All language subtitles for American Greed s15e12 The Spy Who Conned Me.eng

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In this episode of American Greed.

The spy who conned me.

A devious fraudster makes the bold
transition from local news.

In Missoula, I'm Garrison Courtney for
Montana's news station.

To the halls of government.

The people that are illegally in the
United States looking for employment and

companies exploit that routinely.

But behind the scenes, Garrison Courtney
works to infiltrate the multi -billion

dollar defense contracting industry with
a story of working for the CIA.

He claimed that he had hundreds of
confirmed kills.

Some people, he's saying that was during
combat. For others, it was as an

assassin. Selling a lie based on
patriotism, he raked in millions.

It was going to be very lucrative. I
mean, these were going to be

billion -dollar contracts.

As he piles story upon story, Courtney
wraps his operation in a cloak of

secrecy, then ropes in a bevy of high
-powered dupes. To put something

like that.

To have it work the way it did, it's
mind -boggling, but it's also really

impressive. But is Courtney a real -life
operative or a fast -talking con man?

To find out, American Greed, here's the
story for the first time from the key

players, the former colleague.

I believe that letter was a forgery.

The relentless investigator.

I've never been threatened by another
government official for doing my job.

The dogged prosecutors.

How could this possibly happen if this
isn't real?

And in a television exclusive, the wife
Courtney deceived for years.

I always got the runaround when I asked
anything that had to do with his work.

You should not ask any questions.

It's completely legit.

In early 2016,

Garrison Courtney strolls through the
corridors of the Pentagon and into the

office of the Air Force's highest
-ranking intelligence officer.

For years, Courtney has been collecting
millions of dollars by claiming to run a

top -secret CIA task force meant to
protect America from its most dangerous

adversaries.

Now, the general is asking Courtney
questions.

to see if the so -called operation is
real.

He described how he'd been at a meeting
in the Undersecretary of Defense for

Intelligence, and the meeting was at the
White House, and, you know, it wasn't

super specific, but basically said that
he was the person put in charge of this

program.

A truly gifted con man, Courtney doesn't
miss a beat as he once again enacts the

elaborate charade he's been refining for
years.

This is a fraud.

that works only in this town. If people
had tried to pull it in Peoria or

Springfield or Detroit, I think ordinary
Americans would have said,

get out of here.

Long before his visit to the Pentagon,
Courtney grows up far from D .C. in

Falls, Montana.

In his high school yearbook, he looks
like a regular kid.

But below the surface, something dark is
looming.

Well, according to Garrison, he had a
very rough upbringing.

He came from a broken household, and he
had been very independent and on his own

since a very young age, since his late
teens.

After Courtney serves in the armed
forces, he rooms with Bill Foley at the

University of Montana in the late 1990s.

I imagine his IQ was...

way up there, you know. He was really
smart, and he was really quick.

Garrison never turned it off. It was
just a whole go all the time.

An aspiring stand -up comedian, Foley
says Courtney is a natural -born

storyteller who's prone to exaggeration.

I think he really liked to BS people,
you know.

It's easy to see how people could
believe him, because he was really good

you know, he'd think it on his feet.

Courtney's self -promotion is on full
display in an article in the school

that says he's a fraternity brother,
radio disc jockey, stand -up comedian,

cheerleader, part -time model, and self
-defense guru.

Courtney holds a third -degree black
belt in an offshoot of Chinese Kung Fu

called Shaolin China. That translates
literally means seize and control.

But like most of what he hears from
Courtney, Foley wonders how much of the

article is true.

Probably none of it that I can think of.

I just wonder if he was laughing to
himself. I never saw anything at all

would make me think that he was a third
-degree black belt, you know. I never

saw him work out.

After school, Courtney uses his gift of
gab to score an on -air job at a

Missoula television station.

Police say that drivers that don't slow
for pedestrians risk doing two things.

One, they may hurt the pedestrian, and
two, they may risk paying heavy fines.

In Missoula, I'm Garrison Courtney for
Montana's news station.

There, Courtney is tapped as a
weatherman, and the station features him

as a key member of their news team.

Newspapers. you know, selected him as
the best forecaster in Missoula.

And there was guys who were real
forecasters in Missoula who were doing

years. And there's this kid comes out of
college, just completely BS his way to

it.

On air, Courtney seems to have learned a
very valuable lesson.

Faking it has its rewards.

After stints doing the weather in
Montana and the Pacific Northwest.

Courtney lands a job as a spokesperson
at the U .S. Immigration and

Naturalization Service in Seattle.

There are people that are here illegally
in the United States looking for

employment, and companies exploit that
routinely, and we're trying to close

loophole.

Then, in 2005, Courtney takes a job at
the Drug Enforcement Administration in

the nation's capital.

He was a contact, so I dealt with him
three, four, five times a week.

Ian McCaleb spends 20 years in
journalism.

While covering the Department of Justice
for Fox News, he meets Courtney.

He was kind of a goofball.

Did not strike me as somebody who was
particularly imaginative.

He could veer into oafishness or tell an
uncomfortable joke here and there. Did

not seem particularly sophisticated.

It won't be until years later that
Courtney will show just how imaginative

sophisticated he really is.

In D .C., Courtney, who's now married
and will soon have a child, meets Andre

Pearson. He told me that he was in the
process of separating and divorcing his

first wife.

And after not too long, we started
dating.

Pearson had a very charming personality.

but he's always trying to come across as
a very likable person and wants to be

accepted, so he's very eager to please.
He was the guy. Whatever you needed, he

had it.

Though superficially charming, Pearson
will come to learn that Courtney has a

dark side.

In 2009, he leaves the DEA and claims to
begin working for the celebrity gossip

publication TMZ in Washington.

Then he takes his connector -in -chief
skills to the rapidly expanding world of

defense and intelligence contracting.

That level of defense contracting at
that time, a multi -billion dollar

business. Post 9 -11, defense
contractors were just hiring like crazy.

government spokesman like Garrison would
have been helpful.

According to emails obtained by American
Greed and Department of Justice

filings, by the end of 2011, Courtney is
working on a high -stakes project.

Courtney brings in Michaela, who has by
then also made the jump to the private

sector. He was building a small team to
assist a cluster of lawyers here in D

.C. in pushing through media and public
affairs and government relations efforts

to release a small handful of Kuwaiti
prisoners who were still being held in

Guantanamo Bay.

Courtney's job is built on
relationships.

And McCaleb says he promises his clients
the moon.

You know, op -ed placements in, you
know, tier one media, like the New York

Times or the Wall Street Journal,
Politico, swinging lawmakers through

outreach to reach directly out to, you
know, the Obama White House to exert

pressure to get the Kuwaitis released.

But Courtney overpromises, and his
colleagues say he's fired from the job.

In need of money, he puts his criminal
mind to work.

Up next on American Greed. To some
people, he directly claims that he was a

covert operative for the CIA.

Garrison Courtney launches a lucrative
operation based on an incredible tale of

bravery and honor. He claimed that he
had hundreds of confirmed kills.

Some people, he claimed that was during
combat. For others, it was as an

assassin.

In the years following 9 -11,
contractors who work alongside America's

intelligence services see their industry
blossom into a multi -billion dollar

business with little oversight.

Garrison Courtney wants in, and in 2012,
he begins visiting various defense and

intelligence contractors around D .C.,
where he paints a picture of himself as

modern -day Rambo.

He claimed to have served in the
military, to have served in combat

Gulf War.

He said something how his lungs had been
injured due to inhaling fumes from oil

smoke and Kuwaiti oil fires.

He claimed that he had seen extensive
combat.

He claimed that he had hundreds of
confirmed kills.

Some people he claimed that was during
combat. For others, it was as an

assassin. It's clear that his intent was
to convince people that he was...

some type of extraordinarily
sophisticated deep cover spy for the

government akin to the things you might
see in a movie.

As Courtney tells his tale of bravery to
various defense contractors, the

intelligence community has suffered a
devastating blow.

This week it was the German Chancellor
Angela Merkel on the phone with

Obama, angry at reports that her cell
phone had been listened into by the U

spy agency.

All of this comes from the files that
Edward Snowden made off with after his

as a U .S. intelligence analyst.

All of it is making for big problems
around the world for this

Though Edward Snowden's leaks are a
disaster for America's spy services, Ian

McCaleb says they're a huge windfall for
the many private contractors who work

alongside them, the people Courtney is
now meeting with.

I mean, there's all kinds of work to be
done. Anything that takes off like that

is going to be looked upon as, you know,
quick work and lucrative work.

Courtney sees opportunity in the crisis.

This is his moment, and he begins to ask
the companies he meets with if they

want to join a task force he's running
to stop new leaks before they start.

Gareth and Courtney did say in a number
of meetings that the program had evolved

to create some type of response to the
Snowden disclosures.

Everybody wants to protect national
security.

And so he would appeal to their
patriotism and say, this is our

is what we're going to do to not have
this happen again.

And so this program, he was put in
charge of it or leading this program to

develop a new network of.

Companies that could help the United
States with its intelligence gathering

capabilities after those disclosures
occurred.

Sometimes he would refer to it as a task
force.

Sometimes he would refer to it as the
program.

One of the code names he used was A -214
or Alpha -214.

He would claim that it was authorized
directly by the President of the United

States.

directly by the Attorney General of the
United States, directly by the Director

of National Intelligence.

It was always somebody at a very, very
high level of the United States

government.

What makes the former weatherman
qualified to run Alpha 214?

According to federal prosecutors,
Courtney is, in fact, a veteran with

problems who received a job offer from
the Central Intelligence Agency in 2005.

around the time he moved to Washington.

Now he is telling defense contractors
who hear about Alpha 214 that he's

at the agency's direction.

To some people, he directly claimed that
he was a covert operative for the CIA.

To other people, it was more implied,
like, you can't talk about me. You don't

know my real name.

Nothing that I do can you talk about.
It's all classified.

As he asks various defense contractors
to sign up for Alpha 214, Courtney has a

very important and very secret request.

You need to hire me, Garrison Courtney,
and put me on your payroll, not because

I'm going to be working for you, not
because I'm actually going to be doing

normal employees do, but because you are
helping obscure

my role in the program.

He was asking them to pay him a salary
that would be consistent usually with a

business development employee of one of
these companies.

Many times he would have email addresses
with these companies.

The company would enter him on payroll,
pay him to his bank so that he wouldn't

be paid by the government so that it
would be more difficult for adversaries

think that he was a real intelligence
officer.

He would say things like, when I don't
show up for work or when I don't

do anything.

You can't ask me the normal questions
you would ask of a regular employee.

Hey, why are we paying you? You just
have to accept on faith that what I'm

is in the interest of national security.

Courtney is requesting an arrangement
referred to in the world of espionage as

commercial cover.

He promises the defense contractors who
provide him with a cover job that they

will be handsomely repaid.

He would say things like...

If you join this program and if you're
awarded a contract to provide services

the United States government as a part
of this highly classified program, then

we'll make sure to reimburse you for you
paying me this payroll

as a part of obscuring this program.

According to Stuart Sears, who no longer
represents Courtney, but said he got

his permission to speak with us.

The contracts Courtney dangles are no
small thing.

It was going to be very lucrative. I
mean, these were going to be multi

-million, billion -dollar contracts that
were going to be coming down the road

to these companies.

It was a moneymaker and an opportunity
to serve their country. And I think a

of the victim companies were drawn in by
being able to do those dual things at

the same time.

Coming up.

He mentioned there was a person named
Dave at the CIA.

As the money comes rolling in, Garrison
Courtney's lies continue to build.

And that if something ever were to
happen to him, that I should contact

person.

In 2015, Garrison Courtney marries Andre
Pearson and eventually has three

children with her. As he begins
collecting hundreds of thousands of

salaries from various companies that are
providing him with commercial cover, he

lets his wife in on bits of his covert
life.

He mentioned there was a person named
Dave at the CIA that was the head of all

the programs that he was involved in.

something ever were to happen to him, if
he were to disappear, or I couldn't

hear from him, or he ended up in trouble
for some reason, that I should contact

this person.

Though he provides Pearson with Dave's
number, when it comes to the top -secret

operation he's spearheading, Courtney
remains tight -lipped.

I always got the runaround when I asked
anything that had to do with his work.

You should not ask any questions.

It's completely legit.

Pearson is not the only one who's told
information about Alpha 214 is on a need

-to -know basis.

Courtney is receiving cover jobs and
cover pay from defense contractors to

supposedly obscure his role in the
program.

They, too, hear a similar line.

He convinced all of those people that
they could not say anything to anyone

about any of this.

This is national security.

This is all classified.

And I'm so highly classified that if you
ever ask, well, of course they'll deny

it.

To convince his employers of the real
threat posed by saying too much or

too many questions, Courtney presents
them with easily obtainable government

nondisclosure agreements that swear the
signers to secrecy.

He would have them sign real...

nondisclosure agreements with the
government, which is a key element of

initiated into a classified program.

In Washington's intelligence community,
where secrecy is a way of life, people

heed Courtney's warnings about remaining
quiet and not asking questions.

To further convince task force members
of the need for secrecy, Courtney warns

them that their participation places
them in real danger.

Garrison would say that they would be
under hostile surveillance from foreign

intelligence adversaries, namely China
and Russia, that they would be followed

around. He told people to stop using
credit cards, to only spend cash so it

would be more difficult to track, to
watch what they said on the phone, that

they might even need to get firearms to
protect themselves.

To reinforce his need to remain hidden
through commercial cover, Courtney says

he too is a target.

He would convey to people that he was
poisoned with ricin and had to be rushed

to the hospital and the CIA covered it
up because he was so deeply undercover.

It's not just employees of private
contracting firms who hear Courtney

He would pitch this or some version of
this to people who either worked in the

intelligence community or were in
positions within the defense department.

According to court records, Courtney
convinces one former and six current

government officials from the DEA, the
military, and the intelligence community

to take part in Alpha 214.

In one instance, Courtney helps an adult
child of one of these officials score

jobs at firms providing him cover.

But according to prosecutors, most of
the government employees sign up because

they think Alpha 214 is legit and that
they've been tapped to play a role in a

vital mission.

I mean, this is exciting to think you're
part of something big that the

government's doing, that secret that
nobody knows about.

People want to do that. And so they
believe what they want to believe and

see what they want to see.

As he was able to have some government
validation that helped bring in other

government people, helped bring in more
companies, and the more pieces of the

puzzle that were sort of validating each
other would help expand in terms of

bringing in new government officials,
bringing in additional companies.

Unlike the private sector contractors he
ropes in, Courtney is not asking

government officials for covered
employment.

According to documents filed by federal
prosecutors,

Courtney convinces the government
officials to meet inside ultra -secure

government facilities with the
contractors paying his cover salary.

The government official would invite you
in. You'd go through all the security

screening because you're going into the
real office or intelligence agency.

He would either pat people down or
direct that someone else pat people

he would require people to leave their
electronic devices elsewhere.

Once security is established, the
contractors receive briefings about

where they are convinced of the need for
secrecy or told their government

contracts are real.

These briefings come from the real
public officials who Courtney has

with talking points.

To put something together like that and
to have it work the way it did, it was

just, it's, I mean, it's mind -boggling,
but it's also really impressive.

Courtney's devious scheming creates the
perfect scene to authenticate his

operation and his need for commercial
cover and a commercial cover salary.

If you're meeting in a government
facility with, you know, with somebody

know to be an officer in the military or
intelligence community who's telling

you that this is real and...

You are signing an agreement with the
government that you need to protect this

information. It's reasonable to believe
that you'd think this was real.

Up next on American Greed, the truth
about Alpha 214 revealed.

He was the monster. It seems very
fitting.

According to his former wife, Andre
Pearson, when the man in charge of Alpha

is at home, he's often online connecting
with a special network of warriors.

Garrison had a habit of playing lots of
video games geared towards military and

war and undercover missions.

And several times I did log into his
phone and checked the games and a lot of

the chatting.

And he would tell these people that he
was a decorated general in the Army or

had done all kinds of amazing things
with all these undercover agencies and

he could offer them jobs and introduce
them to all these people that they could

live their game life in real life.

In his real -life spy game, Pearson's
husband says he goes by a variety of

aliases, including Glenn Nelson, Glenn
Nielsen, and Gary Pearson.

Online, Garrison Kenneth Courtney uses
yet another name.

G .K .C. Monster.

He was the monster.

It seems very fitting.

Far from the exciting operator he
presents himself to be online and in top

secret task force meetings, Courtney is
a regular guy with regular guy problems.

He had had financial issues in the past.
He'd been through a divorce. He had

student loans, medical bills.

He had filed for bankruptcy.

Those issues seemed to rev up in 2012,
back when Courtney promised clients he

could help them free Kuwaiti prisoners
from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

According to emails obtained by American
Greed, a few months into the project,

the lawyers Courtney is working for
begin to ask questions.

I mean, there were a number of times
where little things that he had

the basic items for a public affairs
campaign, were never produced.

But with his job seemingly in danger,
those involved with the effort say

Courtney miraculously produced evidence
that seemed to show he was making

headway. He had produced a letter from
the House Armed Services Committee

indicating that he had had a direct
discussion and that House Armed Services

interested in responding, not just to
the team, but directly to the Kuwaiti

government to get something moving.

It's certainly not formatted properly.
The language is a little off. It did not

look like a professionally produced
House committee letter.

I don't know who produced it. He may
have produced it himself.

I believe that letter was a forgery.

Emails and official findings by another
member of the team say Courtney was

fired for cause.

Though Courtney was never charged for
this alleged incident, when asked about

via his former attorney, he refused to
comment.

Months later, he sends his friends an
email saying, Today, I am at zero and

only move upward.

This is my new beginning.

The message comes soon after the time
Courtney admits he starts running a

top -secret CIA task force.

From the get -go, he concedes, It's all
a scam.

For years, Courtney has been telling a
story of lung damage he sustained

fighting Saddam in the 1990s. The truth
about his military service is way more

mundane. He was in the National Guard,
but he didn't join the military until

after the Gulf War had ended.

He did have some breathing problems, but
the breathing problems were a

combination of the fact that he has
asthma.

And a combination of the fact that he
exacerbated those breathing problems

he was fighting forest fires in Montana.

Though Courtney has spent time in a
hospital, it wasn't because foreign

poisoned him with ricin, as he has
claimed.

He went to the hospital with ordinary
health issues.

And so this was yet another aspect of
him trying to dupe his victims into

believing that he was so important.

that a hostile foreign intelligence
agency would come to this country and

successfully poison a U .S. citizen and
get away with it.

Though Courtney is running his fraud,
claiming to need commercial cover, he is

no spy.

Garrison Courtney never worked at the
CIA.

He once applied there.

They sent him a letter of conditional
employment, to which he never replied

He had no clearance, and he was not
affiliated with the government.

Though this real job offer will provide
fodder for those who believe Courtney's

top secret story, he later admits he
never worked for the CIA.

According to prosecutors, the real
government officials who also lend

to Courtney's tales are merely dupes.

But they're not the only props he uses
in his fraud.

This letter supposedly refers to
something called the Department of

Immunity Unit.

At the time that this letter is dated,
there was no such unit. It just simply

didn't exist.

This letter references Title 18 United
States Code Section 6000.

There is no such section of the United
States Code.

I don't know exactly how he created
them. I just know that he created them.

Looking at them, I also know that they
are clumsy forgeries.

But none of the victims seem to
recognize this, and multiple companies

Courtney's scam to collect cover
salaries.

He was often collecting salaries
simultaneously from five, six, seven

different companies, all under false
pretenses and not actually doing any

work to, in fact, benefit those
companies.

In all, Courtney defrauds his victims of
$4 .4 million.

But those who know him say he may have
been motivated by more than just money.

I think it just all played in together.
The video games, the stories he told, he

started to believe his own stories and
lies.

And he thought that that was who he was.

And he seemed to know who to prey upon.

And his stories were so good and so
believable that they all fell for them.

Next on American Greed, Courtney tells
his boldest lie yet.

I actually heard the same story three
times in a week from three different

agencies. But can he fend off a
determined investigator?

Obviously, I started to think these all
must be connected.

Want more greed?

Follow us on Instagram.

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American Greed podcast wherever you get

your podcasts.

We'll be right back.

In addition to paying Garrison Courtney
a real salary to help provide him cover,

federal prosecutors say some of the
companies Courtney is defrauding also

perform actual work on what he tells
them is a vital and lucrative national

security operation.

Several of them believe that they were
in fact providing services to the

government as a part of Garrison
Courtney's claimed classified program.

Despite Courtney's assertions that any
questions could blow up Alpha 214, some

of his victims begin to ask, why aren't
we getting paid?

Of course, the program he's running
isn't real, and there's no government

to pay anyone.

So when Courtney's well -orchestrated
meetings with government officials don't

make people stand down, FBI Special
Agent Walter Giardina says he resorts to

threats.

Everybody involved more or less requires
a security clearance to continue to be

employed. So as soon as they would start
to say, I don't think this thing is

real, he would one way or another start
to threaten them or cause them to fear

that they would lose their clearance and
be unable to earn a living. And there

was one person in particular who
essentially said, I think you're a

And Courtney's response to that.

was to falsely accuse that person of
being an Iranian spy.

According to criminal and civil case
records, for years, a defense contractor

called Blue Canopy has been paying
Courtney a cover salary.

In 2015, employers of and lawyers for
Blue Canopy begin pressing Courtney

hard. Blue Canopy says they are owed $1
.9 million, and they want it now.

Because they pressed so hard, I think
Garris and Courtney felt that he needed

find a way to pay them. Otherwise, his
fraud would unravel.

Of course, Courtney doesn't have that
kind of cash just sitting around.

But with his back to the wall, he
figures out an ingenious way to get the

company the money they're asking for.

No payment, no payment, no payment. And
then finally, one day, they get $1 .95

million in their bank account.

and it comes not directly from any
government agency. It comes through an

account affiliated with an attorney's
office.

Garrison Courtney uses the fact that it
comes from the escrow account of an

attorney as proof that he is a spy
because, of course, of course

it's going to look like it comes from a
normal citizen. That's how you know that

I'm a deep cover operative.

But like all things in this scheme,
There's another explanation.

With his fraud about to unravel,
Courtney has approached an investment

company in Virginia with another wild
story.

He tells that investment firm,
basically, I'm a spy.

And I'm a part of this deep cover
program.

And if you, investment firm, will kindly
give me $1 .9

million today or thereabouts.

Then in short order, I'll pay you back
$2 .5 million in a few days.

In court documents, Courtney says that
to get the money, he tells the

firm that the Department of Justice is
trying to seize Blue Canopy. To do so,

the government must first pay Blue
Canopy $1 .9 million that the company is

owed. He says the payment has to happen
quickly.

And for national security reasons, it
can't come directly from the Justice

Department.

Courtney presents the investment firm
with a document showing them that

been awarded a classified contract and
that they'll soon be receiving more than

$2 .5 million.

And the firm wires $1 .9 million to Blue
Canopy.

Again, the entire story was entirely
made up. It was all a fraud.

Blue Canopy's new owners have said the
company was a victim of and a witness to

Garrison Courtney's criminal conduct.

Courtney's Hail Mary has worked, and his
fraud keeps going. For now.

Around the time that this scheme within
a scheme takes place, FBI Special Agent

Walter Giardina begins to hear whispers
about someone playing James Bond.

I actually heard the same story three
times in a week from three different

agencies about somebody who purported to
be a spy, at which point, you know,

obviously I started to think these all
must be connected.

After learning that the Air Force's top
intelligence officer is about to

question Courtney inside the Pentagon,

Giardino says that he asks the general
to secretly record the meeting and that

Courtney is caught out of his depth.

You know, he's like, well, what am I
supposed to ask? First of all, sir,

a general.

Get answers.

Find out what's going on here.

And I actually typed up a memo for him,
you know, on letterhead of what he was

supposed to ask.

I remember one of the best parts was a
simple question.

Mr. Courtney, who is your boss at the
CIA?

And he asked that just straight out. And
Garrison Courtney said, I don't know.

After this meeting, the feds take their
first overt investigative step when they

subpoena records from one of the
companies that Courtney is defrauding.

He had so indoctrinated that company
that the second that we served the

subpoena, he became aware of it. I'm
sure he immediately knew how fatal that

would be to us finding out his scheme.

And Garrison Courtney, by virtue of
having so thoroughly duped real

government officials that this was real,
convinced.

one of the very real and high -level
government officials to attempt to shut

down.

our investigation. First, they called
the company and told them not to

with our grand jury subpoena. And then
ultimately, they demanded to meet with

myself and another FBI agent and
requested we stop our investigation.

And then once we didn't stop the
investigation, proceeded to threaten us

prosecution ourselves for revealing
Garrison Courtney's fake program.

I've never...

been threatened by another government
official for doing my job.

And that just makes myself and all my
colleagues want to work harder.

In April 2016,

Courtney's wife, Andre Pearson, says she
is asleep with a newborn, her third

child with Courtney, when she hears a
knock on the door of the Virginia home.

Went downstairs to check it out and I
noticed a lot of armed officers outside

the door. I got very scared. I was
shocked. Didn't know what was going on.

They were able to explain a little bit
and let me know that he was under

investigation.

That's when I kind of started to find
out that he wasn't who he said he was or

what he was doing.

Coming up, as the government's case
against Courtney intensifies,

smash into a wall of silence.

There are people.

to this day who have refused to speak to
the investigators of this case

because they believe that this is all
classified. Just to be clear, those

are crazy.

After the raid on his Virginia home in
2016, Garrison Courtney and his family

moved to Tampa, Florida, where his wife,
Andre Pearson, says she's led to

believe his case has gone away.

Well, according to him, it was all a
setup. And given that it was just such a

big multi -agency operation, I felt that
if they really had something on him and

he was actually the bad guy, he would
have been arrested at that time. And

didn't happen.

A couple of years went by afterwards,
and he was still a free man.

But there's a reason Courtney's case is
moving slowly.

For years, Courtney has been telling his
victims that everything about Alpha

-214 is classified and secrecy is of the
utmost importance.

It seems they believed him.

You certainly come across in all kinds
of government investigations people who

don't want to talk to the government,
who stonewall, who feel loyalty to their

co -conspirators.

But this was a group of patriotic, law
-abiding citizens, often decorated

military veterans that truly believed
that they were doing the right

thing by not talking to us.

There are people to this day.

who have refused to speak to the
investigators of this case because they

that this is all classified.

Just to be clear, those people are
crazy.

There is no other secret program that he
was a part of that we burned or that we

accidentally stumbled into.

Despite this stonewalling, the
government's case inches forward.

The same agents that had raided our
place in 2016 in Virginia showed up to

him a visit where we were living in
Florida in 2019 and told him that they

enough evidence against him to press
charges and that he was going to go to

trial. And that's kind of when I
realized that this wasn't over like he

was and that he was just completely
deceiving and manipulating and lying.

After months of negotiations in June
2020,

Garrison Courtney comes to court in the
Eastern District of Virginia and pleads

guilty to a single count of wire fraud.

Stating that he defrauded or attempted
to defraud $4 .4 million, he admits he

never worked for the CIA, that Alpha 214
was a fake, and that he used various

government officials as unwitting props
in his scheme.

But Courtney's still not done.

Prosecutors say in court documents that
days after entering his guilty plea,

Courtney poses as an intelligence
official while talking to his latest

employers, a defense firm in Florida.

Federal investigators catch him red
-handed.

I didn't believe it because it's almost
unbelievable. That incident probably

increased Garrison's sentence by two or
three years.

In October 2020, Courtney is sentenced
to spend seven years in federal prison.

His downfall has left many people
reeling.

As somebody who knew him, I don't know
how he got away with this.

I never would have thought of him as
sophisticated enough to get himself home

and make himself dinner.

It's hard to grasp the reality of it all
and how it played a role in my life and

where it left me and our children now.

We're still healing from it and trying
to figure out how to move on from it and

put it behind us once and for all. There
were some of these smaller companies

that just couldn't take the hit, the
financial hit. But many, I think, are

struggling with reputational damage of
being sort of associated with Garrison

Courtney. And I think many of them just
feel like they're there.

Their loyalty to their country and their
patriotism was exploited by Garrison

Courtney just to line his own pocket.

Behind bars, Courtney seems to still be
spinning tails.

Though he did not agree to be
interviewed for the program, Courtney

American Greed that he pled to just one
count of wire fraud for sending an

email. It's not illegal to send an
email. I send emails every day. So do

does... Virtually everyone these days.
What he acknowledged under oath was

perpetrating a massive fraud.

And the fact that he is telling you that
all I did was send an email shows that

he is still committing fraud on you.

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