"He found Jesus in prison..." [View all]

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How many times have we heard THAT one?

Quoted from this week's episode of "American Greed" on CNBC.

Darain Atkinson found Jesus while doing prison time for making money. And what's wrong with that? He was literally making money - that is, printing his own 100-dollar bills. But he used the same 4 serial numbers over and over on the bills, so he got caught pretty quickly.

After his release for counterfeiting - and finding Jebus - Atkinson and his younger brother started US Fidelis. Their new company sold extended car warranties.

Business was so good they eventually bought a whole shopping center. One building housed a branch of the Fundiegelical Element Church. So everybody could see what good Xian businessmen they were.

Unfortunately Satan showed up, as usual, and completely ruined their business. Satan in this case being the attorneys general of 40 states, stiffed creditors, defrauded customers and the Great Satan Himself - the IRS.

Then there was another cranky abbreviation, BMW, who sued them for copyright infringement.

Darain Atkinson will be eligible for parole in 2019. And no doubt he will emerge with another come-to-Jesus story and another get-rich-quick scheme. Maybe this time he can start an investment bank that achieves "too big to fail" status.

Anyway, another episode definitely worth watching. I like "American Greed" because it always tells the stories of ordinary people who become victims of these scams. A welcome change from the financial stories where we only see the smirking fraudster and his lawyer, coming out of court with a light slap on the wrist after bankrupting their victims.