Darren Berg was a bit of a scammer. He scammed his fraternity brothers at the University of Oregon. He scammed a Portland bank. Following each scam, Darren received a slap on the wrist. So was it any surprise that Darren moved onto bigger scams? (No. The answer is no.) By the mid-2000s, Darren was running a $150 million dollar Ponzi scheme. He had two yachts, two private jets, and a sweet hot tub to show for it.
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\nAnd now for a note about our process. For this episode, Kristin read a bunch of articles, then spat them back out in her very limited vocabulary. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.
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\nIn this episode, Kristin pulled from:
\n\u201cSeattle Roasted,\u201d episode of American Greed
\n\u201cFinancial empire, luxurious lifestyle were built on a a mirage,\u201d by Rami Grunbaum for Seattle Times
\n\u201cPrison escape of Darren Berg, Washington\u2019s \u2018Mini Madoff,\u2019 is like \u2018Shawshank Redemption,\u2019 official says,\u201d by Mike Carter for the Seattle Times
\n\u201cDarren Berg on the Run: Inside the biggest ponzi scheme in Washington State history,\u201d by Clara O\u2019Rourke for Seattle Met
\n\u201cEscaped Ponzi scammer possibly went to Brazil,\u201d by Michael Balsamo and Chad Day for the Associated Press
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