On Thursday, February 21st at 10PM ET/PT, CNBC's ground-breaking original primetime series, "American Greed," returns to the network's lineup premiering on a new night with 13 all-new episodes. The award-winning series examines the dark side of the American dream... where crime pays well, until you get caught.
Fast boats, fake paper and a lust for the good life... a clever con man scams millions using a wet and wild fraud. The premiere episode of the seventh season begins in the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan with the story of Michael Vorce, a hometown guy, son of two well-respected public school administrators, who is well-versed in playing the part of the rich kid in town. Vorce claims to have a fleet of more than 50 luxury yachts, with the papers to prove it. Those papers and a charming pitch are all he needs to con bank loan officers out of tens of millions of dollars in loans. The reason it's a con? Most of his yachts never existed and the papers are fabricated. Vorce is using money from local banks to live the life of a 20-something playboy driving fast cars and speedboats. He throws down thousand dollar tips at bars in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. In one year alone, he spends more than $100,000 on clothes, $300,000 on home furnishings and another $250,000 on cars. But when the bank loans come due, the bankers want to know, where are all the boats, and where is the money?
This season of "American Greed" will look at more big-time Ponzi schemes including the story of Doug Vaughan, dubbed the "New Mexico Mini-Madoff," who ran the largest fraud in New Mexico history; New York money manager Melissa G. King, who was supposed to be administering the NYC Sandhog's union benefit funds but instead spent millions supporting her own lavish lifestyle; and the 2005 fire at the Wines Central warehouse in Vallejo, California that destroyed a staggering $200 to $250 million dollars' worth of wine in one of the largest wine embezzlement cases of all time.
For more information and special web exclusives log onto:
americangreed.cnbc.com.
CNBC's "American Greed" is narrated by actor
Stacy Keach and produced exclusively for CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, by Kurtis Productions. Mike West is Executive Producer for Kurtis Productions. Charles Schaeffer is the Executive Producer for CNBC. Mitch Weitzner is the Senior Executive Producer and Ray Borelli is the Senior Vice President of Strategic Research, Scheduling and Long Form Programming.
Season 7 of CNBC's "American Greed" consists of 13 episodes and will air Thursdays beginning February 21st at 10PM ET/PT.
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