chittick thinks their

plan is working.

What he doesn't know is that Scott
Monaghan is secretly devising another

stream, an illegal one.

IRS criminal investigator Denise Lucero
fields a tip about some suspicious

banking activity taking place at
Monogat's furniture stores.

It appeared that Scott Monogat had
opened up a merchant account with Wells

Bank. Once that account was established,
he then was able to provide lines of

credit to individuals wanting to
purchase furniture.

Multiple applications were prepared and
filed with Wells Fargo approving those

lines of credit.

Once we looked into the names of the
applicants, it was determined that those

individuals, the names, the social
security numbers, the date of birth, all

belonged to deceased individuals.

We discovered that Scott Menaged was
obtaining these names from the obituary

section of the Arizona Republic, which
is the local paper.

Once he knew they were deceased, he was
able to find their personal

identification information, their social
security numbers, their addresses, all

sorts of information that he then used
to make these bogus credit card

applications.

Unless Scott Monaghan's customers need
furniture in the afterlife, it appears

is simply pocketing the bank's money.

These were entirely fabricated purchases
done so that Scott Monaghan could get

his hands on funds quickly.

For example, Monaghan might read in the
obits that an Arizona woman has died at

89.

Using her personal data, he takes out a
Wells Fargo line of credit in her name.

He uses it to buy $5 ,000 worth of
furniture.

On paper, that is.

In reality, the living room set stays
right on his showroom floor.

But the $5 ,000 goes into Monaghan's
pocket.

In an attempt to legitimize the fraud,
Scott Monaghan did purchase some money

orders from a bank and then try to pay
down that line of credit to sort of keep

the fraud ongoing and not raise any
flags with the bank.

Unfortunately, it was so egregious that
it was noticed.

Noticed, but not before Scott Monaghan
makes off with more than $2 million from

two banks.

Next on American Greed.

The feds stay covert and continue to
investigate, for there is a larger

at hand.

Why would a hugely successful real
estate investor need to commit credit

bank fraud?

Everything that was tied to Scott was
tainted with some sort of fraud, some

of lies. It just always seemed to be,
does this guy stop?

In a suburban Phoenix subdivision, in
the home of businessman and father,

Chittick, in the office where he runs
his real estate lending business, sits a

broken man.

His fatal mistake?

Trusting Scott Monaghan, who owes him
and his investors $31 million.

And Monaghan has just filed for
bankruptcy.

Denny Chittick learned that Scott
Monaghan had filed for bankruptcy.

And Denny Chittick is distraught at this
point because he'd given Monaghan tens

of millions of dollars from his friends.

And he's wondering what's going to
happen.

Chittick's journal entries offer a peek
inside the mind of a man whose options

are bad and worse.

And there was spiraling down a dark hole
of regret.

June 6, 2016.

I spent my entire waking hours thinking
about this mess, how I should have done

things differently, and what I am going
to do.

He was working with Scott Menaged to try
to come up with a plan to earn back the

money that had been stolen.

That involved getting more money from
investors and investing some more with

Scott Menaged.

But he found out that that money was
being stolen, too. He had trusted Scott

Managa to take that money and use it to
go buy foreclosed homes at a discount.

And he learned eventually that that
wasn't done.

June 13th.

Scott was supposed to call me.

Never did.

Claims he's going to get this thing
solved.

I have little faith.

He just strings me out with promises and
dates and times that never happened.

Denny Chittick was clearly depressed.

It was obvious he hadn't slept for
weeks, who knows, maybe even longer than

that. We understand he might have been
taking sleeping pills.

He was just running around for well over
a year trying to fix this behind the

scenes and to avoid a super disaster.

June 14th.

I started making a list of people I
would write a suicide note of

to.

I just have this overwhelming feeling
this is going to come crashing down on

any minute.

In July 2016,

Chittick and Monaghan meet at Furniture
King to discuss Monaghan's impending

bankruptcy deposition.

Chittick secretly records the
conversation.

It's a closed -door deposition.

and they're going to ask me a ton of
questions based on all the bank

and everything that they have.

During the investigation, we learned
that Denny Chittick had made a recording

with Scott Menaged. He approached Scott
Menaged about the fraud, and Scott

basically made excuses with regards to
his activity.

Menaged tells Chittick that most of the
money he owes Densko, $30 million,

is actually safe and being held with
Auction .com, an online marketplace for

foreclosure buyers.

But he says that no one can know about
this, or the bankruptcy court will go

after the money, and they will never be
able to pay back Denny's investors.

Scott, I'm telling you, if the investors
don't get their money, I will be sued

into oblivion the next morning. We
absolutely have to talk to Auction .com

they have to give me money back.

They absolutely have to. If we go there
right now or you call them right now

where I'm on the phone, we have to. If
we don't, I'm dead.

I am dead.

Danny confronts Scott Menaged and says,
what happened to all this money? Where

is it?

And Scott says, well, some was stolen,
but a big chunk of it is invested with a

company called Auction .com, and we're
going to get those millions back. Don't

worry.

What it is or what it's not, do you
think for 60 days I can keep this quiet

placating to my investors and paying
back their interest or whatever, and

in 60 days they give you your bankruptcy
dismissal and you're done?

Auction .com wires you the money, you
wire me the money, and you go our merry

way? That's our plan?

Yeah, is that a plan? What is a better
plan?

I don't have one. Expose it?

I can't expose it. I don't have one. I'm
taking all the money myself.

The only reason I'm doing it is because
I know at the end of this whole rainbow

that there is $30 million that's going
to make everyone quiet.

It didn't seem that Scott Monaghan took
much responsibility.

for his actions, leaving Denny Pick just
even more devastated.

Next on American Greed, there is no pot
of gold at the end of the rainbow, only

a pot of lies.

Those excuses were bogus. It was just
Scott Minogue's way of brushing Denny

off. Scott, I'm telling you, if the
investors don't get their money, I'm

Scott.

I am dead man lost.

Hear more of Menaged's plan to weasel
out of his fraudulent mess.

Go to americangreed .cnbc .com.

Want inside information from the show?

Join the Greed Social Network.

Like us on American Greed's Facebook
page.

We'll be right back.

On July 28, 2016, Denny Chittick's ex
-wife pulls up in front of Chittick's

Arizona home with their 10 - and 11
-year -old sons.

She hasn't heard from him in a couple of
days, which is highly unusual.

She drove over with the boys. The boys
ran to the front door. It was locked.

So they ran around the side and jumped
over the fence.

As they ran towards the house, they saw
their father hanging with a luggage

strap. around his neck, and he was dead.

And this is something that two young
boys should never have to see in their

lives.

And they were so frightened and afraid,
they ran back and they tried to go

straight through the fence, and they
broke the fence, but they couldn't get

through, and they jumped over and ran to
their mother, and their mom called 911.

First responders pronounced Denny
Chittick dead on the scene.

He's 48 years old.

In Chittick's home office, investigators
find several notes.

When they went inside, they found a
little note among many other notes, but

that jumped out at them was a note
written to Denny's sister. And it said,

mom and dad's condo in Phoenix, go
inside, go to the washer and dryer,

open up the dryer.

The police saw that, and so they
immediately went to Denny Chittick's

father's. Condo, they went inside, they
went to the washing machine and the

dryer machine, opened up the dryer, and
in there was a box of cash, a bunch of

$100 bills.

The box contains $521 ,000.

And another note addressed to Chittick's
sister, telling her what to do with the

cash.

They went back to the house and found a
bunch of boxes that he had laid out.

with all his financial records in them,
and other notes around the house, a note

to his boys, a note to his investors and
others.

And some of the notes had great detail
about all his finances.

And you could tell by going through
these notes that clearly something bad

happened to him financially and
something terrible had happened to his

In a five -page apology letter to his
investors, Chittick writes, I owe

you an explanation and a lot of money.

The guilt, embarrassment, humility, and
any other adjective you can add in there

is overwhelming.

Going through the legal process is an
unbearable thought.

Years spent in courts and lawyers trying
to settle this all out.

Meanwhile, having to face all of you, I
can't do it.

When you read the very long sort of
suicide notes that Denny Chittick wrote

his investors and then wrote a long one
to his sister, you see there's a man

there who's desperate, who's depressed,
who's confused, who knows he's been

cornered, and he just sees no way out.

I love my family and my boys as much as
any of you do your families.

I can't put them through this face to
face.

I've decided to be my own judge and
jury, and I decided the death penalty.

I'm never going to see my amazing boys
grow up.

It just broke my heart. I heard how he
was found, and I was just in shock,

complete and utter shock.

Anybody who's anybody in our industry
knew Denny and knew, you know, what kind

of guy he was, and he didn't deserve
that.

He felt guilt that he wasn't aware of
the fraud, that he didn't identify it.

There was going to be no recovery for
his investors.

He wanted his family, he wanted his
friends, he wanted his sons to be made

whole, and unfortunately that wasn't
going to happen.

He felt that taking his own life was the
only way to handle that.

In the aftermath of Chittick's death,
Wendy Coy with the Arizona Corporation

Commission is charged with protecting
Densko's investors.

There were approximately over 100
investors, over $50 million raised, and

was nobody, no other employees, nobody
to take over control of the business. We

started locating investors. We started
getting the offering documents and found

that, yes.

Densko was raising money from investors
with promises the investment would be

secured with first position deeds of
trust and promising returns.

Within two weeks, a judge appoints a
receiver to take over Densko and figure

what is going on.

Fraud attorney Tom Adjami works with the
receiver on the case.

As the receiver's going through, he
keeps saying that a bunch of these loans

purchase homes were going to a guy named
Scott Monaghan. The day I go out of

business will be the day that cows fly.
And Monaghan's name keeps coming up.

So the receiver starts doing a little
checking around and seeing that there's

guy named Scott Monaghan. He was on a
reality TV show, and also he'd filed for

bankruptcy. So that leads them to
explore.

Who is Scott Monaghan and why is he
involved in all of this?

Attorneys for the state are soon in
touch with investigators from the

government. They realize they are both
taking a hard look at Scott Monaghan.

The IRS and U .S. attorneys already have
a case on Monaghan for credit card bank

fraud. Now there is more fraud to
investigate.

As we dug into the Densko portion of the
fraud, it became very clear that there

were a lot of false documents that Scott
was creating. As we dug into the

receipts for the purchase of real estate
that never was actually purchased, it

included cashier's checks, which Scott
would go to the bank, obtain a cashier's

check, which was supposed to be the down
payment for real estate, take a picture

of that, forward that picture to Denny
Chittick, and then immediately deposit

the check back into the account.

Of the approximately 3 ,000 loans that
Scott Menaged obtained from Demsco, only

96 % of those had any relation to real
property. The money was just being

siphoned off by Scott Menaged. But Denny
Chinnick, he saw those documents, he

believed the transactions were
occurring, and it wasn't until Scott

bankruptcy that Denny Chinnick realized
that it was all fraudulent.

Even Menaged's original story about his
cousin stealing from him turns out to be

a lie.

Denny would send him that money, and
Scott Menaged would spend it on himself.

Next on American Greed.

According to court testimony, Scott
Menaged, ever the optimist, tries to

man's death into his own good fortune.

When Scott Menaged learned that Denny
Chittick had killed himself,

he said, that's a gift.

Dead man.

Don't talk.

May 16th, 2017.

Scott Minogat is charged with multiple
counts of fraud for scamming two banks

out of more than $2 million.

in a credit scheme through his furniture
stores.

It was our fear that additional funds
would be stolen, additional individuals'

identity would have been stolen.

So at the time this case was charged, it
was to stop an ongoing fraud.

That fraud, however, is a pittance.

Monaghan has also defrauded his lender,
Densko, and its investors out of more

than $30 million.

This was essentially sort of a desperate
act that Scott Minogat engaged in

because the larger fraud, he was no
longer receiving funds from that. And he

a substantial amount of expenses and he
was still living a pretty extravagant

lifestyle. So in order to get his hands
on money quickly, he utilized this

credit card scheme.

Once the credit applications were
approved, it was almost an instantaneous

transfer of funds from the bank to his
account.

Densko victim Anthony Burdette lost more
than $400 ,000 to Manogat's scheme.

I had all kinds of things plotted out in
my mind. First you're shocked, and then

the anger is just unbelievable to think,
you know, here.

We were getting these monthly statements
and saw this money building up. And

even though we didn't need it at the
moment, we knew it was going to be there

when we needed it.

So, yeah, I got very angry.

And, you know, it played out all kinds
of horrible scenarios in my mind of what

I would do to Scott Menake, for sure.

In October 2017, as part of a plea deal
with the government, Managat pleads

guilty to conspiracy to commit bank
fraud, aggravated identity theft, and

conspiracy to commit money laundering.

He is sentenced to 17 years in federal
prison.

The sentence in this case was the
maximum that he could have received

plea agreement, and it also required him
to pay restitution to the victims, to

make them whole.

Once he is released from prison. So to
the extent that he has to answer for the

totality of the crimes he committed, not
just against the bank and the

individuals whose identities he stole,
but also Densko, Denny Chittick and its

investors. It was a sentence that was
appropriate considering all the facts of

the case.

At the sentencing hearing, Scott
Monaghan's former employee, Veronica

also convicted of conspiracy to commit
bank fraud.

testifies that Menaged thought
Chittick's death would help him get out

trouble.

She testified at the sentencing that
Scott Menaged described Denny Chittick's

death as a gift.

She said to her, it's a dead man's word
against mine.

And that was with regard to the fraud
transaction that had gone on for many,

many years and the huge amount of loss.

He got 17 years. He's paying a price.
That's a large portion of your life as a

relatively younger man, and he has kids.
This is just a horrible story from top

to bottom. Denny took his life because
of it. He has kids and family.

It's just a sad story all around. There
were so many victims. It's not just the

money, the people that have lost money.
It's not just the investors.

It's the families.

It's everybody around that was truly
devastated by...

His greedy actions.

Scott Monaghan has lots of time on his
hands to consider where his actions got

him. Whether or not it will change him
remains to be seen.

I don't know how they come up with these
sentencing guidelines.

I mean, the lies that man destroyed
certainly wasn't long enough for me. I'd

like to see him become an old man or
his.

His crime streak wouldn't be in him
anymore because he's just dangerous.

Laugh all you want, guys. I'll be the
one laughing all the way to the bank.

You know, when a person doesn't have any
moral compass to go by, he's a real

dangerous person.

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