Narrator then he destroys them. He yelled at me for a half an hour, called me stupid, incompetent, lazy, idiotic. Narrator but his is a con that pays off big. He was spending, on average, 1 million a month. Hes the greatest con man, in my opinion, that ever lived. Narrator in early 2007, troy stratos is living in a 12,000 square foot mansion outside of sacramento, california. He is taking care of the house because the owner, his good friend Nicole Murphy, actor Eddie Murphys exwife, has moved to los angeles. He gets a call. Its nicole. She has entrusted stratos with her money and now she is being hounded by creditors. Stratos reassures her that everything is fine. But he is lying. At this point he has already taken at least 13 million from trusting victims like Nicole Murphy. And the question is what is the secret to this con artists stunning success . The answer begins in maui in 1994. Stratos is 28, an aspiring film director. He comes to the island to work on a film script with the man who will become one of his best friends in life, richard hack. Hack he was extremely articulate and charming and i thought that i was mentoring this substantial talent. Narrator hack is a journalist, a bestselling author of more than a dozen books. He is a favorite guest for television interviews. Man richard hack uncovers americas first billionaire in his new book, simply called hughes. Narrator in maui, as stratos and hack become friends, stratos describes the sad details of his childhood. A story he tells many victims. He is an unwanted baby. His father, who he does not know growing up, is black. His mother is a white teenager. He is raised by his grandparents. Hack every time someone would come over to the house troy was removed and put in an outbuilding because he was mixed. He wasnt white like the rest of the family. Narrator the story might be true. Or it might be a set up. Konnikova its a soft spot, i think, for most people when they hear that youve had a traumatic childhood, theyre willing to forgive so many things because they say, wow, look at everything youve overcome. Narrator maria konnikova, author of the confidence game, has spent years studying the psychology of con artists and their victims. And so he taps into that right away. Hes the victim. Youre not going to be the victim. Narrator as stratos continues his story for hack, it all seems plausible. Young and handsome, stratos says he heads off to modeling school. There he becomes friends with beautiful nicole mitchell. He is 16, she is 14 and destined to be discovered. 11 years later she marries comedian, eddie murphy. And stratos also gets a claim to fame. He tracks down his father who is now is married to nancy wilson, the legendary jazz singer. She is a huge boost to stratos credibility. Hack his stepmother was famous. I mean nancy wilson is no slouch, you know, with her 60 albums and Grammy Awards and all this other business. Narrator but then stratos tells hack his big lie he says he made a fortune as an early investor in aol and now has millions invested in the middle east in oil. He said he had an endless amount of funds. He said he would never be able to spend the amount of money that he had. Narrator his Social Security records tell a different story. The last time he ever reports any income is 1993. 30,000. But hack is not interested in stratos money. What is most important to him is that stratos shares a dream of his. I was impressed by the fact that this was a guy that didnt like violence on tv or in the movies. And i thought it is time for us to return to a gentler time like the glory days of hollywood, the golden age, and this guy agreed with that. Narrator with richard hack clearly a believer in troy stratos, stratos takes off. He heads to vancouver in british columbia. He opens a Production Company in the prestigious waterfall building and hires tamara hegan as part of his team. Hegan you had a bunch of young people who had no experience in the industry at all that were being told that they were amazing, they were going to be able to make it big. Narrator stratos tells his team they will be working with Britney Spears and donna summer. Hegan we bought in 100 . We believed in him. We believed in his vision. Narrator and he is big on making promises. He was going to buy us all a house. I was going to have a house. Narrator and sometimes stratos promises are particularly manipulative. Hegan he had a habit of picking up waiters, lavish them with gifts, convince them that he was going to make them the next big thing, get them to sign an agreement and slowly but surely it would come around to, you know, its a a more intimate relationship is what hes looking for. Narrator and while he is pursuing relationships with young men, he also begins a relationship with a woman with just what he needs. Money. She is a realtor worth millions named viive truu. Hack viive truu is the name of this very lovely woman who was enamored with troy. She was in love with this guy for sure and showed that love by affording him capital, giving him money. Narrator stratos tells truu his money is tied up overseas. That he just needs a loan. She doesnt know that he told the same story to another woman who loved him just a few years before. Stratos has perfected the sweetheart scam. It relies on kind of this emotional need that all of us have. I mean we want we want love. Narrator and stratos knows that when someone loves him, he is in complete control. Hegan he would blackmail her with his affections. If she got too upset about the money, then, well, i dont think that we should date. Im not going to have dinner with you. Im not going to see you. Narrator and viive truu caves to his threats. Over several years, she loans stratos an astounding 10 million dollars, and he blows through it as if the supply will never end. Hegan he would buy clothing, cars. He walked in and bought a g wagon from mercedesbenz dealership for cash. Narrator as he goes through viive truus life savings, his big projects are going nowhere. And if anyone challenges stratos in any way, there is hell to pay. Hegan one of his favorite tactics was public humiliation. He had me stand up in the middle of an open office and he yelled at me for a half an hour, called me stupid, incompetent, lazy, idiotic. Narrator his staffs initial excitement has turned to fear and dread. It got to be really scary, and you got to a point where you were like, what have i gotten myself into . Narrator and so, the entire team quits. Stratos has tapped canada for all he can. Its time to move on. Next stop boston. Richard hack is now living nearby. Stratos arrives with a big idea. To build a film studio here. But not just any studio rko radio pictures. Rko studios was the creator of some of hollywoods most beloved films. The idea plays directly into richard hacks dream. Hack i was certain that troy was sincere with his idea about bringing, you know, romance back to movies. Narrator to negotiate the necessary land deals, stratos gets in touch with high end Real Estate Broker jeff goldman. Goldman i had my doubts, but what enhanced his credibility is the fact that richard hack was so deeply involved in all of his plans and richard hack is a verifiable person. One time, we were out at dinner and richard says to me turn on 60 minutes on sunday night. Im going to be on 60 minutes. and i turned on 60 minutes, and lo and behold, theres richard hack. Narrator goldman dedicates a year and a half to stratos proposal, putting aside other incomeproducing projects. And then just as the deal is about to close, stratos pulls out. And jeff goldman, who feels used and burned, thinks he knows exactly who troy stratos is. Hes the greatest con man, in my opinion, that ever lived. Narrator but richard hack still has faith in stratos, and in 2004, he gets a phenomenal offer from his good friend. He said that he had enough work to keep me in business writing movies and he was willing to sign an 11 million, 11 movie contract with me to keep me exclusive to him. Narrator the first project, called the pharaonic prophecies, will be shot in egypt three spectacular 2hour movies. Hack it was the first time that i actually had essentially sold my soul to this person that i believed would make these movies happen. Konnikova troy more than anyone, hes selling dreams. The movie that you want, i can get it made. The house that you want, i can get it built. The business that you want, i can get it started. I mean, he is brilliant in figuring out what drives you and then it using that to get everything that he can from you. Narrator next on american greed, Nicole Murphy becomes troy stratos perfect mark. When i was going through my divorce, i was so emotional, i was like confiding in my friend. I feel like were forglet me check. Ing. Xfinity home gives you peace of mind from anywhere with professionally monitored Home Security built around you. No, i think were good. Good. So when youre away, you dont have to worry. The tent. We forgot. The tent. Except about that. Xfinity home. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Hey look, i found the tent get xfinity home with no Term Contract required. Click or call today. Narrator as he approaches his 40th birthday, troy stratos is now living in florida, keeping up appearances as the extravagant multimillionaire who has money to burn. But he is, in fact, running low on cash. The answer to his money worries shows up in the headlines of entertainment news. After 12 years of marriage and 5 children, nicole and eddie murphy are getting divorced. Stratos reaches out to his old friend nicole soon after. Murphy later tells a sacramento tv news crew how she welcomed his offers to help. I believed that he was my friend. I mean, when i look back, troy and i had such a great relationship. We were like the best of friends. Narrator and what a friend he is. Eyeing her multimillion dollar divorce settlement, stratos makes a generous offer to share his middle Eastern Investment opportunities. Pickles mr. Stratos indicated he would be one that could actually be there to protect her money from other greedy family members or friends who might be lurking in the wings. Narrator there is just one requirement. Stratos says she needs his name to get access to the investments. And so troy stratos and Nicole Murphy open a joint trust and she deposits 10 million from her divorce settlement. Phillips troy has total control of her money. She totally trusts troy 100 that hes going to invest the money overseas. Murphy moves to la, and stratos, saying he will take care of selling her house, sets up his Production Company there. He hires a local bookkeeper, sheri farley. Troy stratos tells her that he is a billionaire. Sheri he needed somebody to be by his side as his finance person, and he wanted that to be me. And i was very flattered and thought, cool, okay, this sounds fun. Narrator sheri has a son, sam, who works for a Human Resources company. He also gets tapped by stratos. Sam he said, sam, i need someone like you. I said, well, okay. He said, im building this empire. I want you to help me do that. Narrator sam is wondering if this guy is for real. When he googles troy stratos, almost nothing comes up to confirm his identity. But then there was nancy wilson and Nicole Murphy and all these other people, it had to be true. Narrator sam quits his job and signs on with stratos. He hires chris budenbender to take care of the cars stratos claims are his a mercedes g wagon, a customized mustang, an aston martin, a rollsroyce phantom and more. My jaw dropped open like, yes, i get to work on these cars. This guys got something going on and im not asking too many questions right now. [ chuckles ] narrator jake bartlett, a substitute school teacher, is hired by stratos to do odd jobs that feel truly odd. Bartlett and i think the first time i just organized magazines for him. [ laughs ] he wanted them alphabetized, so i organized some magazines. And he had some cds and he had and some movies and he had me organize those. Narrator but the primary assignment of stratos new entourage seems to be witnessing how rich and generous he is. Matt antrobus is a College Student at the time. Antrobus we went to the movies here in, you know, sacramento. And he turns around, hes like, hey, im going to get everybodys concessions today and everybody in line behind us also. He paid for all of their concessions. And i was like, what in the w this is the weirdest thing that ive ever witnessed. Narrator but nothing screams excess more than the party he throws at christmas time. It starts with extreme shopping at costco. Sam we just walked aisle to aisle, and he would just grab stuff and throw it in. And he would say, if you want anything, grab it. No, no, were fine. And wed fill up a cart. Grab another cart. And wed fill up that cart. Grab another cart. Narrator and on the day of the big event, the decorations are festive, the presents are extravagant, there is even a snow leopard for children to pet. And what is most surprising is that all this effort is not for stratos celebrity friends. Its for the hired help. Budenbender he doesnt know the window guy. He doesnt know the maid service. He doesnt know the landscaper, you know, he doesnt know them, but they were invited. Narrator but make no mistake, this party is all part of the con. Konnikova what are you going to think when you hear that, you know, this business man invited his window washers to the party . You think, oh, my god, you know, what a man of the people, what a great person. Narrator as 2006 comes to an end, the group of guys stratos keeps in tow are starting to seriously question what troy stratos is really up to. Bartlett we werent going anywhere. We werent starting anything. Hes got, like, an entourage around him of people that depend on him for for work just for the heck of it. Narrator up next. The simple truth about how stratos is helping nicole. This was just troy stratos blowing through her money like a drunken sailor. Narrator in early 2007, troy stratos and sam farley arrive in la to interview potential personal staff for stratos. They check into the Beverly Wilshire hotel. Stratos has reserved the president ial suite 5,000 a night. Sam looking back, i should have thought something was up. Troy put down his card, and it got declined. And i saw that troy was probably going to lose it at this point, so i quickly grabbed my card, and threw it down, and said, oh, here, just put it on this card, knowing as a corporate expense, i could expense it. Narrator sheri farley is also covering some of stratos expenses and dealing with a constant shortage of cash in his bank account, but she learns not to question him. Sheri when he would yell at you, it was explosive. It was abusive. It was you didnt want it to happen and so you started to do anything to not get yelled at. Narrator by now, stratos is tired of california and moves back to florida. He brings the california entourage with him. Sam each day was filled with mindless activities. We would all meet together for breakfast. Then wed go to the gym. Then wed go to lunch. Narrator and while stratos drives the rolls around fort lauderdale, sheri is struggling to keep the bills paid. At this point, sam and sheri are still carrying expenses on their own credit cards that have not been reimbursed. And in february, terrible news sheri farley cant make the payroll. Sam troy kept telling us again and again, im trying to transfer the money in. You dont understand what it takes to get money transferred from swiss banks, from dubai. Narrator sam farley is already living on credit cards. He is falling behind on his mortgage and has a family to support. Sam i was scared to death. I think it was the first time that i really felt panicked that. This was all just smoke and mirrors. Narrator and then, the next month, again. No pay check. Missing out on one check was tight. When the next check didnt come, then we were in despair. Narrator there is one last hope. Stratos receives a bank loan and the money is deposited into his account. But it does not last long. It came in and it went out and thats when i knew. Were not getting paid. Narrator as the reality of their situation sinks in, Nicole Murphy is also in a state of panic. Stratos has refinanced her houses for around 3 million. Her jewelry, worth as much as 1 million, is missing. Collection agencies are calling. Her insurance is unpaid. She starts recording her phone conversations with stratos. Stratos is nothing but reassuring. But she is suspicious and hires bill branscum, a private detective, to investigate troy stratos. My job was to take the information available, track the money. It didnt take long to realize that this was nicoles money and you could track where it was going. This was just troy stratos blowing through her money like a drunken sailor. Narrator in a little more than a year, he has blown through more than 10 million of Nicole Murphys money and left the Farley Family strapped for cash and emotionally devastated. Sheri its the humiliation of giving. Your heart and your life almost literally because thats what i did that was my life at that point to somebody who just has no regard for it, just throws you away like youre a piece of trash. Narrator and sam and sheri decide they need to warn others. Sam part of the reason i was in the position i was is because he was the richest man that no one had ever heard of. Narrator and so they put together a website named, i met troy, and post their stories. Sam i started getting contacted from people who had worked for troy previous to me. Stories from people from canada, from boston. Narrator as news of the website spreads, stratos disappears. Up next. Troy stratos gets his break into french television. Man [ speaking french ] narrator . As a con artist. Narrator in 2008, richard hack has moved to fort lauderdale. The 11 Million Contract he signed with troy stratos four years earlier has gone nowhere. And then, in april, he gets a call from stratos come to cairo for the weekend, he says. He has scheduled a press conference to announce their film, the pharaonic prophecies. Hack i land in cairo, i go to the hotel and, of course, there was nothing. There was no press conference set up. It was delayed. Narrator but stratos insists that, because he is already there, hack should scout filming locations. Soon, the weekend trip becomes a month. And then stratos has another idea. Lets go to dubai hack turned out to be 30 more days with the same clothes in dubai looking at locations in dubai. Narrator the trip to dubai is one of the last times hack is with stratos someone he thought he knew for 18 years. But someone he does not know at all. As hack heads back to the united states, stratos is on his way to europe. He eventually turns up in paris, but not as troy stratos as someone named david burton. And where he turns up is on the evening news. [ speaking french ] the reporter describes stratos as an american scammer who defrauded this man, gary peters, a Luxury Real Estate agent working in france, out of thousands of dollars. He alerts police, who discover that stratos owes his hotel 40,000. And when Police Search the room of david burton, they find a passport with the name troy stratos. And when they google that name, bill branscums reports come up. Branscum is invited to paris to testify. Branscum the judge found it persuasive and they put him in la sante prison, which if you do five minutes worth of research is widely touted to be the nastiest prison in the civilized world. Narrator for richard hack, the news of the arrest is a total surprise. Hack im thinking, arrested . And im hearing from people that he didnt pay his bills in a hotel and even then i figured, how can that be . This guys independently wealthy. Narrator and then, hack receives letters stratos sends from prison. In one letter he describes the truth about troy. He writes, i am a very generous man who has told many lies to many people. I regret that. At the same time, stories begin to surface claiming that troy stratos stole millions of dollars from Nicole Murphy. And now, richard hack understands. It was all a sham, a con. Hack and it was then that it dawned on me that i was the front man for legitimacy. Because i was legit. I felt totally betrayed. I not only believed in him as a director producer, i believed in him as a friend. Narrator having turned down books and projects with others to work with stratos, hack finds himself forced into bankruptcy. Hack when that happens and the shroud is pulled off of the set and you realize that its not real furniture, that its just cardboard boxes that youre looking at, you feel very stupid. You feel very dumb. Narrator next on american greed. Stratos moves out of prison and into millions. Nystrom he ultimately gave troy stratos the entire 11. 25 million. Narrator read what troy stratos writes about his victims at americangreed. Cnbc. Com. Want inside information from the show . Join the greed social network. Like us on american greeds facebook page. Well be right back. Narrator in 2009, troy stratos is released from la sante prison in paris after his bail is paid. A judge dismisses his case a year later. Stratos heads back to the united states, to southern california. His situation could not be much worse. Nystrom he was broke. He couldnt open a bank account. He couldnt rent an apartment. He couldnt lease a car. Narrator will nystrom is a boston attorney who represents stratos last victims. At this point, the name troy stratos is synonymous with con man. He was radioactive. Narrator but that does not faze stratos. All he needs is a new identity. He starts using the name ken dennis, and says he is a representative of the mexican businessman, carlos slim at the time, one of the richest men in the world. A brilliant choice. It indicated that there was Unlimited Wealth behind mr. Stratos and that could open doors for him that might not otherwise exist. Narrator its not long before a victim named tim burns falls into his lap. Nystrom tim burns was an Investment Advisor in philadelphia who was just cutting his teeth. Narrator at the time, facebook is planning to go public. Facebook filed the necessary paperwork to sell shares on the stock market. Narrator and burns has 50 investors who have pooled 13 million to buy facebook shares before the ipo, if he can get his hands on some. And along comes a guy named ken dennis who says his boss, carlos slim, has extra shares of Facebook Stock. He also claims, in a phone conversation recorded by burns, to have an inside track with facebooks famous founder. And burns does take the ride. He agrees to buy two million shares of Facebook Stock and wires 2. 8 million to ken dennis aka, troy stratos. What stratos does not know is that tim burns is a perfect victim because burns has a secret. Phillips tim burns is in a difficult position himself. Hes in a desperate situation. He had been embezzling money from his clients. He needed to repay this money and he also wanted to make money for himself. Narrator and that is why it is easy for stratos to continually up the ante to promise tim burns more shares and demand more money. Nystrom he bit so hard on this story, he literally threw the handle after the axe, and ultimately gave Ken Dennis Troy stratos the entire 11. 25 million. Narrator and that money is slipping through troy stratos hands and disappearing into gambling losses in las vegas, Plastic Surgery for stratos, five new cars, and some very nice clothes. Nystrom by the time that troy stratos had conned tim burns, he was spending, on average, 1 million a month. Narrator not bad for a guy who was completely broke less than a year ago. Meanwhile, private detective bill branscum is semiretired, living on his family farm in kentucky. His investigation of troy stratos is a distant memory when he gets a call. Branscum you know who this is . No, of course i had no idea. Who is this . He said, well, youre not going to believe this, but this is troy stratos. I said, okay. Narrator stratos tells branscum he is a changed man, now working in advertising, and needs branscums help locating his former victims in order to make things right. He flies branscum to las vegas in a private jet. And then this seasoned private detective who knows full well what stratos has done in the past, buys the master cons new story that he is producing commercials for the super bowl. Branscum i had no trouble believing that these commercials were bound for the super bowl, they were that good. Narrator stratos is selling the same story to all of his victims, saying he has found new success and will pay them what he owes if they agree to take down any negative information about him on the internet. That was a tough decision cause on the one hand i needed the money desperately. But, i wanted the world to know about troy. Narrator in the end, the Public Information on stratos is removed and his victims are paid back with the money from tim burns clients. But that does not solve stratos problems. On december 20th, stratos is in his condo outside of la. There is a knock at the door. Its the fbi with a warrant for his arrest on charges of fraud against Nicole Murphy. The fbi team in los angeles went out to his place in the Early Morning and he didnt answer the door. He was hiding in his bathroom. Branscum i get this call from troy stratos who is in hysterics. He was calling me from his bathroom and its like, the fbi is banging on my door, what do i do . And im like, answer the damn door before they break it, and hung up. Narrator the fbi does break down the door and stratos is arrested and taken to jail. And in philadelphia, tim burns cannot understand why ken dennis is not answering his phone. Up next. A surprise defender for troy stratos shows up in court. I feel like were forglet me check. Ing. Xfinity home gives you peace of mind from anywhere with professionally monitored Home Security built around you. No, i think were good. Good. So when youre away, you dont have to worry. The tent. We forgot. The tent. Except about that. Xfinity home. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Hey look, i found the tent get xfinity home with no Term Contract required. Click or call today. Narrator for several days in december 2011, tim burns has been desperately trying to reach the man he knows as ken dennis who has not responded to his calls, texts, or emails. And finally, a text comes in from ken dennis phone apologizing for the communication break. It says that he was in a remote location with difficult cell service. Remote indeed. Ken dennis, who is really troy stratos, is actually sitting in a cell at the Sacramento County jail. He has convinced a friend to send burns Text Messages assuring him that all is well. And you kind of get a sense of a window into troy stratos soul here. He is in prison, but he is literally keeping up the con. Narrator eventually, burns does some digging and stratos name comes up. He goes to the fbi looking for some answers. Tim told us that he didnt know troy stratos and never met troy stratos, but he thinks that troy stratos may have had something to do with a Facebook Stock transaction he was trying to complete. Narrator at that point, tim burns learns some very bad news he has given 11. 25 million to a known con artist. And that means he is forced to admit his own improper use of his clients money. Burns later pleads guilty to charges of mail and wire fraud and is sentenced to five years in prison. And the list of counts against stratos grows. But he has an unlikely defender. At a hearing to determine if he can be released from jail, viive truu, who loaned him 10 million, takes the stand to vouch for him. Konnikova it is so common for victims to stick by their con artists, especially in the case of a sweetheart scam like this one. You go through all of these hoops to say that, no, this is, in fact, not a con artist and really it wasnt so bad. Because then you are not really a victim. In an email to american greed, stratos writes that the stories his victims tell are so farfetched that they approach science fiction. But a jury disagrees and finds him guilty on all counts in the Facebook Stock fraud. Shortly after, he pleads guilty to the Nicole Murphy fraud. He is sentenced to 21 years, 10 months in prison. Sam farley is there. I got to see him in his prison jumpsuit and i never felt. Closure until that moment when i saw him get up and walk back into his prison cell. Narrator for Nicole Murphy, watching stratos in the courtroom is infuriating. Murphy if i could have jumped over there and choked the [bleep] out of him, i would have. Trust me, ive said if i was a dude and i had access to him, trust me, it would be on. I just see through him. Narrator for richard hack, the emotion is not anger. Hack no, i was never furious. I was so disappointed. I was on the verge of being despondent. Narrator but he still holds the dream that he thought stratos shared. Of returning romance to hollywood. Hack one day, well get those projects made, i think, but that friendship will never be restored because it wasnt there to begin with. It was all an illusion that you believed so sincerely that nobody can convince you otherwise. Narrator looking back now, his victims struggle to make sense of what troy stratos did to them. Hegan i dont think other people are real to troy. I think theyre like extras in the film of his life and hes the only real character. So what happens to him is important and everybody else is sort of inconsequential. They just dont matter to him. Hack i think what he got, actually, was to feel important. The child that was thrown in the barn was important now. People respected him. He got some respect that he never had growing up. Thats the only thing i can think of. Narrator but others say that gives him too much credit. Most likely what a schemer like stratos craves is power. Konnikova its all about knowing that you have power over other people, over their lives, over their realities. Its kind of like youre playing god. Really, you are directing the course of someone elses life. They trust you, they believe you, and you know you are the one pulling the strings. Narrator and as for his life in jail, reports say that stratos was receiving threats for scamming his fellow inmates and not paying gambling debts. Perhaps troy stratos is a con theyre young, rich, americaand running wild. Ition, we were just having fun. Here, you want some pills . Heres some pills. You want to smoke some weed . Heres some weed, you know. Narrator a group of florida teens stumble into an unlikely career drug lords. Barabas they wanted them, and we had them, and they would pay whatever for them. Narrator and what they lack in experience, they make up for in creativity. We would slice the back of the teddy bear, stuff it with cash. They were clever, stupid clever, but clever. Narrator but the good times dont last long,