Episode 5 - He Loves Me So Much

Summary

Once Upon A Con: Episode 5 - "He Loves Me So Much"

Release Date: March 5, 2025
Host: Caroline D'Amore
Production: AYR Media and 32 Flavors

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1. Introduction

In the fifth episode of Once Upon A Con, host Caroline D'Amore delves deeper into her tumultuous relationship with David Bloom, a man she initially believed to be her savior and mentor. This episode, titled "He Loves Me So Much," unravels the complexities of trust, betrayal, and the relentless pursuit of justice against a charismatic con artist.

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2. David Bloom: The Charismatic Con Artist

David Bloom, branded as the “Wall Street Whiz Kid,” has a history riddled with deceit and fraudulent activities. In the 1980s, he orchestrated a Ponzi scheme, scamming over 100 individuals out of more than $15 million. His manipulative tactics extended into the late '90s, where he defrauded bartenders of $50,000.

Notable Quote:

• David Bloom ([10:37]): “It was kind of like a cult. He brainwashed me. He made me feel like the world hated me. And he was the only person that understood me and loved me, and I could not live without him.”

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3. Caroline's Initial Encounter with David

Caroline first met David in a West Village wine bar in New York City during the summer of 2008. Impressed by his charm, extensive knowledge, and apparent empathy, she felt an immediate connection.

Notable Quotes:

• David Bloom ([07:04]): “He’s a fantastic listener. He’s really engaging. He knows everything about New York City. He grew up there, and so he’s just a wonderful conversationalist.”
• Caroline D'Amore ([03:39]): “I met David in a wine bar in the West Village. That’s David Bloom’s ex-wife, Nancy Ozais. She was married to David for almost 10 years.”

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4. Building Trust and Deepening Relationship

Their relationship progressed rapidly with multiple dates at fancy restaurants and deep personal conversations. David portrayed himself as reformed, sharing his struggles and seeking Caroline's support to lead an honest life.

Notable Quote:

• Caroline D'Amore ([12:42]): “Nancy, like a lot of women who fall in love with a troubled man, believed she could fix him.”

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5. The First Red Flags and David's Arrest

Suspicion arose when discrepancies about David's claimed property ownership and past surfaced. Caroline and her partners recorded David’s phone calls, revealing his true nature and history of fraudulent activities. This led to David's arrest for stealing valuable family heirlooms from Caroline.

Notable Quotes:

• Caroline D'Amore ([24:10]): “Nancy is shocked to discover, according to her PIs, David Blum is the culprit. She is furious and gets the authorities involved.”
• David Bloom ([24:57]): “He ends up back in prison in the Tombs... and David was in jail.”

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6. Reconnecting and Marriage in Prison

Despite his incarceration, David’s manipulative prowess led Caroline to rekindle their relationship. She leveraged her connections to secure his release, and they married while he was still in prison. This decision further entwined Caroline in David's web of deceit.

Notable Quotes:

• David Bloom ([34:08]): “I married David in prison. Yeah. Kind of hard to admit, but yes.”
• Caroline D'Amore ([31:25]): “Being in love with a bad person can really destroy your life. And Nancy is about to learn that lesson the hard way.”

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7. Relocation to California: A Fresh Start?

Seeking to escape recurring confrontations with David's past, Caroline and David moved to Los Angeles in early 2010. David secured a sales job, and they embarked on philanthropic efforts, seemingly turning over a new leaf.

Notable Quote:

• David Bloom ([40:09]): “We were just trying to think about how to use our experience to give back and do good for others.”

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8. The Unraveling of the Scam

Behind the facade of happiness and benevolence, David initiated one of his most elaborate scams yet. Unbeknownst to Caroline, everyone David introduced her to was also a victim of his cons. The realization of widespread deceit left Caroline devastated.

Notable Quotes:

• Caroline D'Amore ([42:43]): “Next time on Once Upon a Con... I make a shocking realization that everyone David ever introduced me to, he also scammed.”
• David Bloom ([39:XX]): “How could we understand what he's doing? We would never think about doing it ever.”

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9. The Emotional Toll and Pursuit of Justice

As Caroline uncovers the depth of David’s manipulations, she grapples with the emotional aftermath of loving a predator. Determined to expose David’s schemes, she takes proactive steps to gather evidence and seek legal recourse.

Notable Quotes:

• Caroline D'Amore ([06:02]): “I really feel for this woman. God knows I've cried my own tears over what David Bloom did to me.”
• David Bloom ([33:55]): “I did not look like most of the other people in there. I kind of stood out.”

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10. Conclusion and Continuing the Fight

Caroline's unwavering resolve to bring David to justice underscores the episode’s central theme of resilience against deceit. As she navigates the complexities of her relationship with David, she exemplifies courage and strength in the face of betrayal.

Notable Quote:

• Caroline D'Amore ([43:12]): “This podcast is dedicated to the memory of my amazing mother, Bonnie Major, who would be super proud of me standing up for myself.”

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Key Takeaways

• Charismatic Manipulation: David Bloom's ability to charm and manipulate allowed him to ensnare multiple victims, including Caroline.
• Emotional Complexity: Caroline's journey highlights the emotional turmoil of loving someone who is fundamentally deceitful.
• Persistence in Justice: Despite numerous setbacks, Caroline remains steadfast in her mission to expose David's fraudulent activities.
• The Impact of Love and Betrayal: The episode vividly portrays how love can be both empowering and destructive, especially when intertwined with manipulation.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• David Bloom ([02:25]): “He’s a psychopath.”
• Caroline D'Amore ([06:09]): “I make a shocking realization that everyone David ever introduced me to, he also scammed.”
• David Bloom ([17:52]): “I was interested, infatuated, you know, high from the experience of meeting this wonderful person who cared about me and wanted to take care of me.”
• Caroline D'Amore ([31:25]): “Being in love with a bad person can really destroy your life.”

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Final Thoughts

Episode 5 of Once Upon A Con masterfully intertwines personal narrative with investigative storytelling, offering listeners an intimate glimpse into the harrowing experiences of Caroline D'Amore. As Caroline continues her quest for justice, the episode serves as a poignant reminder of the enduring human spirit in overcoming deception and reclaiming one's life.

Transcript

[Narrator]

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[Caroline D'Amore]

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[Narrator]

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[Nancy Ozais]

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[David Blum]

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[Nancy Ozais]

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[David Blum]

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[David Blum]

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[David Blum]

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[Nancy Ozais]

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[Narrator]

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[Caroline D'Amore]

Previously on Once Upon a Con.

[David Blum]

He has a hedge fund in London. Buying my whole block of shares at 26 and a quarter. Next week.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Wanda's.

[David Blum]

Yes.

[Narrator]

Come back.

[David Blum]

You'll have a wire transfer.

[Caroline D'Amore]

My business partners and I started recording David Bloom's phone calls as evidence for police listening to him.

[David Blum]

Psychopath.

[Narrator]

Saying all that stuff.

[David Blum]

I mean, basically, he's just confirmed everything.

[Nancy Ozais]

He'S done on that call that we've recorded.

[Caroline D'Amore]

And his history of using bogus IPOs to con people is Long. And David Blume does not discriminate.

[Nancy Ozais]

He, in the 80s, took over 100 people for over $15 million.

[Narrator]

One of the victims was his own grandmother.

[Caroline D'Amore]

And then I discover, as bad as he might have scammed me, the woman who was married to him lost so much more.

[David Blum]

It's kind of like a cult. That's what I'd liken it to. He brainwashed me. He made me feel like the world hated me. And he was the only person that understood me and loved me, and I could not live without him.

[Caroline D'Amore]

I'm Caroline D'Amore, and this is Once Upon a Con episode five. He loves me so much.

[David Blum]

I met David in a wine bar in the West Village in New York in the summer of 2008.

[Caroline D'Amore]

That's David Blum's ex wife, Nancy Ozais. She was married to David for almost 10 years. And being associated with David Blum even to this day has cost her jobs and friendships. And it's cast a permanent cloud of suspicion around her. Some of David's victims have even come to her demanding she return their, quote, investments they made with him.

[David Blum]

You know, I would say, I understand why you want your money back. I'd like my money back too, you know, so as frustrating, hurtful, and devastating it was to be accused of working with David. You know, when you're desperate and you want your money back, particularly if you've taken money from your friends. He's good at working friend networks and local networks, you now feel responsible to them. I can't fault people for trying to get their money back. I'm sorry that they thought that I was involved.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Nancy emphatically insists she had nothing to do with any of David's scams. And she is, in fact, one of his biggest victims. David actually stole her identity to scam people for years, and she's lost a couple hundred thousand dollars because of his lies and manipulations. But what she lost most of all. You can't even begin to put a price on 10 years of her life. She thought she knew who David Bloom was. She truly loved him, and she thought he loved her. But she was dead wrong. And now, years later, she's sifting through the wreckage that David left in his wake, trying to put her life back.

[David Blum]

Together again, as I freely admit. And I am embarrassed about. I was not my most elegant self. You know, I was left very damaged, and I was angry, and I. I have carried some of that on with me to this day, and I'm trying to understand my anger, my hurt, and I think it's When I feel like I'm being taken advantage of, I snap.

[Caroline D'Amore]

I really feel for this woman. God knows I've cried my own tears over what David Bloom did to me.

[David Blum]

He's a predator and he needs to be stopped.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Nancy's nightmare with David Blume starts back in 2008 in New York City. She's 44 years old with long dark hair and tailored business suits. Working in politics at the time, she gets set up on a blind date and ends up having zero chemistry with the guy. We've all been there, so the date ends really early. But Nancy isn't ready to go home. Not yet.

[David Blum]

Oh, I was just feeling like I put all the effort into getting dressed up. I might as well take advantage of it. You know, I'm right by this wine bar I love, so I'm going to stop at in Apple Bus. And when I was walking in, David was walking out with one of the owners. He saw me, I went in. I was sitting by myself. He came back in, sat beside me, and that was it.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Yep. David's trap had been set. And it springs fast with razor sharp teeth that dig in deep.

[David Blum]

He starts sizing you up from the minute he sees you. He's a fantastic listener. He's really engaging. You know, we started talking about the wine they had, and he said he knew the owners because he knows everybody then just. He knows everything about New York City. He grew up there, and so he's just a wonderful conversationalist. He knows food, he knows wine. He's just charming, smart, intuitive, seemingly empathetic. He's so well read. He has a photographic memory. He can remember every name, every property they own, their business, their net worth, you know, other people they know. He knows everyone. He does his homework, which makes so much of what he says sound viable because he actually knows what he's talking about.

[Caroline D'Amore]

So Nancy sits in that West Village wine bar for hours that night, having a really good time with David Blume. She's so impressed with him. By the time they say their goodbyes, they make plans to get together again.

[David Blum]

We exchanged information, and he told me he was going to the Hamptons for the weekend to stay at Tommy Hilfigers. I was like, wow, how cool is that? You know? And I remember I was going to the US Open with my friends over the weekend, and so we had planned to get together when he got back from the Hamptons, but I remember texting him all weekend. You know, we were just excited to see each other. And I was telling my friends about this amazing man that I met, but he was in the Hamptons, and I couldn't wait to see him.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Days later, they have a second date, and then a third, and then a fourth. Always fancy restaurants. Always a phenomenal time.

[David Blum]

David and I, you know, got serious right away, like, so he's spending more and more time at my apartment. I lived near Penn Station at the time. And he was not clear about where he lived initially, but he said he lived somewhere in the West Village, too. But he was going to be buying this house, and it's this beautiful pinkish house, and it was Richard Gere's old house.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Aha. Richard Gere's old house. Dropping celebrity names is just classic David Blume. Eventually, Nancy introduces David to some of her friends.

[David Blum]

So I had one friend who met him, and she was like, I don't get it. She goes, his nails aren't clean, and his teeth are weird. If he has all that money, why would his hands look like that? So we met, and we walked around, and we looked at this apartment that he said he owned, and it didn't seem like he lived there. And then we kind of walked around and looked at the Richard Gear house, and it didn't seem to be on sale. And so we were a bit skeptical, and we googled him and found out about his past. And I met him back at that wine bar and confronted him.

[Caroline D'Amore]

At this point, David's past consists of those two criminal convictions for the Ponzi scheme he ran in the 1980s and for those bartenders he scammed out of $50,000 in the late 90s. And here now is Nancy 10 years later, confronting him about both of those crimes.

[David Blum]

And he copped to it and said that, you know, done this in the past. He made some poor decisions. You know, kind of started connecting it to his family. Growing up, his parents always wanted to be a part of a more affluent crowd. And when David came out and started making money, he was able to provide that for them, and they were proud of him for the first time in his life. And he started, honestly, he said, investing money for his parents, friends. So he knew most of these, a lot of these people. And he said initially he was successful and he was actually making money the real way. And then as he started losing some money, he panicked, and then it turned into a Ponzi scheme. His family ultimately lost all their money and moved out of the city out of humiliation. But, you know, he insisted that that was behind him, that he was actually living with his aunt in Union Square, and that I was so important to him, you know, this was motivating him to go on and lead this honest life and that he really hoped that I would give him another chance. And I remember leaving and I had to think about it because it was obviously a lot. And somehow over the following weeks he worked, condwormed his way back into my life and convinced me he was on the straight and narrow.

[Caroline D'Amore]

So Nancy takes him back and like a lot of women who fall in love with a troubled man, myself included, she believes she can fix him.

[David Blum]

David, you know, confessed his love to me and you know, even credited me, as did his family, as the person that they all felt could help him go straight.

[Narrator]

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[Nancy Ozais]

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[David Blum]

I was this person in his life, he had never really loved anyone the way he had loved me before and the way he spoke about me and the things we did and the times we spent. And I was from, you know, this kind of good, honest working class. They really all believed and hoped that this would be the time and the relationship that would be meaningful enough to David to help him change his life. You know, I felt joyful. I felt, you know, I'm from a family of nurturers and I felt like this is my purpose. David gives to me and takes care of me and I'm his rock. You know, I'm the one that believed in him and if I believe in him, together we can do this.

[Caroline D'Amore]

At the time David convinces Nancy that her love is enabling him to turn over a new leaf and live an honest life. He says he's working in legitimate investments now, making good money, and she's falling deeper and deeper in love with him with each passing day. She's happier than she's ever been in her entire life.

[David Blum]

I was interested, infatuated, you know, high from the experience of meeting this wonderful person who cared about me and wanted to take care of me and doted on me and was, you know, David, I laugh and it's not funny. But David never missed a phone call, never missed a date, was always on time. Seems like your soulmate. He's your best friend. He's an adventurer. He loves to walk, he loves to explore. He loves to read and talk and learn about whatever I was doing. He'd learn all about it so he could be, like, the best conversationalist and help me in any way that he thought would be helpful to me. He convinced me that he was the only one who really knew me, who loved me like no one else had, the only one that truly understood me. And then, you know, how could I be without him? I finally found this person, and he was able to identify my insecurities, and basically, you know, I wanted to be taken care of, so he took care of me. I was always a bit insecure, but he understood me, and he thought I was fantastic, you know, so he was all those things that I had always wanted, but at the same time, continuing to undermine and make me more and more dependent upon him for. I think he may have been seeing another woman before he met me, but of course, he dumped her, because he just found me, and he just didn't want to be with anyone but me.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Not surprisingly, Nancy's relationship with David Blum moves lightning fast.

[David Blum]

So we met in September, and then around probably November, we start planning to travel to California for the holidays so he could meet my family, and then we could go meet David's family, his parents, who were living in Northern California, as well as his sister. So we're planning this trip. It's wonderful. We're going to fly out to California together. And then somehow the day or as we're going to the airport, he. He can't leave that day. And he's got to either stay in the city to take care of his aunt or to take care of a client or, you know, he said he was doing working with a couple individual clients. So I went to the airport, I fly to California, and then he tells me, you know, the real thing is I'm afraid to fly because I don't, you know, I have this record. I don't want to be arrested. And I was like, they arrest people just because they had a record. I didn't know. I was like, okay. He goes, but I'm going to take a bus, and I'll meet you in California. So David takes a Greyhound across the country, and I pick him up at the bus depot in downtown Los Angeles and must love me, right? He just traveled across the country on a bus to meet my family. Must love me Right. So we have a wonderful time with my family. I mean, you know, obviously they're a little trepidatious. You know, he's a former criminal con. But my family always wants to support me, and so they're supporting me. I'd say to this day, my brother never liked him. I guess the other thing that I have to say is when everybody tells you you're doing the wrong thing, you're probably doing the wrong thing. But I was sure I was right. We drove north. We visited his family, and they were, you know, delirious with joy. Look at their son. Finally, David was happy. He had a normal girlfriend, and he was, you know, he was working and, you know, and still taking care of the aunt. I remember them talking about his aunt, who I think, you know, had some psychological issues, as did her son, who I think was institutionalized. And his sister and her husband came over, and they had a bit of an awkward relationship, but everybody really was making an effort, and it was a lovely time. You know, when we went to fly home, David said, I think I better take a bus. I flew home. He took a bus back.

[Caroline D'Amore]

And when Nancy and David get back to New York, things suddenly take a turn.

[David Blum]

After getting home, I was looking for some jewelry that my mother had given me. It was a diamond necklace and a gold coin ring from my father, who died when I was five. And his name was Leon, and he was Latvian. And these were two very important keepsakes to me. And I kept them hidden in the back of a closet. So I went to get them, and they were gone. And I was like, where's the jewelry? Where's the jewelry? And David, of course, I have no idea. Let's look through everything. You couldn't have misplaced them. Let's tear that closet apart. Let's look through everything. So we did. Finally, he said, the cleaning lady must have stolen them. I was like, uh, how would she know to be looking in the back of my closet in a pocket, in a zit? You know? But he kind of convinced me that long enough. And talking to my friends, I was like, this just doesn't feel right.

[Caroline D'Amore]

At that time in early 2009, Nancy is working in politics in New York City, and she has powerful connections.

[David Blum]

So I contacted some private investigators through some contacts I had had, and they did some searching. They found the jewelry had been sold to a local pawn broker who had by now sold them or melted them or whatever. They were gone.

[Caroline D'Amore]

And Nancy is shocked to discover, According to her PIs, David Blum is the culprit she is furious and she gets the authorities involved.

[David Blum]

And we staged something in my house, like kind of an arrest. I honestly can't remember if they arrested him then or they knew cops who arrested had him arrested. But he ended up back in prison in the Tombs, which is in lower Manhattan, and David was in jail.

[Caroline D'Amore]

The jewelry David allegedly stole from the back of Nancy's closet was valued at around $11,000.

[David Blum]

At that time. They arrested David and were able to put him in prison because he had violated parole, which was why he wouldn't fly, because he would have been caught. So that all makes sense. And then, you know, an example of how absolutely brazen David was. The parole office that he had absconded from was literally on street level next to the building where I lived. And he walked by the parole officers who were looking for him every day.

[Caroline D'Amore]

And they never noticed him, not once. At this point in the story, if Nancy had not been romantically involved with David Blume, she would have been done with him forever. But tragically, she really did love him. And love's not something you can just turn off and on like a faucet. So as Nancy's criminal case against David Bloom starts moving forward, she begins to feel guilty. And David seizes on her guilt and starts doing what he does best, explaining everything away.

[David Blum]

But at this point, my head split spinning. You know, I've never been involved in anything like this before in my life. This is the person I thought loved me.

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[Nancy Ozais]

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[Narrator]

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[Nancy Ozais]

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[David Blum]

You know, I've never been involved in anything like this before in my life. This is the person I thought loved me. We just had this trip and of course, you know, he stole. He did that because it was a trip that was so important to me and he wanted to make sure he had the money to take me and to go on a big trip so we could meet our families. He really just did it for me because he loved me so much. So here I am. I Go in and they decide they're going to file charges. And so they hold him in prison. And I don't talk to him for a while. And then he starts calling me from prison and I start feeling terrible. There's a three strikes law in New York. He's already been in prison. I could just have sent David back to prison for a significant amount of time, if not the rest of his life. And all he really wanted to do was take me on a trip because he loves me so much. He took a bus across the country, and so he worked his way back in.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Now, before you judge Nancy too harshly, think back to when your best friend or your brother or your sister was in a really bad relationship with an abuser or a cheater or a drug addict or all of the above. And then you hear they finally left them, you are thrilled. Then later you find out that they actually took them back, and your heart breaks. Being in love with a bad person can really destroy your life. And Nancy is about to learn that lesson the hard way.

[David Blum]

I started visiting him in prison twice a week. I would go to the tombs and go through the rigmarole that you have to to visit someone in prison, which is quite interesting. And it takes, you know, about five hours to go through all the waiting and the clearance and the abuse. Basically, you get sitting with all the other people who are visiting their friends, relatives, other convicts, and you go into a room, you sit across a table from someone, they walk in, the prisoners in their fatigues, and you have probably 20 minutes to a half an hour to visit. You don't touch, you know, you're out in public. Then they march them out. I did not look like most of the other people in there. I kind of stood out. And it was an interesting learning time. But here I had worked in government, and I was really kind of shocked and horrified at how this really goes down. And I thought, you know, government's supposed to be on our side, but look at what they're doing to people. It was really unfair. And to see these generations of people who, you know, the son was in jail because the father had been in jail and the brother was in jail, and you were like, these people don't have a chance. So it started to really mess with me there, as this is kind of an injustice. And I saw the way David was treated and when he'd have his kind of hearings, and it was just so dysfunctional. And then David got a job in prison because, of course, and he was allowed to stay up all night and do like rounds, hourly rounds to check on everybody's safety, which means he was not locked up at night. And then he would kind of sleep during the day, read books, read newspapers. And that's kind of how he entertained himself. David, after being in jail, I think about 12 years before he met me. And then this time, he knows how to maneuver in jail. He is a little person, but he knew how to use his brains to survive. And that's what he did whether he was in jail or out of jail.

[Caroline D'Amore]

After reconnecting with David in jail and rekindling their romance, Nancy's guilt for putting him back in there becomes too much. And she moves heaven and earth to undo what she did.

[David Blum]

Well, I get him out of jail. I go back to an attorney that had represented David when he was younger. Plead my case, my love. What can I do? I want to get him out. I feel terribly. I can't send him to prison for the rest of his life. Basically, he says, how much money do you have? And I didn't have much at that point. He said, okay, I'll help you. He helped me get David out of prison and into kind of a rehab or an intermediary place in the Bronx. So David went from the Tombs to one of these places in the Bronx where everyone went after prison and got a job when he was there as part of their work program. So he lived there. I probably forgot one important little detail. I married David in prison. Yeah. Kind of hard to admit, but yes. So after visiting him, and he just loved me, was so appreciative that I was standing by him, and we just fell more deeply in love. He was going to go straight this time. He only did that for me. And I got married in prison in the Tombs in New York. I laughed. Probably not every mother's dream. I had a cousin who was a minister in New York. He was my guest. We were allowed to bring one person in with us. My cousin Bob came with me. It was $50 cash to get married in prison. A former inmate had found God when he was released from prison, became a minister and now professor prison marriages. For 50 bucks cash. We went to the dilapidated chapel in the Tombs. We waited for them to bring our inmate fiances in. And my cousin who was there helped with our ceremony. And I just saw him in the last year and, you know, jokingly said, I still blame you for this marriage. And he told me, you know, he thought very seriously about whether he should do it. He consulted with a fellow minister who said, bob, she's going to do this with or without you, so you should go and support her. And he said, but it's been a burden my whole life. And we just kind of laughed about it. I mean, at. Sometimes you just have to laugh about it. So by the time David gets out of prison and he's living in the Bronx, we're married. David's working at Paragon Sporting Goods in Union Square selling tennis rackets. And of course, David is the highest grossing tennis racket seller in the country. Showing up to work on time. He's got ocd, so he's just, you know, punctual, put together, fastidious. And we lived together for the first time as a married couple. Living together was great. I mean, obviously it took a little bit of getting used to, and he actually adapts pretty quickly to whatever environment he's in. That's a skill he's developed. You know, he could live in a multimillion dollar mansion and he could live on a street corner, in a sewer. I mean, it just, it doesn't seem to penetrate him for whatever reason. So he had a wife, he had a job, and he was on parole. And we adhered to parole. We were in by whatever it was, nine o'clock every night. Parole came to visit at the house. They do surprise checks kind of on you to see if you're there. We were always there. He went to his parole meetings and, you know, we seem to be doing pretty well. We were happy. He's a great partner.

[Caroline D'Amore]

But that happy life in New York is not without its hiccups.

[David Blum]

Every once in a while, we would run into someone from his past. It was obviously always uncomfortable and I really hated cold winters. And so I think it was November or December. I was like, we gotta get out of here. I can't do this again. You know, why don't we go to California? I had lived there before and it just seemed like a place for a fresh start. And I think, you know, in California there are all kinds of people out here. It seemed like a good place for us to start a new life together.

[Caroline D'Amore]

So in early 2010, the newlyweds moved cross country to Los Angeles and we're.

[David Blum]

Living in Santa Monica. Eco completes his parole while we're here, but he's out trying to get a job and he can't get a job. So he's getting frustrated. And he ended up going to a local organization that works with formerly incarcerated population, housing challenged population, formerly addicted population, to help provide job training, job skills, resume building. The organization is called Chrysalis. And then there Are people that come to them, employers who understand that they are hiring out of, you know, a challenged population, a population with a past. And David got a sales job selling advertising on bus benches in Los Angeles, and he sold the hell out of those bus benches. He brought. Brought in new customers. He increased the buys from existing customers. He was thriving. And so he was making very good money. We were doing well. I had a good job, he had a good job.

[Caroline D'Amore]

And with all that happiness and money, they begin to feel an altruistic urge to do something, to help people less fortunate than themselves.

[David Blum]

And so we were working with a number of different organizations, and we were just trying to think about how to use our experience to give back and to do good for others. So we came up with an initiative that we would take back a contract that had formerly been a city contract to clean the bus benches and empty the adjacent garbage cans, and worked with some local organizations who worked with formerly incarcerated men and hired those men to do those jobs. It's really hard to get a job when you get out of prison, and that's really a key to your stability. So we were helping employ people, and David could talk their language, and it truly seemed like that high he had gotten from committing crimes, he was now getting from helping people and from being my husband and from working with me to do that. And kind of from the credit or the acceptance or praise he was getting from people who said, wow, David really turned his life around, and now he's actually doing good and he's earning an honest living. And for several years, it seemed like we had done it. I was so happy. I. I was like, this is something I. I believed could happen. I believed there was goodness in David, you know, that he had made some poor decisions, and, you know, who knows why? Low self worth, you know, dysfunctional family, you know, whatever it was. But I really felt like we have created this environment in this new place. He had a fresh start, and he's really determined to make the most of it. And it seemed like it was working.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Of course, it wasn't really working, but Nancy has no idea. She's in the throes of one of David's most elaborate scenes scams yet.

[David Blum]

It was insane. The stuff he was doing was insane. And I was trying to make sense of something that doesn't make any sense or to understand things that I could not have thought of in my wildest dreams to do. So how could we understand what he's doing? We would never think about doing it ever.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Next time on Once Upon a a.

[David Blum]

Con like you called me probably like in a week when we came back.

[Narrator]

From France and you asked me, I think, did you give him money?

[Caroline D'Amore]

Yeah, that's what I asked you.

[Narrator]

And then I said yes.

[Caroline D'Amore]

I make a shocking realization that everyone David ever introduced me to, he also scammed. They just had no idea. Can I ask you, did I blow this up for you guys or was it already blown up?

[David Blum]

I mean, you did blow it up for us.

[Caroline D'Amore]

This podcast is dedicated to the memory of my amazing mother, Bonnie Major, who would be super proud of me standing up for myself. Once Upon a Con is a production of AYR Media and 32 Flavors, hosted by me, Caroline D'Amore Executive Producers Aliza Rosen for Ayr Media, Alex Baskin for 32 flavors and Jonathan Walton for Jonathan Walton Productions. Written by Jonathan Walton producer Caroline D'Amores senior associate producer Jill Piesnik Coordinator Malena Krolejewski Sound Design by Tim Mulhern Edited and mixed by Tim Mulhern Supervising Editor Victoria Chang Mastered by Victoria Chang Engineering by Justin Longer Beam Legal Counsel for Ayr Media Gianni Douglas Our theme song, Freshly Served was written and performed by the incredibly talented Maddie Noyes and is available on her SoundCloud foreign.

[David Blum]

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[Nancy Ozais]

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[David Blum]

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[Caroline D'Amore]

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[David Blum]

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[Caroline D'Amore]

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[David Blum]

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[Narrator]

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[Nancy Ozais]

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[Narrator]

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[David Blum]

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[Narrator]

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[Nancy Ozais]

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[Narrator]

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