supposedly rare dragon jars, ancient pottery, found on a remote, volcanic island. the site was very interesting. they had maybe 20, 25 jars recovered by the time i got there. but they weren t what i expected. they were these kind of earthen clay, brown-type jars. they were reporter: pottery. yeah. they were like alien pots, is the best way i can describe them. reporter: the look of the jars wasn t the only surprising thing about them. they also turned out to be not ancient, but worthless. standefer claimed his contacts had cheated him. once again, karl returned home empty-handed. did it ruin your faith in this man? no, it didn t ruin my faith. but it made me a little more cautious. i began to realize he might be a poor manager of money. but then, so am i, obviously. reporter: by the end of 1994, karl says he spent almost
couldn t even speak. to think what this guy had done to me. reporter: eager to find answers, karl tracked down kirk shaffer, a california diver who worked for standefer and had also given him some money. shaffer says he never got paid back. and when he heard karl s story, the diver was ready to talk about dennis standefer. i never saw him find anything. even gold. look, most of the time it was running around, looking for things that he could tantalize investors with. reporter: shaffer told karl that standefer was a con man who had fooled newspapers and tv. the key, kirk says, was that the cons always had a kernel of truth. the japanese did hide gold on some hospital ships. and there were dragon jars. but, shaffer claims, standefer never had any intention of going after them. he seemed to be much more interested in just keeping the game going. correct.
foolish? i was so angry that i couldn t even speak. to think what this guy had done to me. reporter: eager to find answers, karl tracked down kirk shaffer, a california diver who worked for standefer and had also given him some money. shaffer says he never got paid back. and when he heard karl s story, the diver was ready to talk about dennis standefer. i never saw him find anything. even gold. look, most of the time it was running around, looking for things that he could tantalize investors with. reporter: shaffer told karl that standefer was a con man who had fooled newspapers and tv. the key, kirk says, was that the cons always had a kernel of truth. the japanese did hide gold on some hospital ships. and there were dragon jars. but, shaffer claims, standefer never had any intention of going after them. he seemed to be much more interested in just keeping the game going.
supposedly rare dragon jars, ancient pottery, found on a remote, volcanic island. the site was very interesting. they had maybe 20, 25 jars recovered by the time i got there. but they weren t what i expected. they were these kind of earthen clay, brown-type jars. they were reporter: pottery. yeah. they were like alien pots, is the best way i can describe them. reporter: the look of the jars wasn t the only surprising thing about them. they also turned out to be not ancient, but worthless. standefer claimed his contacts had cheated him. once again, karl returned home empty-handed. did it ruin your faith in this man? no, it didn t ruin my faith. but it made me a little more cautious. i began to realize he might be a poor manager of money. but then, so am i, obviously. reporter: by the end of 1994, karl says he spent almost $15,000 on his trips with