True Crime with Kendall Rae - The McDonald's Monopoly Game Conspiracy

Episode Date: November 24, 2022

In the 90s, there was a huge fraud conspiracy surrounding McDonald’s monopoly promotional game. Anyone could play, and anyone had the chance to win a prize, from a free sandwich to a car to a million dollars. The odds of winning were slim… so how was it that several of the winners of this game were all family members living in the same area? This episode is sponsored by: HelloFresh - promo code: kendallrae70 Storyworth Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

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So today I have a bit of a true crime and conspiracy for you all in one. Today I'm going to be telling you about the McDonald's conspiracy fraud of the 90s. Surprisingly though, not that many people know about it because this whole thing really started getting media attention right before 9-11 happened. And once that happened, all the media was focused on that. And the McDonald's monopoly trial kind of got pushed aside. It recently got a lot of publicity because HBO put out a multi-part series on it. It's really, really long and I know not everyone has HBO, so I thought I would do a condensed version of the story here for you because it's crazy. So first of all, I know there's a lot of confusion about what the word conspiracy actually means.

It conspiracy is a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful and harmful. Now that is definitely what happened here. A million dollars! Monopoly at McDonald's is back and better than ever. Odds of LeBron James winning seven championships. One in a moment. Odds of LeBron winning a prize. One in four.

Free prize. So if you are not familiar with McDonald's Monopoly game, it's a promotional game that McDonald's has been running for a really long time, and it's pretty simple to play. Basically, there are these little peel-off stickers on the back of like French fried boxes, drinks, one like burger boxes, stuff like that, or you just go into the restaurant

and get them from the front. And these little peel-off stickers have various prizes on them, anywhere from a free fish fillet to a upgrade in your drink size to a car, to a vacation, to a million dollars. They have a board game and you can match properties that you get on the peel off stickers to your board. And when you collect all the pieces, you can start getting some of the prizes.

But then there's also the instant winter stuff, which is where you just get a prize automatically that is listed on the back of the game piece. So there were tons of different ways to win, and it sounds really fun, right? Well, here's the catch. Millions of Americans play this game, but the odds of winning are very, very, very slip. And people, of course, know this when they play it.

Like, when you enter the lottery, people know that they have a very small chance of winning and they accept that when they buy their ticket. And of course the odds completely vary with individual lottery. But the thing is about the monopoly game. It's actually easier to win the lottery than it is to win the top prize in the monopoly game. The odds of winning the jackpot prize are 1 in 250 million. But like I said, people would still play even though they knew their chances are pretty bad. But from 1998 to 2001, there was actually no chance for anyone to win, because there were almost no legitimate winners during that entire time.

So that means if you were one of the people who were playing that game during that time, you never had a fucking chance. So it all starts in 1987. And McDonald's at this point was kind of having a slump in business and they really wanted to pick things up again. One of the nice things about McDonald's chicken McNuggets, those hot tasty pieces of boneless chicken, is that they're packaged in sizes for every appetite. Let me illustrate. Enter the six pack. A logical lunch. McNuggets nine. A delight for dinner. And a pack of 20.

A perfect for picnics and parties. So this is when they contracted a separate marking firm called Simon Marketing. Now Simon Marketing had actually come up with the whole idea for the happy meal they had been with McDonald's for a while and did all of their marketing. So they came up with an idea that would give people a reason to want to come spend money at McDonald's. Now it's genius because people love collecting things and love the idea of having to put a full collection together.

And when they first launched it boomed. The game monopoly has come to life at McDonald's. When the making of the game, Coca-Cola, or a million dollars. Collect St. Charles Place, States and Virginia Avenue, and win a three vacation. Collect these for a $250,000 home. Hello. Over 40 million in cash and prizes. Collect the right kingpieces. Hello, over 40 million in cash and prices, like the ranking pieces,

only instantly, so play monopoly. Do not pass gold or directly to McDonald's. When you download the Croger app, you have easy access to savings every day. Shop weekly sales and get personalized coupons to get the most value out of every trip every time, whether you shop in-store or online. Download the Croger app now to save big.

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Was it Wednesday or Thursday we got tacos? I know it wasn't Tuesday because that's when I went to my hairdresser. Shoot. What day was it? See how we all lost interest there? Progressive can't help you from becoming your parents, but we can't help you compare rates on home insurance with home-quote explorer.

Progressive casualty insurance company affiliates and third party insurance compares and rates not available in all states or situations prices vary based on how you buy. The McDonald's sales actually jumped up by 40% from this one promotion, and so they decided that this was going to be something they were going to continue to do in the future.

The game monopoly is black at McDonald's. Oh, golly, this is the year to play. Now eating at McDonald's gets you the biggest break ever. I want. Wind shopping spree is vacation's, Huckleberry, Cologne, Caster. Or maybe you want a 500, oh, who owns the field,

come with the breeze. So like I want a 500 oh, you want a 50-year-old, you're gonna be a dinosaur. So like I explained, the pieces are worth quite a bit because some of them are instant cash prize winners. So it's essentially a lottery ticket that's kind of slapped onto a cup or a French fry box and everyone could play even people who didn't even buy food for McDonald's because you could technically walk in and just ask them for one because if they didn't allow that it would be considered gambling.

So people loved playing this game. Many people played every single time that it came around. They don't do it anymore, at least in America, but while it was running, people were really into it. McDonald's was making tons of money off of a monopoly promotion. People were really enjoying playing the game. And everything was all good up until 2001 when the FBI received a tip from an anonymous source, and the source told them that the three most recent winners of the monopoly promotion were all in the same

family. They said that tons of winners were illegitimate, and the person that was controlling all this was named Uncle Jerry. And so they looked into this because that is a huge accusation. They did think that maybe it could be a fake tip that it's someone to try and get someone else in trouble, but they decided that it was worth looking into. And it didn't take long for them to start putting pieces together and realizing that several of the winners were related and all of them were in the Jacksonville area,

as well. So what are the chances of that? How would it be possible for multiple family members in the same area to win the monopoly? There was just no way. There was less of a chance of winning than winning the lottery, yet multiple people in the same family won.

So obviously the FBI knew there was a problem here, but they didn't know how deep this conspiracy went. I mean, was it McDonald's that was running this sham? So they're wondering how many of the winners are fraudulent. How many people are involved? Who was involved? And they knew it could have been many different people. I mean, it could have been someone that works on printing the cups, works on printing the boxes, delivers the materials to the McDonald's stores. Anyone along the process could have stolen the pieces.

So the first thing that they did was actually get McDonald's involved and see if they knew about this whole scheme. So they contacted the head of security McDonald's and they sent three people to go and meet with the FBI. They told them that they couldn't tell them what it was about and it was completely secret until they got there. And once they got there, they told them

that most of their winners were related and then they thought there was some type of huge fraud going on. And they were blown away. They had no idea this was happening and they were freaking out because it does not look good on their business. So after talking with McDonald's, they felt like they understood the whole game a lot better. The FBI felt like McDonald's was not actually involved. And it was perfect timing because McDonald's was actually about to watch another monopoly game. When you download the Croger app, you have easy access to savings every day. Shop weekly sales and get personalized coupons to get the most value out of every trip every time, whether you shop in-store or online. Download the Croger app now to save big.

Kroger, fresh for everyone, must have a digital account to redeem offers. Restrictions may apply, see site for details. Save big on your favorites with the buy, five or more, save a dollar each sale. Simply buy five or more participating items and save a dollar each with your card. Kroger, fresh for everyone.

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So now they can try to catch someone in the act. And the first person to claim their prize at this time was Michael Hoover. So the FBI wanted to interview Michael Hoover, but they didn't want to blow their covers. They came up with an idea to do a fake film production company and make these McDonald's commercials that were actually going to air for McDonald's.

And the idea was to be similar to like a publishers clearing house type prize, you know, where they bring a big check and interview the person who just won and that they would go in and give them their prize My idea was to be similar to like a publisher's clearing house type prize, you know, where they bring a big check and Interviewed the person who just won and that they would go in and give them their prize and interview them and make them part of the commercial But it was really just an interrogation So they came up with a fake company they called it shamrock productions and the tagline was Cezardous lucky and they actually interviewed a couple of winners in this fashion But first was Michael Hoover now Michael's story was really interesting.

He said that he got his game piece from a magazine, a People magazine. Now he was on the beach with his People magazine, walking around and he bent over to get something out of the water to pick up a shell or something like that. And his magazine fell into the water and got ruined. And he was not about to miss that People magazine. So he decided that

it needed to be replaced ASAP. So he went to the grocery store and bought a new one and sure enough in it was the winning million dollar McDonald's Game Keys prize. And when they were doing this little TV commercial with him, they were, you know, having him pose with the check and asking him a bunch of questions, trying to poke holes in his story. And so they asked him what he was gonna do with the money, and he said, I am gonna buy a boat, and I'm gonna name it Ruthless Scoundrel. [♪ Music playing in background, [♪ Music playing in background,

[♪ Music playing in background, Now during all this little does Michael Hoover know he is being wire tapped. After he leaves, he makes a phone call, and FBI agents are listening to the whole thing. And that's where he calls a man named Andrew or AJ Glam who was a big part of this whole scheme. And he starts talking to him about oh my god they were here, they bought everything. I said to them I even told them I was going to get a boat named Ruthless Scoundrel and they were just laughing about it.

Thought it was the funniest thing ever. Meanwhile now the FBI knows for sure that Mike Hoover is in on this scam And while listening to his calls, they also start to hear the name Uncle Jerry again Which is the same name from their anonymous tip. So they need to figure out who is Uncle Jerry now Meanwhile there is a man named Jerome Jacobson that is working as the security at Simon Marketing. They had a whole team and Jerry was the lead of it to make sure that the pieces were safe and not stolen by anyone in the process and made it to the McDonald's stores. Jerome Jacobson is an ex law enforcement officer and he was living in Atlanta at the time and his whole job was to protect those pieces. He oversaw the whole printing process, making sure they were distributed properly.

He went to all the different facilities that printed the pieces. Everything was monitored. So much so that employees actually had to have their shoes checked every time they entered the factory or exited the factory. They were higher up, so watching all of the factory workers and making sure nothing got stolen, they were even escorted to the bathroom, so they were trying to ensure that nobody could possibly cheat. So that's why it was so shocking that someone cheated. So the wedding pieces actually had some type of identifier on them. A purposeful mistake that verifies the authenticity,

whether that's a little chunk removed from a letter or like a hole in it somewhere, it is purposely placed there to prove that it's real. There's also a code on it that can only be seen with black light. It's a very serious process. So whoever had been caching these pieces, definitely actually won legitimate monopoly pieces. So the question was how did they get their hands on them. So Jerome Jacobson was the one who designed the entire process of security around the monopoly pieces and oversaw the entire process being done. Now you guessed it,

Uncle Jerry is actually Jerome Jacobson. Jerome was the one who was stealing the pieces. No shocker there. So the way that he would do this was basically when he was traveling in between McDonald's locations, bringing the pieces to them. Apparently he would bring the pieces into the men's bathroom at airports, and he would break the seal that was on the sealed pieces, take the pieces out, and then somehow reseal it so that no one would ever know. Put them back in his best, leave the bathroom, and put them back with all the rest of the pieces like nothing ever happened. And by doing this, he was able to steal a bunch of game pieces. But obviously he can't just go and cash them all himself or people are gonna figure it out. So what he would do is sell them to people or work out some type of deal where they would pay him and increments. Therome ended up selling a $10,000 winning game piece to his local butcher for $2,000,

and he sold a $200,000 winning piece to his nephew for $45,000. So essentially he was making money off these winning pieces, and the new owner of the piece also was getting the full amount. So he was making money and helping people that he knew. But eventually he was getting pretty overwhelmed. He had a lot of pieces and didn't know enough people to distribute them to that what it looks sketch. So this is when he gets another Jerry involved. Enter Jerry Columbo.

So Jerry Columbo is actually a member of the Columbo Crime Family of New York. And they are actually the youngest of the five families that dominate the organized crime activities in New York City. This is a really well-known family, a very big family, and very cut-throat at the end of the day. They are Italian mobsters. Jerry was described as a nice guy, charming dude, but also would carry around duffel bags full of money.

But he's just your average family man. He'd actually promised his daughter one of the million dollar chips because she had a different last name than him so she could cash it in. So when Jerry Colombo found out about Jerome Jacobson's scam that he was running on McDonald's, he agreed to be part of it and the two of them start working together Two Jerry's out to scam McDonald's now Jerome Jacobson actually started being called Uncle Jerry by Jerry Columbus and this is I guess a Respect thing in the mafia to call someone an uncle so that's where the nickname comes from but anyway

Now Jerry was married to this woman named Robin and Robin was in on the whole scheme, but she was actually kind of thinking more than Jerry because Jerry was at first giving the prizes to a bunch of his family members and people he knew that could be easily traced back to him. So she was like, you got to spread this out more. It needs to be different people in different parts of the country, different races, you know, some different genders. It's been like mostly men. So she suggested that he give one of the million dollar prize pieces to her friend named Gloria Brown, who's living in Atlanta.

And she bought the piece from him for $40,000 and was able to cash it in. And then she'd have to pay him a reoccurring payment on the new installments that come in. He literally drove her to McDonald's, coached her on what to say, and made her walk in there and claim her prize. And she did. And went through the whole process, there are clips from the FBI. And she claimed that prize and won the million dollars. They was

send it to her in monthly increments. And she said that after taxes and after paying Jerry, that it didn't really change her life in any way. Gloria actually ended up regretting the whole thing a lot and thought that Jerry kind of manipulated her. And he also forced her to go on a media spree, including that interview with the FBI and that she thought was just a commercial. And when they did her interview, they actually showed her a picture of McDonald's location and said, this is the one you want it from. And she was like, yes, that is.

That is the one I want it from. And went along with it completely when it was actually a different location. So, eventually, this FBI operation became known as Operation Final Answer. And this was because at the time, and I'm wondering how many of you actually remember this, but McDonald's was running a monopoly promotion that was in partnership with who wants to be a millionaire. So, that's why they started calling it Operation Final Answer. Another person that won fraudulently was none other than Jerry Colombo himself. He actually appeared in a McDonald's TV commercial after fraudulently winning a Dodge Viper.

People everywhere are winning big! Playing the monopoly game at McDonald's! Farmer Gray won a C2 Jet vote. Mary Wallings heard when a $2,000 city bank shopping spree. Kyle McKinnon won a Sega Saturn with a Daytona USA game. Jerry Colombo won a Dodge Viper. Jerry Colombo won a Dodge Viper. And there are two $1 million prices left. With millions of prices left, you could be next.

So take a break and get a break at McDonald's. Have you had your break today? And he actually ended up taking a cash prize because he couldn't fit in the Dodge Viper, so it didn't work out. But Jerry was loving this whole thing, and he was loving sharing it all with other people. Jerry Columnel also gave his wife Robbins

father a million dollar prize prize as well as her brother in law and he liked giving out these pieces. It made him feel good, made him feel powerful. Not only was he making money but he was helping people. So he wanted to do something good for the world with his schemes. So he actually decided to mail one of the million dollar monopoly pieces to the St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. And they were super, super happy and surprised that someone had it generously donated their token. McDonald's heard about this and was like, hmm, and even after they found out this was all a fraud, they did let them keep the money. Just want to throw that sign out in there.

But eventually the two jerrys were busted. Going back to that phone call I mentioned that Michael Hoover had with AJ Gloom, just mentioning the name Uncle Jerry gave them enough suspicion to think that this was Jerome. They had to have some proof, so they followed him, and eventually they caught him because they had more than 25 different FBI agents working on the case.

They also found out about Jerry Colombo, just because his father-in-law had a million dollar ticket and Gloria Brown was also having her prizes go directly to one of his addresses in Florida and Jacksonville so they connected the dots all really quickly but by the time the FBI figured it out Jerry Colombo had actually passed away in an auto accident. It was May 7th 1998 Jerry Colombo was driving with his wife to Georgia to look for a new place to build a house and they were hit by an F-15 truck on the expressway and then hit a concrete wall after being dragged 250 feet.

Jerry was able to crawl from the wreckage and Robin did survive and they took Jerry to the hospital, but two weeks later he was taken off life support and pronounced dead. So there was nothing the FBI could do to punish him unfortunately. But Robin was still alive. And Robin was not only stressed about the McDonald's thing, but also about the Columbo family, because they actually thought that she purposely crashed the car that something in their marriage wasn't going right. And they think that she caused the accident herself essentially killing Jerry Columbo. And so they started their own family investigation. And to this started their own family investigation

and to the stage she worries that they might see prevent on her. But of course, Jerome Jacobson was still alive and the FBI was able to arrest him. And they actually arrested eight others along with him in August of 2001. Not only that, 51 different people were indicted in the case for collecting a false prize

or being involved in some way. Robin, Jerry's wife, got 18 months in jail. She's quite an interesting character. I highly recommend watching the documentary because there's so much more in that that is not, you know, directly part of the story, but it's just interesting about this family and their experience. But Robin is now a born-again Christian woman. She even released a book called From a Mafia Widow to God's Child in 2006. And to this day it seems she's doing okay. Jerome Jacobson or Uncle Jerry was ultimately charged with conspiracy to commit male fraud. And in his trial, Jerome Jacobson admitted to stealing up to 60 game pieces and that's a lot of money and prizes right there. So he ended up serving 37 months in prison. He has to pay

$12.5 million in restitution. But he's free now. He's in his late 70s and lives in Georgia, and obviously he no longer works for McDonald's. Now McDonald's itself didn't escape all of this unscathed. They ended up facing several lawsuits in the coming years after all this came out. McDonald's and Simon marketing sued each other back and forth a couple of times and that was mostly for breach of contract type stuff. And in court they actually agreed that McDonald's was to pay Simon marketing 16.6 million dollars for breach of contract. Crazy. And not only that but over a thousand different burger king locations got together and sued McDonald's.

And they actually filed a class action lawsuit against McDonald's for false advertising and unfair promotion for knowingly running the Monopoly game while it was compromised. But ultimately, they dropped the lawsuit. To make up for the bad PR, McDonald's ended up giving $25 million away in cash prizes, including one million each to people at random chain locations.

And they didn't end the monopoly game right away. It's not running anymore. They ended it in 2016 in America at least. But the whole thing was definitely a learning experience for them. That is gonna be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode. And make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts It really does help me out if you want to watch the video version of this show

You can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked or you can just search Kendall Ray I will be back with another episode soon, but until then stay safe out there you