[lauaughs] [bright tone]

[wind blowowing] [birds c chirping] [dogog whining]] - mymy name is j jared jacob, anand my fatheher is "jerryry" jerome j jacobson. [dramatitic music] - come h here, boy. come here. bailey, come h her. ♪ - i i grew up inin miami, flf. once my momom got divovorcd from him,, uh, hehe cut all t ties. i was s three yearars old whwhen they gogot divorcede. soso this is a a picture o oe asas a baby wiwith my dadd and my m mom's dad.. my mom c called and had d him arreststed fofor back chihild support whenen i was 13,3, and ththat's when n he popped on thehe radar. that's's when i rereally metm fofor the firsrst time.

during t the summer,r, i wowould go flyly up to atla and go spepend, yoyou know, three oror four weekeks up t there with h him, kikind of getttting to knonowm a little b bit. i bebelieve he w was livingg withth alison. this is actually a picture of the wedding party whenen my dad anand linda got marrrried. that's my y mom in thehe pice with me e and him. i think k it's one of thehe only pictctures i hae with t the three o of us toge. mymy mom is cacarol cody.. - i was his s third marrrriag. reallyly, i was hihis fourth, out of--i think we counted seven. wait a minute. phyllis, c carol, dadaryl, me..... um, alisison, and lilinda. he's b been marrieied six tim, anand if he wawas married d witt marriagege license d down in mi, it's seveven.

- ththe very firirst time i got t the first t text about the e possibilitity of a a documentatary serie, within t two minuteses, i i get a phonone call sayay, "hey, if anybody calls or talks to you "or wants to talk about this thing, don't do it." ♪ obviously i'm not gonna call him and ask permission to do this with you guys. i think this is my way of, um... my way of having maybebe a littlele bit of clclosure. ♪ this is definitely gonna put the nail in the coffin for our relationship. um, and you know what? i'm okay with it. ♪ [dramatic music] ♪

♪ [i[indistinct t pa announcnce] ♪

- i trtried to, uhuh, kekeep her mououth shut, but t it didn't t work. i knew thahat i had to do sosomething. shshe was gonnnna run with thehe money. ♪ [indistincnct chatter]r] [bababy crying]] ♪ - [laughing] - nono, i didn't threaten to kill her. i i just told d my wife, i says, "we cacan't do thihis in thehe airport."." [laughghs] i meanant we can't't confront r in t the airportrt. i i didn't meaean anythingng r than we cacannot confrfront hr inin the airpoport. ♪ - - turned outut to be a misundnderstandingng.

i mean, , but--but y you stilill have to o run it ot to make-e--you know,w, to makake sure, and yoyou know, the longng and shortrt of it , it wasasn't a valilid threat. - righght after ththat, my w wife took h her sisterr to t the bank toto cash the k anand was attatached at ththe , with herer until shehe did the e right thining with thehe . yeah.. - - so after t that airporort, we s started to o focus on d dwt even morore. so we're u up on thesese wire, and rick a and i hearr someththing's happppening with unclele jerry. - a phone e call was i interced between n jacobson and dwdwight bakerer. - the coconversationon was ththat jacobsoson and dwigt were g going to memeet for ththe exchangege of a a winning p piece. that e exchange wawas going to happepen somemewhere in g georgia. - anand they sayay on the ph, "i'l'll be therere in an houo" or an n hour and 1 15 minute, or sometething like e that. we had thahat window..

- ththey didn't t name the pe where they were gonna meet, but they gave hints. - "the usual place?" "you mean along the highway?" "yeah, along the highway." - so we hurried up, we got on the maps, and d we figureded out ththat it was s somewheree alonong 85 near r atlanta. - we hadad a certainin are, but we d didn't knowow. i i mean, we t thought, but we w weren't surure. - - so i got o on the phone wiwith atlantata to tell t , "hey,, this i is what's c coming up" so thehey were cueued up and ready.y. - they m mobilized q quick. they h had to get t there and get t visual, and we h had air supupport... [helicicopter whirirring] survrveillance g group downn in theheir cars. we're lolooking at r rest ar, places on n the side of the r road, everyrywher. it wasas on. - i remembmber lookingng at t this golf r resort north of a atlanta. it's g got to be t this plac. seems s to be abouout halfwa. it's gotot to be. ♪

- at hisis house onene time. uh, chateau u elan, a winery,, betweeeen here andnd there is halfwayay. sometitimes we'd e eat. sosometimes wewe'd just sist in t the car and d trade moneney and gagame pieces.s. yeahah. [chuhuckles] - we actctually hadd an f fbi pilot upup in the aiair anand could acactually see mrmr. jacobsonon handing m mrr someththing in a f folder. - ththere it wasas, and d off they g go. ♪ - - the video o evidence speaksks volumes

ofof the illegegal acts that thehey were doioing. itit's pretty y short but t . wewe got you n now. [wind d blowing] - itit was aboutut the end of thehe summer, and d the game i is ending.. we w weren't gononna haveve another g game. we a already have identntified jerrrry. wewe had identntified mr. . br in fair plplay. we had i identified d mr. gl. we had i identifiedd and d videoed mrmr. hoover,, and we h had severalal other. ♪ - all righght, devereaeaux's . he's layaying out the inindictment,, the arrerest warrantnts. we're e gonna takeke this ththrough the e grand juryr, get the trtrue bills,, which isis the indicictment, and d we're gonnnna go out and effefect these a arrests. - in this s case, the e chargs

were cononspiracy anand mail fr. if you u use ththe united s states mail in furthererance of a a sche and artififice to defrfrau, thatat's penalizized by u up to 20 yeyears in prir. ♪ - the ininitial stagage wawas the indidictment ofof the firstst eight, so the f first thingng that wasas gonna makake the new, ththat was gononna alert all ththe other wiwinners tha, "h"hey, the gigig is over,r" was the enend of augusust, auaugust 21st.t. - everybodody was spreread acacross the c country, anand so we enended up havavg toto request t the assistatae ofof numerous s offices spspread entirirely acacross the u united statat. yoyou have to o provide those e agents enough i informationon to makake arrests.s. - soso in anticicipation ofof the takededown, we h had preparered a very,, very l lengthy comommunicatio. - soso it's our r whole plan. it's t the backgroround ofof the invesestigation.. i meanan, this comommunicatn was s probably

2020 or 30 pagages long. very, , very specicific, inin-depth, puts youou right thehere. like, eveverything.. ♪ - - we faxed i it, and i'm nonot going to sayay who did i it. i'i'll say i d didn't, bubut there mamay have beeen somemebody i knonow very cloly that d did it that wouldld deny it.. - it d doesn't matatter who iti, but on thehe speed diaial-- whwhich i nevever use speeeed - but t the agentsts sendnding that p plan thought that the s speed dial l on thx saidid "greenvilille fbi" when i in fact it t said "t"the greenviville news." [suspensefeful music]] ♪ - it e ended up bebeing probay the e worst persrson in the e , a news agegency. - now, t this is a b big issue , riright? like, alall the stufuff's ouout there. now you gogot people that mightht be waitining on ags toto come arrerest them and all l this.

it's b bad, bad, b bad. rick d dent's big g head was sweatiting bad. devevereaux was s sweating . chriris graham w was losing gt over thahat. - - i rememberer being reaea, rereally angryry about it.. like, you u know, how in thehe world, yoyou kno? how could d this happepen? - you knknow, now itit's, "how do wewe fix it?"" how dodo we keep t them frfrom going w with this s st? after alall this worork, ththis could r really scscrew thingsgs up. [birds chihirping] [keyboboard clackiking] - my namame's john b boyanosk. in 2001, i i was a repeportr for "thehe greenvilllle new" i hahad been thehere about x or s seven monthths, and i wawas the crimime anand courts r reporter, so anythining that, yoyou kno, kind of f bad happenened, you knowow, anythingng that h had anythining--

official-l-looking dococument ththat came acacross the f x would d come to mymy desk. so i came e in on mondnday morn, and there e was a stapapled thg on my chchair, and i i picked it t up, anand i saw fbfbi on it. three pararagraphs in, i'm thinking, "this--this doesn't sound right." this is an open investigation. like, you're talking about surveillance in here, and i'm like-- so at first, like, "oh, it's ththe backgrouound" i'i'm like, "n"no, they'rere" and i starart flippingng throu, and it's's all surveveillance sf and,d, like, babackground i informationo. i'm lilike, "i donon't thinks is supposesed to be gogoing to john n boyanoskii and d 'the greenenville newsw" i i remember i i turned arard mymy chair andnd i go to m my . i'm like,, "dave,e, did you l look at th? like, , where'd ththis come fr" and he's's like, "yeyeah, i kikind of lookoked at it." i'i'm like, "n"no, you didid. dave, i-i--i think w we have an open fbfbi investigigation" he's like,e, "what?" and we s start lookiking at i. hihis eyes kinind of go lilike. i'm m 24 years o old. i'm trtrying to mamake a a name for m myself, and i wawant to writite a sto. i'i'm like, wewe have, you kn, exclusive,e, you know,w, mcdonanald's invesestigation. fbfbi looking g into a a big fraud d case. - so marark devereauaux's first respsponse was,, just jumump in the b bureau ple and slidide down to south c carolina.

- eachch office surveieillance sququad has usuaually a cessssna 10 or sometething. if youou were everer in a v volkswagen n bug in t the early ' '70s, it's's like a lalawnmower in the s sky. - i look a at that goioing, "n"no way in h hell i wantnt e part of ththat again. . shit" and dedevereaux bebeing in tht contntrolled-assss environmet with himim and a tidide bottl. thatat's the onlnly way you've gotot to pee. cacan you imagagine that?? i i mean, thatat's an awfufl situtuation to b be in. - literalllly we get in the p plane, fly from j jacksonvilllle to s south carololina that n t to do our r best to enensure tt that, , um, fauxux pas didn'n't cause us signifificant embabarrassmen. - thatat plane sucucked. [keyeyboards clalacking] - i can tetell you at that t point in t time, that newews agency had nono requiremement toto keep it q quiet. wewe did beg, , plead, asasking if ththey would be kind d enough basicalllly to keep p that toto themselveves.

- there e was a littttle bit, you u know, "w"what are wewe gonna get for itit?" - - can't say y we bribed d t, but i i will say t that wewe gave themem an opportrtuy to, , uh, be ablble to takee a photogograph, possssibly, fofollowing ththe arrest in connenection withth the invesestigation.. - - their thining was, "if yoyou could jujust give s the exclclusive." - it w was somethihing at leat to s sweeten thehe deal and thank k them for c coverinp the mimistake thatat, uh, special agagent mathewews-- i i mean, i dididn't say t th- may haveve made. - soso i want toto say, now that i i'm saying g it and reremembering g all this, that w was not me e that faxd that f freaking ththing over. [laughs]s] it wasas somebody y else. - - i can promomise you, e evere i use e a fax machchine, i chececk it not o once, nonot twice, but atat least thrhree times. - - if anybodydy ever kneweww closose this wasas just to-- [mimimics explososion] blblowing up, , right? i knowow that thosose subjectso are-e--who may s see this wowou,

"damn it,, how didid that notot happen?" and, likike, too babad, right?? didn't.. we werere the goodod guys. it a always workrks better for the e good guys.s. we alwlways find a a way,

- the ninight beforere, atattorney geneneral ashcrc, he g gave us thehe go-aheadd to takake the actition. ♪ - - day of thehe takedown, it's's a very eaearly morni, probobably anywhwhere frfrom 5:00 in the m morning. you'u're gettingng up, you're makiking sure everybody's s re. regardleless of w whether youou believe ththe person i is violent t or, yoyou still hahave to be very carareful as to the e tactical a approah any time t that you enengage in thehe arrest ofof an indiviv, because e you're takaking awy their libeberties, and ththey pretty y much know w. - the arrerests were s schedd toto all go dodown at t the same titime so thahat there wouldndn't be convnversation, and d jacksonvilille sent agas to e each locatition so that t somebody t that's familiar with ththe case wiwill be ablele to be thehe to helelp with thehe arrest.

- mymy role thatat day asas the superervisor ofof the squadad in thehe command p post was realally kind ofof coorordinating,, and d if there w was problems ouout in the f field, any decisision about h how to h handle it f for the mosost is g gonna come e to me. - - i was in c charge of the arrrrest of b brenda phenenis in indid. - i hahad the takekedown of d dwight bakeker. - my d duty on takakedown day was glororia brown here in n jacksonvilille. - - so i sit i in the fbi'i's e as we cacan hear thehem, "okay, we'e're makingg the moveves now." it soundeded like, youou kn, a mid-d-'90s michahael bay kind of f thing and you'u're hearingng, you , "go,o, go, go!"" - so i i got glombmb, by f far the nasastier, more pototential dananger of anybodydy else, and ththen, you know w with me, it's always a contest no matter what, so, , you know, , i'm gonna at mymy guy beforore anybody y e. my guyuy, glomb, was behihind a fortrtress.

a legitimamate, big-g-time, cameras s everywherere, big gates.s. chances s are he's n not goa open t the gate. at t the same titime, i i wanted to o be first.. so we hahad to find d a way to get g glomb to cocome out. ththe thing we came e up with wawas, hehe has to cocome out and get hihis paper. so t that gate o opens up. whwho do you t think walks ot anand gets thehe paper? [dramatic music] the wife, , right? not him. so i'm going, "oh, god. i'm gogonna ram ththis car ththrough the e front gatet" ♪ - i i had got reready, wawas getting g ready to leaveve the housese, and i i see somebobody walkingy ththe kitchen n window. i i look out t the door, and it's's the fbi.. ththey haven't't knocked on the doooor yet. so i i went and d ran upstaia, totold my wifefe. i sasaid, "t"the fbi's o out front."" ♪ so w when they k knocked on the d door,

it was aststralaga. - we show w him ththe arrest w warrant. wewe gained acaccess toto the propeperty, and he i is taken ininto custo. - in thehe commandnd post, we kept hearing, "so-and-so's been arrested. so-and-so confessed. "can't finind this pererson. soso-and-so's s arrested.. they'r're denying g everythin" ♪ - and soso rick dentnt went t to atlantaa to get u uncle jerryry, jejerry jacobsbson. - the arrerest of jerrrry was s in the eararly mornig atat his housese, you knowo. knknock, knockck, knock. "fbi, openen up." ♪ - i i remember j jerry inititi, you know,, doing whwhat you wouould expet a formrmer police e officer to, was, y you know, c clam up. you know, he realilized hihis goose wawas cooked,, soso to speak.k. - eventualally he receceivd his jewelrlry,

silverer handcuffsfs. - at jerryry jacobson'n's arres, hehe had some e honda sports carar thing that he wawas riding a aroundn that we seseized, and d just cash h in a trashsg in t the truck o of his car. who does t that shit?? who o carries ththat crap arar? rereally? ♪ - my firirst interacaction wiwith jerry j jacobson was atat the federeral courthoe inin atlanta.. i was in a atlanta because e jerry jacocobson was the e head of ththe snak, and i wanted to o personallyy advisese him ofof the chargrges againstst . - sourceces say thatat the fbfbi will announce ththat it has s made arress inin an alleged scheme to defraudud the e mcdonald's's corporatn by riggiging its rececent momonopoly game. now, t the fbi wouould only sy that it has scscheduled a news conference for 2:15 thihis afternoooo,

but sources tetell cnn seven ofof the eightht people are in custody. sources say the eighth has been indicted, not arrested yet, ststill being g sought. - i'd lalaid out, "i'm gononna be the e first." i i was the lalast. ththe last onene to get ththei. soso we neededed to d draw glomb b out, and then i camame up with h t i thought t was a greaeat id. - a browarard county s sherf comes toto the gate e and sa, "do you guguys mind coming dowown here "a"and identififying thesese ? "they wewere robbingng a house e anand they wanant you to identntify them."." i saysys, "uh, i d don't care" they d didn't bothther me. hehe said, "itit'll only t te a a couple mininutes." soso i said, " "okay," and d then i wenent outsid, anand of coursrse ththey grabbeded me outsidie and they s says, "you'u're unr arrest foror mail frauaud." i saidid, "mail frfraud? whwhat's that?t?" [laughghs] he says,s, "on the m mcdonald'" i sasaid, "oh, okay."

[lauaughs] didn't't have a clclue that they werere onto thihis case. noththing. anand so he dididn't say nothing g else. i says, "c"can i get y you a p of coffee e or somethihing?" mathewews was onee of t the originanal people whwho arresteded me. - - we had somome snippetss of thehe phone calalls jujust to let t him know we had w what we hadad, and d he decideded not toto cooperatete. one of the very fefew. he said,d, "you thinink you'e some ganangster or s somethin" i said, "y"yeah, and y you thk you're d don johnsonon." you knknow, from " "miami vic" and at t the end, hehe was ok. in the froront, he wasas a littttle bit of f an asshol. - i didid. i'm thahat way. i'm vevery friendldly. [chuhuckles] [cofoffee maker r gurgling]] ♪ - it wasn'n't just thehe take. there were a number of people on the i initial indndictment that we charged. on top of f that, i neneeded to hahave agentss goining out

to i interview all thesese other wiwinner. - whwhat we didndn't want to hapappen was s somebody w who is a "w"w" to b be sitting g at home and see e this takededown and thenen have twoo or thrhree weeks to t think aboutut it. [c[chuckles] think k about whwhat they'rere gonna saya, or worsese yet, hop p on a planene and, you know,, momove to soututh america.. - - if you've e played thehe r mcdonaldld's monopololy gae and thouought you'd d never wn the totop prize, you u may have b been righ. in washihington, the attotorney genereral andi annonounced eighght people were a arrested for defrauding mcdonald's and its customers... - - my work sasaid to me,, "the f fbi's lookiking for yo" i'm likeke, "what? oh, shitit. this is ththe fbi." my friendsds were, likike, from louisiana-- fromom the swampmp, they g go, " we wanant to hide e you out in the b bayou." i i mean, bubut then thehey were liki, "you canan never conontact ananybody anymymore." it w was like a a tv script. i go, , "oh, hell l no. i i can't do t that."

and d finally ththey caught p with m me. ththey finallyly found me e at. ththey were vevery nice toto. they were just s straight to the p point and they g got what ththey wand to hear r from me. ♪ - i decideded i was gogonna e ththe one to g go down thehe stt and ininterview bubuddy fishe. he was a a little susurpris, but realally didn't t try toto tell us a anything other ththan what really hapappened. nice guyuy. ♪ - so thrhrough the c course of the i interview i had wiwith dwight t baker, he i implicated d george chah, his fosterer son, in t the sch, in t the illegalal activity. at thahat point wewe made a a determinatation to reach o out to geororge chanr and tatalk to himm ababout his ininvolvement.. ♪ - i was onon i-20, and my c cell phone e rang. my s secretary c came on thehee and said,,

"george, there's two guys in the office here from the fbi who would like to speak to you." "put them on thehe phone." [laughing] who o don't wantnt to talk to the f fbi, you know? so this guy y comes on t the ph, and his name is special agent astralaga, anand he said,d, "mr.r. chandler,r, "we'veve arrested d this morng dwigight and lininda baker "for their involvement in the mcdonald's "monopoly games scam, "and we would like to speak to you about your involvement in it." and the first thing out of my mouth was, "if you've arresteted dwight and linda baker, you've g got the wrorong peopl" [phone ringing] [receiver r clicks] - [indistinct speech]

- for some reason, i was home thahat day, and my s sister calllled me. - soso i picked d up the phoe and d called herer anand just saiaid, "are yoyu watctching televevision?" she e said no, and i saidid, "well, t turn it " - wiwilliam fishsher and d gloria brorown bothth live in j jacksonvil. prososecutors sasay the ploto. - and there was my name on the screen. "gloria brown indicted." i i just kind d of, like, , d up in ththe kitchen n by mys. again, there i was alone. i'm like, "okay, god." befofore i can g get to evenen n to what was on the telelevision about meme, my doorbell rang. [doorbell rings] openen the door,r, and theres this detecective therere. i i went, "oh,h, my god."" [inhalales sharplyly] - inititially she e was denyig beining involveded with anytyg anand i kind o of really s spp toto the fact t of, "we'rere not talkiking about whether r you did itit or no. "we'rere just talklking about how muchch time in p prison "youou're gonna a serve, so, you knknow,

you u might wantnt to go ahed and d start coopoperating non" ♪ - and i had decided it's time. the lie's fixing to be over, and i i just told d him. therere was no n need for me to lie a anymore. - shshe basicalllly told uss what we e needed to know, and d we alreadydy knew, agag, bebecause we k knew the schem, and d we knew the recrcruiting forormula and d how it hapappened. - i saw w her shouldlders kind of sisink a littltle b. - i'i'm saying t to myself,, "do i i need a lawawyer first" you know, thatat's the e kind of ststuff, "am i doining the righght thin" yoyou know, i i just didn't kw what to dodo. i never r thought ababout whwhat to do once i got cauaught, and i wawas not surere if ty was gogonna take m me with t. i was wawaiting on a a policr to p pull up outut front. when they y walked to o the do, i walked t to the door with h t. when they y said that t we'lle getting g back with h you, i was so happy right in that moment. i said, "at least t that way i get a a chance to make some arrangements right quick." - the e deal was,, if thehey didn't cooooperate,

we were gogonna arrestst. if they didid cooperatate, wewe were gonnnna take ththeir statement anand then go o ahead anand document it and thenen refer, yoyou know, to the c case agentt whwho would ththen take itt to thehe federal prosecutor.. ♪

[upbeat music] ♪♪ ♪♪ new pork carnitas. only at el pollo loco. (♪♪) (♪♪)

the new festive family meal. starting at $24. now celebrating at el pollo loco. [indndistinct papa announceme] - i i was almostst done with my y prison timime fofor doing ththe fraud that i i did, anand i see ththere's two tallll gentlemenen in su. ththey said, " "we're here for mcmcdonald's m monopol, and d they had t this postr laidid out, anand uncle jejerry was the middddle bubble.e. they had all thesese bubbles all arouound, and then t they had these sisize bubbleses, and i wawas that size bubblee connecected to himim, and it was jerry colombo, deceased.

there's my picture, robin colombo, incarcerated. [sniffs] yoyou know, and i'm lolooking overer it, anand i go, "m"mm, okay."" and i sasaid, "i"i tell you u what. "give meme your cardrd, and ifif i can thihink of anyty, i i will get i in touch wiwith. how about t that?" anand they saiaid, "no, ththatt how thatat works, mrmrs. colom" i i said... [s[sniffs] "that't's how thisis is gononna work riright now." i sasaid, "l"let me tell you somomethin. "i have a a little boyoy out te and a a daughter "andnd you don't't know whwho you're m messing witi, and i'm nonot gonna puput theieir lives inin jeopardy." i got t the card,, theyey go to leave, anand i'm goining to leavev. i'm thininking, "okakay, i'm m going backck down to t the girls' ' part, righg" well, hehere come ofofficers frfrom the pririson. they go,o, "colombo,o, comeme back up h here." and ththey wanted d to shackle, anand i go, "w"wait, wait,t, . what arere you doingng?" they saiaid, "well, , your cucustody levevel has chanangew

because e you're under invevestigation.n." i said, "no, i'm not." i said, "s"so whether r i tk to them oror not, whatatever, thisis is all--" and they s said, "yeahah." i sasaid, "hold d this." "no, mrs. . colombo."" i saidid, "leave m me alone. i'm calllling the fefeds." i raran to the d double doors and d i kicked the doububle door opopen. i said, "h"hey, come h here!" they said,d, "oh,h, you want t to talk?"" i said, "y"yeah, come e on . come on. "hey, mikeke, can i i have some e coffee? can we h have coffeeee? i ththink they w want coffee" [chuckckles] i said, , "you realllly knowe thanan i do, hononestly." and d of course e they're lil, "welell, why donon't you humor usus?" i i said, "welell, let's d do " i i need a cigigarette, soso s tatake a cigararette break." and i wawas taking t them out every teten minutes.s. ththey're likeke, "you reaeay gogot to smokeke that?" i said, , "i really y do. yoyou got my n nerves wracack" as a m matter of f fact, i neneed one nowow, talking g about it.. and, um, " "you reallyly shouldld quit thosose things" i saidid, "yeah, today isis not the d day."

6:00 came,e, and d they took me in where ththe tv room m was. johnhn ashcroft t came onon television and mymy knees--i i just kindf got weweak and d knew it wawas over. - thisis morning, , the ages of the fedederal bureaeau ofof investigagation ararrested eigight individis in s several statates fofor their ininvolvementt in a a nationwidide scheme toto defraud mcdonanald's corpoporation and its customers by fraudulently manipulating mcdonald's promotionalal prize e contests. wewe want thosose involved in this type o of corruptitn to know ththat breakining the lw is notot a game. - ththat day, eveverything w , yoyou know, realally literalally accordig to plalan. - itit made for r a very fun, intereresting dayy and, uh, one i'l'll never fofor. - i wawant to commmmend the e fine work k of the fbi anand the jackcksonville d divn of the uninited stateses attornrney's officice

for r the middlele districtt of flolorida. everyoyone involveved in t this investstigation has s worked harard to break this cononspiracy. - how'd d we miss ththis? therere's like s seven winnes in t the 864 arerea code in t the last fofour years.. like, how w did we nevever puto and twtwo togetherer ourselvs if thehey kept comoming fromom the same e darn area? and d we had donone stories-- likeke, big storories onon two or ththree of thehe wi, likeke the $1 mimillion winnns totoo, anand we had n never put t it togetheher, so t that was onone of t the things. ththere was a a little bitt of kicicking ourseselves for journanalism like,e, "oh, y yeah. we j just never r put ththat one togogether," so there's's a little e bit ofg on our f face on thahat one. - well, , this storyry is gog to m make a lot t of people e. - prprosecutors s say it apps mcdonald's's customersrs never realally had a c chane to win t the biggestst priz. - franklkly, the odddds of y your winning that $ $1 million n jackpot at mcdononald's weren't ththat good to beginin with. the fbi sasaid the odddds we really a about one i in zer. - ththey need toto serve time for r that, defifinitely. - many of f the winnerers we from thehe same famimily or were e closely rerelate. - - at the cenenter of the fraraud ring, prososecutors sasay jerorome jacobsoson, assigngned to placace the winnng big cash g game pieceses into circuculation.

instead,d, the fbi s says, he stole t them. - passing g winning gagame ps to h his friendsds, who ththen recruitited others to c come forwarard anand claim ththe big priziz. - jacobsonon has been n given a go to o jail cardd for keepeping the wiwinning high-endnd tickets.. - and saysys the fbi t toda- - they h had a confifidential informrmant who titipped them m off at firi. - somemeone who hahad knowlede of t the scheme.e. - mcdodonald's wasas devastatd by t the news, whilile a stunnened spokespepn fofor parker b brothers had only t this reactition. [l[laughter] - we wanant you to h have the opportrtunity to see whoho mr. jacobobs is. he's 58 yeyears old, and he's's married and has s a family.. he knowsws the serioiousnes of thesese charges,, and d he also knknows ththat he faceces very sererious potenential punishmentnt in prisonon ifif convicteded of these e c. we know w many of yoyou hahave attemptpted

to c contact himim, hihis wife, and d his familyly and hahave been in hisis neighborhrhood, and wewe are askining you to allllow there t to be some privavacy for his fafamily and for hihis neighborors. - jejerry jacobsbson had retetd cocounsel fairirly quicklyl, an attttorney by t the name of ed gagarland, and soso my involvement was thenen talking to thehe attorney.. - once he hahas reretained couounsel, i'veve instructeted him tht i shshould analyze the casae before h he speaks further with thehe governmenent. - are you u gonna sharare yoyour motto?? - we follolow the motttto, "a fisish wouldn't't get caughgt if he kept his mouthth shut," and ththat that's s what a dedefendant neneeds to knonow. stop the music. stanand behind us. we do o the fighting and ththe talking g for you. - we're saying that you have a rogue employee ththat embezzlzles a piecec- stealsls it, bottotom line.

- itit was pretttty clear ththak was comiming full fofo. the e first convnversation w , plead ststraight upp to t the indictmtment anand bring evevery peny you hahave and youour wife ha. it was t the threatsts of, "i'm gonnana take everything down to heher engagemement ring" - mamark is a vevery effefective lawywyer, a vevery talenteted lawyer,, and uses h his power in a v very assertrtive way on behalf of his client, the united states. - ed and i had many cases together, and he's a very experienced attorney, bubut i told h him that ththe cs for mr. . jacobson to go to trial and come out without a conviction was zero. - - when you d deal with a lawyerer like that, you've got to let him know you're unintntimidated and ununintimidatatable, so i it became t tense

and d confrontational immediatately. mrmr. jacobs w will not bebe mg any statements about ththis case until hehe appears i in cour. - yeahah, that wasas a vevery interesesting day.. i sit dodown in fronont of th, i tuturn on cnn n headline n, boomom, pipicture of m my dad, and, uh, i it was likeke, "wo" um, in thehe back of m my min, i wawas like, i i knew it. my momom and i alwlways knew there was somethining wrong, and herere it is rigight here in front of us now righght here on n tv. it's not a surprise.e. he was good at manipulating people. he was good at it. that's my dad. [laughs] ♪ i guess i was always questioning the legitimacy of everything. it was always something new. it was always trips and it was always doing,g, you knknow, alwaysys just speng ththings extraravagantly,, it seememed like to o me. my mom and i always joked that we always thought

there was something not right about him. - i knewew he kept secrets fromom me. ask me no questions, i'll tell you no lies, and that's how i dealt with him. if i didn'n't ask himm any ququestions, he dididn't have to lie to m . for instance, he said that he had this swampland. he might go ouout and d buy me somomething, and i would say, "jerry, that's a lot of money." he would go, "i sold a piece ofof swamplandnd." ♪ jerry was always trying to figure the easy way. how do you get a free lunch? the moral of the story is, there are no free lunches. ♪ but there may be some brownies hidden somewhere. doeses that makeke any sense?

- mr. jacocobson was n not hehelping us,, and d so the queuestion was still l ongoing. how did d he get the game p pieces? we knonow he did,, but hohow did he d do it? - we d didn't knowow if didittler brotothers was i inv. - i meanan, there wawas no dets to a anything. we donon't know if it's s just jerryry. we d don't know w if it's, you knowow, everybodody in the, so.... - i i was furiouous that jey did d what he didid because hehe put all of those p people at r risk. ♪ - anand we took k a trip and actutually wentt to d dittler brorothers becace there e might be s somebody there ininside. - when t the fbi camame in and d shut everyrything down anand started d gatheringg their evevidence,

and sosomebody camame by and s, "thehe fbi's herere. "youou got everyrything shutut. you don't t go anywherere nearar there." [machinene whirring]g] somebobody's in trtrouble. sosomebody's i in trouble,, but i i don't knowow what it- whwhat effect t it's gonnana . dodon't know.. ♪ - wewell, roger,r, first let me u underscore e the ft that, , um, jeromeme jacobsn was s not a mcdodonald's empm. he w was in factct an emploe ofof simon mararketing, which wawas the firmrm thatat mcdonald'd's had contnd to adminisister its gagame. - - mcdonald's's says toninit it h has fired the gegeorgia compmpany ththat ran thehe contests, and now w the fbi is invesestigating hohow many othther instantnt s weren'n't so instatant after . ♪ - the deceception by simon m marketing was ununacceptablele. we reaeally trusteted them toto run the g game for usu. we had to o end the rerelatiop to gaiain the trusust back with ourur customersrs. - - pretty mucuch, i'd d say mcdonanald's was

98% of ourur business.s. ♪ the fbi i showed up p one day at thehe front doooor and shutut us down.. ♪ - when thehe informatition cacame out, their stocock went from apppproximatelyly $100 to b basically 5 50¢. - god, t these-- these layoyoffs are babad. - it w was the larargest onone-day dropop onon the amerirican stock k exc. - enensuring thahat these gags arare secure,, ththat is howw they makake their liliving. - two daysys after mcdcdonalds fired sisimon marketeting from allll future prpromotion, a sesecond majoror company has alalso pulled d the plug. - a coupuple of daysys later, krafaft came outut and cacanceled theheir contra. - - there's nonothing leftf. ♪ - so it afaffected thehe chicag, la, atlantnta officess here i in the statates. we h had an offifice in londn, paris, honong kong,

and d several mamanufacturing fafacilities i in china. - - the peoplele at simon n marg were g good peoplele. they w were profesessional. wewe really loloved workinig wiwith them. so i it was devavastating when one b bad apple wreckeked the liveves of so o many peoplple. - theyey're gone, , man. ththey're gonene. ♪ - we spentnt one nightht in jai. fofor my bail,l, theyey asked foror $1 milli. the judgdge said, "f"for thi, you wantnt $1 millioion?" he said, " "set it at t $200,0" ♪ i memean, the lolord rereally blessssed me inin a bad sitituation, becaususe i had ththree los that w were free a and clea. ♪ the tax vavalue was exexactly $200,000 o on those ththree lo. so that t was-- ththat was jusust a miraclc. ththese three e lots here,, ththe lake is s over on ththis,

but ththese three e lots here are ththe three lolots that i p put up as c collaterl for mymy property y bond. ♪ - i ununderstood at that t time, obviviousl, thatat somethingng was amiss with d dwight's ststory. and d i immediatately cacalled dwighght, and d i rememberer being incredululous with h him. who is t the guy thahat was going ththrough the e divor? wherere'd you geget this tic? what's g going on? he said,d, "george, , i can't k abouout it rightht now. "donon't worry. . you don't te anytything to woworry about. you didn't do anything wrong. it was me." and... and i wasn't gravely concerned about it. - - the thing g that surprpre is they y gave me bobond. they nevever should d have gagave me bondnd.

i'm telllling you ththat i s a fugigitive back k in the '. so thahat was a mimistake. soso i'm home e about two o d. there'e's two guysys at the ge withth suits on.n. i sasaid, "o"oh, f*#**. ththey came ba. "they y came back k for me. that's thehe marshalss comingng to get meme." ♪ here's j jehovah wititnesses. [laughghs] i was--i-i was neverer so hapy to talk k to a jehovovah witns in my y life. - i was inin my maternrnity p in coralal gables, anand we have e a tv goingnge all the e time. anand they broroke in the es that the m mcdonald's s thig had d just been n busted. i i was f***inin' floored.. f*#**in' ' floored. two seconds s later, two fbi i agents walklked in my s store, doug m mathews andnd rick den, and d they saidd they'd'd like to t talk to me about t the mcdonanald's cas,

and i knknew i was f f**#*e. i knew i i was f***eded. i'llll be honestst with you, i dodon't know i if jerry turned m me in or nonot. riright after r it happenen, i i flew to atatlanta, geoeor. i said, , "jerry, hohow the *# could d you do thihis?" i says, , "how the f f**#*-- i ththought we w were done," and i wawas really p pissed, because e i had thouought ththat night, , we were dodo. - - i had hirered a local l ay toto go with m me to the m mg with thehe fbi. anand he calleled me and s s, "george, you've been indicted." ♪ i was in shock. ♪ yeah, yoyou don't knknow how w to react,, becaususe you're b being chard withth a federalal crime.

my n name appearars in the t t of major n newspaperss and on major television stations all acacross the n nation. frieiends are cacalling me,, familyly's callingng me, businessss acquaintatances arare calling g me, customerers are calllling me, ememployees arare calling g . i dididn't knoww what t to tell thehem. ♪ i didndn't know what t to tell my y son, who'o's eight yeyears old at thehe time. everery kid in t the schooll has s a questionon for my s, and i i don't knowow how toto help him.m. it was.... devavastating. ♪ - geororge was, uhuh... he was very angry, upset, hurt. but i trtried to expxplain to m

that i didid everythining in y power to p protect himim from t. um... - at s some pointt in time, though, and it was in fairly short order, you--you snap out. i snsnapped out t of it, and i tookok action. i i went down n to jacksononve and stararted makingng phone ca, lookoking for whwhat i termed the bestst criminal l lawyer inin town.

[phone ringing distantly] - - i'm curtisis scott falall. i'm an a attorney. been an atattorney for about 40 yearsrs. i was s a federal l prosecur herere in town f for 17 yea,

and i'i've been in privavate practicice for some 2 20 years, and i■ve been blesessed to h have been s selected one e of the topop criminal defense a attorneys inin northeast florida for the lalast couple e of deca. in 2001, i memet george chandler. he was 2 29 years olold. ninth h grade educucation, but t he's a bririlliant young maman. i i was very i impressed with hisis candor, anand he explalained hohow he had b been hoodwiwid by his foster fatherer, which of c course demonstratated his innocence. i thought,t, "well, wewe can probobably make e this case e gy pretty e easily." so i picked up the phone and called mr. devereaux. - mr. fallgatter interviewed me in january of 1989 when i got hired in this ofoffice. he's been to my house many times. i've been to his house many timimes. at one p point in titime, wewe were veryry sociable.. nonot so much h anymore. - i exexplained toto him how w george had been hoododwin, did not knknow the tickets hahad been stolen or embezzled, anand mr. devereaux's responsese was,

"well,l, if i dropop mr. chchandler's c case, i'd have to drop seseveral othehers." ♪ - i was s the first t persn to turn n themselves in. i mean, ththey had me. i was s scared as s shit, because just the name mark devereaux just reminded me of thosee old soututhern gentltlemen. ♪ i mean, i'll never forget the first time i met him. ♪ ththe only thihing he saidid to: "don't ever lilie to me."" he said, "just dodon't ever lie to me." i says, , "hey, man, i did d whatever i did, "and i'll tell y you evererything i d did. i ain't gonna lie." becaususe i've nevever believd in lying anyhow.w. i wasn't't gonna statart the.

- the plan is to find a path to victory if it is there, to protectct the client, to help the clclient. so you--if you startrt out, "i'm just t gonna pleaead guil" you nevever go through the e mental disiscipline of, "canan i find a a way?" we prorobably stararted out, s, "i"if you wantnt him as a a wi, give him i immunity,"" something g like that. and thatat would have met headan with t the 180-degree oppoposite positition. - a plplea is alwaways a popossibility.y. the e issue of h how he will addresess these chcharges is beingng evaluateded. ♪ - whenen you talk k about what jererry was facacing, it gets s complicateted. if you statart adding g up all l of the dififferent couos that h he was chararged with, he wasas facing a a lot of ti. and i knowow it was well ovever ten.

♪ - - i rememberer it being-g-- having a a sense of f just hugege sympathyy for ththe ordeal that wasas being impmposed on , anand the wayy it was being imposed. - prososecutors sasay this is the man who ststarted it a al. jejerome jacobobson facess ninene counts ofof conspiracy inin a plot ththey say invnvod 20 millilion dollarsrs' worth of m mcdonald'ss winnnning game p prizes stolenen and then n sold to friendsds and relatatives. - if he e could coopoperat, it wouldld provide u us just so mumuch informamation toto find all l these other winnnners. and wiwinners turnrned intoto recruiterers, and d most imporortantly, to show exexactly how w he did. - wewe could notot quite figure i it out. and now w we knew he was doioing it. we j just didn't't know the e ds and how he was doingng it. - the government always wanted to know how he did it, and he d did not cooooperae from thehe beginningng. he would h have, but for the fafact that hihis lawyes

would d not allow w him to ul wewe worked eveverything o . it w was the, yoyou k, talk peacece but prepapare for . and... wewe were prepeparing for a w.

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learn m ♪e today. - i don't think ththere ever s anan exit strarategy to ststo. hehe'd been peperfecting i t for r 13 years.. itit had just t gotten betetted probablyly easier fofor him to. and i i mean, the only reasosn he g got caughtt wawas because e he pissedd somemebody off anand somebodydy went to t thi and said,, "h"hey, guess s what's hapappe" ♪ - "infnformant keyey to unlnlocking scacam behind t the golden n arches" of coursrse they nevever namd who the e informant t was, but thatat's how it all camame apart.

- nopepe. i think itit's the fbibi. before this s ever went t dow, there was a box across the street from my house on a pole, placeded there byby blue ridgdge electrici. i'd d always queuestioned what i it was. i've develeloped a lotot of p property. i'i'd never seseen that bob. i suspecteted they werere eaeavesdroppining on me, nonot because e of mcdonalals but bebecause of a fellowow developerer here o on the lakekes. the fbi i came in, the e drug enfororcement peoee cameme in, everybody came in, tied up all of his shit. and they--and i was on the peripheral of that. within a week after my arrest

and after this went t down, blue r ridge electctric trucs came i into the fifield acacross my ststreet, and ththat box is s gone. so that's why, to me, i've always felt like e their story of h how an infoforman, or h how somebodody came foror, i fefelt like itit was bullsl. - - uh, i do.. [chuckles]s] - - uh, are wewe--are we--- - next q question. [laughs] ♪ - - without ththe informanan. telling g the fbi whwhere to , who to look at... ♪ ththis case wowould have n nr bebeen broken.n. - nenever brokenen. - nevever. ♪ - i i will neverer tell youu who ththe source w was.

you wiwill never g get that from me. if i was a dead body, you cocould not geget that off my cororpse. that's h how much i i think about the e bureau's program. it has to work like that, right? - well, i don't ththink it w was anybodydy in mind.. if it is, i'd d be very s surprised, , real surprp. if y you're gonnnna surprise , gogo ahead andnd surprise e . - i know w who broke t the ca. i--at ththis moment t right n, i'm not susure if i i feel comfmfortable saying whoho broke thehe cas. i need to talk to o some people and make suree that i i'm not in n danger if i say who brokeke the case, because riright now..... ♪ i don't t know if itit's gonna e back and bitite me in ththe bu.

- frank colombo. [bright tone]