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Speaker 1: Did I ever tell the gun story of Sorby on

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Speaker 1: this Ah, that's a good story. That's fucking hilarious.

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Speaker 2: Whenever i'd sit down with Ray, even after I thought

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Speaker 2: I knew every detail from his time in Miami with

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Speaker 2: his partner Sam Sorbi Sharma, he dropped little gems like this.

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Speaker 2: I wasn't surprised.

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Speaker 1: Me and Sorbi I got our gun licenses together. After

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Speaker 1: we got our licenses, I went and bought a gun

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Speaker 1: basically the same gun that the cops use, a glock,

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Speaker 1: very standard gun. I learned how to take part. I

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Speaker 1: was very safe for my gun, but it definitely made

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Speaker 1: me feel safe when I was walking around with large

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Speaker 1: amounts of money. And one day Sorbi calls me and

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Speaker 1: he's like, yo, I got a gun, Like I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: come show you mad excited, and I'm like, I don't

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Speaker 1: really care, Like this isn't like a show off contest

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Speaker 1: of who got the sickest gun, but that's who he was.

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Speaker 1: He always wanted to try to one up me. And

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Speaker 1: he shows up and his pants are like sagging because

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Speaker 1: this gun is so big. I'm like, what did this

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Speaker 1: kid buy? And he pulls out this gun and the

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Speaker 1: gun is basically a musket three feet long, a pistol

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Speaker 1: like from nineteen eighty two. I was like, what the

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Speaker 1: fuck are you serious? This is really the gun you got.

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Speaker 1: Why would you get a golden engraved gun? What is

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Speaker 1: wrong with you? Like? How are you even gonna carry

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Speaker 1: that thing? I was like, Bro, that's the fucking dumbest

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Speaker 1: gun I've ever seen in my life. Who do you

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Speaker 1: think you are? El Chapo? After I made fun of him,

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Speaker 1: I had never seen that gun again because he was

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Speaker 1: so self conscious and.

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Speaker 2: That's who he was.

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Speaker 1: Like, it's so hard to understand Soorbe's brain, like how

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Speaker 1: he operates. You can't come in here with no confidence thing.

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Speaker 1: You're gonna show me up And I'm just gonna be like, Oh,

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Speaker 1: that's sick gun, dude.

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Speaker 2: I'm Johnny be Good And this is creating a con

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Speaker 2: The story of bitcomed episode six, Big Little Eyes. In

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Speaker 2: the fall of twenty seventeen, Center Tech had just completed

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Speaker 2: its ico or initial coin offering and had raised more

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Speaker 2: than thirty million dollars. Ray and Sam were making money

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Speaker 2: in their sleep, and more customers were coming in, meaning

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Speaker 2: more cash in the door.

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Speaker 1: This is my most memorable point of Florida censer was

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Speaker 1: raising tens of millions of dollars. I had so much

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Speaker 1: money at my disposal. I had hundreds of thousands of

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Speaker 1: jewelry on you know, six Cardier bracelets, fucking Rolex, just

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Speaker 1: acting mad ignorant. I loved being ignorant. I still do

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Speaker 1: love being ignorant.

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Speaker 2: Ray took full advantage of his situation, using investors' money

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Speaker 2: to pay for his lavish lifestyle in Miami, in the casino,

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Speaker 2: the strip club, or whatever lavish party was being thrown.

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Speaker 2: Miami was his playground, his sandbox, and that box was

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Speaker 2: full of cocaine, the cars, the girls, the cash, the gambling,

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Speaker 2: the drugs. Ray was floating through the city faster and

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Speaker 2: higher than ever, burning cash at an unimaginable rate. But

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Speaker 2: none of that mattered because they'd be making it back

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Speaker 2: without lifting a finger. It was everything Ray had dreamed

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Speaker 2: of out of a career.

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Speaker 1: The casino was my sanctuary I was born. Just about

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Speaker 1: every night I would wake up, I'd have a bloody Mary,

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Speaker 1: eat like a little flapper at pizza, take some xanax.

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Speaker 1: The casino at that time had gave me twenty four

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Speaker 1: hour black car service, so I wo'd get in their

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Speaker 1: limit or truck, and I would go to the mall

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Speaker 1: buy whatever alpha it was for the day, A new

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Speaker 1: pair of shoes, go back to the casino, shower up,

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Speaker 1: get dressed, put my new outfit on, go gamble a

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Speaker 1: little bit.

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Speaker 2: All of Ray's time was spent around the poker table

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Speaker 2: rather than the boardroom table.

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Speaker 1: I was playing eight poker games that were one hundred

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Speaker 1: thousand minimum buy ins, which are insane games. Some of

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Speaker 1: those games I would be in for a couple hundred thousand.

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Speaker 1: I've had nights where I've won five hundred thousand in poker,

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Speaker 1: which is a huge win for anybody.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so if you're like me, you may be wondering

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Speaker 2: where is Ray getting all this money? Again, I was.

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Speaker 1: Able to sell a million dollars worth of Centric coins.

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Speaker 2: Ray was doing what was called a pump and dump. No,

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Speaker 2: he wasn't donating his sperm. He was artificially driving up

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Speaker 2: the price of center coin and then selling.

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Speaker 1: Once the price got to a point where I felt comfortable,

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Speaker 1: I just dumped a ton of centric coins on the market,

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Speaker 1: which was like a couple million dollar.

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Speaker 2: And he did this over and over and over.

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Speaker 1: We were allowed to catch out fifty thousand at a time,

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Speaker 1: so basically every day I would just have fifty thousand

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Speaker 1: come into my account. Ended up being about sixty days

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Speaker 1: where I was just getting fifty thousand dollars a day straight.

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Speaker 2: That's no small deposit. Ray found himself with nearly three

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Speaker 2: million dollars after this sixty day spree.

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Speaker 1: That first feeling of seeing a million dollars in your

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Speaker 1: bank account, you see that extra comment, I was like,

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Speaker 1: oh my god, this is crazy.

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Speaker 2: And those funds it afforded the lifestyle he always strived for.

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Speaker 1: I was like, always my dream to be in these

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Speaker 1: circles with these professional guys that played every day. And

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Speaker 1: I wasn't the best guy, but it was just amazing

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Speaker 1: to be a part of. And the day I met Derulo,

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Speaker 1: I was in the high Limit room playing backarat and

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Speaker 1: I always had my own private table in the casino by.

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Speaker 2: De Rulo, Yes, he means Jason Derulot multi talented, chart topping,

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Speaker 2: seven times platinum recording artist Jason Deula.

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Speaker 1: I see him walk in, I act like I don't

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Speaker 1: know who it is. He goes and sits down. He's

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Speaker 1: with his girlfriend. They sit down at a table. It's

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Speaker 1: like filled with people. I'm like, why is Jason Drula

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Speaker 1: sitting at like a regular table? And I'm like, yo,

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Speaker 1: if you want you can play at this table. I'm

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Speaker 1: playing it cool like it was nothing whatever. I was like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, you can sit here, and then we go

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Speaker 1: on like a crazy run playing back right. I was

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Speaker 1: up probably like four hundred thousand, he's up like one

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Speaker 1: hundred thousand. At that point, they're running out of the chips,

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Speaker 1: so they want to color up. So usually like for

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Speaker 1: all your thousand chips, they'll give you ten thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: chips so that you don't you know, they can restock

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Speaker 1: the chip things. And I'm like, no, I don't want

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Speaker 1: to color up. I want all these stacks of chips

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Speaker 1: on the table. So it looks ridiculous. So like we

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Speaker 1: had stacks a couple feet high of just all these

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Speaker 1: smaller chips. It just looked amazing, like if you can

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Speaker 1: imagine an image of just two players at the table

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Speaker 1: by these giant stacks. Every single hand we were winning

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Speaker 1: and it was a sick night. And he's like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm going back to Cali orrow if you want to

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Speaker 1: come back with me. I'm like, all right, fuck it. Whatever,

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Speaker 1: you know, how am I going to turn down this opportunity.

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Speaker 1: We'd go on a plane, we'd fly back to Cali.

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Speaker 1: I stayed at his place. I went to the World's Royce,

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Speaker 1: and I just left. I was like, I don't want

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Speaker 1: to just act like I have nothing to do while

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Speaker 1: I'm here. I'm act like I'm busy. I just balanced

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Speaker 1: and fucking went to drove around with a casino and

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Speaker 1: Cali and just did my own thing for a while there.

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Speaker 1: And then like a couple days later, we both flew

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Speaker 1: back to Miami.

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Speaker 2: Call it a bromance.

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Speaker 1: He knew that when we would go out, I'd be

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Speaker 1: able to split everything. It wasn't like everybody else that

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Speaker 1: he'd have around him, no one was able to split anything.

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Speaker 1: So we'd go out to strip clubs, you know, split

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Speaker 1: ten thousand in singles and just go crazy. We got like,

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Speaker 1: you know, a private room in that strip club, throw

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Speaker 1: ten thousand in singles, which you know, you can't even

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Speaker 1: throw that many singles. I don't know how people do

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Speaker 1: it unless you're just throwing bricks of singles at people.

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Speaker 1: It was sick, Like those moments were amazing. I just

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Speaker 1: got close with his family, so we would hang out.

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Speaker 1: You know, I would either fly to Cali or when

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Speaker 1: he was in Florida, he would always call me.

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Speaker 2: Drulo had a front row seat to what Ray was

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Speaker 2: building at centri Tech.

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Speaker 1: You know, he's like, oh, you know, tell me about CenTra,

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Speaker 1: Like what's going on? Like, you know, how do I

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Speaker 1: get tokens? Like he wasn't even that interested in what

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Speaker 1: the company was or what it was. He was trying

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Speaker 1: to just support me, but I just kept him away.

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Speaker 1: I was like, nah, he should just probably buy bitcoin,

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Speaker 1: Like if you're going to get into crypto, like try

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Speaker 1: to learn it and buy bitcoin, and you know, once

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Speaker 1: you learn it, then I'll put you on type of thing.

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Speaker 2: While Ray was living it up in Miami, a dark

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Speaker 2: cloud was forming in the North. New York Times journalist

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Speaker 2: Nathaniel Popper's investigation into center Tech was in full swing.

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Speaker 2: When Nathaniel started digging further into the company, he noticed

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Speaker 2: the vital banking relationships CenTra had been touting disappeared. This

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Speaker 2: only reinforced Nathaniel's belief that he was covering something big.

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Speaker 3: That's exciting as a journalist when you have an opportunity

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Speaker 3: to dig into something and find something interesting, real crazy.

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Speaker 2: What began as a story about celebrity endorsements and cryptocurrency

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Speaker 2: just became a cover story with a big hook.

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Speaker 3: When you take Visa off your website, you acknowledged that

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Speaker 3: you didn't really have a deal with Visa, And when

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Speaker 3: you take MasterCard up your website, that's your way of

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Speaker 3: acknowledging that you don't really have a deal with MasterCard.

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Speaker 2: Without these relationships, CenTra had a big problem.

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Speaker 3: Every time that they respond by scrubbing something, they're acknowledging

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Speaker 3: that whatever they've scrubbed as a problem.

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Speaker 2: Here's CenTra investor Jacob Renzel. That was a huge red flag.

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Speaker 2: That was one of the reasons why I invested is

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Speaker 2: because they had that partnership. Another thing Popper was trying

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Speaker 2: to uncover was the whereabouts of their CEO, Michael Edwards,

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Speaker 2: their Harvard trained leader, vanished from Centra's website and his

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Speaker 2: LinkedIn profile disappeared after it was discovered that Michael's picture

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Speaker 2: was actually a Canadian professor. So Nathaniel called Sam Beck

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Speaker 2: for an explanation. Here's the recorded call that took place

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Speaker 2: in twenty seventeen.

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Speaker 3: Looks like the first picture you use was this professor

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Speaker 3: in Canada, and then the LinkedIn profile he had looked

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Speaker 3: like it was totally made up.

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Speaker 4: I don't know why they originally even put him up

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Speaker 4: at the CEO on the website, because if the picture

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Speaker 4: was not correct, it was a stock photo online and

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Speaker 4: people really just took that and ran with him. They're

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Speaker 4: still trying to run with you, which I've shut that

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Speaker 4: down many times.

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Speaker 2: Sam doubled down and blame their freelance web developers. He

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Speaker 2: said they were the ones who fucked up.

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Speaker 4: I've said the people whatever was on the website at

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Speaker 4: the time, we used freelancer to put it on the website.

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Speaker 3: As a reporter, you can't assume somebody's line until you

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Speaker 3: have established it without a doubt. You have to stay

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Speaker 3: open to that possibility. I'm just trying to understand if

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Speaker 3: this person actually exists.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean listening thousand like a U copy of

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Speaker 4: the license that need be.

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Speaker 3: He said, all proved you that he's real, I'll send

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Speaker 3: you his driver's license, and I thought, okay, if you're

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Speaker 3: willing to do that, semi his driver's license.

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Speaker 2: Behind the scenes, Sam was scrambling.

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Speaker 1: Too many people asking questions about who the fuck Michael

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Speaker 1: Edwards is, and that's where we came out with the

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Speaker 1: mess to plan to basically say that Jessic Robinson and

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Speaker 1: Michael Edwards had died in a car accident together.

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Speaker 2: Jessica Robinson was supposedly the CFO of Center Tech.

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Speaker 3: But there are certain points at which you realize there's

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Speaker 3: no coming back from this.

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Speaker 1: We put out like a press release, you know, making

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Speaker 1: an obituary, and they're dead. Now.

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Speaker 2: We obtained a copy of the obituary. I'll let Ray read.

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Speaker 1: It to you. Michael Edwards suddenly left this world with

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Speaker 1: his longtime partner Jessica Robinson, who's fifty four years old.

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Speaker 1: He leaves behind his French Bulloak Stanley an accomplished career

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Speaker 1: as an investor in VP for banks like Wells, Fargo

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Speaker 1: and Chase. He graduated with the NBA from Harvard University,

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Speaker 1: which prepared him for his most recent venture as co

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Speaker 1: founder and chief executive officer of Center Tech in Miami Beach, Florida.

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Speaker 1: Michael split his time at his homes between Vermont and

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Speaker 1: Florida at his family's request. No service will be held.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Obviously, every character reaches a point at which you

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Speaker 3: can no longer sustain their storyline. So what else are

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Speaker 3: you going to do with them? I had gone into

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Speaker 3: this thinking this is a pretty wacky caper, but that

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Speaker 3: took this to a whole different level.

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Speaker 2: Nathaniel had the confirmation he needed. There was no doubt left.

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Speaker 2: The founders of central lied about the existence of their CEO.

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Speaker 2: It was time for Nathaniel Popper and his team to

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Speaker 2: dig deeper into centri Tech. With the heat building up

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Speaker 2: around Centra's lack of leadership, Ray and Sam pushed out

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Speaker 2: a story they thought would finally put their CEO problems

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Speaker 2: to rest, but all that did was raise more suspicion.

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Speaker 2: So Nathaniel Popper had his team at The New York

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Speaker 2: Times to a deep dive into the backgrounds of centri

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Speaker 2: Tech's leadership, if nothing else, to make sure they actually existed.

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Speaker 3: They have all these tools. They can search all the

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Speaker 3: court records, all of the public records on marriage, divorce,

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Speaker 3: real estate, arrest, traffic, citation, what they own and I

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Speaker 3: just went down the list. What are their social media

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Speaker 3: accounts that can tell me about their paths, where they

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Speaker 3: come from, who they claimed to be on LinkedIn, on Instagram?

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Speaker 3: And do those stories line up? Do they tell a

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Speaker 3: coherent story? Usually it comes back, and it's like, you know,

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Speaker 3: they live here, this is their parents. There's not really

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Speaker 3: much out.

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Speaker 2: There, but I think we all know where this is going.

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Speaker 3: It was like this criminal dossier of arrests and lawsuits

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Speaker 3: and citations and leans and just you know, everything that

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Speaker 3: you could have done wrong. By the time you're twenty three,

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Speaker 3: they had managed to pack a lot into the first

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Speaker 3: two and a half decades of their lives.

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Speaker 2: All those skeletons from Sam and Ray's closets came pouring out.

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Speaker 3: There were just red flags everywhere.

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Speaker 2: Nathaniel found Sam's old court case, where he was accused

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Speaker 2: of trying to fraudulently sell or leank cars he didn't own.

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Speaker 2: Sam had also been evicted twice.

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Speaker 3: The moment where I realized the sort of harm these

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Speaker 3: guys were doing came when I talked to Sam's old landlord.

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Speaker 3: It was just this older couple in Florida who had

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Speaker 3: rented out their apartment to Sam, and they said he

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Speaker 3: paid the first few months, but then he stopped pain

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Speaker 3: and he said he was going to get it to us,

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Speaker 3: and we believed him, and we figured, you know, he

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Speaker 3: was just having a hard time, and he kept saying

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Speaker 3: he was going to get it to us, and they said,

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Speaker 3: in the end we realized how conscious he had been

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Speaker 3: of frauding us. It wasn't just you know, he couldn't

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Speaker 3: pay the rent. He knew he wasn't paying the rent,

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Speaker 3: and he knew he was going to take it as

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Speaker 3: far as he could.

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Speaker 2: Up until now, Nathaniel had kept his questions to Sam

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Speaker 2: solely on centritech. But things are about to get a

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Speaker 2: lot more personal. Here's more from Nathaniel's phone call with

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Speaker 2: Sam Sharman in twenty seventeen.

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Speaker 3: I'm just trying to sort through what you guys have

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Speaker 3: put out there versus what I'm finding. And you know,

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Speaker 3: I think one of the things that doesn't seem to

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Speaker 3: be out there is that you have quite a past

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Speaker 3: with legal issues. Business deal has gone wrong, you know, evictions,

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Speaker 3: stuff like this.

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Speaker 4: But you're playing aft up when I was twenty four

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Speaker 4: to three.

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Speaker 3: But these cases are two years ago, three years ago.

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Speaker 3: These are pretty recent cases, and you seem to have

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Speaker 3: been just a few years developed quite a track record

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Speaker 3: of not paying people, not living up the contracts and

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Speaker 3: stuff like that that's reflected in these complaints against you.

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Speaker 4: I mean, I don't know what you want, what do

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Speaker 4: you want me to get You know, at this point,

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Speaker 4: you know, you looked like I had a keew rids

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Speaker 4: kind of leading too.

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Speaker 1: I don't know.

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Speaker 3: I mean, this wasn't out there when people were sending

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Speaker 3: you millions of dollars and I'm just trying to.

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Speaker 4: They weren't anyv defending the company.

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Speaker 3: Part of the difference of Center Deeck was that they

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Speaker 3: did all these things but still managed to raise thirty

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Speaker 3: million dollars. Like a lot of the companies I looked into.

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Speaker 3: They said they raised twenty million dollars, but that was

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Speaker 3: part of the lie of the company. They hadn't actually

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Speaker 3: raised the money. The Center Deck guys, one thing they

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Speaker 3: hadn't lied about was making thirty million dollars. They had

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Speaker 3: actually collected thirty million dollars from unwitting members of the public.

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Speaker 3: Despite all of these.

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Speaker 2: Issues, something else became abundantly to Nathaniel when reviewing their records.

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Speaker 3: Ray and Sam had clearly been partners in crime for

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Speaker 3: some time. Their Instagram showed them hanging around with lots

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Speaker 3: of one hundred dollars bills around expensive cars. You know,

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Speaker 3: this was not their first rodeo. When it came to

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Speaker 3: cooking up a business.

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Speaker 2: He also uncovered that these business partners had vouched for

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Speaker 2: one another around some illegal activity in their past.

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Speaker 3: Together, they had been indicted for perjury for line about

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Speaker 3: Sam Sharma's drunk driving incident. I still remember the moment

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Speaker 3: when I was asking Sam about this indictment for perjury.

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Speaker 3: I mean, you were arrested pretty recently, right, don't want.

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Speaker 2: This obviously on the web.

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Speaker 4: It's not positive stuff. But I had a DUI in

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Speaker 4: New York and I didn't I failed to go back

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Speaker 4: for one of the court hearings. I guess, yeah, and

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Speaker 4: they put they put a warn out for my rash

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Speaker 4: warning recently. A few days ago, I got out of

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Speaker 4: my house and there was an office chat out of

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Speaker 4: the house, and you know, he obviously arrested me for that,

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Speaker 4: and I had to go back to New York and

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Speaker 4: finish up that DUI that I had.

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Speaker 3: He doesn't view any of this as a problem because

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Speaker 3: he thinks he has an explanation for it.

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Speaker 4: I ended up telling them like, hey, let's fully guilty

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Speaker 4: to this case. All right, I did drink and drive.

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Speaker 2: I'm sorry.

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Speaker 4: I learned my lesson. Now they're trying to combine that

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Speaker 4: to say, oh, Okay, you just put guilty too vi high,

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Speaker 4: but you said on the stand you only had a

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Speaker 4: one drink and you weren't drunk. So now they're trying

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Speaker 4: to do like perjury against me.

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Speaker 3: But ok being indicted for perjury is a big deal.

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Speaker 3: And the fact that he thought he could talk his

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Speaker 3: way out of that made it clear that there was

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Speaker 3: nothing that was going to stick with this guy. There

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Speaker 3: was nothing that was going to make him think, you

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Speaker 3: know what I did go too far. He could just

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Speaker 3: talk his way out of anything. But in doing so,

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Speaker 3: he seemed to convince himself.

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Speaker 4: I mean, listen, anything public is usually information when it

357
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Speaker 4: comes down to arrest. So I'm obviously not comfortable with

358
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Speaker 4: that situation. But it's not something like where, you know,

359
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Speaker 4: I did something so intensely crazy that he would have

360
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Speaker 4: to have investors worry. I drank and drove two years ago,

361
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Speaker 4: and this is all tied up to that same case,

362
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Speaker 4: and it's nothing I could really do. You know, I

363
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Speaker 4: was young, I had a nice car, I was driving around,

364
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Speaker 4: I had a girl with being I got pulled over.

365
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Speaker 4: I got arrested for it, you know, for drinking and driving,

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Speaker 4: and I learned my lesson. I haven't had a drink

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Speaker 4: and drove, and since then, that was the last time

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Speaker 4: I had a drink, even a little drink and drove.

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Speaker 2: That perjury charge. It was a big deal, a much

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Speaker 2: bigger deal than either of them realized at the time.

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Speaker 2: Ray was in the middle of it too.

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Speaker 1: Serby's had like five d w wis in his life.

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Speaker 1: He doesn't really drink like on a regular basis, but

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Speaker 1: he has no respect for the law. If he drinks,

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Speaker 1: he's driving, it doesn't matter.

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Speaker 2: Sarby decided to fight it, and the case went to court.

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Speaker 1: He was going to have someone testify for him that

378
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Speaker 1: was there that night, saying he only had one drink

379
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Speaker 1: because he didn't blow in the breath thing.

380
00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:06,000
Speaker 2: But Ray knew that friend and knew he wasn't going

381
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Speaker 2: to show up in court.

382
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Speaker 1: He was like this rich kid from New York, never

383
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Speaker 1: been in trouble. I knew the whole time that this

384
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Speaker 1: kid was never gonna actually do that for me.

385
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Speaker 2: So Ray steps up.

386
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Speaker 1: So I'm like, whatever, I got you, no problem. That's

387
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Speaker 1: you know, we have this company together. You're my boy.

388
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Speaker 1: At this point, I'm gonna go do this with you,

389
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Speaker 1: no problem. I fly to New York with them.

390
00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:30,560
Speaker 2: They go back to the crime scene, retrace sorby steps

391
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Speaker 2: from years past, and get raised story straight. After boarding

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Speaker 2: a flight in Miami and landing back home in New York,

393
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Speaker 2: Ray and Sam Serby Sharma get right to business. They

394
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Speaker 2: need to prep for the dwik Sam it had been avoiding.

395
00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:54,840
Speaker 2: First things. First, they need to go to the scene

396
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Speaker 2: of the crime.

397
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Speaker 1: We go to the restaurant scoping out so I can

398
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Speaker 1: kind of have like an understand of what I'm going

399
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Speaker 1: to be able to say on the stand, Like if

400
00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:04,480
Speaker 1: they asked me certain questions. I know what it looks like.

401
00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:07,240
Speaker 1: I know the exit, the entrance where he sat. We

402
00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:10,359
Speaker 1: sat in the same seat in the restaurant. We'd go

403
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Speaker 1: to the court and I go up on the stand

404
00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:15,000
Speaker 1: and I'm telling the whole story. I'm like, he only

405
00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:18,000
Speaker 1: had one drink, one Pino grisio. That's all he had

406
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Speaker 1: the whole night.

407
00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:22,200
Speaker 2: Things were looking good. Ray's performance was just what they

408
00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,439
Speaker 2: needed for an acquittal. You could almost see Sam's lawyer

409
00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:27,240
Speaker 2: giving him a thumbs up and a wink with every

410
00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:28,360
Speaker 2: story point Ray hit.

411
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Speaker 1: Then as I'm on the stand, they have the camera

412
00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:36,919
Speaker 1: footage was actually from that night, and everything I said

413
00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:39,120
Speaker 1: was clearly shown to be a lie.

414
00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:43,840
Speaker 2: Not only did they have the footage, the bill was

415
00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:47,600
Speaker 2: entered into evidence, it was a CVS receipts worth the drinks.

416
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Speaker 1: I was like, I don't even know what to say here.

417
00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:54,640
Speaker 2: You could hear a pin drop in that courtroom. Ray

418
00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:57,639
Speaker 2: looked to Sorbie and his attorney for a lifeline. It

419
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Speaker 2: wouldn't come.

420
00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:02,399
Speaker 1: They arrest me right then and there, right up the stand.

421
00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:08,080
Speaker 1: They arrest store. We both charge with perjury. I knew

422
00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:09,920
Speaker 1: that I'd get bailed out in a second. I had

423
00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:11,919
Speaker 1: money at this point, but they wouldn't give me my

424
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,840
Speaker 1: phones back, which was super weird. I had two phones,

425
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Speaker 1: which I always have two phones. I've been arrested a

426
00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:20,080
Speaker 1: million times. They never hold your phones. They always release

427
00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:22,560
Speaker 1: them back to you when you're getting out. Something was

428
00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:25,359
Speaker 1: up and they're like, the only way we'll give you

429
00:22:25,359 --> 00:22:27,480
Speaker 1: your phones back if you sign a release that we

430
00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:29,480
Speaker 1: can copy all the data off your phones.

431
00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:34,879
Speaker 2: This was problematic. Ray had everything on his phones, his emails,

432
00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:37,880
Speaker 2: his texts, contacts, But most valuable.

433
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Speaker 1: Of all, I had all my logins to my crypto,

434
00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:44,280
Speaker 1: my Google authenticators on that phone, and without that I

435
00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:46,639
Speaker 1: would lose all my access to all the exchanges that

436
00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,600
Speaker 1: I use. This is like millions of dollars that they

437
00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:52,159
Speaker 1: have that I can't get back unless I give them

438
00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:54,840
Speaker 1: records of everything on my phone. Like this is so fucked,

439
00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:56,879
Speaker 1: Like what do I do here? You know how it

440
00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:58,639
Speaker 1: is like when you lose your phone, you don't even

441
00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:01,840
Speaker 1: have money on your phone. Imagine having millions of dollars

442
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:03,800
Speaker 1: on his phone, plus all your text mess all your

443
00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:05,760
Speaker 1: business contact, everything on his phone.

444
00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:08,240
Speaker 2: Ray felt like he had no choice.

445
00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:10,359
Speaker 1: I ended up saying, fuck it, I need my money,

446
00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:12,280
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna sign this thing and give them everything

447
00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:14,639
Speaker 1: on his phones, and they copied everything off both of

448
00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:17,080
Speaker 1: my phones. The next morning I was able to pick up.

449
00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:21,200
Speaker 2: My phones, Ray could breathe again. He resecured his money.

450
00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:23,000
Speaker 2: Put at what cost?

451
00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:25,480
Speaker 1: At first, they were trying to give me like a

452
00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:27,679
Speaker 1: misdemeanor and a year jail time. I was like, no way,

453
00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:29,720
Speaker 1: I'm taking that. And then they ended up offering me

454
00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:32,439
Speaker 1: a felony charge, which was my first felony charge that

455
00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:34,560
Speaker 1: actually was going to stay on my record and no

456
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:37,880
Speaker 1: jail time, no probation. So I took the felony charge

457
00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:38,800
Speaker 1: and was finished with it.

458
00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:42,680
Speaker 2: So Ray thinks he's in the clear. He's out of jail,

459
00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:45,520
Speaker 2: on a flight back to Miami, and he has his phones.

460
00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:49,600
Speaker 2: He could put this one behind him, And so he thought,

461
00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:56,560
Speaker 2: shortly after returning from New York, Ray and Sam Sorby

462
00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:59,560
Speaker 2: Sharma get Win that this New York Times article was

463
00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:00,000
Speaker 2: coming out.

464
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:05,199
Speaker 3: I didn't expect for them to be such willing participants

465
00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:11,800
Speaker 3: in their own undoing. And while they had not convinced me,

466
00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 3: they had convinced themselves that they were for real, and

467
00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:19,760
Speaker 3: they were loving this attention, and they were loving the

468
00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:21,480
Speaker 3: fact that The New York Times was going to tell

469
00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:22,080
Speaker 3: their story.

470
00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:24,760
Speaker 1: Then like a week later, that article comes down. We're like,

471
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:27,960
Speaker 1: what the fuck was the worst article possible? Like how

472
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:30,280
Speaker 1: two kids from Miami got rich? Or whatever the fuck

473
00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:30,840
Speaker 1: they put out.

474
00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:33,639
Speaker 2: It read a little different than that, how.

475
00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:36,800
Speaker 3: Floyd Mayweather helped two young guys from Miami get rich.

476
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:40,480
Speaker 3: On October twenty seventh, that's the day that the New

477
00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:45,159
Speaker 3: York Times article appeared, and that's the day when it

478
00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:49,400
Speaker 3: became clear that this was not a real business.

479
00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:52,000
Speaker 2: And typical Ray, he put the blame on his other

480
00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:54,320
Speaker 2: Center Tech partner, Robert Farcas.

481
00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:58,520
Speaker 1: That fucking whole thing was so fucked up. Because Robert

482
00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:01,360
Speaker 1: Farcas took the phone call and he was all excited.

483
00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:03,680
Speaker 1: So it's just like, how do you fuck up something

484
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:06,800
Speaker 1: that major and not do any research on who's writing

485
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:08,480
Speaker 1: this article and what they're going to write it about.

486
00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:11,879
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was Farcus who answered Nathaniel Popper's first call,

487
00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:14,760
Speaker 2: but after that it was Ray and Sam who did

488
00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:17,840
Speaker 2: most of the talking. That didn't matter at array.

489
00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:20,160
Speaker 1: I asked him, like, you didn't do any due diligence

490
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:21,760
Speaker 1: on the New York Times. You didn't ask him any

491
00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:23,919
Speaker 1: questions about what they're writing about. And he's just like no,

492
00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:25,440
Speaker 1: Like they just told me they were doing an article.

493
00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:26,960
Speaker 1: They didn't say it was going to be a bad thing,

494
00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:29,400
Speaker 1: And me and Sobey were so pissed off.

495
00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:33,440
Speaker 2: After the article came out, Floyd Mayweather distanced himself from

496
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:36,480
Speaker 2: centri Tech. His PR person took it a step further

497
00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:39,119
Speaker 2: and said Floyd was never a partner in the business.

498
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:42,480
Speaker 2: He had simply been paid cash to promote center Tech

499
00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:46,400
Speaker 2: on social media. Floyd even deleted his Facebook and Instagram

500
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:50,000
Speaker 2: posts where he endorsed center Tech. Kalent's team did the same.

501
00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:53,399
Speaker 2: One of our producers reached out to both Floyd and

502
00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:57,960
Speaker 2: dj Khaled's PR team for comment. I'll let you know

503
00:25:58,000 --> 00:25:58,760
Speaker 2: if we hear back.

504
00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:03,840
Speaker 1: You know, anything hits New York Times, it's got some

505
00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:06,560
Speaker 1: attention and you know, hire people up or talking about it.

506
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 2: I remember when that article came out. I hate to

507
00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:13,520
Speaker 2: say it, but I wasn't surprised. To me, it just

508
00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:15,399
Speaker 2: felt like Ray used up yet another one of his

509
00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:19,480
Speaker 2: many lives. At the time, the SEC was taking a

510
00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:23,880
Speaker 2: hard look at crypto startups. They were an unruly beast which,

511
00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:26,080
Speaker 2: in the eyes of the FEDS, were not safe for

512
00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:29,560
Speaker 2: the public. Crypto needed to be tamed or put down.

513
00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:33,440
Speaker 2: Startups like Centritech were dead in their crosshairs.

514
00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:37,480
Speaker 3: I mean, look, I felt bad for them. I realized

515
00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:41,640
Speaker 3: this was not going to end well for them, and

516
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:46,159
Speaker 3: they didn't seem to understand that. They didn't seem to

517
00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:48,320
Speaker 3: understand the situation they were in.

518
00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:52,720
Speaker 2: More bad press wasn't about to stop Sam, but Ray well,

519
00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:55,640
Speaker 2: he had had enough and he would make a drastic

520
00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:58,399
Speaker 2: decision about his future that would forever change his In

521
00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:00,280
Speaker 2: Sam's life.

522
00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:02,240
Speaker 1: I really don't even want anything to do with this

523
00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:03,560
Speaker 1: company's point.

524
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:06,440
Speaker 2: With the FEDS breathing down their necks, the tables were

525
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:10,320
Speaker 2: about to be turned and this time it's a doozy.

526
00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:14,159
Speaker 5: It's incredibly ironic that a group of people using the

527
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,959
Speaker 5: Internet to scam people ended up falling themselves for an

528
00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:24,560
Speaker 5: Internet scam.

529
00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:28,119
Speaker 2: Creating a Con is a production of Glass Podcasts, a

530
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:32,000
Speaker 2: division of Glass Entertainment Group in partnership with iHeart Podcasts.

531
00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:34,640
Speaker 2: If you would like to reach out to the Creating

532
00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:37,560
Speaker 2: a Con team, email us at Creating a Con at

533
00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:42,320
Speaker 2: gmail dot com. That's Creating a coeon at gmail dot com.

534
00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:46,280
Speaker 2: We appreciate your support. One way to support our show

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Speaker 2: is by subscribing to our podcasts on Apple Podcasts, and

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Speaker 2: don't forget to rate and review Creating a Con. Five

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Speaker 2: star reviews go a long way. A big thank you

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Speaker 2: to those who are listening. Also be sure to check

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Speaker 2: us out and follow us on inta at Glass Podcasts.

540
00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:06,040
Speaker 2: The show is hosted and produced by me Johnny B. Good,

541
00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:11,240
Speaker 2: with executive producers Nancy Glass, Ben Fetterman, and Andrea Gunning.

542
00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:16,160
Speaker 2: Written and produced by Ben Fetterman and Todd Gans, additional

543
00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:21,480
Speaker 2: writing by Matt Delvecchio, Operations and production support by Christin Melchiori.

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00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:26,720
Speaker 2: Additional production support Trey Morgan. Our iHeart team is Ali

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Speaker 2: Perry and Jessica Crincheck. Sound editing and mixing by Matt Delvecchio,

546
00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:37,359
Speaker 2: Consulting producer Nathaniel Popper. Creating a CON's theme composed by

547
00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:42,480
Speaker 2: Oliver Baines. Music library provided by MiB Music. Thank you

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00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:46,160
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