His promises of high returns and a chance to be a part of the film industry sweeten the deal.
Mac claims that he will need approximately $1 million and three years to complete his film.
However, nearly a decade passes.
The film continues to go unfinished and Mac raises well above his $1 million goal.
For instance, if you are looking for a job you are more vulnerable to a work-at-home scam.
It was a real kick in the stomach after we realized what was going on.
I really trusted him.
[00:00:22] Julie: Financial security is important to all of us.
The worst part is that sometimes these scammers are people that we already know and trust.
Frank, thanks for joining us once again.
[00:01:11] Frank Abagnale: Thank you, great to be back, Julie.
[00:01:39] Frank Abagnale: Ponzi scams have been around forever.
And I’ll make this a little personal story.
Our children were very, very small.
And I thought to myself, I wonder why the FBI is here?
[00:03:35] Julie: Yikes, that’s just really scary.
Thanks for all that background, Frank.
It’ll be good to keep in mind as we move into our next story.
Unfortunately, for his trusting investors it turned out to be a Ponzi scheme.
His investors were ultimately defrauded for millions of dollars.
[00:04:12] (phone ring)
[00:04:15] Pedie O’Brien-Brisson: Hello.
[00:04:20] Pedie O’Brien-Brisson: I’m fine.
[00:04:21] Julie: Pedie, how is your morning going so far?
[00:04:23] Pedie O’Brien-Brisson: Uh it’s gone well, and the sun is coming out.
So I’m happy.
[00:04:34] Pedie O’Brien-Brisson: My husband has five children, who are all adults.
I have two that are adults.
I have two of my own grandchildren.
[00:05:00] Julie: And I understand you also have a connection to farming.
Is it your husband that’s a farmer?
So he loves to go over to it.
you could’t take the farm out of the farmer.
[00:05:36] Julie: Nice.
Quite the menagerie of animals.
[00:05:38] Pedie O’Brien-Brisson: Yes.
[00:05:39] Julie: That’s great.
And what is he doing now?
[00:06:16] Julie: And he’s doing that now.
[00:06:17] Pedie O’Brien-Brisson: He’s doing that now, and he’s 85 years old.
[00:06:21] Julie: That’s so great.
Is he enjoying it?
[00:06:23] Pedie O’Brien-Brisson: Oh, he loves it.
He loves getting up early in the morning, he’s a very cheery, positive person.
He’s a sweetheart.
[00:06:36] Julie: He certain sounds like one.
Pedie, do you mind if we transition now to Mac Parker?
[00:06:40] Pedie O’Brien-Brisson: Okay.
[00:06:41] Julie: When were you first introduced to Mac?
[00:07:06] Julie: It seems like everyone in Vermont knows Mac Parker.
Oh, don’t you need a pig?
Don’t you need one soon?
That’s how I knew of him.
It instantly becomes a local classic.
[00:07:58] Mac Parker clip: Summer is here.
The sun is shining, and it’s time for us to start making hay.
[00:08:07] Pedie O’Brien-Brisson: My two grandchildren absolutely loved this tape.
Also, their grandpa had a farm, so they felt like they knew a little bit about it.
It’s a mystical film about the human spirit.
And that’s how it started.
And that was in, near the end of 2003.
And he said he was going to give us 15% interest.
We said, sure, why not?
So we did that, and that $4,000 investment was totally paid back to us with our interest.
[00:09:36] Julie: What were your hopes and dreams in investing with Mac Parker?
And so we took advantage of putting money in at 15% interest to add to our savings.
Our hopes and dreams was just to increase our retirement money.
[00:09:59] Julie: Three years later, the film isn’t done.
But Mac and his film had become part of Pedie, and her husband’s lives.
[00:10:07] Pedie O’Brien-Brisson: He sent progress reports over all the time.
And we’re getting our money every month and so we gave him some more.
But prior to that, we had given him $50,000, even $100,000 at one point.
Eventually the total amount that we had invested with him was $257,600.
[00:10:34] Julie: The investment delivers more than a solid return.
Pedie and her husband soon find themselves part of a whole new community.
[00:10:43] Pedie O’Brien-Brisson: Most of the people that invested were from our county.
And the throw in of people that invested were very interesting.
[00:11:06] Julie: In the center of the community is Mac Parker himself.
Overtime, he becomes more than a filmmaker looking for an investment.
He becomes a trusted friend.
He was soft-spoken, well educated, very nice guy.
[00:11:36] Pedie O’Brien-Brisson: I mean we just, we really liked him a lot.
And we trusted him to the hilt.
So, because we’re trusting people.
As a matter of fact, um, they did some filming on Armand’s farm.
It was that throw in of a friendship.
[00:12:21] Julie: For five years, things seemed to be going well.
But in 2008, Mac’s visits to the farm start to come with bad news.
State Investigator and Deputy Commissioner Bill Carrigan is assigned to the case.
Its message catches them by surprise.
[00:14:39] Pedie O’Brien-Brisson: He sent a letter out telling us what had happened.
And Mac said, “Well, everything will be okay.
You know, it just, we just need to get a few things straightened out.
Everything will be okay.”
And we believed him.
[00:15:27] Julie: Mac’s investors rally behind him eager to show support for their friend.
His lawyers bills are adding up quickly, and they know he’s not a rich man.
[00:15:36] Pedie O’Brien-Brisson: We had an auction to help Mac raise money for his lawyer.
And all the donations came from investors.
They donated trips; one was a trip to Ireland where some people owned land.
There were all kinds of really nice things that were auctioned off.
He called in sick.
[00:16:21] Pedie O’Brien-Brisson: Lots of people came just because they wanted to talk to him.
[00:16:24] Julie: Do you believe him?
Do you believe he was sick?
[00:16:25] Pedie O’Brien-Brisson: I did not believe that he was sick.
At that point, I said there’s something not right here.
[00:16:32] Julie: Unfortunately, Pedie’s instincts are right.
While she and the other investors venture to help him raise money, the state regulators are closing in.
And we asked him how much money he owed, and he said about 10 million.
And his response was, “Yes.”
And his response was very telling.
[00:17:43] Julie: How many victims were there altogether?
And how much money had Mac taken in?
The FBI was able to account for about $20 million that had been repaid to folks.
It was a $28 million Ponzi scheme.
[00:18:03] Julie: It’s a shocking number and a scandalous crime.
[00:18:24] Julie: The news gets worse as the case unravels.
Investors make an even more surprising discovery.
Mac isn’t working alone.
[00:18:33] Bill Carrigan: The FBI seized some of his records.
And neither would anyone else have.
What is his role in the scam?
And what was his relationship with Mac Parker?
It turned out to be a really crazy punch in of thing.
Be sure to find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
For AARP - The Perfect Scam, I’m Julie Getz.
