American Crimes

San Francisco entrepreneur Samuel Mouli Cohen starts an Internet music company and fraudulently takes in $31 million from celebrities, investors and a charity dedicated to help the poor.

Trevor Cook runs an investment fund and solicits $190 million from U.S. investors that heard his message through talk radio.

A Brooklyn investment manager starts the longest running Ponzi scheme in history; a stock trading computer program which is supposed to deliver an incredible return.

Personal injury attorney Tom Girardi posits himself as a champion for the little guy, but jilted clients cry foul when they discover him cheating them out of millions in settlement money as his wife flaunts her wealth on reality television.

Multimillion-dollar settlement for ailing Fen-phen users hijacked by their attorneys.

Entrepreneur Keisha Williams is really a high-rolling shopaholic with a taste for strip clubs and exotic travel; she takes investors for millions of dollars with a can't miss bid to secure a medical money-making technology that never materializes.

Vitaly Borker scores $18 million selling designer knock-off eyewear as genuine from his website in Brooklyn, N.Y.; when customers complain, they are threatened with violence, even murder.

The collapse of Erpenbeck wreaks financial havoc for area home buyers, subcontractors and banks with three company employees pleading guilty to bank fraud.

Nicholas Cosmo pleads guilty to federal mail fraud and wire fraud in 2009 for his involvement in a Ponzi scheme that resulted in losses of more than $195 million.