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Speaker 1: Previously on Once Upon a Con.

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Speaker 2: You want to discuss what happen?

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Speaker 1: Your team, my business partners and I fly to Texas

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Speaker 1: for a meeting David Bloom set up that's going to

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Speaker 1: make Pizza Girl Pasta sauce a national brand.

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Speaker 3: A steeting in the headquarters of Wholefood.

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Speaker 1: But delay after delay leads us all to a shocking discovery.

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Speaker 4: He's a scanner, is Ady Gil a few times waitresses.

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Speaker 1: Yep, we just realized we're all getting scammed by David Bloom.

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Speaker 1: The thirty five thousand dollars we gave him for that

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Speaker 1: soho house IPO gone and this entire meeting with Whole

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Speaker 1: Food CEO Ac Gallo is one big hoax. But David

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Speaker 1: doesn't know we're on to him, so we start reporting

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Speaker 1: all his phone calls as evidence of his crimes for police,

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Speaker 1: and he's still pushing this Whole Food scam really really.

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Speaker 5: Hard that I just want you all common and cool

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Speaker 5: headed because you are going to have a meeting and

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Speaker 5: they're going to offer you something.

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Speaker 4: Stand there, I took some shit to you.

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Speaker 6: Well, notice what you'll do us, Julie.

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Speaker 1: I'm Caroline Dumoury and this is Once Upon a Con

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Speaker 1: episode four, The Best Friend You Never asked for.

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Speaker 3: Let's not forget that David Bloom was a professional con artist.

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Speaker 3: He had been doing this for thirty years. We didn't

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Speaker 3: know it at the time, but you know, looking back,

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Speaker 3: this is what he does, and he did it incredibly successfully.

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Speaker 3: So you didn't stand a chance.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, But then, speaking to Acy Gallo, I never thought

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Speaker 1: in a million years that somebody would do this about

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Speaker 1: another person for somebody else. I was absurd, and you

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Speaker 1: do have all these questions, but then you question yourself.

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Speaker 7: But I wanted to.

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Speaker 3: Now if that's why he had to send us to Austin,

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Speaker 3: because that was it was going to crumble if you

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Speaker 3: didn't believe that was Icy Gellow.

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Speaker 2: So he had to.

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Speaker 3: Keep dangling this meeting that came out of that call.

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Speaker 3: To legitimize the call.

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Speaker 1: My business partners Beck and Aaron and I are Monday

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Speaker 1: morning quarterbacking David Bloom's insane scam.

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Speaker 3: Overwhelming feeling were two things. One was poor Caroline. She

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Speaker 3: was in so much pain. It was awful.

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Speaker 1: I was carrying a weight that no one else in

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Speaker 1: that room had to carry because I truly feel responsible

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Speaker 1: right for Ryan, for you got the reason we're there.

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Speaker 1: I continued to champion this guy and believe in him,

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Speaker 1: and I made everybody else join. So I literally, you, guys,

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Speaker 1: I'm not even kidding you. Like I had, Like I

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Speaker 1: hate saying this, but I had really dark thoughts, you

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Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like really dark thoughts in that moment,

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Speaker 1: and when I had my panic attack, just feel like

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Speaker 1: I just feel like I didn't know that I was

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Speaker 1: gonna ever come out of that.

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Speaker 2: It was traumatic.

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Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie. I was having like suicidal thoughts,

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Speaker 1: like for a little bit of time after that, I

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Speaker 1: was having a really hard time. And as it's all unraveling,

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Speaker 1: I'm falling apart, then putting myself back together, only to

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Speaker 1: fall apart again. Deep down, I know I have to

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Speaker 1: do something. I'm not gonna let this lying asshole get

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Speaker 1: away with this. I'm now in like at this stage,

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Speaker 1: like I already went through my crying. Now I'm in

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Speaker 1: the stage of like I just want to get this motherfucker.

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Speaker 8: He's preying on people that are fucking working their asses

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Speaker 8: off and that are desperate, and it just came out

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Speaker 8: of a divorce. He knew that I had fucking nothing,

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Speaker 8: and that I rallied every fucking dollar that I had.

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Speaker 7: Surprise all there, but he knew.

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Speaker 1: I had nothing.

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Speaker 2: He doesn't care.

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Speaker 3: One of the articles that judge said, I have never

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Speaker 3: seen such depraved, remorseless behavior.

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Speaker 1: He's a moral So beck Aaron and I start recording

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Speaker 1: all of David Bloom's phone calls from that point on,

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Speaker 1: and I get him to confirm every single scam he's

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Speaker 1: ever pulled on me.

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Speaker 5: And we're gonna have a meeting. I'm not gonna know

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Speaker 5: now for the next hour, and I have to switching around.

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Speaker 5: She's getting a final word from that other department of

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Speaker 5: the company about the cleaning, whether anyone could come and stay.

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Speaker 8: I know, But David, if you're my friend, you know

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Speaker 8: that I've been here, you know, like trying my hard

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Speaker 8: is to make this, you know, work out.

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Speaker 5: It's a hotspot for co than in Austin right now,

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Speaker 5: and so this is happening.

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Speaker 7: What should I do?

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Speaker 1: And what do I tell my team?

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Speaker 7: And what do I do?

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Speaker 2: You tell your team? Exactly what I'm telling you. I mean,

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Speaker 2: I don't know what else to tell you.

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Speaker 5: There's a reason why we couldn't go when I'm Friday,

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Speaker 5: because it was thirteen days not fourteen days and then

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Speaker 5: we had a whole conversation and they offered to get

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Speaker 5: you in as quickly as possible. They all scrambled to

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Speaker 5: change their schedule, which they did for today. And now

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Speaker 5: they've had a little outbreak of COVID amongst some of

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Speaker 5: their team members.

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Speaker 2: Over the weekend, and.

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Speaker 5: Their corporate protocol, every corporate protocol requires for them to

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Speaker 5: sanitize those office areas where people have COVID and not

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Speaker 5: allow people to protect employees, to protect visitors for all

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Speaker 5: those things that everyone's talking about every day.

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Speaker 1: Well, and that's why all companies are doing zoom. They

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Speaker 1: really are.

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Speaker 2: They are Actually they aren't all doing zoom. I go

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Speaker 2: into meetings every week. I actually have non zoom thing.

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Speaker 5: It was outdoor on the owner's property yesterday and that

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Speaker 5: fled yesterday for three hours. So everyone isn't doing zoom.

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Speaker 5: They want to meet you in person for this particular thing.

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Speaker 5: This is not a normal meaning like you have going

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Speaker 5: forward once you signed in the agreement with them, and

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Speaker 5: they want to.

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Speaker 2: Bet you a person for this.

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Speaker 1: Wow, David's on a roll. So I bring up that

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Speaker 1: SOHO house IPO. What are all the details with that?

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Speaker 2: There are there no details. I was just finalized.

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Speaker 5: I was hearing the final prices being sold at twenty

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Speaker 5: six in the quarter next Monday.

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Speaker 1: Wow, I saw that it went down to nine or something.

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Speaker 1: So David tricked us into believing he used our thirty

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Speaker 1: five thousand dollars to buy shares and Soho House for

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Speaker 1: a dollar a share. I checked that day and they

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Speaker 1: were trading at nine dollars a share. But David is

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Speaker 1: telling me they're trading at twenty six dollars a share,

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Speaker 1: which is obviously a lie on top of a lie

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Speaker 1: on top of another lie. And this is how he

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Speaker 1: masterfully explains the stock price disparity after I pointed out

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Speaker 1: to him he uses his good friend, billionaire Ron Berkel.

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Speaker 5: He has a hedge fund in London buying my home

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Speaker 5: block of shares of twenty.

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Speaker 2: Six in the quarter next meeting.

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Speaker 1: Ron does, Yes, it's.

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Speaker 2: All been free ranged. That's why this deal was so certain.

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Speaker 2: That's why you know, knowing your circumstance, I knew that

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Speaker 2: this was going to be a good. Thanks.

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Speaker 5: We're selling you the twenty six in a quarter next Monday,

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Speaker 5: and then ten days later you'll have a wire transfer

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Speaker 5: check if.

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Speaker 1: That were actually true, A check for nearly a million

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Speaker 1: dollars would be hitting my bank account in ten days,

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Speaker 1: which would be really awesome because right now I'm flat

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Speaker 1: broke after giving that fucker all the money I had,

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Speaker 1: And if I didn't know what I know now about

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Speaker 1: his past scams, he really sounds like he actually cares

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Speaker 1: about me.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you need money, just tell me when you come back,

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Speaker 2: I'll give you money. I don't care.

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Speaker 6: It's not Ron.

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Speaker 5: Ryan doesn't have to know. No one has to know.

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Speaker 5: I don't talk about those things. You'll like my sister.

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Speaker 5: If you need something, just tell me you need something.

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Speaker 5: You're gonna have money in the next twenty days. That's

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Speaker 5: that's sign that that's sealed and delivered. The twenty six

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Speaker 5: in the corner, your shares are being sold for. All

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Speaker 5: of our shares are being sold for twenty six in

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Speaker 5: the quarter next.

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Speaker 2: Monday, liquidated at market. So that's all taking care of him.

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Speaker 2: Ten business days after. You'll have your mindy.

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Speaker 1: I mean you know that, I obviously appreciate that opportunity.

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Speaker 5: And I've always been your corner. I love you. Set

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Speaker 5: up sand O Ryan, and please don't worry about money,

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Speaker 5: you know, whatever, whatever, whatever you need, so that money

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Speaker 5: comes and you just tell me, I'll hand it to you, okay, Las,

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Speaker 5: I love you man.

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Speaker 2: You know I'm always here for you, no matter how

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Speaker 2: busy I am. I'm always here for you. You you

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Speaker 2: were in my.

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Speaker 5: Corner when I was very lonely and when I needed friends,

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Speaker 5: and that goes a long way with me. And so

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Speaker 5: we just have to keep our heads straight. And I've

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Speaker 5: learned this with these kinds of people. You have to

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Speaker 5: be low key. No matter what stress we're feeling. We

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Speaker 5: have to put out in our pocket and walk in

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Speaker 5: with a confident face. And no matter how many delays

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Speaker 5: and disappointments, whether they're deserved or they're not, I'm just

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Speaker 5: chilled because it's that poker face you have to show

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Speaker 5: to people all the time. And I love you and

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Speaker 5: all learn experience, but I will never let you down.

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Speaker 5: I will never lead you astray, and I'll always been

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Speaker 5: here learner to help you whatever you need.

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Speaker 2: Just tell me what you need.

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Speaker 1: Listening to David Bloom tell me he loves me and

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Speaker 1: that he'll always be in my corner makes me sick

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Speaker 1: to my stomach. The good news is this long rambling

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Speaker 1: phone call.

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Speaker 2: I'll call you your backroom okay, okay, sounds good.

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Speaker 1: Well, is exactly what we need to give police to

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Speaker 1: prove David scammed us. He talked about all his contents,

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Speaker 1: the Whole Foods meeting, billionaire Ron Berkel, and that SOHO

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Speaker 1: house IPO listening to.

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Speaker 3: Him psychopath saying yeah stuff. I mean, basically he's just

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Speaker 3: confirmed everything he's done on that call.

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Speaker 2: Like that we've recorded.

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Speaker 3: From an evidence point of view, he.

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Speaker 1: Just thinks I'm just a freaking gummy.

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Speaker 3: Now the table's a turn like he doesn't know that

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Speaker 3: you know, and now you're playing in so that he

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Speaker 3: can get his just rewards.

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Speaker 1: David is insistent that we all stay in Austin, especially me,

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Speaker 1: until this bogus Whole Foods meeting actually happens, which of

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Speaker 1: course it never will. So I tell David, after today

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Speaker 1: I cannot stay. Should I ask for Rebecca and Erin

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Speaker 1: to stay?

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Speaker 7: Should I have them go in?

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Speaker 2: Like? What do I do?

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Speaker 5: This is about meeting you. This is not about meeting

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Speaker 5: Rebecca and Eron they are a pizza girl.

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Speaker 1: After today, I cannot stay. Should I ask for Rebecca

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Speaker 1: and Erin to stay?

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Speaker 7: Should I have them go in?

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Speaker 5: Like?

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Speaker 2: What do I do? This is about meeting you. This

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Speaker 2: is not about meeting Rebecca Aron. They are a pizza girl.

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Speaker 5: He wants to meet you, and if team wants to

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Speaker 5: meet with you after this meeting, probably the rest of

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Speaker 5: your life be on zoom that there might be a

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Speaker 5: rare say.

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Speaker 2: Wants you're in a combat a person for the first day.

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Speaker 5: It's about personality and that's not something you do on

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Speaker 5: so that's something you.

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Speaker 2: Do in person.

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Speaker 1: He sounds pretty convining, right, And in order to keep

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Speaker 1: it going on our end so we can keep gathering

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Speaker 1: evidence for police, we come up with a way that

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Speaker 1: gets us back home to Los Angeles while letting David

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Speaker 1: think it's my fault that this fictitious Whole Foods meeting

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Speaker 1: didn't happen.

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Speaker 3: We devised this thing with Caroline, said David, we can't

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Speaker 3: wait for this meeting now. My daughter needs me back,

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Speaker 3: So we're going to apply back to we'll reschedule this

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Speaker 3: Whole Foods mate.

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Speaker 1: And we knew that he was going to blame it,

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Speaker 1: just like he blamed things on COVID. He's going to

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Speaker 1: blame it on the fact that I needed to go

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Speaker 1: home to my daughter. Well, you have to go home

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Speaker 1: to your daughter. So we were giving almost him and out.

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Speaker 2: We had to give him and out so that we

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Speaker 2: could fly home.

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Speaker 1: You know what I mean, like and not give up

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Speaker 1: that we knew anything. But I had no idea that

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Speaker 1: while I was in Austin for five days chasing a

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Speaker 1: wild goose named a c. Gallow, David was trash talking

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Speaker 1: me to all my neighbors at the Villa Carlatta. Because

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Speaker 1: by the time I got back, David had already told

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Speaker 1: everybody that I was unstable, that I was an alcoholic

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Speaker 1: and a drug addict. Yeah, and that was his new

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Speaker 1: story because he knew I was coming back with a vengeance.

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Speaker 1: He knew we were coming back not liking no, But

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Speaker 1: I'm saying he was preparing for it. Yes, absolutely, But

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Speaker 1: we hit it. And when I get back to the

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Speaker 1: Villa Carlata, I have one hell of a poker face on.

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Speaker 1: I can't tell anyone I know David's true identity because

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Speaker 1: I need to keep gathering evidence. But some of my

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Speaker 1: neighbors actually believe David's lies about me, that I'm this

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Speaker 1: mentally unstable drug addict, and they avoid me. They have

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Speaker 1: no idea that this dude is a sophisticated con artist

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Speaker 1: with four decades of swindling hundreds of innocent victims under

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Speaker 1: his belt.

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Speaker 4: David Bloom is better known as the Wall Street whiz kid.

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Speaker 4: He is generally considered a high level grifter.

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Speaker 1: That's James Qely, a crime reporter for the La Times.

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Speaker 1: He actually spent months in investigating the many scams of

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Speaker 1: David Bloom for a story he did in September of

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty two.

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Speaker 4: So the difference between David Bloom and my regular beat

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Speaker 4: is just the nature of the crime. I think, by

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Speaker 4: and large, over the course of my career, I've normally

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Speaker 4: covered filent crime that is normally just what resonates. And

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Speaker 4: you know the old adage newspapers is true, right, if

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Speaker 4: it leads, it leads. Bloom is more of a mental

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Speaker 4: gymnastics criminal fraudster, taking money from people in positions of power.

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Speaker 4: Quite honestly, I tend to write a lot about downtrodden victims,

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Speaker 4: people who don't get a voice otherwise, people from communities

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Speaker 4: that are marginalized, under privileged. Bloom strikes at people largely

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Speaker 4: in his same tax bracket, or the tax bracket he

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Speaker 4: once occupied. He goes after people with money, and he

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Speaker 4: goes after people with privilege. And you know, it kind

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Speaker 4: of shows that wealth doesn't insulate you from that.

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Speaker 1: And it also explains why he moved into the Villa Carlotta,

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Speaker 1: a super high end building with dozens and dozens of wealthy,

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Speaker 1: ambitious residents who were ripe for the scamming. David Bloom

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Speaker 1: convinced us all that he came from money and that

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Speaker 1: he built his business empire with shrewd investments using powerful connections.

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Speaker 1: But where does this grifter actually come from?

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Speaker 4: David Bloom's origin story traces all the way back to

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Speaker 4: the wealthiest parts of Manhattan. I guess would have been

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Speaker 4: the eighties would have been his real coming of age.

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Speaker 4: He grows up really wealthy Upper east Side Manhattan, vacations

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Speaker 4: in the Hamptons, and he starts this investment group that

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Speaker 4: is basically the beginnings of what would become his grift

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Speaker 4: of choice. Right that he has inside information or he

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Speaker 4: can get access to these groups that are about to

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Speaker 4: go public or these stocks that you know you can

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Speaker 4: get into a low value you gonna triple, You're going

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Speaker 4: to quintuple your investment. Said he had connections to the

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Speaker 4: Rockefeller said, he had connections to Bill Cosby, And this

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Speaker 4: is back at the time when that would be a

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Speaker 4: connection you would want to have, you know, he's still

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Speaker 4: just the jello guy.

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Speaker 1: Then this sickening irony of one predator using another to

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Speaker 1: further their cause is not lost on me. David Bloom

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Speaker 1: makes a literal fortune early on in his career of conning.

303
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Speaker 4: He in the eighties took over one hundred people for

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Speaker 4: over fifteen million dollars. One of the victims was his

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Speaker 4: own grandmother.

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Speaker 1: David actually starts a private investment club while he's getting

307
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Speaker 1: his art history degree at Duke University in the early

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighties. He quickly develops a reputation for making everyone

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Speaker 1: a lot of money and eventually opens his own company,

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Speaker 1: the Greater Sutton Investor Group, and in a few years

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Speaker 1: he's taken in millions and millions of dollars from hundreds

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Speaker 1: of investors, including his close friends and family. In the meantime,

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Speaker 1: he's spending millions of dollars on high end homes, luxury cars,

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Speaker 1: and priceless paintings. He even buys a fifty two carrot

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Speaker 1: diamond necklace for one of his girlfriends. The crazy thing

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Speaker 1: is all of David Bloom's clients are happy for years

317
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Speaker 1: because David is mailing them entirely fictitious statements every month,

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Speaker 1: giving them all the false impression that they're making a

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Speaker 1: lot of money with him.

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Speaker 7: David Bloom was an infant when I first saw him

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Speaker 7: in East Hampton. He was a quiet little fellow, and

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Speaker 7: he was quite small.

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Speaker 1: That's a woman we're calling Elizabeth because she wants to

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Speaker 1: remain anonymous. Both she and her husband were actually good

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Speaker 1: friends with David Bloom's parents and watched him grow up

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Speaker 1: to become, by all accounts, a hugely successful young man.

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Speaker 1: People even start calling him the Wall Street whiz kid

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Speaker 1: because he's still in his early twenties at this point.

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Speaker 7: My husband and I would go out to dinner with

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Speaker 7: the Blooms, and always a new restaurant, a fine restaurant,

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Speaker 7: places where they were able to tell us of the

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Speaker 7: exploits and fabulous things that their son David was. Still

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Speaker 7: All the conversation was about David. We could not speak

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Speaker 7: of anything else but listen to stories of David and

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Speaker 7: how much money he was making for people, and how

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Speaker 7: many clients he had. And he lived in this elegant

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Speaker 7: apartment on seventy second Street. I think it was he

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Speaker 7: had offices at the six sixth building on fifty seventh

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Speaker 7: to fifty ninth Street, there was a British secretary and

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Speaker 7: answered his office phone. David had a Bentley and a chauffeur.

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Speaker 7: David was a genius. David was admired by all. In fact,

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Speaker 7: when we would go to these restaurants, once we were

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Speaker 7: identified as David Bloomed associates, they treated us like we

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Speaker 7: were celebrities. They could not do enough cross One time

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Speaker 7: when I was with him for dinner and he had

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Speaker 7: to take a phone call. After he got off the phone,

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Speaker 7: he came back he said, oh, it was a self

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Speaker 7: number nine. He wants to invest with me. He's so interested,

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Speaker 7: And we became impressed with it because we were very

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Speaker 7: interested in the fact that he was making so much

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Speaker 7: money for so many people, including his grandmother, and so

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Speaker 7: at a certain point we cracked and we decided we

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Speaker 7: wanted in on that.

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Speaker 1: So Elizabeth and her husband give David one hundred and

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Speaker 1: fifty thousand dollars to invest for them back in nineteen

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Speaker 1: eighty seven, which is the equivalent of nearly four hundred

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars in today's money. But months later they start

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Speaker 1: hearing troubling rumors about the Wall Street whiz kid.

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Speaker 7: I think the fives were already after him by then.

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Speaker 1: Yep. As it turns out, David Bloom was actually running

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Speaker 1: an elaborate Ponzi scheme. There were no investments. When one

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Speaker 1: client wanted their money back, he used another clients to

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Speaker 1: cover it. Sound familiar. Bloom was pulling a Bernie made

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Speaker 1: Off before most people even knew who Bernie Madeoff was,

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Speaker 1: and eventually everything blew up in his face too.

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Speaker 4: When it was all said and done, he was convicted

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Speaker 4: of various financial crimes and barred from operating as a

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Speaker 4: any sort of financial advisor or otherwise anything governed by

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Speaker 4: the Security Exchange Commission for I believe it was a

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Speaker 4: lifetime ban.

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Speaker 1: The courts sell all of David's assets and are able

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Speaker 1: to return some of his victim's money, including Elizabeth and

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Speaker 1: her husband.

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Speaker 7: We invested one hundred and fifty and got seventy five

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Speaker 7: thousand back, so we were lucky.

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Speaker 1: And in nineteen eighty eight, David Bloom is sentenced to

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Speaker 1: eight years in federal prison, but he gets out early.

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Speaker 4: He'd spent a couple of years in prison, resurfaces in Manhattan,

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Speaker 4: kind of doing the same thing, but on a lower level.

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Speaker 4: Now he's targeting bartender. Now he's targeting aspiring actor. He's

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Speaker 4: going by the name David Daily. Now he's purposely not

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Speaker 4: calling himself Bloom.

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Speaker 1: David Daily aka David Bloom is in his mid thirties

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Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety eight when he becomes a regular at

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Speaker 1: a restaurant in Manhattan's financial district called Houston's. He always

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00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:38,960
Speaker 1: wears expensive suits with French cuffs, and he really impresses

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Speaker 1: all the waiters and bartenders there with his apparent wealth.

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Speaker 1: He tells them all he drives a Bentley. He also

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Speaker 1: says he's an investment banker and then gives them all

390
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Speaker 1: stock tips that actually end up being spot on. They're impressed.

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Speaker 1: He then offers to help one bartender who's an aspiring actor,

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Speaker 1: land a big time agent, and tells another impull some

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Speaker 1: strings to get him an investment banking job at one

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Speaker 1: of the big firms next door. But before any of

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Speaker 1: that happens, David offers another couple of bartenders the opportunity

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Speaker 1: of a lifetime. He says he's got some quote gift

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Speaker 1: IPOs that'll be worth twenty to thirty times whatever they

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Speaker 1: put in. According to one of those bartenders quote.

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Speaker 5: David said his clients weren't interested in them because they

400
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Speaker 5: were only a couple of thousand shares and not millions

401
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Speaker 5: of shares.

402
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Speaker 1: So David takes tens of thousands of dollars in cash

403
00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:42,320
Speaker 1: from two of those bartenders at Houston's. One of them

404
00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:45,400
Speaker 1: is so confident he's about to become a millionaire he

405
00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:49,800
Speaker 1: actually quits his bartending job, but surprise, surprise, it was

406
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Speaker 1: all a scam. They never see their money ever again. Eventually,

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00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:59,359
Speaker 1: the other bartender manages to trick David Bloom into meeting

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Speaker 1: for a drink discuss things, and unbeknownst to David, it

409
00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:09,000
Speaker 1: was all a ruse, because suddenly three undercover officers seemingly

410
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Speaker 1: show about of nowhere and escort David Bloom outside for questioning.

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Speaker 4: He's accusing defrauding a couple of people upwards of fifty thousand,

412
00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:19,760
Speaker 4: but certainly not the fifteen million dollars swindle from the.

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Speaker 1: First time, and David is charged and then convicted of

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00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:27,680
Speaker 1: grand larceny and scheming to defraud. He spends five more

415
00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:32,200
Speaker 1: years behind bars and gets out in two thousand and six. Eventually,

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Speaker 1: he heads west to Los Angeles, and in the decade

417
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Speaker 1: or so before I ever meet him at the Villa Carlata,

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Speaker 1: he scams dozens and dozens of hardworking, unsuspecting people. Reporter

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00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:46,320
Speaker 1: James Coeley writes about some of them in that La

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Speaker 1: Times article.

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Speaker 4: Bloom generally targeted people with money. Many of the victims

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Speaker 4: wanted to remain anonymous due to their positions.

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Speaker 1: In Venice, an eclectic, bohemian neighborhood in Los Angeles, David

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00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:04,120
Speaker 1: befriends a pair of liquor store owners and impresses them

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Speaker 1: with his investment savvy. One of them told the La

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Speaker 1: Times quote.

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Speaker 9: He never asked for a lot of money. There wasn't

428
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Speaker 9: a red flag. It wasn't like you should give me

429
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Speaker 9: twenty five thousand dollars.

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Speaker 4: He says, if you.

431
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Speaker 9: Want to invest a hundred, if you want to invest

432
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Speaker 9: a thousand, whatever amount you want.

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Speaker 1: And that's exactly what he told me. Eventually, David scams

434
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Speaker 1: more than one hundred thousand dollars out of those liquor

435
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Speaker 1: store owners by tricking them into believing he was getting

436
00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:35,760
Speaker 1: them in on the ground floor of Snapchat's IPO.

437
00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:39,639
Speaker 4: This is around the time when Snapchat was more or

438
00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:41,760
Speaker 4: less taking over the neighborhood. This is when they I

439
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:43,520
Speaker 4: think we're just going public with the IBO, right like

440
00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:46,359
Speaker 4: twenty seventeen ish, and he said he had arrowing access

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Speaker 4: to that.

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00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:52,040
Speaker 1: Fifteen miles away at the Frolic Room, a storied Hollywood

443
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:54,800
Speaker 1: bar featured in a bunch of movies and TV shows,

444
00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:59,040
Speaker 1: David scams tens of thousands of dollars from bar patrons

445
00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:03,800
Speaker 1: and employees claiming to have early access to Super Bowl tickets.

446
00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:07,840
Speaker 4: Bloom is really a very talented manipulator, and he's been

447
00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:10,480
Speaker 4: convicted of doing this twice. And he's got so many

448
00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:12,320
Speaker 4: other people and so many positions of power, from so

449
00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:14,320
Speaker 4: much wealth to you know, kind of fall under his spell.

450
00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:16,480
Speaker 4: For lack of a better term. People are still embarrassed

451
00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:18,160
Speaker 4: because at the end of the day when they think

452
00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:20,240
Speaker 4: back on it now, to some extent, there's a weird

453
00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:23,679
Speaker 4: simplicity to his scam. It's just like, I have this

454
00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:27,040
Speaker 4: thing that you don't understand, but it can make you rich.

455
00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:31,120
Speaker 4: The commonalities between the griffs from the people I talk

456
00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:33,480
Speaker 4: to it He'll name drop a lot. He will definitely

457
00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:37,199
Speaker 4: have a tendency of just snowing you and overwhelming you

458
00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:39,760
Speaker 4: with I know this broker, I know this guy, I

459
00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:42,040
Speaker 4: know this hedge fund CFO. You know whatever it is

460
00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:45,040
Speaker 4: just throwing around. You know, high finance is generally not

461
00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:46,920
Speaker 4: a world that I think the average human knows a

462
00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:49,199
Speaker 4: lot about. I certainly don't, and what little I do

463
00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:52,479
Speaker 4: I gained from reporting this story. So it's probably very

464
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:56,000
Speaker 4: easy to say I know the CFO of instacart, and

465
00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:57,359
Speaker 4: this is why I can get it. You might be

466
00:24:57,359 --> 00:24:59,520
Speaker 4: sitting there going, don't I barely know what a CFO is,

467
00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:01,760
Speaker 4: and I don't know what instacart is. But you know,

468
00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:03,680
Speaker 4: everybody wants to be on the ground floor or something.

469
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:05,959
Speaker 4: Everybody wants to get the new gadget. Everybody wants to

470
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:08,639
Speaker 4: get the leg up that somebody else doesn't. You know,

471
00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:10,959
Speaker 4: you want to be the guy who invested in Apple

472
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:13,760
Speaker 4: before the iPhone. So if you see a chance like that,

473
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:16,639
Speaker 4: it's a very appealing opportunity, and you're almost like in

474
00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:19,679
Speaker 4: your nature, don't want to ask too many questions. He

475
00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:21,760
Speaker 4: has a habit of using something that's called me syndrome

476
00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:23,960
Speaker 4: with victim who's an artist. He suddenly liked their painting.

477
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:25,679
Speaker 4: He was a victim who's a film buff. He suddenly

478
00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,760
Speaker 4: was talking about you know European cinema.

479
00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:30,160
Speaker 1: In the bar, a.

480
00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:32,159
Speaker 4: Lot of the people were sports fans, you know, the

481
00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:35,920
Speaker 4: frolic room, he allegedly claimed he had tickets to the

482
00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:37,719
Speaker 4: super Bowl because it was in Los Angeles the year

483
00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:39,199
Speaker 4: that he was doing a lot of these things, and

484
00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:40,800
Speaker 4: he played on their football interest. There was a guy

485
00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:42,840
Speaker 4: in there who was an inspiring screenwriter, so he claimed

486
00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:46,640
Speaker 4: he knew the CEO of Netflix. He takes what you

487
00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:49,440
Speaker 4: love and uses it against you, and of course it's

488
00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:52,040
Speaker 4: the stop trading like that's ultimately is always the gambit,

489
00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:55,840
Speaker 4: it seems across all three criminal investigations, is I have

490
00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:59,439
Speaker 4: access to this thing, and then they bite and he

491
00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:01,280
Speaker 4: reels them and then he disappears.

492
00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:05,920
Speaker 1: At this point, there are possibly hundreds of David Bloom

493
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:09,520
Speaker 1: victims in and around Los Angeles, but a lot of

494
00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:12,920
Speaker 1: them will never come forward out of shame and embarrassment.

495
00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:16,840
Speaker 1: While dozens of his victims have in fact gone to

496
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:21,280
Speaker 1: police already, as of today March thirtieth, twenty twenty three,

497
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:26,119
Speaker 1: David Bloom is still a free man targeting potential marks

498
00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:30,159
Speaker 1: right now at bars, restaurants, and coffee shops.

499
00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,119
Speaker 4: Bloom was the best friend you never asked for. Was

500
00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:36,439
Speaker 4: kind of the phrasing I would get from people he

501
00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:39,399
Speaker 4: has a habit, or he has an ability rather to

502
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:43,520
Speaker 4: sit down and become the most indispensable person in your life.

503
00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,919
Speaker 4: He was patient, he was deliberate. A lot of his

504
00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:49,600
Speaker 4: victims have told me he never discussed specifics, he never

505
00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:51,959
Speaker 4: discussed large quantities. He really made them feel like he

506
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:55,280
Speaker 4: was doing them a favor, and that probably lulled them

507
00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:56,200
Speaker 4: into giving more.

508
00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:00,159
Speaker 1: And while I've personally lost a lot of money to

509
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,359
Speaker 1: David Bloom and fell victim to his endless lies and

510
00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:08,679
Speaker 1: crazy manipulations, what happened to me pales in comparison to

511
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:10,680
Speaker 1: what happened to another woman he scammed.

512
00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:14,760
Speaker 6: He made me feel special, you know, as he started

513
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:20,920
Speaker 6: his campaign, I would call it that he waged against

514
00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:23,160
Speaker 6: me the time we were married.

515
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:28,399
Speaker 1: Being married to connartist David Bloom is a thousand times

516
00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:32,280
Speaker 1: worse than you ever ever could imagine.

517
00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:35,960
Speaker 6: It's kind of like a cult. That's what I'd like

518
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:39,920
Speaker 6: in it too. He brainwashed me. He made me feel

519
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:41,880
Speaker 6: like the world hated me, and he was the only

520
00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:45,480
Speaker 6: person that understood me and loved me, and I could

521
00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:48,560
Speaker 6: not live without him.

522
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:51,359
Speaker 1: Next time, on Once upon a con.

523
00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:55,359
Speaker 6: We exchanged information and he told me he was going

524
00:27:55,400 --> 00:28:00,560
Speaker 6: to the Hampton for the weekend stay at Tommy Hillfriggers. Wow,

525
00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:01,600
Speaker 6: how cool is that?

526
00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:02,119
Speaker 2: You know?

527
00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:06,320
Speaker 1: But David Bloom's ex wife has no idea she's about

528
00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:10,160
Speaker 1: to enter the twilight zone and she might not live

529
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:11,400
Speaker 1: to tell about it either.

530
00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:15,199
Speaker 6: That I was barely functioning and I just had this

531
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:19,359
Speaker 6: realization that he will not stop until he kills me.

532
00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:26,440
Speaker 1: This podcast is dedicated to the memory of my amazing mother,

533
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:30,480
Speaker 1: Bonnie Major, who would be super proud of me standing

534
00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:34,160
Speaker 1: up for myself. Once Upon a Con is a production

535
00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:38,200
Speaker 1: of AYR Media and thirty two Flavors, hosted by Me

536
00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:43,760
Speaker 1: Caroline de Morey. Executive producers Eliza Rosen for AYR Media,

537
00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:48,160
Speaker 1: Alex Baskin for thirty two Flavors, and Jonathan Walton for

538
00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:54,600
Speaker 1: Jonathan Walton Productions. Written by Jonathan Walton, Producer Caroline de Morey,

539
00:28:55,040 --> 00:29:01,719
Speaker 1: Senior associate producer Joe Pushesnik, Coordinator Melena Croyer. Sound designed

540
00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:06,200
Speaker 1: by Tim Mulhern, Edited and mixed by Tim Mulhern, Supervising

541
00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:11,960
Speaker 1: editor Victoria Chang. Mastered by Victoria Chang. Engineering by Justin

542
00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:17,840
Speaker 1: Longerbeam Legal counsel for AYR Media Gianni Douglas, voice acting

543
00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:23,360
Speaker 1: by Jorge Farragut and David Titelbaum. Our theme song, Freshly Served,

544
00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:27,120
Speaker 1: was written and performed by the incredibly talented Mattie Noise

545
00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:29,200
Speaker 1: and is available on her SoundCloud