Scratching For Felonies

This week JJ & Tonio welcome a very special guest, Steve Walden, their 5th subscriber who wrote in and asked to be on the show!

They'll be breaking down the alleged $100 million Orange County bank fraud tied in with one of the largest fraud-based arbitration awards involving Southern California commercial real estate to the tune of $1.34 billion (yes with a B), plus the bizarre story of a man who turned stolen lottery scratchers into felony charges?!

If you love true crime, financial crimes, white-collar crimes, bizarre criminal stories and comedians making fun of the headlines, this episode is for you!

Your friendly neighborhood comedians JJ & Tonio take real crime stories and add the commentary, jokes and ridiculous observations the news leaves out!

Because sometimes the crimes are serious... and sometimes the criminals make it impossible not to laugh!

This episode will cover: True Crime, White-Collar Crime, Bank Fraud, Wire Fraud, Financial crimes, Orange County News, Breaking News, Lottery Scams, Crime News, Comedy, Dark Humor, News Commentary

#TrueCrime #BankFraud #WireFraud #FinancialCrime #WhiteCollarCrime #OrangeCounty #BreakingNews #ComedyPodcast #TrueCrimeComedy #CrimeNews

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Allegedly, also blackmailed bank associates by hosting parties with sex workers and drugs. Yeah. And then he would blackmail them later. That's all listened up.

SPEAKER_04 0:12

And no one gets hurt.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

This is a podcast that focuses on crimes and scams where no one physically is harmed. This is a podcast for information and internet for its own. Nothing in this podcast can be taken as legal advice.

SPEAKER_04 0:27

So listen up and no one gets hurt. You already said that. Alright, well, don't forget to like and subscribe and in the comments. Tell us what scam you'd like us to cover.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

What we have today is a real special situation. One of our subscribers actually reached out and was like, you know what? I want to be on the show. I want to be part of the action, part of the magic, if you will. So today, our number five subscriber, but number one in our hearts, Steve Walden.

SPEAKER_03 0:54

Thank you very much. Yeah, I'm a criminal at heart. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Um, yeah. So thank you for being a subscriber, first of all. And uh thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_03 1:05

Nobody gets hurt.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

That's right. Everybody has a good time.

SPEAKER_04 1:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 1:10

Absolutely. Speaking of subscribers, I waited until we started rolling to tell you this. We just hit 50.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Are you kidding me?

SPEAKER_04 1:17

Nope.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

That's exciting.

SPEAKER_04 1:18

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Thank you so much. It'll be back at 49. It's always like a mystery.

SPEAKER_04 1:25

That's all right.

SPEAKER_03 1:26

I have that effect on people. Same.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Yeah. So uh, well, so you're not a comic. You're usually this is where we talk about comedy, but maybe maybe we could start with like tell us some of your favorite comics, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

Well, I I'll start with I I think I'm pretty funny. You are pretty funny. Actually, I'm not I'm not really that funny. So my favorite favorite comics, um Jerry Seinfeld is is uh he's a master. Um Dave Chappelle. Obviously. That's my favorite classic. Jim Gapp again. Love him. Yeah, so those are a few.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Respectable choices. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Yeah, I think it's interesting. You went clean, filthy, clean.

SPEAKER_03 2:09

Well, it's a it's a filthy sandwich.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

Yeah, yeah. That's true. You know, speaking of Dave Chappelle, I just watched most of the AFI award for Eddie Murphy. And Dave Chappelle, actually, I'm getting the chills. He gave such a beautiful uh speech.

SPEAKER_04 2:25

He's a wordsmith.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

It it was beautiful. He was saying how one of the things, sorry to ruin it for you, one of the things he was like, thank you for surviving the 80s, because he was like, My other icons aren't here anymore. He was like, Prince, uh, Rick James, uh, I think he had one or two other people, but he's like, Yeah, he's like, You you survived John Belushi. It he was John Belushi wasn't on the Dave Chappelle list, but he was listing out a couple different people and he was basically saying, like, um, and and also giving our credit to Eddie because I don't think Eddie ever did drugs, and he looks fantastic, honestly. He looks very, very good. So, um are you thinking about it? Yeah, I don't think he participated in a lot of recreational activities. I mean, maybe the ladies, but that's that's I think that was probably his vice. I don't know, maybe I don't know, allegedly, don't know.

SPEAKER_03 3:16

But I just saw, by the way, unrelated to Eddie Murphy, but um Garrett Morris.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

Um, he was on Saturday Night Live, one of the originals. He's 89 years old.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 3:27

African American.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 3:29

And the picture of him, he looks great. Yeah, but the thing that caught everybody's attention was he's got a very large bulge. Like belly or no, no, different.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Where where were you staring at his bulge? Like where's it?

SPEAKER_03 3:46

I think it was on the Daily Mail, which I think is the best source of news, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

It is a good source of news. It's a funny, it breaks news actually, because it's uh British based. So a lot of times you get your news. If you check Daily Mail, you find out about stuff uh eight hours ahead of time. About yeah, six to twelve hours before it feels like it breaks here. So yeah. Yeah, yeah. But um, anyways, yeah. I think Dave Chappelle is Tony your favorite.

SPEAKER_04 4:11

He's a he's an absolute master of the craft. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

I I I enjoy him as well. I love him. He's great. So um, how's your year going so far? Everybody's year going so we're at like the we're at the six month marker.

SPEAKER_03 4:24

We are at the six month marker, yeah. Yeah, things are things are pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

New Year's resolutions tell holding up.

SPEAKER_03 4:31

No, no, not at all.

SPEAKER_04 4:32

I don't even bother anymore. Yeah, yeah. Whatever happens is gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:37

How about you?

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Uh, you know, I don't really do the the goals. I try to like keep it in mind. I try to be mindful of it. Like a couple years ago I thought yoga, I was gonna do yoga, and I did it before, but just never I never end up doing it. So I kind of just I just don't put it in the uh end of the universe anymore.

SPEAKER_04 4:56

So I did yoga in prison.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Oh, did you?

SPEAKER_04 4:59

Yeah, actually. And people used to like Is that what they call it? Yeah. People used to laugh because like, I mean, you know, you're doing yoga in prison.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:10

But like believe it or not, I was working out pretty intensely when I was in prison.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

Uh and well, there's not much else to do, right?

SPEAKER_04 5:19

Pretty much, but working out, reading books, fucking eating. That's pretty much it.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

You said fucking comma eating or fucking eating? Commas are important. Yeah, grammar.

SPEAKER_04 5:31

Commas are important. I'm gonna leave it open to interpretation.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

All right. Well, I mean, I think all of our years sounds like it's going pretty good, but the individual we're gonna talk about today, his year is going real bad. This year. This year's going bad. So uh we're gonna be talking about Newport Beach developer Mahinder Makhajani.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

I'm gonna try to say Indian. I thought so.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

So I'm gonna try to just go with Makhajani. Um, so in May, he got hit with a $1.34 billion arbitration judgment against him and his corporations. Damn. That's a pretty bad May.

SPEAKER_03 6:07

That's a pretty bad May.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Yeah, wouldn't you say?

SPEAKER_04 6:10

Generational debt.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:14

His great-grandkids are gonna be paying that shit off.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Yeah, I I don't even know where to begin with that. Like, that's just outrageous, you know what I mean? Billion with a billion. Billion. What? But if his May was bad, his June was worse because How does it get worse? Well, so it was Wednesday morning, June 10th.

SPEAKER_04 6:39

Behind the scene.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

While I was out walking my dogs, Mr. Makijani, who normally would fly on PJs, was getting arrested outside of his Newport Beach home in his PJs.

SPEAKER_03 6:56

Uh-oh.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Yeah, early morning, knock, knock, knock, police open the door, and uh, I guess somebody we both know, knows someone who watched it happen. That's awesome. Yeah, saw uh G-Man with arsenal, like weapons, guns, drawn everything.

SPEAKER_04 7:14

God damn.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Yeah, it was armored cars, all the things.

SPEAKER_04 7:17

Um was he like considered like strapped like that? Or like uh they just didn't have anything to do. It is Newport Beach. They were fucking bored.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

They were like, you know what? It's time, boys.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Nobody was a helicopter involved.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

G unit. Yeah, so um, so let's let's go back. We're gonna we're gonna get to the to the June 10th date of him getting arrested, and we'll get to that. But we're gonna we're gonna go back in time, okay? So uh how this how this kind of unfolds is that going back to that $1.34 billion situation, he gets into a business agreement with a guy named Mohana, or sorry, uh Mo Honecker. I'm gonna call him Mo. I might say Honuker, but Mo. So Makijani is a bad guy. Mo innocent bystander. Okay. So and uh Mo has business dealings with Hotel Laguna, uh, multiple other hotels, venture business ventures in Los Angeles, Tusc uh Tuston, Newport Beach, Laguna. But uh this happens in like 2021, we're out of the pandemic, but he has a $195 million loan coming due. And if he doesn't start making payments on this or he doesn't keep his payments flowing, he could possibly face foreclosure of some of the properties that he owns.

SPEAKER_04 8:48

Did you say $500 million?

SPEAKER_00 8:50

$195 million. $195 million.

SPEAKER_04 8:53

That's a much easier number to be like.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Yeah, that's that's more like that's more one generation, not generational, right? Um so Mo is like, I gotta get an infuse of money. So he somehow makes connections with uh Mahijani, and they have an agreement where Maquijani is gonna infuse $30 million into this investment, and then in exchange, he's gonna get some ownership of the real estate holdings or real estate portfolio that that Mo has. All right. Mo Machijani doesn't have the $30 million. It's all a it's all a shell game.

SPEAKER_03 9:36

You guys can it seem it seems a little bit in Newport Beach. I see a lot of people that seem to have I mean I I feel like I'm the poorest person in Newport Beach.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

We we we both commiserate about this.

SPEAKER_03 9:48

We do we do commiserate about this just a bit, but um there's a lot of people with a lot of money, and I suspect that a lot of those lot of people don't really have any money.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

It's a shell game. Allegedly, yes.

SPEAKER_04 10:02

I don't know, I don't have any money. I don't have a dog in this fight. I'm fucking broke.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Well, I think I think to add color to the story, it's one of those things where like if you ever had a Tuesday at 11 o'clock, maybe 1045, let's go with 1045, a solid mid-morning situation, and you're like, you know what, I'm gonna just take a gander into Newport Beach to a coffee shop. There shouldn't be anybody there. I'm just gonna get myself a beverage. You'd be shocked to see just how full the line is, people. And you're like, and it's adults, it's not children, it's not retired, like elder retired. It's like, you know, in the throes of like 35 to 65-year-old men and women having lunch dates, meaning like maybe two guys, not not I'm not meaning in a romantic setting. I'm not well, maybe two, but maybe it then there's nothing wrong with that. Cherry Seinfeld. Um, but it might be, you know, just social. And and I'm always aghast at how many people are just out and about. I think I I always assume it's either what you're saying, it's an empty shell game, or I assume it's mailbox money generational wealth, where it's just like, you know, great grandpa happened to, you know, purchase a business that has dividends that runneth over. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 11:22

So you might find me at a coffee shop at that time. But I'm unemployed and very uh fiscally irresponsible.

SPEAKER_03 11:29

So you just you need to stop calling yourself unemployed. You're an influencer.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Yes, yes, you're independent.

SPEAKER_04 11:39

You're an independent, something like that.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

Yeah, so anyway, so um, so yeah, so like you're saying, I think there's a lot of shell going on. And um, so anyway, so yeah, so so Machajani is unable to provide the $30 million, but he has this agreement with Mo. And then Mo ends up, you know, going into somewhat of a foreclosure situation with some businesses losing uh rights to other businesses. So that's what starts this $1.34 billion arbitration. And part of the what were you gonna say? Oh, that you're gonna sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Um, so uh part of the award, and this is represents one of the largest known fraud arbitration awards involving Southern California commercial real estate portfolio, uh Mahijani was found liable for fraudulent inductor, breach of contract, forcible entry and detainer. Yeah, and related claims all arising from a joint venture that took control of numerous commercial properties previously owned by his clients Mo, Honiker, and 4G Wireless, which was which is which was is Mo's business is 4G Wireless. So the forcible entry and detainer, my understanding on that is that he was going into different of his clients that he was in these agreements with outside of Mo, but also Mo. He was going to the locations and causing havoc. So one of my under Fun. Yeah, my understanding is he went to Hotel Laguna and there was such a skerfuffle that the city manager actually had to shut down temporarily the hotel because he they couldn't allow this to continue on because it was causing such a scene. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:22

God damn, what the what was he doing?

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Uh causing trouble, like you know, causing a fight. There was a brawl, a 20-person brawl at Hotel Laguna.

SPEAKER_04 13:31

And what a what a fucking rap sheet.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:34

I thought my fucking record was impressive. Yes, yes, Jesus Christ. Yes, how many charges total was that?

SPEAKER_00 13:45

So this is not criminal charges, these are civil actions. But it's yeah, but fraudulent inducement one, breach of contract, two, forcible entry and detainer three, and then it says related claims.

SPEAKER_04 13:56

So mine are criminal, and I have six, so I feel like I still have the leg up on them.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

But this is just May. We're only talking about May.

SPEAKER_04 14:03

God damn it.

unknown 14:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Yeah. Yeah. So do my best. Yeah. So basically the arbitrator was saying that Makijani was concealing the fact that he didn't have the money and he got Mo to agree to these uh, you know, terms and conditions, if you will, fraudulently, and and then put Mo's business at stake because Mo was unable to satisfy the the loan that he had, and therefore his business portfolio suffered because of it. The arbitrator awarded Mo 652 million in punitive damages, which is when you punish someone. So basically they're saying you did something bad. So on top of the underlying uh damages, we're gonna punish you. So the the punishment was six hundred and fifty-two million dollars.

SPEAKER_04 14:55

Holy shit.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Yeah, and then um he had been awarded 326 million in compensatory damages, so that was the actual losses, 326 million. And then there was an additional Mo allegedly was losing. Yeah. Oh yeah, because of his his business holding suffered because of this agreement. And then there's an additional $350 million awarded on behalf of the joint venture, which is in receivership. So it's like in the, I believe, a bankruptcy proceeding. And then I think on top of that, I don't think incorporated in this was also the attorney's fee. So that's another cost, but um, that was a lot too. So um, but here's the problem is how are you collecting on this? Because now you have a guy who doesn't have he didn't have the money to put into it, right? And now you have this problem where you need to go after it. And so Mo is really hoping, my understanding from the reporting I've reviewed, um, it that he wants the government to help him locate the funds, right? So that's what the government is known for doing.

SPEAKER_04 15:57

His great grandkids will be paying for it.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Uh yeah. So in June, he gets arrested, and in that situation, it's because he has another disagreement with a different business entity. Yeah. So he in uh in June he had uh had a bank that was saying that they they had a hundred million dollar agreement.

SPEAKER_04 16:24

Because why not?

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Yeah, because why it's not real, and by the way, I just want to make sure that I preface this with um a complaint is merely an allegation of criminal conduct, not evidence. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. So these are all allegations at this point, nothing's been proven. And um, I I know that he was in court uh in in I believe on June 10th, but I don't know how he pled, but I do know that he had no bail. Why why wouldn't he have bail? Well, he's a permanent U.S. permanent citizen, but he's from India, and apparently he had told some of his associates that when shit goes down, I'm gonna go to India and then I'm gonna run my shit from India.

SPEAKER_04 17:13

Do you have extra dish in there?

SPEAKER_00 17:15

I don't know about that. I'm not sure. I was actually gonna look that up and I'm like, I didn't think I ended up not doing it, so here we go.

SPEAKER_03 17:22

But he was gonna run.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Yeah, he said he was gonna run. Um, but apparently, you know, he likes a very Newport person, he loved a crisp linen shirt, liked a luxury sunglass.

SPEAKER_04 17:33

Yeah, they do it.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

Yeah, they x-ray, yeah. They'll send you back. Perfect. But do you think one Newport Beach home is enough? No, no, no, no, no. He owned the home next door to him for what? His in-laws. So he had two homes on the same street next to each other. One for him. It was sort of a his and hers situation. He had a his and theirs. So yeah, very nice. Yeah. What a nice son-in-law.

SPEAKER_03 17:57

I was just thinking the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Could you imagine one night you go to bed? You're like, my son-in-law is the best. He's affording me this wonderful lifestyle. And the next thing you know, it's like, police open up. You're like, what? Yeah, yeah. So G-Wagon, Porsche, Bentley's, all the things, all the nice toys in the front yard.

SPEAKER_03 18:14

Those will get auctioned off. That'll be Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

He told friends that he would flee to India if he were ever caught and would use henchmen to carry out his deeds. Uh allegedly. Yeah, that's what I was saying. Allegedly controlling them by threatening to kill them andor putting their families on the streets, forcing their kids on to be on welfare.

SPEAKER_04 18:32

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

I think his kids are gonna be on welfare pretty soon.

SPEAKER_04 18:35

But you know, my co-defendant told the judge that I told him that if he didn't do what we did, that I would kill him. Yeah, and then when we were in the county jail, he also told the the people that I was trying to get him killed in the block that he was in.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

What?

SPEAKER_04 18:54

Yeah. They painted me out to be like a criminal mastermind in court, dude.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

My 19-year-old drug-addicted ass, like well, you said though partially that I think originally I remember you saying that if you tell the warden or whatever the person in charge of the prison that you are in fear for your life, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:17

They ask you in booking.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

Yeah, that you'll be put in a different jail, possibly.

SPEAKER_04 19:21

We well, not necessarily a different jail, just a different part of the jail. They'll keep you separated.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

I see.

SPEAKER_04 19:27

Uh, and they kept us separated anyways because we were co-defendants.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:31

Um they they ended actually got lesser charges in like half the time that I did because they cooperated.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Right.

SPEAKER_04 19:41

Yeah.

unknown 19:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

Sometimes when you cooperate and or plea, you get better deals. Just depends on what how the government's feeling that day. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 19:48

I did take a plea.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Oh, you did?

SPEAKER_04 19:50

Yeah, because my fucking my lawyer was like, look, they're offering you seven years. I did 85% of that. But the the judge wanted to get to the high end of my guidelines, which was like 15 to 20. Yeah. Even when we were in uh I forget which part of the trial it was, but he was like, Why are why are we why are we aiming for the low end? Uh I don't know if they do that here, but in Virginia there's like sentencing guidelines.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

You mean the judge was asking why we were aiming for the low end, or yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 20:23

The judge asked the district attorney why they were trying to give me just the low end of the the sentencing guidelines uh instead of the high ones.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Yeah, it's it's crazy. It's a lot of it has to do with what judge you get.

SPEAKER_04 20:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Uh, you know, the county you're in. The county you're in, the prosecutor, if they have if they have like an election year coming up, all those things kind of Yeah, his name was Judge Brown.

SPEAKER_04 20:44

I'll never forget it.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:46

Yeah. That motherfucker wanted to give me like 20 years.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

And that's where I think a good attorney can help you because they can explain to you like this is what this judge is known for doing.

SPEAKER_04 20:55

Oh, I had a fucking uh what's that shit called? A public defender.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Well, I mean, but the public defenders deal with those judges every day. So they know they know they're judges.

SPEAKER_04 21:06

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So I was like, damn, weird about some.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

So uh Makijani, he is allegedly, so when he was arrested, he was arrested for allegedly defrauding, and they said an undisclosed commercial bank out of a hundred million dollars.

SPEAKER_03 21:23

But that bank doesn't want to disclose who they are.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

I think I think I know who it is down the road when I was reviewing Daily Mail.

SPEAKER_03 21:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

Um actually I got a lot of juice from New York Post.

SPEAKER_03 21:35

Well, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

Yeah, they're they get they get some juicy content.

SPEAKER_03 21:37

That's the Daily Mail of America.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

Yeah, they get some juicy content, that's for sure. They get they got they got the the dirt. All right. I read the high level stuff from the Department of Justice website, but then when I went on New York Post, that's when they you get the the The Cheese Me. The Cheese Met? Yeah, the the the the juice. So um yeah, so so basically uh he Allegedly, he also blackmailed bank associates by hosting parties with sex workers and drugs. Yeah. And then he would blackmail them later.

SPEAKER_04 22:12

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

He also had financial rivals, which he would post eviction notices on their family members' homes and would allegedly direct people into breaking into their businesses. He also allegedly posted a billboard accusing an enemy, like a financial enemy, of robbery in an effort to ruin that person's reputation.

SPEAKER_04 22:32

Holy shit.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

Diabolical. Yeah. There's also a video and photo evidence, allegedly, uh collected by prosecutors, showing Makajani in his designer sunglasses and duds directing thugs to attack security guards, smash windows, and take financial documents from his business competitors.

SPEAKER_04 22:53

What the fuck kind of Mickey Mouse mob movie is going on here? What the fuck?

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Yeah. So, and that, and like I said, so he had 20 a 20-person brawl with armed guards at Hotel Laguna, and the city manager had to temporarily shut it down. So, in that case, and I apologize, I have to read a little bit because this is a lot of lot of information here. So, according to an affidavit filed uh with the complaint, Makajani, who controlled Cantor Group 5 in Newport Beach based company, uh, had a relationship with bank. We call it bank number one. And under the terms of the agreement, basically, he was letting them know he's telling the bank, you give me $100 million, I'm gonna invest in this real estate. And then I am the number one lien in the in the real estate, right? And if for whatever reason the uh and whatever and whatever money I make from this, I'm gonna pay off the loan. So that's how this arrangement was working. So he gets he's telling the bank, you give me $100 million, I'm gonna invest in this property, and then the uh interest that I get from the property, I'm then going to repay the loan. So that's what the and then I am first in line. I'm the first in line lien. So if something goes wrong and the and the I'm not making money from the business, you will step in my shoes, you will be able to foreclose on this uh building. All right. And that's why the bank said we'll give you the hundred million dollars. But turns out that was one loan. That's one of his loans. He had another loan with a different bank for $30 million. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:32

Uh after we record, tell me what bank I'm gonna go sue my shot to.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

Yeah, so he so he had to tell them I secured the first lien in the underlying collateral, and that's what the bank relied on. But Bakajani didn't have first lien. Surprise, surprise. Right. How was he able to show them that he had first lien position? Very good, pretty much. He had Adobe Photoshop, which is now the modern term for whiteout.

SPEAKER_03 25:10

See what whiteout was in the 80s, it was a stuff little tiny paint.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

Yeah, it was like a little tube, and you put a little paint on over it, and then they had it in pink and yellow if you had carbon copies.

SPEAKER_04 25:21

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

You would never know what that meant.

SPEAKER_04 25:23

So I used whiteout.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

You know, but carbon copies.

SPEAKER_04 25:26

I've I've used carbon copies, thank you very much. I used to do electrical work and we used to write up by hand our receipts, and it was on carbon copies. They were white, pink, and yellow.

SPEAKER_00 25:37

Well, there you go.

SPEAKER_04 25:38

Yeah. Well, I've educated myself very well. Overachieved again. Yeah, we've been over this. I got almost perfect scores on my GED.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

So he would, instead of just putting in Adobe though, he took it a step further. They would print it out and then rescan it. Why would they do that? So they could remove metadata. So that way, if the bank wanted to go in and try to with their security team and figure out like what's going on with this document, they wouldn't be able to tell. Like they wouldn't be able to like basically reverse engineer if it's an electronic version of the changes made on Adobe. But because they printed it out and scanned it.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Smart.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

Yeah. That is the issue with that bank. But then I read more, I find out more. This gentleman, Makajani, also had dealings with another real estate person named Gerald Marcel. Marcel, I'm not sure. We're gonna call him Jerry. He goes by Jerry. Now, Jerry is based in Torrance, and from all accounts I can tell, Jerry is a self-made man. Like he was a machinist, started investing in properties like in the 80s, whatnot, went through some pretty lean years, but weathered the storm and ends up managing a pretty healthy portfolio of something like I at one point I believe he had he has 7,000 housing units.

SPEAKER_03 27:03

That's that's pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

That's pretty healthy.

SPEAKER_04 27:05

Like a like apartment building. Yes, yeah, yeah. And I guess now is that buildings or is that rooms?

SPEAKER_00 27:11

I think it might be uh by apartments, so not rooms, but like maybe individual. That's what I meant. Like apartments, yeah, units, units, we'll call units. Yeah. Uh and in 2024, apparently Jerry added a 254-unit apartment community in Anaheim. Yeah. Jerry, Jerry, you know, you might think Jerry sounds like this, you know, Titan of real estate, but he also sounds like he does good. He also donates to uh different organizations like YMCA and the Switzer Center, which is a private school for children with special needs. So before we think like, wow, Jerry's a bad guy because he has less money too, he doesn't he and he actually is suing uh uh Machiani as well. So, and because he's saying he he has actually my understanding is he's also alleged elder abuse against Makhajani because of Jerry's age when he was induced into this loan. So basically, in this situation, when my going back to Mo, this is why I need notes because this is a crazy story. So going back to the arbitration with Mo, okay, he's trying to clean up Makajani's trying to clean up his bank records because he wants to look like he is doing everything right. So he goes to his friend Jerry and he's like, Hey Jerry, I need 19.2 million dollars right now, and you need you to sign these loan documents and um it's part of this investment. And he's been investing with Jerry for over eight years, and he's been managing Jerry's accounts for eight years, and and although it's not exactly like Makajani's not exactly killing it for Jerry, he's not exactly getting like the best returns for Jerry, he's getting act adequate returns. And so Jerry's looking at it like, you know, look, I'm not killing it with Makajani managing my portfolio over here, this other portfolio over here, but I don't have to manage it. So at least I'm making, you know, it's adequate returns. I'm happy with it, and it's one less thing I have to deal with. So he let Makajani do it, right? So he's Makajani's earning his trust. I wouldn't be surprised, allegedly. No, no detail. I have no information for this. I wouldn't be surprised if you dig deeper. Makajani's probably skimming. That's my my personal thought. I don't have any evidence to support that. But um, from my review of the report, like I'm like, yeah, maybe there's something else going on. But anyway, so he goes to Jerry. I need this loan, I need it signed right now. And Jerry doesn't review the document or he reviews the documents, but not very thoroughly. And he signs it. And um, and it turns out that it puts Jerry on the hook for some of the money in the $1.34 billion case, allegedly, yeah. Mm-hmm. And so I know Makamani's saying that Jerry should have read the loan documents and he would have known that like he would have been on the hook for it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But and that's what I'm saying. I wanted to give a little backstory on Jerry. Like, Jerry's not just even though Jerry, you know, like, oh, he's got 7,000 units, like it sounds like he's like a pretty like decent person, and like, you know, um, it sucks that this happened to him, you know. So so he's pursuing legal case against Makajani as well. Um, but yeah, I mean, how what a tangled web, right?

SPEAKER_04 30:16

I mean, Did you say he he included elder abuse?

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Yes, because well that it's actually a good, it's it's a really great tool to use because anytime you're over a certain age, I don't sorry, don't do this area of law, but whenever you're over a certain age and you start messing with someone's financial, it's considered elder abuse.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

So that's a lot like they are able to tack that on. I mean, it's one of those things where you can tack on different kinds of um complaints and and maybe one will stick. So yeah. Uh and that's but that's what uh Maghijani's people are like this guy's a you know savvy investor, 7,000 units. This guy knows exactly he's willing to weather the storm, he's what willing to take the risk, and he took the risk, he didn't read the report, and so therefore he should be on the hook for it. So right.

SPEAKER_04 31:02

I mean, you have 7,000 units, you're like you said, a successful businessman. Why the fuck didn't he read the fucking agreement?

SPEAKER_00 31:13

Well, he says that he refused to those terms. So this is so so okay. So Jerry alleges that uh he was used as a way for Machiani to clear up his balance sheet, one of his businesses to clean up the balance sheet, look legit during the arbitration, and he was hurried into signing the loan. Uh, there was an indemnity agreement that uh Jerry signed that made him legally responsible for the bank's losses, stem is stemming from the arbitration award. I liken it to this idea, okay? Like husband and wife, you trust your your spouse. This is a person you've been dealing with for eight years. You trust this person. And he's probably like, hey, I gotta do some stuff. You know, I need you to sign this loan. 19.2 million for our sorry, million, 19.2 million for us sounds like a lot of money, sounds like a lot, sounds like generational money. Uh, but to someone like this, it's probably a percentage of his portfolio. And he's like, you know what? I've dealt with Makhajani before. He's always been good. We have a good relationship. Like Makhajani is not trying to screw me. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna sign this deal because I I trust him, his representations, and it's a it's a situation where time is of the essence. Um, my understanding is that the money hits Jerry's account, but then the Makhajani business takes the money back out like pretty much immediately after it would hit the account. So that way he would basically he only did it for the purposes of trying to allegedly only did it for purposes of trying to make his books look clean for the arbitration. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:40

This is where he should have passed it into Chat GPT or SWAD or something and said, tell me what's wrong with this. Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

Yeah. So so Makujani's argument is like this is someone who's a sophisticated real estate investor with more than four decades of experience who owns interest and entities holding uh worth hundreds of millions of dollars in California real estate. Like it's not our bad, it's his bad. So yeah. Speaking of Claude, though, I just saw something and I I should have reviewed it further for the podcast. My apologies, but um, and I want to I want to cover this for a future episode, but uh there's a case just came out where an individual was consulting Claude, like a defendant was consulting Claude. I don't know all the facts, do your own research, kids, as always, but educate yourself. Educate yourself, exactly. Um but my understanding from the peripheral reading or the quick reading, uh rough, rough reading of the uh of the case is that uh defendant was uh consulting with Claude for uh legal advice, and then as one does, yes, and then the prosecution, the state, the government, whatever, was able to rightfully obtain that information, and then the defendant was trying to claim that it was attorney privilege. But Claude is not an attorney, yeah, so it's all discoverable. So it's like basically like a Google search.

SPEAKER_03 34:04

So what you're saying is we should all stop using it immediately.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

Or have your attorney do it.

SPEAKER_03 34:11

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:13

So he must have been putting like exactly what he did into that shit and was like, how do I get out of this?

SPEAKER_00 34:21

I again, I I believe it was a white collar crime. I I have not reviewed the case, I only read like basically the the real quick summary of it. Uh, but it sounds to me like it's akin to or similar to like I just killed somebody, how do I clean this up? And then if you put that in your Google chat, like it's you're gonna it's gonna be, you know, for sure directed back to you, and then you're gonna have to explain. Well, you see, I was just watching this crime video and I was like, you know what? How like how did that person get away with it? Not that I did it, yeah, yeah. Asking for a friend. I'm asking for a friend. Or, you know, I left my computer open and I left it at Starbucks, and anybody could have walked past it and typed in whatever they wanted. No.

SPEAKER_03 35:11

Didn't work out.

SPEAKER_00 35:12

No. So yeah, so that my understanding is that if you do a any kind of AI legal research, that there is not an attorney and client privilege developed there, there's no relationship developed there because the individual uh AI that you are contacting is not an attorney and therefore no privilege exists. Now, what's interesting, I honestly wonder is this uh uh as a lawyer, I wonder if this is a uh uh, you know, job insurance.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 35:41

So that way, like you if you're an attorney, like, well, yeah, AI is not an attorney.

SPEAKER_01 35:47

You have to pay us, you have to pay the piper.

SPEAKER_00 35:51

Job security, that's what I'm looking for. I was trying to get it off the top of my head. But yeah, so a little bit of job security. The judge knew this is job security for attorneys.

SPEAKER_03 36:00

Absolutely. That's fucking funny.

SPEAKER_00 36:03

Yeah, so that that is what has been going on in May and June in Orange County.

SPEAKER_03 36:08

Well, so these parties that he was having for his bankers.

SPEAKER_00 36:12

You were there?

SPEAKER_03 36:14

I was not there, but I'd like to I'd like to understand more about this. Where where were these parties held?

SPEAKER_00 36:19

That's a good question. I don't know, but I know that he lived a lavish lifestyle. You know, I I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't held at like maybe Joey's restaurant.

SPEAKER_03 36:29

That sounds that sounds like it would uh sound like it's on brand. Yeah, it would be on brand.

SPEAKER_00 36:34

Yeah, um no, I that's a restaurant that it's a hotspot. Uh lots of people like we actually went there one time for dinner.

SPEAKER_04 36:42

Is it good?

SPEAKER_00 36:43

Actually, it's really good. I think it's really good, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:45

What kind of joint is it?

SPEAKER_00 36:47

Well, okay, for food. If we're talking about food, uh it's got a wide variety. It's got a very wide uh breadth of uh s servings for for food.

SPEAKER_03 37:00

Like you could do American stuff and Asian stuff.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

Yeah, like it has like uh what's it called? Crunchy, uh spicy tuna tuna.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:10

Crunchy crunchy tuna. What's it what is it called? I this is so embarrassing. Crispy tuna, so embarrassing I can't recall. Crispy tuna, it's like a little you know rectangle of uh rice that's deep fried, and then like a little bit of sushi grade tuna on top, delicious, right? And then they also have like sliders. So I mean it's just a big variety, yeah, wide variety of of food. Uh and then they have cocktails, of course. But it has it kind of it doesn't, I don't feel like it's that's kind of a sex party to it.

SPEAKER_04 37:37

Yeah, also you could probably get drugs too.

SPEAKER_00 37:40

I mean, I don't know that you get drugs there, but people are probably on drugs there. Right. That's possibly, yeah. I and I don't necessarily think like the um ambiance isn't like it's very overtly. Yeah, it's like it's nondescript, it's it's just it's nice, but it's not like oh, this is an Italian place, this is an American place, this is a Japanese sushi place. Like it's just kind of like a just a nice vibe. Yeah, they have them all over the country, I know. Um but Joe.

SPEAKER_03 38:05

Started in Canada.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. But for whatever reason, it is a hot spot in Newport Beach. Like people, I think as it stays open late too. I think that might be part of it.

SPEAKER_03 38:14

The kitchen, their kitchen is open till 11:30 or something. Something like that. Yeah, three hours past when I'm asleep.

SPEAKER_00 38:21

Yeah, but it seems like people that are um like hot to trot, you know, on the prowl, if you will, like they like to go to Joey's and also that's where the hose are.

SPEAKER_04 38:34

You should go. No, yeah. Not doing that.

SPEAKER_00 38:38

And probably a lot of fake out people who act like they have money and they actually don't. So you go there, you're like, oh, this this daddy's in a Lamborghini and he has a Rolex watch, and it turns out it's a faux lex watch and uh Lamborghini's leased that's about to be repo, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 38:55

So my watch and my car are worth about the same.

SPEAKER_00 39:02

But yeah, so I don't know. I don't know where the parties took place, but yeah, I guess um, yeah, he definitely lived in Newport Beach. He definitely had two homes in Newport Beach, definitely took private jets, different places, and had fancy cars.

SPEAKER_03 39:16

But so his his life of crime paid for a long time, is what it sounds like. Sounds like it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

What I thought was funny though is that like the the newspaper, one of the newspaper articles that I read, it was like, and his designer sunglasses. And I'm like, okay, like designer sunglasses, like I'm not saying they're cheap, but it's like I don't know that it needs a mention. Like $300 sunglasses, I'm not sure that we need a mention. Do you know what I mean? Like absolutely when we're talking about a G-Wagon, I don't know that we need to throw in like the you know $400 product sunglasses.

SPEAKER_04 39:44

Like I mean, like I these cost me $300, you know, right? Like it's such a designer, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:50

Yeah, yeah, but I that's I was just like, I thought that was a funny. I'm like, oh, like of all the things to print, we're like designer sunglasses. I was like, well, I mean, that's that's just hating at that point. I know, I know, I know. That's that's accessible luxury for yeah, just because he got money, he wanted to be buying designer sunglasses. I know, and they're like, and a linen shirt. I'm like, well, I mean it's probably nice, yeah. Linen, he probably you know, got it somewhere local.

SPEAKER_04 40:16

And I seen a man pay eighty dollars for a t-shirt one time. For a t-shirt, a singular white t-shirt. Wow, I'm sure it was eighty dollars. I don't remember. I was in one of the fancy stores or whatever to tell to use the restroom. And don't go in the cheap stores. No, don't do that. Much nicer restrooms than the uh the fancy stores at the mall. Uh so I went in the restroom, but the the checkout counter is right in front of the restroom. So I walked out, and then when I came out, this man was had a singular white t-shirt, and he was like, okay, that'll be like 80, 76 or something. And I was I I was appalled. That's the taxes. Yeah. Fucking 212% taxes.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

Yeah. Well, you know, the child labor is expensive these days to make it overseas.

SPEAKER_04 41:09

So damn, I better never need another shirt the rest of my life. 80 fucking.

SPEAKER_00 41:13

And you're like, hey, did you know that you could get an eight pack at Target for Yeah, you can get four of them for eight. $35.99? I mean, come on.

SPEAKER_04 41:21

Jeez, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:22

Yeah, so but yeah, that's a pretty crazy story. Heard about it. Uh, I I know about it uh because of the 1.34 billion aspect of it, because my husband used to uh I've actually met Mo because of my husband. And so uh yeah, he's a nice guy, very nice guy. Um nothing, nothing but nice things to say about Mo, honestly. Very good guy, uh, from my experience. And um, so that caught my eye. And then a week later, I heard a mutual friend of ours talking about how, oh my gosh, there was this guy that got um arrested at his house, and it was because he was involved in this uh bank fraud. And I I said, is it to do with the Mo Honecker case? And our mutual friend was like, No, no, no, it's a different case. And I so I thought it was I thought, wow, there's two people in Newport Beach that have these hundred million dollar cases against them. Like, what are the chances? I mean, the chances are good, but like not like not to have it the same, like within a month of each other, you know.

SPEAKER_04 42:21

I guess like right at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 42:22

Yeah, and then when I started researching, I'm like, oh shoot, it is the same guy.

SPEAKER_03 42:25

So wait, who's next?

SPEAKER_00 42:27

Huh?

SPEAKER_03 42:28

Who's next? Who's who's the next person to get arrested in Newport Beach for scamming people?

SPEAKER_00 42:32

And I'd love to know because I didn't see tax evasion, so it sounds like he might have paid his taxes.

SPEAKER_04 42:37

Oh, he's paying his taxes.

SPEAKER_00 42:39

A lot of times you'd be surprised that the way that they get found out is because they didn't pay their taxes. That's what we've learned from doing this podcast.

SPEAKER_03 42:46

Rule number one is pay your taxes, dude. What's rule number two? You uh you guys just talked about this, and I can't my memory's not that good. I mean, it's okay.

SPEAKER_00 42:54

And make sure you don't live above your lifestyle.

SPEAKER_04 42:57

Like you want to make sure that gradually incrementally, yeah, or like low-key. Uh, and then number three is clean that shit.

SPEAKER_00 43:06

Do you remember what number four is?

SPEAKER_04 43:12

No.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

Don't get in business with a lawyer. Oh yeah. Luckily, I don't have any money, so it's fine. Because they will ruin you.

SPEAKER_03 43:28

I got nothing to tell you. I mean, the great thing about lawyers is tell me.

SPEAKER_00 43:39

Well, I always love is people are like, whoa, you and your husband are both lawyers. Like, like that must be crazy. You guys must argue all the time. Like, well, first of all, Brett isn't doesn't enjoy arguing, so he just doesn't argue. And second of all, I'm a judge.

SPEAKER_01 43:52

And the jury.

SPEAKER_00 43:56

I win all the time. No, I'm just kidding. I don't, but no, I mean No, he he honestly doesn't enjoy arguing. So it makes it hard.

SPEAKER_04 44:04

That seems like a really weird career path, then. Agreed. I mean, but I I also I am an introvert who's a comedian. So like Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:15

I mean, I think his philosophy is I argue with people all day. So I when I come home, I don't want to argue.

SPEAKER_04 44:22

That's valid.

SPEAKER_00 44:23

Yeah, so and it's crazy because it's helped me adjust too, because I I naturally want to argue with people. And so um You look like it. Yeah, I just like I just hey I I'm always very thankful that somehow he decided to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_04 44:41

Were we on the debate team in high school?

SPEAKER_00 44:43

I did not have a debate team. No. That's a good idea.

SPEAKER_04 44:46

You would have been the debate team.

SPEAKER_00 44:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:49

Surprising.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

Yeah. No, I yeah, I don't know. I don't if we did, I I if we did, I didn't know of it, but I probably would have been on it if they had it. But yeah, no. I and I don't I don't think I did that in college either. So but yeah, I I took I took a couple classes, you know, but nothing like no team per se, no team sport. Yeah. So but yeah, anyways. Yeah, so that that's my story. You you you have any questions on it? Are you good?

SPEAKER_03 45:15

Uh I mean uh again, I want to go back to these parties things. Yes. That's the best part of the whole case.

SPEAKER_00 45:26

I know, I know. Well, that's what I'm saying. It's interesting because when I was reading all these different more business journals, no one referenced the parties. And so I I and that's always one of my thoughts is like, what was the end game? Like, why? Because like with the case that we you and I were talking about earlier, the end game was money for drugs. Like that was why he did it, right? The at a different case, not this case. Um, but so that's what I'm always curious. Like, what was the the want? What was the reason for doing it?

SPEAKER_03 45:57

You know, it seems like it's to keep the bank from calling his loans and you know, sort of looking the other way on his beautiful Photoshop.

SPEAKER_00 46:08

Yeah, I mean, I also sometimes think sometimes I think it's because the person wants to do it because they feel like they're the smartest person in the room. It's not necessarily even for the material things, it's just more like for the love of the game.

SPEAKER_04 46:18

For the love of the game.

SPEAKER_00 46:19

Yeah. But I think this instance, I and this is all my you know, speculation.

SPEAKER_04 46:24

Allegedly.

SPEAKER_00 46:25

Yeah, is that it was to keep the facade up of a beautiful uh life in Orange County, you know.

SPEAKER_03 46:31

So I think there's a lot of people like that.

SPEAKER_00 46:34

I think so too. I mean, I don't know. I hope not, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:39

At least a few.

SPEAKER_00 46:40

Yeah, I think that they're probably just right under the radar where they can just until until the news breaks. Until the news breaks, until you wrong the until you cross the wrong person, you know.

SPEAKER_03 46:50

See, he should have invited one more person to one of those parties. This whole thing probably wouldn't have unfortunated.

SPEAKER_00 46:55

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:57

You just get one judge in there.

SPEAKER_00 46:58

I was gonna say I was gonna say politician.

SPEAKER_04 47:01

Yeah. Yeah. Either or yeah, that'll work.

SPEAKER_00 47:04

Or both.

SPEAKER_04 47:04

I'd rather have the judge, I think.

SPEAKER_00 47:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:07

Because like the politician might have some pull with the judge, but like you know what I mean. Yeah. You get the judge in there, it's like, dog, what are you gonna do?

SPEAKER_00 47:15

You know, right, right. So do you have another story for us?

SPEAKER_04 47:19

Uh yeah, I got a quick little tidbit. Okay. Uh I thought it was pretty silly. Uh so there's a 32-year-old man named Herbert McClellan.

SPEAKER_00 47:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 47:30

And so he goes into a gas station at like 2 a.m.

SPEAKER_00 47:33

Where where we at? What's where what state?

SPEAKER_04 47:35

Uh fuck, I forget.

SPEAKER_00 47:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 47:37

Uh let's say Alabama.

SPEAKER_00 47:39

Is it in the South, you think?

SPEAKER_04 47:40

I I'm just making some.

SPEAKER_00 47:42

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 47:42

But anyways, I can I can chew bubblegum and walk at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 47:47

Clearly, I had to read my stuff. I like I was like, story, children gather around, I'll tell you a story.

SPEAKER_03 47:52

Was he buying any of that uh that that sort of gas station heroin that they sell? Uh it's I it's not really heroin, it's but it's some like all the stuff they sell at the counter.

SPEAKER_00 48:02

The boner pills?

SPEAKER_03 48:03

No, that's you. Oh, though, yeah. Well, I wouldn't know anything about those.

SPEAKER_00 48:06

But that's not what I heard.

SPEAKER_04 48:12

I don't know. I didn't write it down. That's okay. But so he he goes into this gas station and decides he's gonna rob them for lottery tickets at 2 a.m.

SPEAKER_00 48:23

That's a weird thing to rob because you're like, if I may, to interrupt you. Oh absolutely. So so you're you're first of all, you could be robbing just paper, because it could just be paper, right? Like you could be like it could be all losers, yeah. But if it's a winner, it has like the like the uh so we'll get there. Well, I was gonna say it has the code that associates with the store. Yeah, so it's like, well, this chunk of of tickets were stolen on this date.

SPEAKER_04 48:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 48:52

So Love of the Game.

SPEAKER_04 48:55

Well, he stole $102 worth of lottery tickets. That's an odd number.

SPEAKER_00 49:01

Well, because they're they're sold in $2 increments, though, right?

SPEAKER_04 49:04

Uh well, I guess depending on which. Some of them are five.

SPEAKER_00 49:07

If it's a scratcher, it's five or five dollars, two dollars, whatever. So he probably so he probably stole like they were scratchers, yeah. Yeah, so you probably stole, so he probably stole like, you know, like 51 because you just like ripped them. It wasn't like he was in like one, two, three, you know what I mean? So, yeah, anyways.

SPEAKER_04 49:21

Hours later. Uh and I want to emphasize hours later. So the the clerk was probably still the same one on shift, like 120 minutes. Yeah. Hours later. Yeah. He goes back into the store to cash a winning ticket.

SPEAKER_00 49:42

No, do you know how much it was worth? The ticket that you cash? Like $15.

SPEAKER_04 49:46

$2. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:46

Uh free ticket?

SPEAKER_04 49:48

I think it was, I think it was $31.

SPEAKER_00 49:50

Again, weird numbers.

SPEAKER_03 49:52

So when you said hours later and you're wearing the SpongeBob shirt, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:58

I don't, I don't, YouTube's really funny about copyright infringement. I'm not gonna do it.

SPEAKER_00 50:04

Well, we don't make money from this podcast just yet either.

SPEAKER_04 50:07

So yeah, but they won't post it. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Um the more you know. Yeah. Uh so obviously the fucking clerk recognized him. He ended up getting arrested for that.

SPEAKER_00 50:21

He was like, This is not your lucky day.

SPEAKER_04 50:23

Yeah. And then one of his charges was uh dealing and stolen property. I remember it was in Florida.

SPEAKER_00 50:29

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 50:29

Yep. And yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:31

I mean, here's the thing about Florida. It's like you could just say Florida and we'll believe you. You know what I mean? Like anytime you're not sure, just be like, Florida, and it's you know Florida is literally GTA in real life. I feel like it's a 50% chance it's Florida.

SPEAKER_04 50:45

Yeah. Uh so he gets charged with dealing and stolen property, which is a felony for yeah, a $31 fucking lottery ticket. It didn't say uh how much time I looked for it, it didn't say how much time he got for that. Uh, but he later on down the road, I think in like 2023, this was in 2020, and it was like peak COVID time. It was like November 2020. You know what I mean? Exactly. What the fuck was going on?

SPEAKER_00 51:17

Now, if I were a judge in that situation, I might have a little fun with this, and I might have created fake lottery tickets and be like, it's up to you to determine how many years you're gonna send spend in jail.

SPEAKER_02 51:28

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 51:29

And you have to pick. I like it. And so it could be one year, it could be ten years, it could be five years, and you get to choose, and then he has to he has to pick the thing and scratch it off.

SPEAKER_04 51:40

I would take those odds. Hell yeah, what way better odds than I have, boy. 40.

SPEAKER_00 51:47

I don't I feel like that would be like appealable.

SPEAKER_04 51:50

That art you're gonna take those odds? No. No?

SPEAKER_03 51:55

Well, I don't think I'd steal lottery tickets, so I'd start.

SPEAKER_04 51:58

I guess it's valid.

SPEAKER_03 51:58

Yeah, I'm a criminal in in my mind only.

SPEAKER_00 52:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:03

Yeah, I'm taking those allegedly. I'm taking those odds.

SPEAKER_00 52:10

Yeah, I I I think that that the probably uh the defendant would be able to appeal my decision on that and the sentencing guidelines that I gave, and probably you know, overturned me on that. But I'd had I would have had fun doing it, you know. And that's what it's all about.

SPEAKER_04 52:25

That's what counts. Playing the game, living your dreams. Yes, yes, yes. Uh so in 2023, a few years later, he actually ends up getting convicted of uh armed robbery and attempted murder. Dang. Yeah, I guess he beat the shit out of some dude and and robbed him.

SPEAKER_00 52:45

Hopefully that person didn't get hurt.

SPEAKER_04 52:47

Yeah. But like my point in saying that is like, what an escalation. Yeah. Like you go from stealing lottery tickets, now you have an attempted murder charge. I think they gave him like 20 years.

SPEAKER_00 53:00

20 years on that.

SPEAKER_04 53:01

That's fucking crazy.

SPEAKER_00 53:02

It's crazy. All from like just you wanted to, you know win the lottery. Win the lottery.

SPEAKER_04 53:09

I I would like to uh just put out there that I never hurt wait a minute. I allegedly. Yeah, nine I would say 98% of the people I robbed didn't get hurt.

SPEAKER_00 53:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 53:24

And like that other two percent, I might have like punched them in the face or something.

SPEAKER_00 53:28

Maybe they deserved it.

SPEAKER_04 53:29

They did. Yeah. Uh I punched this one kid twice one time. Cause I was like, I was robbing him, and I didn't want to like pull my gun on him or nothing. Cause you know what I mean? He he was like high on Xanax, but he made the mistake of pulling out a fat ass fucking wad of money, and he's high on Xanax, so I know in the morning he's not gonna remember this shit. You know what I mean? Because Xanax will make you black out, and I'm watching him fucking eat these things like Skittles Eating the Xanax?

SPEAKER_00 53:59

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 54:00

Like fucking bars back to back to back. He's fucking them up. So I pulled the the dude who whose house we were chilling in outside and was like, hey, I'm about to rob this fool. And he was like, just kick me something. So I go back in there, I walk up to him, and I just hit him fucking right in his ear. I'm sure his head was fucking ringing. And I was like, he he fell down and he was like, bro, I don't want to fight. I was like, I don't want to fight either, bitch. Run your pockets type shit, you know what I mean? And so I get all the money, and I was like, uh, you got anything else? And he was like, nah, man, nah man, that's it. And somebody who was in the room was like, hey, check his hat. Yeah. Just one of the fucking homies that was in the room was like, hey, check his hat. So I fucking snatch his hat off his head and I look in the little flap right here. It's a bag of fucking ecstasy pills. Big ass bag of ecstasy pills. The dude whose house it was, I took that out and fucking threw it at him there. That's you, dog.

SPEAKER_00 55:02

You won the lottery that day.

SPEAKER_04 55:04

Almost. I hit him for like three G's.

SPEAKER_00 55:07

Yeah. Whoa. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:08

That's a wild dude. Allegedly. Allegedly. The statute's up. It's fake. Okay. Yeah. We're talking over 20 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 55:18

So do you ever play the lottery?

SPEAKER_04 55:21

Uh uh from time to time.

SPEAKER_00 55:22

Like scratcher or I'll I'll get a little scratcher.

SPEAKER_04 55:26

Or like very, very randomly, I'll do a quick pick. Uh, but I'll get scratchers from time to time.

SPEAKER_00 55:32

What about you? Do you ever do it?

SPEAKER_03 55:33

So Christmas every year. Okay. My wife puts lottery tickets, scratchers, in everybody's um stocking. In every stocking, which is awesome. And um so I played that, and then the times that the um like the the big lottery gets to a billion dollars, which has happened two or three times. You gotta buy a ticket. I'll go and I'll spend, you know, ten, fifteen thousand dollars. No, I'll spend like ten dollars.

SPEAKER_04 55:58

I was like, you had me at ten dollars and then you lost me.

SPEAKER_00 56:01

But what did you say he said ten to fifteen?

SPEAKER_04 56:03

He said ten to fifteen and then thousands.

SPEAKER_03 56:05

I was kidding. I put like ten bucks into it. And I somehow I didn't win. Oh it's rigged, the whole game's rigged.

SPEAKER_00 56:13

I I like to pop in every once in a while when it's like the quick picks the Mega or the power when they're like popping off, you know. But it's funny because one of my brothers, he is super into it too. Like he does the lottery thing. My my dad's a lottery guy, he has his numbers, you know what I mean? But um, but my the brother that likes to do the lottery, whenever it gets to a certain number, and then we happen to talk, he'll be like, what would you do? Like, what would you do first? Like, what if you had this much? And then he's always funny too because he's like, Okay, um currently the pot is at 300 million, but um, you know, if you do a lump sum, it's 125. And then after taxes, that's probably gonna be if you think about state taxes and and and government tax, you're probably gonna be like, let's let's just say 65, you're gonna end up with 65 million, and you're probably like, What do you what are you doing with 65 million? And then like we just go back and forth. My husband hates this game. He's always like, What is this hypothetical thing that you guys do? He's like, What's the why?

SPEAKER_03 57:03

Isn't that what you did in law school was play hypotheticals all the time? Oh, I know.

SPEAKER_00 57:06

Oh, actually, that's why he doesn't like it. That's actually a funny story, too. So, so sorry, uh nerd alert, nerd alert, like nerd alert, nerd alert. Okay. Um, so when we were in law school, he has this friend uh that is named uh I'm gonna say the name wrong. Give me a second, anyways. Okay Fred. We'll say, yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll say Fred. Fred was in medical school at the time. Okay. And Fred comes to visit Brett because he's gonna be like interviewing at a medical school near where we went to law school. And uh Brett's like come to class with us. Just come and see what law school's like for a minute, you know? And that would be so fun. Yeah, I mean, maybe, but yeah. So Johannes, Johannes is his name. Sorry, I was gonna say a different name.

SPEAKER_03 57:51

It's funny if I didn't have to like use it for anything, just like showing up for you.

SPEAKER_00 57:56

So Fred or Johannes, he's German, imagine that.

SPEAKER_03 58:01

I'm glad.

SPEAKER_00 58:05

So he is going to he, I think he was actually uh uh doing res he was uh he was already in medical school, so he was interviewing for like a residency or something like that. So he comes into uh torts class, which is basically you know personal injury akin to and where or uh along with other things. I'm I'm just using that like personal injury is the kind of law that I would want to be in.

SPEAKER_03 58:25

Right.

SPEAKER_00 58:26

Yeah, yeah. And malpractice, anything like you know, where there's a you know, you you got and you injured somebody else, right? Like that's it's a that's the kind of law this is. And apparently, I don't remember this because I don't I don't remember this day in law school. Apparently, that the day they taught law in law school, I forgot that day. But um that's a joke. Thank you for the mercy laugh over here.

SPEAKER_04 58:51

But anyway, so so here all we go, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:53

So so so Johannes is in there and they were teaching about like basically the b the baby steps of medical malpractice, and Johannes is like, this is what you guys do all day. Is there's lawyers that are just learning on how to sue doctors? He was like, No, no, no, no, no, no, this is not okay. It's not okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what we do. Yeah, yeah. No, you so Johannes, though, he is a um pediatric cardiatric surgeon. So he's he cuts, he like saves little kids' hearts, basically. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 59:24

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:24

Yeah. And he he actually had a heart issue when he was a child, and that was what put him on the truth. Obviously, he's also very smart, you know. But he shout out to him. Yeah, he's and he's a really nice, and it's funny because uh I've gotten to meet him a couple times, and and uh that's why I'm apologizing. I couldn't think of I was thinking another German name, and that's why I couldn't think of Johannes. But, anyways, um, so uh he's like all very polite, very sweet, very nice. And then his kid does something like he doesn't like, he's like, German. Yeah, you're like such an aggressive language. So aggressive, yeah. You're like, oh sorry. He's like, no, it's fine. Anyways, you're like, wow, it's so funny. Yeah, so very smart individual, very nice person. So, yeah, one of Brett's really good friends.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:11

So yeah, shout out to him. Yeah, yeah. Let's go sue some some doctors.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:15

No, no, and he actually he practices in Colorado, back to Colorado. Back to Colorado because you lived in Colorado, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:21

Lived there for over 25 years, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:23

Yeah, so any connection to Colorado?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:26

Uh no.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:28

Yes. Rocky Mountain High, you like to get high. There's a connection.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:32

There's a complete connection there. That's a reach. Yeah. It was it was uh tied for the first in the country for legalized pot. Recreational weed. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:45

Yeah, the Oregon and Colorado at the same time. I want to say they did like a hundred million dollars in tax revenue the first year it was legal. It was outrageous. They figured out a way to spend it all, but damn right. As one does. As one does. Yeah. With your hundred million dollars.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:03

Well, no, I feel uh inspired to go buy a lottery ticket now.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:06

So I thought they were gonna say buy some weed. I was like, I can help you with that.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:13

Uh first in line lean collateral exchange.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:17

We can work something. All right, all right. No, we can't. Rule number four.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:20

Yeah.