1
00:00:02,250 --> 00:00:04,730
This is a CNBC original.

2
00:00:11,150 --> 00:00:15,730
In this episode of American Greed, he's
a consultant to con men.

3
00:00:16,090 --> 00:00:20,610
The greed, the greed, American greed.
You want to talk about American greed?

4
00:00:20,610 --> 00:00:25,710
American greed was without boundary. The
brains behind one of the largest scams

5
00:00:25,710 --> 00:00:26,669
in history.

6
00:00:26,670 --> 00:00:30,090
Before it's over, he'll lead federal
agents on an international chase.

7
00:00:30,750 --> 00:00:32,509
changing locations and identities.

8
00:00:33,170 --> 00:00:36,390
Dealmaker Sholem Weiss doesn't hide in
the shadows.

9
00:00:36,890 --> 00:00:41,970
The guy is such a flamboyant character.
He's big and he's bold and he's brazen

10
00:00:41,970 --> 00:00:42,970
and he's loud.

11
00:00:43,030 --> 00:00:46,590
He was attracted to lights, women,
music, gambling.

12
00:00:46,990 --> 00:00:49,970
Are these the fatal attractions that
will do him in?

13
00:01:12,330 --> 00:01:18,730
In 1999, Sholem Weiss goes on trial in
Orlando, Florida, for masterminding one

14
00:01:18,730 --> 00:01:21,230
of the largest insurance frauds in U .S.
history.

15
00:01:21,710 --> 00:01:22,710
The charges?

16
00:01:23,030 --> 00:01:28,310
Weiss and his accomplices have stolen a
staggering $450 million from National

17
00:01:28,310 --> 00:01:30,470
Heritage Life Insurance Bank accounts.

18
00:01:30,730 --> 00:01:35,310
And people who invested in annuities and
life insurance policies see their life

19
00:01:35,310 --> 00:01:36,310
savings disappear.

20
00:01:37,150 --> 00:01:40,990
The take went right into the pockets of
those who were perpetrating this game.

21
00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:43,940
The trial lasts for more than nine
months.

22
00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:48,540
When it comes time for the case to go to
the jury, Weiss doesn't stick around

23
00:01:48,540 --> 00:01:49,540
for the verdict.

24
00:01:49,660 --> 00:01:52,640
His space next to his attorney was
empty.

25
00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:57,600
That is not the first time I've had a
client take what we used to refer to in

26
00:01:57,600 --> 00:01:59,220
the 80s as a Colombian appeal.

27
00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:03,720
Slang for fleeing the country rather
than facing the music.

28
00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:08,360
He's gone, leaving the country without a
trace.

29
00:02:09,190 --> 00:02:10,949
A warrant is issued for his arrest.

30
00:02:11,290 --> 00:02:14,010
The FBI puts him on their most wanted
list.

31
00:02:14,370 --> 00:02:16,650
And an international manhunt begins.

32
00:02:17,210 --> 00:02:20,790
But Sholem Weiss is no ordinary
fugitive.

33
00:02:21,270 --> 00:02:22,570
We're going to have a new saga.

34
00:02:22,930 --> 00:02:26,010
Going to match wits with the smartest
guy in the world.

35
00:02:31,490 --> 00:02:36,410
Weiss's story begins in Brooklyn's
Borough Park neighborhood in a close

36
00:02:36,410 --> 00:02:37,930
Orthodox Jewish community.

37
00:02:38,590 --> 00:02:41,570
By all indications, his childhood is
fairly normal.

38
00:02:41,910 --> 00:02:43,410
He's one of nine children.

39
00:02:44,470 --> 00:02:49,030
We assume that people who grow up in
that community have good moral

40
00:02:49,790 --> 00:02:52,250
His father runs a simple fruit stand.

41
00:02:52,770 --> 00:02:55,930
They're making ends meet, but it's not
an easy life.

42
00:02:56,630 --> 00:02:59,670
The entire Weiss family lives in a two
-bedroom apartment.

43
00:03:00,770 --> 00:03:03,350
Weiss strikes out on his own when he
turns 18.

44
00:03:04,350 --> 00:03:06,230
He never finished high school.

45
00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:11,060
He started his own plumbing business,
and that's how he started to make money.

46
00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:16,600
That plumbing business, Windsor Plumbing
and Heating Supply, is Weiss's way out.

47
00:03:17,060 --> 00:03:21,120
In 1974, Windsor is a small -time
operation.

48
00:03:21,580 --> 00:03:24,700
He eventually builds it into a
multimillion -dollar business.

49
00:03:25,260 --> 00:03:29,620
By the mid-'80s, the man who grew up in
a Brooklyn tenement has a mansion in

50
00:03:29,620 --> 00:03:30,620
Muncie, New York.

51
00:03:31,140 --> 00:03:34,540
The story could have ended there, and
Weiss could have lived out the American

52
00:03:34,540 --> 00:03:35,540
dream.

53
00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,380
But something happens on the way to
success.

54
00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:40,320
Sholem Weiss gets greedy.

55
00:03:41,220 --> 00:03:46,160
It starts with what has been a
successful plumbing company suddenly

56
00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:48,760
bankruptcy. Then his warehouse burns
down.

57
00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:56,040
He defrauded Lloyd's of London through a
mysterious fire in Brooklyn where

58
00:03:56,040 --> 00:04:02,700
10 or 20 non -existent Whirlpool spa
baths went up in flames.

59
00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:07,820
It doesn't look like Sholem Weiss is
particularly good at the art of the

60
00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:10,680
He winds up in prison for the phony
insurance claim.

61
00:04:11,620 --> 00:04:16,480
Five months into an eight -month
sentence, he proves to be a good

62
00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:17,680
good behavior come perks.

63
00:04:18,380 --> 00:04:22,520
He's moved from the prison to a halfway
house in Manhattan to serve out the rest

64
00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:23,219
of his time.

65
00:04:23,220 --> 00:04:24,960
One day he puts in a request.

66
00:04:25,840 --> 00:04:28,760
He asked the judge for a furlough.

67
00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:33,900
for a Jewish holiday in which he wanted
to spend with his wife and children.

68
00:04:34,260 --> 00:04:35,780
That's not where he stays.

69
00:04:36,220 --> 00:04:41,360
Instead, he takes a chartered jet to
Donald Trump's casino in Atlantic City.

70
00:04:42,060 --> 00:04:48,180
Mr. Weiss ended up in Atlantic City with
stories of prostitutes,

71
00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,940
drugs, and certainly alcohol.

72
00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:57,760
That is the fatal flaw of this man.

73
00:04:58,280 --> 00:05:03,660
He and a female companion go through
more than $70 ,000 before he returns to

74
00:05:03,660 --> 00:05:04,659
halfway house.

75
00:05:04,660 --> 00:05:08,980
The authorities found out about it, and
he was taken out of the halfway house.

76
00:05:09,700 --> 00:05:13,400
Not a guy who lacks for a daring move
now and then.

77
00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:16,300
But he hasn't learned from his mistakes.

78
00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:18,600
He's already planning his next move.

79
00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:22,880
And when he gets back his black suit and
hat and walks out of the prison gate,

80
00:05:23,180 --> 00:05:24,920
he knows what he's going to do.

81
00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:29,760
His arrogance and cunning have made him
into a man capable of orchestrating the

82
00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:32,300
largest insurance scam in U .S. history.

83
00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:39,060
It's 1993, and Sholem Weiss has begun a
new career as a workout expert, a

84
00:05:39,060 --> 00:05:41,500
consultant to others in financial
difficulties.

85
00:05:42,100 --> 00:05:47,220
In reality, he does have a specialty to
sell, how to cheat the system and turn

86
00:05:47,220 --> 00:05:51,520
financial woes into profit. And part of
his brilliance is that he doesn't leave

87
00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:52,520
a paper trail.

88
00:05:52,910 --> 00:05:57,670
He was just an amazing, extraordinary
character and kept almost everything in

89
00:05:57,670 --> 00:05:58,669
his head.

90
00:05:58,670 --> 00:06:05,530
No diaries, no day timers, no aids. He's
just the smartest guy

91
00:06:05,530 --> 00:06:08,130
in the world. Whatever the problem is,
I'll solve it.

92
00:06:08,750 --> 00:06:12,670
Weiss is called to Park Avenue to meet
with a bankruptcy client and high

93
00:06:12,670 --> 00:06:15,990
-powered New York lawyers Michael
Blutrick and Richard Herman.

94
00:06:16,530 --> 00:06:20,750
The bankruptcy attorney comes in the
room, makes a presentation, gives an

95
00:06:20,750 --> 00:06:21,750
analysis of the case.

96
00:06:22,580 --> 00:06:23,580
Sounded good.

97
00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:28,780
And all of a sudden, Mr. Weiss stands up
and says, I don't agree with that.

98
00:06:28,940 --> 00:06:29,940
You're wrong.

99
00:06:30,500 --> 00:06:35,580
Blutrick is impressed by Weiss's
chutzpah. He sees a kindred spirit,

100
00:06:35,580 --> 00:06:38,860
with the talent and guts to use
unconventional methods.

101
00:06:39,860 --> 00:06:43,220
Blutrick has another case that can use
Weiss's creative input.

102
00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:47,800
The lawyer represents a life insurance
company in Orlando, Florida called

103
00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:49,060
National Heritage.

104
00:06:49,900 --> 00:06:53,440
Some of their investments are quite
unusual for a life insurance company.

105
00:06:54,020 --> 00:06:59,560
I believe National Heritage even
invested in a strip club in New York

106
00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:04,520
Blutrick and the owners have been
stealing money from the company, and

107
00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:07,820
thefts have caused a $35 million
accounting gap.

108
00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:12,400
Blutrick's law partner explains what he
learned later about how they were able

109
00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:15,320
to skim money off with falsified
appraisals.

110
00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:18,920
There'd be a piece of property that,
say, was worth,

111
00:07:19,700 --> 00:07:23,340
$500 ,000, and they would get an
appraisal saying it's worth $3 million.

112
00:07:24,140 --> 00:07:26,660
So the insurance company would send over
$3 million.

113
00:07:27,540 --> 00:07:32,140
They would buy the property for $500
,000, and the rest of the money they

114
00:07:32,140 --> 00:07:33,580
whack up between themselves.

115
00:07:34,420 --> 00:07:39,120
Insurance regulators are starting to ask
questions about the $35 million hole in

116
00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:43,580
the books, and Blutrick thinks Weiss can
help cover it. They knew.

117
00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:48,820
that they needed a fixer, because they
were minor league con men, and they

118
00:07:48,820 --> 00:07:51,340
needed a con man doctor.

119
00:07:51,580 --> 00:07:56,860
They knew Shalom Weiss could be their
fixer. They asked, Shalom, you do

120
00:07:56,860 --> 00:08:02,460
workouts, you do things, what can we do?
We have this $35 million hole in our

121
00:08:02,460 --> 00:08:06,660
accounting. What can we do here? Do you
have any ideas for us?

122
00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:09,400
And Shalom did.

123
00:08:09,950 --> 00:08:16,150
Next on American Greed, see how
bankruptcy expert Sholem Weiss' ideas

124
00:08:16,150 --> 00:08:17,410
half -billion -dollar car.

125
00:08:31,850 --> 00:08:38,350
In Orlando, an insurance company,
National Heritage Life, is being looted

126
00:08:38,350 --> 00:08:39,350
owners.

127
00:08:39,450 --> 00:08:43,890
Through a series of sham companies and
bogus transactions, the owners and their

128
00:08:43,890 --> 00:08:47,690
lawyer are funneling millions of dollars
of company money into their own

129
00:08:47,690 --> 00:08:52,290
pockets. The greed, the greed, American
greed. You want to talk about American

130
00:08:52,290 --> 00:08:55,710
greed? The American greed was without
boundary.

131
00:08:56,190 --> 00:09:02,030
They had this company and they
annihilated it without regard to anybody

132
00:09:02,030 --> 00:09:05,430
anyone. But it's hard to conceal graft
on this scale.

133
00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:11,620
And insurance regulators are close to
discovering that $35 million shortfall

134
00:09:11,620 --> 00:09:12,620
the company's accounts.

135
00:09:13,020 --> 00:09:16,340
The books and records just weren't
adding up.

136
00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:18,660
The con men are in over their heads.

137
00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:23,560
So they reach out to a creative
financial consultant with just the

138
00:09:23,560 --> 00:09:24,980
need. Show them wise.

139
00:09:25,740 --> 00:09:29,920
They believed they'd found someone with
a more sophisticated and deeper

140
00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:36,440
knowledge of how to handle the growing
problem of the $35 million

141
00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:41,720
hole. Jolum Wise has learned how to work
the system, and since then he has

142
00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:43,640
counseled others in financial distress.

143
00:09:44,100 --> 00:09:47,360
His reputation for shady deal -making is
legendary.

144
00:09:47,980 --> 00:09:52,100
He became a master at bankruptcy fraud.

145
00:09:52,550 --> 00:09:56,690
in New York. And Michael Blutrick saw
him operate, and he said, wow, this

146
00:09:56,690 --> 00:09:57,690
unbelievable.

147
00:09:57,810 --> 00:10:00,790
And so is his double -sided personal
life.

148
00:10:01,230 --> 00:10:06,730
He wore a black suit every day. He wore
a yarmulke every day. He professed to be

149
00:10:06,730 --> 00:10:10,910
a very conservative, Hasidic Jew.

150
00:10:11,510 --> 00:10:13,690
Yet he doesn't always act like one.

151
00:10:14,450 --> 00:10:18,190
Weiss had a very fast lifestyle.

152
00:10:18,430 --> 00:10:20,670
He was known to be a lover of gambling.

153
00:10:21,420 --> 00:10:24,960
He liked to drink, and he liked women,
and he liked gambling.

154
00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:29,600
He and his wife were technically
estranged, even though they lived in the

155
00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:31,060
house and they had children together.

156
00:10:31,780 --> 00:10:35,060
Weiss's personal life is not national
heritage's concern.

157
00:10:35,540 --> 00:10:37,720
The con men need a heavyweight.

158
00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:43,360
They needed to go to Muhammad Ali, and
that's where Sholem Weiss came into the

159
00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:46,680
picture. Weiss's big idea will sound
familiar.

160
00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:51,540
It's sort of an early 90s version of the
mortgage fraud that brought about the

161
00:10:51,540 --> 00:10:53,120
recent financial meltdown.

162
00:10:53,580 --> 00:11:00,220
In August 1993, Weiss buys mortgages
that are in default for 60 % of their

163
00:11:00,220 --> 00:11:05,860
value. He pays $60 million for 100
million worth of mortgages.

164
00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:10,360
National Heritage pays him full face
value of 100 million.

165
00:11:10,900 --> 00:11:16,100
With the $40 million profit, He kicks
back the $35 million that the con men

166
00:11:16,100 --> 00:11:21,060
to cover their accounting hole and is
left with a nice $5 million payday to

167
00:11:21,060 --> 00:11:22,940
share with his co -conspirators.

168
00:11:23,620 --> 00:11:27,320
Everybody got a cut. Everyone grabbed
what they could, took what they thought

169
00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:33,100
they could get away with. Giving Shalom
Weiss $100 million is like, you know,

170
00:11:33,100 --> 00:11:34,480
giving a baby ice cream.

171
00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:38,400
There's no way he's not going to have
some fun with that.

172
00:11:38,890 --> 00:11:43,610
With the $35 million hole covered for
now, the schemers feel confident

173
00:11:43,610 --> 00:11:48,810
Heritage can survive an insurance
commission review and live to be built

174
00:11:48,810 --> 00:11:54,330
day. Weiss is so confident that he
acquires stock in National Heritage and

175
00:11:54,330 --> 00:11:56,310
now a permanent part of the con team.

176
00:11:56,530 --> 00:11:59,110
He starts to handle more of the skimming
operations.

177
00:11:59,750 --> 00:12:04,090
There are many others who believe,
certainly, that Shalom Weiss kind of

178
00:12:04,090 --> 00:12:07,830
over. Ultimately, Mr. Weiss ended up
with the most money.

179
00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:13,320
Weiss will soon find out if his
financial voodoo will hold up to

180
00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:17,840
scrutiny when the company comes up for a
regular review in the spring of 1994.

181
00:12:18,940 --> 00:12:24,700
We really had to chase down the assets
because you looked at the balance sheet

182
00:12:24,700 --> 00:12:28,620
and something said this and it wasn't
quite adding up.

183
00:12:28,980 --> 00:12:32,660
The examiners sharpen their pencils and
get down to work.

184
00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,680
When we first started...

185
00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:40,680
suspecting things weren't quite right
with National Heritage.

186
00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:42,140
We opened the toolbox.

187
00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:47,780
We went in to look a little deeper, find
out what was really going on.

188
00:12:48,340 --> 00:12:50,860
There were on -site visits.

189
00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:54,480
There were additional regulatory filings
that were required.

190
00:12:55,160 --> 00:13:01,420
Ultimately, an exam was done, and my
team advised me that the company had

191
00:13:01,420 --> 00:13:04,200
solvency issues.

192
00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:09,100
When they uncover investments the Kahn
team put on the books at more than their

193
00:13:09,100 --> 00:13:13,520
actual worth, they realize the company
has almost no real value.

194
00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:19,060
Alarmed by the bald -faced criminal
activity, the insurance commission tips

195
00:13:19,060 --> 00:13:21,000
the FBI and federal prosecutors.

196
00:13:21,940 --> 00:13:23,620
By the end, it was a shell.

197
00:13:24,220 --> 00:13:28,880
Every investment was pretty much a
hollow Fabergé egg.

198
00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:32,760
He kept taking it apart, and there was
nothing left, nothing left, nothing

199
00:13:33,150 --> 00:13:36,930
We thought we were looking at a few
million dollars in fraud, but after we

200
00:13:36,930 --> 00:13:40,450
talked to the auditors, I realized it
was more like a half a billion dollars

201
00:13:40,450 --> 00:13:41,450
fraud.

202
00:13:41,950 --> 00:13:44,910
Investigators turned their focus to the
mortgages Weiss bought.

203
00:13:45,680 --> 00:13:51,400
They said, well, let's test these. We're
going to take a random selection of

204
00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:55,780
these mortgage assets, and we're going
to get new appraisals. We're going to

205
00:13:55,780 --> 00:13:59,260
look at them. We're going to check the
value. And we seized hundreds and

206
00:13:59,260 --> 00:14:03,420
hundreds and hundreds of mortgages and
brought them here in U -Haula trucks so

207
00:14:03,420 --> 00:14:08,400
that the Delaware regulators could have
at least access to their assets.

208
00:14:09,130 --> 00:14:11,230
The mortgages are nearly worthless.

209
00:14:11,850 --> 00:14:15,070
National Heritage is less than a
functioning company.

210
00:14:15,290 --> 00:14:16,810
It's a den of thieves.

211
00:14:17,490 --> 00:14:24,230
When we were able to begin to understand
the true nature of this

212
00:14:24,230 --> 00:14:28,770
enterprise, we went in and put the
company into receivership.

213
00:14:29,590 --> 00:14:32,370
Regulators take National Heritage over.

214
00:14:32,610 --> 00:14:36,990
Nearly half a billion dollars is
missing, and someone is going to have to

215
00:14:36,990 --> 00:14:37,899
for it.

216
00:14:37,900 --> 00:14:42,160
It's only a matter of time before the
investigation leads directly to Weiss

217
00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:46,000
Blutrick. But the sky is falling in more
ways than one.

218
00:14:47,780 --> 00:14:51,600
Weiss and Blutrick get a tip that
they've been caught on tape in

219
00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:52,600
office.

220
00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:58,480
We pulled down a tile on the corner of
the ceiling in Michael's office, and a

221
00:14:58,480 --> 00:14:59,760
camera dropped out of the ceiling.

222
00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:02,120
The video camera.

223
00:15:02,540 --> 00:15:05,620
So I don't know who looked whiter at
that time, Blutrick, Pfeffer.

224
00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:09,780
or Mr. Weiss, but everyone just couldn't
believe this was going on.

225
00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:14,720
It turns out that this surveillance is
tied to yet another Blutrick scheme.

226
00:15:15,380 --> 00:15:20,120
There had been a murder at the strip
club Scores that Blutrick co -owns, a

227
00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:22,480
murder with ties to the Gambino crime
family.

228
00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:26,600
Federal prosecutors are trying to find
out what he knows about a mafia

229
00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:27,780
retaliation hit.

230
00:15:28,260 --> 00:15:30,220
Under pressure, Blutrick cracks.

231
00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:35,620
As disturbing as the surveillance tape
is, It strangely turned into a golden

232
00:15:35,620 --> 00:15:40,560
parachute for Blutrick. He wasn't
involved in the murder, but he is

233
00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:42,640
with the Gambinos and their shady deals.

234
00:15:42,980 --> 00:15:47,200
He's willing to spill what he knows to
the feds to save himself.

235
00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:52,540
Almost immediately upon discovery of the
taps, they went in and cut a deal in

236
00:15:52,540 --> 00:15:59,180
New York where they pled guilty to
various felony crimes in order to not

237
00:15:59,180 --> 00:16:03,960
serve. A 25 -plus year prison sentence,
they agreed to work undercover.

238
00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:09,640
Ultimately, Michael Blutrick also agrees
to turn on his National Heritage pals

239
00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:11,380
and tell the feds everything.

240
00:16:11,900 --> 00:16:16,280
The National Heritage case turns out to
be the largest life insurance company

241
00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:18,340
fraud in American history.

242
00:16:18,700 --> 00:16:20,960
Not every single case...

243
00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:27,900
has the mystery and intrigue and ties to
the mafia and ties to,

244
00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:30,700
you know, millions of dollars like this
one does.

245
00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:36,020
There was bank fraud, insurance fraud,
wire fraud, mail fraud, securities

246
00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:37,280
mortgage fraud.

247
00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:41,440
This was probably one of the most
enormous cases I had ever undertaken.

248
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:47,320
Next on American Greed, the negotiator
Sholem Wise takes the witness stand to

249
00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:48,320
prove he's innocent.

250
00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:49,780
Will it backfire?

251
00:17:03,850 --> 00:17:08,930
In 1999, the largest life insurance scam
in American history makes front -page

252
00:17:08,930 --> 00:17:09,930
news.

253
00:17:10,130 --> 00:17:13,970
National Heritage was built out of
nearly $450 million.

254
00:17:14,630 --> 00:17:20,210
The person who took home the biggest
chunk was shady dealmaker Sholem White.

255
00:17:20,390 --> 00:17:23,069
This was different than simple fraud.

256
00:17:23,530 --> 00:17:27,890
The people here got the insurance
company for the purpose of looting it.

257
00:17:28,730 --> 00:17:32,450
Most of the scammers plead guilty and
turn federal witness.

258
00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:36,440
Among those who flip is New York lawyer
Michael Blutrick.

259
00:17:36,940 --> 00:17:41,380
He arranged the purchase of the company,
helped loot it, and then brought in

260
00:17:41,380 --> 00:17:43,440
Sholem Weiss to try to cover it up.

261
00:17:43,780 --> 00:17:47,980
When faced with charges, Weiss decides
to take his chances at trial.

262
00:17:48,220 --> 00:17:51,980
He knows that the government is betting
that he'll plead guilty, too.

263
00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:56,880
They thought they weren't going to try
this case because everyone in the

264
00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:02,060
courthouse felt that it was too
complicated for a jury to handle, to

265
00:18:02,060 --> 00:18:07,020
evidence, to handle the complicated,
interwoven deceit.

266
00:18:07,540 --> 00:18:11,580
Another defendant in the case is Blue
Trick's law partner, Richard Herman.

267
00:18:12,020 --> 00:18:15,680
He insists he has no knowledge of the
National Heritage scam.

268
00:18:16,100 --> 00:18:20,360
So when Prosecutor Judy Hunt offers him
a reduced sentence for his cooperation,

269
00:18:20,900 --> 00:18:22,160
he flat -out refuses.

270
00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:25,640
You know, they say you can indict a ham
sandwich.

271
00:18:26,020 --> 00:18:31,220
In this case, they indicted a crumb of
the piece of bread from a ham sandwich.

272
00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:35,880
But they did it. And she figured if she
indicted me, I would run down to

273
00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:41,160
Orlando, go into her offices, try to cut
a deal with her, because after all,

274
00:18:41,180 --> 00:18:42,580
Michael Blucher was my law partner.

275
00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:45,120
I had to have known what they were
doing.

276
00:18:45,940 --> 00:18:51,480
Herman goes on trial with Sholem Weiss
and three others on February 1, 1999.

277
00:18:52,570 --> 00:18:55,870
From the beginning, Weiss is the main
attraction in the courtroom.

278
00:18:56,330 --> 00:19:00,330
Because Sholem Weiss gave the appearance
of being rich and clearly was rude.

279
00:19:01,230 --> 00:19:07,190
And it came across, his rudeness
certainly came across in the courtroom

280
00:19:07,190 --> 00:19:09,150
from time to time.

281
00:19:09,390 --> 00:19:13,730
And people described him as being
brusque and abrasive, and I think that's

282
00:19:14,610 --> 00:19:17,270
Jurors can't help but notice his
attitude.

283
00:19:17,770 --> 00:19:19,430
Sholem Weiss was in the very front.

284
00:19:20,540 --> 00:19:24,900
He was upset. He was an angry, seemed to
be an angry, gruff man.

285
00:19:25,500 --> 00:19:28,100
The trial moves at a glacial pace.

286
00:19:28,700 --> 00:19:32,880
It was, you know, just such a monstrous
trial with so many transactions, so much

287
00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:36,480
money to trade, and so much testimony.

288
00:19:37,260 --> 00:19:41,480
A lot of the witnesses were lawyers,
even added to the problem.

289
00:19:41,940 --> 00:19:44,740
They told us I think it was going to be
a three - to five -month trial.

290
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:50,200
Kept going on and on, and all I could,
my only analogy was that this was like a

291
00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:53,260
John Grisham collaboration with Hunter
S. Thompson.

292
00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:58,760
It was just unbelievable, you know, just
kind of surreal pulling together of

293
00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:00,360
events and schemes.

294
00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:04,740
During the trial, the defendants are
free on bond.

295
00:20:05,420 --> 00:20:10,180
After the day in court is over, Sholem
Weiss relaxes in a favored way.

296
00:20:11,150 --> 00:20:16,650
Reporter Susan Clary says he frequents a
local strip club called Rachel's. He

297
00:20:16,650 --> 00:20:23,290
had a girlfriend that he met at
Rachel's, and she came to court every

298
00:20:23,370 --> 00:20:25,430
you know, probably half his age.

299
00:20:26,730 --> 00:20:31,910
Susan Clary covers the trial for the
Orlando Sentinel newspaper, and she

300
00:20:31,910 --> 00:20:33,410
to Wise on a daily basis.

301
00:20:33,850 --> 00:20:36,570
He was very moody.

302
00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:42,380
Some days he would be very sweet, and
some days he would be very angry.

303
00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:47,300
I would write an article that maybe
wasn't as pleasing to him as he had

304
00:20:47,460 --> 00:20:53,920
and the next day my car would be keyed,
or I would write something that he

305
00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:57,800
disliked, and I'd come to the
courthouse, and he'd meet me on the

306
00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:00,620
courthouse and say, why did you write
all these things about me?

307
00:21:01,020 --> 00:21:05,680
Back in the courtroom, attorney Joel
Hirschhorn nears the end of his defense.

308
00:21:06,360 --> 00:21:08,540
when Weiss adds a surprising twist.

309
00:21:08,860 --> 00:21:10,280
He wants to testify.

310
00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:16,280
As a criminal defense lawyer, I've had
clients get acquitted who didn't take

311
00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:21,540
stand and get convicted who did. The one
rule is that if you get up and testify

312
00:21:21,540 --> 00:21:25,060
and if the jury doesn't like you, it
makes it very difficult to get

313
00:21:25,180 --> 00:21:28,100
Would I have preferred that he didn't?
There were some things that only he

314
00:21:28,100 --> 00:21:29,100
explain.

315
00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:31,380
Weiss presents his side of the case.

316
00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:33,660
He insists he's an innocent.

317
00:21:34,120 --> 00:21:38,720
caught in Michael Blutrick's web of
deceit. He seems to think that he can

318
00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:41,140
convince the jury by the force of his
personality.

319
00:21:41,860 --> 00:21:45,340
He obviously had some confidence or he
wouldn't have gotten on the stand in the

320
00:21:45,340 --> 00:21:46,239
first place.

321
00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:49,540
Ultimately, I think his decision to
testify hurt him more than helped him.

322
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:55,100
He's a disaster as a witness. He's big
and he's bold and he's brazen and he's

323
00:21:55,100 --> 00:21:56,100
loud.

324
00:21:57,710 --> 00:22:01,630
Judy Hunt just did an excellent job
cross -examining him.

325
00:22:01,930 --> 00:22:05,350
He didn't even know it, and he was being
torn to shreds.

326
00:22:05,750 --> 00:22:11,430
In early October, both sides rest their
cases, and the judge gives the jurors a

327
00:22:11,430 --> 00:22:13,950
week -long break before starting
deliberations.

328
00:22:14,270 --> 00:22:19,570
The defendants are allowed to return
home. For Weiss, that's his palatial

329
00:22:19,570 --> 00:22:20,570
in New York.

330
00:22:20,790 --> 00:22:25,450
He had a week up there in Muncie. People
were worried.

331
00:22:26,570 --> 00:22:31,390
about whether he would flee or not,
whether the bond would hold him. I think

332
00:22:31,390 --> 00:22:34,410
had to be on electronic monitoring, but
his house was so big they couldn't do

333
00:22:34,410 --> 00:22:35,410
electronic monitoring.

334
00:22:35,630 --> 00:22:40,390
The signal from the monitor's base
station won't reach his entire house.

335
00:22:40,470 --> 00:22:45,070
reluctantly, the authorities allow Weiss
to come and go as he pleases.

336
00:22:45,490 --> 00:22:51,690
There are lots of courthouse workers,
and not that they bet on the cases for

337
00:22:51,690 --> 00:22:53,690
money, but so the bets were kind of...

338
00:22:54,010 --> 00:22:55,810
Do you think Weiss will show up for the
verdict?

339
00:22:56,230 --> 00:22:57,990
And it was pretty split.

340
00:22:58,490 --> 00:23:02,390
Do you think they're all going to be
found guilty? I think everybody was

341
00:23:02,390 --> 00:23:03,390
sure they would.

342
00:23:03,470 --> 00:23:07,390
One week later, as the legal teams
reassembled in Orlando for jury

343
00:23:07,390 --> 00:23:12,050
deliberations. Can't find Mr. Weiss. I
call, I call. So I have no choice. Next

344
00:23:12,050 --> 00:23:15,190
morning, show up to court. The judge did
point out to me my dance card appeared

345
00:23:15,190 --> 00:23:18,730
to be empty, and it was. I had no one
there sitting next to me. The judge

346
00:23:18,730 --> 00:23:21,430
allowed almost a half an hour.

347
00:23:22,250 --> 00:23:27,190
But she didn't want to keep the jury
waiting, so she questioned his lawyer,

348
00:23:27,190 --> 00:23:31,890
Hirshhorn, and she said, do you know
where your client is? He said no.

349
00:23:32,110 --> 00:23:35,210
Do you know if he's going to appear?

350
00:23:35,470 --> 00:23:37,170
And he said, I expect him to appear.

351
00:23:37,650 --> 00:23:43,470
For FBI agent Joe Judge, Weiss's failure
to appear is a neon blinking sign.

352
00:23:43,890 --> 00:23:45,090
Weiss is on the run.

353
00:23:45,990 --> 00:23:48,910
I'm sure he was planning to flee anyway
because...

354
00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:52,240
He put on about 60 pounds during the
trial.

355
00:23:52,820 --> 00:23:57,540
We're thinking it's nervous eating. No,
that's his disguise for when he flees.

356
00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:02,960
There is no doubt in his mind that Weiss
used the week -long break to get a head

357
00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:07,880
start. That's the first thing I had to
do, and try to get him entered into our

358
00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:12,480
national database and get border stops,
airport stops put out.

359
00:24:13,220 --> 00:24:16,120
In the courtroom, the trial judge moves
forward.

360
00:24:16,700 --> 00:24:20,040
She gives the jury instructions, and
they begin deliberation.

361
00:24:20,460 --> 00:24:24,060
The judge did instruct the jury every
day they were not to consider the fact

362
00:24:24,060 --> 00:24:25,360
that Mr. Weiss was not there.

363
00:24:25,700 --> 00:24:29,720
Morning after morning, you do start to
wonder, you know, whether he was sick or

364
00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:31,540
what happened to him.

365
00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:35,480
Two weeks later, the jurors signal that
they have reached a verdict.

366
00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:39,000
The defendants minus Weiss, the symbol
in the courtroom.

367
00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:44,920
They begin to read those counts off, and
the verdict sheet was about that thick.

368
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:50,860
like a phone book, and they read those
counts down for Sean and Weiss.

369
00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:55,660
And each count was guilty, guilty,
guilty.

370
00:24:56,040 --> 00:25:01,220
Of course, I was very disappointed that
he was not there to hear the verdict

371
00:25:01,220 --> 00:25:06,660
read. Three other co -defendants are
found guilty as well. Then comes the

372
00:25:06,660 --> 00:25:09,280
verdicts for Bluetrick's law partner,
Richard Herman.

373
00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:14,400
After about two hours of guilty
verdicts, my heart was going through my

374
00:25:15,340 --> 00:25:18,600
And the jury, the judge, read off the
verdict.

375
00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:22,480
Not guilty, not guilty, not guilty, not
guilty.

376
00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:25,660
The judge basically said, Mr. Herman,
you're free to leave.

377
00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:28,180
Herman feels vindicated.

378
00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:32,120
I'm never going to forget this, and I'm
never going to forget how I was

379
00:25:32,120 --> 00:25:33,120
mistreated.

380
00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:35,540
Sentencing is scheduled three months
later.

381
00:25:36,360 --> 00:25:41,940
Weiss's fugitive status affects the
other convicts. The other defendants...

382
00:25:42,140 --> 00:25:45,920
all found themselves on home
confinement, even though they had

383
00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:49,440
day for court. But the defense attorneys
just couldn't argue at that point.

384
00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:55,060
The judge throws the book at the con
artists for why she stacks up each of

385
00:25:55,060 --> 00:25:59,740
convictions to a grand total of 845
years.

386
00:26:00,750 --> 00:26:04,270
Of course, the court knew they weren't
going to be in jail for that long. But

387
00:26:04,270 --> 00:26:08,850
she expressed the clear intent that due
to the seriousness of the crimes they

388
00:26:08,850 --> 00:26:12,850
committed, it was her intent that they
remain incarcerated for the rest of

389
00:26:12,850 --> 00:26:17,510
lives. It is the longest sentence ever
handed down for a white -collar crime.

390
00:26:18,390 --> 00:26:22,990
Instead of an ending for FBI agent Joe
Judge, this is a new beginning.

391
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:28,140
Well, I knew that I was going to have a
tough fugitive case because, you know,

392
00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:32,660
Shalom Weiss, he was going to be a
masterful fugitive. But our trial was

393
00:26:32,820 --> 00:26:37,040
the people got convicted, the people got
sentenced, and now I was going to spend

394
00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:40,020
most of my time trying to find Shalom
Weiss.

395
00:26:40,500 --> 00:26:43,040
The authorities do have one advantage.

396
00:26:43,780 --> 00:26:44,840
Why call her?

397
00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:52,160
We frequently are able to find them by
tracking their own personal

398
00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:54,060
ways of life.

399
00:26:54,660 --> 00:27:00,900
Sholem likes gambling, drinking, and the
company of working girls. If anyone's

400
00:27:00,900 --> 00:27:06,100
going to stand out in the world, it
could be Sholem Weiss. Up next on

401
00:27:06,100 --> 00:27:10,320
Greed, can a prostitute be the key to
capturing Sholem Weiss?

402
00:27:25,930 --> 00:27:28,170
Con artist Sholem Weiss is on the run.

403
00:27:28,610 --> 00:27:32,690
He has been convicted of taking part in
the collapse of National Heritage Life

404
00:27:32,690 --> 00:27:33,690
Insurance Company.

405
00:27:34,310 --> 00:27:39,530
It is the largest insurance company
failure due to fraud in American

406
00:27:40,910 --> 00:27:44,150
Weiss and his pals stole nearly half a
billion dollars.

407
00:27:44,610 --> 00:27:51,210
For his part, Weiss was sentenced to a
staggering 845 years, the longest

408
00:27:51,210 --> 00:27:53,190
sentence ever for a white -collar crime.

409
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:56,820
But Weiss didn't stick around to take
his punishment.

410
00:27:57,220 --> 00:27:58,400
He's a fugitive.

411
00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:05,400
When he went on the FBI's Most Wanted, a
poster went up in the post offices.

412
00:28:05,980 --> 00:28:11,320
It's FBI agent Joe Judge's hope that
Weiss's personal appetites will lead

413
00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:12,520
authorities to him.

414
00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:18,300
Sheldon Weiss is known in Las Vegas as
the whale because his game was

415
00:28:18,420 --> 00:28:19,860
$25 ,000 a hand.

416
00:28:20,380 --> 00:28:25,140
There is a good chance that the 46 -year
-old Weiss, a Hasidic Jew with a taste

417
00:28:25,140 --> 00:28:28,520
for the wildlife, will stand out
wherever he goes.

418
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:34,280
So I put together very detailed
communications about, you know, how he

419
00:28:34,380 --> 00:28:40,760
how he looked, the numerous women that
he would wine and dine and entertain,

420
00:28:41,100 --> 00:28:47,780
his constant wheeling and dealing 24
hours a day on phones.

421
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:52,220
Alerts go out all over the world, but
especially to cities that might be

422
00:28:52,220 --> 00:28:53,220
attractive to wives.

423
00:28:53,620 --> 00:28:58,700
These targeted locations all have a
distinct combination of a Hasidic

424
00:28:59,060 --> 00:29:05,620
easy access to financial markets,
gambling, and last but not least,

425
00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:11,180
He traveled between several different
countries while he was on the land. He

426
00:29:11,180 --> 00:29:12,180
kicked out of hotels.

427
00:29:12,260 --> 00:29:16,880
He had big parties with women with a lot
of drinking and things going on. And so

428
00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:22,880
it wasn't hard to follow him. What was
hard was he kept changing. He shaved.

429
00:29:23,100 --> 00:29:24,180
He colored his hair.

430
00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:25,440
He lost weight.

431
00:29:25,740 --> 00:29:28,420
Then a lead comes in from Sao Paulo,
Brazil.

432
00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:31,060
A man there fits Weiss's MO.

433
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,880
It sounded interesting enough for...

434
00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:40,800
the lifestyle leads that we were getting
and that we felt it was good enough

435
00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:44,400
that I was going to go down there for
three weeks and work with the Brazilian

436
00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:45,400
Federal Police.

437
00:29:46,180 --> 00:29:50,600
George Pontes is the officer assigned to
work the case with Judge.

438
00:29:51,660 --> 00:29:58,120
From the very beginning, he was a person
who loves to drink alcohol.

439
00:29:58,340 --> 00:30:02,780
He loved to have parties, to have sex
with.

440
00:30:03,290 --> 00:30:09,390
more than three or four or five women at
the same time. And it was a good lead

441
00:30:09,390 --> 00:30:16,110
because it's not normal for a person to
party with eight and

442
00:30:16,110 --> 00:30:22,310
ten girls as he did. We set up shop in
this area where we felt Shalom Weiss

443
00:30:22,310 --> 00:30:27,610
would be. And this area was just like
the Upper East Side of New York, very

444
00:30:27,610 --> 00:30:34,380
posh. We talked to concierges. We talked
to maitre d's. We talked to sommeliers.

445
00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:36,100
We talked to croupiers.

446
00:30:36,380 --> 00:30:41,280
And we are getting a nice picture. The
whale is around.

447
00:30:41,860 --> 00:30:44,280
For a while, they get no bites.

448
00:30:44,620 --> 00:30:49,580
Even though no one recognizes the name,
the investigators still feel they're on

449
00:30:49,580 --> 00:30:50,760
the whale's tail.

450
00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:54,580
Individuals who have engaged in fraud
generally...

451
00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:58,400
have become used to a certain standard
of living.

452
00:30:58,620 --> 00:31:05,360
And they find it very difficult after
their escape to not live kind of like

453
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:08,760
lived before. They're not likely to take
the Greyhound bus.

454
00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:12,840
Finally, investigators catch a break at
the Sheraton.

455
00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:18,740
One of the employees pointed the photo
and confirmed that this man

456
00:31:18,740 --> 00:31:24,280
had stayed there at the hotel in the
recent past.

457
00:31:24,810 --> 00:31:29,790
Finally, a guy at a hotel says, you
know, this could be your guy. He looks

458
00:31:29,790 --> 00:31:35,190
familiar, kind of had a little
disturbance with a lot of call girls in

459
00:31:35,270 --> 00:31:38,190
but his name is not Charles White.

460
00:31:38,410 --> 00:31:40,490
This guy's name is Charles Dick.

461
00:31:41,430 --> 00:31:42,810
And we go, whoa.

462
00:31:43,390 --> 00:31:45,770
The name rings a bell with Agent Judge.

463
00:31:46,290 --> 00:31:48,910
Charles Dick is the name of Weiss's
cousin.

464
00:31:49,530 --> 00:31:51,710
And then we find out.

465
00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:57,700
that this room had an Internet service
connected to it to trace the New York

466
00:31:57,700 --> 00:32:02,980
Stock Exchange dealings all day. We are
not looking for Charles Wise anymore.

467
00:32:03,260 --> 00:32:07,380
We were looking for Charles Dick.

468
00:32:08,500 --> 00:32:13,820
Charles Dick's M .O. is to change hotels
frequently, and unfortunately, he has

469
00:32:13,820 --> 00:32:18,200
already gone from the hotel where he was
I .D., along with the alias Charles

470
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:22,790
Dick. Investigators figure out another
lead to follow, his Internet service.

471
00:32:24,070 --> 00:32:30,290
Every day, Shalom Wise was in touch with
the stock market in New York.

472
00:32:30,510 --> 00:32:33,290
We are way ahead of the power curve here
now.

473
00:32:33,750 --> 00:32:40,630
And we quickly had to go and get a
subpoena from Brazilian court to find

474
00:32:40,630 --> 00:32:44,470
where that Internet service was being
provided right now. We've got another

475
00:32:44,470 --> 00:32:45,470
hotel.

476
00:32:45,740 --> 00:32:50,780
The room is registered to a high -priced
call girl named Simone de la Santos.

477
00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:57,320
That was his M .O. too. He would, shall
I say, interview a number of call girls

478
00:32:57,320 --> 00:32:58,780
for a while. Then he would pick one.

479
00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:01,780
And she would be his favorite for a
while.

480
00:33:02,420 --> 00:33:04,620
The authorities raid the hotel room.

481
00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:06,340
We missed him by a day.

482
00:33:07,100 --> 00:33:11,740
So we were a little crestfallen there,
but we felt really good. We felt really

483
00:33:11,740 --> 00:33:14,100
good because we know his alias. He
doesn't know we know it.

484
00:33:14,590 --> 00:33:19,270
They come up empty -handed, but they
still have a way to track Weiss through

485
00:33:19,270 --> 00:33:25,270
girlfriend. We found out that Simone was
the key of the case and she probably

486
00:33:25,270 --> 00:33:29,490
would take us to get him.

487
00:33:29,910 --> 00:33:36,190
Simone was constantly with Charlotte
Weiss. We requested for the Brazilian

488
00:33:36,190 --> 00:33:42,670
federal judge in charge of this
investigation a warrant to make a

489
00:33:42,670 --> 00:33:43,670
wiretapping.

490
00:33:44,140 --> 00:33:45,560
in her phone.

491
00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:50,580
They listen and learn that Simone and
Weiss are vacationing in Europe but are

492
00:33:50,580 --> 00:33:51,720
coming back to Brazil.

493
00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:58,160
But we were very surprised when Simone
came back by herself. She came back

494
00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:04,700
alone, stayed a couple of weeks, but we
knew that she was going to take us to

495
00:34:04,700 --> 00:34:05,840
Solon Weiss.

496
00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:09,900
All they can do is watch Simone and
wait.

497
00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:12,120
Finally, her phone rings.

498
00:34:12,909 --> 00:34:17,070
We're listening to the conversations
between Charles Dick and Simone de los

499
00:34:17,070 --> 00:34:22,469
Santos. And they're going to get
together, and we're going to try to join

500
00:34:23,389 --> 00:34:27,230
Brazilian police officer Mara Barreto
has been trailing Simone.

501
00:34:27,630 --> 00:34:31,429
They decide she'll stay glued to her for
the flight to Europe as well.

502
00:34:31,650 --> 00:34:34,590
But they need to be certain not to spook
her.

503
00:34:35,310 --> 00:34:41,550
For whole three months, I was mating the
surveillance on her.

504
00:34:42,139 --> 00:34:48,500
So when we decided to follow her in the
international flight,

505
00:34:48,739 --> 00:34:55,580
I had to have my hair cut and to dye my
hair, changing

506
00:34:55,580 --> 00:34:57,560
the color of black hair.

507
00:34:58,140 --> 00:35:01,380
At the last moment, Weiss calls off the
trip.

508
00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:06,480
I don't know whether Shalom Weiss felt
he could see what kind of activity was

509
00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:08,700
going on, he could hear about activity
going on.

510
00:35:09,210 --> 00:35:13,750
because, you know, Shalom always likes
to think he's wired wherever he's

511
00:35:13,750 --> 00:35:16,510
working. For now, it's back to the
waiting game.

512
00:35:16,730 --> 00:35:20,450
They hope that Weiss hasn't dumped
Simone for a new favorite.

513
00:35:21,110 --> 00:35:25,490
They are relieved when he calls her
back. This time, Weiss wants her to go

514
00:35:25,490 --> 00:35:32,430
Germany. We found out that Simone was
following the advice of

515
00:35:32,430 --> 00:35:33,510
Shalom Weiss.

516
00:35:34,220 --> 00:35:40,600
And she always bought a ticket, an
airplane ticket, for one destination

517
00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:46,960
stopover. And she usually to stop in
that place and change

518
00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:49,120
the destination.

519
00:35:49,780 --> 00:35:52,240
Weiss doesn't meet Simone at the
airport.

520
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:54,040
She goes to a hotel alone.

521
00:35:54,460 --> 00:35:57,220
German police react with amazing speed.

522
00:35:57,820 --> 00:36:01,800
They immediately install a wire
intercept on her room. Just incredible.

523
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:02,860
be done in the United States.

524
00:36:03,720 --> 00:36:06,880
They get the intercept set up in her
room.

525
00:36:07,260 --> 00:36:10,880
In the morning, Weiss calls again to
change her destination.

526
00:36:11,420 --> 00:36:15,520
He must be certain that she isn't being
followed. Go to Vienna, he says.

527
00:36:16,380 --> 00:36:17,620
He's not going to make it easy.

528
00:36:17,860 --> 00:36:22,480
At the train station in Vienna, Simone
is met by a man who doesn't look like

529
00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:26,940
Weiss. No beard, no yarmulke, thinner,
light -colored hair.

530
00:36:27,540 --> 00:36:30,160
Austrian authorities take over the tale
from Mara.

531
00:36:30,460 --> 00:36:33,320
and followed the man and Simone to an
exclusive hotel.

532
00:36:34,020 --> 00:36:36,060
We don't know what to do because they
don't know who he is.

533
00:36:36,840 --> 00:36:39,640
So I asked them to find out who rented
the room.

534
00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:45,040
And the room was rented by a guy I
recognized to be Sean Weiss's brother

535
00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:46,140
-law in Vienna.

536
00:36:46,340 --> 00:36:47,640
So I said, that's got to be him.

537
00:36:48,340 --> 00:36:51,160
Let's go get him. Let's go get him.
We're going to lose the whole thing.

538
00:36:51,870 --> 00:36:54,630
Austrian police storm the room, but
Weiss is gone.

539
00:36:55,110 --> 00:36:58,650
Simone is there, so they hold her and
hope that they haven't been spotted by

540
00:36:58,650 --> 00:37:03,930
Weiss. Finally, a key unlocks the door.
The door opens, and the same man from

541
00:37:03,930 --> 00:37:05,330
the train station walks in.

542
00:37:05,810 --> 00:37:11,370
Shalom Weiss comes strolling back in,
and when confronted, immediately asks

543
00:37:11,370 --> 00:37:12,370
a lawyer.

544
00:37:12,490 --> 00:37:14,810
Does he deny he's Shalom Weiss? No.

545
00:37:15,930 --> 00:37:19,030
He asks for a lawyer, which kind of
clinches it.

546
00:37:19,820 --> 00:37:24,280
If Weiss goes home, he's looking at 845
years in prison.

547
00:37:24,780 --> 00:37:30,840
When he was apprehended in Vienna,
Austria, my phone rang and I was asked

548
00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:32,800
jump in and try to save him.

549
00:37:33,580 --> 00:37:38,800
Next, the U .S. still has to convince
Austria to hand Weiss over. And for his

550
00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:41,300
part, Weiss is not going to go peaceful.

551
00:37:56,270 --> 00:38:01,210
In Austria, Sholem Weiss has been
captured after being convicted of the

552
00:38:01,210 --> 00:38:03,770
life insurance fraud in United States
history.

553
00:38:03,990 --> 00:38:09,490
He leads law enforcement on a one -year
chase from Florida to Brazil to Europe,

554
00:38:09,610 --> 00:38:13,850
where he is finally apprehended in a
hotel room with his call girl

555
00:38:14,650 --> 00:38:18,230
It's been a long, complicated manhunt,
and it's not over yet.

556
00:38:18,570 --> 00:38:19,570
There's a hitch.

557
00:38:20,170 --> 00:38:24,090
The United States does have an
extradition policy with Austria.

558
00:38:24,550 --> 00:38:30,010
However... If they don't define the
things that he was convicted of here as

559
00:38:30,010 --> 00:38:33,010
crime, they don't extradite for those
things.

560
00:38:33,430 --> 00:38:36,570
So he was actually captured and
released.

561
00:38:37,170 --> 00:38:42,250
After all the work it takes to nab
Weiss, the FBI is stunned when an

562
00:38:42,250 --> 00:38:43,910
judge lets him walk free.

563
00:38:44,250 --> 00:38:49,170
Some quirk in Austrian law, the Austrian
courts for some reason are forced to

564
00:38:49,170 --> 00:38:52,030
let him out on bond, which was quite a
surprise to us.

565
00:38:52,530 --> 00:38:53,730
It's a nail -biter.

566
00:38:54,190 --> 00:38:58,290
Will Weiss stay in Austria and fight
extradition, or will he flee again?

567
00:38:58,850 --> 00:39:03,050
Weiss's attorney, Sam Burstyn, says
there is a safe haven for him in

568
00:39:03,370 --> 00:39:10,190
The plan that was developed provided an
option for him whereby he was eligible

569
00:39:10,190 --> 00:39:16,510
for Belgian citizenship, which had he
taken and had he moved there

570
00:39:16,510 --> 00:39:21,810
during the period of his release, he
could have lived happily ever after in

571
00:39:21,810 --> 00:39:22,810
Belgium.

572
00:39:23,060 --> 00:39:27,120
Belgian law makes extradition of a
citizen to the U .S. practically

573
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:32,120
But for the high -living Weiss, it comes
down to lifestyle choices, and Belgium

574
00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:33,120
is too dull.

575
00:39:33,620 --> 00:39:37,840
He didn't much care for the scale of
Belgium.

576
00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:44,680
It didn't really suit his appetite for
the pleasures of life. He had his money.

577
00:39:45,420 --> 00:39:46,500
He had a car.

578
00:39:46,780 --> 00:39:50,320
He had a passport. He had other
countries he could have gone to.

579
00:39:51,020 --> 00:39:53,780
But he stayed there and thumbed his nose
at everyone.

580
00:39:54,160 --> 00:39:58,240
His gamble in Austria is for a shortened
prison sentence.

581
00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:03,020
So Weiss chooses to stay and fight the
extradition power of the United States

582
00:40:03,020 --> 00:40:09,640
government. That's where the white
-collar element of narcissism really

583
00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:16,580
back and bites the criminal at the end.
He convinced himself that he

584
00:40:16,580 --> 00:40:19,580
had enough local political...

585
00:40:20,190 --> 00:40:25,470
cover in Vienna to remain there. The
Austrian government didn't want to wage

586
00:40:25,470 --> 00:40:28,230
against the United States over this guy.

587
00:40:29,050 --> 00:40:33,890
After Austria extracts a promise from
federal prosecutors that Weiss will be

588
00:40:33,890 --> 00:40:37,370
allowed to appeal his conviction in U
.S. court, they hand him over.

589
00:40:37,910 --> 00:40:39,790
But Scholem still isn't giving up.

590
00:40:40,050 --> 00:40:44,810
As he boards the plane in the custody of
U .S. Marshals, Weiss tries a last

591
00:40:44,810 --> 00:40:46,650
-ditch effort to avoid going home.

592
00:40:47,870 --> 00:40:53,830
He... had a cardiac event. The local
medical establishment in Austria

593
00:40:53,830 --> 00:41:00,270
that as a fake heart attack. But the
pilot of the commercial jetliner refused

594
00:41:00,270 --> 00:41:01,249
allow him to board.

595
00:41:01,250 --> 00:41:06,750
The second time around, U .S.
authorities take a little theatrical

596
00:41:06,750 --> 00:41:07,589
the plane trip.

597
00:41:07,590 --> 00:41:12,570
We had a young, handsome FBI agent. He
was sitting there with a stethoscope and

598
00:41:12,570 --> 00:41:13,570
a black bag.

599
00:41:13,750 --> 00:41:16,390
However, he was never introduced as a
physician.

600
00:41:17,130 --> 00:41:22,990
But we think Mr. Weiss may have been
influenced by that site, and we had a

601
00:41:22,990 --> 00:41:25,730
uneventful flight back to the United
States.

602
00:41:26,130 --> 00:41:28,550
And Weiss is in prison today.

603
00:41:29,430 --> 00:41:32,990
Weiss lands back on U .S. soil on June
9, 2002.

604
00:41:33,730 --> 00:41:38,490
Despite being in prison, he continues to
fight the legality of his extradition.

605
00:41:38,690 --> 00:41:43,390
He says the U .S. lied to get the
Austrians to hand him over.

606
00:41:43,850 --> 00:41:47,790
For their part, the U .S. government
admits that promises made were broken.

607
00:41:48,070 --> 00:41:54,110
The question is, can he be held in the
United States of America where

608
00:41:54,110 --> 00:42:01,030
his appearance here was procured by
lies, trickery, and

609
00:42:01,030 --> 00:42:03,550
deceit within the legal process?

610
00:42:04,010 --> 00:42:10,690
Federal courts generally believe that
once a person is here,

611
00:42:11,430 --> 00:42:15,470
It's not the federal judge's problem how
he got here.

612
00:42:16,090 --> 00:42:21,670
And therefore, the devious dealmaker
will spend his life behind bars, serving

613
00:42:21,670 --> 00:42:22,670
his sentence.

614
00:42:22,850 --> 00:42:26,550
I understand that Sholem Weiss has once
again found religion in the federal

615
00:42:26,550 --> 00:42:28,090
facility that he's in.

616
00:42:28,870 --> 00:42:33,290
I hope that's so, because when you're in
prison for the rest of your life, I

617
00:42:33,290 --> 00:42:35,090
don't know what else to do for 845
years.

618
00:42:36,090 --> 00:42:40,170
Sholem Weiss is scheduled to be released
on November 23rd.

619
00:42:40,600 --> 00:42:42,160
2754