Is it because they are creative or narcissistic? Profiteers or opportunists? Scammers fascinate us. The number of shows they’ve starred in might make one believe in their glorification. We get involved in their game, we like to study their behavior and above all to witness their fall. Let’s enjoy this 1ah April to spotlight individuals who have attempted to be in the spotlight. Characters, real ones, who really exist, who could do without bad fish, but got caught at the end of the line…
The Dropout
Photo courtesy of Disney+
Elizabeth Holmes was a brilliant Stanford student who was out to get rich. She now has the idea of developing a device capable of quickly diagnosing any disease from a single drop of blood. An idea that allows him to found the company Theranos and attract millions of investors who are convinced that the device exists, which was far from the case. She even managed to cheat multinational Walgreens before being accused of cheating after a decade of lying. The eight episodes document his rise as well as his fall. Last November she was sentenced to eleven months in prison.
Available on Disney+
WeCrashed: The Rise and Fall of WeWork
Photo provided by Apple tv+
Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway play Adam and Rebekah Neumann, founders of WeWork, the multinational “co-working” (of shared workspaces) that was worth $47 billion in 2019 before turning phenomenal in less than a year crash experienced. Rebekah aspires to an acting career. Adam is extravagant, very ambitious, even toxic and megalomaniac. Which led to his downfall.
Available on Apple TV+
invent Anna
Photo courtesy of Netflix
In this nine-part series we follow the machinations of Anna Delvey, a young Russian who has spent part of her life in Germany while doing an internship in a fashion magazine and arrives in New York as a wealthy heiress. She hangs out with well-known and well-off young people, drawing colossal sums from them to enrich her own arts foundation, which manages a fictional legacy. Through the investigation of a journalist intrigued by the case, we’re tracking the facts. After her release in 2021, she is said to still be based in New York and has signed contracts for a reality show, a book and a podcast.
Available on Netflix
FYRE: The biggest party that ever was
Photo courtesy of Netflix
This documentary tells of a great scam, that of a colorful and more than trendy music festival that never happened. It was supposed to take place on a paradise island in the Bahamas. Her promoter Billy McFarland promised luxury and decadence, private jets, star access, spectacular mansions, yachts and meals prepared by great chefs. Everything to attract influencers of all kinds. None of that happened. But on the contrary. Fashionistas and Instagrammers found themselves in a mess in the middle of nowhere, local businesses in a money pit. In short, a huge lie.
Available on Netflix
The Puppet Master: Hunt for the ultimate impostor
Photo courtesy of Netflix
This three-part documentary mini-series follows Robert Freegard, a con artist who has been posing as a British spy since he was young. For ten years he managed to extort money from his victims, women, isolating them from their families, ruining them, moving across European territory without a trace. He would have been arrested in Belgium last September 2022.
Available on Netflix
Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street
Photo courtesy of Netflix
Businessman Bernard Madoff has inspired several films and television series. Died in 2021, he had Wall Street firmly in his grip. In the so-called “Ponzi scheme” he is said to have captured a record in US financial history after the stock market crash in 2008 with 65 billion dollars. The latest series was submitted to Netflix earlier this year. Over four episodes, we follow his rise with just $5,000 in his pocket as he seduces his clientele with lies until the financial crisis that claimed many lives among his followers crowned him as the greatest crook of the century.
Available on Netflix
Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Refugees.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
Sarma Melngailis was a restaurateur at a high-profile New York vegan eatery, Pure Food and Wine. His table was in all charts. She fell into the hands of a high-class crook, Anthony Strangis, who went by the name of Shane Fox. They got married. According to him, he would have forced him to embezzle the money from his restaurant. The employees were not paid. She stopped paying the rent. The couple would have transferred $ 1.6 million to his private account before fleeing. Sarma was arrested in Tennessee in 2016 and charged the following year.
Available on Netflix
Lovaganza: the great illusion
That’s 650 investors scammed out of $24 million in a great human and Hollywood adventure that Steven Spielberg is said to have mentored. A couple of Quebecers, Mark-Érik Fortin and Karine Lamarre, would have wired the colossal sum to Jean-François Gagnon and Geneviève Cloutier, who lived a jet-set life in Hollywood and described themselves as producers, screenwriters and directors. If the first pleaded guilty to 79 counts, the other two would still be walking and would still try to fund projects.
Available on True
ALPHA_02: The Mystery of Alexandre Cazes
Photo provided by ICI Télé
The mystery of this Trifluvien’s death, found lifeless in a Thai prison, still hangs. He was a computer genius who allegedly made his fortune in cryptocurrency. The multi-millionaire who was bullied as a teenager lived a life of great luxury. With the FBI on his case, Cazes was arrested on 16 counts, including drug and arms dealing. It has been said that he was the head of the largest hidden market on the internet: AlphaBay. His family still doesn’t believe it. Did he have a dual identity? Monic Néron and Simon Coutu studied his case.
Available on Tou.tv
The king of lies
Photo courtesy of Bell Media
In three episodes, Marc Labrèche takes a documentary excursion about a fascinating character: Roger Tétreault. This man would have been able to manipulate the media, all media combined, between the 1970s and 1990s. He has been presented as a nuclear expert, environmental activist, or FLQ witness as appropriate. Each time a new pseudonym, but always the same man. He was the master of the swindle with those responsible for clarifying various events.
Starting today on Crave