All language subtitles for American Greed s14e09 Confessions of a Scam Artist.eng

In this episode of American Greed, the
hunt for a high -flying businessman

playing a very dangerous game.

He did have a wild couple of years.

T .R. Wright III presents himself as a
globetrotting dealmaker with style to

burn. Being on fire, there's nothing
like that.

Frequently posing for photos with his
sports cars, yachts, and jets.

It was almost like made for Instagram.

But something odd keeps happening to all
his fancy toys.

They tend to crash, sink, even blow
right up. Everybody who watched this

thought that the individual was either
dead or severely, severely burned. Are

these accidents proof of plain old bad
luck?

Or a money -making scheme almost too
wild to believe?

To find out, American Greed tracks down
the key players.

The relentless investigator.

And at that point, we start to realize,
isn't that a total ham?

The co -conspirator. He didn't care
about anybody or anything.

And in a television exclusive from
federal prison, the ringleader himself,

explains what it all adds up to.

Insurance fraud.

Inside a Texas prison, a once jet
-setting criminal named T .R. Wright

time. He's never given a TV interview
about the audacious scheme that landed

here. But in January 2021, he calls

American Greed to make one thing clear.

He's not a typical subject for the show.

I really don't care about money. I mean,
people, they want to perceive me to be

this greedy.

you know, money -grubbing, fraud
-loving, screw -anybody -anywhere type

and that's just, that's not the case.

No. Wright says that with his scheme,
another factor was at play.

I mean, there's just a certain amount of
thrill to it, I guess.

I mean, maybe it's my personality, maybe
I'm nuts, I don't know.

More than six years earlier, 360 miles
due east, someone else is making a phone

call.

Early on a September morning, it's a
police dispatcher trying to raise a

detective.

Hello? Dawn?

Yes? I need a detective to go to the
airport.

What's up there? We got a burnt flame.

A burnt flame?

Mm -hmm.

Got burned sometime during the night.

Nobody knew about it.

Mm -hmm.

When investigators head to the tiny
municipal airport in Athens, Texas, they

find a Cessna Citation jet that's been
permanently grounded.

Though its tail number, N18FM, is
clearly visible, its door is charred and

blown clear off.

Paint on its exterior has bubbled up
from the heat.

Its controls are all but gone.

And what was once a luxurious cockpit
with seven leather seats and a bar is

just a pile of ash.

Before long, Agent James Reed from the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms,

Explosives in Tyler, Texas, is on his
way to investigate.

I had just graduated the ATF Academy.

I'd been an ATF agent in the field for
just a couple months, still technically

on training status.

I really had only worked a handful of
cases, very small cases at that time.

After making the 45 -minute drive, even
this rookie can tell that something is

amiss here in Athens, the black -eyed
pea capital of the world.

From day one, we know it's an arson.
We're trying to really figure out at

point, is it, you know, What kind of
arson it is, because in typical arson,

of the more common things you see are,
you know, young kids who are doing

vandalism -type activities, or serial
arson is people who just burn things to

burn them down.

As he begins his hunt for the
responsible party, Reed quickly zeroes

very grainy surveillance footage taken
the night N18FM was set ablaze.

So we see N18FM parked on the jetway.

An individual cloaked in the darkness
behind the plane walks in front of the

plane, comes over, opens the cabin door,
shuts it for just a second, opens it

up, and you see this tiny spark in one
frame of the video. Then immediately a

giant fireball then engulfs the
individual.

The individual then stumbles from the
ground around the wing of the plane,

like he's on fire, and heads off into
the wooded area behind the plane.

Everybody who watched this video thought
that the individual was either dead or

severely, severely burned. So we
immediately started searching the area

dead body in the woods, burn centers for
someone who's severely burnt, or even

more for individuals who came in with
massive burn wounds.

This early search for a dead or wounded
arsonist turns up no leads, and Reed

attempts to learn more about the
mysterious jet.

Five months earlier, the plane had been
registered to a corporation in Montana

called Plaisir en Beau, French for
pleasure in flight.

A few weeks before its destruction, an
out -of -town pilot dropped it off,

saying its owners would soon be coming
here from France to pick it up.

It doesn't make any sense to me why
individuals from France are going to fly

Athens, Texas to get this plane and not
go to Dallas or Houston.

Reid also learns the name of the pilot
who left the jet in Athens, Theodore

Robert Wright, known to many as T .R.
Wright III.

And when a local fire marshal talks to
him on his satellite phone, Wright makes

it clear that he only flew the jet to
Athens.

He says its owners are in France and
that they are confused about what's

happened to their aircraft.

They heard that somebody got in the
plane.

uh inside the plane and like tried to
start a fire like a campfire or

and it was unclear if it was vandalism
or if it was uh just you know like

punks haven't like they have no idea
what it was so yeah i mean so so so

what we're investigating and everything
and i get it and i understand if you

can't tell me i mean i'm just i'm just a
pilot intent on learning more Agent

Reed continues to ask questions of the
small crew of aviation aficionados who

spend time at the Athens Airfield.

That search quickly brings him to the
proprietor of Dyson Aviation.

We typically ask people, hey, do you see
anything suspicious?

And usually, you know, the answer is no
or, you know, something. And he looks

and says, as a matter of fact, I have.

Carol Dyson works at Athens Airfield,
helping pilots who need to fuel up or

a break.

He's as much a fixture there as the red
oak that towers over his hangar.

I'm out here almost every day except
Sunday morning. I go to church on Sunday

morning, but I'm out here Sunday
evenings.

And I keep track of the aircraft that
come and go by writing their

numbers down.

With his eyes always open, Dyson noticed
the Cessna Citation when it first

arrived.

It just fit.

And that was kind of raised eyebrows,
but then I thought, well, it's somebody

hiding it out to keep from paying taxes,
and that don't bother me. You know, if

they want to do it, that's fine.

And he noticed another plane around that
time, too.

I came in about 4 .30 in the morning,
and as I...

Turned in here, my light swept the
hangar over there, those two big yellow

hangars. And I saw an airplane pulled up
in front of that second one.

And that's unusual because it wasn't an
airplane that's based here.

And I thought then, uh -oh, something's
up with those guys.

Well, I thought then they might be in a
dope business or something. I didn't

know what they were doing. I just knew
it wasn't right.

Dyson jots down the tail number on the
small Beechcraft Bonanza his box.

N273. and files it away like he always
does.

A few days later, he pulls up to the
airport and spots smoke and the burnt

I started putting two and two together,
and I was thinking, well, now I know why

the guy was coming in here. They were
hired to burn that airplane up.

When Agent Reed comes calling, Dyson
tells him the story and gives him the

number of the suspicious plane he
spotted, N273.

Reid checks it out with a special agent
from the Federal Aviation

Administration.

He says the plane looks like it was sold
earlier in the year, but they just now

sent the registration in, and it's to an
individual named Raymond Foster.

Now Reid has the names of two pilots who
seem to have a connection to the

incident in Athens.

There's Theodore T .R. Wright, the
aviator who says he just dropped off the

Then there's Raymond Fosdick, the
registered owner of the mysterious

plane.

So I pull out my phone, having gotten
the name Raymond Fosdick, and Googled

Raymond Fosdick.

First, nothing really came up.

And then I Googled Raymond Fosdick,
Theodore Wright, the individual who had

flown the plane in.

And lo and behold, the first thing that
comes up is their Today Show interview.

Back now at 8 .35, with a remarkable
survival story, a small plane catches

forcing the pilot to bring it down in
the Gulf of Mexico. Their harrowing

documented on an iPad.

I believe we've been in the water for
one hour now.

No sign of the Coast Guard or any rescue
emergency services yet.

That was the realization that there's
something more to this. And at that

the investigation...

For me, it became, I need to uncover
what is going on, who are these

and what are they doing.

Up next, the crazy story that landed
Fosdick and Wright on the Today Show.

I made this statement, if you panic, you
die.

And later, an inside look at how this
million -dollar scam comes crashing

But that's the story of this entire
group of individuals, that they do

fraud by doing high -risk activities.

Two years before Agent James Reed
connects them to a burnt -up Cessna

T .R. Wright and his friend Raymond
Fosdick are in Wright's Beechcraft Baron

cruising over the Gulf of Mexico.

A licensed pilot himself,

Fosdick tells American Greed they're
tracking their progress on an iPad as

fly from Texas to Florida.

If you follow that trajectory pretty
much, it takes you just south of

crossed the Gulf.

It's a flight that definitely the
aircraft is capable of.

Wright later tells investigators that
less than two hours into the crossing,

sees smoke in the cockpit.

Then, he says, Fosdick begins yelling
that he sees flames.

With no choice but to ditch in the water
below, Wright says he points the

plane's nose downward and begins to
dive.

As Wright tells American Greed, with two
lives on the line, he remains calm.

I'm like, oh, okay, you know, do the
cross on your chest and say a prayer. I

don't think that really is. It's like,
okay, here's what I know that I'm going

to do, and let's focus on executing it.

Before he and Fosdick know it, the plane
is almost in the Gulf.

It didn't take long.

There's not a lot of time between 11
,000 feet in the water.

I mean, we skip that aircraft at 115
miles an hour when we hit the Gulf and

it like a lawn dart.

The two men make it out of the plane
before it sinks to the ocean floor.

As they bob up and down in the water,
Wright pulls out his iPad and films a

quick video.

We are hour one.

We just had a plane crash in the Gulf of
Mexico, and the iPad survived thanks to

the life -proof case.

There's Raymond.

After the iPad is put away, the men
float in the water for nearly three

waiting to be rescued.

The water was relatively warm. It was
probably in the mid -80s, but at that

point in time, three hours.

had caused a significant drop. We were
definitely in the edges of going into a

pre -hypothermic state.

Then, with night quickly falling, they
hear a Coast Guard helicopter

approaching.

And, of course, we're waving and
everything else.

And they finally circle over the top of
us.

And I remember making the comment of,
you know, don't crash, it sucks.

In this Coast Guard video, you can see
their rescue.

And by the time they make it to shore,
it's completely dark.

After Wright's iPad video begins to
spread, he and Fosdick, now in an arm

travel to New York to talk about their
incredible ordeal on NBC's Today Show.

You're flying along. You're over the
gulf. You start to see smoke and fire

behind the instrument panel, right? Yes,
in the nose baggage area. Basically,

we're flying along. I'm eating a bag of
M &Ms, checking with Houston Center, and

then we see a little bit of smoke, which
typically is not a huge deal. Usually a

radio will smoke a little. You throw the
electrical power off, everything's

fine. I made a quick radio call to
Houston Center, told them we had a

Before I finished the radio call, we
were covered in smoke.

The National Transportation Safety Board
later determines the probable cause of

the crash to be the in -flight fire
described by Wright.

They note, however, that the source of
the fire could not be determined.

There was no way they were ever going to
recover the plane.

There was no other witnesses.

It was in one of the deeper parts of the
Gulf of Mexico.

According to his indictment, less than
two weeks later, A company Wright

receives a check from his insurer for
$84 ,000.

This isn't the only payout.

A year after the crash, at this
courthouse in Galveston, Texas, Fosdick

million -dollar lawsuit against his
friend.

The allegation was basically that the
negligence on the part of Mr. Wright had

resulted in the crash and that Mr.
Fosick had sustained injuries in the

And there was a payout to resolve the
lawsuit by the insurance carrier for

$100 ,000.

Two years later, ATF agent James Reed
learns about the incident.

And about Wright and Fosdick's potential
connection to the fire in Athens.

Here are these two individuals who
together have been in this amazing

this amazing story by itself, plane
crash in the Gulf of Mexico, who are now

connected to Athens, Texas, with this
plane fire.

Something seemed wrong.

And I remember asking my boss, hey, can
I work this case?

And he looked at me and says, hey, if
you want to work this on your free time,

by all means, work it. And that's what I
did.

Coming up, T .R. Wright tells American
Greed how he goes from salesman to con

man. It seems I have a gift to convince
people to do

things.

Before he begins calling himself T .R.
Wright III, Ted Wright I grows up in

Kent, New York.

Well, it's a small town on the shores of
Lake Champlain. I don't know the

population, but it can't be more than a
couple hundred.

But it's gray, it's depressing, it's
always overcast, and the people there,

they've never left the area.

So as urgently as I can remember, it was
like, get out of here, that's the plan.

Wright's first shot at implementing this
plan comes as a kid when he begins

working at a mall kiosk showing off his
natural skills as a salesman.

It seems I have a gift to convince
people to do things.

And I guess maybe all salesmen have
that.

I don't particularly like sales, but I'm
good at it.

In addition to honing his skills as a
salesman, Wright says working at the

teaches him another valuable lesson.

You have brands, and whether it's Coca
-Cola or Apple or yourself, being able

to market a brand and make it
successful, I mean, people are brands.

that was an early lesson.

Building the T .R. Wright brand takes
time and money.

In his mid -20s, Wright says he moves to
Kmart, Texas for a girl.

It's here on these dusty docks that
Raymond Fosdick says he meets Wright in

2008.

When they meet, Fosdick says Wright is
trying to get by however he can.

At that time, the business that he was
kind of starting and growing was

finding boats that had been...

pour up in the storm, and he could fix
them up, and then he would sell them.

Wright says that early on, he finds
great satisfaction in being a Wheeler

dealer.

I like negotiating, so I think it's the
deal that I really like. I guess that's

what gets me excited.

Soon, Wright will find another commodity
to deal in.

Around the time he meets Fosdick, he
heads a few miles down the coast to

Galveston, where he learns to fly.

One of the airport regulars who he meets
is George Gould.

He was a novice pilot.

He took flying lessons from one of the
fellows that has got a plane two

hangers down from him.

And he picked it up pretty fast.

Before long, Wright is flying on his
own, and he adds aircraft to the high

-dollar inventory he slings.

His business is buying airplanes, boats,
and cars at the lowest

price he possibly can, fix them up with
the minimal cost that he can, and then

sell them at a maximized profit.

A few years after his arrival in Texas,
Wright makes the news with his

spectacular crash in the Gulf.

The incident does more than just earn
him a sizable insurance payday. It also

seems to give him a taste for the
spotlight.

He wants, I think, to be seen as a big
player who can fly

anything.

I've heard it's true.

Who doesn't...

pay attention strictly to crossing the
T's and dotting the I's, who

has a romantic life.

After his appearance on the Today Show,
Wright begins to make some big changes.

In 2013, he launches a new website,
trwright .com.

On it... The guy who just a few years
earlier was running a mall kiosk says he

has built several businesses from the
ground up into multi -million dollar

companies. And in the years that follow,
people begin to believe that Wright is

the playboy he says he is.

The rumor was he was trust fund.

You know, he'd show up in a Maserati. He
had some very attractive young ladies.

Had a good sense of humor.

And he's a likable guy.

As his legend grows, Wright learns to
fly more and bigger aircraft.

Online, he brags about flying around
Europe and visiting France, where he

to do business.

And after the jet fire in Athens, Texas
in 2014, Wright says his life really

takes off.

I don't want to say they couldn't be
better, but 2015, 16, and 17, I mean, I

where things were just starting to work
out.

And, you know, the business is great,
making, you know, literally more money

than you know what to do with.

Montblanc would call me when they got a
new pen, and, oh, Mr. Wright, we have

the new JFK pen at $38 ,000. We want to
offer it to you before anybody else.

Okay, I'll take it, you know what I
mean?

Always focusing on his personal brand,
it's on his Instagram feed that Wright

really shines.

All the Instagram photos were of this
individual with fancy car, gun,

high -end clothes, high -end vehicle,
yacht, jet, traveling all over the

With his 18 ,000 followers, the Daily
Mail ranks Wright among the most popular

pilots in the world.

It's obvious that he knows how to craft
his image.

Over the course of a few days, He
crisscrosses the country, snapping

his new wife.

Together, they make stops in Telluride,
Colorado, and California's Napa Valley

wine region.

I go to Napa like every week when I'm in
the United States. If I spend a month

in the U .S., we maybe do three trips to
Napa. So, I mean, I've been there

hundreds of times.

And in the desert outside Las Vegas, he
gets the perfect shot.

As Wright pilots a helicopter, his wife
points an assault rifle out the window.

Wright's Instagram is also full of
images of him with a variety of weapons

warbirds, reflecting a new line of
business he's trying to develop.

Wearing a flight suit embroidered with
the word boss, Wright sometimes cuts

through the sky in a gray eastern block
trainer jet that he and a partner buy

and dub.

52 shades of gray.

He did have, I think, a lot of
adventures. He did have a wild couple of

Much wilder than most people have in a
lifetime.

I think he wanted to project a sort of
international man of mystery, James

Mission Impossible type character.

It was almost a caricature of that,
though.

You know, it met all the stereotypes,
but it was...

Almost too much. It was almost like made
for Instagram.

But just how is Wright paying for it
all?

Is it through the wheeling and dealing
he's been doing for years?

Or is something else at play?

Up next, T .R. Wright reveals the
secrets behind his big shot lifestyle.

If I was the guy behind the curtain
pulling the handle, sure.

Having linked T .R. Wright to not one
but two ruined planes, agent James Reed

suspects something's afoot.

To prove it, he dives deep into
financial records, beginning with the

Mexico crash in 2012.

The first hint that something is amiss
comes when he examines the flow of money

from the lawsuit Raymond Fosdick filed
against Wright following that suspicious

incident.

As we get the financial records, we see
that, yes, Raymond Fostick did sue T .R.

Wright and his insurance company for a
million dollars.

But all the money that the insurance
company paid out as the case was settled

went to T .R. Wright.

Raymond sues T .R., gets paid out, and
then gives the money back to T .R.

And at that point, we start to realize
this is a total scam.

From there, Reed will eventually uncover
a far -reaching insurance fraud scheme.

He learns that Wright is purchasing
planes, boats, and cars using a variety

shell companies.

Wright says these help him hide the fact
that he's the true owner.

I was the guy behind the curtain pulling
the handles, sure, but, you know, my

name legally wasn't on any documents. I
wasn't even a signer on any of the bank

accounts for any of this stuff.

With his name hidden, Wright explains he
can buy an item at a low price with one

company he controls.

Then, he can create documents making it
appear he sold it at a much higher price

to another company he controls.

These papers help him obtain insurance
policies at pumped -up values.

It's a paper trail that if the insurance
company or anyone does any...

Due diligence, they see an official
notarized, stamped, sealed bill of sale

an aircraft escrow and a trust and a
lawyer that shows, oh no, they paid this

much for it. So it takes a red flag out
of the equation, I guess.

As Agent Reed sees, it's a scam Wright
pulls off again and again.

In 2012, there's the plane he ditches in
the Gulf.

According to Wright's indictment, it was
purchased for $46 ,000.

and insured for nearly double that.

Combined with the fraudulent lawsuit
Fosdick files, the crash brings Wright

nearly $126 ,000 in insurance money.

But Wright is just getting started.

In 2014, he buys the jet that burns in
Athens for $190 ,000,

insures it for $440 ,000, and collects
that amount after it's set ablaze.

Reid also learns about Wright's
connection to a $76 ,000 Lamborghini

that was crashed into a water -filled
ditch a few months before the Athens

Though Wright maintains this wasn't
fraud, the insurance payout in this case

equals nearly $170 ,000.

Then there's a $50 ,000 sailboat whose
value was pumped up before it sunk in a

marina in Hawaii in 2014.

bringing a $180 ,000 insurance payout.

The court later finds that in all,
Wright pockets nearly a million dollars

his insurance scheme.

But he tells American Greed the scope of
his fraud was much, much larger.

Yeah, it depends on how you do the math,
but if you had to go on complete

losses, let's say somewhere around $30
to $40 million.

Prosecutors say the evidence they have
does not support this claim.

To help him with all these scams, Wright
brings in a bevy of helpers.

They were doing the dirty work, and they
were the ones who were putting

themselves at risk for small amounts of
money.

I think there was always a promise or
the idea that there would be a larger

payoff down the road.

In selling this dream of future riches,
prosecutors say Wright lures in helpers

with the pictures of his luxurious
lifestyle.

It made the sales pitch that he was
giving to them maybe a little bit more

believable because he would tell these
seemingly fantastic stories about

different adventures here and abroad.

And then he could show them pictures
online or post things that seemed to

support that story.

Among those he brings in is Raymond
Fosdick.

Even to this day, I don't really have
friends.

And I wanted a friend to be, you know, I
wanted a friend, basically,

and wanted to be, you know, part of
something.

And that was easy for him to kind of
prey upon. He didn't care about anybody

anything. It was all about money in his
pocket.

Though many play a role, Agent Reed says
financial records make it obvious who's

running the show.

We followed the money. And so we saw
that the money would go to these holding

companies and then it would go right to
T .R. Wright's personal bank account or

right to the purchase of an asset that T
.R. Wright did actually own.

By 2016,

circumstantial evidence is mounting
against Wright.

To make their case, however, the feds
need a witness.

That April, Agent Reed flies to Hawaii
to talk to the man who helped Wright

the scheme there involving a sunken
sailboat.

I confront him head -on with the
evidence, and he immediately gives it

That's that first time that we really
have him.

100 % not only circumstantial, but hard
evidence on an insurance fraud scheme.

Still, Reed and prosecutors aren't done.
They need more.

In March 2017, he serves a search
warrant on Raymond Fosdick and leans on

give up what he knows about the 2012
Gulf crash and the 2014 Athens airport

fire.

Raymond...

made the right decision, and he laid it
all out. And from Raymond's cooperation,

we're able to wrap up the entire case.

Up next, Raymond Fosdick and T .R.
Wright take us inside the last moments

they ditch in the Gulf of Mexico.

I can't say that I regret doing it, but
I regret the way that I did it.

After his rescue in the Gulf of Mexico,
T .R. Wright claims he had to ditch his

plane because of a fire.

Now from behind bars, he admits that's
not the case.

I mean, there was no fire in that plane,
right?

No.

I can't say that I regret doing it, but
I regret the way that I did it. If I

could do it again, I would have been
alone.

I mean, if you commit a crime with
someone who you can't trust, who ends up

being a rat, that's a problem.

The person Wright is talking about is
his old friend, Raymond Fosdick, who

begins talking to the feds in early
2017.

Now, Fosdick tells American Greed about
the moment he says he learned about

Wright's plan while already in the air.

He basically turns to me and starts,
laying out his plan.

And he basically said that we're going
to ditch in the Gulf of Mexico.

There should be more than enough time
for rescue services to get there.

Once he set his mind to it, I know that
it's pretty much going to go down.

It's quite the unexpected ending for
what Fosdick said he thought would be an

ordinary flight to Florida.

That's a pretty traumatic event.

Whether it was on purpose or not or
anything, it's still a very traumatic

in life.

Though Fosdick says he's certain Wright
ditched his aging plane on purpose, his

friend never tells him why, but he has
his own opinion.

It was time for those engines to be
rebuilt and the annual to come up on it,

he didn't have the money to do all of
that.

The plane was actually worth more on the
bottom of the ocean than it was.

Flying in the air.

Fosdick also admits that the million
-dollar lawsuit he filed against Wright

little more than a setup.

And he's like, sue me, you know. That'll
be easy money.

Well, it turned out to be for him.

We got $100 ,000, and 42 of it went to
Ted.

I ended up with $8 ,000 of it, and the
rest went to the attorney.

While he speaks freely to American Greed
about the crash in the Gulf, Fosdick

clams up when asked about the arson in
Athens, Texas.

That's an area that I'm not going to
really talk about much.

But prosecutors say he told them exactly
what happened.

Mr. Fosdick blew it up. There was
gasoline placed inside of the plane, and

it was ignited.

He sustained injuries in connection with
the arson.

Looking back, I'm sure he probably
realized that I've risked my life for

pretty stupid things.

Having secured Fosdick's cooperation, a
Texas grand jury returned an indictment

against Wright and others in May 2017,
charging them at first with wire fraud

conspiracy, wire fraud, and arson.

But there's a problem.

Typically, it's relatively easy to find
an indicted defendant and execute an

arrest warrant. In this case, executing
an arrest warrant was not quite so easy.

It wasn't your typical individual who
has a steady residence that drives the

same vehicle, that uses the same phone,
that travels commercially.

So we had to take a lot of steps to
identify where he was.

Since beginning his insurance fraud
scheme, The kid from a small lakeside

village has become ever more
international.

He lives in hotels, including Trump
International in Las Vegas, and at times

his 110 -foot yacht, which is called
Never Enough.

And by 2017, authorities say T .R.
Wright is no longer just portraying a

on Instagram.

The feds say his insurance fraud has
helped him to become one.

There's the saying that perception
becomes reality.

And he simply created the image that he
was the millionaire with

fancy jet.

And people believed it. And it became
reality for him.

Obviously, the insurance scheme paid off
and helped acquire the assets. But to

his credit, he became this individual.

Wright goes from flipping planes in
Texas and posing as a James Bond wannabe

actually importing French attack
helicopters into the U .S.

Really more than anything, I was a
deliverer.

So when you become known as a guy who is
reliable, you know, you can really do

well in the business.

And I'm creative. I'm creative. I'm
resourceful. You know, when people say,

that's not possible, I make it happen.

Agent Reed will later testify that
Wright also attempts to buy 24 Israeli

trainer jets to sell to the African
nation of Guinea.

And according to testimony given in a
French court, Wright receives $18 ,000

smuggling Glocks to his associates in
France.

Wright admits to flying these handguns
to France, but denies one part of the

story.

Come on, $18 ,000.

That wouldn't even cover the fuel for my
jet to fly them over there.

Up next, the feds close in and make one
last wild discovery. It was pretty

surreal kind of opening that briefcase.
I don't know how to describe it except

that it was PR.

Three years after opening his
investigation, agent James Reed develops

information that TR Wright may be at the
Trump International Hotel in Sin City.

Upon his arrival there on June 27th,
Reed is preparing to question hotel

when the elevator door opens onto the
lobby and Wright emerges with a

in hand.

About that time...

He walked out of the elevators carrying
his briefcase right by me. And I look at

him and I say, that's him.

I follow him out the door.

And as he's going to the valet to pick
up his car, I say, T .R., he turns

around. I say, you're under arrest.

And at that time, the marshal's task
force jumped out and arrested him.

After the marshal's place right in cuff,
Agent Reed takes a look at what he was

carrying.

It was pretty surreal kind of opening
that briefcase and seeing here's this

cliche of this guy who's presenting
himself as a James Bond -like character

walking out of the Trump Tower in Las
Vegas, carrying a briefcase with $70

in cash, two pistols, a car title, and a
burn phone.

I don't know how to describe it except
that it was PR.

Even as he's escorted out, Wright says
he yells to the hotel's concierge.

and has no idea what kind of trouble
he's in.

I said, hey, Jimmy, I'll be back
tomorrow. And the federal agents and U

Marshals, oh, you're never going to see
him again. And there was never any point

where I thought, oh, my God, I could get
five years. I could be in prison.

Now, that's exactly what's happened.

In December 2017, Wright pleads guilty
to wire fraud conspiracy and arson

conspiracy.

The next year, he's sentenced to five
years and five months in federal prison.

His old friend, Raymond Fosdick, pleads
guilty to the same charges and receives

three years and three months in prison.

He's released in 2020.

Now, Wright is locked up at a federal
prison in Texas, and his wife, who was

never charged with anything, has left
him.

All alone, he says he has no regrets.

Except one.

The last decade of my life before I was
arrested, I never spent more than a

week, ten days, two weeks at the most in
one place.

I guess being stuck is a big problem for
me.

His cell is not far from a landing strip
like the one in Athens where he and his

co -conspirators thought they could burn
up a jet and get away with it.

To this day, eagle -eyed old -timer
Carol Dyson thinks...

He knows why Wright chose Athens.

Most everybody thinks we're a bunch of
ignorant rednecks, and they're right.

But it's desolate, there's nobody here,
there's nothing on the ramp, and it was

an out -of -the -way place.

But there was one thing Wright didn't
count on.

A young ATF agent showing up and taking
the time to piece it all together.

Had they chose any other airport?

In Texas, they probably would have got
away with this.

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