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In this episode of American Greed,
making movies and making money.

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It was good money, and I didn't think it
was ever going to end.

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Mac Parker lives and works in Vermont,
but his money -making mojo is straight

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out of Hollywood.

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I would sometimes raise as much as $150
,000 a week.

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There's just one problem. If his movie
costs less than $1 million to make, Why

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is Parker raising $28 million?

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It was discovered that less than a
nickel of every dollar that was being

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invested was actually spent towards the
creation of the movie.

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I put everything I had, every penny I
had into the film, which really put me

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a real jam.

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So where's the cash going?

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And what's the secret that will enrage
investors?

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I wanted to strangle him because he
didn't tell her.

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In Vermont, in the fall of 2013, a

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56 -year -old man named Mac Parker
enjoys his last few days of freedom

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reporting to federal prison.

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Though he prefers flannel shirts to
French cuffs, this white -collar

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orchestrated a $28 million fraud,
betraying friends and neighbors.

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Part of the pain for me and for so many
of the people who trusted me in this,

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there was just a sense of how could you
do this?

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You know, we know you. You know, we
thought we knew you.

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Hi, my name is Mac.

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Welcome to Elgin Spring Farm.

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Have you ever been in a dairy barn
before?

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He made children's videos about going to
the farm and farm stories, and they

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were sort of semi -educational but also
amusing.

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Mack was a storyteller, which in a small
rural state like Vermont really makes

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him almost like a Garrison Keillor type
figure.

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He would perform at venues large and
small. We have a first night event in

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Burlington on New Year's Eve every year,
and he would perform in front of big

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crowds.

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Pigs, pigs, I love them swine. I never
met a pig who weren't a friend of mine.

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Well, I've known Mac for about 25 years.

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And probably from the beginning of his
storytelling career.

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Clark Hinsdale is the president of the
Vermont Farm Bureau and has hired Mac

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Parker to perform at conventions and
banquets.

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Often you can see tears in the audience
because he can tell a farmer's story

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better than you can tell it yourself.

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I hope you enjoyed the stories.

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Storytelling was my way.

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of both being a part of and giving back
to this community and culture that I

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loved.

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But by 1999,

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Mac Parker is ready for a change.

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He plans to make a movie he calls The
Birth of Innocence.

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I'd ask Mac, I would be curious.

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I'd say, where'd you get the idea for
this, you know?

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And his response was, oh, something just
took me by the collar and I just had to

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do it.

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Horace Williams will later work on the
film as an editor and composer.

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This was so different from his other
body of work.

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This was completely new territory for
Mac, which I admired because, you know,

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here's a guy, he's got this thing down,
he's got a brand.

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He's the Mark Twain of the state of
Vermont.

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And he also said he was discarding it.

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He was throwing it away. He was moving
in a different place in his life. And

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this movie was his move into a
completely different creative territory.

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And I admired that.

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As he gathers his thoughts for the film,
Parker writes, The Birth of Innocence

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is a film about the deeper truth of who
we are.

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It is a simple reminder that each and
every one of us has an unlimited power

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creative potential.

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And in the year 1999, Mac Parker begins
to meet with potential investors.

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So I started talking to these people.
What was my community? My community was

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farmers. You know, I grew up around
farmers. I'd been telling farm stories

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15 years.

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These were the people that I knew. I
loved these people.

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There was no sort of prospectus offered
to people, nor did they ask.

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But his credibility with people was so
strong that people would sort of say,

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yeah, I give this guy a shot.

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You know, he's such a genuine, honest
person.

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I know my money's, you know, safe with
him.

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Armand Bryson is a dairy farmer who
lives down the road from Matt Parker.

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Have any of you heard this before?

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His wife, P .D. O 'Brien, is a
schoolteacher.

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Both are familiar with Parker's work.

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So our grandchildren, about eight of
them, grew up on this video.

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And it was wonderful.

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They loved it. And the kids would just
sit there mesmerized by it.

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He was like a pillar of society.

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Why would we not trust someone like
that?

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Daddy!

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There's a spider in the bathtub.

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You know, we just felt very comfortable
around him.

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Parker begins his pitch by talking about
his vision for the movie.

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It's a film about that sweet and
precious and deeper place that

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we all have inside of us. It's a film
about that deeper truth, and it's a

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reflection. It's a mirror that holds
that up to you and says,

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I know you're in there. I did say to
him, are you religious?

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Because I said, I'm not really
interested in doing this if this is for

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religious reason.

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And he said, oh, no, no, it's not
religious.

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The conversation then turns to money.

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Parker offers 15 % annual returns on
investment.

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That was very, very good money. So I
invested right off quick with him. I

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geez.

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I can't do better than that.

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We just thought that this was a great
project and a great idea, and let's take

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advantage of it.

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In 2003, Bryson and O 'Brien write their
first check to Mac Parker for $50 ,000.

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Bryson is quick to remind Mac that he
earned his money the hard way.

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I farmed their milk cows for over 40
years.

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That was seven days a week.

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365 days a year. It doesn't matter if
it's Christmas, New Year's, a wedding,

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funeral.

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You had to be out there in your family
at least 12 hours a day.

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And I used to say to him all the time,
Matt, I cannot lose this money. This is

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my retirement.

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Make damn sure I don't lose it. Oh, you
will never lose your money.

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I promise you will never lose your
money.

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I promise people.

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that they would be repaid, not because I
was trying to swindle them.

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I genuinely believed that they would be
repaid.

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Eventually, Bryson and O 'Brien will
trust Parker enough to put $257 ,000

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the birth of innocence.

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We weren't concerned because he had such
a good reputation.

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He was such a nice, soft -spoken person.

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Next on American Greed.

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See how a homegrown film spins out of
control into a $28 million fraud.

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In retrospect, the question becomes, how
could you do this?

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Such strange, destructive things.

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And later, we go behind the curtain and
discover the film's silent partner, a

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man who believes he can walk through
walls and time travel into the future.

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It kept getting crazier and crazier and
crazier as time went on.

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I'm on my way to town, you see. I got
some place I got to be.

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Mac Parker has parlayed his sterling
reputation as a folksy storyteller into

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new career as an independent filmmaker.

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But unlike many small -budget
filmmakers, Parker discovered he has a

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fundraising.

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I went to farmers. I went to my
neighbors.

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I went to people who just trusted me
inherently because

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they knew me.

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It was all, you know, face to face.

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Mac would come by your house, tell you
the story of what he's trying to do and

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how he wants to make this film.

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I would make a point of looking lenders
directly in

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the eye and saying, I promise you, that
this money will be repaid.

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Mac tells a story once about being short
of money, going to a farmer and going

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out to his tractor. He's got farmers out
in the field on a tractor.

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And he asked the guy, can you help me
out?

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He got off his tractor. He said, just go
in and have my wife write you a check.

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Just like that.

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Where did that trust capital come from?

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It came from that body of work.

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Because those people felt like he spoke
for them like nobody else ever had.

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Well, if you're really sold on the old
pig's charm, come pay a little visit to

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the Piggy Farm.

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As the money rolls in, Parker begins
filming The Birth of Innocence with a

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production crew in 2002.

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In his letters to investors, he uses
seductive language to talk about the

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of filmmaking.

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Remember, he is a storyteller. The
letters to the investors would start off

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saying, everything's going great, we're
getting there.

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In June 2004, Parker writes, there is a
grace, a power, and a momentum behind

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the project that is unmistakable and a
joy to experience.

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It was sort of like, yes, the power is
there, you know, it's happening. There's

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a force behind us and we're all being
moved along by this force that's going

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make this such a wonderful movie. And
we're capturing the magic and we're

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getting it on film.

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Flowery as his language is, to
investors, the halo effect seems real

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they're getting paid.

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And the 15 % returns are steady.

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And soon, word spreads beyond Mac's fan
base of farmers.

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There was a former mayor. There was a
judge's wife.

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There were lawyers who invested in this.

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Mac called me one year in 2002, and I
said I was interested.

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But there were architects.

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There were all sorts of people.

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I would sometimes raise as much as $100
,000 or $150 ,000 a week.

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Even Jerry Greenfield of Ben and Jerry's
Ice Cream invests, believing it's a good

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works film.

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But the film production drags on for
years.

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Investor Petey O 'Brien Bryson grows
tired of hearing that the film is in

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-production.

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Well, to me, post -production meant
that...

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You know, it's been produced. We're just
putting it together and editing it, and

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that's it. It'll be done. But we kept
getting that every year. It's in post

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-production. It's in post -production.

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Eventually, O 'Brien Bryson sees the
film at a work -in -progress screening.

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I was really trying to understand what
the film was all about, first of all.

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message did not get through to me.

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Return to Innocence.

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return to you.

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And all of the people, this is another
thing I noticed, all except for one

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picture of any of the people that were
in it, looked like they were no smiles,

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nothing. They had like blank faces.

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So I didn't know what to think.

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I just didn't know what to think.

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Film editor Horace Williams is often
present at investor screenings.

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Well, people would ask him, you know,
how much have you spent on this? Because

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they had their money into it, right?

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And they'd ask, how much did you spend
on production? Or how long is it going

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take to finish this? Those kind of
questions.

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And I'm sitting in the back of the room
listening.

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I remember the $800 ,000 for production.

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$800 ,000 is way off the mark.

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Investors don't know it yet, but will
later learn that by 2009, Mac Parker has

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taken in a staggering $28 million from
about 700 people.

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I suppose when he's just talking to you,
you know, you think it's just you and a

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few other people he's talked to. But,
you know, as we know now, he's spent

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thousands and thousands of hours talking
to hundreds and hundreds, if not.

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a thousand or more people.

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We just assumed it was a small number of
people. You should never assume things

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00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:47,680
like that, but that's what we did.

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Yeah.

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I think we all had a little bit of greed
in us.

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You know, 15 % is pretty damn nice.

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And you just want to say, well, keep it
coming.

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Next on American Greed, 28 million?

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Where's it all going?

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During Mac's interviews, he said, you
know, like he was an abused spouse and

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had this control over him.

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00:15:13,340 --> 00:15:18,800
Lou is the great and powerful figure
calling the shots behind the scenes.

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00:15:19,260 --> 00:15:22,720
And I'm just sitting there thinking,
holy, right?

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How am I going to get this film done?

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What's going on?

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00:15:42,410 --> 00:15:46,650
For eight years, Mac Parker's film
project, The Birth of Innocence, has had

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00:15:46,650 --> 00:15:47,650
wind at its back.

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00:15:48,190 --> 00:15:51,710
But in the fall of 2008, the wind
shifts.

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Wall Street in panic mode this morning.
Worst days on record.

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And a financial storm makes landfall.
Some of the biggest names in American

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00:16:02,930 --> 00:16:07,730
business are tonight gone, along with a
lot of money and a lot of jobs.

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Parker's investors are understandably
worried.

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We are faced with the prospect of a
global meltdown.

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He not only reassures them that their
money is safe, he doubles down,

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to Assistant U .S. Attorney Michael
Drescher.

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In an investor update dated December
2008, Mack wrote to his investors, So, I

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00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:34,080
raising more money from both new and
current investors.

230
00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:36,760
Do you have additional money you would
like to invest?

231
00:16:37,220 --> 00:16:39,360
Do you know other people who might be
interested?

232
00:16:40,030 --> 00:16:42,970
A lot of people are thinking differently
about their money right now, looking

233
00:16:42,970 --> 00:16:44,890
for investments that are safe and
lucrative.

234
00:16:45,250 --> 00:16:46,630
Birth of Innocence is both.

235
00:16:47,870 --> 00:16:48,890
He's a storyteller.

236
00:16:49,090 --> 00:16:55,310
He could tell you anything you wanted to
hear and convince you that it was the

237
00:16:55,310 --> 00:16:56,310
truth.

238
00:16:56,890 --> 00:17:01,310
I think that most of them were, like,
swept up by this. I have never talked to

239
00:17:01,310 --> 00:17:05,470
an investor who, in the middle of all of
this, before things went bad.

240
00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:10,040
That they said, oh, wait a minute, this
is a bunch of hooey, you know, I want my

241
00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:11,839
money, I'm getting out of this guy's,
like, come on.

242
00:17:12,319 --> 00:17:16,200
Everybody, I think, pretty much, I never
had any sense that anybody was very

243
00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:20,420
skeptical. You know, we just didn't ask
enough questions, for one thing.

244
00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:23,079
Because we had that full trust in him.

245
00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:28,740
Armand Bryson even refers friends to Mac
Parker.

246
00:17:29,020 --> 00:17:33,900
People like Jerry Rule, a man who
started a garbage hauling business right

247
00:17:33,900 --> 00:17:34,900
of high school.

248
00:17:35,110 --> 00:17:39,370
I went out door to door and got 200
people to sign up and put an ad in the

249
00:17:39,370 --> 00:17:41,050
and the phone rang off the hook.

250
00:17:43,430 --> 00:17:47,230
Nearly two decades later, Rule's
business is thriving.

251
00:17:48,790 --> 00:17:54,630
But when he first meets Mac Parker in
2008, Rule is trying to bounce back from

252
00:17:54,630 --> 00:17:56,350
an epic run of bad luck.

253
00:17:59,570 --> 00:18:02,570
It begins with a fateful ride on a
motorcycle.

254
00:18:03,630 --> 00:18:07,670
Front tire blew out, and my left femur
took the blow.

255
00:18:09,490 --> 00:18:11,810
I went a 50 -foot drop over the bridge.

256
00:18:13,170 --> 00:18:15,150
I was in intensive care for four days.

257
00:18:15,890 --> 00:18:17,950
I lost 42 % of my blood.

258
00:18:18,750 --> 00:18:19,890
I almost died.

259
00:18:22,270 --> 00:18:28,490
At the time he's recovering, Rule is
divorcing his wife, raising four

260
00:18:28,810 --> 00:18:32,090
and struggling to keep up with work.

261
00:18:32,650 --> 00:18:36,030
I was having a difficult time trying to
run the business from a cell phone in my

262
00:18:36,030 --> 00:18:41,670
bed, and they really needed me there. I
was the heartbeat of that business.

263
00:18:43,750 --> 00:18:48,170
A month and a half after the accident,
Jerry's wife dies suddenly from an

264
00:18:48,170 --> 00:18:51,730
infection. I had a lot on my mind at
that time.

265
00:18:52,010 --> 00:18:58,450
I was dealing with my kids, you know,
and the death of their mother and

266
00:18:58,450 --> 00:19:01,390
arrangements, and I was busted up.

267
00:19:02,090 --> 00:19:04,170
and my kids are, like I said, taking
care of me.

268
00:19:05,070 --> 00:19:11,870
My competitor came in and offered me to
buy my business, and I just figured I

269
00:19:11,870 --> 00:19:12,870
had to.

270
00:19:14,350 --> 00:19:17,830
Rule sells the business and pockets $2
million.

271
00:19:20,850 --> 00:19:26,390
Around this time, Mac Parker hears that
Rule has come into significant money and

272
00:19:26,390 --> 00:19:28,130
meets with him to talk about his film.

273
00:19:28,750 --> 00:19:34,670
Rule is suspicious of the high rate of
return Mack promises, 20%. But

274
00:19:34,670 --> 00:19:38,290
ultimately, that 20 % proves
irresistible.

275
00:19:38,870 --> 00:19:44,850
Because I am disabled now, my main
purpose was to take the money that I had

276
00:19:44,850 --> 00:19:51,850
and get it to make as much as I could to
get me through as long as I could.

277
00:19:53,930 --> 00:19:59,150
With the $2 million from the sale of his
business, Rule buys this motel in

278
00:19:59,150 --> 00:20:00,290
upstate New York.

279
00:20:01,190 --> 00:20:02,190
And the rest?

280
00:20:03,470 --> 00:20:08,810
I put everything I had, every penny I
had that was left into the film with Mac

281
00:20:08,810 --> 00:20:12,050
Parker, which really put me in a real
jam.

282
00:20:19,190 --> 00:20:24,190
For five years, Horace Williams has
worked as the editor and composer for

283
00:20:24,190 --> 00:20:25,250
Birth of Innocence.

284
00:20:25,550 --> 00:20:29,330
He works for a fee and knows nothing
about the film's financing.

285
00:20:31,530 --> 00:20:37,230
In the fall of 2009, Parker tells
Williams that a financier is about to

286
00:20:37,230 --> 00:20:42,810
major investment in the film, and he's
coming into town, driving from Oregon to

287
00:20:42,810 --> 00:20:43,810
Vermont.

288
00:20:44,630 --> 00:20:49,050
I'm thinking to myself, this doesn't
make sense because who's this guy, Arlo

289
00:20:49,050 --> 00:20:50,210
Guthrie? You know.

290
00:20:50,730 --> 00:20:52,170
In a Volkswagen or something?

291
00:20:53,110 --> 00:20:54,870
What's he doing driving across the
country?

292
00:20:55,270 --> 00:20:57,070
That's the first red flag for me.

293
00:20:58,730 --> 00:21:03,110
Then I get a phone call in which Mac
tells me, by the way, the film was this

294
00:21:03,110 --> 00:21:03,989
guy's idea.

295
00:21:03,990 --> 00:21:07,610
He called me up in 1999 and said, you're
making a film. It's going to be called

296
00:21:07,610 --> 00:21:09,290
Birth of Innocence, and it's about this.

297
00:21:09,790 --> 00:21:12,170
And by then, I'd been working on it for
five years.

298
00:21:13,310 --> 00:21:17,650
And also, by the way, this guy is very
spiritually enlightened. He's almost to

299
00:21:17,650 --> 00:21:19,430
the point where he can walk through a
wall.

300
00:21:23,450 --> 00:21:28,710
And I'm thinking, huh, Mac, knock,
knock.

301
00:21:29,390 --> 00:21:32,930
Red flags are going off like mad.
They're flying off, you know, they're

302
00:21:32,930 --> 00:21:33,930
out of the bag.

303
00:21:34,090 --> 00:21:38,490
A short time later, Mac's savior arrives
at Horace's film studio.

304
00:21:39,390 --> 00:21:44,850
Mac introduces him as Lou Sotario, his
spiritual advisor and the inspiration

305
00:21:44,850 --> 00:21:46,730
behind the birth of innocence.

306
00:21:47,820 --> 00:21:52,880
And in the midst of it all, he's
gesturing wildly, strutting around the

307
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:55,760
quoting from script that must have been
his.

308
00:21:56,620 --> 00:22:02,900
If you can imagine along the lines of,
the greatest act of love is to love

309
00:22:02,900 --> 00:22:04,820
yourself into forever.

310
00:22:06,360 --> 00:22:11,420
And I'm just sitting there thinking,
holy, right?

311
00:22:11,740 --> 00:22:13,480
How am I going to get this film done?

312
00:22:15,100 --> 00:22:16,120
What's going on?

313
00:22:16,860 --> 00:22:20,720
Horace Williams isn't the only one
beginning to doubt Mac Parker.

314
00:22:21,140 --> 00:22:24,120
A longtime investor is growing
suspicious.

315
00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:28,860
Somebody once asked me about halfway
through the 10 years if this was a Ponzi

316
00:22:28,860 --> 00:22:33,380
scheme, and I said, no, it's not a Ponzi
scheme. I didn't even know what a Ponzi

317
00:22:33,380 --> 00:22:34,380
scheme was.

318
00:22:35,460 --> 00:22:41,020
Next on American Greed, federal agents
expose a decade of lies and deception.

319
00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:04,480
On October 1st, 2009, acting on a tip
from a concerned investor, Vermont's

320
00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:08,540
Department of Financial Regulation calls
Mac Parker in for some questioning

321
00:23:08,540 --> 00:23:10,460
about the birth of innocence.

322
00:23:11,020 --> 00:23:14,940
During that meeting, they advised Mac
that they had serious concerns about the

323
00:23:14,940 --> 00:23:19,700
legality of the project and how he was
raising money for the project.

324
00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:24,820
They told him that it wouldn't be a
smart idea to continue to raise money

325
00:23:24,820 --> 00:23:26,140
they kind of had a handle on things.

326
00:23:26,910 --> 00:23:28,190
He continued to raise money.

327
00:23:34,870 --> 00:23:38,250
I met the Parkers through this bird,
this beautiful bird.

328
00:23:38,570 --> 00:23:41,630
Meet Marigold, a 10 -year -old macaw.

329
00:23:43,010 --> 00:23:48,350
Sharon Goodwin adopts the bird from Mac
Parker and his family and eventually

330
00:23:48,350 --> 00:23:50,070
becomes friends with the Parkers.

331
00:23:50,680 --> 00:23:56,000
In establishing the relationship I had
with him and his family, I mean, this

332
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:59,340
family was super nice, sweet.

333
00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:05,660
But in the fall of 2009, Parker makes a
business call to Goodwin, who owns a

334
00:24:05,660 --> 00:24:07,980
successful chain of physical rehab
centers.

335
00:24:08,420 --> 00:24:11,500
Parker says he needs finishing funds.

336
00:24:12,100 --> 00:24:17,980
As a business person myself, who, when I
started the business, didn't have...

337
00:24:18,590 --> 00:24:23,670
an opportunity to get funds. Getting
funds is difficult from commercial

338
00:24:24,230 --> 00:24:29,790
So if I could help support him in his
dream, it was in essence like supporting

339
00:24:29,790 --> 00:24:35,330
what would have been my dream and other
entrepreneurs or people with a dream.

340
00:24:36,870 --> 00:24:43,250
In October 2009, after state regulators
warned him to stop, Parker takes $100

341
00:24:43,250 --> 00:24:44,790
,000 from Goodwin.

342
00:24:45,110 --> 00:24:47,510
Though the contract is signed in
October,

343
00:24:48,270 --> 00:24:52,610
Parker dates it September 30th, one day
before he got the warning.

344
00:24:53,670 --> 00:24:58,330
He sells it as a benefit. This way,
Goodwin will earn an extra month of

345
00:24:58,330 --> 00:24:59,330
interest.

346
00:25:00,630 --> 00:25:05,070
At the time, I thought that that was
just a nice gesture on his part because

347
00:25:05,070 --> 00:25:10,690
that was when we were intending to have
the transfer of money. I suspect that

348
00:25:10,690 --> 00:25:15,590
the true reason that he backdated it was
to protect himself against the state

349
00:25:15,590 --> 00:25:16,590
regulators.

350
00:25:17,610 --> 00:25:22,250
The state catches wind of what he's
doing and freezes Parker's bank

351
00:25:23,130 --> 00:25:28,110
I immediately called up Mac and asked
all those questions I should have asked

352
00:25:28,110 --> 00:25:29,230
prior to giving him money.

353
00:25:29,450 --> 00:25:34,150
How much money are we talking about? How
many people are we talking about? And I

354
00:25:34,150 --> 00:25:37,990
was aghast at his inability to know off
the top of his head.

355
00:25:39,510 --> 00:25:41,450
The feds pick up the case.

356
00:25:42,330 --> 00:25:44,790
Special Agent Danny Raycheck of the FBI.

357
00:25:45,390 --> 00:25:51,330
and John Schroeder of the IRS, subpoena
Parker's financial records, and

358
00:25:51,330 --> 00:25:53,990
painstakingly recreate the money flow.

359
00:25:54,430 --> 00:25:59,490
It was discovered that less than a
nickel of every dollar that was being

360
00:25:59,490 --> 00:26:03,830
invested was actually spent towards the
creation of the movie. We're watching

361
00:26:03,830 --> 00:26:07,950
the money flow, trying to find out where
things were going, and Luciferio was

362
00:26:07,950 --> 00:26:10,230
obviously a person that was getting a
lot of money.

363
00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:15,760
Over the 10 -year period, $28 million
was raised.

364
00:26:16,140 --> 00:26:22,260
And of that $28 million, there was
approximately $3 .5 million, a little

365
00:26:22,260 --> 00:26:24,740
than $3 .5 million that actually went to
Louis Sotirio.

366
00:26:25,360 --> 00:26:27,760
So he was our first lead, really.

367
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:31,560
We wanted to find out who he was and
what his role was in this matter.

368
00:26:32,940 --> 00:26:37,420
From behind the scenes of the birth of
innocence, a silent partner has been

369
00:26:37,420 --> 00:26:38,440
calling the shots.

370
00:26:38,700 --> 00:26:40,940
I was just shocked. A silent partner?

371
00:26:41,580 --> 00:26:43,700
You know, he never had told us about a
silent partner.

372
00:26:44,540 --> 00:26:49,080
We had no idea. If we'd had an idea that
he had that, you know, a silent

373
00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:52,720
partner, hell, no one would have
invested with him.

374
00:26:54,820 --> 00:27:01,540
In 1989, Mac's wife, Juliana, suffers
from chronic fatigue syndrome, and

375
00:27:01,540 --> 00:27:04,240
conventional doctors have been unable to
give her relief.

376
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:10,320
A friend of hers told her about the
amazing healer in Connecticut.

377
00:27:11,130 --> 00:27:14,810
whose name turned out was Lou Sotirio.

378
00:27:16,410 --> 00:27:22,570
Sotirio is a chiropractor, but his
practice includes nutrition and New Age

379
00:27:22,570 --> 00:27:24,530
work, or energy work.

380
00:27:24,930 --> 00:27:27,270
Almost instantly, there's some success.

381
00:27:27,610 --> 00:27:28,710
Julianne is doing better.

382
00:27:29,050 --> 00:27:35,430
Mac also starts to get treatments from
Lou Sotirio, and they periodically keep

383
00:27:35,430 --> 00:27:36,950
going down. And Lou...

384
00:27:37,290 --> 00:27:41,130
At a fairly early stage, starts talking
about, you know, I'm not just doing

385
00:27:41,130 --> 00:27:44,510
chiropractic adjustment here. I'm doing
sort of spiritual adjustment.

386
00:27:45,510 --> 00:27:52,050
Lou is a very intense and dynamic and
sort of supremely

387
00:27:52,050 --> 00:27:53,350
confident person.

388
00:27:53,550 --> 00:27:59,310
If you want to understand the spiritual
world, the laws of God, these higher

389
00:27:59,310 --> 00:28:03,750
potentials that all of us have, I can
teach you this.

390
00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:07,460
And there was something in me that was
very drawn to this.

391
00:28:08,700 --> 00:28:13,680
And he really ascribed to Lou, and Lou,
I think, encouraged this, that Lou did

392
00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:20,280
have godlike features. It starts with
healing Juliana, who no one else could

393
00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:21,280
heal.

394
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:30,900
In 1999, Lou suggests they both go to
the Ramtha School of Enlightenment.

395
00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:36,120
a New Age religious movement based in a
small town near Tacoma, Washington.

396
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:44,160
But as a condition of going, Mac had to
raise $150 ,000 and give it to Lou as a

397
00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:47,040
sort of a proof that he was committed.

398
00:28:48,100 --> 00:28:50,280
He says, this is your final challenge.

399
00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:52,400
The train is leaving the station.

400
00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:54,940
Are you going to be on that train with
me?

401
00:28:55,920 --> 00:29:00,040
Parker raises the money by selling the
rights to his children's videos.

402
00:29:01,530 --> 00:29:05,750
And sadly, Mac did go on that train with
Lucitario.

403
00:29:09,650 --> 00:29:16,630
In the fall of 1999, Mac Parker, his
family, and Lucitario make a pilgrimage

404
00:29:16,630 --> 00:29:18,610
to the Ramtha School of Enlightenment.

405
00:29:18,970 --> 00:29:23,430
They camp with hundreds of other
followers on the palatial grounds of Jay

406
00:29:23,430 --> 00:29:26,850
Night. I am Ramtha, the enlightened one.

407
00:29:27,500 --> 00:29:33,060
A woman who claims she can channel the
spirit of Ramtha, a 35 ,000 -year -old

408
00:29:33,060 --> 00:29:39,800
warrior. During that time, it was when
Lou said, Mac,

409
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:41,000
there is this movie.

410
00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:45,640
It's called The Birth of Innocence, and
we shall do it together.

411
00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:49,540
And that's how this all started in the
fall of 1999.

412
00:29:52,340 --> 00:29:56,260
When he gets back home to Vermont, Mac
begins raising money.

413
00:29:56,730 --> 00:29:58,810
keeping Lou's existence a secret.

414
00:29:59,190 --> 00:30:05,690
And from the get -go, from the very
first conversation, he said, do not

415
00:30:05,690 --> 00:30:11,970
about the money. He said, everybody who
invests in the film will absolutely

416
00:30:11,970 --> 00:30:14,130
be repaid.

417
00:30:15,630 --> 00:30:21,090
But Sotirio exerts tremendous influence
over the film and its fundraising.

418
00:30:21,930 --> 00:30:23,730
When American Greed returns.

419
00:30:24,810 --> 00:30:30,130
Voicemails from Sotirio to Parker reveal
a twisted scheme and bizarre beliefs.

420
00:30:30,430 --> 00:30:31,430
It's so light.

421
00:30:31,790 --> 00:30:32,990
It's so awesome.

422
00:30:33,270 --> 00:30:37,390
My brain's about to explode. My body's
starting to just dissolve more and more.

423
00:30:37,470 --> 00:30:38,770
But it's okay. Everything's cool.

424
00:30:39,030 --> 00:30:44,170
Hear more of Lou Sotirio's voicemails at
AmericanGreed .CNBC .com.

425
00:30:56,810 --> 00:31:02,770
On the morning of August 3rd, 2010, a
team of federal agents executes a search

426
00:31:02,770 --> 00:31:04,750
warrant at the home of Matt Parker.

427
00:31:05,130 --> 00:31:10,430
And there were like 20 of them coming
into our house. They had boxes, and

428
00:31:10,430 --> 00:31:17,190
all of them had these FBI flak jackets
on it, and they were just...

429
00:31:17,660 --> 00:31:21,220
You know, every agency in the world,
there was the Vermont State Police,

430
00:31:21,220 --> 00:31:25,180
was Homeland Security, there was the
FBI, there was the IRS.

431
00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:27,260
It was like, my God, what is this?

432
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:31,180
Parker invokes his right to remain
silent.

433
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:35,420
But agents discover evidence that sheds
more light on the scheme.

434
00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:41,360
It turns out Mac Parker was so blindly
following his spiritual guru that he

435
00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:46,480
Lucitario signed blank checks tied to a
bank account funded by investors.

436
00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:52,020
Mac would give these signed checks to
Lou so that Lou can take out what money

437
00:31:52,020 --> 00:31:54,560
wanted. And then he would tell Mac how
much he took.

438
00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:04,760
In this voicemail obtained by American

439
00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:08,660
Greed, Lou is heard helping himself to
investor funds.

440
00:32:11,060 --> 00:32:13,600
You can hear Lucitario.

441
00:32:14,270 --> 00:32:19,990
Telling Mac that he was going to be
putting in for 10, meaning that he was

442
00:32:19,990 --> 00:32:25,310
to be making a deposit of $10 ,000 using
one of the blank checks that Mac had

443
00:32:25,310 --> 00:32:27,870
provided him to fill out and deposit.

444
00:32:29,010 --> 00:32:31,030
Tell Mac to put in 10 for this Friday.

445
00:32:31,490 --> 00:32:33,390
Okay, thank you. Bye -bye.

446
00:32:35,410 --> 00:32:40,050
But Lou's central preoccupation is his
own spiritual development.

447
00:32:40,890 --> 00:32:46,770
During these voicemails, you can hear
Lucitario describing where he is and how

448
00:32:46,770 --> 00:32:52,490
he is coming along in his quest to reach
this spiritual state by which he could

449
00:32:52,490 --> 00:32:53,670
leave his physical body.

450
00:32:54,430 --> 00:32:56,250
He calls it dissolving.

451
00:32:56,570 --> 00:32:58,170
Oh, the Parker family.

452
00:32:58,570 --> 00:33:00,690
Oh, I remember them.

453
00:33:01,810 --> 00:33:05,010
Grab one square of toilet paper and you
raise that sucker.

454
00:33:05,710 --> 00:33:09,050
And that sucker is heavy compared to
just raising my hand.

455
00:33:10,570 --> 00:33:11,610
It's so light.

456
00:33:12,350 --> 00:33:13,530
It's so awesome.

457
00:33:14,490 --> 00:33:18,790
My brain's about to explode. My body's
starting to just dissolve more and more.

458
00:33:18,890 --> 00:33:20,190
But it's okay. Everything's cool.

459
00:33:21,110 --> 00:33:22,230
Is he high?

460
00:33:22,830 --> 00:33:24,310
He may be, literally.

461
00:33:24,950 --> 00:33:28,230
Because Telluride, Colorado is a
favorite destination.

462
00:33:32,110 --> 00:33:35,490
Lou spent more than $100 ,000 on luxury
hotels.

463
00:33:35,890 --> 00:33:38,770
He spent tens of thousands of dollars on
skin care products.

464
00:33:39,630 --> 00:33:44,010
He spent about $5 ,000 a month on
vitamins and food.

465
00:33:45,630 --> 00:33:48,390
Sotirio's tab totals $4 million.

466
00:33:49,950 --> 00:33:55,030
Matt Parker lives much more humbly in a
sparsely furnished house with no

467
00:33:55,030 --> 00:34:01,510
television. But over the course of the
fraud, he too spends nearly $1 million

468
00:34:01,510 --> 00:34:06,030
investor money on mortgage payments and
other household expenses.

469
00:34:07,980 --> 00:34:13,480
So certainly Mack and his family were
benefiting materially from their fear of

470
00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:14,679
the fraud proceeds as well.

471
00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:19,440
But Lou Cetario has a plan to pay back
investors.

472
00:34:19,860 --> 00:34:21,080
He called it popping.

473
00:34:21,460 --> 00:34:27,580
Once he could pop and be somewhere else
instantaneously, he would be able to

474
00:34:27,580 --> 00:34:30,520
know the numbers on lottery tickets
before they were drawn.

475
00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:36,239
by being able to go forward in time to
identify winning lottery numbers and

476
00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:38,020
going back in time to play those
numbers.

477
00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:42,340
And in that way, they would have access
to essentially unlimited funds.

478
00:34:42,780 --> 00:34:49,699
Who in the hell would believe that
you're going to leave your body and go

479
00:34:49,699 --> 00:34:54,739
find the lottery numbers and come back
and tell Mac so he can buy a ticket?

480
00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:56,659
And we're going to win millions.

481
00:34:56,960 --> 00:34:59,060
What's going on here? And which one's
crazy?

482
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:03,480
Is it Mac or is it Sotirio? Is it both
of them? Are they telling the truth?

483
00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:07,300
I wanted to strangle him. Mac, that is.
Because he didn't tell us.

484
00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:12,760
For investors, the disillusionment is
devastating.

485
00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:19,760
Perhaps no one is more affected than
Jerry Ruh, who put up $400 ,000, some of

486
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:20,920
the last money in.

487
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:29,580
I believe that he knew he was in trouble
and he sat there and completely lied to

488
00:35:29,580 --> 00:35:34,540
me. And to know that my kids had just
lost their mother and I was busted up

489
00:35:34,540 --> 00:35:41,300
I was selling my business, he knew that
I was in a very poor spot. So he

490
00:35:41,300 --> 00:35:44,640
knew and he completely took full
advantage of me.

491
00:35:47,660 --> 00:35:50,600
Parker claims that he too was conned.

492
00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:55,260
by a false prophet who has no special
powers and no money.

493
00:35:56,420 --> 00:36:01,280
I genuinely did believe that this film
was going to be completed. I genuinely

494
00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:04,960
did believe that Lou was going to repay
these people.

495
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:11,660
It is a fraud to take money from people
without telling them the truth.

496
00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:16,220
And the law is clear that even if you
believe in your heart of hearts that

497
00:36:16,220 --> 00:36:19,740
you're going to be able to come up with
money to repay people.

498
00:36:20,540 --> 00:36:27,120
If you are persuading people to give you
their property by telling them lies,

499
00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:28,720
that's a crime.

500
00:36:29,020 --> 00:36:35,840
On March 16, 2012, Mac Parker and
Lucitario are indicted on multiple

501
00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:36,840
fraud.

502
00:36:37,180 --> 00:36:39,080
Next, Judgment Day.

503
00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:43,300
Will the masterminds behind the birth of
innocence be found guilty?

504
00:37:03,500 --> 00:37:09,660
In the fall of 2010, Mac Parker accepts
a plea deal and begins to cooperate with

505
00:37:09,660 --> 00:37:10,660
federal authorities.

506
00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:16,800
He was quite candid, quite cooperative,
and spoke at length about the entire

507
00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:18,600
process of the birth of innocence.

508
00:37:20,620 --> 00:37:25,240
It was wrong for me not to tell
investors about Lou's involvement.

509
00:37:25,670 --> 00:37:29,550
It was wrong for me to look people in
the eye and tell them they could trust

510
00:37:29,550 --> 00:37:34,090
when I was not telling them fundamental
information that they deserve to have.

511
00:37:34,270 --> 00:37:37,970
That was simply wrong. And that's a
crime. And I accept that.

512
00:37:38,590 --> 00:37:42,770
Faced with the knowledge that his one
-time protege will testify against him,

513
00:37:43,230 --> 00:37:45,350
Lucitario also pleads guilty.

514
00:37:45,750 --> 00:37:50,430
And on August 19, 2013, he is sentenced
to seven years in prison.

515
00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:02,820
At Matt Parker's sentencing hearing in
August of 2013, scores of investors have

516
00:38:02,820 --> 00:38:07,180
the opportunity to address him directly
and tell him how the fraud has affected

517
00:38:07,180 --> 00:38:08,180
their lives.

518
00:38:08,980 --> 00:38:11,140
My husband's going to be 80 next month.

519
00:38:11,420 --> 00:38:15,100
And, you know, when you're 80 years old
and you've worked on a farm all your

520
00:38:15,100 --> 00:38:21,920
life, and then suddenly you don't have
two cents to your name, really, and

521
00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:25,800
you have to continue working so that you
can keep your home.

522
00:38:26,510 --> 00:38:30,610
You know, things like that really
bothers me.

523
00:38:32,850 --> 00:38:36,310
Petey and Armand lost $257 ,000.

524
00:38:37,030 --> 00:38:42,230
Petey now works part -time jobs, and
Armand now works as a rural mail

525
00:38:42,810 --> 00:38:45,530
I intend to work at least another three,
four years.

526
00:38:46,230 --> 00:38:47,230
Maybe longer.

527
00:38:48,610 --> 00:38:54,450
That was my retirement, along with my
Social Security.

528
00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:57,200
That's the fact of it.

529
00:38:58,120 --> 00:38:59,120
All the way through.

530
00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:07,260
For Jerry Rule, who endured a string of
misfortune beginning with a nearly fatal

531
00:39:07,260 --> 00:39:12,220
motorcycle accident, investing with Mac
Parker was the last straw.

532
00:39:12,940 --> 00:39:15,020
I'm lost. I'm a lost soul. I'm a shell.

533
00:39:15,380 --> 00:39:19,760
My kids are suffering because of that,
but that's the only thing that holds me

534
00:39:19,760 --> 00:39:20,760
together.

535
00:39:20,900 --> 00:39:23,900
If I didn't have my kids and my family,
I don't know.

536
00:39:24,620 --> 00:39:25,800
I don't know if I'd be here.

537
00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:28,500
It's damaged me that much.

538
00:39:31,140 --> 00:39:36,560
The U .S. Attorney's Office argues for a
three -year sentence, citing Parker's

539
00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:38,160
cooperation with their investigation.

540
00:39:38,640 --> 00:39:43,680
But Judge Christina Rice, after hearing
the victim's statements, decides the

541
00:39:43,680 --> 00:39:46,360
prosecutor's recommendation isn't
enough.

542
00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:47,620
The judge...

543
00:39:47,950 --> 00:39:53,350
in her discretion, in her wisdom,
decided that to satisfy all of the

544
00:39:53,350 --> 00:39:59,470
balancing factors, she reached a balance
that dictated a sentence that was

545
00:39:59,470 --> 00:40:01,610
longer than the sentence we suggested.

546
00:40:03,390 --> 00:40:08,070
Mack Parker is sentenced to four and a
half years in prison to be served at

547
00:40:08,070 --> 00:40:10,690
federal facility near Lake Placid, New
York.

548
00:40:13,870 --> 00:40:16,870
There's one enduring mystery of the
case.

549
00:40:17,130 --> 00:40:18,570
Mac's an intelligent man.

550
00:40:19,370 --> 00:40:21,390
Why would he believe something like
that?

551
00:40:23,110 --> 00:40:27,970
How did a man who everyone believed was
the salt of the earth become so blinded

552
00:40:27,970 --> 00:40:33,050
by greed for spiritual achievement that
he ripped off the people he professes to

553
00:40:33,050 --> 00:40:38,470
love? For me, that's the greatest lesson
in the whole thing, is that I gave away

554
00:40:38,470 --> 00:40:41,590
my own internal...

555
00:40:42,410 --> 00:40:49,030
I gave away listening to my own
guidance, to my own sense of right and

556
00:40:49,170 --> 00:40:50,710
to my own common sense.

557
00:40:54,270 --> 00:40:59,050
Horace Williams is in negotiations to
buy the rights to The Birth of Innocence

558
00:40:59,050 --> 00:41:03,670
with the backing of Martine Gigi, a
Hollywood producer with Vermont roots.

559
00:41:04,390 --> 00:41:09,610
It's a strange beauty that the making of
this movie brought so much heartache.

560
00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:13,900
and so much negativity and so much
tragedy, and yet the film itself is this

561
00:41:13,900 --> 00:41:17,480
beautiful, innocent baby that needs to
be born.

562
00:41:19,780 --> 00:41:24,560
Gigi says that if the film is released
and makes money, a portion of its

563
00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:26,140
will be returned to investors.

564
00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:31,040
And oddly enough, even Parker himself
continues to promise that his investors

565
00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:33,140
will be repaid someday.

566
00:41:33,620 --> 00:41:36,020
It's impossible for him to pay us back
now.

567
00:41:36,760 --> 00:41:39,780
You can't do a movie. He hasn't got any
money. He hasn't got any credibility.

568
00:41:41,700 --> 00:41:44,840
Was it the prosecutor said you can't get
blood out of a stone?

569
00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:52,700
And the interesting thing is Mac was not
put in a minimum security prison. He

570
00:41:52,700 --> 00:41:55,960
was put in a medium security prison, and
I'm sure he's having a really tough

571
00:41:55,960 --> 00:41:56,960
time there.

572
00:41:57,280 --> 00:42:00,700
And I hope he is.

573
00:42:02,510 --> 00:42:07,290
In this interview, conducted less than
two hours before he reports to prison,

574
00:42:07,650 --> 00:42:12,690
Parker says prison is part of his
spiritual growth, part of his journey.

575
00:42:13,130 --> 00:42:19,550
There is something so real and so
powerful about having that sense of

576
00:42:19,670 --> 00:42:22,990
what you thought was yourself, really
destroyed.

577
00:42:24,430 --> 00:42:29,650
And then finding, oh my God, here I am.

578
00:42:32,300 --> 00:42:33,940
what I was always looking for.

579
00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:36,820
And here it is.

580
00:42:40,140 --> 00:42:45,880
Next, greed goes west, where a schemer
runs wild. And even a secret thing is a

581
00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:48,280
thing. I had no idea what I was going to
find.

582
00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:52,580
American Greed, damn scoundrels and
suckers. Next on CNBC.

583
00:42:54,980 --> 00:42:58,840
Don't get taken. Be a part of the
conversation on Twitter. Hashtag

584
00:42:58,840 --> 00:42:59,840
Greed.