Gold (2016) - full transcript

We were a real business.

That's what
you got to understand.

We were goddamn industry...

...the kind that's the backbone
of this country.

Don't take my word for it.

Go in the parking lot
and look on the license

of that brand-new
Mercedes 450 of yours.

Hey. Are you seeing this?

That's Furnace Creek.

This, uh, picture's
over 100 years old.

Hmm.



And you see this
handsome devil right here?

Uh-huh.

He's a Wells.

Okay, so, um, I know
you're a mining company,

- Mm-hmm.
- but I pictured...

Well, I don't know
what I pictured exactly.

I guess little... little carts

going down little...
little train tracks.

- Right.
- I mean, what is it that you do here?

Wh-what we do
is we look for the metals

and the minerals,
all right?

There's exploration
over there,

there's engineering
and there's production, right?

We're prospectors.



Not yet?

- Okay, how about this?
- Yeah...

Um... so let's say that this...

is the Earth.

My handbag?

Your handbag is Mother Earth

with all of her
deep-filled mysteries

and goodies on the inside that
she does not want to give up.

Me, I'm man,

and I'm damn curious about
what she's got inside.

So, I send down what's
called an exploratory drill.

I go down inside
and dig around,

come across something.

I pull it out. It's nickel.

Now, nickel's actually
75% copper and 25% nickel,

but there's a whole lot
of nickel in the world,

and the world needs nickels.

I'm back down there getting
my second core sample,

and I happen to pull up, say...

silver.

Now, the thing is, when you
find a little bit of this,

that means there could be
a whole hell of a lot of it.

So we start raising money.

We raise enough money
to open a mine

like the one in that picture
right here.

Then...

we dig it all up.

Now, sometimes...
not that often, but sometimes...

the prospecting gods are having
a party at the Pearly Gates,

and we get real, real,
really lucky.

And we dig down in there,

then we find
a little metal called...

gold.

- Yes.
- Kenny.

You like it?

I love you.

I love you.

Old man wants to see you.

Afternoon, Marianne.

Hey, Pop.
Heard you want to see me.

Yeah, Kenny.

Get your ass in here,
would you?

Would you, uh, run through this

Pershing County strategy
again for me?

Right, um...

It's about this southern part
of this Newmont property,

right here.

Now, Newmont just started
drilling 140 meters

and they're finding
a whole lot of magnesite.

If you remember, we still own
the option on Relief Canyon,

which is next door.
We're not finding squat, why?

We're not drilling
deep enough.

Let's get back in there.
Drill deeper.

Go to 140 if we need to,
and we got a damn good chance

of getting Relief
back in production.

What about Jerritt Canyon?

Well, that's your baby.

You know a hell of a lot
more about it than I do.

But the assays look promising.

Could be fucking huge.

I want you to run point
on this.

All in.

Scale it up.

Make it yours.

Yes, sir.

Clive Coleman's on board.

Those boys will ride with you.

God, we work hard
in this business.

Sometimes for nothing.

I wake up every morning.
I tell myself,

"I don't have to do this.

I get to do this."

And then it's just blue skies.

Blue skies, baby.

My old man...

a legend.

That was the last time
I saw him alive.

A little eye-opener, Kenny?

God bless you, Roy.

Here we are.

- Boys, to the mother lode.
- Mother lode.

Today be the day.

The geological reports on this

are highly encouraging.

We are taking a very
aggressive approach.

Prospectus?
Of course.

I can have my secretary
send you one right out.

But I got to tell you,
this offering,

it's already over-subscribed.

You know, we can always try
and get you in on the next one.

No, no.
Yea, I understand.

Shit.

Watching the time?
It's 11:15, Kenny.

Oh, Christ.

Where would I be without you?

Mr. Wells?

- Yes.
- Lloyd Stanton.

- Hello, Lloyd. Kenny Wells.
- Hi.

This is my colleague,
Henry Andrews.

- Pleased to meet you.
- Hey.

- Come on back.
- Absolutely.

Thank you.

So, what can we do for ya?

Well, why don't we wait
for Clive?

Oh, uh, Mr. Coleman
got tied up in a meeting.

No offense, boys,

but I'm supposed to be meeting
with Clive.

None taken, but if you were
supposed to be

meeting with Clive, you
would be meeting with Clive.

All right.
Here is what we have.

We are developing some
very exciting properties

that are spot-on
for your investor profile.

Low buy-in
with a sizable upside.

- Mm-hmm.
- And the beautiful part is

they are all only 12 to 18
months and cash positive.

- Manitoba?
- Yeah.

We picked up an option
on a skip claim at an auction.

Right, but it's
a 90-day option.

Yes, the window is narrow,

but if you have a look
at the geo,

you'll see a very promising
shale formation

that hasn't been tapped yet.

Mr. Wells,
Washoe has a practical value

hovering just above zero.

Your debt load is untenable,

and you bring us, uh, raw land
with no infrastructure,

- no fungible assets.
- I mean,

you can't possibly expect us
to underwrite this.

Yeah. I'm talking about
a small offering here.

As I said in the beginning,
a low buy-in.

Now, if you'll take
a second look at the geo,

you will see what I see.

And that's money.

Not our money.

See, the... the thing is

that the whole economy
had turned,

particularly for commodities.

Close of the day,

Washoe was trading
at four cents a share

if it was trading at all.

Washoe Mining. There's this
great little land lease.

'Cause this is a once
in a lifetime opportunity.

Right. Washoe. Washoe Mining.

You know, carrying the...
carrying on the business.

You know, there's still
minerals out there.

We just got to find them,
right?

Yeah, all right, all right.

Thank... thank you
for your time. Bye.

I could...

12 to 18 months...

cash positive.

A deal...

Goddamn, I am calling you.

Fuck whatever time it is.

Washoe Mining,

the company that my grandfather

literally scratched out of
the side of a Nevada mountain,

the company that my father
made into a real player,

was almost gone.

Almost.

I'd already, uh, lost my house,

and I was, uh...
I was living with Kay.

And, uh, we-we were about
to lose that, too.

I had a half gallon
of Seagram's in me.

Shit, most people would have
been dead, but not me. No.

Instead...

I had a dream.

I mean, I mean,
I mean, literally, I...

I had a dream.

Indonesia.

Gold.

Now, I'd been to Indonesia
five or six years earlier.

I still had a little money
in my pocket.

You know,
Indonesia was booming,

and I was looking
for a way to get in.

Back then, if you wanted

to put a hole in the ground
in Indonesia,

you wanted Mike Acosta
telling you where to dig.

He's what they called
a River Walker.

Yeah, a real hands-on
geologist.

The real deal.

Oxford College, MIT.

His mom was Venezuelan.

His dad was English.

Now, you see,
he'd just discovered

the largest copper strike
in Southeast Asia,

and everybody wanted
a piece of him, including me.

You got the Nazca Plate,
the Pacific Plate.

Juan de Fuca,
North American, South American.

Aleutian, Marianas, Tonga.

The plates rubbing
and grinding up on each other.

Six trillion kilobytes
of pressure.

10,000 degrees Celsius
kicking up geothermic hot spots

all along the Pacific rim.

He called it the, uh,
the Ring of Fire theory.

And he definitely had
everyone's attention.

That's how I found the copper.

And that's why
I'll find the gold.

You're up early.

Hey.

You want to talk
about yesterday.

No. I gotta go right now, babe.
I've gotta plan. Gotta plan.

- Oh, wait, Kenny, Kenny, listen.
- Hmm?

Carl had an idea.

- American Home Carl?
- Uh-huh.

He said he could, uh,
get you on for a while,

- if you wanted.
- Right, right, right, right.

Yeah, I don't think that's
going to be necessary, babe.

Yeah, but it'd
just be temporary

till the market turns.

We could fool around
in the warehouse.

You know, I tell you...

When I get done with this trip,
all right?

Shouldn't take
more than a week.

- All right.
- What? Where you going?

- If it doesn't work out, I'll give Carl a call.
- Baby...

- I'll call you from the airport.
- Wait. Wait, wait.

Kenny!

It was like
I was being called, you know?

It was the gold calling.

That may sound crazy to you,

but if you...
if you knew that feeling,

well, you'd know.

Kenny Wells.
I'm down here in the, uh,

the lobby of the, uh,
Jakarta Palace.

Uh... Yeah, listen,

we must've got
the times mixed up.

Um... Let me know.
I'm down here.

I'm in the brown suit,
I'm on the green couch.

I'm the good-looking guy, okay?

All right.
We'll make it happen, cap'n.

All right.

Wells?

Mike.

Good to see you again.

I know a local place,
a bit more color.

What, they're not pouring here?

Good.

So,

what are we talking about
here, Wells?

Ring of Fire, Mike.

Ring of Fire.

You're playing
my greatest hits.

Fire's gone out of that one.

Well, what are you
talking about?

It's the opinion of my
fellow esteemed geologists,

that the whole thing...
I'm quoting here...

is a crock of shit.

Well, what the hell, you know?

You called it wrong.

What are you going to do?

There's no right or wrong
in this business.

There's only hits and misses.

There's gold here.

I'm glad you said that, Mike.

I truly am, 'cause I...

...believe you.

I hate to dash your hopes,
but don't you think

others have come along
before you with the same thought

and, from the looks of it,
deeper pockets?

Ring of Fire is real, Mike.

I knew it
the first time I heard.

It struck me like
a fucking lightning bolt,

and I never forgot it.

Go ahead, laugh.
I get that all the time.

But hear this.

I don't just believe.

I know.

- No, you don't.
- I've seen it.

You don't understand.

- No one will back me.
- I will.

You tell me where
you want to dig, Mikey,

and I'll make goddamn sure
the bills are paid.

No offense, Wells, but...

you look like you had to rob
someone just to get here, man.

You know nothing about me.

You know it's still out there.

I know that.

I can see it in your eyes.
You still believe.

I get it, and I was born on
the side of the mountain, too.

My-my father scratched
everything he ever owned

out of a fucking rock.
All right?

Died with dirt
under his fingernails,

and I intend to do the same.

This business...

wrote me off years ago.

All right, maybe you're
not running the hottest

in your career
right now either,

so let's prove them wrong.

You and me.

Let's prove them all
fucking wrong.

And you know why?

You do know why,
because the Ring of Fire

is right, Mike.
You called it.

You just haven't found it yet.

Tell me I'm crazy.

I'll be on the next plane.

You're crazy.

You have a hat, Wells?

Yeah, I got a hat.

Why, we going somewhere?

Up river.

What river is that, Mike?

You're late.

The only one that matters.

The Dayak have been
panning this river

for over 5,000 years.

That's how it got its name,

Daya Kensana.

What's it mean?

"Daya" means "upstream."

"Kensana" means "gold."

You got to be shitting me.

Wells.

Wells.

We're here.

So, listen, the Dayak
are warrior people,

probably best known for ngayau,

headhunting.

But it doesn't happen much
anymore.

They might be thinking
we're some traders

or someone's mother-in-law.

How long?

This jungle
will... will test you.

It will hold you up, weigh you,

and decide your worth
within an ounce.

Do you always talk
like this, Mike?

Like a book on tape?

I suppose I do.

Where are we going?

Up.

Take a look.

Oh, my God.

It's my dream.

There have been
a few folks up here

tapping over the years,

but have all focused on the
foothills far to the south.

But what interests me
is the other way.

That small depression,

like a giant left a footprint
walking away.

Something happened
there, Wells.

Something hot and angry.

That's where we'll find
the tasty bits.

My dream...

...is out there.

Damn right it is.

Look, if it's the big boys

that you're thinking about
investing in us...

you know,
the Harvard endowment

or some...
some pension fund, right?

I am not your guy.

But the little guys, right,

guys that you don't even
know about,

the, uh, the hustlers,
the scrappers,

the make-it-happen
motherfuckers,

those are my guys.

How much do we need?

Seven. Seven-fifty to start.

Okay.

How much do we need?

It isn't just a lease.

We're in lndonesia.

That means getting a permit
and lining pockets.

Equipment.
You don't just do this

with a couple of shovels
and a pickax.

I'll get the money.

Whatever it takes.

- What's that?
- It's a contract.

Read it.

Sign it.

Keep it.

I could feel it in my bones.

I was selling something
that I believed in.

20-K minimum buy-in, right,

and the shares are fucking
flying off the shelf.

I mean, no risk,
no gain, right?

No, 'cause it's coming in
right now.

No, Acosta. Michael Acosta.

It's the largest
copper strike in history,

and that's the guy
that we got.

Kay, get those shoes shined
for dancing, baby.

We don't even have
the exploration permits.

What are they selling?

What are we selling?

Mikey, we're selling the story.

And right now,
the story is you.

Speaking of which, what the fuck
are you doing right now?

I'm down in Kupang City
looking at coring equipment.

Acosta's in Kupang City
looking at coring equipment.

He's in Kupang City
as we speak.

It-it's a fucking...

Kupang City. We're getting
the coring equipment...

You're magic, Mike.
You're fucking magic.

You there, Mike?

Two hundred
and sixty-seven thousand

four hundred and thirty-four...

dollars.

That's not exactly the number
I had in mind, Wells.

Well, look, I may be able
to borrow a little bit

against it, but, you know...

No, you know what?
Truth, Mike?

Th-that's it for now.

Th-that's it.
Can you make it work? Hmm?

I can make anything work.

You work out of a bar, Wells?

Keeping a lid on expenses,
Mike.

Making the dollar holler.

We're in!

Record player. That's classy.

Am I paying for that, Mikey?

Six-man crews,

12-hour shifts
around the clock.

Tomorrow we'll start looking
at our core samples.

Then we'll send
the most promising

down river to the assay lab.

The mother lode, Mike.

You're out there, baby.

The man that invented
the hamburger was smart, Mike.

The man who invented
the cheeseburger,

now, that's the genius.

Don't ask where
the meat came from. Hmm?

Have you ever read
Christopher Columbus' journals?

Of course not.

In his petition
to the queen of Spain,

he promised the conversion

to her holy faith
of a great number of peoples.

And he went on
and mentioned God 26 times.

Gold, on the other hand,

he mentioned 114 times.

Smart dago.

I've been wanting
to ask you something, Wells.

Fire away, Mike.

What's the meaning of
the tattoo on your arm?

Oh, it's a bird.

It's from a poem I read
when I was a kid.

Bird with no feet...

sleeps in the wind.

Assay!

Assay! Assay!

Mike, Mike!

Hey. These things, they look
worse every time we get one.

Do you remember what
I told you about patience?

Yeah, you-you remember
what I told you about money?

- Yeah.
- Huh?

- You said that it wasn't a problem.
- Well, it...

it's a fucking problem now!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey...

Hey, wait!

Stay! Stay! Stay! Stay!

Hey!

Stay...

Hey! Stay.

Stay!

On top of everything else,

I... I got a bad case
of malaria,

which kills like something
like a million people a year,

something like that.

Suddenly, I was on the list.

Maybe... maybe we were
pushing them too hard.

Maybe we should just
take it easy, you know?

Cut them in.

You know,
give them some ownership.

Maybe they'll come back,
you know?

Let them know that they
got something at the end,

you know,
when it all works out.

Give them a piece of the pie,
you know?

Get up.

Come on, get up.

I'm freezing, Mike.

Don't let me die
and have nothing, okay?

Get some rest now.

I'm pulling the plug.

No.

No, no, no, no, no.

Don't pull the plug, Mike.

No, no.
You can't do that, Mikey.

Let's get you
out of here, Wells.

What's the plan, Mikey?

Hmm?

Now, I know you got
a plan, Mike, hmm?

I know you got a plan.

What's the plan, hmm?

What's the plan?

They need clean water.

If we get filter systems
up here,

I think they might come back.

I got about $1,800
on this Visa right there.

Close to 500
on this Diner's Club.

Use it all, hmm?

Use it all, Mikey.

Damned if he didn't go

to every single place

that every one
of our workers lived.

Streams that had no name.

All feeding
the great Kensana River.

Whoa!

But you know what?

The workers came back.

I spent the next few weeks
in a malarial haze.

Should've been dead.

But Mike kept it all going.

What day is it?

No idea.

- Month?
- August.

You been sitting there
this whole time?

Let's not get carried away.

What'd the report say?
What's the news?

We pulled 17 more cores.

What?

- No good?
- No good.

Mm.

More in the vicinity of great.

Fuck you, Mike.
Don't mess with me, man.

Eighth of an ounce per ton.

Eighth... eighth of
an ounce per what?

Eighth of an ounce per ton.

What... what are you...
what are you saying, Mike?

We got a strike in.

We got a gold mine?

- We got a gold mine?
- We got a gold mine.

We got a gold mine, Mike!
We got a gold mine, Mike!

- We got a gold mine.
- We got a goddamn gold mine!

We got a gold mine!

We got a goddamn gold mine!

We got a goddamn...

Gold mine!

We got a gold mine!

I knew it, I knew it,

I knew it, I knew it,
I knew it.

We got a goddamn gold mine!

Fuck you, mosquitoes!

That moment...

there's no way I could possibly
describe the feeling.

It's amazing
how a little gold dust

can just change everything.

Now, for better or worse,
the ride had begun,

and what a goddamn ride.

Okay, okay.

Oh, thank God.

- To the best goddamn team in the business.
- Fucking-A.

You're a stand-up guy, Kenny.

- Sharing the wealth.
- Crazy, huh?

To the mother lode.

The mother lode.

All right, baby.
Do me a favor.

Close your eyes, will ya?

- All right.
- Cover them with your hands.

- Keep 'em closed.
- Okay.

- I got you. I got you. I got you.
- Oh. Okay.

One, two, three.

It's gonna be our place.

Away from it all, above it all,
just like we always wanted.

You like it?

- Huh?
- Yes, of... Yes.

Okay, look... the house...
right here, all right?

The kitchen, facing there.
The great room over here.

- Two fireplaces.
- No...

Can we afford this?

Almost, baby. Almost.
We're almost there.

All right, look at this.
Couple bedrooms on that end.

- Couple bedrooms on that end.
- Okay.

Look at this playground
for the kids, huh?

How many kids
you want to have?

Kitchen has to stay over here.

We gotta put it over here

- to get the morning light.
- Yes!

And a second kitchen
over on this side.

A third one across the creek.

A fourth one
up there with the elk.

- Kenny, Kenny.
- Mm?

This is Walt Kealer.

- He publishes Gold Digger magazine.
- Mm.

We reach
half a million subscribers,

and they'd all love to know

what you got cooking
over there in lndonesia.

If you have a minute,
I'll buy you a drink.

He's all yours, Walt.

Hell, I read
Gold Digger magazine.

Come on over.

They say you bring this in,
you'll get the Golden Pickaxe.

- Aw, shut up.
- What do you say about that?

I'd say you
probably just jinxed it.

- How many ounces you guessing?
- Hmm.

Millions, Walt.
Absolutely millions.

Placer mining?

No. Hard rock.
This is varsity ball.

How's the infrastructure?

Building it
from the ground up.

Any message
you'd like to give

to the readers
of Gold Digger magazine?

The last card you turn over
is the only one that matters.

- Kenny, it's good to see you.
- Good morning, Beverly.

Clive, how are you?

- There he is.
- Good to see you, sir.

- It's good to see you, son.
- Mm-hmm.

You know, your father and I,

we started together
in this business.

Hell, I mean,
he put me in the business.

I don't have to tell you that.

He always spoke very highly
of you, Clive.

He's one of the best men
I ever knew.

- Yeah.
- Now!

You have gone
from four to 23 cents

on your first assay results.

And you pulled in two more
to confirm those findings?

Three more.

- Three more?
- Mm-hmm.

Well, that's fantastic.

Well, I would like
to underwrite

a private placement
of Washoe stock.

And I believe that we can raise

anywhere between
$8 million and $10 million.

Well, capital is definitely

at the top of our agenda
right now.

Well, yes, it is.

And a lot of people are going
to want to make this deal,

but history is on our side.

Mm-hmm.

But I just wish you'd
brought this to me sooner.

- I could have helped you from the get-go.
- Hey.

- Well, here we are.
- Here we are.

Lloyd...

top that off for me,
will you?

Straight black
with a spicer chaser.

Mr. Wells, uh, coffee.

There we are, Lloyd.
Thank you.

Stanton, Mr. Wells has agreed

to give us his business
on one condition.

Lloyd, I want you

to personally handle
my account.

I-I need you to be

available to me 24/7,

365, as you will be riding
shotgun in my jockstrap.

Absolutely. Yes. Thank you.

Well, let's quit
standing around here

and go make
some goddamn money, huh?

That sounds good to me.

Kenny? Kenny?

Kenny, did you read
the last report?

Kenny, did you read
the last report?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, I'm looking at them
right now. Holy shit!

Holy shit is right,
my friend.

No, it's unbelievable.

Holy shit.

Bobby, I can hear your wife

smiling from here.

Right back where you belong,
Kenny.

Yeah, there's a lot of ghosts
in this building, boys.

Oh, nice work, Todd!

Whoo-hoo-hoo!

All right, men.

Now, this stock is going
to start cooking.

Make sure you put
a little bit away.

Sell some. Just the long way.
Just in case.

- Especially you.
- What?

- Put a little bit away.
- I...

For the first time
in your life,

think rainy day, Bobby, okay?

- Of-of course. Of course.
- Hey.

- What?
- Okay?

- Okay.
- Okay.

Oh, we're going to be
so fucking rich.

At least look like
you're working, man.

Yeah?

What do you got?

Wildcatters, basically.

This Mike Acosta
has had some success. Copper.

Got taken over
by Freeport Mac.

- It's all in there.
- Yeah. I've heard of Acosta.

- I like this.
- But I think we start

with the good news,
which is that we are, uh,

50% allocated and, uh,
we want to set aside, uh,

30 of the remaining 50
for you boys...

There's more food here.
Don't drink through lunch.

All right?

Or just eat something as well.

- Hey, Kay!
- Phone!

- What?
- Phone, please.

- That one. Thank you.
- You want me to answer it?

Hello.

Uh, Washoe Mining.
How may I direct your call?

- Hi. Uh, Kenneth Wells, please.
- Please hold.

Kenny, you got a call!

- Thank you, dear.
- Love you, baby.

All right.

Kenny Wells.

This is Brian Woolf at
Brown, Thomas in New York.

I'm with the minerals
and oil group.

No shit.

Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.

Well, that sounds
outstanding, Brian.

And let me tell you something.

I'm looking forward to it.

All right.

They're fucking flying me out.

They're fucking flying me out.

Come on!

Yeah, the way I see it,

what banks do... who knows?

But what made this country
is not tight asses in suits...

no offense...
taking the easy way down,

but guys like me and Mike
who jump.

What we have

is a private placement
in play here.

Already over 50% subscribed.

Now, if the numbers
keep coming in good,

which...
they're fucking going to,

the sky is the limit
on this thing.

You don't have to sell us.
We've done the math.

We believe you're sitting on

the largest gold find
of the decade.

May I speak plainly,
Mr. Wells?

Of course, Brian.
That's the only way to speak.

Our clients are going to want
to see a serious plan

to turn lab results
in a volatile region

into an investment we can all
stake our reputations on.

It's not going to be a problem.

No, it's not a problem, per se,

but the fact remains
that neither of you have taken

a find of this magnitude
through production.

Wait just a minute there, Brian.

We-we found it,
we can dig it up.

- It's not that complicated.
- Actually,

historically, we found
it could be quite complicated,

and we'd like the opportunity

to help you formulate how you
present the operation side.

Wh-what-what exactly
does that mean?

I'd like you both to consider

bringing on
a strategic partner.

Oh.

All right.

Have any of you ever

set one of your...
your handmade loafers

down in the hole
in the side of a mountain?

- No.
- No. We have.

Washoe has history.

We've done a fairly thorough
analysis of Washoe,

Mr. Wells, and we feel
like you need strategic help.

No. No way. No.
This is a new day, all right?

And Indonesia
is goddamn different.

We can help you get off
the side of that mountain.

I don't need any help

getting off the side
of the goddamn mountain.

I can land this plane.

I can!

Wells came and found me.

I was at a low point,
I have to admit.

It happens in this business,
ups and downs.

But he backed me
with his last cent,

and more than that,
he risked his life,

almost lost it, actually.

It was touch and go there
for a bit.

And now we have the bull
by its horns.

And, boys,
they're big fucking horns.

I've worked with the best,

and I can tell you Kenny Wells
is up there with them.

We're not by any stretch
of the imagination

suggesting at this moment
that anybody take a backseat.

- Just be open to strategic alliances.
- No fucking...

way!

It's a dime out of every one
of my dollars,

not your dollars!

I said no a second ago.

You want to invest?
We got the gold.

We can talk about it.

Don't need a fucking partner.
I know that.

You know,
there's something about...

finding gold...

that is so difficult
to put into words.

It's real difficult.

Taste of it on your tongue.

The feel of it
between your fingers,

it's... it's electric.

It's like a drug,

'cause it hooks you.

And it's precisely what you're
missing here in the city.

It's what makes it so hard for
us to have this conversation

because you have never felt it.

So I have a proposal for you.

Put together
your institutional players,

the guys who rep
the big money.

Whoever needs to kick
the tires on this thing.

I will take them
on a little trip up the river.

So... it was Acosta

who proposed
the-the junket in Kensana?

Or did you cook that up
together?

Oh, Jennings, you're...
you're not getting it.

Look, we-we didn't feel like
we had to cook up anything.

I mean, I had people
coming at me from all sides.

My-my neighbor, Hart Hubbard,

he's a lawn care
professional.

Usually only worried about
Kay's mulberry tree

leaning over
the back of his fence,

but now
he's dropping mining terms.

"Hey, Kenny, how's the grade
purity over there at Kensana?

I hear it's great.
How about the core frequency?"

Hart fucking Hubbard.
He mows grass for a living.

- We interviewed Mr. Hubbard.
- What I'm saying is we didn't

think we needed
to cook up anything.

Everybody wanted in.

So it was Acosta who proposed
the banker junket?

Yes.

It was a genius move.

Now, you get outside,

stick close to me
and hang on to your wallets.

Come on, come on.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Back, back, back, back, back,
back, back, back, back.

There he is.

Gentlemen, Mike Acosta.

Glen.

Acosta.

- Bobby.
- Acosta.

Jeff Jackson.

If any one of you
wants to turn back,

this is your chance.

What's that?

He's just messing with you.
Welcome to Indo, boys.

When we got the hit,

we stepped out
in a radiating pattern

and we kept going until
we had the definitive picture.

We're mapping
the underlying geology.

The cores are cut into
sections, and then crushed.

They are then bagged
and sealed.

This cage is guarded 24/7.

Under guard, the samples
are sent down river

to independent labs
in Kalimantan.

If a seal is broken
or damaged in any way,

the lab, by law, has to discard
the entire sample.

Every safeguard
has been put in place

to assure the security
of the process.

Diamond-tipped saw blades,
rock crushers.

Core samples being ripped
from the guts of the Earth.

It all sounds great, but...

...you boys want to see
some gold.

No one's going to believe
this shit.

So, what do you think?

Not sure. What about you?

Acosta seems to know
what he's talking about,

but, uh, I don't know.

Hey. Hey.

Come here, come here.

I think I...
I think I got something.

See this?

Few more like this,

you can pave Wall Street.

When Jackson
pulled that nugget out,

we had 'em.

Brown, Thomas is proud

to announce the public offering
of 27 million shares

of class A common stock

and the initial listing
of Washoe Mining

on the New York Stock Exchange!

We're all going to make
a lot of fucking money!

Welcome to the
Waldorf Astoria, ma'am.

We'll get your bags
right upstairs.

Kenny?

Are you here?

Baby?

Where are you?

Ah.

Oh, my goodness.

You surprised?

Yeah.

It's your favorite flower,
right?

Babe.

You look beautiful, Kay.

Come here.

I have missed you so much.

You have no idea.

Are these the softest sheets
you've ever felt?

- Yeah, you know, I think they are.
- Yeah.

- You want to get under 'em?
- Yeah.

Oh, hello, men.

Everyone, meet the lovely Kay.

- Brian. - Hi.
- Nice to meet you.

- Hollis. Kay.
- Hi.

- Pleasure.
- Nice to meet you.

- Stanton, you know.
- Hey.

The only man in this business
that sweats as much as I do.

All right, let's do this, huh?

Ah, there he is.

Mike Acosta, the one and only.

Mike, meet Kay.

Two of my favorite people
in the world.

You know this one stole
my watch to go meet you.

- You stole her watch?
- Oh, no, no, no. - No...

- I'm just teasing.
- She's just teasing.

- No, you're not.
- No, she's not.

No, I'm not.

I didn't know what time it...
I got to go.

It's so good to meet you, Mike.

- You must be very proud.
- Never doubted for a second.

Here we go!
Five!

Four! Three!

Two! One!

Yeah... baby!

I'm ringing the bell, baby!

In the story we've
been following very closely,

Washoe Mining

may be the stock of the year.

On their first day

on the New York Stock Exchange,
Washoe Mining

turned into
a rocket ship today.

- Hi. Great to meet you.
- Kenny. Mike. Come.

Oh.

No, I'm okay. Thank you.

This and the money
are in the genes.

How are you? Kenny Wells.
Good to meet you.

True fucking story.

Who at this table wants
to know the secret

to winning bets
at pro football?

- What's that?
- Take the east coast team

every fucking time.
You know why?

The west coast team... to them,
they're playing after midnight.

- Rachel Hill.
- Mm.

- Giants fan.
- Kenny Wells, Rachel.

So, what do you do, Rachel Hill?

- Investor relations.
- Mm.

Brown, Thomas.
On the team.

Cheers to that. You got to be
the best-looking one

on the team,
I'll tell you that.

It's like a drunk raccoon

got a hold
of the Hope diamond.

You don't want to get
too close,

but you're not going
to let it get away either.

- It's your raccoon.
- Mm.

You let it run a
multi-billion-dollar company?

What, and lose you as a client

and half the rest
of my business?

There's risks
and there's risks.

Still, it was
a good fucking day.

Now, who wants
to buy me a drink?

Three double shots of Jack.

So tell me, to go out
into the wilderness

with your bare hands

and discover something
that everybody wants...

...how does that feel?

I, uh... propose a toast.

Hear, hear.

To a small creature,
often misunderstood.

To the raccoon.

Well, fuck me.

River of gold.

The thing is,
if you don't watch it,

gold will grow on you.

- I can see that now.
- Mm.

- I don't want to talk about it.
- What did...

I wasn't doing anything.

I said I don't want
to talk about it!

Well, what the fuck
should I have done, huh?

Just bend her over the table
right there

and fucking banged her
in front of everybody?

You are too drunk
to get it up anyway.

I'll take that challenge, baby.

I don't care about you flirting
with Miss Pneumatic 1988.

You think I haven't seen
that shit before, Kenny?

She had tiny
little fucking titties.

You don't think
they were real?

No, none of this is real.
None of it.

Why are you fucking...

We made it!

- Shit.
- Baby, what the fuck?!

You know what
your problem is, Kay?

- No. Why don't you tell me.
- You've got no vision.

Right? Fucking vision.

Your vision starts right here,
and it goes to right here.

Right here
is the fucking kitchen sink,

and right here's
the goddamn parking lot

at the furniture store.

- Come on.
- You mean an actual job

that would support a person
in the place they live?

You mean that vision?

You know what? Fuck you.

- Ah, Kay, fuck me.
- Fuck you.

Fuck you. Fuck...
Wh-wh-what, what?

Don't you see
what's happening here?

Oh, great. Go...
Yeah, yeah.

Pack your shit, run back
to your shitty life, huh?

- You know what? I like my shitty life.
- Christ.

- It's mine.
- Fucking giving this up.

You always wanted
a broken bird, didn't you?

Said the right things,
but in here,

you never fucking believed
in me, did you?

You never believed in me,
did you, Kay?

Hmm? You like me losing,
don't you?

- How can you even say that?
- It makes you feel comfortable,

doesn't it?
Does it feel comfortable, Kay?

These people are using you.

- They don't care about you.
- I don't fucking...

And they certainly
don't believe in you.

- Yeah, but, Kay, I found gold.
- Goddamn...

Now we're winning, babe.

Would you just let me
have the win?

We're winning!

It ever occur to you
that I know what I'm doing?

I hope you do.

Huh?

I do.

- I love what's in there...
- Mm.

more than you'll ever know.

These guys are going
to tear you up.

Mm.

Don't ask me to watch
what happens next.

I know what I'm doing, Kay.

I know what I'm fucking doing.

What'd you do next, Wells?

What did I do?

I rode it.

I rode it, Jennings.

Another double.
Seagram's on the rocks.

Yes, sir.

And I'll have the same.

Oh, goddamn.
You don't have to impress me.

Reminds me of my childhood.

So how is everything

in the very enchanted world
of Kenny Wells?

I feel like a million bucks,

only a few hundred
times better.

That must be
a very nice feeling.

Yeah.
It looks like there's a...

a few other people around here
with a similar feeling.

Mm, maybe.

Maybe not.

How does someone
like yourself end up, uh, here?

I know Tom.

Tom is a friend.

- Oh, I bet he is.
- Now, now.

I stay with his cousin,
Timmy, down the lane.

Timmy's really quite
a character,

if you get to know him.

I don't know Timmy.

I don't really
feel like talking.

Let's just feel things.

Wells.

- Kenny Wells?
- Uh-huh.

Mark Hancock.

Seems I've caught you at a bit
of a disadvantage, Mr. Wells.

Depends on how you look at it.

Kenny goddamn Wells, Mark.

This is Rachel.

Oh, I know the lovely Rachel.

You know,
this son of a bitch here,

he controls more gold than
anybody on the goddamn planet.

With the possible exception now
of Mr. Wells.

This is how it happens, huh?

This is how it happens.

Goddamn.

What can I tell you?

- Kenny, it's a generous offer.
- It's a fucking joke!

Let's-let's take this...

This isn't a deal, Brian.
This is a goddamn rape.

- Listen... listen to me.
- No, no, this is mine!

It's mine! I-I found it!

Me and Mike.
We were the ones up to our ass

in the mud and the shit
and the malaria.

And this little prick
offers a minority partnership?

Kenny, let's keep
some perspective here, okay?

Whenever anybody offers
this amount of money,

it's a good day.

You may say yes,
you may say no,

but it's not like anybody's
trying to offend you.

Well, mission
goddamn not accomplished.

Hancock and Newport Holdings
have the expertise

and the experience
to bring this home.

- This was always there as a contingency.
- No, no.

- You know that.
- No, no, no.

This is when Washoe Mining
becomes a player,

right here,
right fucking now.

Not Mark fucking Hancock
and Newport Holdings.

I don't even see our name
on here, Brian.

You took our fucking name...

you took my name off it.

But if we take
a step back here,

wouldn't it not be terrible

to sit back
and enjoy your success?

"Wouldn't it not be terrible"?

What the fuck kind of way
of talking is that, Brian?

W-W-Wouldn't it not be terrible

if I bend over
and grab my ankles

so you could fuck me
up the ass?

You think you can buy me out
and take my name?

Or just throw Kenny Wells
to the fucking cornfield?

Fuck you, Brian.

If we hit pause for a second

and consider, without emotion,

I think you'll realize

that this is one of those
very rare moments

where, with a stroke of a pen,
no one in your family...

I'm talking your children's
grandchildren...

will ever have to worry
about money again.

You see these hands, Brian?

These are my father's hands.

I have scratched and clawed
through the hot earth

with these hands,

and I will bury you
with these hands.

Now, you go tell that silky
sable, Mark Hancock...

he works for Kenny Wells.

My fucking day.

My day!

You know,
I almost respect this guy.

That was a pretty foolish

business decision, wasn't it?

You're a foot away
from living in your car.

You turned down $300 million?

Over naming rights?

Yeah, I did.

Because Kensana would become
a Newport Mine, right?

And Mark fucking Hancock's
Midas touch continues.

Me, Kenny Wells,

the-the lucky bastard
who fell down drunk

and woke up
in a pile of cash. No.

It was my dream.

I dreamed it.

You sell your dream...

what do you have left?

Good morning, Stacy.
How are you today?

- Good.
- How's Ronnie? Good?

- Thank you.
- Okay. Mm. - Kenny.

Mike's on the line. Come on.

- Mike, hang on. Kenny... Kenny's here.
- Come on!

- It's Mike. It's a fucking shit-storm.
- Mm.

Mikey, what's up?

They're locking us out.

- They're what?
- They're locking us out!

The military's here.

They're taking over the mine.

What happened at your meeting
with Hancock?

What happened
at the meeting, Kenny?!

Listen, Mike, they-they
were trying to push us out.

Push us out? Wha-What
do you mean, push us out?

They took... they took
our names off it, Mike.

Mine and yours. They took
our fucking names off.

Aw, you fucking moron!

They can't... can't just revoke
the-the permit, all right?

They can't just steal it away.

Kenny, what?
What the fuck is going on?

Of course
they can revoke the permit!

Suharto can do
whatever the fuck he wants!

Hey! Hey!

- Mike!
- Kenny, what's going on?

- What the fuck is going on?
- Shh!

- Mike. Mike.
- Kenny, we lost the site.

I told you, man.

You knew exactly
who we were dealing with.

These people are killers.

Hancock first among them.

I told you, Kenny.

- Now it's gone.
- Uh...

So it turns out
that in addition

to having, um,
longstanding ties

with Suharto...

Newport Holdings
actually had on its board

a certain ex-president
of the United States.

Who was also...

in one of Suharto's weddings...

as a groomsman.

So you see, that whole time
they're telling me

how rich my grandkids
are gonna be,

they got a backup plan.

They're gonna pick my pocket
and steal it all away.

Washoe stock
was off nearly 50 points

at the opening bell
this morning

on news of the Suharto
government's revocation

of Washoe's exploration rights.

President and CEO,
Kenny Wells, has not...

All fucking con men.
They stole it's what they did.

They goddamn stole it.

Mm.

You're gonna need
to go home, Kenny.

Just pour me
a goddamn drink, Roy.

Go home, Kenny.

This is us.

We can't get to the phone...

Wrong number.

This is us.

We can't get to the phone
right now.

You know what to do.

Hey, hey, Kay.

It's me. Uh...

I-I-I-I guess you're not home,

you know, right now.

I was...
and I was just calling...

Honey, I really...
I want to hear your voice.

I s... I-I screwed up, Kay.

I want...
I wanted to build something.

Something real
that would last...

last for you and me and...

for Dad.

That's all I wanted to do.

But you were right, you know?

You were right.

Again.

I love you, Kay.

Mm, I'm gonna...
I'm gonna stop now.

I'm-I'm not gonna call...

I'm not gonna call you anymore.

Oh, my God, is that him?

Yeah, that's Acosta.

He looks different in person.

Isn't he supposed to be
in lndonesia?

Where is he?

Here you are.

Get up!

You don't own my fucking
company just 'cause you...

Quit fucking kicking me.

I didn't know who it was till
I heard the cocky fucking talk.

- Ah?
- Fucking moron.

Oh, yeah?
You're gonna fight?

Yeah? Yeah? Yeah?
Yeah, you want to fight?

Yeah, you want to fight now?

After losing
my fucking company?

You want to fight now?
Yeah, you want to fight?

Yeah? Yeah?

You know what they say?

That you're a drunk.

A clown.

Out of your league.

Yeah, well, fuck them.

Yeah, fuck them.

You know what? Fuck you, too.

You think I want to hear
from the fucking golden boy

standing there
in his golden glow

telling me how messed up
everything is? Huh?

No, go fucking back
to your perch

at the Jakarta Palace, huh?

Huh? You can use
that instinct of yours

to find some new strike
with some new people.

Is that what you think?

I know you, man.
You're Mike fucking Acosta.

Prick.

Okay.

Let me tell you
what really happened.

We're in North Sulawesi.

Monsoon season.

It's 1980.

Yeah.

The famous copper strike.

Only we was looking
for bauxite.

On my way to...
where I'm planning to drill,

I get us stuck.

Five feet of mud.

We're just sitting in the rain
day after day,

watching the metal rust.

What'd you do?

Under the theory
that it's better

to do something
than nothing, I...

reported... this was the spot.

Nowhere became somewhere.

The place you got stuck.

I got lucky.

I fucking love that.

You went looking for bauxite,
and you found copper.

I went looking for gold and...

found a friend.

That is
the single hokiest thing

I've ever heard in my life.

So, you got a plan?

Don't you?

So, get this.

Turns out Suharto had a son,

his youngest, Darmadi,

AKA Danny.

Bit of a screw-up,
real problem for the old man.

Mm, safe to say
we understood each other.

So, Suharto had been trying
to get Danny set up for years,

all right, but everything
Danny touched turned to shit.

Now, I figure
if we can bring Danny on board

as a partner,
maybe he could get Daddy

to change his mind
and swing things back our way.

Now, it was a Hail Mary
from our own one-yard line,

but it was all we had.

But it also didn't hurt

that Danny
had been regularly ignored

by a certain ex-president
of the United States

who was a groomsman
at his father's third wedding

and also happened to sit on
the board at Newport Holdings.

So, this guy goes
to a Cadillac dealership.

Right? Dealer comes out
and he says, "Sir,

are you thinking
about buying a Cadillac?"

He says, "No. I'm
definitely buying a Cadillac.

"What I'm thinking about...

is pussy."

Pussy.

Mm. Oh, shit.

Cadillac is...

pussy magnet.

You like Cadillacs.

Yeah!

Hey! Heads up, right there. Oh!

Ah...

I gotta ride shotgun.

Ha-ha!

President Gerald Ford,

- a tall man.
- Mm-hmm.

George H.W. Bush...

a very tall man.

Mm-hmm.

Mark Hancock...

also tall man.

My father...

small man.

Small in stature.

But... he loves his family.

Mine, too.

Yeah.

Died in the driveway bringing
in the groceries for my mother.

His heart.

Fuck, well,
it makes sense, huh?

To father of Wells.

85/15 split,

if you have the balls.

50/50, and I might consider it.

That's a fucking deal.

That's a deal
if you have the balls.

No balls, no deal.

Kenny...

...do you have balls?

- You asking me if I got fucking balls?
- Yeah.

Fuck, he has balls.

- Go in there?
- Mm-hmm.

- Fucking 85/15 fucking split?
- Mm-hmm.

No balls...

no deal.

Open it.

I'm touching a tiger.

I'll pull my cock out,
we go 60/40.

Ah, fuck you.

Mike, I'm touching
a tiger right between the eyes.

Hollis, what's going on?

You haven't heard?

Wells cut a deal.

A deal?
What are you talking about?

Who cut a deal with him?

Suharto.
The lndonesian government.

- What?
- Washoe retains 15% of the find.

The other 85 goes to a company
of Suharto's choosing,

which just so happens
to be owned by his son.

- Wells cut us off at the knees.
- What about Hancock?

He's out.
Can't compete at that number.

Deal's done, Brian.

Wells and Acosta are now
the only outside partners

in the biggest gold strike
in history.

We represent exactly none of it.

- 15% is a terrible deal.
- Is it?

What's 15% of $30 billion?

I can explain. You met him.

You'll be fine, Brian.

You'll land on your feet.

I was afraid you'd come home
with a bone in your nose

- or some such shit.
- How are we doing?

- Good, man.
- Hey, where's Kay?

- You didn't hear?
- Hear what?

She quit.

She got a promotion
out at the store.

- Assistant manager.
- Hey, Roy, turn that up.

Kenny Wells, right there!
It's on the news, man!

...massive gold strike,

fending off a takeover
by Newport Holdings.

Washoe shares are soaring...

Oh, yeah!

Soaring! Soaring!

Kenny!
Can I see you a minute?

What you got, Clive?

I just got a call.

The National Association
of Prospectors

is gonna honor you
with the Golden Pickaxe.

- You shittin' me?
- No, I'm not.

You are now the best miner
in the world.

And I'm sure somewhere
your daddy is smiling.

Well, goddamn, if he's not,
I can smile for the both of us.

Ah...

Where are you going?

Got to find someone.

Yeah?

Mike. I didn't think
you could make it.

Okay.

A thousand monkeys,
thousand horses...

uh...

and across and around...

I'm nervous.

You're gonna be okay.

"Every last one of us

"who calls the great state
of Nevada home...

"arrived here...

"with a dream.

"It was my great granddad
who came out here on a wagon.

"He had a horse
and he had two mules...

"when they
finally stopped moving

"and said...

'This is the place."'

Too much?

That's good.

Yeah.

...our own Kenny Wells!

Get up here, Kenny!

Thank you. Um...

My great granddad...

was one of us.

He came out here in a wagon
with two horses and a mule,

and, you know,
he crossed six states

before he slowed down,
and it was...

it was when he got here

that he finally pulled
those reins back and said...

"This is the place."

What is a prospector?

No, no, I'm...

Seriously, what...

What is a prospector?

It's someone who believes...

it's out there.

Who wakes up every morning,

again and again,
again and again...

...believing it's out there.

And then it's not.

- Right? It's not.
- Mm-hmm. - Mm-hmm.

And he's standing
on the edge of the desert,

staring a...

new day's sunrise
right in the eye, and...

and he hears that little voice,

a little voice that says...

"Go ahead.

Keep walking."

And the sun gets
higher and higher,

and it's shining down on him,
and he's really hot,

and he doesn't have

any water to drink,

and everybody that came
with him wants to turn back,

and eventually,
they do turn back,

and there he is.

And he's all alone.

With the belief...

...that it's out there, man.

It's out there.

That's a prospector.

That's a prospector.

Really great speech, son.
Just great. Great.

- To your daddy.
- To Mr. Wells!

Mm.

Yeah?

What?

Say-say again?

No, I-I don't understand.

Wait-wait.

Kenny, what's going on?

Kenny... what happened?

I don't know.

I'm going to find out.

I don't know any more than...

You're not gonna get away
with this!

Back the fuck off!

Kenny, please fix this!

What happened, huh?
What happened?

The independent assayer.

They couldn't reproduce
Mike's findings.

There's no gold.

Kenny, there's no goddamn gold.
There never was.

That's not possible.

The image on the left
is the type of gold

found in the Washoe samples.
This is river gold.

Notice how the edges
are rounded,

worn smooth
by the erosion of water.

What we should have found
is flake gold,

the sample on the right,

pulled directly from the rock,
rough-edged and angular.

That's a pretty darn big detail
to overlook,

wouldn't you say?

It's a big detail, but...
you have to understand,

everything else about
the Washoe samples was right.

But the gold was wrong.

It's called salting...
it literally means when someone

sprinkles gold dust
into a rock sample,

like you... salt your steak.

It is the oldest trick
in the book.

Oldest trick in the book?

And yet major
mining corporations,

investment banks, the auditors,

everyone was fooled.

We weren't fooled.

We just didn't look.

By all appearances,

Washoe's security protocol

were ironclad.

But... when the person

administering the security
is fraudulent,

the whole system goes down.

Right. Did he say...

wh-wh-where-where he was going?

Did he mention Jakarta?

I'll call you back.

The New York Stock Exchange
just suspended trading.

They've taken Washoe
off the board.

You sold some, right?

Yeah.

Of course.

Bobby.

I thought...

I thought it was just gonna
keep going up.

Damn it, Bobby,
I told you from the beginning

just put some away,
save a little bit just in case.

How many times
did I tell you that?

Kenny, did you know?

Did you know, Kenny?

Did I know?

I can't believe
you would ask me that.

I'm asking you that.
Did you know?

No, I goddamn
didn't know, Bobby.

Kenny.

- Kenny.
- What?

I don't even know how
to tell you this.

Just look.

Acosta was dumping stock.

- Mm.
- Shell companies.

Banks in the Philippines,
the fucking Azores.

Gibraltar.

Multiple layers, all offshore.

How much?

$164 million.

Okay, uh...

what are we gonna do?

I don't fucking
believe this. Hmm?

This is the FBI!

Step away from your desks!

Take two big steps
away from your desks!

Do not touch anything!

How much money
was lost in the fraud,

- that we know of?
- Oh, billions.

Large institutional investors

- lost billions of dollars.
- So one

or maybe both of them,

two outsiders, took everybody
on Wall Street for a ride?

Yeah, it really looks
like they did.

- Yeah.
- And Acosta has vanished?

With hundreds of millions
of dollars.

Kenny Wells has always
maintained his innocence,

that he was duped
along with everyone else.

Given that,
what do you make of this?

Kenny Wells,
a fool or a mastermind?

It's a very good
question, Roger.

Um...

Mike-Mike Acosta was my friend
and, uh, my partner.

Um...

...and he-he betrayed me.

I-I know as CEO
of Washoe Mining

it's my responsibility to know

everything that's going on,
and I... I didn't.

It's not an excuse.

All right?
I sincerely apologize

to everybody and anybody
that lost on their investments.

Come on, Mike.

Mikey, come on in, man.

All right?

What happened, huh?

- Howard.
- I saw you on TV.

- Hey, man, can I talk to you for a minute, please?
- No.

Look, I just want to know
where my money went.

- Come on! - Don't know anything about it, okay?
- Mr. Wells,

Mr. Wells, exactly when
will you be departing?

Uh, later. A few days or so.
I'll let you know.

- We just need to talk about your bill, sir.
- I'll be down.

We'll settle it up.

Do I need a lawyer?

Do you need a lawyer?

Right answer.

How'd you meet Michael Acosta?

The, uh, first time
or the second time?

How'd you meet him, Wells?

It was April... of '88.

Yeah, I was
on the balls of my ass.

Scrambling.

Not exactly uncharted waters
for me, but...

I was in deep.

I think it's pretty unlikely

we'll ever see
your partner again.

- What are you talking about?
- A lot of very powerful people

are very angry
at Michael Acosta.

Well, what happened?

What happened?

$17 billion of value
disappeared overnight.

Mike Acosta
waves good-bye to you

in the ballroom downstairs
and goes back to lndonesia

on a jet chartered
with Washoe funds.

And then he does
a disappearing act.

But this you know.

First, he's locked out
of the assay lab in Kalimantan

by the minister
of the interior.

- So he goes back to Jakarta...
- Mr. Acosta,

please walk with with me.

...where he's
immediately detained

by the Indonesian military.

And they hold him

while they try to reproduce
for themselves

the lab results claimed
by Washoe.

Which, of course,
they are unable to do.

Now, at this point,

either he's being transferred
to an actual prison, or...

he's bribed
one of the officers.

Either way,

he's on a military helicopter.

They fly north, loosely
tracking the Kensana River.

A thousand feet up,
over the Kensana...

Mike Acosta takes a header.

No way.

No fucking way.

He either faked it,

or he paid to have
this-this bullshit story

you're telling put out.

$164 million goes a long way
in lndonesia.

They found a body.

Hands and face were eaten away,

probably by wild pigs.

Sure this is him?

I'm not sure of anything...

except Mike Acosta traded
water filters for river gold.

But now
the Indonesian government

have gone unusually quiet

on the subject.

There was an autopsy

corroborating the identity
of the body.

They then sealed the report...

...cremated the remains.

Interestingly,
Danny Suharto, your friend...

dumped a lot of stock as well.

So the Suhartos
are even richer now.

Mike Acosta is ostensibly
dead and buried, and...

$164 million is still missing.

And the only question...

I'm left with is...

whether or not
you were in on it.

I...

- I can't believe it.
- Can't believe what?

No, look, th-this business...

had written Mike off
years ago, all right?

They called his theories crap.

But...

there's no way.

He wouldn't,
he fucking couldn't

let this be
the last word on him.

- No fucking way.
- You talking about Acosta or yourself?

All right, look. We-we-we were
running out of money, right?

And I was practically dying
from malaria.

I gave Mike
the last dollar to my name.

And I made him promise me
something, I said, "Mike...

don't let me die out here
for nothing."

A few weeks later,
I came to, and...

Mike was there.

He said, "We got...

"we got a strike, Kenny.

We got a goddamn gold mine."

And th-there's no way that
he set out to swindle anyone.

He just needed
to buy a little more time.

And he didn't want
to let me down.

- You're fuckin' lyin'.
- Levine, sit down!

You want to talk
about the truth?

All right,
let's talk about the truth.

The only truth here is,
when everybody's getting rich,

nobody gives a shit
about the truth.

Come the fuck on.
All anyone had to do was look,

open their eyes.

Man, the-the gold was wrong,
the find was too good.

There were red flags
everywhere.

Why did no one look?

'Cause no one wanted
to fucking know.

We all wanted to believe.

Me, you,
fucking everybody. Why?

Because we were all making
so much fucking money, man.

That's the truth.

That's been going on
for fucking centuries!

Oh, fuck...

Were you aware Mike Acosta
was salting

- the Washoe core samples?
- No.

You had no knowledge

Mike Acosta
was perpetrating a fraud?

- No.
- You were not in collusion

with Mike Acosta
on the Kensana gold strike?

No, man, I fucking thought
I won the lottery.

Did you profit
from the Kensana fraud?

- No.
- Did anyone close to you profit?

My friends lost money.

My neighbors lost money.

Me...

I lost everything.

You know
what the truth of it is?

I never really cared
about money.

I cared about gold.

And it's different, Jennings.

It's fucking different.

Interview terminated
with Kenny Wells...

45 a.m.,

October 17, 1988.

Interview conducted by myself,

Paul K. Jennings,
special agent.

Also present,
agents Levine and Banks,

Federal Bureau of lnvestigation,

district of Nevada, Reno.

Mr. Kenny Wells...

...you are free to go.

Well, lookee there.

Somebody believes me.

I wouldn't go overboard.

In fact,
I wouldn't leave the state,

or start buying new stuff
or chartering

- any more jets.
- I gotta sneak by the guy

at the front desk 'cause
I can't pay the hotel bill.

I can't be a party
to that information.

Good luck, Mr. Wells.

We'll be keeping an eye on you.

What are you gonna do now,
Wells?

Hey, Kenny.

I-I'm still worried
about that mulberry

- over the back fence.
- Yeah. I know, Hart.

It's good to see you.

Good to see you, too, Kenny.

Can I come in?

- You want coffee?
- Yeah, sure.

This place looks great.

So do you, Kay.

I made curtains.

From that fabric.

Hmm.

Some stuff came for you,
some mail.

What?

What is it?