YouSaid · the spoken record

Matthew Cox

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500
first
2024-01-17
most recent
2024-01-17
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1
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podcast

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  1. “Love you sorry Sorry. Sorry, I know I'm a disappointment. Sorry. Bam. Take off, go to Atlanta. We went to Atlanta. I already had the name of a guy named Scott Cugno that I'd done a loan for. So I had his His vital information, right? Like I have his name, date of birth, social security number, mother's maiden name and where he was born. One day we were having a conversation. And I just slowly pried all that out of him, right? Like we've done a loan for him. So I already had his name, date of birth, social security number. But I need to steal his identity. I need to know where he was born and his mother's maid name. So through the course of a conversation, I just pride, you know, hey, you know, cogna, is that what is that? Is that like Irish? Is it no, it's such and such. What's your mom's name? Oh, such and such. Okay.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “A little bit. I was balding. I got two hair transplants, you know, two hair graphs. So the hair in my head, this isn't my hair. It's my hair, but it's from back here So they cut it here Appreciate it. Do they re implanted it there, you know, got liposuction, just some other stuff? And got my teeth done, that sort of thing. And that was kind of like my plan. I'll go. I'll take off. I got 80 grand. I'll steal some more money. But I let her come with me. And we ran up all my credit cards over the next few days, packed up the car, traded in my Audi and got like an Audi, I don't know, was it like an A6 or like a ford or like a big four-door or whatever it was, got that and drove straight to Atlanta. So I wrote a letter to my parents before I left, just explaining this is what's happening, I'm leaving, I'm done, I'm not going to prison.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “I've got a nose job I got what they call a mini facelift. They go in through your back of your ears and they suck out all the fat in your neck”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “List Not just that. Like, I'm leaving my son. I have a son and I'm, you know, I was leaving everything. I was just terrified of going to prison. And, you know, I mean, It was just so stupid. It was just arrogance. And I should have stayed. I made things so much worse. But I also thought... Smart I can figure this out. I can change my identity, blend in, I'll be fine.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “Yes. So I'd never just up and moved. And keep in mind now, I can't call home. I can't, like, I'm leaving. There are things that I feel like get you caught. And I've watched tons of these TV shows. And there are certain things that get you caught. And one of them is keeping in contact with anybody in your old life. So I'm thinking that's not going to happen. I'm not contacting anybody. I'm leaving and that's it. That didn't really happen. I kept in touch. I called my mom every once in a while. I was like Okay, that's cool.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “And she's like, you know, I've been married three times. I am a gambler. I've blamed bankruptcy. I'm sleeping with my old boss. I got like, you know, she went from this thieving adulterous, you know, and I thought, these are all really beneficial to my future plans. Yeah. You know, and I shouldn't have at that moment, I was so just flipped out and concerned and up and leaving your life and everything you know behind. That's terrifying. And so now you're alone in a strange place in a place.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “My son just came to live with me. He's been caught sneaking out. The father had raised him. He'd only been living with her since she got to Florida. And she's like, I was going to send him back. He's failing school. He's smoking pot. He's been caught sneaking out after curfew. I'm like, okay, I don't know any of this. She's like, he was going back in December. No, he was going back after the school year, which would have been like May. Okay. And I'm like, so where before five minutes earlier, I thought she was this sweet secretary, sweet, innocent secretary.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “To St. Petersburg to work at the dog track, to work for a company that owned the dog track, right? A casino interest or like a gambling company. And she said, you don't even know why I'm here. I was like, okay, why are you here? She said, I'm here because I was working for a law firm that worked for the casino company that I work for. She said, I got caught embezzling nothing. It was like 10 or $15,000 from my boss. She had a gambling habit. And she said he didn't call the police because we were sleeping together and he was afraid his wife would find out. She said, so instead he banished me here to St. Pete.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “No, I barely knew her. Like, I mean, she's coming over two, three times a week for a month. This isn't love. This isn't, you know, this is Booty call that's all it is like we're hanging out we're having sex and that's it I don't even know you so She suddenly just begs to come with me. You got to bring me with you. You have to this, you have to that. I'm like, what are you talking about? Like, you've got a son. You have your mom lives here, and she's just in tears and crying. And she suddenly said, and this is what's so funny about is that she had just moved from. Vegas”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “I go home that night. I start packing my bags and I was dating this chick named Rebecca Hauk. We've been dating about a month. She shows up at my house. I hadn't retired our phone calls all day, and apparently we were supposed to go out and I'd forgotten about it. I had bigger issues. And so I'm packing a couple of duffel bags and she walks in and she's like, what's going on? I'm like, I'm leaving. Where are you going? I thought we were supposed to go out at such and go do something tonight. I'm like, I'm leaving. It's over. And she says, what happened? I tell her what happened. This is what happened. She's like, oh my God. Like, she had no idea.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “Yeah, I can't do that. That's not going to happen. Like, I can't, you know, I'm not going to defend myself against a guy who's six foot three and tat it up. No. So, and, you know, and I can't, I'm not going to, I'm no benefit to a gang. Like I'm a non-violent, you know, soft white-collar criminal. So I was just like, I was like, yeah, I'm leaving, bro. I'm leaving. Actually, I was able to I started cutting checks to people, right? So I cut checks to Allison, to Johnny, to like everybody I could think of. Here's 5,000. Here's 7,000. Here's 8,000. Here's six, here's not, and had them going to all these different bank accounts pulling out cash. But this is like a Thursday at 4 o'clock. So the next day they show up with cash, write some more checks. They go again. I get about 80 grand in cash. That's all I can get.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “I went in, I applied for a loan at a bank. They said you can buy the house and we'll give you $30,000. So of course I'm going to do that. That's not going to happen, but he doesn't know. And I said, tell him me out. Tell him you'll cooperate like absolutely. He goes, what are you going to do? I said, me. I said, I'm leaving, bro. I'm leaving. I said, I can't stay here. I can't go to prison. Like I was just sentenced. I'm on federal probation right now. Like the judge isn't going to be cool with me getting popped again. Like, I mean, I can't do it. Can't do it. I said, I'm leaving. Can't go to prison. I'm adorable, bro. Like, you know, I saw Shaw Shank Redemption. I know what's going to happen. I can't.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “And because all white-collar guys cooperate. So she thinks you're going to cooperate and not to talk to you because she's afraid you're going to get me hemmed up. And she said just to walk away. And he was like, so I thought you should know. And I was like, okay. And he said, what are you going to do? I said, oh. Well, first he said, What should I do? And I go, Tell them that I arranged all the loans for you. You came in, you signed the paperwork. I filled out all the documents. You signed the paperwork. I arranged everything. I'm like, you're not a mortgage broker. You don't know if this is legit. Like you have perfect credit. You sign the paperwork. You walked away with a check for $30,000. You don't know. And he was like, because he did it because he had a job. He was a sheriff's deputy. Like, I'm not a, you know.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “And he said, Apparently, one of your buddies got arrested in Orlando. They're investigating some other thing in Clearwater. They're investigating a ton of properties here in Ebor, Tampa Heights. And I mean, there's like 100 properties involved. And my name came up because you've sold some properties to me. Which I had. And he's like, so she came to me and said, Look, your buddy Cox. He said, and I was like, okay. He goes, he said, well, the task force is on you. And she said to stop talking to you because they're going to come arrest you in a couple days. They just handed over the task force findings to the FBI and the FBI is going to come arrest you in a couple days. And she said, not to talk to you. Because you're going to cooperate.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “Being served, and I'm nervous. I'm very concerned. And then one day I'm in my office and the sheriff's deputy walks in, Steve Sutton, in his uniform too, which everybody always stiffened, you know, when he would walk in. So he walks in, I go, Steve, I said, what's going on? His head. And usually he's jolly and laughs and stuff. And he goes, and he says, I got to talk to you outside. I was like, okay, I walk outside. What's up? And he says To date this girl in the Tampa Police Department or something, right? I was like, okay. He said she showed up at a house this morning at like six o'clock in the morning. I went, okay? He said, she said that she's been working on a task force.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “People saying, hey, I noticed that you sold a piece of property to Lee Black. Have you ever met Mr. Black? You assume like, and they're like just hanging up on him or saying, no, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not sure what that guy's name was. Let me call you back. I'm getting phone calls from people. So I know something's up with the newspaper. Now I know something's being looked at, but nobody's really talking. I know that there are subpoenas being...”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “That, you know, these aren't all like construction workers or guys that work in mechanics or something. These are like legitimate, these are legitimate people that have credit problems or whatever the case may be. So one day I'm sitting at work I'd been getting phone calls for the prior week from people at title companies saying, hey, Matt, wanted to let you know we just had some subpoenas served on several of your files. And I'm concerned, like that had me concerned. Then a guy named Jeff Testerman starts making phone calls. Jeff Testerman is a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times. He's calling.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “It's still in the process. And I think we're still in the process, and it could be six months or a year away because it's a slow thing. I've already been through the process my first time when I got in trouble. And it was a year, but from the time that I was spoken to until I pled guilty and was sentenced. So I'm not concerned about it. Well, that's happening. We're still flipping properties. And one day. I have a buddy named Steve Sutton. Remember the sheriff's deputy. And keep in mind, it's funny because I've done bad loans for police officers, sheriffs, lawyers, doctors, like everybody, across. These aren't like all, you know,”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “With them on the task force. Still buying houses, flipping houses, doing everything because I believe him. I believe he's not, you know, he's saying, look, if I have to go to jail for, you know, a year or so, like, you know, and he's also paying, you know, he hasn't paid them back yet, but we're saying he can pay them back. It's like, look, if we get to the point, you know, when we get to that point, we'll pay them back. But we haven't paid them back yet because we have no way to show where that money came from. We can always go to like one of his relatives and give his dad 40 grand, give his mom 20 grand, you know, that kind of stuff and start putting money that way. And all that money was taken out in cash too. So we could always show up with a chunk in cash regardless.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “This is state at this point. It's a state task force because there's multiple counties involved at this point. And it wasn't hard for him to explain. This comes back to Reservoir Dogs. I got a much, all he had to say to the officers was, listen, you got to let me go. I can't do any prison time. I'm going to tell you about a much, much bigger scam. And they go, okay, well, how can you prove that scam? Pull up Hillsborough County's tax appraiser website. Okay, look up the name James Redd. Look, all of these were bought six months ago, six months later, they're all in foreclosure. Pull up Lee Black. All of these were bought. Look, six months later, all of them are foreclosure. Hey, pull up James, pull up Brandon Green. Pull up. So all of these are going in foreclosures. It's like, you know, that what I thought was so cute, not cute. There's just stupid. And so he very quickly, they put together a task force. He's working.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “Blind Alley. And I'm like, okay, okay. And I mean, I'm paying him. Like he's coming in. Man, my truck's no good. I need another truck. I buy him another truck. Hey, man, the electric's going to get turned off. And I don't, oh, I'm. I need a thousand dollars. Of course, here's a thousand dollars. I don't know what I was, I'm embarrassed you had to ask. Here's a thousand. Week later, you know, he needs $2,000 for this, $1,000 for this, $2,000 for this. He wants to start a tree trimming company. He needs to buy a tree trimmer. How much are those? $5,000, of course. So I give him another $25,000. Starts like a tree trimming business, which he runs to this day. What I don't know is that the whole time he's actually working with a task force that's been put together.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “Yeah, he got out for like nothing. And here's what I should have known he was cooperating, it went from like $300,000 bond down to like $10,000. So it's a thousand bucks. So right then, I didn't know it at the time, but obviously that means we're going to let him out of jail where he's cooperating. So they let him out of jail. I go and I get him a lawyer. This was state, by the way. It wasn't federal. I get him a lawyer for like $15,000. He come, you know, he comes, you know, of course he tells me, look, they asked me a bunch of questions. I told him that, you know, that he made up some story about he's working with another guy, but he doesn't know the guy's name. He made up a name. There's a whole, he has this whole kind of thing where he tells him about me, but not me. And he's like in the, you know, the numbers, none of the numbers led anywhere. So they all lead to cell phones that are only being used for those scams. So it's a dead alley.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “He'll know this is Officer So and So, who's this? And I was like, oh, this is Lee Black. I said, he goes, how do you know so-and-so? I was like, oh, no, no. Click. And I just hung up. And I called for like a payphone. So I turned around. I said, he got arrested. And then later on that night, he showed up on the county website, you know, the arrest website showing he had been arrested. And the next day he calls me and he asks me to get him out of jail. Like, hey, you got to go. So I have to give his brother-in-law money. You know, we get him out of jail. He honestly got out.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “He actually did talk to him. So what he ends up doing, what ends up happening is we can't get in touch with him. So we're calling and calling, calling. And then finally, I decide, you know what? I'm not going to call his cell phone anymore. I'm going to call. The name of the person he was, the synthetic identities number, right? So I go and I call the synthetic identities number. Call and I say, somebody answers it, and I go, Hey, is so and so there? And he said, and it's a gruff, authoritarian voice. You know, this is law enforcement. And he's like, no, who's this?”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “The cops are in there. They lock the door. They told me later, they closed the door, locked it. The cops are in there. They grab him. And they bring them downtown. He didn't say anything. He won't say anything. That's not true, by the way. But here's what he told me he wouldn't say anything. I told him I'm not talking to you coppers.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “Had to see something, right? And for me to come in, I went, whoa, I said something's wrong. Something's wrong. Don't go to the bank. What do you think's wrong? I think the cops are waiting for you. That's what I think's wrong. And he goes, no, the cops aren't. He goes, man, I'm in the parking lot right now. I just pulled into the parking lot. There's no cops. I'm like, they're not going to be in squad cars. And he's like, no. He said, it's fine. You're overreacting, bro. And I'll never forget what he said. He said, you're shaking like a little girl, bro. Calm down. I got this. I'm cool with the manager. Like the manager, like because you've chopped it up with the manager, he's going to let your fraudulent check go through. So he walks in.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “Takes, I don't know. How long it took? Five days, six days, whatever it was, he was supposed to go back and it would have cleared, and he would have been able to start pulling money out. And so I call him one day because Allison's bugging me. So I call him. And I go, hey, where you at? He goes, I'm actually on my way to Orlando. And I said, Oh, okay. So you bet Allison know I'm not getting any money. He said, the bank manager called and said that because the check was over $100,000, they have to witness me endorsing the back of the check.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  28. “Running an Orlando scan that's already yielded half a million, maybe more. We're still refinancing properties, right? So he's about to close on another half a million dollars worth of properties. He's got a bank account that's open. She says, let's give it to Travis, have him deposit it in his account. He's already pulled out like $300,000 out of the account. She's like, shouldn't be a problem. I was like, um, no, no, no. And she was, let me call him. She calls him. I called him and I explained the situation. He said, Do you think it's okay? And I said, No, I don't think it's okay. I don't think it's okay at all. And he's like, no, it's not a big deal. Just give me the check. So I give him the check. He goes, he deposits the check. They say they're going to hold it till it clears. You know, that was kind of a thing back then.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  29. “I had money. She's going through a divorce. She's broke. None of this did I take into consideration at the time, by the way. To me, it's like, nah, that's dead. We're done. We'll start over again. Well, and she's, to her, in her mind, she was about to make, we were getting probably, that was a million dollar scam. She was about to end up getting, you know, whatever it was, half or one-third of half a million dollars in the next week. Now she's got nothing. She says, Look, let's at least cash this one. And I had a buddy named Travis Hayes. Who had been, you know, we actually been friends since high school. We were like best friends, right? Really close friends in high school. We were still close Travis was running a scam. This one, hers was in Clearwater. His was in Orlando. So I'm getting all over the state at this point, right?”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  30. “You'd have to see this chick. She was gorgeous. She was gorgeous, very flirtatious, made me feel like I was thinning and handsome. So she gets whatever she wants. So I'm like, okay, look, here's what you do. And I explained to her, do this, do this, do this, send it here. It'll close. And we close it. Well, then she starts calling me, right? Hey, how's it going? We go to lunch. Next thing you know, we start sleeping together. She realizes what's happening. She says, I went in on this. So now we do the closings. On our way. I say, look, that check's dead. She goes, What about the other one? I go, no, no, it's all dead. We're walking away. Now, that was easy for me to say because for me.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  31. “She was a mortgage broker. Okay. And I had done some fraudulent. She worked for another mortgage company. Sorry, she worked for another mortgage company. She couldn't get a loan closed. The owner of that mortgage company called me and said, look, we got a loan. We need it closed. And I said, great. And when guys would call me, I'd say, great, I'll come pick it up. I'll give you a $300 or a $500 referral fee. No, no, it's a couple hundred thousand dollars. We want to close it. Well, then close it Can't close it. We need a W2, or we need this, we need that. We can't figure out how to do it. So I go over there and typically I convince them just give it to him. It's not going to close.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  32. “Let's just sign the documents. You know, we can get the check. I'll let you know. So she goes, gets in my car. She says, yeah, listen, there's a problem. So we're driving down the road. She explains it to me. I realize, you know, okay, that's done. It's over. We're not going back. She's like, what about the other closing? No, no, no more closings. We're done. And it was probably more of a screaming and yelling, like, what the hell did you do? Why told you not to change your hair? Why would you change your hair? When she came in like the day before and I was like, what did you do? What did you do? And she's like, I changed my hair. What's the big deal? It's still me. Sure enough. And that's a. It's not that I knew that that was going to happen, but why tempt fate?”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  33. “Has her sign all the documents, but she's looking at her like something's not right. Looks at her ID, makes a copy of the ID, looks at it, and says, this doesn't look like you. She's like, you know, you don't look Hispanic. And she's like, I'm half Hispanic. And she's like, you don't, I mean, but keep in mind the photograph was her. So she's saying this doesn't look like you. But it's her. Granted, she had the curly hair a little bit, but that's it. So Allison is like, it's me. And she's like, Look, I'm not going to cut you. I'm not going to give you the check.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  34. “We then refinance the house like three or four times. And so she starts going to these different closings. And her name is Allison, and she's pretending to be a Puerto Rican woman named Rosie de Perez. Allison has brown hair and blue eyes, Rosita Perez clearly doesn't. So Alison, when we make the ID, she dyes her hair black. Curls it a little bit And gets the pictures taken of herself. Before she goes to the first closing, Get a check for like $100,000. We've got like three of these scheduled. She She changes her hair color. She dies it back like a dirty blonde. And she goes to the first closing and she gets a check, a check for $100,000, let's say. I don't know what it was like to do. She gets a check at the closing, they give it to her. We then go to the next closing. Well, at the next closing, the title person”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  35. “So I'm doing multiple scams, right? So it's not just that I'm doing the scams with the reservoir dog scams, right? I'm not just doing those guys. I'm also creating Other identities because I've got other people that are involved. They want to do a scam. So this ChikTok was dating. She wanted to run a scam. So I set up a scam. It's semi-complicated, but the bottom line is she ends up stealing a real person. We steal a real person's identity. I have a real person's identity. We get a driver's license in her name. Open up some bank accounts, go rent a piece of property in her name. I transfer the deed from the property out of the real owner's name, I transfer it into her stolen identity.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  36. “I mean, but how can you fix it? Like, if A lot of the things they fixed, a lot of the manipulation they fixed. But if you tighten it too much, then the average person can't get a loan. So the thing is, some of these loans, sometimes changing a W2, should that person have gotten into that house? No, he shouldn't have. He didn't qualify. But he makes all of his payments. So it's like, is it a fraudulent loan? Yeah, but it performs. So, you know, I think that I would say that. I forget what the FBI statistic was. It was like 20% or 30% prior to the financial crisis was like 20 or 30% of like bank loans they were saying contain some kind of fraud, even if it was just a lie. You know, if you want to cut 30% out of the, you know, that's a ton. That's a ton”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  37. “I say there's probably after the 2008 financial crisis, I would say it cleaned up considerably. But I would say at this point it's just as bad as it ever was. And keep in mind, a lot of the loans that caused the problems. Were like, you know, they called them liar loans or no qualification, right? No income. Those loans exist again. There are subprime companies that are doing that again. I don't think they call them subprime anymore. They call them, so they got some other name. Yeah, they've rebranded a little bit, but it's happening all over again.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  38. “To contact household banks, say, We will buy those back. We are going to take care of it. It's not what happened. In fact, Gary flew down a couple weeks later, took me and several of the brokers, not that broker, but several of the brokers out to dinner, had a few drinks, and he openly admitted, he's like, look, I don't care if all the loans have fraud in them. As long as they don't come back on me, that's what I'm concerned about. Because there's a clawback clause for one year. He's like, so if they can perform for one year, I don't care.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  39. “I said, absolutely, of course, no problem. I said, what about the, I said, well, what are you going to do with them? He goes, well, they're going to be a part of a package, like a $3 million package we're selling to household bank. The other ones they had caught had already been sold. The ethical thing to do.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  40. “Yeah, just an idiot. So they catch a million dollars worth of loans. They call me up, and then they caught another million dollars, but they had already sold them to household bank. So while I'm on the phone with the owner, his name's Gary, and we're talking, he's like, look, this is what we found, this is this, this is what happened. And I remember I said, Gary, at the end of this conversation, if you think I'm cutting you a check for a million dollars, I said, I just don't have it. You don't have it. And this is when I own the mortgage company. And he says, uh, What I'm asking you for your word that if any of these Come back on us. They're in Florida. They're in your area. You'll help us get rid of the properties. We'll foreclose. We're going to have to resell them. I don't want to be flying down there. Just help us get rid of them”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  41. “They hadn't. Does that make sense? Like you pay your rent, they deposit it, it goes to the bank and they've got all the numbers and everything. Well, I had a bunch that were blank that all you had to do was fill out your borrowers' information and then you cut and pasted his name and his address at the upper left-hand corner. You make a copy of it. It looks like canceled checks. We had 24 of them. Well, one of my brokers was using them for all of his files. Like even if the person really had a rental history, he didn't want to order it. He just did this. It was easier.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  42. “Of what we owed him because we couldn't borrow enough to pay him off. So they took like a $20,000 hit just to refinance those properties. Never called the FBI. Never did any absolutely fraud. I had a broker one time we got called with over a million dollars in loans that he had done that were fraudulent. Pinnacle Bancourt, which was out of Chicago, the owner called me and he was like, look, your mortgage broker did this. Like, there was a bunch of Canceled checks. They were fake cancel checks. So they look like they had run through the bank for somebody's rent”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  43. “Washington Mutual ends up calling the mortgage broker and saying that they ended up with two of the owner-occupied duplexes because Washington Mutual had a credit line extended to one of the lenders who'd lent the money. So it actually was Washington Mutual. So it was a couple months later when they went to sell it in a, you know, they package them together and sell them. They realized we have the same customer with two duplexes side by side, both owner occupied. This is fraud. So she comes in, she tells me, oh my gosh, this lawyer's on the phone. This is what happened. I'm like, oh, wow, this is horrible. I end up getting on the phone with him. We have a huge, we have a conversation. And I'm like, you know, he's like, look, you know, this is a big deal. We could call the FBI. I'm like, look, who knows who was involved in this? Maybe somebody on your side was involved. Maybe somebody on my side. I don't know what my mortgage broker did. I'll deal with her on my own. Why don't you just let us refinance the properties? Not only did we talk him into allowing us to refinance the properties, he gave us a reduced balance.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  44. “Listen, when I go on the run, I got one where I was caught so red handed. It's Insane how bad it was. And listen, that's nothing. I got caught by Washington Mutual one time. I was caught by Washington Mutual where we had done six owner-occupied duplexes. So if you say you're going to live in a house, you can get about 95% financing. But if it's an investment property, you got to put down 20%. You get about 80% financing. A buddy of mine who was a sheriff's deputy, we had his wife by Going to say six owner occupied duplexes saying she lived in every single one of them. You can't own or occupy six dwellings. That's fraud. Now, granted, her W2s and pay stubs were correct, but she didn't put the down payments down, even the down payments we didn't put down. We actually got cash back. But months later, they called a lawyer from...”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  45. “And so the FBI agent ends up saying he's right Even if we caught him red handed, the likelihood that any of these funds will ever be recouped is zero. There's almost no monies ever recouped. And so we end up, they put me on hold again, they come back and they go, how quickly can you get us a cashier's check? And I go like that day I go, get them a cashier's check, overnight the cashier's check. They never called the FBI. They never did anything. Now at that point, we actually ditched that James Alan Duncan. Remember at that point we went to the mall, ran up all the credit cards, and just threw everything away and walked away because it was shop. You know, that whole, that guy was shot. I think we borrowed whatever, 800,000 dollars or $900,000 in his name.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  46. “And we can let sleeping dogs lie. The whole thing goes away. I apologize. I had every intention of making all the payments. It's a glitch. You caught me. My bad. And so these guys are just like, oh my God. Like now, they put me on hold. They're looking through the file. They come back. And I remember at some point we go back, forth, back, forth, and finally they come back and they said, listen, you still have the money? I said, yeah. Well, first they come back, they threaten me. Oh, well, when the F we give us to the FBI, and I said, that's not true. I said, the money was deposited into a bank account. It has since been moved, the bank account has been closed. It's been removed in cash. That money is gone. You will never see that money. I will be cutting you if I pay you back at all. It'll be from another account.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  47. “And they were like, no, no, you know, that's we'll get the money back when we foreclose on the property. And that's when I was like, oh. They think the property is worth like $195,000 or something. And I went, oh, I said, I understand. Okay. I said, do you have the appraisal in front of you? And they were like, yeah. And I said, open it up. I said, take a look at comp number one. That's owned by a guy named, you know, Lee Black. Comp number two is owned by, you know, whatever. David Silver, whatever the names were. And I'm like, you know, like black, silver, red. I said, I am all those people. And I said, let me tell you what I've done. And I tell them, just lay it out. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Said, so you can call the FBI, but you're not going to get all your money back. Or you can let me give you your money back.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  48. “And my buddy Rudy is there. And I mean there, he's pacing the room. She's in tears crying. And I'm like, okay, well, fellas, I said, where's this headed? Where's this going? What are we doing? And they, so they're kind of chuckling and joking about it. And I remember being like thinking, what's the deal? It's weird. And I said, look, why don't I just Let me just pay you back. Said, ah, we'll get the money. We're not worried about it. I said, you don't seem worried about the money about getting any of the money back. Why don't you just let me, I'll cut you a check. I can get you the money back. I owed him like $150 or something. I forget exactly. It was nothing. I owe you $150,000. Let me cut you check for $150,000.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  49. “I mean, I know what am I going to say? No, you're talking to Matt Cox. I can't say that. I've just got to keep running with it. Just like, okay, well, look, And he's like, you know, we called the DMV this, you know, they don't have a list for you in their website. We think that the, you know, we don't think you exist. We're still waiting for a phone call back from so and so and so and so and I'm just like oh my god and I said have you called the authorities yet and they were like no we haven't but once we put our file together we will and then the head of the fraud department they said oh by the way Mr. I forget his name but the head of the fraud department worked for the FBI for like 10 years or something or 12 years And so, I mean, I'm just like, and by the way, the broker is there.”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  50. “Wasn't our normal bank and they called they don't have any record of you and I was like well I've never been happy with South Star Bank there if you know it sounds like a banking error and they're like yeah I don't think this isn't cute”

    2024-01-17 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #409 – Matthew Cox: FBI Most Wanted Con Man – $55 Million in Bank Fraud · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source