[b[birds chirprping] [suspenseful music] ♪ - i'm m just gonnana tell you the e whole storory. so i i had the $ $50,000 debt becacause of thehe taxes. i was s screwed. jerry's dedead. i'i'm left hololding the b b. ♪ and i memean, i don'n't hae $50,000 0 for the irirs. i'm nonot going dodown like th. i i was just t thinking, "okay, i g gotta dodo somethingng here. i gotta a do somethihing." ♪ i cacalled the i irs, and i sasaid, "listeten, "i k know you knknow i owe $ $5, but i i have a stotory for yo" so i t told the irirs ththe whole ststory verbatat. ♪ now,w, it might't've been a year l later, my accouountant, wewe were talklking, and.... he said,d, "you knowow, you're thehe reason why all l this went t down" i sasaid, "what?t?" he s said, "yeahah." becacause they r reported it to thehe fbi or whwhomever and itit just buststed wide on afteter that, but i had d no idea. alall i was trtrying to dodo wt myself o out of a $5$50,000 de. ♪ and the next thing i knew, everybody is being investigated. i was kind of scared coming out with this. i didn't want anything to happen to me, 'cauause i've cocome a long g, and d i don't wawanna evever go backck. anand so i wasas kind of h hest about ththis whole m mess. and i meanan, 'cause w when you'u're quiet f for so long about thinings that t took a turnrn and d you didn't't know why it tooook a turn,, then you f found out that realllly--you knonow, i dodon't know w what. it just t made me bebe more qu, you u know what t i mean? ♪ - it does, but i don't likee that adjdjective. i i don't likeke that, because inin my mind,, i never eveven knew that i was the one. [dramatic c music] ♪ [doorbell chimes] - he was n not at hiss lawrwrenceville e home today, the man n neighbors s here have jokiningly nicknanamed. - - called himim the hambubu. - ththe fbi saysys 58-year-d jerorome jacobsoson wawas the ringngleader whoho . - there e was a lot t of publiy on t this case a at the t. there e was an enonormous amot of p publicity. - the prpress was alall arod the hohouse, on ththe stree. - i'd d get phone e calls continuoususly. all hours s of the nigight, theyey would calall. - jacobsonon providedd the winnnning game p pieces toto his frienends and assssoc, who acted d as recruititers. - we w were totalllly exhaust. it j just took s so much eneny toto get out i in the publbl. - the e fbi believeves thosose recruiteters passed o on the tickckets to r frfriends and d relatives. - so w we had thisis big builp of t the case in anticicipation ofof the tri. - eight pepeople who w worked for the e company that r runs mcdonanald's gas likeke monopolyy and d "who wantsts to be e a millionanaire?" are ununder arrestst, charged withth rigging t the games... - peoplele who run t the mcmcdonald's m monopoly gagam. - - if you're e just tunining, breakiking news hehere onon 1010 winsns. a planane has crasashed into the w world tradede cen. uh, thisis happeningng just a matter o of minutes s ag. ♪ - - after 9/1111, you knowo, eveverything c changed. so this mcdonald's story just vanished. - it did v very quicklkly get t eclipsed.. all l right, we'e're under a . and you u kind of snapped d out of it.t. - ththe world chchanged, and what w went frfrom being a a case that t the entire e office and othersrs wewere, you knknow, fefeverishly w working onn kind of f went back k to primy jujust doug anand rick. many, , many of usus were, you knowow, immediatately cha. you wewere now a t terrorism t and workining, you knonow, all l day, all n night on tht. [b[birds chirprping] - we didn't put any local stories on the front page for, like, four months, so even if we had updates, they were going back of the paper. so it just kind of vanished here and then vanished ofoff ththe front papages everywywh. ♪ - afafter 9/11,, the mcmcdonald's w was a memo. everybodody forgot a about i. except thehe fbi anand the juststice departrtm. [chuckles]s] they--you u know, theyey procee. ♪ - the trial was here in jacksonville hehere in thisis building. it lasteted three weweeks, and itit was almosost like a couplele trials wiwithin a l because once we have the e overall scscheme, ththen had to o place evidide jujust upon each o of the defefendants. yoyou have thohose grand h hopf being a a million-dodollar win. - devevereaux saysys jacobson pocketeted those p pieces and, in n exchange for a a cut of thehe prize, gave themm to f friends andnd relatives. - mark i is, at thatat stage, coming o on very strtrong with l lots of thrhreats about ththe consequeuence to o our clientt anand the terrrrible situauan ouour client w was in and hohow much timime he wasas gonna getet, and... genenerally we d don't rerespond favovorably to t thr. ♪ - itit was pretttty clear thatat mark devevereaux was comiming full foforce. - i alalways love e wiretaps bebecause you u just bringngn ththe little r recorder and d you push p play and there'e's this clilient-- not onlyly is h he making a a confessi. you are lilistening lilive to y your clientnt commititting the c crime. ♪ - mamark was likike the bulllg ththat bit thehe tire of t thek and couldndn't let go,o, and ultitimately i sicced j janice on h him. - [chuckckl] - and d she eventutually brbrought him m around. ♪ - ultimatetely it's alall upo how yoyou will defefine vict. in t this case, , it wasn't t, but it w was working g through whwhat was bt for hihim plea-wisi. wewe ended upp workining out somemething ththat was defefinitely lilive and favorarable for ouour clit frfrom a very y difficult t pon to startrt with. - [chuckleles] right.. - so, yoyou know-- - wewe didn't hahave much of a defenense. ♪ - - accordingg to f federal invnvestigators, jacobsonon has pleadaded guily to takaking those e pieces and d giving thehem to fries anand family t to redeem.. - once we e made our d deal and jerry y pled guiltlty, thenen he becameme kind of t te inststrument of f the prosecec. - becacause jerryy begagan cooperatating, ththe prosecututor did agrge toto do a motition to the e ct for reductction basedd on sububstantial a assistanc. - but yoyou are totatally at their d discretion.n. they couldld suck you u dry for r informatioion anand then not help you.u. ♪ - - we had eigight original inindividuals s who were i in, whwhich turneded into 53 p p. and ouout of the 5 53 thatat were therere, everybybody pled but seveven people whwho decided d to go to t tr. they dididn't plead d because they dididn't like d devereaux, yoyou know, aftershaveve or some c crap. it's bececause we hahad them. that's w why. ♪ - ththey got mee on o one count o of mail frar, and d i pled to the onene count bececause.. i did d it; i did d it. - ththese peoplele thatat i gave titickets to did d not know i i lied to t. so they y really-- they g got screweded. but oncece you pleadad guilt, it's toooo late. but thatat's the menentaliy of peoeople who nenever ben in trorouble. yoyou just getet so scarede. it's l like you'rere gonna lose everyrything you u have, you're g gonna go toto jail, an. sosomebody's g gonna be screwingng your wifefe, and.. you knknow, your k kids--theye not t gonna knowow you anymoe and stuff f like that.t. anand guys getet scared, s so s why theyey plead guiuilty, toto get it ovover with. ♪ - mymy plan at t the time ws toto enter a p plea of notot , so that't's what i d did. if youou have no k knowlede of a cononspiracy oror a crim, yoyou can't bebe guilty. ♪ - - seven wentnt to trial. two,o, followingng my opepening statetement, ended d up changining their plps from n not guilty y to guilty becaususe they dididn't realie the evididence was more thahan compelliling. ♪ the e light at t the end of the t tunnel was a trtrain comingng at the, and ththey wantedd to getet out of ththe way, so they y pled guiltlty. ♪ ♪ certaiainly it wasas a crie when jacobobson stole thatat game piecece. but then y you had the frauaudster, and the e fraudster r is thee turnrning in thahat game pie and sayiying thatat he or shehe won it according to these rules. ♪ part o of the govevernments theoryry was that t mcdonals have b been defrauauded by f folks like e george chahanr because they had v violated the game r rules. ♪ gameme rules, yoyou know, in a federal couourt of law, ththe federal l statutes a a- mail f fraud and w whatnot. i i have neverer tried a c ce wherere the "lawaw" isis the game e rules of a hamburger comompany. - you liteterally haveve a fefederal prososecutor suggggesting thahat if you b e ththe mcdonaldld's game ruru, yoyou must be e a criminala. - there were those that would really question, "well,l, why are y you even prosecutining it? itit was just t a game." there'e's a differerence between a lalaw and rurules of a g game. but eveven if an i individual was s tricked and theieir friend was tetelling themem, "why don't't you do ththis? you acact like you're thehe winner,"" well, yoyou committeted fraud because e you deceivived, you tricked ronaldld mcdonaldd into l letting go o of money. whwhat gave the fefederal govevernment the abilility to prorosecute ths was that t they used the ununited statetes mail. if you h have a scheheme to t trick somebebody out t of property or money and yoyou use our uniteded states mail... that's a c crime. ♪ - ththe governmement dug g its heels s in on tht and tookok the positition tht ifif someone found ththat game pipiece on thehe st and cashshed it in, , they'd e commititting a federal crimem. but the mcmcdonald's w witnes called b by the govevernmet admitted on crossss-examinatition that therere's nothining that prohis a tranansfer of a tickcket. so s st. jude cocould get a at given to them as a g gift. geororge chandleler can get the e ticket by y buying t or havaving it hananded to hi. all ththat was pererfectly la. - nonow, of coururse, "m"mcdonald's s didn't evevn follllow the rulules-- didn't follow their own rules.s" they did follow the e rules. mcdonald's's gave st. . juds hospitalal a $1 million donatn as a g gesture of goodwilill and fairirness. ♪ - i don't think the avaverage persrson would d think, ifif they got t a game piece from somebebody else,, by m most any cicircumstance, that thehey were doioing anythihing wrong,, eveven thoughh they werere telling g a lie. it wasn't t a crime. - ththey didn't t know, th, ththat the pieiece was sto. it's like the difference of buying a car that's stolen versus, "oh, look, i got a really good deal." and had they knownwn, i wowould suspecect many of f , if not all o of them, wouldn't h have boughtht it. ♪ - - i was a wiwitness for the e u.s. goverernment fofor mark devevereaux. i rememember a queuestion that deverereaux askeded m. he said,d, "when didid you findt ththe game pieieces were s sto" i saidid, "you t told me thehey were stot" [chuckles] if he could have come up and punched me at that time, he probably would hahave. [c[chuckles] but he s stepped rigight into , 'causese it was ththe truth. ♪ jejerry had nenever told a a. no o one in the e whole procos knew that t he was stetealing the gameme pieces. people s said, "wellll, how? yoyou gotta bebe kidding me. i mean, yoyou know thahat"-- yoyou know. no. i knewew jerry was doing g something g wron, selling the game pieces. but the reality is, i think hehe had the r right o place ththem wherever he wante. he was just tataking moneyey for 'em.m. - therere's only o one witnes that could say whatat george chchandler kne, and thatat was his f foster fat, mrmr. dwight b baker. and he t told the jujury in s substance t that, "i hoodwdwinked geororge chandl" and dwightht baker madade it r to t the jury that g george was s not a mer ofof the conspspiracy. he said ththat. swsworn testimimony. the e fbi did a a wiretap for twtwo months.. hundreds a and hundrededs ofof phone calalls. nonot one wordrd about t george chahandler having any complicity and knowledge ofof tickets b being stoleln or e embezzled. the jujudge agreeded with us, and he a announced t that hes gonnnna add a jujury instrucn thatat the jurieies cocould not coconvict unlessss chandler r knew the ticketet was stolelen or unlnlawfully obobtained. wewe knew thenen we shoululd win the e case. [birds chirping] - well, totoday ththe lawrenceceville mann who o admitted f fixing the mcdodonald's mononopoly e a few years ago testifies in federal court. jeromeme jacobsonn took t the winningng tickes whwhile workining asas head of s security fofor the compmpany that ran t the game and d that he hihired rerecruiters..... - the e obvious ququestion and one e of the thihings that was i important fofor us to prpresent to the jurury was, how inin the worldld could , jeromeme jacobson,n, ststeal winnining pieces from t the fortresess thatat was simonon marketig and d dittler while he w was being a accompd by a l lady fromom an accoununting firm? how did he do o it? ♪ - - when i putut a witness on t the stand,, especicially like e mr. jacobsb, i try to do o the defensnse's job befofore i let t the defensese , telling ththem, basicacally, "mr. jacobobson, you'u're a thiefef," and make h him admit t that. i don'n't want thehe jury thing ththat i'm somome friend o of, 'causese i'm not a a friend of mr. jacacobson. just telell the trututh. what'd youou do? ♪ - - the way ththis would w wk is that, y you know, ththe airportsts werere a big hubub for him.. it's's how he gogot around.. anand he wouldld utilize the frfrequent-flilier lounge, the e crown roomoms, you kn. he would f frequent ththose a. ♪ hilda bebennett was s accompag jerrrry jacobsonon, bubut she is n not walking g into the m men's babathroom facacility withth . - hilda'a's supposeded to b be with himim at all ti. she was s never, evever, undeder any circrcumstance, to give ththe briefcasase full o of winning g tickets to jerryry and jerryry alone. [toilet t flushes] ♪ the brbriefcase had cocombinationsns on it. jerry hahad his combmbinati. hilda had d hers. ♪ and sosomehow he f found out her combination. ♪ he hadad to look over h his shouldeder at sin like he didid at the v vaut and geget the combmbination. ♪ - hehe said he w went into a l where hehe had privavacy and hehe just openenp the briefcfca. [locks click] the game pieieces were in anan envelopee that w was sealed d with a str thatat if you reremove the stickeker, it wouould show that i it was remomoved. - thisis is beforere 9/11. he'd'd take a littlele penknife.e... open it t up, take thohose game pipieces. he knonows one of f them is a winnining millionon-dollr game p piece. ♪ - he brorought commomons with hm so thahat it wouldld have the right t amount of f pieces on , 'cause on n the outsidide of t the envelopope, it woulul, "37 piececes." so he cocouldn't takake the e winners ouout. itit wouldn't t be 37 anymy. so he e had to briring some to replalace it. - - for some r re, nono idea w, he gotot sent thesese-- the stickekers that wewent onon the envelelopes. he got a a sheet of f them sesent to him m by mistake. - - you know,, he showewed me the e envelope. had thatat little silver holologram on i it. he said, "nobody y can get ininto thee "bececause this s is sealed dd itit's got a s special marark t if anybodydy tries to get intnto it." - - so he woululd clclose the enenvelope and put onon a new stiticker, and nobobody was thehe wiser. ♪ but had hehe not gotteten those e stickers,, he neverer could've e done th. ♪ [gavel b banging] - i memean, nobodydy suspecteted that, and thatat's how he e did it. ♪ - afteter he stolele all ththe game pieieces, hehe would endnd up goingg to t these factories and d making a b big play. "ladadies and gegentlemen, pleasese see, "herere is the s seed pack "which c contains onone of t the winningng game piece. "please, e everyone, l look at t "to ensurere that it h has t been tamampered withth. "look, i i take my j job soso seriouslyly, i evenen wear a bulletetproof vestst." and eveverybody's s thinking, "wow, , this guy i is, like, going realally overboaoard." but it w was all a s show. - - the biggesest breakk in t the chain t to me wawas the secucurity auditit, hihilda. but i i can't totally y blame herr bebecause i'veve seen a lolof pepeople not s stand up toto j. theyey'd let himim take a a little papass ratherer than go i in for r a confrontntation. - ouour first ththought wa, the twtwo of them m had to e in c cahoots witith one anot. hohow else couould it workr? i i wanna get t two reallyly d interviewewers on herere 'cause i i wanna knonow oncece and for all, is she i involved? is she n not involveved? - so we e interviewewed hilda bennetett and the e other peopople frfrom the cpapa firm. they weren't i involved. we had no money trtrading hand. nothing toto show thatat they w, you knknow, a partrt of the scs. - thinking, , "my god, h how d you nonot be invololved?" but shshe turned o out to b, you knknow, an honest lady and d just, you u know, gogot had by j jerry like he did everybody else. - i think k he told me at some popoint, he gogoes, "yeah,h, and thesese cpa firs that w we're hirining to folloe "and, yoyou know, 'legitimimize' this s proces, they're e a bunch ofof idiots" as he e coined it t as, "i"i■m stupid,d, but i wass smarteter than thohose guys”" [laughs] first time i connected with kim, she told me that her husband had passed. and that he took care of all of the internet connected devices in the home. i told her, “i'm here to take care of you.” connecting with kim... made me reconnect with my mom. it's very important to keep loved ones close. we know that creating memories with loved ones brings so much joy to your life. a family trip to the team usa training facility. i don't know how to thank you. i'm here to thank you. [seagulls cawing] - we're e near the e end of ney six x hours of c closing argrgs in whihich defensese attornes have triried to convnvince the y ththat their c clients arare victims s too. ththey say thehey were plalad just l like everyoyone else in this s scam. gegeorge chandndler's lawyr insisists his client thought he was helping his foster father hide assets during a sticky divorce. ththis case gogoes to t the jury nenext, and d what they y have to dede is w whether thehey have any reasononable doubtbt any ofof these guyuys intend to b be part of f a scam. - untitil trial, jerry y had never r told anyoe that he hahad actuallyly went into the b bathroom and changeged out the e game pis and was ststealing ththe damn thihings. he neverer told anybybody. in o order for i it toto be a crimime, you haveve to have k knowlee that i it's stolenen. no o one knew. ♪ - whenen the jury y gave their verdrdict to thehe judg, there e was kind o of a... respectftful but t pregnant s silence. ♪ anand then thehe judge saia, "guilty." ♪ it c confirmed m my worst fefea. ♪ anand that wasas hard. it wasas difficultlt. ♪ - - when you p put 12 peope totogether in n that box,, it's s something m magical. and d i'm not sasaying anyboy is a a lie detecector, but t most of usus can, after a whwhile, go, "y"you know, t that just doesn't t pass the s smell tes" ♪ wewe're very p pleased with thehe verdict.. i thinink this shohows that ththere's no e easy way to makeke money butut to work h. and i ththink it shohows that f fraud is nonot a game and d fraud is j just thievev. thanks a l lot. ♪ - gegeorge neverer wavered,, nor r did i, in our b belief in his i innocence,, and d we went riright to work toto put togetether a comprehehensive motition for r judgment o of acquitta. - we knenew we wouldld appea, but thatat doesn't change thehe fact ththat you've e been foundnd g. ♪ i reremember comoming home and tatalking to r russell about ththe verdict.t. i reremember rusussell askining. ♪ if i was gonna have to go to jail. and i didn't know how to answer him. - i didndn't think he was sererious. i wawas like--i i was like,, "you'r're not seririous." - you u know, all l you think abouout at ten y years old is goining behind b bars-- you see alall these babars on ,