McMillions (2020): Season 1, Episode 6 - Episode 6 - full transcript

This morning, the Federal Bureau
of Investigation

arrested eight individuals
for their involvement

in a nationwide scheme
to defraud McDonald's

and its customers.

(CASH REGISTER DINGS)

The question was still ongoing.

How did he get the game pieces?

WOMAN: He did not cooperate
for the fact

that his lawyers would not
allow him to.

We were preparing for a war.

We didn't know if
Dittler Brothers was involved.



There might be somebody there
inside.

The FBI shut everything down
and started gathering evidence.

WOMAN: Jacobson was not
a McDonald's employee.

He was in fact an employee
of Simon Marketing.

The FBI showed up
and shut us down.

One bad apple wrecked the lives
of so many people.

MAN: The only reason
he got caught was because

he pissed somebody off
and somebody went to the FBI.

FRANK COLOMBO:
I know who broke the case.

I'm not sure
if I feel comfortable

saying who broke the case.

INTERVIEWER: Do you know
who the informant is?

I do.

-INTERVIEWER: Are we--
-Next question.



[bright tone]

[birds chirping]

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- I'm just gonna tell you
the whole story.

So I had the $50,000 debt
because of the taxes.

I was screwed.

Jerry's dead.
I'm left holding the bag.

♪ ♪

And I mean, I don't have
$50,000 for the IRS.

I'm not going down like that.

I was just thinking,

"Okay, I gotta
do something here.

I gotta do something."

♪ ♪

I called the IRS,

and I said, "Listen,

"I know you know I owe $50,000,

but I have a story for you."

So I told the IRS
the whole story verbatim.

♪ ♪

Now, it might've been
a year later,

my accountant,
we were talking, and...

he said, "You know,

you're the reason
why all this went down."

I said, "What?"
He said, "Yeah."

Because they reported it
to the FBI or whomever

and it just busted wide open
after that,

but I had no idea.

All I was trying to do was get
myself out of a $50,000 debt.

♪ ♪

And the next thing I knew,

everybody
is being investigated.

I was kind of scared
coming out with this.

I didn't want anything
to happen to me,

'cause I've come a long way,

and I don't wanna
ever go back.

And so I was kind of hesitant
about this whole mess.

And I mean, 'cause when
you're quiet for so long

about things
that took a turn

and you didn't know
why it took a turn,

then you found out

that you're the reason
that it made the turn,

that really--you know,
I don't know what.

It just made me be more quiet,
you know what I mean?

♪ ♪

- It does, but I don't like
that adjective.

I don't like that,
because in my mind,

I never even knew
that I was the one.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[doorbell chimes]

- He was not at his
Lawrenceville home today,

the man neighbors here
have jokingly nicknamed...

- Called him the Hamburglar.

- The FBI says 58-year-old
Jerome Jacobson

was the ringleader who kept...

- There was a lot of publicity
on this case at the time.

There was an enormous amount
of publicity.

- The press was all around
the house, on the streets.

- I'd get phone calls
continuously.

All hours of the night,
they would call.

- Jacobson provided
the winning game pieces

to his friends and associates,
who acted as recruiters.

- We were totally exhausted.

It just took so much energy
to get out in the public.

- The FBI believes
those recruiters

passed on the tickets to other
friends and relatives.

- So we had this big buildup
of the case

in anticipation of the trial.

- Eight people who worked
for the company

that runs McDonald's games
like Monopoly

and "Who Wants
to be a Millionaire?"

are under arrest, charged
with rigging the games...

- People who run the
McDonald's Monopoly game...

- If you're just tuning in,

breaking news here
on 1010 WINS.

A plane has crashed
into the World Trade Center.

Uh, this happening just
a matter of minutes ago.

♪ ♪

- After 9/11, you know,
everything changed.

So this McDonald's story
just vanished.

- It did very quickly
get eclipsed.

All right, we're under attack.

And you kind of
snapped out of it.

- The world changed,

and what went
from being a case

that the entire office
and others

were, you know,
feverishly working on

kind of went back to primarily
just Doug and Rick.

Many, many of us were,
you know, immediately changed.

You were now a terrorism agent

and working, you know,
all day, all night on that.

[birds chirping]

- We didn't put any local
stories on the front page

for, like, four months,

so even if we had updates,

they were going
back of the paper.

So it just kind of
vanished here

and then vanished off
the front pages everywhere.

♪ ♪

- After 9/11,
the McDonald's was a memory.

Everybody forgot about it.

Except the FBI
and the Justice Department.

[chuckles]

They--you know, they proceeded.

♪ ♪

- The trial was here
in Jacksonville

here in this building.

It lasted three weeks,

and it was almost like
a couple trials within a trial

because once we have

the overall scheme,

then had to place evidence

just upon
each of the defendants.

You have those grand hopes of
being a million-dollar winner.

- Devereaux says Jacobson
pocketed those pieces

and, in exchange
for a cut of the prize,

gave them
to friends and relatives.

- Mark is, at that stage,
coming on very strong

with lots of threats

about the consequence
to our client

and the terrible situation
our client was in

and how much time
he was gonna get, and...

generally we don't
respond favorably to threats.

♪ ♪

- It was pretty clear

that Mark Devereaux
was coming full force.

- I always love wiretaps

because you just bring in
the little recorder

and you push play
and there's this client--

not only
is he making a confession.

You are listening live

to your client
committing the crime.

♪ ♪

- Mark was like the bulldog

that bit the tire of the truck

and couldn't let go,

and ultimately

I sicced Janice on him.

- [chuckles]

- And she eventually
brought him around.

♪ ♪

- Ultimately it's all up to
how you will define victory.

In this case, it wasn't trial,
but it was

working through what was best
for him plea-wise.

We ended up
working out something

that was definitely livable
and favorable for our client

from a very difficult position
to start with.

- [chuckles] Right.
- So, you know--

- We didn't have much
of a defense.

♪ ♪

- According
to federal investigators,

Jacobson has pleaded guilty
to taking those pieces

and giving them to friends
and family to redeem.

- Once we made our deal
and Jerry pled guilty,

then he became kind of the
instrument of the prosecution.

- Because Jerry
began cooperating,

the prosecutor did agree
to do a motion to the court

for reduction based
on substantial assistance.

- But you are totally
at their discretion.

They could suck you dry
for information

and then not help you.

♪ ♪

- We had eight original
individuals who were indicted,

which turned into 53 people.

And out of the 53
that were there,

everybody pled
but seven people

who decided to go to trial.

They didn't plead because
they didn't like Devereaux's,

you know,
aftershave or some crap.

It's because we had them.
That's why.

♪ ♪

- They got me
on one count of mail fraud,

and I pled
to the one count because...

I did it; I did it.

- These people
that I gave tickets to

did not know I lied to them.

So they really--
they got screwed.

But once you plead guilty,
it's too late.

But that's the mentality

of people who never been
in trouble.

You just get so scared.

It's like you're gonna
lose everything you have,

you're gonna go to jail, and...

somebody's gonna be
screwing your wife, and...

you know, your kids--they're
not gonna know you anymore

and stuff like that.

And guys get scared, so that's
why they plead guilty,

to get it over with.

♪ ♪

- My plan at the time was
to enter a plea of not guilty,

so that's what I did.

If you have no knowledge

of a conspiracy or a crime,

you can't be guilty.

♪ ♪

- Seven went to trial.

Two, following
my opening statement,

ended up changing their pleas

from not guilty to guilty

because they didn't realize

the evidence was
more than compelling.

♪ ♪

The light at the end
of the tunnel

was a train coming at them,

and they wanted
to get out of the way,

so they pled guilty.

[train wheels grinding]

♪ ♪

Certainly it was a crime

when Jacobson
stole that game piece.

But then you had
the fraudster,

and the fraudster is the one
turning in that game piece

and saying
that he or she won it

according to these rules.

♪ ♪

Part of the government's
theory was that McDonald's

have been defrauded
by folks like George Chandler

because they had violated
the game rules.

♪ ♪

Game rules, you know,
in a federal court of law,

the federal statutes apply--

mail fraud and whatnot.

I have never tried a case
where the "law"

is the game rules
of a hamburger company.

- You literally have
a federal prosecutor

suggesting that if you broke
the McDonald's game rules,

you must be a criminal.

- There were those
that would really question,

"Well, why are you even
prosecuting it?

It was just a game."

There's a difference
between a law

and rules of a game.

But even if an individual
was tricked

and their friend
was telling them,

"Why don't you do this?

You act like
you're the winner,"

well, you committed fraud
because you deceived,

you tricked Ronald McDonald
into letting go of money.

What gave
the federal government

the ability to prosecute this

was that they used
the United States mail.

If you have a scheme

to trick somebody
out of property or money

and you use
our United States mail...

That's a crime.

♪ ♪

- The government
dug its heels in on that

and took the position that

if someone found
that game piece on the street

and cashed it in, they'd be
committing a federal crime.

But the McDonald's witnesses
called by the government

admitted
on cross-examination that

there's nothing that prohibits
a transfer of a ticket.

So St. Jude could get a ticket
given to them as a gift.

George Chandler can
get the ticket by buying it

or having it handed to him.

All that was perfectly lawful.

- Now, of course,

the defense made a big deal
of St. Jude, saying, "See?

"McDonald's didn't even
follow the rules--

didn't follow their own rules."

They did follow the rules.

McDonald's gave St. Jude's
Hospital a $1 million donation

as a gesture
of goodwill and fairness.

♪ ♪

- I don't think
the average person

would think,
if they got a game piece

from somebody else,

by most any circumstance,

that they were doing
anything wrong,

even though
they were telling a lie.

It wasn't a crime.

- They didn't know, though,
that the piece was stolen.

It's like the difference
of buying a car that's stolen

versus, "Oh, look,
I got a really good deal."

And had they known,
I would suspect many of them,

if not all of them,
wouldn't have bought it.

♪ ♪

- I was a witness
for the U.S. government

for Mark Devereaux.

I remember a question
that Devereaux asked me.

He said, "When did you find out
the game pieces were stolen?"

I said,
"You told me they were stolen."

[chuckles]

If he could have come up
and punched me at that time,

he probably would have.
[chuckles]

But he stepped right into it,
'cause it was the truth.

♪ ♪

Jerry had never told anyone.

No one in the whole process

knew that he was stealing
the game pieces.

People said, "Well, how?
You gotta be kidding me.

I mean, you know that"--
you know.

No.

I knew Jerry
was doing something wrong,

selling the game pieces.

But the reality is,

I think he had the right to
place them wherever he wanted.

He was just taking money
for 'em.

- There's only one witness
that could say

what George Chandler knew,

and that was his foster father,
Mr. Dwight Baker.

And he told the jury
in substance that,

"I hoodwinked George Chandler."

And Dwight Baker made it clear
to the jury

that George was not a member
of the conspiracy.

He said that.
Sworn testimony.

The FBI did a wiretap
for two months.

Hundreds and hundreds
of phone calls.

Not one word
about George Chandler

having any complicity
and knowledge

of tickets being stolen
or embezzled.

The judge agreed with us,

and he announced that he was
gonna add a jury instruction

that the juries
could not convict

unless Chandler knew
the ticket was stolen

or unlawfully obtained.

We knew then
we should win the case.

[birds chirping]

- Well, today
the Lawrenceville man

who admitted fixing
the McDonald's Monopoly game

a few years ago
testifies in federal court.

Jerome Jacobson
took the winning tickets

while working
as head of security

for the company
that ran the game

and that he hired
recruiters...

- The obvious question

and one of the things
that was important

for us to present
to the jury was,

how in the world could he,
Jerome Jacobson,

steal winning pieces
from the fortress

that was Simon Marketing
and Dittler

while he was being accompanied

by a lady
from an accounting firm?

How did he do it?

♪ ♪

- When I put a witness
on the stand,

especially like Mr. Jacobson,

I try
to do the defense's job

before I let the defense do it,
telling them, basically,

"Mr. Jacobson,
you're a thief,"

and make him admit that.

I don't want the jury thinking
that I'm some friend of his,

'cause I'm not a friend
of Mr. Jacobson.

Just tell the truth.

What'd you do?

♪ ♪

- The way this would work
is that, you know,

the airports
were a big hub for him.

It's how he got around.

And he would utilize
the frequent-flier lounges,

the crown rooms, you know.

He would frequent those a lot.

♪ ♪

Hilda Bennett was accompanying
Jerry Jacobson,

but she is not

walking into the men's
bathroom facility with him.

- Hilda's supposed
to be with him at all times.

She was never, ever,
under any circumstances,

to give the briefcase
full of winning tickets

to Jerry and Jerry alone.

[toilet flushes]

♪ ♪

The briefcase
had combinations on it.

Jerry had his combination.

Hilda had hers.

♪ ♪

And somehow he found out
her combination.

♪ ♪

He had to look
over his shoulder at Simon

like he did at the vault

and get the combination.

♪ ♪

- He said he went into a stall
where he had privacy

and he just opened up
the briefcase.

[locks click]

The game pieces
were in an envelope

that was sealed with a sticker

that if you remove
the sticker,

it would show
that it was removed.

- This is before 9/11.

He'd take
a little penknife...

Open it up,

take those game pieces.

He knows one of them

is a winning million-dollar
game piece.

♪ ♪

- He brought commons with him

so that it would have the
right amount of pieces on it,

'cause on the outside
of the envelope, it would say,

"37 pieces."

So he couldn't take
the winners out.

It wouldn't be 37 anymore.

So he had to bring some
to replace it.

- For some reason,
no idea why,

he got sent these--

the stickers that went
on the envelopes.

He got a sheet of them
sent to him by mistake.

- You know,
he showed me the envelope.

Had that little
silver hologram on it.

He said,
"Nobody can get into these

"because this is sealed and
it's got a special mark on it

if anybody tries
to get into it."

- So he would
close the envelope

and put on a new sticker,
and nobody was the wiser.

♪ ♪

But had he not gotten
those stickers,

he never could've done this.

♪ ♪

[gavel banging]

- I mean, nobody
suspected that,

and that's how he did it.

♪ ♪

- After he stole
all the game pieces,

he would end up going
to these factories

and making a big play.

"Ladies and gentlemen,
please see,

"here is the seed pack

"which contains one
of the winning game pieces.

"Please, everyone, look at it

"to ensure that it has not
been tampered with.

"Look, I take my job
so seriously,

I even wear
a bulletproof vest."

And everybody's thinking,

"Wow, this guy is, like,
going really overboard."

But it was all a show.

- The biggest break
in the chain to me

was the security auditor,
Hilda.

But I can't
totally blame her

because I've seen a lot of
people not stand up to Jerry.

They'd let him
take a little pass

rather than go in
for a confrontation.

- Our first thought was,

the two of them had to be
in cahoots with one another.

How else could it work?

I wanna get two really good
interviewers on here

'cause I wanna know
once and for all,

is she involved?

Is she not involved?

- So we interviewed
Hilda Bennett

and the other people
from the CPA firm.

They weren't involved.

We had no money trading hands.

Nothing to show that they were,
you know, a part of the scheme.

- Thinking, "My God, how could
you not be involved?"

But she turned out to be,
you know, an honest lady

and just, you know,
got had by Jerry

like he did everybody else.

- I think he told me
at some point, he goes,

"Yeah, and these CPA firms
that we're hiring to follow me

"and, you know,
'legitimize' this process,

they're a bunch of idiots."

As he coined it as,

"I'm stupid, but I was smarter
than those guys."

[laughs]

[seagulls cawing]

- We're near the end of nearly
six hours of closing arguments

in which defense attorneys
have tried to convince the jury

that their clients
are victims too.

They say they were played

just like everyone else
in this scam.

George Chandler's lawyer
insists

his client thought he was
helping his foster father

hide assets
during a sticky divorce.

This case goes
to the jury next,

and what they have to decide

is whether they have
any reasonable doubt

any of these guys intended
to be part of a scam.

- Until trial,
Jerry had never told anyone

that he had actually went
into the bathroom

and changed out the game pieces

and was stealing
the damn things.

He never told anybody.

In order for it
to be a crime,

you have to have knowledge
that it's stolen.

No one knew.

♪ ♪

- When the jury gave
their verdict to the judge,

there was kind of a...

respectful
but pregnant silence.

♪ ♪

And then the judge said,

"Guilty."

♪ ♪

It confirmed my worst fear...

♪ ♪

And that was hard.

It was difficult.

♪ ♪

- When you put 12 people
together in that box,

it's something magical.

And I'm not saying anybody
is a lie detector,

but most of us can,
after a while,

go, "You know, that just
doesn't pass the smell test."

♪ ♪

We're very pleased
with the verdict.

I think this shows that

there's no easy way to
make money but to work hard.

And I think it shows
that fraud is not a game

and fraud is just thievery.

Thanks a lot.

♪ ♪

- George never wavered,
nor did I,

in our belief
in his innocence,

and we went right to work
to put together

a comprehensive motion
for judgment of acquittal.

- We knew we would appeal,

but that doesn't
change the fact

that you've been found guilty.

♪ ♪

I remember coming home

and talking to Russell
about the verdict.

I remember Russell asking me...

♪ ♪

If I was gonna have
to go to jail.

And I didn't know
how to answer him.

- I didn't think
he was serious.

I was like--I was like,

"You're not serious."

- You know, all you think
about at ten years old is

going behind bars--
you see all these bars on TV,

and that's jail to you.

♪ ♪

I was definitely afraid
for him.

Am I gonna get
to see my dad anymore?

Am I gonna get to see him
for the next ten years?

Is he going away for life?

It's heart-wrenching for sure,
'cause you wanna say,

"Well, Daddy,
when am I gonna see you?

What do you have to do?"

You don't--you don't know.

♪ ♪

- And he loved up to me,
and I took him under my arm,

told him it was
gonna be all right

and we'd--we'd get through it

and...

Tell him not to worry,

that...

That the truth would
eventually win the battle.

♪ ♪

- Robin Lisa Colombo took part
in a nationwide scheme

to steal the game winnings.

The maximum penalty of
a single count of mail fraud

is five years in prison
and a $250,000 fine

along with restitution.

- 18 months.

♪ ♪

- Because of my past record,
you know,

they were throwing out
all kind of numbers,

ten years and this,

but when we went for
sentencing, the judge said,

"That was so long ago.

We'll forget about that."

He gave me the year and a day.

- The judge, he gave me
six months of ankle brace

and then 12 months'
probation.

♪ ♪

- I wore an ankle bracelet,
yes, sir, for two years.

Two years' house arrest
and probation.

- When I was
in the courtroom that day,

I was thinking to myself,

"I'm gonna be going to jail,

"and I gotta make plans
for my son

"to figure out who gonna be

the best person
for him to stay with."

♪ ♪

He said,
"We're not gonna lock you up.

I said,
"Well, that's a good thing."

♪ ♪

My full sentencing was that
I had to pay restitution.

My house is still--
has a lien on it,

but it was a sigh of relief

that I'd be able
to be home with my child

and to take care
of my own child.

♪ ♪

- White-collar crimes
notoriously

do not get high sentences.

If they haven't committed
another crime,

they have no priors,
and they cooperate,

they may only get
two years' imprisonment.

♪ ♪

- Jerry Jacobson got
the most severe sentence.

It was approximately
three years.

- He pled guilty,

received a 37-month sentence,
I think.

And I would consider that
a victory.

- He should've got more.

It just doesn't square up
to me,

but again, like I said,
I'm just an agent.

Most agents probably
believe that,

so we're glad
we don't wear the robe.

- 37 months in prison,

particularly
with somebody who has MS,

is not exactly
an easy sentence either.

A night is a long time
in prison.

- [chuckles]

The sympathetic heart
of a criminal defense lawyer.

♪ ♪

- As part of Jerry's sentence,

he was ordered to pay,
I think,

somewhere in the neighborhood
of $12 million in restitution

and, I believe, forfeiture
as well.

- It was more
than he could pay.

And so at a certain point,
it becomes...

irrelevant.

[cell door clanks shut]

- When I went to jail,

you meet
with the unit manager,

and he says,
"You owe $3 1/2 million."

I said, "Yeah."

He said, "Do you have it?

I said,
"Yeah, it's in my locker.

"I brought it in with me.

Maybe if you come and help me,
we could carry it in here."

[chuckles]

To this day,
I pay $160 a month.

- Tomorrow.

Tomorrow.
[chuckles]

♪ ♪

- [yelps]

[sighs]

[sniffles]

Ugh, these heels.

I've had a crazy journey,
really,

after Jerry, my husband, died.

I was a shell of a woman.
It was horrible.

I couldn't eat.
I couldn't do nothing.

So I didn't wanna
be here no more.

[sniffles and groans]

So I...

I took a lot of pills.

[melancholic music]

I told Jerry, I said,
"I'll see you soon."

♪ ♪

That should've killed me.
That didn't.

♪ ♪

Jerry had a lot of faults.

I know he cheated on me.
I know he lied.

♪ ♪

But he was also my mediator,
you know,

my middleman
that kept me from...

the family,
from people hurting me.

♪ ♪

He always took my side.
[sniffles]

I can't find my--
Where's my lighter?

♪ ♪

Colombos,
I knew they'd blame me.

How could you not?

I'm the driver.

I would.

You blame everybody.
You blame God.

You blame--you know.

[sniffles]

So...

- When my mother went
to prison after Jerry died,

it ended up becoming a...

big war between

my family and the Colombos.

- See Mommy.
- See Mommy.

- They ended up
keeping my brother,

who's three years old
at the time.

- Hi, camera.
Hi, camera.

- I would call them
all the time,

trying to get him.

They would never
let me see him.

♪ ♪

- I was in prison,
counting the days

until I'm gonna
see my damn son.

And Monopoly put me back
in prison.

♪ ♪

I lost my son, my husband.

I was losing my freedom again.

I didn't know
what I was gonna do.

[sniffles]

[sniffles]

[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- He never once apologized,
ever, for doing it,

first of all.

I don't think he's regretting
anything he did.

[scoffs] He pulled off
a $20 million McDonald's scam.

He's famous, almost, you know?

You're doing a movie about him.

♪ ♪

- Talking about
the consequence,

I remember
his remorsefulness and grief

when he realized that other
people were being charged.

He didn't imagine
that could happen.

[indistinct chatter]

[laughter]

- We did not realize
what it was going to do

at the time
that Jerry was caught.

Our people were all vilified.

We did nothing wrong.

We were doing...

- We're doing our job.
- As we were supposed to.

- We were just doing our job.
- That's it.

♪ ♪

- After they announced

the closing of the plant
to everybody,

we had no choice.

You didn't get a severance
or anything.

You were just terminated,
basically.

You would be amazed
at the reaction and the emotion

you saw in a lot of the people.

Some of them
just busted out crying.

- So we all
lost our jobs because...

- Basically yeah.
- This place disappeared.

[chuckling]
There is no Dittler Brothers.

- It just all came
crashing to an end

because of one person.

- It hurt a lot of people.

I would hope he feels bad just
because we built friendships.

- I remember the joke around,
you know,

they wished he would
come back up here

and sit in the lobby

and just everybody,
as they walk by, slap him.

- I think he would've
needed protection

if he came back up
to the plant,

'cause he was just--

What he done over ten years...

♪ ♪

- He has never once mentioned

all the chaos and destruction

that he caused
with his little project,

and he didn't even seem
to think about it.

- He has a variety of thoughts
about why he did it,

but basically he said it was
utter stupidity on his part.

♪ ♪

- Jerry and I were married

from 1973 until '76.

Let's put it this way:

it went from worse
to unbearable.

♪ ♪

When a child
is brought up a certain way,

they wind up a certain way.

He never felt worthy of much.

He was raised without money,

and he felt like he played
second fiddle to Marvin

because Marvin was getting
the financial support.

♪ ♪

- We were--we were friends,
but...

[clicks tongue]

We're not brothers,
if that's a word you wanna say.

No, there are no fun stories.

There are no fun stories, no.

♪ ♪

- At some time in his life,
he decided,

"I want what
all these other people have."

He wanted people
to look up at him

for his prestige,

the money that he had
in the bank,

so he could suppress
all the negative feelings.

♪ ♪

And he achieved
what he wanted to.

He had money.
He had status.

He had everything...

♪ ♪

But then paid dearly for it.

♪ ♪

He may be remorseful,
but he also may think,

"Well, I did have it once."

- Scarlet, McKinley, Russell,

Taylor, Pruitt!

- What?
- Hey, hey!

[buzzer blares]

Wake up!

You should--
you can't wear that.

- Why?

- It's church, Pruitt.

It's church, the Lord's house.
Come on.

I knew the odds
of winning the appeal

were very, very slim.

I was just sentenced
to probation,

so I remember thinking...

"What's the point?"

But I wanted to appeal
because I--

I needed justice to be served.

♪ ♪

Okay.
We ready?

Let's roll.
Load up.

We wanna head this direction.

When I was convicted,
Mark Devereaux,

he knew that the evidence
was overwhelming

that I was not involved
in a conspiracy.

- Mr. Chandler certainly
didn't have clean hands.

He was willing
to take money

from a lady that should
possibly get 50%

of whatever the money is
through a divorce.

He was lying to McDonald's,
willing to do that too.

- Course, there was no wife.

That was all a phantom story.

The appeal that we wrote
disagreed and said

that type of approach
is really

standing criminal law
on its head.

But the percentage
of criminal convictions

that get reversed
by the 11th Circuit

is down around 2%,

so we felt were right,

but being right doesn't always
mean that you win.

♪ ♪

The court of appeals
agreed with us.

We won the appeal in 2004.

You know, the world
was now making sense again.

♪ ♪

- Yeah,
I was eventually acquitted.

The problem was, I still lost
a lot of people's trust,

and that hurts.

And that's--there's real
damage there, you know,

real and lasting
and permanent damage.

♪ ♪

For a long time,
I was angry with Dwight.

I felt violated.

Dwight was my friend.

I trusted him,

and I looked up to him.

- Hey, George.
- Hey, Dwight. How are you?

- How's the family?

- They're all good.

I told Dwight,
"I forgive you."

"I'm not angry with you
anymore."

♪ ♪

- I would never want anybody

to go through the pain
and the hell that...

the people
that've been involved

because of my behavior
have had to go through.

You pay for some bad choices.

And the sad part is,

everybody around you pays
for your bad choices.

♪ ♪

[laughter]

- He split it with you.
- Yeah.

- [laughs]

- We all make mistakes.

He shouldn't be faulted for it
the rest of his life.

♪ ♪

You know, it's hard
to move on sometimes.

You can't ever quite get back
to normal,

but you can forgive and you
can extend grace to people.

♪ ♪

- I just wanted
to do better in life

and didn't think
of all the repercussions

that was involved.

I did a crooked deed,
and I've been knocked down.

♪ ♪

Just get up and keep moving.

And that's what I did.

♪ ♪

Probation officer told me
as far as Robin was concerned,

no contact at all.

Told her that I'm not gonna

associate myself with her,

that I don't need
no more trouble.

[knock at door]

Just recently...

- Who is it?

- I saw her for the first time
since all of this happened.

- Ahh!
Hey, hey.

- What's up, girl?
- My friend.

- The first thing I'm gonna
get you is a louder doorbell.

[laughter]

We're like night and day.

I don't know--we just grew
to be friends for some reason,

you know?

I mean, she's a good person.

She really is.

- You want a cup of coffee?
- A half a cup.

- [chuckles]

♪ ♪

Once we all got indicted,
I was the asshole.

I was an outcast
because I got them involved.

[indistinct chatter]

You start over, you know?

I started over umpteen times.

♪ ♪

- He never got any money.
Nothing.

And then he lost his career.

I lost him as a friend.

It's one of the regrets
that I have.

I mean, I got a lot
of regrets in my life, but...

Michael was one
of my big regrets.

♪ ♪

- I was put at risk.

I was put at risk of maybe
never seeing grandkids,

kids, wife, going to jail.

I mean, I'm not a dumb person,
but I did a dumb thing.

And when I thought it was over,
it was over.

I never--

And that hurt. That hurt.

We haven't spoken since.

- We have not spoken since.

♪ ♪

Did I do stupid things?
Yeah.

Do I regret it?
Of course.

The only thing is, though,
I met you.

That was a real benefit
out of the whole thing.

The whole thing.
I mean, I did it.

I could've got a real dick
as a prosecutor.

I ended up making
a personal friend,

so there's always a benefit
in life.

- I think one of the funniest

was when you invited my wife
and I to your 60th birthday.

- Yeah.

- And then when you said,

"Well, this is the guy
that prosecuted me,"

everybody's like...

They didn't know what to say.

[laughter]

♪ ♪

- You learn to live
with everything.

I've learned
to live with cancer.

So I mean, you know,

your life changes.

Your priorities change.

♪ ♪

- I was excommunicated
from the Church and still am.

I hope to change that someday,

because I have a lot
to still contribute.

Yeah.

♪ ♪

- They always say you gotta
fall before you can rise,

and I seen my dad grow
so much stronger over time

because of the adversity
that he had faced.

♪ ♪

- I know McDonald's
was victimized,

but they didn't
lose anything here.

What are you gonna say,
their sales dipped?

That's a loser.

But it's all the people that
participated in this contest

and thought
that it was legitimate.

And then
the by-product victims:

Simon Marketing was one.
Dittler Brothers.

I mean, some of these people,
they lost their job in a day.

♪ ♪

I'm gonna go on
to the next case,

but the people that depend
on that job, they're gone,

all because of one man's greed,

Jerry Jacobson.

He's by himself on that.

♪ ♪

- If somebody said to me
that what he did

was a victimless crime...

I would tell them
they've lost their mind.

How can you say that, you know?

I mean, you wrecked
so many people's lives.

If he said that...

Honestly, it would just be...

It'd just be an excuse.

♪ ♪

[sniffles]

♪ ♪

- Yeah, he definitely wants
to put it in his past.

- Uh...

probably
about a month ago.

Yeah, he doesn't wanna
think about it,

don't wanna talk about it,
nothing.

So when I teased him, I said,
"You got any tickets?"

[chuckles]

And, you know,
he didn't even respond.

[laughs]

- He violated the law.
He went to jail.

He's got $12 million
in restitution.

He's testified.
He's been on the news.

This case keeps,
now 18 years later,

getting attention,

and all they wanna do
is live their life.

He wants to live
his remaining life in peace

without having to answer
for this

to everybody around him again.

- I think he got off
pretty easily.

You talked about
he got a slap on the wrist.

Because he still has his life.

He still has his nice house.

He still has cars.

Unless they find the money

that he's got buried
probably someplace.

- Oh, yeah.

[laughing]
Oh, yeah.

Contingency plan.
Come on, it's him.

I would have money
buried someplace.

Come on.

[laughter]

- The truth of the matter is,

the vast majority
of these winners,

they're good people.

They just did
something stupid,

and there's not anybody that
doesn't do something stupid.

♪ ♪

Many didn't recognize
the severity of it

and probably had no idea

that they were committing
a federal crime.

"It's so easy.
This is all you have to do.

You're not hurting anybody."

They just wanted
some free, easy money

to do something
that we all know is wrong.

♪ ♪

- The McDonald's case was
what we call a career case.

Not all agents
get a career case.

You're doing something
that it seems like

they would make
a movie about it.

[applause]

♪ ♪

- I'm really happy that
everything ended how it did,

that we were able
to put the game back.

- 1 in 4 wins!

- It's still today
at McDonald's

and a very fun game.

Much more secure,
and, you know,

we just wanna make sure
that justice was served,

and I do feel that it was.

John Ashcroft,
who was the attorney general,

thanked me for the service
to the country,

and that was
a really proud moment.

I have no letters from Doug.
[laughs]

♪ ♪

- When you look back now,
which I don't really do much...

[laughs]
For whatever reasons,

you're just like,

"This minefield of shit
that we went around,

and somehow we were golden."

♪ ♪

I could've looked
at that sticky note and said,

"Yeah, whatever.
What is that?"

So without the informant
on this case,

never would've happened.

Never would've happened.
It started right there.

- No.
Why would I call the FBI?

I have no idea that that
was even gonna be a factor.

I never heard
from anyone again--

IRS, detectives,
FBI, McDonald's,

Jerry, nobody.

It was like
I never even was involved.

- Can you imagine the IRS
giving something to the FBI

that turns out to be a case...
[chuckles]

That we didn't
already know about?

Holy shit,
I hope we're better than that.

- My understanding was,
it was a compliant duty call.

Some disgruntled
nonparticipant but bystander

decided to burn
the whole house down

and call the FBI.

- I'll tell you this.
This is how you know.

If the IRS had even--
even tinily,

just a minute, scratched
the surface of this case,

it would've been
a joint takedown, okay,

and they would've been
right there beside us,

so go back and look.

It's Ashcroft,
and there's no IRS there,

so I'll promise you
that did not happen that way.

- Yeah, no--
not in a million years.

So good try.
No sale.

[laughter]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- And I don't think anybody
thought for a second

that it was gonna get
as big as it did.

And it got really big

and it got really big
really fast.

But I told them
if it ever goes south,

I said, "I don't wanna be
caught up in this."

♪ ♪

Had I taken the McDonald's
ticket and cashed it in,

I honestly, in my heart,

believe she still
would have called the FBI

and I would be
in prison right now.

- Hello.
- Hey.

- Hello, Francesco.

♪ ♪

- The informant
was Frank's mother.

♪ ♪

- After Jerry passed away

and I seen
all the nonsense going on

and all the manipulation

and people
backstabbing each other and--

- There was a lot of things
back then that happened.

At that point, Frank's mother
had custody of Francesco,

but it became more
and more evident that...

when Robin got out of prison,

Robin was going
to have her son,

and that didn't go over well
with Frank's mother.

So because her son was dead

and because
she blamed whoever

for whatever occurred
to her son,

she then turned
into the vengeful mode:

"I'm going to now take
the one thing that Robin has

away from her,
and that's her son."

[soft dramatic music]

So she called the FBI.

She's the one that decided
to break it.

Her son's dead.
There was no link back.

She called the FBI

and ratted everybody out.

That was the way
it had to be.

- Laugh. Laugh.
- [laughs]

♪ ♪

- [cooing]
- [chuckles]

I went from living
with my mom.

And I've lived
with my mom's parents.

I've lived
with my dad's parents.

Honestly, that's been the
biggest struggle of my life

is being torn
between the two families.

I felt like a pawn
because a lot of it

was pointing fingers
at that point.

And it was just a battle
of them back and forth,

and I was just kind of caught
in the middle of it.

- Hey!

Hey, birthday girl.
[clapping]

- At this point in life,
I just--

I wanna avoid conflict.

I had so much of it
in my childhood.

I don't wanna hear
any negativity

from anybody anymore.

♪ ♪

My mom and my grandma,
surprisingly now,

they have
a pretty good relationship.

♪ ♪

- In the long run,
I ended up being

their favorite daughter-in-law.

I don't know if it's because
I stood up to them.

[indistinct chatter]

- Yeah, yeah.

She tells me everything,
and she wants me to be the one,

if Papa goes first,

to be the one she--
takes care of her.

And I would be.

No matter what,
I would be there for them.

They know that.

That's who I am.

♪ ♪

- She only gave them
information on Robin,

Robin's father, and Gloria.

[dramatic music]

- If she could get rid
of Robin,

maybe not death,
but disappear,

then there was no one
to take care of Francesco.

But then there still remained
Robin's parents,

whom could have raised,

so they all had to go
to be able to have Francesco.

♪ ♪

She was gaining her grandson.

- Yeah.
- That was the reward.

- Yeah.
- The reward was her grandson.

- My mother didn't realize

that the FBI
was gonna go after...

- Everybody.

- Jerome and wiretap his house
and so forth and so on

and then make another
Monopoly game

and started
connecting the dots

and then to Texas
and then Rhode Island,

and he did all these other
tickets for a couple of years.

- So this story
has got revenge.

It's got everything
all wrapped up into one.

Now you guys are the only
people outside of us

that knew that one.

- We have not told anyone.
- Anyone.

No one on this planet.

- We just figured it was time
to tell the truth.

♪ ♪

[door shuts]
- That's my youngest.

- That's Vinny.

Hey, Vin.

My son just came home
from work, and--

- Hello.
- This is Vintonio.

- How are you?

- He just happens
to work for McDonald's now.

[laughter]
- Holy shit.

- So McDonald's has
treated the family very well.

- Yup.

[laughter]

[Billy Joel's "Easy Money"]

- ♪ Unh ♪

♪ All right ♪

♪ Ah...ha ♪

♪ Unh ♪

♪ You don't have
to talk all night ♪

♪ I'm a man
who can't say no ♪

♪ You don't have
to twist my arm ♪

♪ Just point me
where you wanna go ♪

♪ Take me to the action ♪

♪ Take me to the track ♪

♪ Take me to a party if
they're bettin' in the back ♪

♪ I been working all my life ♪

♪ Can't afford to wait ♪

♪ Let me call my wife so I can
tell her I'll be late ♪

♪ I want the easy, mm ♪

♪ Easy, easy money ♪

♪ I could get lucky ♪

♪ Oh, things could go right ♪

♪ I want the easy, ay, unh ♪

♪ Easy, easy money ♪

♪ Maybe this one time ♪

♪ Maybe tonight ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Ah...ha ♪

♪ Easy money ♪

♪ I don't want no hard cash ♪

♪ I just want the easy money ♪

♪ Oh, I could get lucky ♪

- ♪ Easy money ♪

- ♪ Oh, gotta, gotta, gotta ♪

♪ Ha, ha ♪

[bright tone]