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In this episode of American Greed, for
nearly four years, a mysterious computer

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hacker quietly steals millions from the
IRS.

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I'm just kind of blown away. This guy
really does know what he's doing. But

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he gets too greedy planning his next
score, federal agents realize he wants

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money at any cost.

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Threats of shooting, innocent people
being taken out, law enforcement being

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at.

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And later, murder, mobsters, and
misdeeds.

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A self -styled wise guy, Domenico
Domrabuffo is making investors offers

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can't refuse.

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Everybody was going to win. Make your
dreams come true.

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But to pull off a $49 million real
estate scam deep in the mountains of

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Carolina, he's going to have to keep
everyone in line.

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I think he liked the idea that people
would be a bit afraid of him.

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Federal investigators simply call him
the hacker.

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They don't know his name or where he's
hiding.

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IRS Special Agent Denise Medrano does
know one thing for certain.

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The hacker is behind a complex tax
return scheme to rip off nearly $5

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from American taxpayers.

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It was over 1 ,900 tax returns that we
had identified that were associated with

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him. It's very possible that he had done
much more than that.

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But in May 2008, Medrano and U .S.
Postal Inspector James Wilson catch a

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break. One of the hacker's accomplices
has betrayed him, and he's told the

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agents where they might be able to find
him.

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This is where the rubber meets the road,
because the government was losing

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millions.

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Now, agents wait anxiously for the
hacker to show, hoping to finally lure

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from the shadows.

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We didn't know if he was even in the
country. We didn't know if he was

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European or somewhere in China or
something.

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The hacker could be anyone and anywhere,
but he's a lot closer than

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investigators realize.

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He's Daniel Rigmaden, a reclusive 27
-year -old who spent his life in the sun

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-drenched hills of Northern California.

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But if you're looking for an easy answer
to what makes the hacker tick, Think

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again, says Arizona Republic reporter
Dennis Wagner.

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It was just almost as if he came out of
a cave and there was just not that much

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history. People wouldn't talk about him.
So it's hard to get into his head and

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figure out what was motivating him.

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Wagner's been an investigative reporter
for three decades, but even he hit a

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brick wall trying to decipher Rig
Maiden.

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I tried to find family members who would
talk to me about him, and none of them

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would even call me back or respond to
emails. I tried to find friends from

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school that would talk about him, and I
never found one.

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What is known is Rick Maiden grows up in
Monterey County, California, south of

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San Francisco.

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By the time he graduates high school,
he's already sinking into trouble with

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computer.

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In 1998, Internet posters accuse him of
selling grossly overpriced Beanie Baby

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stuffed animals and of hijacking their
computers to spam others.

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One complainant warns he's a computer
whiz and really needs to be stopped.

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He's pretty brilliant. And you're just
shaking your head going, how does all

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this fit together?

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Rick Maiden takes a pass on college.

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On his Web page, he admits instead.

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He begins creating fake IDs, and
eventually he's jailed six months for

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theft. In a rare radio interview, Rick
Maiden says he always felt like an

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outsider. Sometimes society gets
overwhelming for someone who doesn't

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agree with participating.

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Rick Maiden says he gave up on the
trappings of modern society.

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Using stolen identities to mask his
whereabouts, he packs up his computer

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disappears into the wilderness.

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Here in the Las Padres National Forest,
Daniel Rigmaiden plots his next move.

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It was just kind of a way to get away
from a system that I didn't agree with,

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suppose. And I was just kind of taking a
break from society at that point.

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But when Rigmaiden does come down from
the mountains, he has more on his mind

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than restocking his camping supplies.

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Now he's trying to steal millions from
the government's least popular

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institution, the IRS.

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Rick Maiden holds up in hotel rooms,
scouring websites like the California

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Index.

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There, he collects the personal records
of nearly 700 deceased individuals.

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Then he begins churning out hundreds of
bogus tax returns using an intricate

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computer system he's designed.

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He was very sophisticated in the fact
that he automated the process so that

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returns were filed within minutes of
each other at a very high volume.

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He conceals his actions using malware
programs called bots.

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These bots spread viruses that allow him
to secretly and untraceably take remote

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control of random computers around the
country.

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This was all done with individuals not
knowing that their computers had been

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compromised. He has the refunds routed
to prepaid debit cards that he hopes to

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cash before the IRS catches on.

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Debit cards can receive funds.

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So on a tax return, it's easy to put an
account number and a routing number and

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it not be a traditional bank account
that you walk in and withdraw money

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This debit card can be used anywhere.

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The hacker's on his way to a $5 million
payday.

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But he has to be quick.

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I basically had to go out to the ATM
machine every day. I mean, got to a

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where there was a lot of time spent just
kind of walking the ATM machines to get

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money pulled out.

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He's smart enough to know using the same
local ATMs over and over will

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eventually lead the IRS right to his
door.

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He was adamant about not being exposed,
so he had to rely on other people to get

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his money back to him.

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The hacker needs a new plan to grab the
cash.

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But he's about to choose the wrong
partners in crime to help him out.

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Next on American Greed, paranoid and
desperate, the hacker says he'll do

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anything to get his cash.

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If something went wrong, people might
die.

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Daniel Rigmaiden, a .k .a. the hacker,
is living two lives.

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He's hiding off the grid at a Los Padres
campsite.

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But the reclusive computer genius is
also slipping in and out of California

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hotel rooms, flooding the IRS with bogus
tax returns.

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If his plan works, he should collect
nearly $5 million.

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Rigmaiden had mastered filing the
returns. They were filed quickly. They

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filed in high volume.

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The problem was getting his money.

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Rigmaiden wants to stay hidden.

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Achieving that goal means he can't
simply route the money into a nearby

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account.

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That exposes him to being identified. It
was clear that every step that Daniel

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Rigmaiden took, it was to insulate
himself from being detected.

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So Rigmaiden reaches out anonymously on
websites and in chat rooms.

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looking for anyone in cyberspace willing
to commit a felony crime with him.

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No names are shared, no identity is
revealed, but Rigmaiden quickly builds a

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network of like -minded accomplices to
help him with his scheme.

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They would keep their share of it, and
they would then send by FedEx or some

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other means the remainder in cash to
Rigmaiden, so there was no paper trail

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him.

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One person who answers the call is 41
-year -old Ransom Marion Carter III in

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Phoenix, Arizona.

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Carter's got a rap sheet for a variety
of crimes, and now he's about to add tax

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fraud to the list.

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He was willing to open up a bank
account. He was willing to walk into the

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and make that cash withdrawal to
ultimately, we believe, then send the

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back to Rick Maiden.

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Carter rents a mailbox in Phoenix to
help move the money.

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But he's not nearly as clever as the
hacker.

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And in early 2007, a store manager
alerts Postal Inspector James Wilson

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there's a problem.

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She'd received numerous pieces of mail,
what appeared to be envelopes that had

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credit cards that I'm going to this one
particular subject's mailbox and

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different people's names to that
address.

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26 envelopes with 26 different names on
them, all addressed to Ransom Carter's

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mailbox.

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Wilson soon discovers the envelopes all
contain empty prepaid debit cards.

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There was no money on them at the time.

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And that's what arose my suspicion,
like, all right, well, where is the

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coming from?

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Meanwhile, IRS Special Agent Denise
Medrano has her own puzzle to solve.

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She's been reviewing a large number of
first -time tax returns.

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all filed by elderly California
residents.

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It didn't make sense to us how an
elderly individual would have filed a

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return for the very first time over a
course of a lifetime.

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Many returns should be filed by a
taxpayer.

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It turns out the filers are all
deceased, and that's why they no longer

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in IRS databases.

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Digging further, Medrano discovers that
$340 ,000 from 200 fraudulent returns

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are being sent to Ransom Marion Carter
III in Phoenix.

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So that's how we put two and two
together, and that's how Agent Medrano

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began to work together.

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Suspecting that the hacker recruits
money mules such as Ransom Marion Carter

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online, agents devise an undercover
ruse.

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They pretend to be cyber criminals eager
to help him.

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So we did exactly what Ransom Carter
did, but using our own accounts, using a

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bank of our choosing to conduct the
undercover operation.

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Their efforts lead them to the arrest of
an accomplice in Utah who is more than

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eager to cooperate to save his own skin.

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This confidential informant walks the
agents through how the hacker moves the

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money around to escape detection.

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Our confidential informant was an
intermediary from the hacker to low

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participants. The low -level
participants would set up the accounts.

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The hacker would fund the account.

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They would make withdrawals on the
accounts, and keeping their end of the

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bargain, they would bring money back to
our confidential informant. He would

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give the hacker his cut of the money.

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If only it were that easy.

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Although money is pouring into his
network of accomplices, only a small

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has trickled back to the hacker.

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Instead of millions, he's only collected
thousands.

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And Agent Wilson believes he's feeling
impatient.

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I'm not yielding the return I want. I'm
doing the brunt of all the work here.

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You're just mediating things. I want my
hit.

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The hacker tells the confidential
informant he needs $68 ,000 immediately.

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And he's willing to leave his campsite
to get it.

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Using a stolen identity, he rents an
apartment in Santa Clara, California.

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and sends the informant very specific
instructions for how he wants the money

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delivered. We were to wash the cash in
Coleman lantern fuel. We were supposed

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package it in airtight packaging.

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Then he wanted to put it into a child's
toy in some kind of box, wrapped up for

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like a gift, and then into a bigger box.

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The card on it was to be a birthday card
with a message to a child who was dying

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of cancer.

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The hacker instructs the informant to
mail the package to a FedEx in Palo

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California. But it's also very clear
he's desperate, and if anything goes

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there will be hell to pay.

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Next on American Greed.

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If there was any surveillance or law
enforcement, people were going to die at

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the FedEx office.

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5 a .m., May 7, 2008.

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Federal agents watch closely as a
mysterious man enters a Palo Alto FedEx

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collect $68 ,000 in cash stolen from the
IRS.

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Is this finally the mysterious hacker
they've been chasing? If so, he's taking

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no chances.

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The individual that had entered had a
hoodie. He couldn't really see his face.

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When he had to sign for the package, he
held the pen in a very particular manner

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so that there weren't fingerprints left
anywhere.

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He picked up the parcel, ducks into an
alley, rips open the box, takes out the

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toy that had the money in it, shoves it
in a backpack, takes all the packaging

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and dumps it in a dumpster so no one
could find it.

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The agents are being extremely careful.

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The hacker's email rants have made it
clear he's willing to kill if anything

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goes wrong.

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He was going to have a counter
-surveillance team set up on him with

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weapons, and he was specific that if
anything was to happen, there would be

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kind of violent confrontation.

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Not sure this is really their man, and
unwilling to put civilians' lives in

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danger, agents watch as the suspect
climbs aboard a commuter train and

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disappears.

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$68 ,000 was a lot of money for us.

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But we had made the determination that
we would let the money walk rather than

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jeopardize the investigation.

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The hacker thinks he's finally on a
roll.

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Soon, he's demanding another $352 ,000
from his accomplices. But he doesn't

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there.

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His simmering anger and paranoid threats
of violence take a sudden and

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disturbing turn, says Arizona Republic
reporter Dennis Wagner.

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He had an idea for using drones to
assassinate politicians.

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And then he also had an idea for using
missiles to deliver biological or

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chemical warfare.

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The hacker's email suggests a man on the
verge of cracking once and for all.

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I'm probably the biggest single threat
to the U .S. government, and they don't

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even know it. I can do things that will
make all terrorist organizations look

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like sewing circles.

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But this bluster leads to Rig Mayden's
undoing.

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Federal agents track an IP address on
some of his e -mails to a computer

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00:15:40,770 --> 00:15:45,450
in Santa Clara, California, less than 20
miles from where the $68 ,000

229
00:15:45,450 --> 00:15:46,450
disappeared.

230
00:15:47,190 --> 00:15:50,930
Now things started to mesh, and we were
able to put things closer together and

231
00:15:50,930 --> 00:15:53,250
maybe say, are these two people related?

232
00:15:53,930 --> 00:15:59,750
But even better, agents discover he's
been using a Verizon Air card to log on

233
00:15:59,750 --> 00:16:00,750
the Internet.

234
00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:07,020
Air cards connect to nearby cell towers
the same way a cell phone does, opening

235
00:16:07,020 --> 00:16:11,480
the door for federal agents to finally
turn technology against the hacker.

236
00:16:12,580 --> 00:16:17,740
It's a secret surveillance device called
Stingray. They're about the size of a

237
00:16:17,740 --> 00:16:18,740
shoebox.

238
00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:24,240
Stingrays are cell site simulators,
forcing all cellular devices in their

239
00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:29,220
vicinity, including the hacker's Verizon
Air card, to share location and

240
00:16:29,220 --> 00:16:30,220
personal data.

241
00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:36,420
Federal agents are able to take this
device and they can call a computer card

242
00:16:36,420 --> 00:16:43,060
a cell phone and replace its operating
system with their own so that they're

243
00:16:43,060 --> 00:16:45,920
able to ping on it and locate it.

244
00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:51,540
A stingray leads agents directly to an
apartment complex in Santa Clara. A

245
00:16:51,540 --> 00:16:54,200
record search confirms they are closing
in.

246
00:16:54,460 --> 00:16:57,320
All the personal identifiers on the
rental agreement were all phony.

247
00:16:57,840 --> 00:16:58,840
They're all fake.

248
00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:02,480
So that's what we were able to get us to
secure a warrant for that apartment

249
00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:03,540
complex in that unit.

250
00:17:04,300 --> 00:17:10,460
As agents wait to make their move, the
hacker demands $352 ,000 be shipped to

251
00:17:10,460 --> 00:17:12,720
him the same way the first package was.

252
00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:15,400
The money was packaged in a toy.

253
00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:21,599
It was wrapped as a gift, had a card for
a kid, and it was sent to the same

254
00:17:21,599 --> 00:17:23,060
location as the original one.

255
00:17:24,319 --> 00:17:27,579
Agents wait four long days for the
hacker to make his move.

256
00:17:28,300 --> 00:17:31,420
When he finally does, this time they are
ready.

257
00:17:31,980 --> 00:17:35,240
The hacker describes what happened next
in a radio interview.

258
00:17:36,180 --> 00:17:40,900
I saw this guy kind of coming after me,
so I started walking faster and he

259
00:17:40,900 --> 00:17:41,900
started speeding up.

260
00:17:42,020 --> 00:17:46,640
He tries to evade his pursuers, but this
time his luck has run out.

261
00:17:47,020 --> 00:17:51,240
The instant I was getting arrested, when
I was laying on the sidewalk getting

262
00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:54,780
handcuffs put on me, I instantly knew
that they had tracked the air card down.

263
00:17:54,940 --> 00:17:55,940
It was the only...

264
00:17:56,010 --> 00:17:57,650
weak link in the whole operation.

265
00:17:58,170 --> 00:18:03,070
Cuffed and out of options, the suspect
still refuses to identify himself.

266
00:18:03,530 --> 00:18:07,630
The only thing in his pockets were a set
of keys. There was no identification on

267
00:18:07,630 --> 00:18:10,410
him. Again, we still didn't know who
this individual was.

268
00:18:10,930 --> 00:18:15,590
And when agents enter his apartment
looking for answers, they find only more

269
00:18:15,590 --> 00:18:21,130
questions. He basically had a hammock in
there and a desk lamp and a laptop

270
00:18:21,130 --> 00:18:23,110
computer. The very simple existence.

271
00:18:24,590 --> 00:18:30,970
But agents also find what they are
looking for, gold and silver coins, and

272
00:18:30,970 --> 00:18:36,430
,000 in cash with matching serial
numbers to the $68 ,000 that the hacker

273
00:18:36,430 --> 00:18:38,730
grabbed from the FedEx store in Palo
Alto.

274
00:18:39,530 --> 00:18:46,190
In a nearby storage locker, agents
discover another $70 ,000, more gold

275
00:18:46,350 --> 00:18:49,070
and a stack of debit cards and fake IDs.

276
00:18:50,140 --> 00:18:53,520
That was a location that no one would
ever find, and that was the place he can

277
00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:56,660
revert back to. If it got really hot, he
can go to that place and pick that up

278
00:18:56,660 --> 00:18:58,580
and disappear.

279
00:18:59,120 --> 00:19:03,160
The hacker holds out to the end,
refusing to identify himself.

280
00:19:03,380 --> 00:19:07,680
It will be days before his fingerprints
are finally matched, and he is at last

281
00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:09,920
identified as Daniel Rigmaiden.

282
00:19:11,420 --> 00:19:16,180
Behind bars, Rigmaiden opts to defend
himself against wire and mail fraud

283
00:19:16,180 --> 00:19:17,180
charges.

284
00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:21,200
He spends the next six years in jail
fighting to get his case tossed.

285
00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:28,080
He argues that the stingray technology
used to track him down violated his

286
00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:31,620
Fourth Amendment protections against
unlawful search and seizure.

287
00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:33,660
But his judge doesn't agree.

288
00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:38,080
This person who they were going after
was not a person.

289
00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:42,740
He was an alias. He was a false name and
somebody using a false identity.

290
00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:45,580
doesn't have a privacy right for that
false identity.

291
00:19:45,940 --> 00:19:48,900
Therefore, Daniel Rigmaiden didn't have
normal privacy rights.

292
00:19:49,340 --> 00:19:54,860
In 2014, Rigmaiden accepts a plea deal
for his crimes and is sentenced to six

293
00:19:54,860 --> 00:19:56,320
years' time served.

294
00:19:57,940 --> 00:20:02,420
Today, Daniel Rigmaiden still argues
that the stingray surveillance

295
00:20:02,420 --> 00:20:05,340
that took him down is a civil rights
violation.

296
00:20:06,470 --> 00:20:10,690
He's also working on an autobiography
that may finally shine some light on

297
00:20:10,690 --> 00:20:14,610
made the hacker tick and what his
endgame truly was.

298
00:20:15,070 --> 00:20:18,070
What was he doing with all the money?
Where was it going? And the only person

299
00:20:18,070 --> 00:20:20,150
that could answer that question is
Daniel Rigman.

300
00:20:23,810 --> 00:20:28,810
Next on American Greed, a New Yorker
with a wild past is about to make a big

301
00:20:28,810 --> 00:20:30,590
splash in a small town.

302
00:20:30,830 --> 00:20:32,630
There's a mobster up there on the map.

303
00:20:33,610 --> 00:20:38,510
And a brutal murder is just the first
chapter of a $49 million bank fraud

304
00:20:50,170 --> 00:20:51,750
Glenville, North Carolina.

305
00:20:53,170 --> 00:20:57,790
An unincorporated blip on the map
nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

306
00:20:59,070 --> 00:21:02,590
Population, 110, according to a 2000
census.

307
00:21:03,230 --> 00:21:05,890
The nearest traffic light is five miles
away.

308
00:21:06,330 --> 00:21:10,790
It's the kind of community that if you
run out of sugar, you don't run to the

309
00:21:10,790 --> 00:21:15,050
nearest supermarket. It's at least ten
miles before you get there. So you tend

310
00:21:15,050 --> 00:21:16,370
to know your neighbors fairly well.

311
00:21:16,990 --> 00:21:19,990
Towering high above Glenville is the Big
Ridge.

312
00:21:20,550 --> 00:21:24,930
Lucy Morgan's been escaping to her
second home here for 25 years.

313
00:21:25,490 --> 00:21:30,310
But Morgan's not your typical vacationer
relaxing in the cool mountain breezes.

314
00:21:31,450 --> 00:21:34,150
She's a Pulitzer Prize winning
investigative journalist.

315
00:21:34,490 --> 00:21:40,210
And one day in 2007, she stumbles upon a
most unlikely tiff when she walks into

316
00:21:40,210 --> 00:21:41,630
her local beauty shop.

317
00:21:42,370 --> 00:21:45,950
The hairdresser said, Lucy, there's a
mobster up there on the mountain.

318
00:21:46,210 --> 00:21:48,350
And I said, well, how do you know he's a
mobster?

319
00:21:48,570 --> 00:21:52,370
And she says, well, he's from New York
and he wears gold chains all the time.

320
00:21:52,810 --> 00:21:55,250
And I said, well, you know, I need a
little more than that.

321
00:21:55,830 --> 00:21:57,250
She doesn't know it yet.

322
00:21:57,580 --> 00:22:03,180
But Lucy Morgan's about to uncover a $49
million fraud that begins 20 years

323
00:22:03,180 --> 00:22:05,780
earlier and 750 miles away.

324
00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:10,420
August 8th, 1987.

325
00:22:11,100 --> 00:22:17,060
Erwin Schiff is just finishing dinner at
Bravo Sergio, an Italian bistro on

326
00:22:17,060 --> 00:22:18,540
Manhattan's Upper East Side.

327
00:22:18,940 --> 00:22:23,580
Erwin Schiff was a bigger -than -life
individual. I mean, literally. He was

328
00:22:23,580 --> 00:22:25,800
about 6 '3 and weighed 400 pounds.

329
00:22:26,570 --> 00:22:32,330
He was a bit of a shadowy individual who
had contacts with a lot of unsavory

330
00:22:32,330 --> 00:22:35,710
individuals, including members of
organized crime.

331
00:22:36,450 --> 00:22:41,790
Tonight, his past is about to catch up
with him when a door behind him quietly

332
00:22:41,790 --> 00:22:42,790
opens.

333
00:22:46,550 --> 00:22:50,390
It was what you'd call a Hollywood
script hit. I mean, he's eating dinner

334
00:22:50,390 --> 00:22:51,390
Italian restaurant.

335
00:22:51,820 --> 00:22:55,560
An identified man steps in the side door
that's usually locked and puts two

336
00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:57,180
bullets in his head while he's eating
dinner.

337
00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:02,740
Schiff is an associate of the Genovese
crime family, but he's also closely tied

338
00:23:02,740 --> 00:23:07,840
to a big -time local electrical
contractor named Domenico Dom Rebuffo.

339
00:23:08,220 --> 00:23:11,340
Rebuffo was a very, very good
electrician.

340
00:23:11,580 --> 00:23:14,940
He was a very, very good construction
manager.

341
00:23:15,630 --> 00:23:18,730
he would be able to manage very, very
large projects.

342
00:23:19,570 --> 00:23:23,710
Robuffo, married and the stepfather of
four, is currently running one of the

343
00:23:23,710 --> 00:23:25,910
largest electrical companies in
Manhattan.

344
00:23:26,670 --> 00:23:31,990
But to be this successful, Robuffo's no
stranger to the mobsters Irwin Schiff

345
00:23:31,990 --> 00:23:32,889
runs with.

346
00:23:32,890 --> 00:23:37,850
They played a very big role in the
economy in New York, and not in a good

347
00:23:38,050 --> 00:23:42,630
Even big -time, legitimate developers
had to deal with them.

348
00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:45,060
It's just business.

349
00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:49,720
Robuffo himself is no mobster, but he is
an imposing figure.

350
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,900
And he's happy to let people believe
whatever they want if it helps close a

351
00:23:53,900 --> 00:23:58,980
deal. If he thought it was to his
benefit that somebody he was negotiating

352
00:23:58,980 --> 00:24:03,220
thought that he was connected and he
could get a better price or a better

353
00:24:03,340 --> 00:24:04,680
he wasn't going to dissuade them.

354
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:07,700
But Dom Robuffo's hands are hardly
clean.

355
00:24:08,460 --> 00:24:13,300
While investigating Irwin Schiff's
murder, John LaPerla uncovers a series

356
00:24:13,300 --> 00:24:16,440
money scams that Robuffo and Schiff are
running together.

357
00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:21,960
The biggest by far is occurring on the
rooftops high above Manhattan.

358
00:24:22,340 --> 00:24:27,280
There, Robuffo is making a hefty profit
financing huge electrical backup

359
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:28,280
generators.

360
00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:35,360
The generators cost maybe $50 ,000, $60
,000. He inflated the amount

361
00:24:35,360 --> 00:24:37,460
to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

362
00:24:38,120 --> 00:24:42,460
Robuffo and Schiff take the scam even
further, tricking several separate banks

363
00:24:42,460 --> 00:24:46,900
into providing duplicate financing for
the same overpriced generators.

364
00:24:47,540 --> 00:24:50,980
It's called double -hocking. There were
times, you know, there'd be three

365
00:24:50,980 --> 00:24:54,500
generators on a roof, and they would be
guys from eight banks up there.

366
00:24:55,380 --> 00:25:00,540
These schemes net Robuffo, Schiff, and
several New York businessmen a $49

367
00:25:00,540 --> 00:25:01,800
million payday.

368
00:25:02,700 --> 00:25:05,980
But when Irwin Schiff is murdered by
Moth Associates...

369
00:25:06,490 --> 00:25:09,670
Dom Robuffo has to wonder if he might be
next.

370
00:25:10,550 --> 00:25:15,290
Dominic didn't know exactly why Erwin
had been killed, and he was wondering if

371
00:25:15,290 --> 00:25:17,250
he would be considered a loose end here.

372
00:25:17,890 --> 00:25:21,530
Robuffo's arrested and pleads guilty to
bank and tax fraud.

373
00:25:22,050 --> 00:25:25,350
To reduce, he rats on the people he's
involved with.

374
00:25:26,490 --> 00:25:32,450
Bankers, businessmen, loan brokers,
several state tax enforcement agents.

375
00:25:33,190 --> 00:25:35,330
Robuffo spends five months in prison.

376
00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:40,420
and also divorces his wife, May,
although it will hardly be the end of

377
00:25:40,420 --> 00:25:45,400
relationship, says FBI Special Agent
Mark Soucy. Some people have told us

378
00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:49,540
they got divorced and remarried twice,
that May was the second and fourth wife

379
00:25:49,540 --> 00:25:54,520
of Mr. Rabuffo, but we do know that from
individuals who know both of them, that

380
00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:55,520
they kept a relationship.

381
00:25:55,900 --> 00:26:00,980
And it won't be long before Dom Rabuffo
resurfaces with a new plan to fleece the

382
00:26:00,980 --> 00:26:04,340
banks, far from the mean streets of New
York.

383
00:26:05,899 --> 00:26:11,620
Next on American Greed, the residents of
tiny Glenville, North Carolina are in

384
00:26:11,620 --> 00:26:15,140
for a big shock when Don Rapopo struts
into town.

385
00:26:15,780 --> 00:26:19,740
I just knew that it wasn't right from
the very beginning. There was something

386
00:26:19,740 --> 00:26:20,740
wrong.

387
00:26:23,700 --> 00:26:29,260
Read the smoking gun flyer that spells
out Don Rapopo's scam at AmericanGreed

388
00:26:29,260 --> 00:26:30,800
.CNBC .com.

389
00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:33,040
Feeling greedy?

390
00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:35,800
Want more than your share of behind -the
-scenes dirt?

391
00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:38,680
Like us on the American Greed Facebook
page.

392
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:40,000
We'll be right back.

393
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:52,300
Electrical contractor Dom Robuffo's
dodged a bullet, but his business

394
00:26:52,300 --> 00:26:54,840
been murdered and the heat is on in New
York.

395
00:26:55,440 --> 00:27:00,200
So in 1994, Robuffo relocates to Florida
for a fresh start.

396
00:27:02,060 --> 00:27:07,620
Soon, he says he's a developer on
several rich cotton projects along the

397
00:27:07,620 --> 00:27:13,700
Coast. But his most high -profile
success is in Miami's Tony Coconut

398
00:27:14,300 --> 00:27:18,400
Was he the principal developer? I don't
believe so, but I believe that he

399
00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:23,860
certainly was able to leverage that
experience in selling himself as a

400
00:27:23,860 --> 00:27:25,300
legitimate big -time developer.

401
00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:28,760
Things are going well for Dom Rebuffo.

402
00:27:29,180 --> 00:27:32,960
He moves into a $2 million condo on the
Coconut Grove property.

403
00:27:33,220 --> 00:27:37,500
He also buys another house in a nearby
upscale Miami neighborhood.

404
00:27:38,340 --> 00:27:43,220
He's just very charismatic, and he had a
way about it. He had people very

405
00:27:43,220 --> 00:27:45,340
convinced that, you know, he was the
guy.

406
00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:51,360
Maybe that's how he reconnects with his
ex -wife, May, and convinces her to join

407
00:27:51,360 --> 00:27:54,840
him on a new project, out of sight and
far away.

408
00:27:56,650 --> 00:28:02,550
By 2004, Robuffo is quietly buying
property on Big Ridge in Glenville,

409
00:28:02,550 --> 00:28:08,430
Carolina. He hides his purchases behind
shell companies in the name of his ex

410
00:28:08,430 --> 00:28:09,409
-wife.

411
00:28:09,410 --> 00:28:14,730
Real estate paralegal Emma, who has
asked that her real name not be used,

412
00:28:14,730 --> 00:28:17,270
Tom Robuffo took the area by storm.

413
00:28:17,570 --> 00:28:19,270
He came in with a plan.

414
00:28:19,740 --> 00:28:23,820
He was a loud -talking, fleshy Florida
guy coming up here.

415
00:28:24,260 --> 00:28:29,680
Robuffo says he wants to build an
exclusive community called Hampton

416
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:30,760
top of Big Ridge.

417
00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:36,060
Anchored by a Ritz -Carlton hotel, it
will be full of mansions, villas,

418
00:28:36,060 --> 00:28:40,760
clubhouses, and a spa, and worth $200
million when he's done.

419
00:28:42,300 --> 00:28:47,140
But Dom Robuffo hasn't left his past or
his implied connections to the New York

420
00:28:47,140 --> 00:28:48,380
mafia far behind.

421
00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:52,540
Soon, he's throwing money and attitude
around freely.

422
00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:57,940
There were big rings and gold chains and
sort of flashy, much too flashy for

423
00:28:57,940 --> 00:28:58,639
this area.

424
00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:01,640
He's obviously a little bit out of his
element here.

425
00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:06,740
Before long, locals are whispering that
the mob has come to their Sleepy

426
00:29:06,740 --> 00:29:07,740
Mountain home.

427
00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:12,860
I think he likes the idea that people
would be a bit afraid of him, that they

428
00:29:12,860 --> 00:29:14,440
would perceive him to be a mobster.

429
00:29:14,780 --> 00:29:19,020
And the people who lived around that
development almost immediately thought,

430
00:29:19,020 --> 00:29:20,120
must have mob connections.

431
00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:24,360
And Dom's not the only one who likes to
make a big splash, says Emma.

432
00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:30,600
In 2005, she learns that Robuffo's ex
-wife May is flying into town on a

433
00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:34,520
jet to sign papers on a $1 .6 million
loan.

434
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:41,220
She was supposedly like the CEO or
president, and it was by and through her

435
00:29:41,220 --> 00:29:42,300
construction company.

436
00:29:42,910 --> 00:29:44,330
that they were buying these lots.

437
00:29:44,970 --> 00:29:50,410
Mae's private jet lands at the tiny
local airport, and soon she's

438
00:29:50,410 --> 00:29:51,770
storming into Emma's office.

439
00:29:53,250 --> 00:29:57,950
She had on the loud Birds of Paradise
jacket and all of the gold rings and

440
00:29:57,950 --> 00:30:01,810
chains, and she had her little fluffy
white puppy with her.

441
00:30:02,430 --> 00:30:08,390
Emma is a dog lover herself, but if
she's hoping to bond with Mae Rebuffo,

442
00:30:08,390 --> 00:30:09,550
about to be disappointed.

443
00:30:10,250 --> 00:30:11,470
She was not friendly.

444
00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:14,640
She was obviously not happy to be there.

445
00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:20,740
And to make absolutely sure there's no
confusion, Mae Rebuffo has not traveled

446
00:30:20,740 --> 00:30:21,740
alone.

447
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:26,820
She's sitting at the conference room
table, and there are these two huge

448
00:30:26,820 --> 00:30:31,920
bodyguards dressed all in black, a
couple gold chains, and just sort of

449
00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:34,040
there. You can see the bulge under one
arm.

450
00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:39,460
It's the only Hampton Springs closing
Emma handles involving private jets and

451
00:30:39,460 --> 00:30:44,350
bodyguards. But it doesn't take long for
her to notice that all of the deals

452
00:30:44,350 --> 00:30:45,350
feel wrong.

453
00:30:45,930 --> 00:30:48,630
It was the prices of the property.

454
00:30:48,910 --> 00:30:54,310
There's just no way those lots were
valued at what they were getting loans

455
00:30:54,710 --> 00:30:59,910
That's because Dom Robuffo's busily
working another major bank fraud,

456
00:30:59,910 --> 00:31:06,250
four financial institutions, Bank of
America, Wachovia, Regions, and

457
00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:10,820
to fund what will turn into a $49
million scam.

458
00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:17,260
To get the cash, Robuffo's using a
nationwide stable of straw borrowers

459
00:31:17,260 --> 00:31:20,140
stellar credit ratings to trick the
banks.

460
00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:28,480
He coaches his straw borrowers to take
out two loans, each for a $325 ,000

461
00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:29,760
half -acre lot.

462
00:31:30,460 --> 00:31:32,860
The timing of these loans is key.

463
00:31:33,380 --> 00:31:35,620
Bank of America would fund one side of
the parcel.

464
00:31:36,350 --> 00:31:40,030
Wachovia would fund the other one. They
would have simultaneous closings, so

465
00:31:40,030 --> 00:31:41,690
Bank A wouldn't know about Bank B.

466
00:31:42,510 --> 00:31:46,750
And Robuffo's making these straw
borrowers an offer they can't refuse.

467
00:31:47,470 --> 00:31:52,070
When they obtained a loan for Lot A,
they would receive $6 ,250.

468
00:31:53,170 --> 00:31:57,450
When they received a loan for Lot B,
they would receive $6 ,250.

469
00:31:58,410 --> 00:32:01,990
That's $12 ,500 just for two signatures.

470
00:32:03,290 --> 00:32:09,060
Plus, to sweeten the pot, Robuffo also
promises to pay all the closing costs

471
00:32:09,060 --> 00:32:10,580
the monthly mortgages themselves.

472
00:32:11,180 --> 00:32:14,220
All you need is your credit. You don't
need any money down.

473
00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:15,960
It didn't get any better than that.

474
00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:20,260
But it does get better, says federal
prosecutor Dwayne Williams.

475
00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:27,320
He says Robuffo was promising an even
better back -end deal if the borrowers

476
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:31,020
would apply for an additional
construction loan to break ground as

477
00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:37,140
After a year, you would take out a
construction loan to build a house on

478
00:32:37,140 --> 00:32:42,860
property, and you'd be paid $12 ,500 at
that point. So if you were participating

479
00:32:42,860 --> 00:32:48,540
in the scheme, you could expect to make
$25 ,000 and not spend any of your own

480
00:32:48,540 --> 00:32:53,200
money. Robuffo's not shy about the deal
he's offering. He even hands out a

481
00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:56,880
brochure which clearly spells out what
he's doing in writing.

482
00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:02,060
And this flyer pretty much laid it out,
the solicitation for straw buyers.

483
00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:05,620
I've never seen anything like it. I
mean, mortgage fraud is not a sexy crime

484
00:33:05,620 --> 00:33:09,740
investigate. This was the smoking gun
for a bank fraud case.

485
00:33:11,220 --> 00:33:15,160
Robuffo lays just enough concrete to
make it look like a development might

486
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:19,660
eventually be built, but is mostly
concerned with recruiting new borrowers

487
00:33:19,660 --> 00:33:21,580
keep the loan money pouring in.

488
00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:23,200
It's word of mouth.

489
00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:27,080
I mean, someone in Miami knows someone
in Tampa who's in real estate.

490
00:33:27,380 --> 00:33:32,120
That person has friends and family that
live in Pennsylvania. And the word kind

491
00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:33,620
of, you know, gets rolling.

492
00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:37,800
Few of these borrowers can actually
afford such large loans.

493
00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:42,660
But Robuffo has that base covered as
well. He'll use shell companies to vouch

494
00:33:42,660 --> 00:33:45,500
false employment records when the banks
call.

495
00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:50,420
And one of the borrowers was a handyman
receiving hundreds of dollars a week.

496
00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:51,440
But on his loan application.

497
00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:55,000
It's stated he made $23 ,000 a month as
a loan executive.

498
00:33:55,660 --> 00:34:00,860
As long as new loans are coming in,
Robuffo can keep paying off the earlier

499
00:34:00,860 --> 00:34:02,780
loans with little fear of discovery.

500
00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:08,300
Some of that money would be taken,
siphoned off, and actually used to pay

501
00:34:08,300 --> 00:34:11,100
monthly mortgage payment on that
construction loan.

502
00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:15,320
Some of the other money would just be
taken and used by the perpetrators to

503
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:16,540
finance their lifestyles.

504
00:34:17,380 --> 00:34:19,040
And he's living it up.

505
00:34:19,630 --> 00:34:24,070
Splitting time between his Florida Ritz
-Carlton address and a home on the top

506
00:34:24,070 --> 00:34:25,070
of Big Ridge.

507
00:34:25,530 --> 00:34:30,210
It's one of the most beautiful views in
the area. It does have this absolutely

508
00:34:30,210 --> 00:34:31,670
breathtaking view of the mountains.

509
00:34:32,050 --> 00:34:36,449
It also has another feature, one that
the FAA hasn't approved.

510
00:34:36,870 --> 00:34:41,489
A black -topped helicopter landing pad,
perfect for entertaining prospective

511
00:34:41,489 --> 00:34:43,030
straw borrowers.

512
00:34:43,790 --> 00:34:48,130
Bring them on the chopper over and take
them to a luxurious restaurant or a nice

513
00:34:48,130 --> 00:34:52,270
steak dinner. Show them a good time.
Show them that you are this legitimate

514
00:34:53,290 --> 00:34:59,030
FBI forensic accountant Adela Echeverria
says Rapafo doesn't live life on the

515
00:34:59,030 --> 00:35:03,170
cheap. I could see that millions of
dollars were being spent.

516
00:35:04,170 --> 00:35:07,710
Hotels, traveling, he's purchasing fancy
cars.

517
00:35:08,050 --> 00:35:09,590
He had jewelry, electronics.

518
00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:15,080
She says that Robuffo traveled
constantly to Las Vegas, Mexico, and the

519
00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:19,280
Caribbean. And when he did, it was
always in high style.

520
00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:25,660
He had private planes, jet services,
limo services. Everywhere he went was

521
00:35:25,660 --> 00:35:26,660
services.

522
00:35:26,780 --> 00:35:32,320
Ex -wife and business partner May
Robuffo splits her time between homes in

523
00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:35,140
York, Florida, and Big Ridge.

524
00:35:36,460 --> 00:35:41,300
And for a divorced grandmother from Long
Island, Mae Rebuffo does pretty well

525
00:35:41,300 --> 00:35:46,860
herself. She'll pocket nearly $2 million
laundering money for her ex -husband.

526
00:35:47,780 --> 00:35:52,580
It's a great scam if Rebuffo can keep
the banks lending money.

527
00:35:52,860 --> 00:35:57,280
The bubble was going to burst
eventually. It continued to get bigger

528
00:35:57,280 --> 00:35:58,700
based on Paul's premises.

529
00:36:00,390 --> 00:36:04,870
Next on American Greed, when a Pulitzer
Prize winning journalist starts asking

530
00:36:04,870 --> 00:36:08,290
questions, Dom Robopo better have the
right answers.

531
00:36:08,630 --> 00:36:13,290
He was trying to hold it together, but
he couldn't do it. It was falling apart

532
00:36:13,290 --> 00:36:14,290
too fast.

533
00:36:26,350 --> 00:36:31,270
Dom Robuffo's been strutting around
Glenville, North Carolina, saying he's

534
00:36:31,270 --> 00:36:36,110
building a $200 million luxury
development high in the mountains above

535
00:36:36,410 --> 00:36:41,110
But none of it makes much sense to real
estate paralegal Emma, who's been

536
00:36:41,110 --> 00:36:42,810
handling many of the closings.

537
00:36:43,270 --> 00:36:46,950
Loans kept getting higher and higher,
and these straw companies kept getting

538
00:36:46,950 --> 00:36:52,190
incorporated just one after the other
and used to purchase these properties. I

539
00:36:52,190 --> 00:36:53,250
knew something was wrong.

540
00:36:53,770 --> 00:36:57,670
Emma meets with her boss to ask what the
real deal is.

541
00:36:58,050 --> 00:37:02,130
He listens to her concerns and fires her
on the spot.

542
00:37:02,990 --> 00:37:04,270
I said, well, why?

543
00:37:05,130 --> 00:37:06,170
What's the problem?

544
00:37:06,590 --> 00:37:08,650
And he just stood up and left the room.

545
00:37:09,450 --> 00:37:12,690
Never spoke to him again. Never got any
kind of explanation.

546
00:37:13,150 --> 00:37:14,150
Nothing.

547
00:37:14,590 --> 00:37:16,790
Because no one wants to tell the truth.

548
00:37:17,230 --> 00:37:19,790
That Dom Robuffo and his ex -wife May...

549
00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:25,160
have crafted an elaborate $49 million
bank fraud far from prying eyes.

550
00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:31,540
But in 2007, Robuffo's about to meet a
new neighbor, and she's going to make

551
00:37:31,540 --> 00:37:33,260
life really interesting.

552
00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:39,120
Lucy Morgan, part -time Big Ridge
resident, full -time investigative

553
00:37:39,460 --> 00:37:44,520
And she has a lot of questions about
Robuffo's Hampton Springs development.

554
00:37:45,380 --> 00:37:48,620
Nothing about it seemed logical. We were
in a...

555
00:37:48,940 --> 00:37:54,160
economic slide at that moment that was
only getting worse, and the surrounding

556
00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:58,620
developers were not selling houses. So
it was not logical that in the middle of

557
00:37:58,620 --> 00:38:01,560
nowhere, they would suddenly have a
viable developer.

558
00:38:02,660 --> 00:38:06,840
Smelling a good story, Morgan drives out
to the construction site.

559
00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:12,700
There, she finds only empty trailers and
a handful of half -finished houses.

560
00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:18,760
In the summer of 2008, Lucy Morgan
finally convinces Dom Robuffo to talk.

561
00:38:19,740 --> 00:38:24,720
He spins the tale of a hardworking
businessman just trying to make everyone

562
00:38:24,720 --> 00:38:29,580
happy. And when Morgan asks about his
colorful past of mobsters and murder,

563
00:38:29,860 --> 00:38:32,540
Robuffo says, forget about it.

564
00:38:32,780 --> 00:38:37,880
He refused to talk to me about his
criminal background, the case in New

565
00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:39,360
where he had been convicted of fraud.

566
00:38:40,130 --> 00:38:44,230
Robuffo thought that he could tell me
what a great guy he was and what he was

567
00:38:44,230 --> 00:38:47,790
going to do there and that I would
believe what he said was true.

568
00:38:48,210 --> 00:38:52,490
But Robuffo's still playing the tough
guy. At the end of the interview, he

569
00:38:52,490 --> 00:38:55,990
in close to Lucy Morgan as if to share a
secret.

570
00:38:56,730 --> 00:39:00,790
He turned to me and he said, remember,
Lucy, I know where you live.

571
00:39:02,550 --> 00:39:04,870
Morgan's no stranger to a veiled threat.

572
00:39:05,530 --> 00:39:08,850
And Robuffo is not about to deter her
from getting to the bottom of what's

573
00:39:08,850 --> 00:39:10,570
happening on the top of Big Ridge.

574
00:39:11,590 --> 00:39:16,770
As she digs deeper, Morgan realizes
there is something fishy about almost

575
00:39:16,770 --> 00:39:19,090
loan for the Hampton Springs
development.

576
00:39:19,830 --> 00:39:24,210
I've seen appraisals done on land up
here, and I've never seen an appraisal

577
00:39:24,210 --> 00:39:28,250
would indicate the value of the land at
more than $15 ,000 an acre. He was

578
00:39:28,250 --> 00:39:32,870
listing the property as being sold for
$650 ,000 an acre.

579
00:39:33,230 --> 00:39:37,550
That alone should have signaled trouble
to anybody who looked at it. When she

580
00:39:37,550 --> 00:39:42,370
begins filing stories in Florida, the
writing is on the wall for Domra Buffo.

581
00:39:43,070 --> 00:39:46,970
Apparently, the story drew the attention
of the U .S. attorney in Miami. Not

582
00:39:46,970 --> 00:39:49,930
long after that first story, there was
heat on them.

583
00:39:52,070 --> 00:39:56,650
SunTrust, one of the bank's hit hardest,
sends inspectors to check out the

584
00:39:56,650 --> 00:39:57,650
construction sites.

585
00:39:57,830 --> 00:39:59,770
They're not happy with what they find.

586
00:40:00,490 --> 00:40:04,010
Water treatment sewer was never hooked
up to the neighborhood. We've heard

587
00:40:04,010 --> 00:40:09,650
rumors that electricity was rerouted
from neighboring homes to maybe operate

588
00:40:09,650 --> 00:40:11,990
or two of the homes to show them to
potential buyers.

589
00:40:12,430 --> 00:40:14,770
SunTrust immediately stops funding
loans.

590
00:40:16,030 --> 00:40:21,310
With no money coming in to keep the scam
running, everything implodes around the

591
00:40:21,310 --> 00:40:26,250
rebuffos. Once the money stops, then
there's no money to continue paying the

592
00:40:26,250 --> 00:40:27,250
mortgages.

593
00:40:27,540 --> 00:40:31,960
Eventually, all the properties went into
default, and after that, they went into

594
00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:32,960
foreclosure.

595
00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:38,940
Hiding behind their shell companies, the
Robuffos have burned through nearly $50

596
00:40:38,940 --> 00:40:39,940
million.

597
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:45,000
All the accounts were completely wiped
out. There was no money left in any of

598
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:45,899
the accounts.

599
00:40:45,900 --> 00:40:47,300
All the money was gone.

600
00:40:48,500 --> 00:40:50,220
In January 2014,

601
00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:55,960
Dom Robuffo and his wife May are charged
with conspiracy to commit bank and wire

602
00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:56,960
fraud.

603
00:40:58,030 --> 00:41:02,850
Mae Rebuffo argues that her ex -husband
tricked her into participating in the

604
00:41:02,850 --> 00:41:08,970
scheme. At trial, Ms. Rebuffo identified
that she was a victim to the man she

605
00:41:08,970 --> 00:41:11,390
loved for all these years, and he took
advantage of her.

606
00:41:12,110 --> 00:41:18,410
And Dom Rebuffo, who spent his life
managing large construction sites, his

607
00:41:18,410 --> 00:41:21,170
argument is he was simply a bad
businessman.

608
00:41:22,030 --> 00:41:25,630
The problem with that defense is that
you were never going to get the

609
00:41:25,630 --> 00:41:30,410
development off the ground, yet you
still took the bank's money and

610
00:41:30,410 --> 00:41:31,830
that you were developing.

611
00:41:32,770 --> 00:41:39,730
On July 3, 2014, after an 11 -day trial,
the jury finds them both

612
00:41:39,730 --> 00:41:46,110
guilty. Mae Rebuffo is sentenced to 14
years in prison, and her ex -husband Dom

613
00:41:46,110 --> 00:41:48,590
is sent away for 27 years.

614
00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:53,760
None of the straw borrowers who helped
the rebuffos rob the banks blind are

615
00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:54,760
charged with crimes.

616
00:41:55,180 --> 00:41:58,300
But they don't exactly get off scot
-free, either.

617
00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:03,320
Most of those borrowers, their credit
was destroyed. Some of the borrowers

618
00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:06,600
settled with the banks. Some of the
borrowers still have big judgments

619
00:42:06,600 --> 00:42:07,600
them today.

620
00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:13,200
Now, all that remains of Hampton Springs
are a handful of half -finished homes

621
00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:15,540
that scar the side of Big Ridge.

622
00:42:16,270 --> 00:42:20,050
The houses are mostly teardowns. Most of
them will never be lived in by anyone.

623
00:42:20,330 --> 00:42:22,830
It has destroyed a really pristine piece
of land.

624
00:42:23,090 --> 00:42:28,250
It's a painful and constant reminder of
the time when a greedy wise guy came to

625
00:42:28,250 --> 00:42:29,250
town.

626
00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:34,960
The site of our nation's tragedy, now a
symbol of America's resilience.

627
00:42:35,220 --> 00:42:37,200
The bad guys would love to knock it down
again.

628
00:42:37,480 --> 00:42:41,080
Join Jim Cramer for an unprecedented
look. Downtown is back.

629
00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:45,680
Ground Zero Rising, Freedom vs. Fear,
premieres next Thursday, 10 Eastern,