0:00

Wonder. A Plus! Subscribers can listen to Scam

0:02

Flu Earth early and ad free right now.

0:04

Join Wonder A Plus and the Wonder Out

0:06

or Apple Podcasts. Sarah.

0:15

Hughes. Strike me. As.

0:18

A theater kid in recovery. I know

0:20

you just saying that person I am.

0:22

but am I wrong? The answer is

0:24

no. I'm not a theater kitten. Recovery:

0:26

I don't know anything about theater. Okay,

0:29

is that true? Yeah, honestly it as

0:31

I I know very little about theater. Oh. What

0:34

would it surprise you to know that

0:36

I wrote one of my school's plays

0:38

in the twelfth grade and it was

0:40

amazing. Know it wouldn't surprise me that

0:43

you wanted to control people. Thank you

0:45

thank you for putting it that way.

0:47

While Thera today, I need you to

0:49

find your inner theater kid because for

0:51

this week scam, I'm taking you to

0:53

Broadway Baby! It's

1:00

a stormy afternoon and September two thousand

1:02

and Louise for Lenses sits in the

1:04

passenger seat of a Ford Expedition checking

1:06

her email. Louise is in early sixties

1:09

with a chic blonde bob and colorful

1:11

glasses. Her business partner, Ben Sprecher is

1:13

driving them from New York, New Jersey.

1:15

He's in his late fifties with puffy

1:17

eyes and a receding hairline. The two

1:20

of them are on their way to

1:22

get some paperwork. They hope it'll get

1:24

them one step closer to their dream,

1:26

producing a Broadway musical called. Rebecca Louise

1:28

has invested in a few place before,

1:31

but she's been wanting to make the

1:33

jump to the big leagues. Ben meanwhile

1:35

has already produced a handful of broadway

1:37

shows, one of which even got nominated

1:39

for a Tony, but he's never worked

1:41

on a project quite this challenging before.

1:43

He and Louise have spent the last

1:45

six years trying to get the show

1:47

off the ground. A huge part of

1:49

the problem is the costs of putting

1:51

on the musical, which will run the

1:54

more than twelve million dollars. Now that

1:56

amount isn't unheard of for a broadway

1:58

production. but it is a lot from in

2:00

Ben, especially because just a

2:02

few weeks ago, they lost one of

2:04

their investors and had to scramble to

2:07

raise several million dollars. But

2:09

then, at the last minute, an angel

2:11

investor offered to join the production. That

2:14

seems to be very good luck, if you ask

2:16

me. Yes, it's

2:18

super lucky. And as Ben drives,

2:21

Louise eagerly refreshes her email, waiting

2:23

for confirmation of the money transfer. This

2:26

is the miracle they've been waiting for, the one

2:28

they hope will save their show. But

2:30

when a new email pops up in her inbox,

2:32

it's not what she expected. Her

2:35

lawyer has forwarded an email from someone named

2:37

Sarah Finkelstein. Louise reads the email out

2:39

loud to Ben. Sarah, can

2:41

you read what part of it says?

2:43

Yeah, other Sarah goes, the walls are

2:45

about to cave in on Mr. Sprecher

2:47

and the Rebecca Broadway production. Yeah.

2:51

And the message only gets more ominous

2:53

from there. It basically calls

2:55

Louise and Ben's scam earnest. It

2:58

ends with a warning that investing in Rebecca

3:00

will only lead to a role in a fraud

3:02

trial. Ben is already

3:04

sobbing by the time Louise finishes reading the

3:06

email. He's so upset he can barely drive.

3:09

He pulls into a nearby McDonald's parking lot.

3:11

And as they sit in the car under

3:13

the golden arches, they get crushing

3:15

news. The cryptic email has

3:18

spooked their new investor so much that he's

3:20

dropping out. Rebecca the musical

3:22

has lost its funding once again. Louise

3:25

is shocked. She's being sabotaged.

3:28

She doesn't know why anyone would write something

3:30

so vicious. She doesn't know anyone

3:32

by the name of Sarah Finkelstein. And

3:34

she suspects it's a fake name anyway. Whoever

3:36

sent that email wants to see her

3:39

production fail. But who and

3:41

why are a mystery? This

3:48

new year and honestly all year round,

3:50

we're working towards the best version of

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hundred. And fifty call and I'm so

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happy and this a scam. Censored.

5:27

Legend. Probably producers raised millions

5:29

of dollars in the hope of one

5:31

day backing a hit like Hamilton or

5:34

the Phantom of the Opera, but the

5:36

odds are getting right on a once

5:38

in a generation smash or Flynn to

5:41

survive and of corporate world. Seater produces

5:43

an artist me pass and creativity and

5:45

a healthy dose of solution. Of course

5:48

this makes it a perfect environment for

5:50

scammers. The saw the Ever Better, the

5:52

musical involve the con man, cryptic emails

5:55

and a serious case of malaria and

5:57

perhaps. Most dangerous of all.

5:59

Very. dramatic theater people. This

6:01

is Rebecca the Musical, a real show

6:04

speaker. Our

6:09

Broadway disaster starts in 2006. Louise

6:12

is in Vienna for a business trip. She's

6:14

an accountant, but she's passionate about theater and

6:16

recently started producing on the side. So

6:19

she can't pass up the opportunity to attend

6:21

the premiere of a new show, Rebecca Das

6:23

Musical. Louise is fluent in

6:25

German, but she knows the 1938 novel is based on.

6:29

Alfred Hitchcock later adapted it into

6:31

a psychological thriller, also called Rebecca.

6:34

Sarah, have you seen it? I haven't

6:36

seen any of the sophisticated versions of

6:38

the story, nor have I read the

6:40

sophisticated version of the book, but I have

6:43

read things based on Rebecca. So I kind

6:45

of know a little bit about it. You

6:47

know the gist, then. For anybody

6:49

listening at home, I am going to spoil this 100-year-old

6:52

story, so if you don't want it spoiled,

6:54

now's the time to listen to something else.

6:57

Rebecca is about a woman who marries

7:00

a wealthy widower, but when she moves

7:02

into his estate, Manderle, she can't escape

7:04

the lingering memory of her husband's first

7:06

wife, Rebecca. The housekeeper

7:08

at Manderle is obsessed with Rebecca and

7:11

is constantly trying to undermine the new

7:13

wife. And finally, it's revealed

7:15

that the husband actually murdered Rebecca,

7:17

and the whole thing ends with

7:19

the house going up in

7:21

flames. It's a classic,

7:23

and it's an epic. And

7:25

Rebecca Doss' musical totally lives up

7:27

to it. Louise is blown away

7:30

by the stunning sets, the costumes,

7:32

and powerful operatic score. The

7:34

show ends with the housekeeper literally setting

7:37

a spiral staircase on fire. Sarah,

7:39

here's a clip of the show's climax. Would you

7:42

just pay it for us? This

7:48

is fully a staircase on

7:50

fire on stage. I didn't know you

7:53

could do that. This is like the

7:55

episode of Simpsons where they're watching

7:57

the Planet of the Apes musical, and Homer's like, I

7:59

love it. Peter has it. Does

8:02

However, watching this I'm like oh

8:04

this is dramatic. What?

8:07

Believe this? I'm looking for a musical to produce.

8:09

And now she's confident that she's found

8:11

as she calls up her friend Ben,

8:13

who's always. Looking for new cells to

8:15

produce and she tells him holy

8:17

shit. You have to see destruction. When

8:20

he does, he's just as impressed. They

8:22

decide they're going to do it.produce the

8:24

first English language version of Or but

8:26

that does musical to make it happens.

8:28

Louise and Bad need to first find

8:31

investor The deep pockets and a love

8:33

a theater. There won't be easy

8:35

because neither of them have been the had producer on

8:37

a major musical. Plus musicals are

8:39

notoriously hard to find since are expensive

8:42

and they rarely make a profit. but

8:44

with bands, off broadway connections and believes

8:46

as wealthy accounts and clients the class

8:48

and they can find investors who believe

8:50

and Rebecca the Musical just as much

8:53

as they do. Within. Two

8:55

years leave and Van have convinced enough

8:57

investors to help them by the English

8:59

rights to the musical the Higher Translator

9:01

As and they set out to find

9:03

a sitter to host The South. After

9:06

a few setbacks including a basement flat

9:08

on their initial okay sense than Emily's

9:10

find a new theatre this time on

9:12

Broadway. What could possibly go

9:14

wrong? Believe

9:19

band get to work firing actors and

9:21

crew the building sat than making costumes.

9:23

they sign of Broadway Star to lead

9:26

the cast and Linda to time Tony

9:28

award winning director the even set and

9:30

opening date and spring twenty twelve but

9:32

then loses hit with some bad news.

9:34

One of her investor says they're pulling

9:36

back on the money. they initially. Pledged.

9:38

it's a major blow to the

9:40

production, so they. have no choice

9:42

but to postpone rehearsals and push

9:45

the says premier it's humiliating to

9:47

make this announcement rebecca is one

9:49

of the most anticipated new musicals

9:51

of the year and the press

9:53

have been covering it closely plot

9:55

broadway is a small world and

9:57

theater people do not forget Yeah,

10:00

I'm sure whatever the reason for the investor

10:02

pulling out, like it is a stain on

10:04

something because people get suspicious, right? Yeah, I

10:06

mean, I would be too. So

10:09

Louise and Ben are on a real deadline. They

10:11

need to raise $4 million by the fall,

10:13

or they'll lose their spot at the theater. And

10:16

if they don't stage the production, they won't

10:18

be able to repay their investors. And

10:21

that's why on a brisk day in January 2012,

10:23

Louise walks into a Long Island diner for

10:26

a blind date, the business kind. She's here

10:28

to meet Mark Hotten, a 46-year-old

10:30

former stockbroker who now works as a

10:32

financial consultant. With his fancy

10:34

suit and his shiny Rolex, he looks like he

10:37

could be the answer to all of Louise's problems.

10:40

Louise tells Mark about the cast and the

10:42

crew they've already lined up. Plus, the original

10:44

Vienna production is a proven concept. Adaptations

10:47

in Tokyo, Seoul, and Helsinki are

10:49

having successful runs too. It's

10:51

got all the makings of a hit. Mark

10:54

seems intrigued. He tells Louise he has friends

10:56

who have invested in productions on London's West

10:58

End, and they've done really well. Louise

11:01

leaves the diner feeling encouraged. A

11:04

week later, Mark tells her that he can't

11:06

invest in the musical himself, but

11:08

he wants to help her find others who

11:10

can. All he wants in return

11:12

is a finder's fee and reimbursement for any

11:14

expenses. This is pretty unusual

11:17

for Broadway, but Louise talks to Ben about it,

11:19

and they decide they've got nothing to lose. They

11:22

agree to give Mark a flat fee of $7,500 and

11:25

a percentage of any money he brings in

11:27

after they raise $250,000. That seems like the

11:29

most reasonable thing to do

11:32

for something that is like a bit weird.

11:34

You know, they're not giving him a ton

11:36

of money. If he does

11:38

something crazy, you know, it's just $7,500 at that point,

11:40

right? Yeah, it

11:42

does seem kind of low risk. And a little

11:44

more than a month later, their gamble does seem to

11:46

pay off. Mark tells Louise he's

11:49

found a group of investors willing to chip in.

11:51

One of them is a South African businessman

11:53

living in Australia. His name is

11:56

Paul Abrams. He's agreed to put

11:58

in $2 million and three of his friends will

12:00

chip in another $2.5 million.

12:03

An investment at this scale is virtually

12:05

unheard of in Broadway, particularly by new

12:07

investors. But it would put Louise

12:09

and Ben well over their $4 million

12:11

fundraising goal. They're thrilled. Normally,

12:14

they would meet their investors in person, but they

12:16

don't have time to travel abroad. And

12:18

when Ben tries to set up time to meet with

12:20

Paul in New York, he cancels on him. So

12:23

they handle all the paperwork over email, and Mark

12:25

promises that they'll get the money by the end

12:27

of July. Louise breathes a

12:29

sigh of relief. Now she

12:31

and Ben can reschedule rehearsals and set a

12:33

new premiere date for the fall. But

12:36

while Louise is preparing for the drama on stage,

12:39

things are about to get even messier behind the

12:41

scenes. A

12:45

few months after making the deal with Paul,

12:47

Louise and Ben host a preview of Rebecca

12:49

for Critics and Investors. Now, I

12:52

don't have any audio from this event, but I

12:54

do have audio from a trailer for Rebecca. So

12:56

Sarah, please, if you will, imagine you're

12:59

in a rehearsal space in New York

13:01

City, watching performers belt their hearts out

13:03

to a small but wealthy audience. As

13:16

someone who has never like gone to

13:18

a musical before, this is what I

13:20

would want from the experience. So much

13:22

is happening. There's just so much going

13:24

on. I could see why this is an

13:27

expensive production. Yeah, man, listen,

13:29

they're spending that money. And

13:31

after the performance, Louise approaches Mark.

13:34

She asks him if Paul, the South

13:36

African investor, is in the crowd. She's

13:39

eager to meet him and his friends who

13:41

are solely responsible for saving their musical. Mark

13:44

says they weren't able to come, but that Paul's niece

13:46

is here. And he points to a

13:48

middle-aged brunette standing across the room. When

13:50

Louise goes over to say hi, she quickly

13:53

realizes that Paul's niece doesn't have a South

13:55

African accent or even an

13:57

English one. She sounds American. and

14:00

that Louise is rough. Rich people grow

14:02

up all over the place, you know? Yeah,

14:05

I mean, again, that is a thing

14:07

that probably in retrospect is a red flag,

14:10

but at the moment, you'd be like, yeah, of course you

14:12

can have an American niece. You just don't know

14:14

till you know. Yeah. Well, the

14:16

performance goes well, but Louise and Ben

14:18

are still nervously sprinting towards their fall

14:21

premiere. They're confident they can get there,

14:23

but there have been so many delays already

14:25

that their leading actors recently lived the production,

14:27

and they still haven't gotten the money from

14:30

their new investors. Still, they honor

14:32

the end of their deal with Mark and give him

14:34

a portion of the senator's fee. They

14:36

figure out the show of good faith. They

14:38

also reimburse him for an African safari who

14:40

took the call to secure the investment. In

14:43

total, they've given him about $35,000. So

14:47

this is Scammer 101. We've

14:49

seen this so many times where in

14:52

order to secure an investment, they go

14:54

on a very luxurious trip, and they're

14:56

like, listen, it's necessary with these rich

14:58

guys. You got to take them somewhere

15:00

nice. And to a normal person,

15:02

you're like, cool. I don't know what

15:04

rich people do. This is true, but Sarah,

15:07

get this. Soon,

15:09

they hear from Mark that Paul is in

15:11

the ICU with malaria. Louise feels

15:13

horrible, but she also really needs to get

15:15

his money. She and Ben decide

15:18

to wait it out and hope for the best. But

15:20

four days later, Paul's assistant reaches out to

15:23

them with some bad news. Paul

15:25

has died. Louise and

15:28

Ben do not have time to mourn the

15:30

investor that they never actually met. They are

15:32

freaking out. They start frantically trying

15:34

to get Paul's friends to send in their money.

15:37

But with Paul's death, everyone has gone

15:39

silent. Mark promises he'll fly to

15:41

London and figure it out. But summer

15:44

comes and goes, and the money still

15:46

hasn't arrived. Louise and Ben

15:48

have no choice. They have to postpone

15:50

Rebecca the Musical again. They're

15:53

devastated. But they also have to

15:55

be strategic. They don't want other

15:58

investors to get spooked. look

16:00

like a bump in the road rather than

16:02

a full-on disaster. So they reach

16:04

out to the only person they think can save

16:06

them, a PR genius. In

16:14

September 2012, the same month Rebecca rehearsals

16:16

were supposed to have started, and

16:18

Mark Thibodeau is walking up to an Upper East

16:21

Side apartment. And Sarah, since there's

16:23

already a mark in the story, I'm going

16:25

to call this guy Thibodeau. Will you please

16:27

describe what him, and his formidable neck, look

16:30

like? You know, he

16:32

looks like a business guy because he

16:34

has that kind of gray, mostly

16:37

gray salt and pepper hair, and

16:39

he has angry eyebrows. So

16:42

he means business. He sure does. And

16:44

Thibodeau is actually a superstar Broadway publicist.

16:46

His company has represented more than 200

16:49

shows, including Phantom of the

16:51

Opera, Lee Miserable, and Wicked.

16:54

If anyone can help make a show a hit, it's

16:56

him. And his job is

16:58

now to help Louise and Ben save

17:00

Rebecca the musical. Once Thibodeau arrives at

17:02

Louise's apartment, she and Ben tell him

17:04

that their key investor has died. And

17:07

now they need to find a way to let people

17:09

know that they're postponing the show, and to spread the

17:11

word that they need to raise more money without scaring

17:13

their current investors off. Thibodeau says he'll

17:16

go home and draft a press

17:18

release. And in it, he

17:20

explains that the play has to be postponed

17:22

due to the sudden and shocking death

17:24

of their largest investor, Paul Abrams. But

17:27

after reading it, Louise and Ben immediately

17:29

push back. They say he has to

17:31

remove any mention of Paul's name. Thibodeau

17:33

is confused. This is their second postponement

17:35

in a year, and they need to

17:37

have a good reason for it. Tickets

17:40

are already on sale, and more than 100 people's

17:42

jobs are on the line. If

17:44

Louise and Ben aren't careful, they'll become the laughing

17:46

stocks of Broadway. With everything

17:48

else at stake, Thibodeau thinks they should

17:51

include more information about Paul. But

17:53

Louise and Ben stand firm. They

17:55

insist on leaving Paul's name out. They

17:58

want to protect his privacy, and so they can do it. So

18:00

the release goes out saying that the delay is due

18:02

to the death of an anonymous investor. It

18:05

is especially weird because there's been so many

18:07

issues already that it's like why not just

18:09

name this guy? He was obviously well

18:11

known enough to have that much

18:14

money. Yeah, it's weird. And

18:16

soon after, Thibodeau gets a call from

18:18

a New York Times theater reporter named

18:20

Patrick Healy. Patrick doesn't think

18:22

the story about a dead investor adds up. He

18:25

wants to know who the investor is. Otherwise,

18:27

it seems like Louise and Ben are just

18:29

stalling and maybe even making up a

18:31

fake investor so that they could raise more money

18:34

and not raise alarm bells. Thibodeau

18:36

has to stand by his clients, so

18:38

he refuses to share Paul's name. The

18:41

next day, he breathes a sigh of relief when he

18:43

reads Patrick's article in the New York Times. The

18:46

padlined, Rebecca delayed again after

18:48

major investor dies. No

18:51

mention of Patrick's suspicions about the anonymous

18:53

investors. But what Thibodeau

18:55

doesn't know is that the drama with

18:57

Rebecca is somehow just beginning. The

19:00

play is about a woman haunted by her husband's

19:02

dead wife. And now the

19:04

musical itself will try to move forward, while

19:07

being haunted by a dead investor.

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a hazy machine or

21:35

somethingUTR is best known for moving to a direct So

22:01

he drops everything and he sprints across

22:03

Manhattan to meet Larry. Larry

22:06

is 72 and he looks a little bit like Bernie

22:08

Sanders. When Ben gets to his office,

22:10

the two of them sit down and they chat for a

22:12

while. Larry tells Ben that

22:14

he runs a pharmaceutical company and he's interested in

22:17

investing in Broadway for the first time. So

22:19

Ben gives him the pitch about Rebecca. He

22:22

asks Larry point blank if he can

22:24

replace Paul's multi-million dollar investment. And

22:27

Larry says yes, he can, but

22:30

he wants to remain anonymous. An

22:32

investment this large would send every Broadway producer

22:34

to his door. Ben eagerly

22:36

agrees and he leaves the meeting with a handshake

22:39

deal and a skip and a step. Within

22:42

days, Ben's lawyers have drawn up the agreement for

22:44

Larry to invest more than $2 million. I

22:47

understand part of the wanting

22:50

to be anonymous thing, but for a

22:52

second time of this coming up, it

22:54

is so sus. While

22:57

even with this last minute investment, Ben and Louise

22:59

are still more than a million dollars short of

23:01

their goal because Paul's so-called

23:04

friends in London never came through.

23:06

Luckily, Mark says he can cover it. He

23:09

feels awful about Paul's death and he wants to do

23:11

everything he can to help the show. He

23:13

says he'll get Ben and Louise a bridge loan and

23:15

that he'll even use his own house to ensure it.

23:18

Ben is eager to tell the world that

23:20

Rebecca is fully funded. But

23:22

just as he secured a roof over their heads, the

23:25

floor is about to fall out. Around

23:32

this time, Thibodeaux is still thinking about that phone

23:34

call from Patrick at the New York Times. Patrick's

23:37

questions about the sudden death of an investor were

23:39

perfectly reasonable, but Thibodeaux didn't have

23:41

answers. Neither did Ben or

23:43

Louise, at least none that they shared with him.

23:46

Thibodeaux is a bit shaken by the whole thing,

23:48

so he starts an investigation of his own. He

23:51

starts by looking over the investment paperwork for

23:53

Paul Abrams. And right away, he

23:55

finds a lot of red flags. Like

23:58

street addresses that he discovers don't work. that

24:00

actually exist. And phone numbers that don't work.

24:03

Thibodeau has gone from curious to deeply

24:05

concerned. So he decides to look

24:07

into Mark. He Googles Mark Haughton

24:09

and Long Island and gets a flurry

24:11

of hits. And they implicate Mark

24:14

in a series of fraud schemes. So

24:17

you're telling me that it was that easy to

24:19

find dirt on Mark by

24:21

literally Googling Mark Haughton, Long

24:24

Island. That's all it took. Sarah, as you

24:26

know from hosting the show, people don't look

24:28

anybody up. They just don't bother.

24:31

That's insane. Well, Thibodeau

24:33

is freaking out. So he calls Ben eager

24:35

to share what he's found. But

24:38

Ben doesn't want to hear it. He says

24:40

successful people like Mark always have lies written about

24:42

them on the internet. Ben still believes

24:44

that Mark is going to get him that bull's lawn. And

24:46

he doesn't want anything to stand in the way of it. Now,

24:49

Thibodeau's mind is racing. How

24:52

could Ben willingly ignore such gigantic

24:54

red flags? He could be

24:56

getting scammed right now. Is he just blinded by

24:59

his ambition to get Rebecca up and running? Or

25:01

could he be in on the con? Thibodeau

25:04

doesn't know what to think. And the next

25:07

day, things get even more complicated. Patrick

25:10

publishes a new article about Rebecca. It's

25:12

so juicy that it lands on the front page of

25:14

the New York Times. It turns

25:16

out Patrick has been talking to the

25:19

show's other investors who were all pretty

25:21

alarmed by Rebecca's fundraising situation. Through

25:23

his reporting, Patrick has discovered the name

25:25

of the person he dubs, the mystery

25:28

man, Paul Abrams. And

25:30

the article details how Paul was set to

25:32

invest millions of dollars only to

25:34

die suddenly. But as Patrick

25:37

notes, there were no obituaries and not

25:39

a single death notice. Plus,

25:41

the only contact for his estate is

25:43

a spokesman who goes by one name,

25:45

Wexler, who refuses to speak on

25:47

the phone and uses an email address that

25:50

was created last month. Okay,

25:52

so obviously this man does

25:54

not exist. Well,

25:57

when Patrick contacts them for comment,

25:59

Ben admits. Well, he never met

26:01

Paul in person, and they never spoke on

26:03

the phone. But he won't say whether

26:05

he thinks Paul would move up. He tells Patrick

26:07

he's just focused on doing everything he can to

26:09

replace Paul's money. The day after the

26:11

article runs, two FBI agents show

26:13

up at Ben's office. It seems

26:16

like they think Ben may have invented Paul. It's

26:18

some kind of fraud scheme. They

26:20

ask him for all documentation relating to Paul,

26:22

and they tell him to come in for

26:24

questioning. For Thibodeau, this

26:26

is turning into something beyond crisis

26:28

PR. It feels like Rebecca is

26:30

doomed. And its producers are caught up

26:32

in something that no amount of spin can

26:34

save. Two

26:40

days after the FBI raid, Ben

26:42

and Louise's newest angel investor, Larry,

26:44

gets an unexpected message. It's

26:47

from someone named Sarah Finkelstein, and

26:49

it's really ominous. It warns that

26:51

the walls are closing in on

26:53

Rebecca the Musical. And this

26:55

is the email that gets forwarded to Louise when she

26:57

and Ben are driving in the rain. Here's

26:59

another quote from it. I am

27:01

writing for one reason only, to try and

27:04

protect an innocent person from losing a lot

27:06

of money. Sarah, can you read

27:08

this next part? Oh, yes. It

27:10

says, It is inevitable that the truth

27:12

will come out in a matter of days or weeks. This

27:23

is so juicy. I

27:25

love an ominous

27:27

message. I love a scary

27:30

prediction. I love a spooky

27:32

tattletale. This is drama, my

27:34

friend. Yes. But Larry

27:36

doesn't know anyone named Sarah Finkelstein. And

27:38

he's especially startled because his investment in

27:40

the musical was supposed to be kept

27:43

private. And this isn't the first

27:45

time that someone has contacted him about it. A

27:47

couple of days earlier, his legal team got

27:49

similar emails from someone named Bethany Walsh. Larry

27:52

was willing to overlook those initial messages,

27:54

but this one puts him over the

27:57

edge. He's spooked. He tells Ben

27:59

and Louise that he's pulling the money. his investment. Ask

28:01

the note that Cosmon to have a mental breakdown in

28:03

a McDonald's parking lot. Larry is

28:05

just the latest to lose faith in this cursed

28:08

musical production, and the FBI

28:10

are now digging into the question, is

28:12

it cosmic bad luck or a

28:14

criminal caper? Ben

28:18

is scheduled to meet with the FBI the day

28:20

after Larry pulls his investment, but first

28:22

he needs to confront the person who found Paul

28:24

and supposedly communicated with him up until he

28:26

died. Ben arranges to meet with Mark in

28:28

a Long Island diner, and we're not sure,

28:30

but it seems like it could be the

28:32

same diner where Louise met Mark for the

28:34

first time, just nine months earlier. Ben

28:37

brings his attorney along and a man he introduces

28:39

as a colleague, even though he's

28:41

actually a private investigator. Ben

28:43

tries to act natural, even as his

28:46

stomach turns. Ben's attorney

28:48

hammers Mark with questions about Paul, but

28:50

Mark is good at deflecting. He regales

28:52

them with tales of private jets, luxury

28:55

hotels, and dinners at Nobu. He

28:57

exudes confidence, and Ben is reminded of why

28:59

he trusted Mark in the first place. But

29:02

the private eye has a very different

29:04

perspective. When breakfast is over,

29:07

he tells Ben he doesn't find Mark

29:09

cuddable, and he says, in

29:11

his professional opinion, that Ben has been

29:13

had. In some ways

29:15

it's kind of worse that Ben didn't

29:17

know, only because, like,

29:20

there were just so many

29:22

times he should have known this was

29:25

totally messed up. Like, I

29:28

can't believe it took this much for him

29:30

to get the truth that was

29:32

very obvious to Thibodeau from the

29:34

beginning. I know. And before Ben

29:36

has time to fully process this, he

29:39

has to go meet with the FBI. Agents

29:41

grill him for three hours, presumably

29:43

making him lay out every interaction

29:46

with Mark and the mysterious Paul

29:48

Abrams. They bring up all

29:50

the inconsistencies in Mark and Paul's stories. And

29:53

by the time the meeting is over, it's clear to

29:55

Ben that everyone around him was right. Mark

29:57

is a scammer to Ben

29:59

and Louise fell for his trap, hook,

30:01

line, and sinker. And if Ben and

30:03

Louise don't want to be implicated in

30:06

Mark's schemes, they need to cut off

30:08

contact with him immediately. That's easy, but

30:10

their next task will be much, much

30:12

harder. Breaking the news to the

30:14

more than 100 cast and crew members who've put

30:17

their lives on hold for Rebecca

30:19

the Musical. The

30:24

day after the FBI meeting, the main cast and

30:26

crew of Rebecca get called into Ben's office. One

30:29

of the actors is a theater and cabaret

30:31

vet named Karen Mason. She's in her early

30:33

60s, a wobbly blonde with a big smile and

30:36

an even bigger voice. A

30:38

month ago, she landed the part of the

30:40

housekeeper who lights the legendary Syracuse on fire.

30:42

She's stuck with the production through both of

30:44

its major delays. She's been waiting

30:47

for a breakout role to take her career to

30:49

the next level, and she thinks this could be

30:51

it. I am livid

30:53

right now. Well, you already

30:56

know what happens. In Ben's office, Karen

30:58

gets the worst possible news. Her

31:00

heart nearly stops when Louise and Ben tell the

31:03

small group why they've gathered. They

31:05

detail the threatening messages that have scared away

31:07

their angel investor. And Ben

31:09

starts to read the emails out loud, but soon

31:11

he's crying so hard that he has to stop.

31:14

His attorney steps in and finishes it for him. Ben,

31:17

Louise, and their attorney tell the actors there

31:19

will be one day of rehearsal so the

31:21

cast can get paid. But after

31:24

that, the musical is postponed

31:26

indefinitely. Karen is

31:28

stunned and destroyed. And like

31:30

Manderly itself, Rebecca's Broadway dream seemed

31:32

to have been burned to the ground. Louise

31:37

is completely gutted. She spent six years

31:39

trying to achieve her dream of producing

31:41

a Broadway musical, and she was this

31:44

close to making it happen. The

31:46

plays logo, A Curse of R, with flames

31:48

around it, is already on the theater's marquee.

31:51

The sets have been built, the costumes have

31:53

been made, a million dollars in

31:55

tickets have been sold, but the

31:57

show won't go on. And unless by

31:59

some means, miracle, she and Ben can secure the rest

32:01

of the funding in the next three months. They're

32:04

on the hook to pay their investors back for the

32:06

millions that they've already spent. But

32:08

if Ben and Louise want to salvage their

32:11

reputations, they have to tell the world about

32:13

the mysterious circumstances that stopped this production dead

32:15

in its tracks. That could

32:17

be harder than ever, because their publicist,

32:20

Thibodeau, has resigned. Then

32:22

somehow convinced him to send out one final press

32:24

release before he did. In

32:26

it, he explained that the musical was

32:28

thrown into chaos by a quote, malicious

32:30

email filled with lies and innuendo sent

32:32

to an angel investor. And

32:34

now it's clear that Rebecca the musical

32:36

is taking its final bow before

32:39

it's ever able to take its first.

32:42

Louise is worried that she'll never be able to work

32:44

in the theater industry again. And the

32:47

most frustrating thing is that whoever sent those

32:49

eerie messages is still walking

32:51

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slash wondery. In

34:00

October 2012, less than a month after

34:02

Rebecca officially sold, federal agents swarmed a

34:04

brick mansion on Long Island. The

34:07

agents rushed inside and grabbed their man,

34:09

Mark Cotton. They cuffed

34:11

him and perp-walk him into a squad car. He's

34:14

actually being brought in on charges related to

34:16

an entirely different scam. But hours

34:18

later, he gets slapped with charges for his role

34:20

in Rebecca the Musical 2. Oh,

34:22

and he's also charged with stealing more than $750,000 from

34:26

a Connecticut real estate company. He

34:28

scammed them in a similar way as he scammed Louise

34:30

and Ben through a web of

34:32

fake companies, made-up people, and fake email

34:35

addresses. Can't scam this.

34:37

The police only discovered this other scam

34:39

when they looked into the mystery surrounding

34:41

Paul's death. It turns out, Mark

34:43

has been living on borrowed time. He

34:45

declared bankruptcy the previous year to avoid paying

34:47

back millions he stole from real estate clients.

34:50

They were funding his lavish lifestyle. His

34:53

old colleagues nicknamed him Hollywood for

34:55

his ridiculous spending. I mean,

34:57

he actually bought a yacht and named it Hot

34:59

Catch, and that's hot with two teas,

35:02

just like his last name. My

35:05

God, another stupid boat with a dumb

35:07

name. Men love boats. Well,

35:10

the feds now understand a lot about

35:13

Mark and his various cons, but

35:15

it's still unclear why Mark got involved with

35:17

Louise and Ben. Did he think

35:19

he could actually find investors? Probably

35:21

not. Maybe he just saw a

35:23

desperate producer at that diner and thought he had an

35:25

easy mark. Or maybe there was a

35:27

bigger con that would have unfolded had he not been caught.

35:30

We'll never know. It's probably obvious

35:32

by now, but Mark made up Paul

35:34

and his associates, and he sent all

35:36

the fake emails pretending to be them. And

35:39

remember the woman Louise met at the

35:41

backers' audition? The one who was supposedly

35:43

Paul Abrams' niece? The one with the

35:45

American accent? Well, that was Mark's

35:47

life. I'm really glad you said

35:49

that because I was like really hoping

35:52

we'd find out who she is. Well,

35:55

Louise and Ben immediately file a $100 million lawsuit

35:59

against Mark for Ruiz. ruining the show. The

36:01

lawsuit also says that whoever sent the

36:03

emails to Larry might also have criminal

36:05

liability because they led him to pull

36:07

out. Sarah, who do you

36:09

think sent the ominous emails? I

36:12

am very curious as to who sent

36:14

those emails because they obviously knew something,

36:16

right? Well, Sarah, strap in

36:18

because we're about to find out. Shortly

36:24

after Mark's arrest, Thibodeau is riding his bike

36:26

around New Jersey's Liberty State Park. He

36:29

just goes in circles around

36:31

and around for six straight

36:33

hours. Ben recently

36:35

told him that the emails sent

36:37

from made up people, Bethany and

36:40

Sarah, were potentially criminal, and the

36:42

FBI is investigating. Thibodeau is panicking

36:45

because he's the one who sent them. Oh

36:49

my God. That makes so

36:51

much sense because he was obviously

36:53

like, how could these people be

36:55

so stupid? Like they must be

36:57

in on it too. And they

37:00

weren't in on it. But that was

37:02

a natural assumption to be made. And

37:04

he wanted to like save people from

37:06

getting in trouble, I guess. I guess.

37:08

Well, when Ben and Louise refused to reveal

37:11

Paul's name and then ignored Thibodeau when

37:13

he brought up Mark's super shady

37:15

Google results, Thibodeau was beyond

37:17

suspicious. And he assumed that

37:19

Ben and Louise were involved in Mark's scheme.

37:22

And then he found out that his press

37:24

release is what caught Larry's attention and led

37:26

him to invest. Thibodeau felt

37:28

responsible for playing a part in an

37:31

innocent investor potentially getting scammed out of

37:33

millions. And he knew that

37:35

Patrick, the Times reporter, was sniffing around.

37:37

So he came up with

37:39

a very drastic plan to try to scare

37:42

the investors away. Oh

37:44

my God, this is so

37:46

convoluted. But I kind of get

37:48

it. Like it was already so

37:50

deep into the problem that like

37:52

I could see someone's mind going

37:55

there, you know? Sarah, there's more.

37:58

No, I would love I love

38:00

if you could read how Thibodeau later

38:02

told Vanity Fair that he came up

38:04

with the name Bethany Walsh. Okay,

38:07

he goes, my mother's maiden name

38:09

is Walsh, and maybe I had

38:11

seen Bethany Frankel on the Today Show

38:13

that morning. Oh my

38:15

god, Bethany Frankel selling

38:18

her skinny margaritas or whatever. I

38:20

love that he was like, Bethany,

38:23

hmm, is this a real name?

38:27

Well, Thibodeau isn't the most tech-savvy guy,

38:30

so he went to a public computer at

38:32

a coffee shop to send the email, and he

38:34

hoped that was anonymous enough. And

38:36

then, when Larry's lawyers didn't respond,

38:38

he created another email account and

38:41

made the sender name Sarah Finkelstein,

38:43

and then he typed that super dramatic email. Thibodeau

38:46

knows he didn't cover his cybertracks very well.

38:49

It's only a matter of time before he's found

38:51

out, which is why he's been riding his bike

38:53

around in circles, because he's purified. He

38:56

later hires a criminal defense attorney, but

38:58

he's so afraid he won't even go into his

39:01

office worried that the FBI will show up, just

39:03

like they did at Ben's office. Thibodeau

39:06

thinks of himself as a whistleblower, someone trying

39:08

to protect the innocent. But

39:10

will the theater community agree, or will

39:12

his reputation as a respected publicist be

39:14

forever tainted? He doesn't have to

39:17

wait long to find out. Louise and

39:19

Ben's attorneys are able to track the mysterious

39:21

emails to Thibodeau's IP address, and

39:23

they finally find out that the person who scared

39:25

off their last hope at getting Rebecca the Musical

39:27

to the stage was their

39:30

own publicist. Just

39:32

weeks later, Louise and Ben sue

39:34

Thibodeau for defamation and breach of

39:36

contract. They ask for more than $10 million

39:38

in damages. By

39:40

this point, the logo for Rebecca the Musical

39:43

is finally taken off the theater's marquee.

39:46

It's soon replaced by the Nora Efron

39:48

play Lucky Guy, starring Tom Hanks. The

39:51

Broadway story is over, but the

39:53

drama in the courtroom is just beginning. July

40:00

2013, about nine months after his

40:02

arrest, Mark pleads guilty to both counts of

40:04

wire fraud, one for his Rebecca scheme and

40:07

another related to the real estate con. A

40:09

little more than a year later, he's sentenced to almost

40:12

three years in prison and is forced to repay nearly

40:14

$70,000 to the Rebecca producers

40:16

and another half a million dollars

40:18

to the government. One

40:20

of the victim's lawyers estimates that Mark and his

40:22

wife, through all of their scams, defrauded victims out

40:25

of more than $7 million. He

40:28

sentenced to 11 more years in prison in

40:30

the summer of 2015, this time for

40:32

his involvement in an entirely different scheme,

40:35

conspiracy to launder money. He

40:37

sent to Fort Dix, the same New Jersey prison

40:39

where Joe Giudice did his time. As

40:41

of this recording, he's being held at a halfway

40:43

house in New York, and he's scheduled for

40:45

early release in February 2024. The

40:49

FCC eventually clears Ben and Louise of any

40:51

involvement in Mark's scheme, their

40:53

lawsuit against Thibodeau Ghost trial in April 2017.

40:57

Thibodeau was found not guilty of defamation, but he

40:59

does have to pay $90,000 for breaking his

41:02

contract and ruining the show's chance at

41:04

financial success. It is

41:07

a fraction of the $10 million Ben and Louise

41:09

had been hoping for. Today,

41:11

he's still a successful theater publicist.

41:14

As for Louise, she seems to have given up

41:16

her dreams of producing a Broadway musical. Good

41:19

thing she kept her day job. And

41:21

now, Ben has a markedly different path

41:23

since this scam. In August

41:25

of 2019, he was arrested and later

41:27

convicted of possession of child porn. I

41:31

am what? Like,

41:35

yeah, we cannot root for Ben.

41:38

Well, in other news, their angel investor,

41:40

Larry, has since passed away. There's

41:43

some speculation that he wanted his investment

41:45

to remain a secret because of his

41:47

son's dealings in unregulated pharmaceuticals. That's

41:50

a story for another day. Oh,

41:52

and there is a happy ending for Rebecca, the

41:54

musical fan. The English language debut

41:56

of Rebecca finally made it to a stage in

41:58

London last year. I'm a

42:01

producer. Well,

42:07

Sarah, what a ride. I know we

42:09

say that all the time, but truly

42:12

this was a ride. I didn't know

42:14

who to believe. I know. Why do

42:16

you think Louise and Ben didn't just

42:18

Google Mark? I really think they were

42:21

very arrogant. I think they wanted to

42:23

ignore anything crazy

42:25

or any red flags because

42:27

they were just like, whatever we'll get it, we'll push

42:29

through. This is going to happen without

42:32

thinking about anyone else who's involved. And you know,

42:34

like theater performers aren't paid a ton of money.

42:36

Like this could have been life

42:38

changing for a lot of people. It's so wild

42:40

because it's like this chain reaction of like all

42:43

these people got roped into this thing just because

42:45

these two ding dongs didn't do a Google search.

42:48

Yeah, I do feel pretty bad

42:50

in some ways for Thibodeau because

42:52

like he didn't do the smartest

42:54

thing, but I could see

42:56

how someone could think that's

42:58

the only way to get someone's attention to

43:00

stop something. You know what I mean? I

43:03

feel like this is teaching me that you and

43:05

I should just like make

43:08

a musical. Like how hard could it be? Yeah,

43:11

definitely. I have

43:13

learned that honestly, maybe

43:15

it isn't that hard as long

43:17

as you're able to like shamelessly ask for

43:19

money. That's

43:21

the key to success. The

43:23

scam is arts funding

43:25

where, you know, everyone's

43:27

out here begging for money and you

43:31

know, it's such a dog eat

43:33

dog world out there and it just

43:36

makes me so sad that that's what people have to do,

43:38

you know? Here's what I learned is writing

43:40

is the only job in the creative space

43:42

where you can do it alone. You

43:44

can do it alone and you don't need anybody to help

43:46

you. And I really admire that

43:48

about writing and no other creative work. If

43:51

that's what's helping you sleep at night. ad-free

44:00

on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon

44:02

Music app today or you can

44:05

listen ad-free with Wondery Plus and

44:07

Apple Podcasts. Before you

44:09

go, tell us about yourself

44:11

by completing a short survey

44:13

at wondery.com/survey. This

44:20

is Rebecca the Musical, a real

44:22

showstopper. I'm Sachi Cole and

44:24

I'm Sarah Hagee. If you have a tip for us

44:26

on the story that you think we should cover, please

44:29

email us at scamfluencers at wondery.com.

44:32

We use many sources in our research. A

44:35

few that were particularly helpful were

44:37

The Road to Manderly by David Camp for

44:39

Vanity Fair and the reporting of Patrick Healy

44:41

for The New York Times and

44:44

the reporting of Adam Patrick,

44:46

Kenneth Thrones and others for

44:48

playbill.com. Rachel Borders wrote

44:50

this episode, edition writing by Sachi

44:52

Cole and Sarah Hagee. Sarah

44:54

Eni is our story editor and producer and Eric

44:56

Zerm is our story editor. Scott

44:58

Heckingville Will Taplin, sound design by

45:01

Sam Ada, additional audio assistance provided

45:03

by Adrian Tapia and music supervisor

45:05

Iskoff and Lassen for season. Our

45:07

coordinating producer is Desi Blaylock and our

45:10

managing producer is Matt Gantt. Janine Cornello

45:12

and Stephanie Jones are our development producers.

45:14

Our associate producers are Charlotte Miller and

45:16

Lexi Piri. Our producers are John Reed,

45:18

Yasmin Ward and Kate Young. Our senior

45:20

producers are Ginny Bloom and Jen Swan.

45:22

Our executive producers are Jenny Lower Beckman,

45:24

Marsha Louie and Aaron O'Farrity. How

45:26

Wondery. Hey,

45:43

I'm Michelle Beadle and I'm Peter Rosenberg.

45:46

Hey Peter, tell the people about our new

45:48

podcast. Right, it's called Over the Top

45:50

and we cover the biggest topics in sports

45:52

and pop culture using Royal Rumble rules. That

45:54

means we'll start with two stories, toss one

45:56

out on a dash and dive into the

45:58

other side of the stories with ruthless

46:01

aggression. Oh but it never stops

46:03

because every 90 seconds after

46:05

that. Whose

46:10

music is that? Another story comes down

46:12

to the ring. Rinse and repeat until

46:15

we arrive at the one most important

46:17

thing on planet earth that week. Follow

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Over the Top on the Wondery app or wherever

46:24

you get your podcasts. You can listen to

46:26

Over the Top ad free right now by

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joining Wondery Plus. For the record

46:31

this is not a wrestling podcast.

46:33

No no but it is inspired by

46:35

wrestling. Isn't everything inspired by wrestling,

46:37

Beadle? Fair point.