279: The Mini Madoff

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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.

And 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.

In this episode, Kristin pulled from:
“Seattle Roasted,” episode of American Greed
“Financial empire, luxurious lifestyle were built on a a mirage,” by Rami Grunbaum for Seattle Times
“Prison escape of Darren Berg, Washington’s ‘Mini Madoff,’ is like ‘Shawshank Redemption,’ official says,” by Mike Carter for the Seattle Times
“Darren Berg on the Run: Inside the biggest ponzi scheme in Washington State history,” by Clara O’Rourke for Seattle Met
“Escaped Ponzi scammer possibly went to Brazil,” by Michael Balsamo and Chad Day for the Associated Press

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