Showing titles in Con Artists, Hoaxes & Deceptions

Charles Stuart claimed it was a black man who carjacked him, shooting both himself and his wife, ending both her life and the life of their unborn child. The accusation and subsequent manhunt enflamed the long-simmering racial tensions of Boston, leading to the arrest of an innocent man. It was then discovered that Stuart had killed his wife and shot himself to cover up the crime, seeking a big insurance payout. When his crimes were exposed, Stuart jumped off a bridge to his death.

Tonia Bales married a handsome young man named John Meehan, who offered her a bright future. They had a happy marriage for nearly 10 years, weathering the typical challenges couples experience. Then, Tonia sensed something was wrong. He started coming home late, spending more time traveling, and they were losing their connection. Her gut told her to start digging for answers. Her questions uncovered a web of lies, and then a shocking truth: Tonia had married a sociopath.

Francesca's parents represented opposing world-views. Her mother always slid her way out of questions about the past, saying only “My life started when you were born.” Her dad, an absent bodybuilder, loved telling stories about his seemingly larger-than-life past. He said he would tell her anything she wanted to know. But more often than not, it was a total lie. When Francesa was 9, he went to prison, and her mother, the grounding center of Francesca's world, moved her half a continent away...

Sono criminali che non cercano violenza o sangue, ma il cui ingegno straordinario sa infliggere colpi magistrali al patrimonio e al nostro orgoglio. In Il potere dell'inganno, Carlo Lucarelli e Massimo Picozzi vi condurranno attraverso le menti più brillanti e tortuose della storia del crimine: da chi ha venduto due volte la Torre Eiffel a chi ha ingannato i nazisti con falsi Vermeer, da ladre di diamanti che hanno operato per sei decenni a falsari diventati eroi nazionali. Venti storie avvincenti che esplorano il lato oscuro del genio umano, dove l'inganno diventa arte.

This is the story of an unforgivable con man. Vulnerable families were his prey. His promise was an impossible dream and a lie. Peter Candlewood understood the system. That’s how he could commute prison sentences and reunite hopeless families with incarcerated loved ones. For a price. Except there was no Candlewood. No hope. Just a lowly Texas con artist who bet on the desperate - and won. And he wasn’t working alone. The multimillion-dollar deception cost the betrayed more than their savings.

From the Killing Fields of Cambodia to the gilded halls of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, a tale of stolen treasures and the battle to reclaim a nation’s soul. Amidst the chaos of Cambodia's brutal genocide, a new crime wave emerged—one that would sweep across borders and entangle...

The gripping true story of a serial con man empowered by the justice system who destroys dozens of lives and puts a man on death row for a murder he didn’t commit. “Incendiary, emotionally devastating. [This] is a feat of dogged reporting, bravura storytelling, and clear-eyed moral...

This is the inside story of the largest tax-evasion case in U.S. history, told through exclusive interviews with the agents and prosecutors who built the case. It unfolds like a spy thriller: encrypted messages, undercover stings, a lawyer's suicide on the eve of trial, a billionaire's brazen dementia defense, and a mysterious death that left billions in limbo.

A charismatic doctor claimed to have rediscovered the ancestral roots of “toad medicine,” becoming the face of a global psychedelic movement. But in his wake, he left a trail of destruction that embodies the maladies of our spiritually desolate age. In 2012, a Mexican doctor announced that...

A revelatory account of how the family behind Hobby Lobby rose to political prominence and used their influence—and fortune—to push a radical religious agenda Hobby Lobby is a multibillion-dollar craft store chain with more than a thousand US locations, founded and owned by the Greens—an...

A Legacy of Betrayal is a blistering exposé of the UK’s most shocking police corruption scandals, charting a harrowing history of misconduct that stretches from the earliest days of the force to the headlines of today. From falsified evidence and secret cover-ups to institutional racism and criminal conspiracies, this book reveals just how deep the rot goes.

In Pirate Cove, Richard D. Bailey provides an insider’s chronicle of a white-collar crime whose headline-grabbing elements first appeared on the front pages of The Wall Street Journal. It’s the true, unvarnished, complete, totally untold, and fascinating story of how one honest man helped unravel the massive Southport Lane fraud perpetrated by the author’s former employer, 26-year-old self-proclaimed financial prodigy Alexander Chatfield Burns.

In a world where whispers become roars and rumors turn into accepted reality, Dexter Maxx delves deep into the labyrinth of modern myths, guiding listeners through a mesmerizing journey of the most tantalizing conspiracy theories of our age. From dark corners of the internet to the corridors of power, Conspiracies is a gripping exploration of humanity's age-old quest for answers in an increasingly complex world.

For twenty years, Tony Sales was Britain's biggest fraudster. From cloning credit cards and identities to emptying cash machines and being a confidence trickster, Tony knew how to make money. Charming, funny and bright, Sales could make people believe whatever he wanted them to. Soon he was living a millionaire lifestyle: fast cars, hotels and holidays. As analogue crime turned digital, Sales adapted his skills and became a prolific online fraudster, quickly identifying and exploiting loopholes and weaknesses in the system.

This novel take on the history of wine reveals that, whether by adding toxic sweeteners or passing off counterfeit bottles, wine fraud is abundant—and as old as wine itself. Vintage Crime will intrigue even the most sated of wine drinkers with its juicy tales of deception, raising interesting questions along the way: what counts as wine, why do we drink it, and what makes a wine truly authentic?

Uncover the shocking and brutal truths behind some of the most heinous crimes committed against innocent victims in Killer Case Files, the true crime anthology that takes you on a gripping journey into the minds of depraved murderers. An anthology of 20 stories, Killer Case Files delivers riveting accounts of deviant and horrifying murders. These killers can range from seemingly normal people to psychopaths and serial killers who commit years of murder and mayhem.

King is the story of how Kirkland Gaynes rose to become "Top Pimp" in Chicago's seedy underworld. It's an unapologetic account of what is known as the "Pimp Game". King shows that dreams can come true. But the flip side to a dream is nightmarish.

In the 1990s, when Abdul Kareem Telgi spent more than eighty lakh rupees on a dancer in a dance bar one evening, he came under the target of the police, politicians and the underworld. Sanjay Singh, then a reporter at NDTV, broke the Telgi Scam story in 2003. At an estimated 40,000 crores, it...

Der SPIEGEL-Bestseller, von dem die chinesische Regierung nicht will, dass wir ihn hören: Money, Macht und Willkür in China Wann ist man wirklich mächtig? Wenn auf dem Konto eine Milliarde liegt? Wenn die Ehefrau mit der Frau des Premiers beim Shoppen große Geschäfte macht?Desmond Shum wächst in Shanghai und Hongkong auf. Nach dem Studium in den USA stürzt er sich ins Beijinger Businessleben mit dem Blickwinkel eines Outsiders und den richtigen Connections. Er scheffelt mit Immobilientransaktionen Geld. Ehefrau Whitney pflegt Beziehungen zu Ehefrauen wichtiger politischer Akteure.

A true story of a loving father facing formidable legal odds to secure custody of his two small children. Using wiretap technology in ways never seen before or since, he turns the tide in his favor in the case of a cheating wife and a predatory gynecologist. It’s a story of humility and perseverance triumphing over arrogance, status, and the powerful influence of sex addiction while delivering lessons in conscience and consequences. With recorded intimate details, this riveting account gained national acclaim for the legal precedent of the case.