Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast - College Dropout Accidentally Started a Ponzi Scheme | Jimmy Bastien

Episode Date: June 6, 2023

College Dropout Accidentally Started a Ponzi Scheme | Jimmy Bastien

Listen, based on how well your business model work, I think it's a great start. I just remember when you called me a year ago, when you called me a year ago and I got out the phone and I talked to my, which is my wife now. I talked to my girlfriend. I was like, I don't know. This guy's going to trial. He's like, and she's like, he wants to do a video. I said, yeah, I mean, she's like, don't you think it's a bad idea? I said, but I'm not this problem.

He seems to think it's okay. And I, and she said, she's like, what happened? I go, well, he's telling me he didn't do anything wrong. I said, and, and yet he's describing, and he was running a Ponzi scheme. Like, as we're talking wrong, but then you're, then I'm like, what did you do? And then I said, as he starts to wane it, like, it's a Ponzi scheme. Hey, this is Matt Cox, and I am here with Jimmy Bastine. He or Bastion.

Wait, what is it? Hold on. But this is good, bro. Is it Bastian? Well, what's the French version? Bastian. Bastian. I'm still saying it right, right?

All right. All right. So it's, I'm here with Jimmy Bastian. Yeah. And I don't, I, it's, it, listen, to me, it's a Ponzi, he was, he ran a Ponzi scheme in Canada. We actually talked about a year ago before his trial and he, the last minute decided like, hey, I just can't do this right now, an interview before my trial, a Ponsie scheme. Like, it just feels like it's not a good idea.

So, all right. So, but this is, but he, he went to trial in Canada. So, I got a very Canadian sentence. And, yeah, that's, that's, uh, oh, and now my phone's ringing. This is so, it's perfect. It is perfect. I'm gonna, I'm actually gonna get it. Yeah, go, go for it.

I'm actually gonna get this just because. Yes. Uh, so does it be. Hold on this. Somebody, it's somebody from, prison. This is common. Yeah. Hi. I imagine.

Hello. Hey. Listen, so I'm actually doing a podcast right now. Yeah, give me, just give me, give me a couple hours. All right, cool. Thanks. Bye. I got my inside sources.

I can imagine that, yeah Okay, so Good times So, let's talk What, what Where were you Where were you born? I was born in Trotilla

So three rivers I'm in Quebec So I'm a French, Canadian Obviously, you can tell by my name And my accent Yeah, you were, you know, and you were So you predominantly speak, what, French? Yes, I speak French.

I just started speaking English again like three weeks ago, basically. Right, because when we talked, you were like, I'm not sure about my English. Yeah, exactly. But many people do speak English in Quebec. I think it's 47%. It's a weird place in Canada, you know. It's just everywhere else it speaks English in Quebec, we speak French. because of his tough color

he arrived there and he colonized the place so we have very beautiful women here in Quebec it's a mixture of Indian tribe that were there and the the English people that

yeah and not the English the French that came in here yeah all right this is a great start but you actually I listen basically on how well your business model work.

I think it's a great start. I just remember when you called me a year ago, when you called me a year ago and I got out the phone, I thought about my, which is my wife now. I talked to my girlfriend. I was like, I don't know.

This guy's going to, who's doing the stuff and you're going to trial? He's like, and she's like, he wants to do a video. I said, yeah, I mean, she's like, don't you think it's a bad idea? I said, but I'm not his problem. He seems to think it's,

okay and I think she said she got she's like what happened I go well he's he's telling me he didn't do anything wrong I said and and yet he's describing up and he was running a Ponzi scheme like as we're yeah I didn't know wrong but then you're then I'm like what did you do and then I said as he starts to waning it like it's a Ponzi scheme he keeps sorry it's my it's tough money but yeah I was still in it a bit you know uh Denial. Mixed feelings. Yeah.

So, okay. So back to the beginning, you were born in, in Quebec. Yes. Raised in Quebec. Yes. Okay. Did you, do you have a, I mean, what did you, did you go to college? I, the yes, for two weeks.

So, probably instead of me. This is calling the nookin. Exactly. Yes. Exactly. So I spend here. What are your parents do? my dad is a cop funny enough and my mom is a caretaker I think he's in English so she has kids at home and she she's a she thinks care of big kids yeah so that's okay yeah all right so though so two honest professions absolutely absolutely yes very much very much um yeah my parents were decent people too look how I turned out so

So what? All right, so go to high school, go to college for two weeks. Why did you drop out of college? Friosity. Because I wanted to start my own business. I was involved with many things with multi-level marketing. It's the main reason why I didn't finish because I was so brainwashed with all this and the college socks on it.

It's not completely false. I mean, you know, you can start a business, obviously, without the college degree. So if I go way back high school, then administration for two weeks, then my boss sold it in high school, I was doing parties. So I was organizing parties. I had a little business that I rented shacks and stuff. So I still had my customer base from high school. So I decided, look, why not start the party company? So it was called party bus.

So the idea was to bring people from different cities so you don't have to drive with your car and we can do the party in the bus yard. You arrive at the club. You don't do the lineup. You were a BIT there. So I started visiting that. That went fine.

It was great. But then I started becoming more greedy and the MLM stuff was still in my head so slowly but surely became a worst person and I eventually tried to build an investment firm in a very, very, how could you put it, not the best way, not the most way. So you figured you could start an investment. investment firm based on your vast experience nuts and in busing people to part i mean were you not yeah not exactly no actually i was going to details with them with all the legal loopholes i tried to take but it's all the old thing was nonsense and madness but uh i was very

interested for real and still i'm about uh trading in the derivatives market. So I started trading and a half trading theories with small accounts or demo accounts. And that's a part. Yes. So that's a thing like part. Right. They're pretend accounts that, that, that mimic real trades.

So you could. Or you bet you can make trades based on what's really happening, but you're not using real money. But it, it appears. Yes. To be real money that you're. betting or that you're betting that you're trading no but bet could be the right word because in the derivatives market for a CFD specifically contract for differences it's it's betting it's spread betting really so it's a right word so after two years of me building the uh the my track record

but it was it's still a demo account you know so i thought well this is time now you know Exactly. Got it down. Now I'm ready. I am ready to trade with other people's money. Mm-hmm. Not my money. No.

That'd be crazy. Yes. Well, I didn't have any first of all, so I couldn't, you know, poops. So, but yeah, that was the idea. And my theory was, if I wanted to get a licensed financial, financial, firm. It's not that difficult to have a private fund and to have a real license and everything. Well, it's not difficult. I mean, it's doable, okay? But one of the issues is that people have to be accredited investors, right? And obviously, my friends and everybody, I knew the warrant,

they didn't have a high network. So I said, well, what about personal loans? It's not the SEC that manages well the Quebec SEC I'll read it's the same that third it's not the SEC that that takes care of the loans it the is the FTC so theoretically I could take loans and as long as I pay people back I can do whatever I want with the loans so that was my theory so I said it's the perfect world because if I get the loans then I can start I can pay myself I can start I can take other loans pay back the people and then I can and start building my firm and then the goal was to have eventually like $10 million in a broker account and then I start the real trading but I had one week of real of real trading before I got

shut now okay so you went to your your friends and said look I own a not my friends not my friends I, well, I had a big following of it because of the parties. So what I did is I put out the promotional video about me. Because people still respected me, you know, because of the parties. So I, well, I'm sure some of them didn't. But I put out the promotional video that showed my new office that I rented and was a really insane office that I rented and look

this is the future firm I'm going to build and then I'll wait to tell you more later you know so I knew by doing that people will automatically write to me to work for me do you have

still have that video I do yes I would love to see that video could you sit I do yes I'm I'm not sure. I would have to, I can send it to you later and I couldn't find it on this computer. Obviously, I had to shut it down real quick when the, when the government came in, it was, I'm sure I can find it somewhere. Yeah.

Okay, so. It's pretty credible. You see, it's pretty, it's pretty, it's pretty, it's, the video is pretty nice. Yeah, I got to see this. So we can play it. Yeah, absolutely. No problem. Um, well, yeah, fuck, I knew it. It's okay. Is it gotta, I mean, you're, it's not like you haven't already gone to trial. Like, you're, no, and this is over.

That's why. That's why now it's okay that I can talk. I can talk about it. Right now, it's fine. And it would not have been sparked if I thought, but. Hello to my friends Facebook and to all. My name is Jimmy Bastian. In this moment, we're at

in the center of the city of Three River, because I have a great announcement to do. also the truth. Also the truth, and the truth, and I call it. The truth when I called you

Also, the truth when I called you is I, it was also a little bit to have free, you know, counseling and advice from a guy who committed fraud, you know. I took the, I'll make a podcast entrance to have you on the calls. Okay, so, so who did you start to borrow money from? And what was the agreement with them? It all did you. You put out the video, they started approaching you. It started, the loan started before.

The loan started before, started small. Like, I, I. I think like a $3,000 loan or something from a guy, whatever, and I would say, look, I'll pay you back with interest in three months or whatever, you know, which many people do, these types of loans, if I would have traded that, I mean, it's not a big deal. But then I realized when I started to pay them back,

they wanted to loan me money again, of course. And they also, what I, I did was I managed to tell them after a while it evolved with the with the trading stuff and I said look I'm trading the money by the way and if you refer me other people which is with all the MLM aspect of it would be great for you so the referrals started getting coming in and after like three or four years people at the people were throwing like 200 grand into my checking account. Can you believe this?

But you're not trading with them? No. You're not trading their money. They're just giving you loans and you're giving it back, but you're giving it back based on the additional money you're bringing in. Exactly. So this part is a Ponzi. So this part,

this part is a Ponzi absolutely. I agree in details with that. You did this for two years? more than that yeah so well I mean at this point so let's say two years so what are you spending the money on if you're not trading it

what are you spending the money I was not living lavishly I was paying myself I used the money to be back the old the creditors and I was building my still building my

Nemo account to have more results so so it would be easier because when you log in it to a account you can go back as far as you want so for example if I knew if I had like at least two years or three years of results in the demo account would be much more incredible if I if I went to people and said look I log in into the idea by the way I broke my my little finger like two months ago to do so I and a little but so I went I knew that they if I had like at least three years of

of results and I would show that to people they would be a you would most likely lend me more money than if I had like one one year of results right so okay so you to buy a Lamborghini nope no limboes and uh no I didn't have a car even I had a guy that drove me everywhere because I was so alcoholic and still a little bit am so no the only crazy part was the office that was that was insane so they say without the office I would probably have done much much longer without the without the office so this is why this is how I got caught I think so so okay so you built up how much money had you borrowed at this point at this

the whole thing was about a million million dollars okay the whole thing yeah and you've got this office and you're borrowing money

yes and you're about to and you start trading yes I finally when at this point I have like 45000

in my checking account and then I finally feel ready everything is all in place I have the guys that can refer me the debt. I am a guy that sends me like his report of analysis reports. I feel ready

you know. So so at this point I have another 200 grand that comes in and I had a stack of of people already ready to give loans. That would probably easily the 10 million seems crazy but I'm sure I would have been able to bring in. So

So at this point, I ended $45,000, and then I sent $200,000 in the brokerage account. I'm ready now. I'm ready to do the real trading. One week later, I get shot. Did you do any trades? Yes, I did. I did 13%. Actually, my first, but it doesn't matter.

You know, I broke a lot anyway. So who cares, you know? But, yeah, I did 13%. I would have to check back the exact number. But yeah, I did actually make profits. So maybe it would have worked, but I still, when I broke the law, you know. Okay, so how did they figure out, like, how did they shut you down so quickly? How it works in Quebec is, first of all, I was in an office where there were other financial firms there.

So, you know, obviously they started calling the government, look, this guy is not licensed to do, who are these kids at the 14th floor doing parties and everything so obviously people start calling the government after enough calls the government opens an investigation

they looked at my bank account and they said well this shirt looks like a Ponzi scheme you didn't have known my intention I want to build a future a financial firm or whatever but it doesn't matter I still broke the lock

right and so in an emergency case like this they have the right to uh they have the right to freeze and shut you down immediately when it when it did judge it's a it's a danger like to society you know did you tell them about your idea did you tell them like listen like you guys are messing me up like i i have got this i mean at the at the beginning i was when they came in uh i was advised to take a lawyer immediately i still had no money but some guy loaned me another five grand

to go to uh to go to the lawyer and then the lawyer said look you're finished dude call call the government first you can't call the government right now and tell them to come here and they will figure we'll we'll deal with this but like don't try to trade again right now because i was i had all these conditions i received the document like this stick and like you can't trade i could not even have a bank account i could i couldn't do anything so but in my mind I was still absolutely convinced they are wrong I'm just taking loans

you know and it's a big it's a big misconception they have so okay so you had a couple hundred thousand that you were trading with but you're saying you had no money did that money get frozen I had 45,000 in my checking account

when everything a shutdown, I had 45,000 that they froze immediately. Then the 200 round that I had one week of trading, so I pushed it to 213. I have to be careful with my mouth.

I think that was the number. I'm not even sure. So that they couldn't take so easily because it was in a brokerage account in Australia. So this is why they were panicking a little bit. And also I think this is why I was able to have a less of bigger and tents because I cooperated with them immediately

and they really wanted the 213 so I wired the money back here in Canada in the account that they had the frozen so they took that I waited two and a half years for my trial I didn't know what they were going to do with the money so they have the money right now yes good so do they did they so you talk to the the attorney. So you got a letter, basically. You were served a letter. And it was told you cut it out. And you contacted an attorney. And the attorney said, contact them, tell them to come here, explain the situation. So did a couple of agents show up? Yeah. He contacted them. And we

set it up. We set it a meeting. This part is funny. I'm a happy. This goes this way. previous interview I did, I was emotional like soft white, soft white bites. But yes, they came in, the we sat down at the table with the other

newbie attorney because of course the big boss attorney said, look, this guy I won't take my tech for him. I'll sell my new guy. So I spoke all the eight hours of like the pushing and they wanted, you really wanted me to say people

are investing and I was saying no never I never broke even once no they are I was correcting like the big agent I would say little creditors nothing rather creditors in my mind I was so convinced you know that it made a difference but yeah did you think they were gonna they were gonna be like you know what you're right and they were going to walk out be like what my bad did you think that's what was going to happen no not immediately but I thought I would maybe get a away with it. I still wasn't sold such a denial. Yeah. Okay. All right. So you're two agents. One, one, one, the shout out to Madame Pizzi. She's what, she's probably watching this actually. She watched everything I did that I had to send a report to her every week of everything that I did for two and a half

years and a complete report every month of every, every transaction and explaining everything. thing. If you wire me like $10, you have to sign your name, your address, your phone number. Why did you? So Madame Petsy, we built a great relationship. And so they were her and another woman. Her name was, I can't remember her name. She was pretty hot, though. So, like she was the technician, like, you know, Madame Petsy was, uh, was, uh, was, uh, was asking me all the question and then she was just piping you know I guess she was a technician at the time or something

um so okay so you finish the whole thing they tell you go home but thank you so much Mr. Best team for your for your dime and your cooperation will they will get a Dutch soon

and and you don't hear anything I don't hear anything I don't hear anything for two and a half years almost so except because I still couldn't have a bank account right all right so I figured look at this point like the other people that loan me money I'm finished

I can no longer borrow money so I need at least a bank account you know so how you do this is you have to go in front of the judge and ask it's called the partial lift. I don't know if it's a term in English, but it's a partial lift of your order section. Yeah. So this is and he said yes, all right, but with all the conditions that we provide you. And then we'll get it touch soon for your, I was calling every week, every single week for like at least a year and a half. Like, when is my, when is my trial? When is my trial? Does it make sense? Unfreeze the money. Nothing.

well I have a question like they never offered you like a plea like hey look at the end yes it's what the trial was a plea deal at the end I took the plea immediately yes yes yes yeah I took a plea deal like a month

and January about a month ago so the I received finally after two and a half years I received another thick stack and this is

look this is what we want to give you so it was at the beginning it was a six hundred and fifty thousand dollar fine obviously they keep the two 55 that they have to dispatch to the people it was banned for life as financial advisor my cat is freaking out in the back but it's still none for life for being financial advisor. I couldn't trade for life for myself. That I was able to lift that. Couldn't be a

still can't be the president of a company for five years. So I was able to reduce down the fine to 455 my cat is especially pukely in the bat right now, sorry. This is a judgment

shoe from this year you have a a kid or no no cat i have a cat in a one once a month like he because he leeks his it once a month he he shook said it just so happens it's not oh my god i can't hear any of that so right um so when you were going to trial uh like did they start the trial or they just come to you no no no he said um i received this and then one week later they said

I received another letter that said if you want to talk we're open to tell so I contacted them I said at this point I I've come to the conclusion look this is fucked up I did you know I

finally have better find out this game yes finally realized you know so they proposed me the plea we went back and forth for maybe two two weeks and then I signed immediately I wasn't going to

go to trial would have been destroyed and also they didn't want to see the people that were involved and everything so have any of those people that were involved you know the were involved

have your victims reached out to you yes yes they were still because there is a whole aspect of it was almost a cult like I was the thing I built

so even for at least six months or a year they were still on my side after they knew even if they knew you know they said look you could have just tell us it was a demo account we would have probably loaned you the money anyway because it's a good track record you know but it doesn't matter

I still broke the law so they they stopped contacting me and I'm sure they wouldn't want to to be contacted because they were supposed keep in mind

most of the people that invested were supposed they worked in my team and they were supposed to refer me debt and have commissions but luckily I was shut down before they had the time to get commissions and refund because they would probably have gone into trouble

also. Right. So what yeah. Okay, I mean but so recent, I'm saying has anybody recently contacted you. No.

No. No one guy that it was a very, very small bit because some people didn't lose money. They actually made money. So I'm not sure what they're going to do with that.

In Canada, I think in the US if it's they are going to try, in the US they try to get back the money from the oldest investors, I think. In Canada, I think it doesn't even work

that way. So, because keep in mind. I wasn't charged for Ponzi or anything. I wasn't charged for that. What were you charged? I was charged for operating in investment fund without a license.

I was charged for acting as a financial advisor without the license. Okay. Acting as a derivative's market advisor without the license and embezzlement, I think you call it in English.

So misappropriation of funds. Right. Yeah. So ultimately, you were just doing a whole kind of a fake it until you make it. Absolutely, absolutely. And this is the previous podcast, that's why it's so, it's much more sinister because it started way, way back with the MLM stuff, like the infuse that in my, my like fake. it till you make it is the it's logical it was the most logical way to do with uh just ridiculous of

course um so how was uh always mark up because that he was great he was great he's very professional i think what he's doing is is great i'm not completely 100% anti-mmm i think it could the word with a certain like affiliate like one or two levels could somehow work but the current structure all they are structure is so the whole thing is just it's a scam so it's it's truly a scam so uh he was great was great for so far the comments are good uh there was just at from run i see there was just one comment like because i was very emotional in the videos maybe maybe people would have to have less sympathy in this one. But

there was one comment in there that said like, well, this guy is lucky to be a Canadian, you know, if he knew, like, if he watched American Greed, I watched every single episode of American Greed. By the way, I'm going to do a podcast, the guy that wasn't

American Glee, but it was not that bad of a comment. It's true. It's not. I wonder, did I deserve more? what I've preferred to go to jail for six months or a year and they're defined to be at less of a fine, still a little bit, you know, conflicted about that. This is what it is.

So you were saying, like, at the end of your probation, you don't have a felony? No. I'm not charged criminally. It's a, I think the legal term in English, I don't know, but it's administrative fine. Wow. Yeah.

Yeah. But like I said, would I have preferred? But I still have a criminal breaker because at the same time that I was busted, I got a DUI that like I think one week later. And then COVID hit like it was a, it was not a good, a good time in my life. But what I would have preferred to have a criminal record and go to jail for like a year and not have like less of a fine. I don't know, but no, I don't have a, I'm allowed to travel to the United States.

I'm not charged criminally for that. Okay. So the money that you said you have a fine. Yeah. Is it really restitution? No, this is this. I was amazed by that. I was absolutely amazed. The $455,000 fine. Right. It's not to pay back the people that lost money.

So the government pays themselves back before they will pay. So they dispatched the $255. Luckily, it's like seven people that were. The net loss is about $234,000 on paper. It's actually a little bit more, maybe like $250. There was like seven people involved in this, and like 70% of the money will go to one guy. So it could have been worse, but still it's horrible. Some people lost, those money, and the fine is not to pay back that money.

So I have to pay back the $455,000, and it's not to pay back the people. It's to pay back the salaries of the employees at the, is to pay back Madam Pitsy. So you still owe the money to the Oh yeah, oh yeah I still owe the money I still owe the money But I mean They could

They could They could go I think most of them I've come to the fact Like look They don't want to deal with this Because they were involved in a way So

But they could They could One did Sue me a civilly For this He I didn't even show up I said look

I owe you the money I don't need to I don't need to It's true so I don't care So I still 100% owe the money To the people even legally or not I still I still owe them in my mind And I would much rather be the people than the government So if I start making money

I'll have to figure out their way Negotiate with the government And say look Can we at please please Like Do something about the fine and I pay back to people you know okay so what are you doing so what are you doing now right now I mean I got a scholarship um it was a program the government like you love

canada Canada after after you watch this you love it so uh the I got a scholarship I'm paid to go to school right now so on I'm paid to to go to log in I log in into uh in the morning. We have to qualify. Of course, you have to take the exams and you have to have the qualifications. You have to have the math in your high school and everything else. But they need, they lack employees in this field in Quebec. So the government, they put in place the, I don't know how you call it an English subvention, like a program, a program, yeah. so I'm paid to go to school I make about like two grand a month

but I can have for two year and a half years I live on couches and you know it was but now I have my apartment and I can live so that's that's what I'm doing right now and maybe the podcasting will be a thing

I have other ideas so what are you going to school for programming so programming application development so I'm in programming right now I don't care on all by the way I really don't I don't want to do this

it was a it was a it was it was a you know it was a salary you know I don't I don't intend to because most of the stuff you learn there it's just so old and with the

AI and it just it's not that good so yeah so what is it you do want to do maybe the podcasting I find it very very interesting the like the exposing scum stuff it's so funny

but at the same time in the previous in the previous podcast I did I do have compassion a little bit for like you know know, when you go, for me, it was for you, I guess it's nothing, you know, but when you went through the process, I'm sure at the beginning it was you didn't feel good at all. It was probably horrible. So I feel a little bit, uh, what problem action? The process of going to jail and facing the, the consequences of what you did. Right. So I'm sure, I'm sure it wasn't that good

at the, at the beginning. Right. Uh, but yeah, the podcasting, I find it. So, yeah, the podcasting, I find it so funny do exposing the mv especially the m lm guy i won't i won't steal the element niche to it of marco but these guys it's so funny dude and uh also uh so all the others count that are so obvious out that's that's fun so i might i might call it i might sell a youtube channel called scammy up i find it it's a little bit of a i think it's a cashy name i like it so um might do the podcasting If not, I can still sell, you know. So I can sell stuff. I'm not sure.

How old are you? 32 years old, sir. Yeah. Bro, you got to figure out something. I do. I do. I do. But I do, yeah, I do.

I really do. I have to, I'll start something. No worry. you'll be my mentor you can be my spiritual counselor we'll figure it out you'll figure it out yeah i'm sure marco will help yeah but bro he will see this and he will say it look it's a complete different vibe on the on the other podcast i seem much very serious it's i see i i look much more credible on the other but but i know what it is we'll figure it out, Matt, I promise you.

I love that the guys, like you would give them their money back and they'd go, well, when can we do this again, right? Like, they'd try to give you more money. Absolutely. You would take, you said one thing at some point. You said, like, it's not because people are smart,

are smart that they don't get scanned. And the more, the, the smarter the person was in front of me, the better, you know, because every single objection, the person has, Of course, I had the objection model, the rebel prepared.

So, yeah. Yeah, so it makes sense. People, yeah, you wouldn't imagine how much of people. Like right now, I'm tired and I laugh. I looked somehow a little bit credible, all right? Right. People, I know, I know the financial stuff really deep. That's true.

We can talk about finance and everything. I know for real this subject So I sang I sound very credible So you will throw money like you can believe I was amazed I was amazed Yeah I wrote a story about a guy

His name is Blaine Davis And he literally He ran a Ponzi scheme For like a million dollars Then he got in trouble In the United States And he got what in the United States And he got what in the United States

States, what happened with you? They call it a pretrial intervention. Okay. So they, you know, the U.S. attorney shows up and, you know, they goes to you, you know, first the FBI shows up. They ask some questions. He goes to the U.S. attorney, the U.S. attorney, they have a meeting. The U.S. attorney says, look, this is a Ponzi scheme. You owe million dollars. You owe these people a billion dollars. And he says, you know, and he's like, you know, okay, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, you know, hear you like he actually with the attorney and the attorney says look what if he just pays the money back he gets on a payment plan and pays the money back

we won't prosecute him so what he does is they call it pre-trial intervention so we're going to intervene before you go to a trial and it's it we won't charge you okay okay

so Blaine goes out and starts another pond instead to pay back The original victim. Oh, my God. It's not funny, you know. You know, it's, it's, oh, my God.

You can make you to sit up, you know. Well, here's what's the interesting part about it is. Of course, Blaine at this point, all the original, his original investors were friends and family. So they don't, that's not. Right. He doesn't trust. So nobody trusts him anymore. They're not giving him anymore money.

Yeah. so what he does is he goes to another guy that he scams out of a little bit of money that guy realizes hey this is a scam and he says to him look if you help me raise money we can invest in a in a four x a four x you know we can set up a four x for um skate not scam sorry um a four x trading account and a four x you know basically a hedge fund and i'll trade because I'm really good at training, even though there is nothing to prove. What's his intention to build, like, me, like, I, truly my intention was not to steal money, but was it his intention, like, to build something, my, he just, he did, I'm sure he would tell

you that, right? Like, I mean, I'm sure if he was a decent trader, like, it's like, he knew some stuff about, like, Oh, no, he knew about it. He did seminars and everything. The problem is, whenever he he traded like he's just not good at it he's a horrible trader yeah most of the guys like i did the opposite you know as most of the guy they suck at trading then it becomes a Ponzi you know so i built like my theories and results and while i was gathering the money it was but then i transferred so most of the guy they do the they do the opposite right what he so what he did was he went out and he got more so he gets one guy so he scans one guy that guy realizes the money

his money's gone. So he says to him, and that guy's name was Damien. So he says to Damien, like, let's start a company. All you've got to do is help me raise some money, and I'll trade, because I'm really good at trading. I,

his record. So Damien goes out and gets a guy named Donovan. This guy, Donovan Davis. Not related to Blaine Davis. You've got Blaine and Donovan and Damien. We'll Damien and Blaine convinced Donovan

to lend them some money. So Donovan lends them like 100 grand. He invests $100,000. And like a month later, it's at like $107,000. He goes on to the website. He could log in. He can see his money. And his money's got $107,000 in a month.

Yeah. That's great. That's like an 80% return, right? So he's, you know, annually. Not in a month, but annually that would be like an 80% return. So he's like, holy shit. So he puts in a little bit more money. Month later, he puts in some more money.

Then what happens is they come to him and they say, hey, can we pitch your friends or your family? And he says, absolutely. So they go to where his parents own this large company. And he pitches his family and his brother and his cousins and an aunt. And his family invests a million dollars. okay so then you know based on donovan saying this is a great investment because donovan thinks it is well what happens is donovan then gets a couple other people to invest and as a result of that

they obviously they they they these guys take that money and you're immediately blaine spends the money spend some of the money on paying back some of his victims he starts making payments gives 100,000, 200,000 to the victims, to the U.S. attorney who gives it to the victim. Then he buys for his car payment, he pays for a house payment, you know, he spends some of the money. Obviously, Damien gets his money back, his original money back. Then they go to Donovan, they go, you know what? You have been such a great help to us raising money. We are willing to give you one third of the company.

All you have to do is invest $650,000 to pay for the one-third. And Donovan thinks, wow, this is like getting in on the ground floor of Google. Like, this is amazing. That's what he thought. He actually told me that. He said, I thought, my girl, this is great. It's like being an original investor in an app. You really said that the exact term.

For the Google, exactly. I could get it on the ground floor at Google. like I was rounder of Google arrived so he pays him 650,000 and they said all in and Donovan says listen I don't know anything about trading they said doesn't matter all you have to do is raise money we'll do the trading so I see this coming so they end up raising Donovan ends up raising another 15 million 16 million dollars a total like 17 18 million dollars wow this goes on for a year or two then the finance crisis happens right 2008 and when Donovan is looking into the whole thing he realizes

it's a Ponzi scheme oh yeah these guys literally are coming to him saying we need more money he's like what do you mean we need more money we got like 20 grand or 20 million dollars what do you talk about 40 million dollars they're like look uh you don't understand what's happening like they you have to think that

you can always ever reason you know it all I If you have more money, we can leverage or whatever, you know. Right. Yeah, it's all, it's all BS. Yes. But in the end, what ends up happening is he ends up, you know, he ends up going to the U.S. attorney. The same U.S. attorney, by the way, that gave Blaine a pass.

Oh, my God. Then the U.S. attorney looks into the whole thing. The U.S. attorney looks into it, talks to a bunch of the victims, and people are now, at this point, people are now calling saying, hey, this place closed down. They've got $800,000 of my money. They have a million dollars of my money. They have, they closed down.

U.S. attorney says, we'll look into it. They send, like, I think the IRS agents go to look into it. It might be IRS or FBI. I think it's the Secret Service looks into it. Secret Service goes and starts looking into it. And the Secret Service comes back and talks to U.S. attorney, and they call Donovan and his attorney in. They go in and they tell Donovan.

Everybody we've talked to says that, you were the one who told them to invest you were the one who did that you were the one that said that it was a good investment you were the one he's like well yeah I know that's because that's what they were telling me yeah so they indict him they indict Blaine they indict Damien and Donovan Donovan goes to trial and he loses at trial how much time do you think because by the way Damien testified against him saying that Donovan knew it was a Ponzi scheme. Wow. He said he invested initially, invested about a million dollars, and then he then found out it was a Ponzi scheme.

Once you invest it. Now, Donovan obviously says this isn't true. So Damien says it at trial. Donovan, several of his investors get on the stand, and they say Donovan's the one that told us to invest. So he's involved.

He's saying, yeah, I did, but not because I Because I knew it was a Ponzi, but because they told me it was a Ponzi. Or I'm sorry, they told me it was a legitimate investment. Anyway, regardless, he loses at trial. There's $17 million in loss. How much money, I mean, sorry, how much time do you think Donovan got? That's hard to save for the U.S. No idea.

I couldn't say. 17 years. 17 years by the way a part of the loss is the million dollars that he and his family put in so they horrible dude they charged him

they charged him for the money that he lost in the pound of these oh my god dude oh that's why I feel so good that the people because it was a little bit I find similarities with my thing. Like the guys, if they were,

if they didn't knew, of course, that I wasn't. But I don't know. Yeah. But I had to nobody else except me got in trouble, basically. Right. So poor guy, dude. That's a good. Well, what's interesting about it is that there's like four million,

I think three or four million dollars of money that's missing. The guy Blaine, remember Blaine? The original. While he was out So he went on the run Money had been wired to a bank That there's a bank

They have a bank in Switzerland But they also have a bank In Hong Kong Blaine flies immediately When the whole thing collapses he gets on a plane He flies to Australia To Perth Australia, Perth

He then immediately within a day or two He flies to Hong Kong for about a couple days he then flies back to Australia a couple years later he gets caught he's been indicted he gets caught he's taken back to the United States

but in the meantime he ran a third Ponzi team in Canada really yeah I know this because one of the victims contacted Donovan

and had said that he refinanced his house and I think he pulled out I want to say $200,000 out of his house to invest with Blaine. Blaine took the money and left. Yeah. This took the money. It's just like literally didn't do anything. The guy gave him the money.

He got money from a who knows how many other people and took off with that money. Like at this point, he's not even pretending. He's just blatantly stealing. And now Blaine, Blaine talks a good game. Blaine is very much a con man. Like when you talk to him, you can tell. This guy's the con man. Even when he got out of prison,

he contacted me and was trying to get me. He would say he was going to take down the story. Yeah. The whole blackmail and the brainwashing strategy. I'm going to go into this, if I started a channel, because you, in the MLM industry, you go very deep into the sinister psychological, like brainwashing, brain fucking stuff.

So that's sinister. That's not good. It's all about prevention, guys. I know this sounds funny, but it's all about prevention, all right? Might expose. What do you think about as a real? Because, I mean, I was not very good, you know. You as a real, con man.

What do you, what, how do you feel about exposing scams? Do you feel bad about that? You know, because I don't I feel like what? Like what? We're kindred spirit? Like, I'm supposed to be looking out for these guys? I thought, no, dude, I'm confused. Like some guy, he, because like I said, the interview I did was very emotional and I had compassion and everything.

I just, it was fresh for me and like, I'm still, don't get this wrong, I'm still conflicted a bit like, but it was the true. The first time I think I told completely like the absolute truth, you know, that's why I got emotional a bit and a guy, a guy he wrote, he writes to me yesterday. very sinister shit yeah like he's obviously a scammer and I said like in the video if you if you're you won't just want to talk you know I won't do anything

just you're stuck in some type of scam or scheme or MLM MM or very sinister dude but if you're stuck in something you want to talk you can you can write to me some guy he writes to me yesterday and uh bro this shit is heavy he needs to go on

on soft white on the red like he it's uh he's obviously he he he wrote in cryptic they to be sure like uh he was he's a professional hacker and he says like uh i feel i feel like what you said i feel like i feel bad about but i won't ever change i'll ever change i'm going to die like this and uh uh he seemed to be involved with uh like satanism and bro he said, I'm going to die soon, that's for sure, but I still won't stop. I can't stop. There's nothing you can do, but still you made me feel a little better.

So I don't know about the exposing. Like, it's so funny. I'm conflicted about that. I have to think. Yeah. Yeah. A mixture of compassion and, you know, exposing them. So you give me permission to expose them?

I mean, I don't. Yeah, why not? I, I, so. on a separate topic I have like this hair hanging out of the side of your are you that on hair what's happening I don't know what's happening yet I just I came out of the shower and

I'm sweating and yeah I would need like a like you can tell it here you know I it's coming like my turn like just like you all have Pretty, pretty similar to do the, uh, the hair, the hair, the hair, the hair, the hair stuff. Yeah, got to, got to do the hair thing. It's you have like free health care, right? You don't get free hair, though.

No, it's not covered. No. Not. And doc. It's not, it's not covered. No. But yeah, we do, we do have a free health care. Like, I broke my little finger.

Yeah. And, and, uh, I have to go back. I think you have to break it again because it, uh, the, the, What happened is I got pissed drunk before my trial and I wiped out. I don't even remember what happened. I remember I woke up in the morning in my bed and my finger was like this. I have no clue what happened. Probably like fell or something.

My guitar was on the floor so I probably like fell. So went to the hospital and completely freaked. So that's good. They froze my finger, broke it back, but then yeah. But yeah, they didn't feel anything, to be honest. It was really well frozen. So they put the little thing. But I think they didn't keep it there long enough.

They let it there like two weeks. So I think I'll have to go back and they will have to break it again. So that's unfunctionage. Done. Yeah. Okay. So back to that, I was going to say, yeah, I get, contacted by people all the time who were like in the middle of a scam or in the middle of something

and they're always like you know bro like how do i get out of this and how do i like i this and i'm you know the problem is they they never want to follow my advice it's always like like look you know you got to do this got to do that you call the um public defender's office and that you can talk to a public defender and go in and you can explain if you go in now you but in those cases people that call you for this you wouldn't like that would not be good to expose them try to like infiltrate people that call you and try you want to get out i mean that that would yeah no no because you know they're calling for advice they're not yeah it's not like it's not like like with you know um always marco where he's like he's going into like mLMs or scams or whatever he's kind of saying look this is a scam these are

people that are reaching out say look man i i messed up like i i don't know what to do the problem is they never want to listen they they think that it's like like, okay, I'm going to tell them, here's what you do. And you can walk away. Like, no, here's what you have to do. Like, you already said the FBI's involved. They're already asking questions. Like, you need to do this and this and this.

They're like, I don't know. They always basically want to put their head in the sand. Yeah. And hope it goes away. And look, I'm not going to lie to you. Sometimes you could just avoid, if you're not a big player and there's not a lot of evidence, sometimes you can put your head in. the sand and it goes away but honestly

that's like one and a thousand oh yeah and that's one thing I learned I thought I was so smart than the government the government if you think you're going to outpower the government like yeah forget even for my little small

shitty case I think they were they were like I forget the word in English like let me see A little bit I'm over, we're not going to lie. Uh, no, somebody who had, no, somebody who had the detective, like, an investigator, a detective, a detective, uh, an investigator, a detective, yeah, exactly. so the I even for my little shitty case

I think there were to my knowledge they were at least four that was it was ongoing so imagine the amount of money they spent only for my little shitty case you know so if you think you're going to avoid the power of the government that you're wrong

yeah you won't yeah no they've got an army to look into it yeah especially you in the in the US like it's the the IRS is brutal, I think, for you. And here it's much more soft. I don't want to, I think so. Yeah. Like you've like, they showed up politely and they didn't show it with guns, kicking your front door and scream, get on the ground, get on the ground. Oh no, no, no, no,

very polite. Very polite. And even the detective that was attributed to my case, I had to speak every week. Very sweet, very sweet lady. She wished me the best and she hopes that I get back on my feet and everything. So yeah, I think we're known in Canada for this, but there are many things that suck also in Canada, but we're known for many French people become the immigrate here in Quebec because they all say, look, people are all so chill, like here in France, like everybody is like insane. So we're pretty chill here.

Yeah, very polite, very, right, very, very, very polite society, very, um, um, apathetic. Yeah, very, also in Quebec, it's a little difference like, like, the rest of the Canada, but, uh, more like, I think, like neutral by, like, like in the U.S. you have really like and you're identified with your country and everything like nobody cares like nobody we don't talk really about like the political stop

is not such a big deal like the liberals and the republicans and yeah conservative in Canada it's not nobody like nobody cares really yeah all right

Well, I mean, what else are we talking about? I don't know. Maybe we, look, I have many, many insane stories of scams that I was involved in directly also that I witnessed. We can, we can, this episode sucked in my opinion, but it's funny. It's all right. I have many stories that maybe you can do something else another time. I have a great one about a guy in my city, like twice. I said it was from Tuala, three rivers.

and my city three rivers okay yeah and one of the guy I recruited an ACN back in the day I'm sure it out their role in planting the seat of what he did later also so that's why I want to talk about them and I'm also but this guy he's from my talent he was he was my programmer for my websites and stuff when I had the party business this guy he when Silk Road the Dark Web website

When Silk Road got shut down This guy, this guy, this French-Canadian Tro-Diviar guy My programmer He decides Well I'm going to take over There is a space there

I'm going to build I'm going to build another Dark Web website So he built a website called Alpha Bay, which became absolutely way bigger than the sick role, actually. He made like real money, like a million a date. And you can Google this. It's all true. I don't even know why they didn't make a documentary in the U.S. It was much bigger than the, like Jeff Session, the previous year previous

general attorney. He made a speech about the Alphabet when it got shut down, but the whole thing is so weird that like when he got he was in Thailand and when he was when he was caught within I think he was facing extradition to the US obviously

so very dumb he made just a one little mistake that's how they got him and after one week in the Thailand jail he killed himself but nobody believed this here in 12 yard her mother doesn't believe this like it's impossible in the little cell that he

that he could have killed himself so that's much bigger story and much sinister i didn't uh nobody knew that he was doing this even his close friends no he didn't tell anybody that he was doing this so that's insane i saw many many other uh things and uh we can talk maybe later about uh if you I mean, I don't, not like I have much else to do, you know. So, yeah. All right. Thank you, Matt. Thank you for having me.

And anytime we can talk about scams, you gave me permission to expose the scammers. So I might do that. My future, by the time this up, I am, I contacted the guy that owns this scamryop.com and all the channels, I'll probably have the domains transferred by the time this video is up. So my channel will probably be scam rehab. So YouTube.com, slash forward, scam rehab. So that's it. Hey, if you like the video, do me a favor and hit the subscribe button, hit the bell so you get notified of videos just like this.

Also, we will probably put the link of the description for the scam rehab, assuming that the channel is up and yeah so leave me a comment check out my books buy a book check out my Patreon like I said leave me a comment I respond to a bunch of comments like probably 80% of the comments I respond to and I really appreciate you guys watching and if you want to contact me my email address is in the description so I appreciate you guys watching see it I don't know if you guys know this or not but when I was locked up, I wrote a whole bunch of true crime books, and all of the books are on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, Audible, their e-books. Check out the trailers.

Using forgeries and bogus identities, Matthew B. Cox, one of the most ingenious con men in history, built America's biggest banks out of millions. Despite numerous encounters with bank security, state, and federal authorities, Cox narrowly, and quite luckily, avoided capture for years. Eventually, he topped the U.S. Secret Service's Most Wanted list and led the U.S. Marshals, FBI, and Secret Service on a three-year chase, while jet-setting around the world with his attractive female accomplices. Cox has been declared one of the most prolific mortgage fraud con artists of all time

by CNBC's American Greene. Bloomberg Business Week called him the mortgage industry's worst nightmare, while Dateline NBC described Cox as a gifted forger and silver-tongued liar. Playboy magazine proclaimed his scam was real estate fraud, and he was the best. Shark in the housing pool is Cox's exhilarating first-person account of his stranger-than-fiction story. Available now on Amazon and Audible. Bent is the story of John J. Boziak's phenomenal life of crime. Inked from head to toe, with an addiction to strippers and fast Cadillacs,

Boziac was not your typical computer geek. He was, however, one of the most cunning scammers, counterfeiters, identity thieves, and escape artists alive. And a major thorn in the side of the U.S. Secret Service as they fought a war on cybercrime. With a savant-like ability to circumvent banking security and stay once. up ahead of law enforcement. Boziak made millions of dollars in the international cyber underworld, with the help of the Chinese and the Russians. Then, leaving nothing but a John Doe warrant and a cleaned-out bank account in his wake, he vanished. Boziak's stranger-than-fiction tale of ingenious scams and impossible escapes, of brazen run-ins with the law and secret desires

to straighten out and settle down, makes his story a true crime con game that will keep you guessing. Bent, How a Homeless Team Became One of the Cybercrime Industry's most prolific counterfeiters. Available now on Amazon and Audible. Buried by the U.S. government and ignored by the national media, this is the story they don't want you to know. When Frank Amadeo met with President George W. Bush at the White House to discuss NATO operations in Afghanistan, no one knew that he'd already embezzled nearly $200 million from the federal government. money he intended to use to bankroll his plan to take over the world. From Amadeo's global headquarters in the shadow of Florida's Disney World, with a nearly

inexhaustible supply of the Internal Revenue Services funds, Amadeo acquired multiple businesses, amassing a mega conglomerate. Driven by his delusions of world conquest, he negotiated the purchase of a squadron of American fighter jets and the controlling interest in a former Soviet ICBM factory he began working to build the largest private militia on the planet over one million africans strong simultaneously amadeo hired an international black ops force to orchestrate a coup in the congo while plotting to take over several small eastern european countries the most disturbing part of it all is had the u.s government not thwarted his plans he might have just pulled it off its insanity the bizarre true story of a by

bipolar megalomaniac's insane plan for total world domination. Available now on Amazon and Audubor. Pierre Rossini, in the 1990s, was a 20-something-year-old, Los Angeles-based drug trafficker of ecstasy and ice. He and his associates drove luxury European supercars, lived in Beverly Hills penthouses, and dated Playboy models while dodging federal indictments. Then, two FBI officers,

with the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force entered the picture. Dirty agents willing to fix cases and identify informants. Suddenly, two of Rossini's associates, confidential informants working with federal law enforcement, or murdered. Everyone pointed to Rossini. As his co-defendants prepared for trial, U.S. Attorney Robert Mueller sat down to debrief Resini at Leavenworth Penitentiary, and another story emerged. A tale of FBI corruption and complicity in murder. You see, Pierre Racini knew something that no one else knew.

The truth. And Robert Miller and the federal government have been covering it up to this very day. Devil Exposed. A twisted tale of drug trafficking, corruption, and murder in the city of angels. Available on Amazon and Audible. Bailout is a psychological true crime thriller that pits a narcissistic con man against an egotistical, pathological liar. Marcus Shrinker, the money manager who attempted to fake his own death during the 2008 financial

crisis, is about to be released from prison, and he's ready to talk. He's ready to tell you the story no one's heard. Shrinker sits down with true crime writer, Matthew B. Cox, a fellow inmate serving time for bank fraud. Shrinker lays out the details. The disgruntled clients who persecuted him for unanticipated market losses, the affair that ruined his marriage, and the treachery of his scorned wife, the woman who framed him for securities fraud, leaving him no choice but to make a bogus distress call and plunge from his multi-million dollar private aircraft in the dead of night, the $11.1 million in life insurance, the missing $1.5 million in gold. The fact is, Shrinker wants you to think

He's innocent. The problem is, Cox knows Shrinker's a pathological liar and his stories of fabrication. As Cox subtly coaxes, cajoles, and yes, Khan's Shrinker under revealing his deceptions, his stranger-than-fiction life of lies slowly unravels. This is the story Shrinker didn't want you to know. Bailout, The Life and Lies of Marcus Shrinker, available now on Barnes & Noble, Etsy, and Audible. Matthew B. Cox is a conman, incarcerated in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, for a variety of bank fraud-related scams. Despite not having a drug problem, Cox inexplicably ends up in the prison's residential drug abuse program, known as Ardap.

A drug program in name only. Ardap is an invasive behavior modification therapy, specifically designed to correct the cognitive thinking errors associated with criminal behavior. The program is a non-fiction dark comedy which chronicles Cox's side-splitting journey. This first-person account is a fascinating glimpse at the survivor-like atmosphere inside of the government-sponsored rehabilitation unit. While navigating the treachery of his backstabbing peers, Cox simultaneously manipulates prison policies and the bumbling staff every step of the way. The program. How a conman survived the Federal Bureau of Prisons cult of Ardap. Available now on Amazon and Audible.

If you saw anything you like, links to all the books are in the description box.