Speaker 1: Lizzie is one of the best sociopathic crooks I've ever
Speaker 1: dealt with. In fact, I would venture to say that
Speaker 1: her husband, Jesse Moulder, and the kids were more of
Speaker 1: a prop. Every time she would defraud people, they were
Speaker 1: part of that package. Lizzie Mulder is accused of scamming
Speaker 1: nearly a dozen people in and around Orange County, including
Speaker 1: a cowboy named Joe Love. He was an ex boyfriend
Speaker 1: prior to Jesse Moulder. I think Lizzie used that relationship
Speaker 1: to con Joe Love. Oh so, Joe Love is a victim.
Speaker 1: He's a victim, but according to Lizzie, she's actually the victim.
Speaker 1: And I can Detective Jordan Miracian can prove Lizzie's lying,
Speaker 1: and he has a ton of evidence showing she's a
Speaker 1: bona fide con artist. But the Orange County d A
Speaker 1: isn't convinced. He's got a case and that hective is
Speaker 1: told to just let it go and let Lizzie get away.
Speaker 1: You know, I was getting pressure to basically close the case.
Speaker 1: They wanted you to get rid of it and not
Speaker 1: do any just close it. The district attorney told me,
Speaker 1: I don't think this is a winnable case. It doesn't
Speaker 1: really have any jury appeal, but instead Detective Morakian strategically
Speaker 1: leap frogs over city and county authorities and gets the
Speaker 1: federal government involved, people like Scott Tenley with the Department
Speaker 1: of Justice. Almost anything you do, you swipe an a
Speaker 1: t M card, you send a wire, it's going to
Speaker 1: go through the Federal Reserve, it's going to go through
Speaker 1: Bank of America and all over the place, multiple states,
Speaker 1: and these days it's almost impossible not to be committing
Speaker 1: a federal crime when you're doing fraud. But when Lizzie
Speaker 1: Mulder finds out she's the target of an FBI investigation,
Speaker 1: she panics, and what she does next surprises everyone. You know,
Speaker 1: it's a bold move, But I didn't bat an eye lection. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I'm Jonathan Walton and this is Queen of the con
Speaker 1: The O C Savior Episode eight. The good that I did.
Speaker 1: What's great about being an assistant United States Attorney and
Speaker 1: a federal prosecutor is we get to choose the cases
Speaker 1: we do. And so it's it's law enforcement agents bringing
Speaker 1: cases to us and saying, here's what we have. Do
Speaker 1: you want to make a federal case out of this
Speaker 1: in July. Scott Tenley is a federal prosecutor with the
Speaker 1: Department of Justice. When we get involved in a case,
Speaker 1: it shakes people up. It shakes up defendants because this
Speaker 1: is a federal case now, and that that's something that's
Speaker 1: a very powerful part of the job working for the
Speaker 1: federal government. You scare the bad guys exactly, and you
Speaker 1: wouldn't take a case if there wasn't a good case there. Well, certainly,
Speaker 1: we're not going to take a case that we wouldn't
Speaker 1: be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. And somewhere
Speaker 1: along the way, Lizzie Maulder figures this out and starts
Speaker 1: waving a white flag. An attorney called and said, I'm
Speaker 1: going to represent Lizzie Moulder, and we walked through the
Speaker 1: evidence and then pretty quickly Lizzie wanted to resolve the
Speaker 1: case with a plea agreement. Yep, you heard right. In
Speaker 1: March of more than a year after Detective Jordan Morakian
Speaker 1: first starts investigating her, Lizzie Malder wants to plead guilty
Speaker 1: for scamming nearly a dozen people out of more than
Speaker 1: one and a half million dollars. Because her guilty plea
Speaker 1: will spare the government the uncertainty and the expense of
Speaker 1: a trial. Prosecutors agreed to reduce the charges they were
Speaker 1: initially planning to bring against her. And so in that
Speaker 1: instance where we haven't had to file an indictment with
Speaker 1: all the charges, we effectively negotiate and pick what charges
Speaker 1: will be filed. So we brought wire fraud charge, which
Speaker 1: is any type of fraud committed against the victim where
Speaker 1: you take their property through fraud using the interstate wires.
Speaker 1: And then we also brought a tax related charge because
Speaker 1: she failed to report, as you would expect report her
Speaker 1: stolen money as income on her taxes. And so she
Speaker 1: pled to both of the charges we filed. Even though
Speaker 1: we could have filed twenty more counts, thirty more counts,
Speaker 1: it was just the two that we picked. So those
Speaker 1: are the two that were actually filed. The other ones
Speaker 1: were just like waiting in the wings in case it
Speaker 1: was going to go to trial. If she had not
Speaker 1: agreed to plead guilty without an indictment and she said, no,
Speaker 1: you got to charge me, we would have charged her
Speaker 1: with multiple counts of wire fraud, multiple counts of filing
Speaker 1: false tax returns. We would probably have considered charging her
Speaker 1: with something called aggravated identity theft because she was impersonating
Speaker 1: people that she knew were obviously real people, and so
Speaker 1: by coming in and resolving the case early, she helped
Speaker 1: kind of control her exposure. But things are far from over.
Speaker 1: While there isn't going to be a trial per se,
Speaker 1: there is going to be a sentencing hearing in a
Speaker 1: federal courtroom where a judge will decide how much prison time,
Speaker 1: if any at all, Lizzie Mulder gets, for the crimes
Speaker 1: she committed. I'd like to hear from you, counsel, that
Speaker 1: I'd like to hear from the victims, and then I've
Speaker 1: got a couple of questions for you, miss Mulder. It's Monday, October.
Speaker 1: Courtroom ten A of the Ronald Reagan Federal Building in
Speaker 1: downtown Santa Anna is packed at nine in the morning.
Speaker 1: A visibly distraught Lizzie Mulder is there, hands folded and
Speaker 1: looking down with her husband Jesse, as are several of
Speaker 1: her victims, some of whom we've never heard from until today. Lawyers,
Speaker 1: police officers, FBI agents, and members of the press are
Speaker 1: all and in attendance. The recording of this proceeding has
Speaker 1: never seen the light of day until now. The Honorable
Speaker 1: David O. Carter is presiding. Why don't we hear from
Speaker 1: the victims. It's possible Lizzie Mulder could get off today
Speaker 1: with no prison time at all, just probation. And that's
Speaker 1: actually Jay and Marla Avery's worst fear. There's a moment
Speaker 1: when we were sitting in court, it's like this Ladys
Speaker 1: can walk away. She wouldn't even look at us though
Speaker 1: her face so she was turned away. She had a
Speaker 1: hair in front of her face, and she didn't make
Speaker 1: a move, No one with the no compassion, no I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: When I would look over, she had her head on
Speaker 1: the table, looking down at the ground. Often rarely did
Speaker 1: she look at any of the victims that I could recall.
Speaker 1: And they said that too, and that that annoyed them,
Speaker 1: that she wouldn't even acknowledge to them that she wronged them.
Speaker 1: He owns the lab Law Group now, but back in
Speaker 1: Paul LeBlanc is another federal prosecutor working on the Lizzie
Speaker 1: Maulder case. He has a real law professor air about him,
Speaker 1: extremely knowledgeable with decades of experience. He's an Iraq war
Speaker 1: veteran and even served as a judge in the U. S. Navy.
Speaker 1: This is probably the most intense sentencing that I have
Speaker 1: ever experienced. And I have prosecuted when I was in
Speaker 1: the military, some really traumatic, horrendous sexual assaults where victims
Speaker 1: come in and tell their stories, and that's very compelling,
Speaker 1: and it's a different type of compelling, but this one.
Speaker 1: The tension in the courtroom when this was going down
Speaker 1: was palpable because the victims are noticeably concerned that Lizzie
Speaker 1: Mulder is going to get away. She doesn't have a
Speaker 1: prior criminal record, her husband is a firefighter, she's the
Speaker 1: mother of two little girls who need her. She also
Speaker 1: pled guilty, sparing the court a costly trial. Judges tend
Speaker 1: to look favorably on that kind of stuff and go
Speaker 1: easier on the perpetrators standing before them. Federal prosecutor Scott
Speaker 1: Tenley says sentencing is always a craft shoot. The judge
Speaker 1: could decide to simply give her probation. He could have
Speaker 1: done anything, because he's a judge. Do you see probation happen?
Speaker 1: It certainly is much much less likely to happen when
Speaker 1: the victims are in the courtroom, So for fraud sentences,
Speaker 1: it's usually important to the government to bring the victims
Speaker 1: so the court can hear you know firsthand how it
Speaker 1: impacted the victims lives, and it's a lot harder for
Speaker 1: a judge to say probation. The first victim to address
Speaker 1: the court is Jay Avery. It's been two years since
Speaker 1: Lizzie turned his world upside down with her cons His
Speaker 1: wine business is now circling the drain because of what
Speaker 1: she did. He's mad as hell and he wants justice.
Speaker 1: I unnoyingly watched Lizzie s deal hundreds of thousands of
Speaker 1: daughters from me, and the reality of the past few
Speaker 1: years was overwhelming. All the money that she has stolen,
Speaker 1: all the lives and decease, his time has that. I
Speaker 1: still get angry, angry that she's stolen not just from me,
Speaker 1: but my kids. I have three children. The fact that
Speaker 1: she has two daughters of her own is battling what
Speaker 1: she's capable of. She didn't even steal for their sake.
Speaker 1: Plastic surgery is what we were told. That she spent
Speaker 1: them lying on and in a luxury house from Lagoona
Speaker 1: that she rented plastic surgery. He won't be the only
Speaker 1: victim to bring that up. While the judge is moved
Speaker 1: by Jay Avery's statement, he wants to talk to the
Speaker 1: other victims too, to get a clear picture of the
Speaker 1: devastation Lizzie's cons have caused some other folks. Okay, I'll
Speaker 1: come back to you. I don't want thank you. Another
Speaker 1: victim who addresses the court you'll remember from episode four.
Speaker 1: My name is Mike Cochrane. I owned California Print Copy
Speaker 1: for twenty two years and four months. Mike tells the
Speaker 1: court that Lizzie Mulder not only scammed both him and
Speaker 1: his parents out of almost forty dollars, but the years
Speaker 1: she pretended to be paying his taxes while actually funneling
Speaker 1: the money into her own bank account racked up a
Speaker 1: staggering number of back taxes that causes the I R
Speaker 1: S to punish Mike severely. We have thirty seven levies
Speaker 1: on US levies levies for the I R S in
Speaker 1: the state. They sent out four hundred twenty odd letters
Speaker 1: to all my talk clients instructing them that they were
Speaker 1: no longer able to pay me directly and that they
Speaker 1: had to pay the I R S, which killed my
Speaker 1: customer base. Nobody wanted to touch me, ruined our reputation.
Speaker 1: Are you Are you in business today at all? You're not.
Speaker 1: It's just heartbreaking. But when it comes to unpaid taxes,
Speaker 1: the I R. S really doesn't care if you got
Speaker 1: scammed or if you shirked your tax obligations intentionally. They
Speaker 1: punish you the same. That's just the way it is,
Speaker 1: And sadly, other companies Lizzie Scams aren't faring much better.
Speaker 1: Every single day is a struggle to keep our business open.
Speaker 1: Remember Geneva Mendoza and her Newport Beach salon. She steps
Speaker 1: up to the podium and tells the court Lizzie still
Speaker 1: almost three thousand from us, which ultimately devastated our business,
Speaker 1: screwed up our credit, forced us to go into major debt.
Speaker 1: We almost lost our own homes, damaged our relationships with
Speaker 1: our staff, our family and each other. We are facing
Speaker 1: bankruptcy because of her. Our dream to run a nice
Speaker 1: business was secure for ourselves, has come crumbling down. We
Speaker 1: have had to take an additional hundred and nine dollars
Speaker 1: in debt to pay all the taxes and bills. And
Speaker 1: Geneva's business partner, Lauren is there too. She gets up,
Speaker 1: looks the judge square in the eye and speaks publicly
Speaker 1: for the first time about her years long ordeal with
Speaker 1: Lizzie Maulder. I've spent months thinking about how I could
Speaker 1: possibly express the devastating impact this is out of my life,
Speaker 1: but there aren't words that will accurately describe the pain, anxiety,
Speaker 1: and stress that I have felt since her scheme began
Speaker 1: to unfold. Learning of the cunning and devious tactics, the
Speaker 1: betrayal of this woman I believed was my friend has
Speaker 1: been beyond traumatizing, a position I never thought i'd be
Speaker 1: in strategically calculated, manipulated, and crafted by Lizzie Mulder. Lizzie
Speaker 1: and I went to high school together and reconnected at
Speaker 1: a friend's wedding in Italy, which I'm sure she's been
Speaker 1: other victims money on. Lizzie bragged about her education, where
Speaker 1: she did her undergrad and where she did her master's program.
Speaker 1: She told us often about how she passed the c
Speaker 1: p A test on her very first try. But as
Speaker 1: you know, Lizzie didn't graduate from college. She has zero credentials.
Speaker 1: She's a self taught con artist. Over a two year period,
Speaker 1: Lizzie would bring her family into our salon connesced with
Speaker 1: her charm and reaped the benefits of over five thousand
Speaker 1: dollars in bartered services, which Geneva and I would pay
Speaker 1: out a pocket to our stylus. Only a sick individual
Speaker 1: would capitalize on a trusted friendship. Sitting in my chair
Speaker 1: staring at herself in the mirror, all the while knowing
Speaker 1: that she's slowly destroying a business without any regard. She
Speaker 1: spent our money on plastic surgery. How I've seen her scars? Well,
Speaker 1: what kind of plastic surgery? It's called a full body lift?
Speaker 1: What's that? It is where a lot of excess skin
Speaker 1: and fat is removed and breast augmentation several times like
Speaker 1: a fat transfer to make her butt bigger. That she
Speaker 1: bragged about about just more than one plastic surgery, multiple events,
Speaker 1: multiple plastic surgerys. And you were told about these on
Speaker 1: each occasion. Because this is occurring, give me an idea
Speaker 1: one or at least three to four. So she personally
Speaker 1: told you about. She went on extensive trips, owned horses,
Speaker 1: and lived a lavish lifestyle. Lizzie was by our side
Speaker 1: for the beginning of our business president and our first
Speaker 1: few Christmas parties, sat next to me at my bridal shower,
Speaker 1: sat in the aisle at our wedding, gifted us all
Speaker 1: the wine we drink at our wedding. I'm sorry, Jack
Speaker 1: Free and you bought it from that gentleman. Oh, I
Speaker 1: didn't buy it. Lizzie gifted it to us as a
Speaker 1: wedding ift, about ten cases of his wine. Yep, but
Speaker 1: told us it was a gift. But according to Jay Avery,
Speaker 1: she never actually paid for it. She just took it
Speaker 1: from Jack Wines. Lauren continues, she was one of the
Speaker 1: first people I confided in when I became pregnant. I
Speaker 1: actually considered you, Lizzie, one of my closest friends. Any
Speaker 1: time I think of any of those events, I have
Speaker 1: to try and erase you, Lizzie, because it was all alive.
Speaker 1: I can't look at my wedding photos or video now
Speaker 1: because you're all over them. Lizzie, you're a horrible person.
Speaker 1: You have no regard for anyone but yourself, and it
Speaker 1: will be no surprise that you'll try and present yourself
Speaker 1: as wife and mother of the year. But that could
Speaker 1: not be further from the truth. I don't believe she
Speaker 1: has any regret or remorse her behavior is arrogant. It's
Speaker 1: only sorry that she got caught in your honor. Before
Speaker 1: I close, I want you to know Lizzie does not
Speaker 1: believe she will do any jail time for this. I
Speaker 1: know this because she has told people who have then
Speaker 1: told me. Lizzie's belief that she'll get off scott free
Speaker 1: might not be wrong. Non violent offenders walk out of
Speaker 1: court with just probation and no jail time every single day.
Speaker 1: But in a lot of those cases, victims like Geneva
Speaker 1: and Lauren aren't in court explaining to the judge just
Speaker 1: how devastated they are. Both pretty much this next victim,
Speaker 1: who we've never heard from before, is irreparably damaged by
Speaker 1: all the scams Lizzie Maulder pulls on her and her parents.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure quite how to condense ten years of
Speaker 1: lies and deceit and describe the pain and suffering it
Speaker 1: caused me in my family. Friday thousand sixteen, that was
Speaker 1: the day I discovered the person whom I had considered
Speaker 1: my best friend, who was like a sister, had been
Speaker 1: stealing from me. The next few months were so surreal,
Speaker 1: like I was living a bad dream. Now, my family
Speaker 1: and I are attempting to pick up the pieces and
Speaker 1: recover from the losses Elizabeth caused us. Elizabeth Mulder is
Speaker 1: a predator. She chose me as a target from day one.
Speaker 1: I met her in the spring of two thousand six.
Speaker 1: I was her pilodes instructor. She was friendly, likable, a
Speaker 1: great listener, funny, approachable, all the perfect qualities in a
Speaker 1: text butok best friend. She was very candid, never seemed
Speaker 1: to hide anything. If anything, I would say she was
Speaker 1: an oversharer. I believe she knew exactly the kind of
Speaker 1: person she needed to portray in order to be well liked.
Speaker 1: Over the next year, we became close friends, and during
Speaker 1: that time she embedded herself into every aspect of my life.
Speaker 1: She became friends with my family, my parents, my brothers,
Speaker 1: their wives. She attended our family Christmas celebration. We celebrated
Speaker 1: almost every holiday together. It was during this first year
Speaker 1: that she became like a sister and I trusted her.
Speaker 1: She integrated herself into my family for one purpose, only
Speaker 1: to defraud me. In the fall of two thousand seven,
Speaker 1: Elizabeth suggested that I opened my own pilot studio. She
Speaker 1: had claimed to be an accountant and c pa neither
Speaker 1: of which she actually is, and told me that she
Speaker 1: had experienced helping other people establishing small businesses. She was
Speaker 1: my best friend, so our arrangement was her services in
Speaker 1: exchange for pilates. At the time, the exchange made sense
Speaker 1: to me. The process went smoothly, and she seemed highly qualified.
Speaker 1: She made things happen, I obviously didn't realize at the time.
Speaker 1: Before my studio's doors were even opened, she was already
Speaker 1: seizing the opportunity to steal from me. My studio was
Speaker 1: incredibly successful. From day one, I was working seven days
Speaker 1: a week and pouring my heart into my work. Within
Speaker 1: the first year of business, I became pregnant with my
Speaker 1: first child. Being a mother herself, she was once again
Speaker 1: there every step of my pregnancy, buying extravagant baby gifts
Speaker 1: and treating me to spaw days. Elizabeth even made sure
Speaker 1: that she was at the hospital for the birth of
Speaker 1: my baby. What happened in the hospital haunts me to
Speaker 1: this day, and it has become even more disturbing to
Speaker 1: me since discovered ring her fraud. Shortly after my C section,
Speaker 1: I was still heavily medicated and recovering from surgery. Elizabeth
Speaker 1: without my knowledge or permission, somehow accessed the heavily secured
Speaker 1: NIKU where my daughter was recovering and held her Before
Speaker 1: I ever had the chance. Elizabeth photographed herself holding my
Speaker 1: baby and brought the pictures to my hospital room to
Speaker 1: show me. I could not fully process what she had
Speaker 1: managed to do, given what I had just been through.
Speaker 1: She took that special moment from me. Her actions completely
Speaker 1: sickened me. She has this need to be more part
Speaker 1: of my life events than I was. The fact that
Speaker 1: she was there for almost every big moment of my
Speaker 1: life for the past decade makes me want to erase
Speaker 1: so many memories. During the next eight years, Elizabeth continued
Speaker 1: to help me with bookkeeping and taxes. We raised our
Speaker 1: kids together, all four girls close in age, and even
Speaker 1: went on family vacations together. My dad and husband helped
Speaker 1: her move into her new, beautiful Laguna Beach home, which
Speaker 1: she claimed to have purchased. During the last year, I learned,
Speaker 1: Elizabeth soul for me for hundreds of checks to her
Speaker 1: own personal bank account, used my company credit card for
Speaker 1: her personal use, and also applied for and received loans
Speaker 1: for over a hundred thousand dollars in my name. In total,
Speaker 1: she stole more than two hundred thousand dollars. She used
Speaker 1: it to pay luxuries like her plastic surgery. She owned
Speaker 1: numerous courses road horses. Weekly, I sat down with my girls,
Speaker 1: ages five and seven, to explain to them that my
Speaker 1: best friend and the woman who was like family to them,
Speaker 1: is dangerous and they should never speak with her or
Speaker 1: have any contact. Sadly, next month, I will be closing
Speaker 1: the doors of my studio. Ultimately, it is due to
Speaker 1: the theft by Elizabeth Mulder. I cannot possibly recover from
Speaker 1: the damages she caused in so many ways. I am
Speaker 1: sure Elizabeth will look to this court for sympathy, pity,
Speaker 1: and put on the performance of the loving mother and
Speaker 1: humble wife. I assure you she is none of these things.
Speaker 1: She is selfish, deceitful, and lacks remorse and empathy for
Speaker 1: everything she did to me in my family. Elizabeth Mulder
Speaker 1: is a predator. Her theft, lies, and manipulation continued for
Speaker 1: over a decade. This was not an isolated incident or
Speaker 1: single bad decision. This was a way of life for her,
Speaker 1: and it is clear she never stopped to consider anyone
Speaker 1: around her. I believe she knows no other way to live,
Speaker 1: and would continue to steal and deceive other trusting people
Speaker 1: like myself if given the chance. Thank you very much. Wow,
Speaker 1: you can almost hear a pin drop in the courtroom.
Speaker 1: The more victims who speak up like that, the less
Speaker 1: likely it seems that Lizzie Mulder is going to walk
Speaker 1: away from all this with just probation. The next victim
Speaker 1: to take the podium as a business owner who Lizzie
Speaker 1: scams while she's literally scamming everyone else for years, It's
Speaker 1: just unfathomable to me how she kept all those plates
Speaker 1: spinning at the same time. I knew Lizzie mother. She
Speaker 1: was a friend of mine. Actually I had met her
Speaker 1: years ago at Ris Carlton and she worked as a
Speaker 1: massage therapist. So I actually had a, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of a trust for Lizzie because she always talked about
Speaker 1: Lizzie her daughter. I'm here today like so many others,
Speaker 1: because I've had the great misfortune of trusting Elizabeth Mulder
Speaker 1: Lizzie with the business that I've built for more than
Speaker 1: a decade. From two thousand and eleven to two thousand sixteen,
Speaker 1: she stole over eight hundred and fifty three thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: She did not do this as a one time theft,
Speaker 1: but in a deliberate, repeated, calculating fashion, devising several creative
Speaker 1: methods of stealing money. Her schemes included forging my business checks,
Speaker 1: creating fictitious insurance business checks. But her most damaging scheme
Speaker 1: was her creation of the income tax payment an account
Speaker 1: with Bank of America. Lizzie directed me to draft multiple
Speaker 1: checks to income tax payments. Over a six year period
Speaker 1: from two thousand twelve to two thousand sixteen, she deposited
Speaker 1: over forty six checks from my business which were meant
Speaker 1: to pay income tax payments. She would come to my
Speaker 1: house and she'd say, it's time for your quarterly payment.
Speaker 1: She would look me in the eye directly, and she'd say, blatantly,
Speaker 1: you know what. I'm going to drive this to the
Speaker 1: I R S. So it can be time stamped, so
Speaker 1: there will be no chance it will get lost in
Speaker 1: the mail or won't be deposited to your account. I've
Speaker 1: worked all my life for over forty years. I'm sixty three.
Speaker 1: It was a dream of my own to have my
Speaker 1: own travel company. I hope to use my hard earned
Speaker 1: money to eventually retire now my savings are wiped out,
Speaker 1: and as a sixty three year old woman, I will
Speaker 1: need to be working until I'm eighty to gain back
Speaker 1: the loss. In addition, I lost my twenty year marriage.
Speaker 1: I believe the disagreements with my husband over the financial
Speaker 1: problems created by Lizzie ruined our marriage. I would ask
Speaker 1: the court not to give great credence to Lizzie Maldor's
Speaker 1: lack of prior criminal record, as the number of victims
Speaker 1: and the length of time she has been defrauding them
Speaker 1: shows that she has devoted much of her adult life
Speaker 1: to stealing from other people. Your honor, I beg you
Speaker 1: to give Lizzie Maldor the maximum sense. The number of
Speaker 1: people she has heard, the amount of time she has
Speaker 1: done it, and the callous and cruel manner in which
Speaker 1: she abused the trust of at least sixteen victims and
Speaker 1: probably more warrants the maximal possible sense. Even more importantly,
Speaker 1: I think she needs the maximum sense in order to
Speaker 1: keep her from other unsuspecting victims. I believe, if given
Speaker 1: the chance, she would steal again tomorrow. I you were
Speaker 1: being here, it's clear the damage Lizzie has done here
Speaker 1: is not just financial, it's emotional. It broke up a marriage,
Speaker 1: It robbed victims of their happy memories of their wedding day,
Speaker 1: memories of their first child being born. After hearing from
Speaker 1: a cross section of Lizzie's victims, the judge gets curious
Speaker 1: the question I post right at the beginning that I'd
Speaker 1: like you to ask on my behalf, or I'll ask
Speaker 1: it is you've got the investigating officers here. I'd like
Speaker 1: to know what happened at the first contact with the defendant.
Speaker 1: And by the way, if she asserted her right to
Speaker 1: an attorney, that's fine, she's entitled to that. Or was
Speaker 1: she completely truthful? What was that first interview? Like us
Speaker 1: shoot up to the podium to give that answer? Is
Speaker 1: the hero of our story? Good morning, how are you doing?
Speaker 1: I just need your name for the record, type of problem.
Speaker 1: Jordan's first name, last name is Moracian. It's a pleasure.
Speaker 1: I'm interested in the first contact, my very first contact
Speaker 1: with miss Mulder. She came into the Laguna Beach Police Department.
Speaker 1: I want to know if she lied to you or
Speaker 1: mitigated her involvement, or if she just laid it out
Speaker 1: she lied? Okay, tell me about what initially she lied
Speaker 1: about and slow down and take your time with it. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I was already in the middle of an investigation involving
Speaker 1: Jack Wines and Jay Avery at the time. I was
Speaker 1: getting ready to approach the major fraud District Attorney through
Speaker 1: the Orange County Superior Court to file charges against miss Mulder.
Speaker 1: Jesse Mulder walked into the Laguna Beach Police station with
Speaker 1: a friend, an attorney of his, to essentially expose what
Speaker 1: was happening with his wife. At the time, I didn't
Speaker 1: know who Jesse Moulder was. He came in literally as
Speaker 1: I was walking out the door. One speculative portion of
Speaker 1: that could be, look the words starting to get out
Speaker 1: in the community that there's an investigation going on, and
Speaker 1: if you're a suspicious investigator, here comes this person, not
Speaker 1: just cold off the street, but with an attorney in tow,
Speaker 1: obviously having knowledge that he might be accused of being involved,
Speaker 1: or his wife might be accused, or they might correct.
Speaker 1: So this isn't what I call a good Samaritan walk
Speaker 1: in where somebody suddenly has a revelation. This is because
Speaker 1: of your hard work, the words floating out there, and
Speaker 1: this person knows enough to bring an attorney with him. Yes,
Speaker 1: Salguna Beach is a very small town and word travels
Speaker 1: very quickly. We have sometimes difficulty key bring our investigations
Speaker 1: under wraps because we have employees that live in the community.
Speaker 1: At the point that Mr Mulder walked in and revealed
Speaker 1: to me what's been disclosed today by the other victims,
Speaker 1: I was initially receptive but suspicious. I listened to what
Speaker 1: he had to say, and then within a matter of
Speaker 1: less than twenty four hours, I was going to attempt
Speaker 1: to speak with miss Moulder and she checked herself into
Speaker 1: a mental health facility. Okay, I just husband comes in
Speaker 1: with an attorney. You're pretty far down the investigation line.
Speaker 1: You might perceive that people in the community are starting
Speaker 1: to talk. She checked herself into a mental facility. Correct,
Speaker 1: three weeks after we executed the search warrant at Semit Drive. Okay,
Speaker 1: and she did out of the mental hospital or out
Speaker 1: of the Yes. And is that your first contact with her? Yes,
Speaker 1: But at the time didn't want to speak with me.
Speaker 1: And I told her as I left the residents here,
Speaker 1: it's my business card. If you decide that you want
Speaker 1: to speak with me, I'm at the Legion of Echil.
Speaker 1: How long after the service of the warrant. Did she
Speaker 1: come into the police department within eight to ten hours?
Speaker 1: Now you say she lied to you, what happened, Well,
Speaker 1: she initially lied. Uh. During the disclosure of how much
Speaker 1: money she sold. Ms Mulder mitigated her responsibility. You know,
Speaker 1: I get all sorts of people. I get people who
Speaker 1: come in and they're just truthful, like to begin with,
Speaker 1: absolutely lay it all out. You know, those are sometimes
Speaker 1: people you work with as a judge, sometimes you don't. Okay,
Speaker 1: but lies a big word. So I'm going to slow
Speaker 1: you down. One lie was the amount they said. Other lies.
Speaker 1: The other lies had to do with the amount of
Speaker 1: victims that were out there. She did tell me about
Speaker 1: Jack Wines, she told me about Tony and Guy har
Speaker 1: Salon got it here showing about Andrea Builders. She did
Speaker 1: not you're about California printh. No, she did knock and
Speaker 1: there was one other or take attack and fee with
Speaker 1: Mr Joseph Love, who's also present in court today. Okay, well,
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you for pleasure. The judge doesn't seem
Speaker 1: happy that Lizzie lie during her police interview about how
Speaker 1: much money she stole and how many victims there were.
Speaker 1: But when Lizzie Maulder addresses the court, none of that
Speaker 1: comes up. She makes a straight play for leniency and
Speaker 1: begs the judge for mercy, saying she plans to live
Speaker 1: the rest of her life with honesty and integrity. F
Speaker 1: y I. This is the first time Lizzie Maulder ever
Speaker 1: speaks in public, and just as her victims predicted, she
Speaker 1: leans hard into her persona as a loving mother and wife.
Speaker 1: As any mother two young daughters, I fear that my
Speaker 1: actions will cause them pain and they will never forgive me.
Speaker 1: As a wife, I have a fear that my marriage
Speaker 1: will not last the unknown punishment. Most of all, I
Speaker 1: fear that I will not be able to repay my
Speaker 1: restitution fast enough for the needs of the victims. And
Speaker 1: as a human, I have fear that my legacy and
Speaker 1: life will be that the good that I did in
Speaker 1: life will not outshine all this bad. Judge Carter, I
Speaker 1: ask of you today to let me show you that
Speaker 1: if you choose to be kind enough to grant me leniency,
Speaker 1: I will honor your decision by living the rest of
Speaker 1: my life working towards making everyone whole again. I want
Speaker 1: nothing more than to show my daughter that, even after
Speaker 1: making terrible mistakes in life, you can still rebuild your
Speaker 1: life with honesty and integrity. I believe that I am
Speaker 1: worthy of your leniency, and I believe that I can
Speaker 1: show others what positive can come out of granting me leniency.
Speaker 1: I asked that you give me a chance to show
Speaker 1: you that the good I can still do in life
Speaker 1: will outshine the bad. Thank you, Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: Now the balls in Judge David Carter's court. He can
Speaker 1: literally do whatever he wants, whatever he deems just. He
Speaker 1: can let Lizzie off with probation or send her away
Speaker 1: for a lot of years. You can cut the tension
Speaker 1: in that courtroom with a knife right now. Well, first
Speaker 1: of all, we're back on the record. I want to
Speaker 1: thank all of the parties for yours today. Eventually the
Speaker 1: judge makes his decision and you can tell he's put
Speaker 1: a lot of thought into it. I think that this
Speaker 1: is the rare occasion when the appearance of the victims
Speaker 1: have made a significant impact. Hearing from you has been extraordinary, beneficial.
Speaker 1: It's easy to read on a piece of paper what
Speaker 1: has occurred to people. It is very impactful when you
Speaker 1: hear people come to court and you actually here the
Speaker 1: harm that you've suffered. The court believes that the loss
Speaker 1: cause is approximately one million, five thousand seven. These victims
Speaker 1: have not been compensated. There's been a suffering of substantial
Speaker 1: financial hardship that has ranged from h r s, leans penalties,
Speaker 1: decreased business, the humble attempt to rebuild goodwill, including the
Speaker 1: closing literally of a business, let alone the personal degradation
Speaker 1: that has occurred. This has resulted in a substantial financial hardship.
Speaker 1: The guideline range is seventy eight months and the government's
Speaker 1: requested sixty three months for sentencing purposes. The defense and
Speaker 1: the probation officer have requested thirty six months. The abuse
Speaker 1: here is so prolonged, so personal, such a betrayal in
Speaker 1: the sense that the moneys that were benefited from were
Speaker 1: largely for personal aggrandizement, ranging from the personalized plastic surgery
Speaker 1: to the horses to an increased lifestyle on the backs
Speaker 1: of the victims in this matter, and this is particularly
Speaker 1: a vulnerable segment of society because small business in America
Speaker 1: is the backbone of our country. And listening to the
Speaker 1: proceedings today, I think the government is absolutely correct in
Speaker 1: your evaluation in this matter sixty three months. Also his
Speaker 1: order that you should pay restitution in the total amount
Speaker 1: of one million, five thousand seven Why one since so?
Speaker 1: Lizzie Malder is sentenced to sixty three months a little
Speaker 1: over five years in federal prison, and she's ordered to
Speaker 1: pay more than one and a half million dollars in restitution,
Speaker 1: but that figure doesn't include the millions of dollars she
Speaker 1: causes her victims to lose in I R. S penalties,
Speaker 1: in legal fees, and in back taxes. Lizzie Malder tells
Speaker 1: the court she has no money to pay restitution, but
Speaker 1: she says she'll pay her victims back as soon as
Speaker 1: and as quickly as she can. After it was over,
Speaker 1: we walked outside of the courtroom, federal prosecutors got Tenley
Speaker 1: Is relieved, and the victims all kind of gathered around,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to just talk to him about what
Speaker 1: had happened. And one of the things I said to
Speaker 1: them was, you know, I can tell you a d
Speaker 1: you guys being here changed the ultimate sense, right, and
Speaker 1: you had an impact. And I remember getting choked up,
Speaker 1: and I don't know if they could tell, but probably
Speaker 1: close to, you know, maybe tearing up because I was
Speaker 1: that kind of emotionally myself impacted by the sentence and
Speaker 1: and and I think, you know, people that work with
Speaker 1: me would probably be like, well, that's not Scott right,
Speaker 1: He's a pretty hardened, you know, straightforward guy. But I
Speaker 1: just remember it was an incredibly emotional hearing and then
Speaker 1: to come out and talk to them, and and you know,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of them had a sense that
Speaker 1: they got some amount of justice out of that hearing.
Speaker 1: You know, part of it was the impact of what
Speaker 1: they said, but also part of it was like, Wow,
Speaker 1: this is why I'm doing this job, is to help
Speaker 1: help people like this that need a voice and can
Speaker 1: get some justice. But that's probably something I'll never forget
Speaker 1: about my time as a as a prosecutor. Was was
Speaker 1: that moment with with them and coming out of that hearing.
Speaker 1: It was very It was a very moving and powerful
Speaker 1: sentencing hearing. Yeah, all of victims are like, yeah, we
Speaker 1: should go out for drinks and you know, you know,
Speaker 1: not that any of the money's here, but justice has
Speaker 1: been served. Shaneva Mendosah almost goes out of business after
Speaker 1: Lizzie Malder's scams, Nearly three thousand dollars from the salon
Speaker 1: and Newport Beach that she opened with her business partner Lauren.
Speaker 1: It's going to take the span of our lease truly
Speaker 1: to pay back what Lizzie stole from us. But I
Speaker 1: think it speaks to the talent and the tenacity and
Speaker 1: the drive of you and Lauren. You're still in business.
Speaker 1: You took the hit and you came back out swinging
Speaker 1: and you're doing really well. Now why would say we're
Speaker 1: doing pretty well. I've done a lot of work and
Speaker 1: I feel that I have come out of it stronger
Speaker 1: and more aware. And that's what's what I'm taking. That's
Speaker 1: the glasses is half full. Other victims, though, like Mike
Speaker 1: Cochran's print shop, she crippled us. She crippled us badly,
Speaker 1: and Jay Avery's Jack Wines her scams put you out
Speaker 1: of business, We're not as fortunate. It was doing well
Speaker 1: at had momentum, and I'll let her run with it.
Speaker 1: Not knowing that this would be the outcome, I had
Speaker 1: no idea. Lizzie Maulder reports to federal prison in January,
Speaker 1: and she serves four years of her five year sentence.
Speaker 1: She's released in January of two But this story is
Speaker 1: not over. There's something really important that Lizzie Maulder is
Speaker 1: not telling the judge and not telling prosecutors, and it
Speaker 1: could cost her big. I definitely think that's a violation
Speaker 1: of the plea agreement. If I was still to kiss
Speaker 1: you off, yeah I would. I would say, yeah, I
Speaker 1: would go to the boss and say this is something
Speaker 1: we need to open up. Yes, you do next time.
Speaker 1: On Queen of a Con The O C Savior, Lizzie
Speaker 1: pulls a fast one on the judge and on federal prosecutors.
Speaker 1: How can that legally go through? Well, I think it's
Speaker 1: a matter of one hand doesn't know what the other
Speaker 1: is doing. It's a new scam that could blow the
Speaker 1: whole case wide open again. While you'd call it a
Speaker 1: fraudulent conveyance, if I had found out that that was
Speaker 1: going on, we could have probably backed out of the
Speaker 1: plea agreement. Queen of a Con The O C Savior
Speaker 1: is a production of A y R Media and I
Speaker 1: Heart Media, hosted by me Jonathan Walton, executive producers Jonathan
Speaker 1: Walton for Jonathan Walton Productions and Eliza Rosen for A
Speaker 1: y R Media. Written by Jonathan Walton, Consulting producer Sir
Speaker 1: Evan Goldstein, Senior Associate producer, Eric Newman. Sound design by
Speaker 1: Baked ZD Media, mixed and mastered by Cameron Taggy. Sound editing,
Speaker 1: audio and studio engineering by Matt Jacobsen. Legal counsel for
Speaker 1: A y R Media, Gianni Douglas, Executive producer for iHeartMedia,
Speaker 1: Maya Howard