>> narrator: in this episode of "american greed"... in chicago, charles martin owns a lucrative currency brokerage but lives like a hollywood big shot. >> i think that was his goal in life -- to become a superstar. >> narrator: it's a game of make-believe with a very high price tag. >> he dropped $1 million on private-jet travel, a 2006 bentley, ferrari, bmw, land rover, hundreds of thousands of dollars at a strip club. >> narrator: and when the >> land rover, hundreds of thousands of dollars at a strip club. with the bill. >> what dawns on me is nobody's gonna get a dime back ever. >> narrator: and later, miami accountant juan carlos rodriguez promises to make his friends

rich. >> he was like a brother to my husband. i mean, truly, my husband considered him to be family. >> narrator: he offers them a guaranteed investment in blue-chip stocks, but this is no way to treat a brother. >> it really was, in every way, a complete rip-off. >> narrator: instead of delivering the big, fat rate he promises, rodriguez betrays those closest to him. >> this man, who has been her friend for 20-plus years, took her entire life savings and bolted with it. >> this man, who has been her friend for 20 plus years, took her entire life savings and bolted with i it >> narrator: winnetka, illinois -- one of chicago's wealthiest suburbs. most mornings here are quiet, but in the second-floor offices of one world capital group, a foreign-currency exchange, the atmosphere on june 15, 2007, is

anything but calm. [ telephones ringing ] investors have heard unsettling rumors, and they're flooding the company with requests to pull their money. >> every five minutes, the fax machine would ring and spit out a new redemption request, and people would call and they would ask, you know, "when's this gonna be processed?" it was just a crazy day. >> narrator: it is jared boyar's second week at one world. .. >> today, the result of a routine audit have set off a panic. and the staff is anxious. >> people were just scared. 70% of the business all walking out the door at once. it's scary times. >> but when boyer pays a visit to the firm's accountant, his worst fears are realized. >> i walked into her office and she looked really pale. and she says i just don't have enough money to pay all of these

people. >> the dealer, like one world, should never have a probable repaying its customers. accounts are held in trust until a customer authorizes a trade. >> a customer's money isn't supposed to be touch. it should always be there. it shouldn't be an issue at all. >> but client funds are missing. and one world is on the verge of a $16 million collapse. >> i had been working there for two weeks at that point. i started really to wonder what i had gotten myself into. >> in 2005, one world capital group is just a dream of 40-year-old charles martin. martin works in chicago's renowned futures trading industry. at the time, computers are taking over the jobs, once held by humans on the trading floor. as positions become scarce, martin decides to reinvent his career in the forex, or foreign exchange market.

sue huerra, financial journalist and co-anchor of cnbc's "power lunch" knows this market well. >> the foreign exchange market is the biggest market in the world. it's bigger than the stock market. it's bigger than what's called the futures markets. it's also one ocht mof the most volatile markets in the world. >> and with great risk comes great reward. each day, major banks and brokerage firms trade upwards of $3 trillion, betting it all on the rise and fall of currencies around the globe. with a brokerage of his own, martin could take a small piece of this very big pie. . >> you want a piece of what's lucrative. >> the nfa requires $250,000 in capital to start a forex brokerage. so martin approaches jack walsh,

a co-worker 17 years his senior about partnering up. the two couldn't be more different. >> charles was the most overbearing, boisterous, just had to be the center of attention at all times. jack was a jeans and a collared shirt type of guy who enjoyed his scotch and just hung out in the back of the scene. >> but the odd couple manages to put together the cash. and in 2005, walsh, the quiet, behind the scenes guy, officially registered one world capital group with the forex change. they set upsh shop in the chica suburb. now, they just need customers. >> freedom rocks would like to welcome you to the world of zero guesswork investing.

>> mark vintelet is the founder of freedom rocks. a multi-level marketing company based in las vegas. in 2005, freedom rocks speculates in the forex market. the idea is to make this complicated, high-risk trading more accessible to retail invester. . >> there were thousands of people all over the world and we joined in together and we went through some of the ups and downs in the markets. but we've had a pretty good time over the years. >> narrator: as his members grow into the thousands, vintelet needs more brokers to handle all of the trades. one world capital seems legitimate. according to boyer, the influx of business puts one world on the map. >> freedom rocks was huge to one world.

they were easily, you know, 50-70% of all of one-world accounts. and, without them, one world wasn't much of a business. >> one world is up and running. within a year, the broker amasses $34 million in customer deposits. and it's not long before charles martin flaunts his newfound success. patrick o'neil owns little ricky's. a bar just down the street. >> charles would pull up every day with a different car, the red ferrari, the black bentley, the escalade. >> o'neil recalls martin's lavish ftipping at the restaurant. >> he would throw the girls a hundred dollars. people, marie said, were fighting to take care of him.

>> no, he's mine tonight. he's mine tonight. >> martin's partner, jack walsh, also enjoys the comforts of their new life. he buys this $1.5 million house. the duo's outward success is comforting to potential clients. this woman, who we'll call judy, handles the trades for dozens of forex investors. in 2006, she gets a recommendation to move her client's accounts to one world. she appears in silhouette due to her role as an unnamed witness in the later investigation. >> when you see lavish spending like that, maybe it should be a red flag. but it really wasn't. to me, it just said oh, nthey'r doing great. >> judy speaks with jack walsh about trading through one world. >> he was very friendly. he was very open. i did not get the impression that he was a super expert in the forex in particular, but i

really didn't care because he had a staff to handle all of that. >> comforted by walsh's professionalism, she migrates her client's accounts. >> i wound up transferring somewhere between 80, 100 accounts. probably a million, maybe a little bit more. >> in addition, she and her husband put up their own savings, some $125,000 in the new brokerage. all the deposited are put in a margin account. as long as judy's trades are successful, that money belongs to her, not one world. >> they should never have access to your funds unless they have explicit access to your fupds. >> it's untouchable. or at least it's supposed to be. next, a routine audit reveals missing money and a sordid passed. >> he had a felony drug conviction dated back from the '90s. >> judy is seeing red.

>> i view jack and charles as two clowns, two idiots that didn't know how good they had it.

>> narrator: in early 2007, charles martin and jack walsh

are riding high on the success >> narrator: in early 2007, charles martin and jack walsh are riding high on the success of their forex trading brokerage, one world capital. but martin, the much more flamboyant of the two, apparently isn't satisfied with the life of a forex trader. he uses his new fortune to live a movie star-lifestyle. at little ricky's, his friends recall outrageous stories about flying private jets to charity events. >> he lived so large, every time he went out of town, he'd come back with stories of people he spent time with. >> i think he'd like to think he was part of that group, as well. >> his voice mail on his phone was sylvester stalone saying

charles is not in. >> in february, he rents a luxury box to watch the chicago bears in super bowl 41. friends say martin, seen here at an invent in new york, invites vanessa manillo and her future husband, nick lachet to join them. it's a celebrity-filled weekend. >> tiger woods in that group and jon bon jovi in his group. i was there for four days and it was non-stop celebrities. >> just next door to little ricky's, martin opens his own film production company. >> charles' office was deck dant. decadent. he had $25,000 desks filled with expensive wine, cognack johnny

walker blue. he wanted to impress. and it was impressive. >> he invested in an independent film called "breaking point." >> why are you even asking me about this [bleep] for. i ain't seen him in a long while. >> narrator: shot on location in new york, martin lavishes money on the film and its stars. boyar recalls a time martin's more conservative partner, jack walsh, confronted martin about an unexpected charge in a hotel. >> there was $20,000 worth of damage and jack said well, we're not paying for this. and charles said well, you've got to keep the talent happy. >> martin may fancy himself a hot shot producer, but perhaps he should be paying more attention to his forex brokerage. in june, 2007, the association

conducts a routine audit. it's the first crack in the facade that will soon come crumbling down. the report states that charles martin is ineligible to work on the forex industry. fbi special agent brent potter explains. >> the nfa audit found out he wasn't even supposed to be there because he had a felony drug conviction dating back from the '90s, and, as a result, was officially barred from the nfa with an official position. >> narrator: martin was arrested in 1996 for cocaine possession. so his partner, walsh deliberately kept martin off the books. but when nfa auditors started dropping in on one world's office, martin had to take cover. >> martin was in the habit of actually showing up at the one

world capital offices early in the morning and checking in with some of the staff that was there and then beating feet in an office a few blocks away and then returning to the office sometimes afterhours, to, again, check in with walsh or some of the other employees. >> but in interviews with clients, nfa auditors have learned that martin is a de facto parter in at one world. his game of hide and seek is over. and there's more. mark vintehet's freedom rocks subscribers include more than half of one world's customer base. >> there were two things in the audit report that were primarily troubling. the first one was that they were having a hard time accounting for customer funds. and the second one was that

there was an allegation they might be mixing the customer funds with corporate funds. and both of those are an absolute no-no in the brokering world. >> on june 15th, he tells his members what he's learned. >> we wanted to make sure that people could understand what was going on. that these were not mor mall allegations. and that they could make the best decision about what to do with their money. >> that day, freedom rocks subscribers flood one world with requests to withdraw their funds. martin does his best to stop the panic. he says the money is simply stored in off-shore accounts. >> charles would always say he had money at hsbc hong kong and foreign banks overseas. >> one world staggers along after the flreedom rocks trader pull out.

and eventually, the panic subsid subsides. but gerald boyar just can't shake the feeling that something isn't right. one morning in late july, he confronts martin about the shortfall in customer accounts. >> i see charles walking down the street with starbucks in hand and i walked up to him and i said charles, i need to see the money. i need to see it. can i see it? and he said no. and i said well, i can't work here anymore then. he patted me on the back, wished me well and said just leave without making too much noise. and so he did. >> even to his friends at little r ricky's, notice there's trouble. his cars? not as flashy. his tips? not so big. >> i saw his wife driving a mini van. and it wasn't a brand-new mini van.

and he had a nanny that used to drive a range rover. all of the sudden, she's in a car that looks like a kid's college car. >> and the tips went -- from what the servers said, the tips started coming in at $50 and down. >> as summer turns to fall, forex account manager gets a call. he says one world is late paying out his $100,000 redechgs. >> i called jack and said listen, my friend says he's been trying to get money out. jack says oh, oh, i'm sure that's not a problem. i'll look into it. he called me back and said oh, it's not a problem. he'll have his wire tomorrow. >> narrator: but the wire doesn't come. instead, over the next few weeks, judy's friend is met with a string of excuses. >> there was always a problem. the girl who did the wires was sick that day. they lost it in the shuffle and had to request the wire again. whatever, on and on and on. day after day after day.

>> narrator: something is very wrong at one world. and judy has a pit in her stomach. >> what dawns on me is nobody's going to get a dime back. ever. we have almost $8 million tied up and we're not going to get any of it wac. >> narrator: next, find out where martin is really putting all of those dollar bills. >> he would go up to a private room with some of his friends. they would have a number of strippers to themselves. great first gig! let's go! party! awwwww... arigato! we are outta here!

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>> narrator: on december 6th, judy, a forex accounts manager and one world client, sees on december 6th, judy, a forex accounts manager and one world client seen something she's never seen before. >> on any given day, this is the call i care about the most and it's the one i wor the one i worry about the most.

it tells me that all of these accounts are vested equally. >> but that day, her screen looks different. >> all of these blank lines here tell me that these accounts have been manipulated. they've been drained and stuffed out. >> it could only mean one thing. >> someone at the other end is taking the money out of these accounts right in front of my eyes. >> narrator: judy calls the cftc. >> i said i can show you a crime in progress right now. >> on december 13th, 2007, the cftc issues an injunction freezing one world's assets. they contact the fbi and special agent brent potter is assigned to the case. the situation is dire. >> they had something like $100,000 as capital on hand. but customers accounts added up

to $20 million. >> the irs criminal investigations to determine where the money went. >> we reviewed bank statements, credit cards, we conducted witness interviews. we tracked down every dollar that we could possibly see coming out of one world capital group. >> the two quickly realized that they've been helping themselves to the customer's margin accounts. >> what you could see is that money being posted by the customers for margin was, essentially, just being taken right out and being page largely to walsh in the form of wire transfers to his personal bank account. >> from there, walsh wired money to charles martin's account. >> from charles martin's account, there was spending in extremes i've never seen more in my career. >> the total damage? $10 million. >> he spent $280,000 on

commercial air fair. >> around a million dollars in hotels. >> $30,000 at an area liquor store. >> narrator: over a hundred thousand dollars at an electronic store. >> a set of underwear that retailed over $250. >> martin managed to spend $1 million at a strip club in manhattan. >> he would spend well in excess of $10,000 a night there. they would go up to a room and have a number of strippers to themselves. >> all the while, martin and walsh have been paying redemption requests using other clients' money. >> from the moment an investor came in, their initial deposits were turned around and used to fund redemptions for existing one world clients. so their money, in some cases, didn't even sit in one world's account for the whole day. it almost defies imagination. >> in january, 2009, agents

arrest martin and walsh. they're charged with wire fraud. gllt martin was under the opinion that about 70% of forex traders would lose all of their funds within about two or three weeks. he figured i'll steal it before they even have a chance to know the difference. >> meanwhile, jack walsh claims he was duped by his partner. >> he was trying to keep the books as best he koud and martin was the one that had been spending all the money that had been siphoned out of customer trading accounts. >> narrator: in may, 2011, martin and walsh each pled guilty to three counts of fraud and tax evasion.

>> agents sees countless pieces of furniture, sports memorabilia and other toys belonging to martin and walsh. but they're worth just a fraction of the $16 million they owe, more than 1,00 investors. at the same time, she and her husband are hit with another unexpected blow. >> woe had three sources of income. i did charge a fee and that was extremely lucrative, as well. and then the third, we both had full time jobs with a company that declared bankruptcy themselves. and our pensions were reduced about 90%. so we were wiped out. >> she and her husband declare

bankruptcy and lose their dream home in foreclosure. >> my husband put 16 years of his life into this. and we lost it. >> ultimately, judy blames martin and walsh's insatiable greed for ruining hundreds of lives. >> i viewed jack and charles as two clowns, two idiots that didn't know how good they had it. and they were too greedy to just let it ride as the business that it was. >> coming up next, a miami money manager commits the ultimate betrayal. >> you've got a guy that looks a dying man in the eyes and the woman that he loves and professes to her that he's going to look after her the whole while knowing that he has absolutely no intention of doing that. [ engine revving ]

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>> narrator: october 27, 2010. in this miami strip mall, araceli "mercy" valle reports to her regular job as an assistant

october 27, 2010, in this strip mall, michael haber is her attorney. >> october 27th is a day just like any other day. mercy opens the office, fires up the photocopier, gets everything ready to rock and roll and business is usual. the only thing different is j.c. never shows up for work. >> j.c. is juan carlos rodriguez, her boss. a tax expert and financial advisor. he's a cpa. but, today, he's m.i.a. vadya has known him for 20 years. sti since the recent death of her husband. >> he became somebody that she could ask for interpersonal questions to.

somebody who she could rely upon to help her in her most dire hour. >> but it's just one of j.c.'s two faces. at least according to the clients who are showing up today looking for him. >> where is j.c. why is j.c. not here. i need to talk to j.c. if i don't talk to j.c. right now, i'm going to the f.b.i. >> they claim rodriguez owes them money and a lot of it. badye, herself, has entire savings, $125,000 invested with her boss. confused, she frantically tries to get ahold of him. concerned by the moment. >> narrator: finally, at about 1:30 p.m., she gets a response. it reads, "i am so sorry. i ruined your finances and betrayed your trust and love as a sister to me. i let you down big time and i

feel really bad." >> i think something clicks and she finally realizes that this man who has been her friend -- her brother -- for 20-plus years took her entire life savings and bolted with it. >> narrator: before he opened an accounting office, rodriguez was a comptroller at an aircraft-repair company in miami. rodriguez was a sort of social director among the predominantly male workers. mildred giraldo's husband worked there. she recalls the name they adopted for themselves... "the dudes." >> juan carlos was seen as the organizer of everything that they did. they would go to dolphin games -- football games -- nascar, concerts, vacation. they'd turn everything into some type of a function, and that's how "the dudes" came to be, as they like to call themselves. [ laughs ]

>> narrator: as leader, rodriguez earns a level of trust in the brotherhood. >> they trusted him implicitly. they were brothers. i believe they looked up to him a lot. >> narrator: in 2001, rodriguez leaves the repair shop to join his brother's c.p.a. business called vares tax. naturally, his old friends become his new clients. and according to fbi special agent cade cannon, rodriguez offers them more than just tax advice. >> people who'd come into vares to have their taxes done at the end of the year -- he'd say, "hey, i have a way that you can earn money to pay any tax liabilities. i will invest your money in the stock market, and i will guarantee you a rate of return." >> narrator: through a company he calls mdn financial, rodriguez claims to invest in stocks, bonds, and precious metals. if investors leave their money with him for six months to a year, they earn a guaranteed check every month.

hernan mejia is one of "the dudes." when he cashes out his pension in 2009, he and his wife, ofelia, meet with rodriguez. >> we did trust him a lot, and since we trust him, that's the reason why we also had him do our income tax -- our yearly income tax. >> narrator: rodriguez tells them they can avoid paying taxes on the money by rolling it over into his mdn financial, and he gives mejia this flyer, claiming they can "earn a big, fat rate guaranteed." >> this is the flyer that he gave my husband, and it had the different investment plans depending on the amount of money. we were going to be investing $40,000. so in turn, we were going to be receiving in interest, 22%, which amounted to $750 a month. >> narrator: the mejias sign a contract for six months of payments.

>> you know, why not? i mean, to receive a check of $750 a month just by having the $40,000 -- it was better than putting it into a bank. >> narrator: about 10 times better than putting it in the bank. rodriguez is offering rates of return as high as 50%. but trusting investors have no idea how improbable rodriguez's offer really is. >> sometimes i would think, you know, "how does he do this?" but we say, "well, maybe he's investing in the stock market or in some other, you know, institutions that we don't know of and maybe that's how he's getting the high interest rate." >> narrator: and according to prosecutor robert luck, word spreads quickly. >> it was a mom-and-pop word-of-mouth sort of thing. someone would do well and get invested, and they would tell their family. they would say, "hey, mom, i'm investing with mr. rodriguez. you should go over there with me and see about investing with him.

it's a great deal. here's what i'm getting." >> narrator: soon, mdn financial has more than 100 investors. and in june 2009, rodriguez moves into a gated community along the coast. he appears to be a real success. >> his wife is driving a bmw. his kids are attending private school. he's supporting his own children and his stepchildren. so this is someone who is living a very good lifestyle while in 2008, 2009, 2010, a lot of the country is really suffering. >> narrator: next... friends of the miracle money-maker discover he's really a two-timing taxman. >> i mean, this was a friend that we trusted. and for him to do this to us, it's really, really shameful. >> narrator: see more testimony from rodriguez's best friends at americangreed.cnbc.com want inside information from behind the scenes of the show? join the "greed" social network.

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oral-b deep sweep 5000 power brush. >> narrator: in 2009, miami accountant juan carlos rodriguez claims to be a stock market guru. investors in his company, mdn financial, get unbeatable returns in an otherwise down economy. araceli valle has worked with rodriguez for more than 20 years -- first at an aircraft aircraft-repair company and now as his assistant. over that time, the two have grown close. her attorney, michael haber, speaks on her behalf. >> if she needed surgery, if her financial planning was an issue, if her children were in jeopardy -- whatever it was, there was a relationship there that she could trust his advice or that she could trust his advice. >> narrator: in november, valle's husband of 22 years is diagnosed with lung cancer. she goes to her boss for

financial guidance. >> "what should i do? i've got a mortgage. i've got children. there's college issues. there's all of these things that we have to consider and deal with." the first thing that he suggested was that she take out an equity line. >> narrator: knowing she will get a life-insurance payment when her husband passes, rodriguez suggests she take out a home equity loan of $65,000, then invest that money... with him. >> and then she would receive, in exchange, payments back, on a biweekly basis, of $1,500 every two weeks. >> narrator: over the next few months, she invests almost $125,000 with her boss. and valle is thankful for the biweekly payments. >> she's able to have a little bit of peace of mind. she's got extra time with her husband. every moment that she has to spend with him is precious and she doesn't have to worry about dollars and cents because she's got checks coming in.

>> narrator: what valdoesn't know is that her money isn't coming from ainvestments of rodriguez's. >> not a single dollar -- not a single dollar was invested in any sort of stock, bond, precious metal, or other standard investment. and it really was, in every way, a complete rip-off. >> narrator: rodriguez is just using new investors' money to pay off his existing clients and pocketing the rest. now he's running out. >> by the summer of 2010, things are dire. the money coming in isn't enough to pay both his obligations, financially, and the annuity payments he has obligated himself to pay. >> narrator: but clients have no idea how broke he is, and his friends continue to flock to him for advice. in june, mildred giraldo walks into j.c.'s office with some news. she's sold her administrative services business. >> it's more money than we've ever had. i call juan carlos to see what

can we do with this money? it's a lot of money. and he said, "don't do anything. don't go to the bank. just come to my office. i'll meet with you in the back room." i do have to say that he's never shown so much interest in me as he did when this happened. >> narrator: rodriguez tells giraldo she will have a huge tax burden as a result of the sale. but if she invests the proceeds with his mdn financial, she can write it off as an expense. then he can pay it back to her on a weekly basis. she's inclined to trust his advice. >> he was like a brother to my husband. i mean truly, my husband considered him to be family. >> narrator: the couple agrees to put in a total of $135,000 -- some for 4% interest and some with no interest at all. >> he said, "in three months, you will get your money back, and then, we'll do your taxes

and everything will be fine." >> narrator: but it's not long before rodriguez misses a weekly payment. in july, giraldo's husband calls about the missing check. rodriguez shrugs it off. >> well, he told javier that it was not carved in stone -- the agreement. and that only made me furious. >> narrator: by october, the giraldos' weekly payments have stopped coming altogether, but rodriguez always has an excuse. >> he kept making promises, kept blaming the banks, kept blaming the fact that it was a holiday, and the monies were just not coming in. >> narrator: finally, at this strip mall in key biscane, giraldo draws the line. >> on october 27th, i was fed up with the run-around that juan carlos was giving me, so i gave him an ultimatum to meet me here at the bank at 11:00 a.m. with the full amount that he owed me or i was going to the fbi. >> narrator: next on

"american greed"... rodriguez faces his best friends in court. >> he had a very cynical look. it was a look of "i could care >> he had a very cynical look. it was a look of "i could care less."

>> narrator: october 27, 2010. at a bank in key biscane, florida, mildred giraldo waits anxiously for juan carlos rodriguez. he owes her more than $100,000. >> i waited for an hour inside the branch, and the person that i sat with felt really sorry for me because he can see the grief that i was experiencing while i was waiting. >> narrator: at noon, rodriguez is officially a no-show, and giraldo goes ballistic. >> i went completely crazy. i proceeded to report him to everyone i know. i called his office. i called everyone i could

possibly call, and after that i went directly to the fbi. >> narrator: giraldo and her fellow investors flood the fbi with complaints. special agent cade cannon takes the case. >> from the very beginning, it was obvious that what juan carlos was offering was simply too good to be true. that a 50% rate of return in 6 months -- no one can pay those kind of returns. >> narrator: authorities find that since 2007, rodriguez has taken in $5 million in investments. close to $4 million was paid back to some of his 115 clients. the other million? >> there was no stable of cars, there was no private jets to europe, but what you have here is someone living above his means and in a very good lifestyle. >> narrator: in march 2012, agents arrest rodriguez and charge him with six counts of wire fraud. he pleads guilty to one count,

and on september 7th, his victims assemble in the courtroom for his sentencing hearing. >> when he walked into the courtroom, he had a very cynical look, and it was a look of "i could care less." >> narrator: rodriguez pleads to the judge that he can make his victims whole. >> mr. rodriguez believed he could always pay it back. he stilbelieved he can pay it back. he asked the court to allow him to not be sentenced to jail at all, so that he could work to pay back the investors the millions that they had lost. >> narrator: but then, his longtime friend and employee araceli valle takes the stand. she witnessed the scam up close but had no idea what was happening. >> that just shows you how good he was at kind of hiding what was going on and who he truly was -- that his assistant, who worked with him day in and day out, didn't know what was going on. >> narrator: instead, rodriguez

stole $85,000 from her while her husband was on his deathbed. her testimony is damning. >> you got a guy with 20 years invested in a relationship with a married couple who looks a dying man in the eyes and the woman who he loves and professes that he's going to look after her, and then, the whole while knows that he has absolutely no intention of doing that. >> narrator: the judge ultimately sentences rodriguez to 7 years, and he is ordered to pay back more than $1 million in stolen funds. >> the court has ordered that, for as long as mr. rodriguez lives, 10% of his income, in whatever form that is, needs to be paid back to the victims. so, slowly but surely, money will accrue. >> narrator: mildred giraldo and her husband are out more than $100,000 -- almost half the proceeds from the sale of her business. >> this was a business that i built, and it was something

that i worked really hard at accomplishing, and this man just came and just swiped it out from under us. >> narrator: mildred's husband, javier, and the rest of "the dudes" still get together, but without their faithful leader, rodriguez. >> he's a brother to javier, so the ultimate betrayal was to my husband, and that, of course, makes me very angry because there's no way that my husband does not feel responsible for what has happened. >> narrator: ofelia mejia and her husband are out their $40,000 investment. but in 2011, they get another unpleasant surprise -- an irs bill for $25,000 in back taxes. rodriguez's tax advice was a lie. >> this is the letter that states that -- it actually reads, "you did not place your funds into a recognizable financial institution."

>> narrator: mejia and her husband have to refinance their home to pay the unexpected bill. but again, it's the sense of betrayal by juan carlos rodriguez that cuts deepest. >> financially, thank god we have health and we both have good jobs. so we will recuperate on that, but emotionally, i mean, this was a friend that we trusted. and for him to do this to us, it's really, really shameful. very, very shameful. girl vo: i'm pretty conservative.

very logical thinker. (laughs) i'm telling you right now, the girl back at home would absolutely not have taken a zip line in the jungle. (screams) i'm really glad that girl stayed at home. vo: expedia helps 30 million travelers a month find what they're looking for. one traveler at a time. expedia. find yours.