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Speaker 1: Previously on Once upon a Con, I apologize to you.

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Speaker 1: Why would you do that to me when I thought

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Speaker 1: we were friends?

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Speaker 2: We are friends? Well I'm not.

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Speaker 3: What did you gain from that?

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Speaker 2: Nothing?

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Speaker 3: What was the purpose?

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Speaker 1: Nothing? I almost loved everything, everything. Together with a group

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Speaker 1: of victims, I finally confront David Bloom.

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Speaker 2: I chose to tell a.

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Speaker 3: Bloom finally gets arrested, but then released.

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Speaker 1: And then, in March of twenty twenty three, after ten

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Speaker 1: months of no action, a group of us decide to

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Speaker 1: take action outside the District Attorney's office.

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Speaker 4: Charge Shaved Bloom, Charge Haved Bloom.

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Speaker 2: Day Gloom.

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Speaker 1: And then finally, it's five months later, August of two three,

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Speaker 1: and I'm invited to attend a press conference being held

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Speaker 1: by the Los Angeles District Attorney himself.

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Speaker 3: George Gascon. He utters the words I was starting to

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Speaker 3: think I'd never hear.

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Speaker 5: We're here to announce today that we are filing a

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Speaker 5: total of eighteen felony counts against David Bloom, nine counts

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Speaker 5: for fraud and nine counts for grand theft.

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Speaker 1: The man who stole so much from me and so

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Speaker 1: many other victims is finally facing charges for his crimes.

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Speaker 1: I'm Caroline de Morey, and this is Once Upon a

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Speaker 1: Con Episode nine. This guy has eras. I was the

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Speaker 1: only one of Bloom's victims to speak at that district

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Speaker 1: attorney's press conference.

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Speaker 5: I'm not going to turn her over to Caroline to

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Speaker 5: say a few words and then won't take any questions

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Speaker 5: you might have, Carol.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Hi, okay. To me, he pretended to be a

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Speaker 1: business mentor someone who believed in me and wanted to

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Speaker 1: help me. He knew I was a struggling single mom

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Speaker 1: going through a divorce and had her heart set on

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Speaker 1: becoming a businesswoman in the food space. I spoke about

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Speaker 1: the whole food scam Bloom played on me and my

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Speaker 1: business partners, luring us to Texas under the guise of

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Speaker 1: meeting the CEO. I spoke about the months and months

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Speaker 1: of manipulation and gaslighting. He makes you feel like he

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Speaker 1: believes in you and like you're smart and talented.

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Speaker 3: David had a knowing that he was never going to

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Speaker 3: get caught.

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Speaker 1: He knew it was hard to prove these crimes, and

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Speaker 1: he knew he was going to get away with it

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Speaker 1: for so long. But I want this moment to be

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Speaker 1: more than just about David Bloom. I want this moment

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Speaker 1: to be a lesson for all scam artists, for everybody

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Speaker 1: who thinks that that life is glamorous and that you

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Speaker 1: can just get away with it forever. This is a

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Speaker 1: moment where we say that we are not the ones

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Speaker 1: that need to be embarrassed.

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Speaker 3: You are, thank you very much.

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Speaker 1: Almost a full year after that press conference, Bloom thankfully

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Speaker 1: is sitting in jail, but as of July twenty twenty four,

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Speaker 1: almost a full year later, no trial date has been set.

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Speaker 1: They say the wheels of justice move slowly, but in

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Speaker 1: this case, they seem to be barely moving at all.

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Speaker 3: Well, it's been a while.

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Speaker 1: Since I've seen you, or even really thought about David Bloom.

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Speaker 4: I would imagine you don't want him renting a lot

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Speaker 4: of space up there, so I would understand that.

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Speaker 1: I'm sitting down with LA Times reporter James Qeely, who

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Speaker 1: you heard from an episode two. We're talking about what's

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Speaker 1: happened since that fateful day. I asked him how he

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Speaker 1: first found out Bloom was finally getting arrested and charged.

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Speaker 4: I had been on and off in touch with the

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Speaker 4: captain of the Commercial Crimes Division for LAPD, which had

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Speaker 4: investigated this case for over a year because you know,

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Speaker 4: I remember back with the protest with you, back the

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Speaker 4: first time we spoke. Yeah, there was definitely a lot

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Speaker 4: of confusion as to why he hadn't been charged. And

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Speaker 4: you know, because we knew that the behavior was We

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Speaker 4: had seen the behavior be repeated before, so it was

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Speaker 4: a legitimate concern.

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Speaker 2: And just to his.

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Speaker 4: Credit, you know, I had bothered that poor guy, the captain,

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Speaker 4: not David Bloom. David has not responded to my inquiry. Shockingly,

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Speaker 4: you know, the captain, like, every couple weeks, did you

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Speaker 4: do it? Yet you'rest him? Wrestam was like, I forgot

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Speaker 4: how to say hello. After a while, porn I was like,

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Speaker 4: did you arrest him? Was the only greeting I could

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Speaker 4: come up with. And then I forgot to check in

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Speaker 4: for a few weeks. And of course some random Tuesday

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Speaker 4: when I'm in the courthouse and my emails, what's going off,

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Speaker 4: and just told me they told me they picked him up.

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Speaker 4: That was probably twenty four to thirty six hours before

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Speaker 4: the press conference. I don't think I called you because

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Speaker 4: I think they told me they were going to get

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Speaker 4: in touch with you, and I didn't want to, like

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Speaker 4: take law enforcements place. I know we talked the next

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Speaker 4: day because I saw you either in the bail court

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Speaker 4: or yeah, the call of justice across the street.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I just remember waiting kind of by the phone

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Speaker 1: to find out and just being so scared that he

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Speaker 1: was going to flee, but then remembering that he doesn't,

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Speaker 1: you know, and my friend had seen him on My

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Speaker 1: friend Hamilton had seen him on the street and like

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Speaker 1: hollered out at him and he was just standing on

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Speaker 1: like coincidentally right in front of a whole food on

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Speaker 1: Santa Monica in West Hollywood. I just spotted David Bloom

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Speaker 1: on the fucking street at the bus stop.

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Speaker 3: Folks, Hey, what's.

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Speaker 6: Up, scammer? You scamming people at the bus stop. That's

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Speaker 6: what's up today?

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Speaker 3: Huh. And then I remember.

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Speaker 1: Kind of just losing sleep, wondering when he was going

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Speaker 1: to get picked up, wondering where where he even was.

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Speaker 1: Hearing from people who had seen him at different restaurants

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Speaker 1: throughout Hollywood who had then seen the story and who

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Speaker 1: actually were saved because of my Instagram story. They were like,

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Speaker 1: I was literally this couple girlfriend and boyfriend had called

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Speaker 1: me and they said, I literally have his phone number

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Speaker 1: in my phone because we were talking last night and

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Speaker 1: then out of nowhere, Yeah, found out he was in jail,

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Speaker 1: and I was super stoked, just relieved, because the man

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Speaker 1: just does not stop.

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Speaker 4: I mean, this has been that's been the drum beat, right.

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Speaker 4: He was accused of doing this in the eighties, he

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Speaker 4: was duced to doing this the two thousands, he was

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Speaker 4: accused of doing this in the twenty twenties.

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Speaker 2: Leopards stripes and all that.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, so there really hasn't been any

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Speaker 1: sort of like movement in what's going to happen in

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Speaker 1: the past year, other than just checking to make sure

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Speaker 1: he's still there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Unfortunately, court is not like TV, especially not here. It's

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Speaker 4: a bunch of really boring, perfunctory hearings. I actually have

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Speaker 4: never laid eyes on the guy. I've seen the photos

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Speaker 4: that have been, you know, slipped to me. Yeah, and

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Speaker 4: I know, not of him in jail, of him just

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Speaker 4: him at the barbecue with the I don't know if

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Speaker 4: it was the barbecue that you told me about, but

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Speaker 4: like there's somebody the photo that we used in all.

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Speaker 2: The stories of him at the pool.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah.

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Speaker 4: Actually, the only time I've ever laid eyes on him,

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Speaker 4: he was not in court any of the times I've

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Speaker 4: got You've probably been in court more than me on this.

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Speaker 3: It's not been like three times.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, which that I think you're leading three to one.

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Speaker 2: That on the scoreboard on me.

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Speaker 3: I got an email from the DA recently kind of

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Speaker 3: worried me.

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Speaker 2: Paul PRIs lomach this public record, that's not a secret.

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Speaker 6: Five.

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Speaker 1: So this was maybe two weeks ago, and he just

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Speaker 1: said I had a court appearance on this case this morning.

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Speaker 1: In my conversation with the defense attorney, he indicated that

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Speaker 1: he was interested in pursuing a potential plea agreement.

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Speaker 3: To resolve this case.

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Speaker 1: He further advised me that he is nearly complete with

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Speaker 1: the preparation of a mitigation packet, which he would like

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Speaker 1: to submit to my office for consideration. I will accept

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Speaker 1: anything that he wishes to submit to me. However, before

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Speaker 1: any offers are discussed or extended to the defense attorney,

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Speaker 1: I'll meet with any victims who would like to discuss

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Speaker 1: a disposition of this case so that you can provide input.

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Speaker 1: Please let me know if you are interested in participating

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Speaker 1: in that process. Our next court date is scheduled for

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Speaker 1: July second, but what exactly does that mean? Does that

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Speaker 1: mean that they're just trying to get.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, I can't. Yeah I can plain legal expert.

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Speaker 4: I do not have a barcard, but I guess I.

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Speaker 3: Know court stuff, and you know more than I do.

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Speaker 4: Well, I married a lawyer, so I just try to

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Speaker 4: remind her that she's always smarter. So that, Yeah, that

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Speaker 4: that's kind of a little bit standard. So most cases,

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Speaker 4: I don't know, if you know, it's like almost any

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Speaker 4: almost like ninety eight percent of all cases end in

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Speaker 4: a plea deal.

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Speaker 2: It's very rare that.

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Speaker 4: Something goes to trial. A lot of times defendants look

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Speaker 4: to settle things. Bloom I think both of his prior

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Speaker 4: cases ended in a in a plea agreement. The Manhattan

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Speaker 4: the second Manhattan one definitely did. What they're talking about,

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Speaker 4: the mitigation package is basically how the package they would

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Speaker 4: submit to let them know, you know, reasons that might

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Speaker 4: lessen culpability, Like.

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Speaker 2: They could say he has a mental health issue.

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Speaker 4: For argument's sake, they could say, you know, maybe that

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Speaker 4: they might raise questions about circumstantial evidence, like they may

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Speaker 4: try to point to just poke any holes.

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Speaker 2: In the strength of the case.

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Speaker 4: Maybe they might could say to a certain count doesn't

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Speaker 4: fit the statute of limitations. They might try to point

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Speaker 4: to an admissibility issue with LAPD with evidence. I have

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Speaker 4: nothing to suggest any of that is what's going on,

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Speaker 4: But those are just examples of things that could be

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Speaker 4: that they could So they could try to seek a

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Speaker 4: and a plea agreement normally would partially involve not not

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Speaker 4: he would not be convicted or or held on no

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Speaker 4: contest of all eighteen counts. They may say, Okay, we'll

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Speaker 4: only convict you for the grand theft as opposed to

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Speaker 4: securities fraud.

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Speaker 2: Again, this is just like potential fotential.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so yeah, but I don't I don't know off

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Speaker 4: the top of my head what the sentencing range for

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Speaker 4: these offenses are. But I don't think with that many

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Speaker 4: counts and his criminal history, he's.

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Speaker 2: Not like a strong candidate for probation.

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Speaker 4: I would not like swear on a stack of Bibles

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Speaker 4: to you that he wouldn't get probation, but it doesn't

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Speaker 4: seem very likely. So, yeah, he has to give you

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Speaker 4: as much information as he can possibly share about the

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Speaker 4: terms of any plea or what this defense brings together

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Speaker 4: in this packet of mitigation before they do anything. So

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Speaker 4: it's not like if you don't answer by the second,

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Speaker 4: he's going to strike a deal without telling you right

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Speaker 4: like you have to, he'll have to. Hell, if something

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Speaker 4: happens between, like for argument's sake, tomorrow he wakes up

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Speaker 4: and there's a plea offer in negotiation, he'll tell.

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Speaker 3: You, all right, thank you very much.

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Speaker 2: Being a legal NERD is occasionally useful to people.

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Speaker 1: Actually it's interesting because I'm still in touch with David's wife,

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Speaker 1: and she texts me every I don't know, a couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks, just making sure he's still in jail because

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Speaker 1: for some reason she's not one of the victims that

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Speaker 1: is getting outreach from the DA, And I just think

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Speaker 1: everybody just really wants to make sure that. I mean,

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Speaker 1: at this point, it's pretty good that he's been in

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Speaker 1: jail for over a year now.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, the reach that he had, I don't know, this

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Speaker 4: is just like a funny little aside in my head.

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Speaker 4: I still will randomly end up talking to people who

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Speaker 4: not that they know who I am, but they recognize

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Speaker 4: the name only because of him. I was booking our

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Speaker 4: union's Christmas party at a bar that we will leave

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Speaker 4: out of this lind December and the guy on the

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Speaker 4: phone is like, oh, yeh doing no fee by the way,

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Speaker 4: because like David Bloom and I'm like, I'm sorry what

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Speaker 4: And the guy apparently knew somebody who had been victimized

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Speaker 4: by him or allegedly victimized by him, And yeah, so

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Speaker 4: I got a couple of free beers out of the

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Speaker 4: story at least.

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Speaker 2: Well, not that I need a parade, doesn't hurt.

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Speaker 1: Listen, anybody who has been a part of helping get

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Speaker 1: this man off the streets deserves a keg.

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Speaker 2: I'll take how's Nancy doing, by the way, She's okay.

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Speaker 3: She moved away, she's out of California. She's out of California.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: La Times reporter James Coueley and I talk about Nancy,

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Speaker 1: David blooms ex wife in episode five. She told us

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Speaker 1: all about her harrowing experience being married to a con man.

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Speaker 1: She's moved away. Obviously, she's had a lot of financial

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Speaker 1: struggles after all of everything that he put her through.

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Speaker 1: But she's a strong, really strong woman, and seems like

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Speaker 1: she's doing okay. Everybody just wants to make sure that

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Speaker 1: he stays in jail or I mean, he can't stay

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Speaker 1: in jail for that long, right, I mean, who knows.

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Speaker 1: But then if he comes out, he's just going to

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Speaker 1: keep doing it. He's probably doing scams in jail right now.

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Speaker 1: Who would not be surprised?

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Speaker 4: I mean, when you've repeated this behavior this long, I

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Speaker 4: definitely don't think I could make a strong counter argument

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Speaker 4: against that.

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Speaker 2: I don't know how.

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Speaker 4: Far selling prior access to IPOs gets you in like

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Speaker 4: Men's Central Jail.

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Speaker 2: I have thankfully never been a.

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Speaker 4: Resident of Men's Central Jail. But yeah, I mean, I'd

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Speaker 4: like to believe that people can change. I have written

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Speaker 4: plenty of stories about people who have, you know, like

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Speaker 4: been wrongfully accused, got out of prison, change their lives,

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Speaker 4: Like there are plenty of reformation stories.

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Speaker 2: But I you know, based on.

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Speaker 4: The track record be I've seen, I'm not going to

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Speaker 4: bet one way or the other if he would be

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Speaker 4: one of them. But I hear, totally hear where you're

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Speaker 4: coming from.

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Speaker 1: One thing Bloom's victims can take some solace in is

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Speaker 1: that he isn't going anywhere, well, not yet anyway. His

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Speaker 1: bail was originally set at five hundred thousand dollars, but

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Speaker 1: then got reduced by a lot. Prosecutors told me that

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Speaker 1: Bloom had to prove the money he was using to

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Speaker 1: post bail didn't come from one of his scams. He

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Speaker 1: had to show pay stubs, which he didn't have. He

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Speaker 1: had to show you some sort of proof of clean money.

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Speaker 1: And that is why I'm.

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Speaker 3: So grateful for the DA because he had.

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Speaker 1: Been trying every which way to figure out how to

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Speaker 1: get himself the bail.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, now, bail source hearing is critical, and something like

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Speaker 4: this that's honestly something they usually use against like drug

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Speaker 4: dealers or gang members to make sure they're not using

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Speaker 4: the proceeds of their criminal conduct. But yeah, for a

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Speaker 4: financial crime somebody like this, that makes it makes too

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Speaker 4: much sense that he would do that.

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Speaker 1: I heard there was a woman, someone new in David's life,

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Speaker 1: who was offering to pay his bail. I have no

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Speaker 1: doubt it's someone he was scamming right before he got arrested,

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Speaker 1: and it's certainly proof of how powerful of a con

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Speaker 1: artist he is. I mean, he convinced this woman to

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Speaker 1: give him money from the confines of a jail cell.

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Speaker 1: Thank god the judge didn't allow it, and thank god

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Speaker 1: David Bloom is still behind bars waiting like the rest

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Speaker 1: of us for what's next.

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Speaker 4: It's a painfully slow process, and I get that that's

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Speaker 4: got to be incredibly frustrating for you. Even once they charge,

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Speaker 4: like it can just take an eternity.

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Speaker 1: That's kind of the vibe that I've gotten throughout this

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Speaker 1: entire experience. You think, like from TV that it's like

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Speaker 1: this super slick covert operation with like plans in place,

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Speaker 1: And I don't know, after this, I just kind of, yeah,

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Speaker 1: couldn't believe how slow the process is. I mean, with

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Speaker 1: someone like this, you just think it's a slam dunk.

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Speaker 1: Like how many times his name has been mentioned, how

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Speaker 1: many people have come out and.

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Speaker 3: Said that he's done this.

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Speaker 1: He's been convicted twice in New York, and for it

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Speaker 1: to take this long blows my mind.

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Speaker 3: How is that even possible?

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Speaker 2: Some of it's weird, Some of what happened in this

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Speaker 2: case is particularly weird.

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Speaker 4: And then some of it is Courts are slow, Like

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Speaker 4: you know, from when we first talked, the fact that

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Speaker 4: LAPD moved to make an arrest, which they you know,

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Speaker 4: if they do that on a random street crime, like

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Speaker 4: to stop a violent incident or someone's you know, acting

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Speaker 4: wild in the street, that might be just like they

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Speaker 4: make an arrest and they figure out if they have enough.

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Speaker 2: To charge later.

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Speaker 3: Do you know where he was when he got arrested.

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Speaker 2: I actually don't.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, probably have that like in a file somewhere, but

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Speaker 4: I don't know where he got picked up.

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Speaker 2: I think it was somewhere.

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Speaker 4: I think it was somewhere in Hollywood, only because of

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Speaker 4: who was running the investigation, but the fact that this

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Speaker 4: was a like months long investigation for what I understand

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Speaker 4: they were, you know, they were doing financial stuff. They

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Speaker 4: were talking to people in the field Carlotta at the time.

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Speaker 4: When they do this kind of long form investigation, that

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Speaker 4: usually means they believe they have enough to charge.

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Speaker 2: And it's commercial crimes is like one of the higher end.

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Speaker 4: They do art theft, they do financial fraud, like this

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Speaker 4: is one of like the no disrespect to your average cop,

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Speaker 4: but this is where like the smart cops go, like

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Speaker 4: so usually they pile together their their cases, like they

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Speaker 4: bring this stuff to the DA kind of gift rapped.

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Speaker 4: So it's a little weird that it took as long

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Speaker 4: as it didn't know if you remember when we first met,

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Speaker 4: there was this weird ping ponging of like, oh we

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Speaker 4: didn't get the case, it got lost in the mail

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Speaker 4: kinet type. That's not literally what happened, but it's more

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Speaker 4: or less what happened.

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Speaker 3: That's kind of what it felt like.

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Speaker 4: We said, have got lost in the E filing system,

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Speaker 4: So it got lost in a spam folder effectively, Like

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Speaker 4: that's the closest analog.

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Speaker 3: How does that happen?

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Speaker 1: How does a convicted criminal with all of these victims

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Speaker 1: get lost in the E filing?

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Speaker 2: If I knew, I would tell you and probably write

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Speaker 2: something about it.

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Speaker 3: That's really terrifying.

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Speaker 2: That was just weird.

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Speaker 4: But the other parts that you've described, the like court

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Speaker 4: is boring, cord is slow, all the continuance is that

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Speaker 4: is unfortunately, that is the un sexy part of my

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Speaker 4: job that doesn't end the newspaper and is like eighty

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Speaker 4: percent of what I do just tapping my foot annoyed

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Speaker 4: in the.

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Speaker 2: Courthouse on Temple Street. So that part is normal and

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Speaker 2: I'm sorry that sad parts everybody.

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Speaker 1: Do you know anything about his defense attorney or who

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Speaker 1: he has or.

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Speaker 2: Public defender's office.

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Speaker 4: I don't know if you remember early on in the

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Speaker 4: investigation the laped had said, you know, of course, despite

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Speaker 4: allegedly stealing as much money as he did, and have

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Speaker 4: a lot of it on hand, not a lot of

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Speaker 4: in the bank accounts. He qualified for indigen defense for

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Speaker 4: the Public Defender's office, meaning he doesn't have enough money

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Speaker 4: to pay for a private attorney.

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Speaker 1: That's insane. Like where did he put all this money? Like,

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Speaker 1: that's a shocker. He's got it stashed somewhere for when

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Speaker 1: he gets out, for sure.

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Speaker 4: That's an argument. There's an argument he made for that obviously. Also,

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Speaker 4: I believe other victims had made this claim. And also

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Speaker 4: the cops did suggest that, I don't know what happened

385
00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:40,640
Speaker 4: exactly after you guys confronted him, but that when when

386
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Speaker 4: threatened with exposure, right, he sometimes would move money like

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Speaker 4: that one victim paid him to pay off another.

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Speaker 3: Yes, he definitely did that a lot for sure.

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Speaker 2: So that's possible. Again, I'm not a forensic account.

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Speaker 1: In one of our episodes, we literally uncovered the fact

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Speaker 1: that my money that he still went straight to Vincent,

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Speaker 1: And then I was the one that actually like called

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Speaker 1: Vincent and was like the one that kind of alerted

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Speaker 1: him to the fact that he just got scammed.

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Speaker 2: That's both amazing and kind of horrifying.

396
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Speaker 3: Yes, it really is.

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Speaker 1: His story was so gut wrenching, but they all are

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Speaker 1: with this man, this ruthless man. But I just like

399
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Speaker 1: to say, you know what, he messed with the wrong one.

400
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Speaker 1: This time.

401
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Speaker 2: Someone sent me your story. I don't remember who it

402
00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:32,000
Speaker 2: might have been. It might have been one of the

403
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Speaker 2: initial victims.

404
00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:36,200
Speaker 1: I'm talking to La Times reporter James Coely about con

405
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Speaker 1: artist David Bloom. I realized when we first spoke back

406
00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:42,919
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two. I never asked him how he

407
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Speaker 1: found this story in the first place.

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00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:49,520
Speaker 4: The Villa Carlotta resident emailed my editor and we joke

409
00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:52,080
Speaker 4: about this now, But the time I almost didn't even

410
00:19:52,119 --> 00:19:54,600
Speaker 4: look at the story because it was so He sent

411
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Speaker 4: me a note that was so like rambling and coherent.

412
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Speaker 4: It kind of looked like in a movie when they

413
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Speaker 4: like tape the magazine letters together for a ransom note.

414
00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:02,960
Speaker 4: Me and this person laugh about it now, but he

415
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Speaker 4: was kind of annoyed when I made that joke the

416
00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:06,680
Speaker 4: first time. But it was just kind of like, there's

417
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Speaker 4: a scammer and he's getting away with it, and he's

418
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Speaker 4: been doing it since Manhattan, and like you got to

419
00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:13,200
Speaker 4: stop them. And like I get emails, like not emails

420
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Speaker 4: specifically like that, but I get you know, my cousin

421
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Speaker 4: was wrongfully convicted and like Nixon did it type.

422
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Speaker 2: Emails all the time, so I was like, I'm not

423
00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:23,359
Speaker 2: another one of these. He's like, God damn it, I

424
00:20:23,359 --> 00:20:25,080
Speaker 2: have too much fucking work to do. And then like

425
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Speaker 2: a court case got canceled.

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Speaker 4: Something happened that day that I suddenly became less busy

427
00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:30,679
Speaker 4: than I was, and I was like, all right, what

428
00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:32,440
Speaker 4: is this? And I someone across the New York Times

429
00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:35,359
Speaker 4: article and the name tracked and I reached out to

430
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Speaker 4: LAPD and they were like, yeah, no, we know this person,

431
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Speaker 4: Like oh shit, this is real. So I started kind

432
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Speaker 4: of clawing at it from there, and I spent two

433
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Speaker 4: different days at the Frolic. I met him, the informant

434
00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:48,680
Speaker 4: that I just described there once and you know, got

435
00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:51,000
Speaker 4: his story, but then another he told me that if

436
00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:53,080
Speaker 4: you just randomly go in there one day and start

437
00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:55,040
Speaker 4: mentioning Bloom's name, like, people are gonna get angry and

438
00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:55,679
Speaker 4: tell your stories.

439
00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:56,600
Speaker 2: I was like, all right, what the hell?

440
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Speaker 5: Why not?

441
00:20:57,320 --> 00:20:58,800
Speaker 2: Being at a bar is better than being at work

442
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Speaker 2: at like three o'clock on a front.

443
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Speaker 4: So I started a very early happy hour, just sat

444
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Speaker 4: down with like a specifically, I think it was an

445
00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:07,720
Speaker 4: amstill light and to Jamison and just started talking to

446
00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:10,239
Speaker 4: people and yeah, somebody told me if they found him,

447
00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:11,280
Speaker 4: they were going to beat the shit out of him

448
00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:13,800
Speaker 4: in about five minutes. Because from what I remember the

449
00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:16,840
Speaker 4: original piece, I went to the Villa Carlotta. I spoke

450
00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:18,360
Speaker 4: to several victims from the Villa Carlotta.

451
00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:19,399
Speaker 3: Yeah, which is so crazy.

452
00:21:19,480 --> 00:21:21,400
Speaker 4: Some who do I don't know, have even been named

453
00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:22,920
Speaker 4: on this yet. Everybody who was on the record in

454
00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:25,800
Speaker 4: the original story was Nancy were the Venice victims from

455
00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:28,600
Speaker 4: the snapchat era back in twenty sixteen. I like, how

456
00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:30,440
Speaker 4: this guy his errors, like his epop.

457
00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:33,119
Speaker 3: Errors of yeah, his activities.

458
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:35,600
Speaker 4: Yeah, but yeah, somebody pointed me to you because I

459
00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:37,360
Speaker 4: want to say I reached out to you on Instagram

460
00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:39,560
Speaker 4: DM and was like, assuming you were going to think

461
00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:41,560
Speaker 4: I was some weirdo, but you have a million followers.

462
00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:43,800
Speaker 4: I was like, I think I feel like I typed

463
00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:45,800
Speaker 4: him deleted like please don't think I'm a creeper, like

464
00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:48,000
Speaker 4: three times to open up the message.

465
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:49,920
Speaker 2: But yeah, no, I think we were.

466
00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:50,600
Speaker 4: You.

467
00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:53,080
Speaker 2: You and I were operating completely independently until.

468
00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:55,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, you went public, and yeah, until I was just

469
00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:57,600
Speaker 1: so pet Up. I remember I was laying in bed,

470
00:21:57,640 --> 00:21:59,720
Speaker 1: my daughter was right next to me, and I'm just

471
00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:01,880
Speaker 1: hearing that he's just living it up at these parties,

472
00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:03,960
Speaker 1: and I knew in my mind he was doing this

473
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,320
Speaker 1: to other people. And the next and in that night,

474
00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,440
Speaker 1: I sat up that super late, I think so late,

475
00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:12,959
Speaker 1: and just wrote the whole story and put it on

476
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:14,240
Speaker 1: my Instagram because.

477
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:17,960
Speaker 3: I was fucking fed up. I was so fed up.

478
00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:23,720
Speaker 1: That nothing had been done and nobody was using their names,

479
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:26,639
Speaker 1: and in your article, nobody used their names. And I

480
00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:30,160
Speaker 1: was just like, how can we actually catch this guy

481
00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:35,000
Speaker 1: if nobody's willing to use their faces? And I was

482
00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:37,760
Speaker 1: just like, yeah, kind of done at that moment, And

483
00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:38,760
Speaker 1: then I was very scared.

484
00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:40,320
Speaker 3: The next day, I was like, should I have done this?

485
00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:43,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of people were afraid that, you know,

486
00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:43,919
Speaker 2: because that's the thing.

487
00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:47,399
Speaker 4: He doesn't target people who aren't doing well right.

488
00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:49,239
Speaker 2: They need to have money to be of any use

489
00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:49,560
Speaker 2: to him.

490
00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:51,520
Speaker 4: So it's a lot of people the Lla Carloto, right,

491
00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:55,160
Speaker 4: you live there, Yeah, people running their own businesses, entrepreneurs, actors,

492
00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:59,840
Speaker 4: people in the Hollywood industry, like their entire game is reputation.

493
00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:02,560
Speaker 4: They can't be seen as having been you know, and

494
00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:04,160
Speaker 4: of course I mean no disrespect for this, but having

495
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:06,560
Speaker 4: seen has been hoodwinked totally. I've seen it has been gullible.

496
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:08,040
Speaker 4: That was a concern for a lot of people I

497
00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:08,399
Speaker 4: talked to.

498
00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:09,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was.

499
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:11,480
Speaker 4: It was a bit of a tug and pull to

500
00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:13,639
Speaker 4: get I mean, even you know Nancy to go on

501
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:15,720
Speaker 4: the record, and she was so critical to telling the story,

502
00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:18,000
Speaker 4: but she didn't want this stain on her, even with

503
00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:19,800
Speaker 4: court records making clear she'd been married to him.

504
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:25,080
Speaker 1: For me, in doing this podcast, I wanted to completely

505
00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:27,560
Speaker 1: change that narrative, like we are not the ones that

506
00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:30,439
Speaker 1: need to be ashamed. He's the one that needs to

507
00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:36,440
Speaker 1: be ashamed. And I'm proud of us for uh kind

508
00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:37,919
Speaker 1: of just following through, you know.

509
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:40,400
Speaker 2: I mean, I just took notes. You did the work.

510
00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:42,360
Speaker 2: I appreciate the credit, but I'm not looking for it.

511
00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:44,440
Speaker 4: Like I just wrote. I just I just wrote, wrote

512
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:47,920
Speaker 4: a very readable story. You did the actual work.

513
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:52,080
Speaker 1: Sometimes it just takes one person to say something and

514
00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:54,800
Speaker 1: then it gives a lot of other people the comfort

515
00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:56,840
Speaker 1: to kind of come out and say something as well.

516
00:23:57,000 --> 00:23:59,760
Speaker 1: And you know, I was willing to be that person.

517
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:02,200
Speaker 1: And here we are, you know, when he's in jail,

518
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:03,720
Speaker 1: So I'm really happy about that.

519
00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:08,960
Speaker 3: Next time on Once Upon a Con, when.

520
00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:12,320
Speaker 6: That rug gets pulled, you know, it's like you feel

521
00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:14,880
Speaker 6: like your whole world is crashing down, like nothing's ever

522
00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:17,480
Speaker 6: gonna be okay, and like the world is a fraud.

523
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:20,200
Speaker 6: Everything is just you know, nothing is real.

524
00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:24,359
Speaker 3: Another Bloom victim speaks out about the devastating con that

525
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:25,720
Speaker 3: almost happened.

526
00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:29,359
Speaker 6: You rob me of emotional time with my family. You

527
00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:33,879
Speaker 6: rob me of my sanity at sometimes, you robbed me

528
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:36,800
Speaker 6: of my peace of mind. No no amount of money

529
00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:40,840
Speaker 6: could ever repay what you did to my family.

530
00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:46,879
Speaker 1: Once Upon a Con is a production of AYR Media

531
00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:50,720
Speaker 1: and thirty two Flavors, hosted by Me Caroline de more

532
00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:56,840
Speaker 1: Executive producers Eliza Rosen for AYR Media, Alex Baskin for

533
00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:01,520
Speaker 1: thirty two Flavors, and Jonathan Walton for Jonathan Walton Productions.

534
00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:07,679
Speaker 1: Written by Elisa Rosen, producer Caroline de Morey, edited and

535
00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:15,000
Speaker 1: mixed by Justin Longerbeam Engineering by Justin Longerbeam. Our theme song,

536
00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:19,200
Speaker 1: Freshly Served was written and performed by the incredibly talented

537
00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:32,879
Speaker 1: Mattie Noise and is available on her SoundCloud