Episode 7 - Jumping Through Hoops Like Circus Animals

Summary

Once Upon A Con: Episode 7 - Jumping Through Hoops Like Circus Animals

Release Date: March 19, 2025

---

Introduction

In the seventh episode of Once Upon A Con, host Caroline D'Amore delves deeper into the intricate web of deceit spun by David Blum, a man once hailed as the "Wall Street Whiz Kid." This episode, titled "Jumping Through Hoops Like Circus Animals," uncovers how Blum manipulated and defrauded multiple individuals, including Caroline herself, leveraging his charm and fabricated connections to amass nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

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David Blum's First Scam: Vincent San Marco's Betrayal

The episode kicks off with Caroline recounting her initial betrayal by David Blum through her acquaintance, Chef Vincent San Marco.

• [03:24] Caroline D'Amore: "I'm Caroline D'Amore, and this is Once Upon a Con. Episode seven jumping through hoops like Circus Animals."

• [04:32] Vincent San Marco: "He basically was giving me like, at least like 70% of my pre-investment has a return on investment and keeping the rest to invest in something else."

Vincent shares how Blum convinced him to invest $30,000 in supposedly lucrative IPOs. Blum utilized this money to secure a lavish residence at Villa Carlotta and introduced himself as a partner in an upcoming restaurant venture. However, when Vincent sought the promised returns, Blum’s scheme began to unravel.

• [04:23] Vincent San Marco: "If he doesn't give me back the money, he cannot continue. I got most of it back, you know, like, it's a Ponzi scheme. So basically, I'm sorry, but I got your money back."

Vincent initially believed he was receiving partial returns from his investment, unaware that these were actually part of the larger fraud targeting multiple victims.

---

Expanding the Scam: Harry's Encounter with Blum

Caroline introduces Harry, Blum's former employer at a credit repair company, who became another victim of Blum's manipulative tactics.

• [10:25] Harry: "He was doing great at work. He ramped himself up to a point where he was making about 15 grand a month. And he set record after record at my company."

Harry recounts Blum’s impressive performance as a salesman, which blindsided him to Blum’s ulterior motives. Feeling that Blum’s achievements were insatiable, Harry became susceptible to his pitches for investment opportunities.

Blum presented Harry with an elaborate plan involving early access to IPOs of companies like Coinbase and Instacart, promising significant returns.

• [12:03] Harry: "We work with lenders and realtors all across the country and help clients of theirs that have issues preventing them from qualifying..."

Despite initial successes, Blum's promises began to falter when the supposed investment plans became too convoluted and unsuccessful.

• [24:10] Harry: "The mirror thing lasted about six months, and then right around the point where the flea thing happened, it started to fall apart."

Harry eventually realized the scam when the promised deals failed to materialize, leading to significant financial losses and the dissolution of trust within his company.

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Unveiling the Truth: Confrontations and Revelations

Determined to seek justice, Caroline and other victims banded together to confront Blum directly.

• [35:51] Caroline D'Amore: "Once Upon a Con is dedicated to the memory of my amazing mother, Bonnie Major, who would be super proud of me standing up for myself."

In a pivotal moment, a group of scammed neighbors approached Blum’s apartment at Villa Carlotta with evidence against him. The confrontation revealed the full extent of Blum’s deceit, including his manipulation of employees like Terry, who impersonated corporate executives to further the scam.

• [33:04] Harry: "He was in shock. So I don't think Terry knew the full extent of what he did."

• [34:17] Harry: "That was the hardest thing to do."

Harry's discovery that his long-time employee was complicit added another layer to Blum's betrayal, highlighting the depth of Blum's manipulation.

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Blum's Tactics: Exploiting Trust and Current Events

Throughout the episode, Caroline illustrates how Blum adeptly used current events and fabricated stories to gain the trust of his victims. By staying informed and weaving believable narratives, Blum maintained his facade as a trustworthy and connected individual.

• [24:10] Harry: "David is really good at using current events to corroborate his scams. I mean, he reads the newspaper every day."

Blum's ability to reference real news stories, such as the flea infestation in Skid Row, made his schemes appear legitimate, thereby deceiving even the most skeptical individuals.

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Impact on Victims: Financial and Emotional Toll

The cumulative effect of Blum's cons left victims like Vincent and Harry grappling with significant financial losses and emotional distress. The betrayal by someone they considered trustworthy not only resulted in monetary setbacks but also shattered their confidence in personal and professional relationships.

• [08:32] Vincent San Marco: "I feel like abandoned by the system, you know, that the good doesn't go at the end of the movie, in the sunset on his horse."

---

Caroline's Determination: Seeking Justice

Refusing to remain silent, Caroline takes proactive steps to expose Blum's fraudulent activities. She rallies other victims, gathers evidence, and confronts Blum directly, aiming to hold him accountable for his actions.

• [36:13] 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."

Her relentless pursuit of the truth underscores the importance of community and resilience in the face of deception.

---

Conclusion and Next Steps

Episode 7 concludes with the heightened confrontation between Caroline and Blum, leaving listeners on a cliffhanger about whether Blum will manage to evade justice or finally face the repercussions of his actions.

• [36:22] Harry: "This podcast is dedicated to the memory of my amazing mother, Bonnie Major, who would be super proud of me standing up for myself."

The episode sets the stage for the next installment, promising further revelations and the ultimate showdown between Caroline and Blum.

---

Notable Quotes

• Caroline D'Amore:

  • "[09:01] 'Nothing.' "
  • "[36:13] 'This podcast is dedicated to the memory of my amazing mother, Bonnie Major, who would be super proud of me standing up for myself.'"

• Vincent San Marco:

  • "[04:32] 'He basically was giving me like, at least like 70% of my pre-investment has a return on investment and keeping the rest to invest in something else.'

• Harry:

  • "[10:25] 'He was doing great at work. He ramped himself up to a point where he was making about 15 grand a month. And he set record after record at my company.'"
  • "[24:10] 'David is really good at using current events to corroborate his scams. I mean, he reads the newspaper every day.'"

---

Final Thoughts

"Jumping Through Hoops Like Circus Animals" vividly portrays the lengths to which David Blum went to deceive and defraud those around him. Through detailed personal accounts and emotional testimonies, Caroline D'Amore not only sheds light on Blum's manipulative tactics but also emphasizes the resilience and unity of victims determined to seek justice. This episode serves as a compelling narrative of betrayal, investigation, and the quest for accountability.

---

Listen to Once Upon A Con: Episode 7 - Jumping Through Hoops Like Circus Animals on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Transcript

[Caroline D'Amore]

In a world of economic uncertainty and workplace transformation, learn to lead by example from visionary C Suite executives like Shannon Schuyler of PwC and Will Pearson of iHeartMedia, the Good Teacher explains the great teacher inspires.

[Jeremy Hobson]

Don't always leave your team to do.

[Harry]

The work that's been the most important part of how to lead by example.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Listen to Leading by Example executives making an impact on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jeremy Hobson]

We live in a divided country and our media couldn't be more polarizing. That's why we started the Middle with Jeremy Hobson. It's about bringing voices not from the extremes, but from the vast middle into the national conversation. Each week we hear from ordinary Americans from all over the country. And when you subscribe to the Middle, you also get an episode each week called One Thing Trump did that focuses on just one item from the avalanche of news. Listen to the Middle with Jeremy Hobson on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Maria Tremarki]

Welcome to the Criminalia podcast. I'm Maria Tremarke.

[Holly Fry]

And I'm Holly Fry. Together we invite you into the dark and winding corridors of historical true crime.

[Maria Tremarki]

Each season we explore a new theme, from poisoners to art thieves.

[Holly Fry]

We uncover the secrets of history's most interesting figures, from legal injustices to body.

[Maria Tremarki]

Snatching, and tune in at the end of each episode as we indulge in cocktail and mocktails inspired by each story.

[Holly Fry]

Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Welcome to Pot of Rebellion, our new Star Wars Rebels Rewatch podcast. I'm Vanessa Marshall, voice of Harrison Duella. Spectre 2 I'm Tia Sirkar. Sabine Wren, Spectre 5 I'm Taylor Gray.

[Harry]

Ezra Bridger, Spectre 6 and I'm John Lee Brody, the Ghost Crew Stowaway moderator.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Each week we're gonna rewatch and discuss an episode from the series and share some fun behind the scenes stories.

[Harry]

Sometimes we'll be visited by special guests like Steve blum voices Zabarelio's Spectre 4, or Dante Bosco voices Jaquel and many others.

[Caroline D'Amore]

So hang on because it's going to.

[Harry]

Be a fun ride.

[Vincent San Marco]

Cue the music.

[Jeremy Hobson]

Listen to Potter Rebellion on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Previously on Once Upon a Con. I start calling every single person David Blum ever introduced me to to warn them.

[Vincent San Marco]

Like you called me probably like in a week when we came back from France and you asked me, I think, did you give him money?

[Caroline D'Amore]

Yeah, that's what I asked you.

[Vincent San Marco]

And then I said yes.

[Caroline D'Amore]

French chef Vincent San Marco is the latest David Blum victim.

[Vincent San Marco]

I uncover he was insisting and he was saying, like, I'm gonna make so much money. So I started giving 10k. And then the soil house come in. I give 20k.

[Caroline D'Amore]

And then David does something that I don't see coming at all.

[Vincent San Marco]

He's pathologically. He's a psychopath. Yeah, like a real psychopath.

[Caroline D'Amore]

I'm Caroline D'Amore, and this is Once Upon a Con. Episode seven jumping through hoops like Circus Animals.

[Vincent San Marco]

The date of giving me back some money was coming in.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Chef Vincent San Marco gets real lucky in a weird kind of way when he gives David Blum $30,000 to invest in some bogus IPOs. David uses that money to move into the Villa Carlotta and introduces Vincent around to everyone as this amazing French chef he's opening a restaurant with. A few weeks later, some of the quote, profit from those IPOS Vincent invested in is due. And to keep Vincent believing it's all real and to prevent him from outing David to everyone at the Villa Carlotta, David is backed into a corner.

[Vincent San Marco]

If he doesn't give me back the money, he cannot continue. I got most of it back, you know, like, it's a Ponzi scheme. So basically, I'm sorry, but I got your money back.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Yeah, you probably got my money. Yeah. What Vincent is saying here is that the $20,000 David Blum gave him back probably came out of the 35,000 he scammed from me. But at the time, in Vincent's mind, David wasn't actually returning his money at all. So hold on. So hold on. So it's not that you caught him and he was going to give you your money back because he was scared of being in trouble, it's because he was giving you back parts of your investment.

[Vincent San Marco]

Correct.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Wow.

[Vincent San Marco]

He basically was giving me like, at least like 70% of my pre investment has a return on investment and keeping the rest to invest in something else.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Oh, my God. So that's why that makes so much more sense.

[Vincent San Marco]

That's why when I think about it, after I say, like, oh, he was really trying to make me believe still, so he can continue to do that on other people.

[Harry]

Wow.

[Caroline D'Amore]

So you thought you were making money for the deal?

[Vincent San Marco]

Yeah.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Wow.

[Vincent San Marco]

Can the restaurant as well. Oh, next week, my lawyer is going to take you to the restaurant and.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Like, can I ask you, did I blow this up for you? Guys, or was it already blown up?

[Vincent San Marco]

I mean, you did blow it up for us. Like, you called me and you asked me, I think, did you give him money?

[Caroline D'Amore]

After my phone call to Vincent, he texts David asking about the rest of his money and, oh, about that restaurant they're going to be opening together soon.

[Vincent San Marco]

So I text him, like, so, what's up? What are we doing? So he tells me he sold the building.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Sold the building. Vincent is reading now from his last text conversation with David Bloom from August 2021.

[Harry]

So?

[Vincent San Marco]

So I say, what the fuck, man? You sold when you were still telling me? We are going to get the keys. This is unrealistic.

[Caroline D'Amore]

After doing some quick research in a restaurant trade publication, Vincent figures out David is lying. He never really owned that building.

[Vincent San Marco]

After all, that was owned by a Japanese group and opening a Japanese restaurant.

[Caroline D'Amore]

And did you ever hear from him again?

[Vincent San Marco]

No. Ever? Never ever. Never, ever, ever, ever.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Wow. So how did you feel when you found out that this wasn't even his building, his restaurant, to give you?

[Vincent San Marco]

I mean, I knew it. I should have known. Yeah, I was stupid. That's the way I felt. You know that. Yeah, I should have known. What did I do?

[Caroline D'Amore]

Well, Vincent did what victims of con artists rarely do. He reported David Blume to the police. I mean, he's out ten grand. Not to mention the myriad opportunities he passed up thinking he was opening a restaurant with David. And after getting scammed, Vincent goes down an Internet rabbit hole, like I did, reading everything he can about David Peter Bloom.

[Vincent San Marco]

I think he's pathologically sick because that's how he lived since he's 18 years old.

[Caroline D'Amore]

He was born this way.

[Vincent San Marco]

He was born this way. He comes into your personal life and he comes into your intimacy, and you open him your heart. And so you feel stabbed after when you do some research on him. Like, you can see that his first scam was his parents and his grandmother. He started scamming the people at the college he went to. So he's pathological. I mean, this person is sick. He shouldn't be in the streets.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Yeah, yeah. If he's going to do it to his parents and his grandmother, we never stood a chance. It's been nearly two years since Vincent went to police, and David's still not been charged with a single crime.

[Vincent San Marco]

I feel. Yeah. Like how you say, abandoned by the system, you know, that the good doesn't go at the end of the movie, in the sunset on his horse.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Yeah, I feel that. I totally understand where you're coming from, by the way. I Think David Blume will listen to this? Because he's that obsessed with himself? So knowing that David Blume is probably listening right now, what do you want to say to him?

[Vincent San Marco]

Nothing.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Really?

[Vincent San Marco]

No, there's nothing to say.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Nothing.

[Vincent San Marco]

I mean, I hope the American system is going to put you where he should be deserving. I don't think he should go to prison. I think he should be in a crazy house, you know?

[Caroline D'Amore]

Yeah. Forever. I'm beginning to realize that David Blum was a cancer at the Villa Carlotta. Through asking around, I find out that David scammed several of my neighbors. But not everyone is comfortable talking about it out of shame and embarrassment. And I admit I was scared to go public with this at first, too. I was worried how it would affect my pizza girl pasta sauce company and my reputation as a CEO. But then I realized my silence is exactly what David Bloom wants. And I refuse to give that to him at this point. I know for sure there's another woman who lives across from me who says David Blume tricked her out of $70,000. And a guy down the hall who tells me that David got another 40,000 from him, all using the same ruse and IPO investment opportunity. So David is totally comfortable scamming his neighbors, scamming his family, scamming his friends, and even scamming his own wife. So it should not come as any shock that he also scammed his employer first.

[Harry]

He was doing great at work. He ramped himself up to a point where he was making about 15 grand a month. And he set record after record at my company.

[Caroline D'Amore]

That's David Blum's former boss, who we'll call Harry because he wants to remain anonymous. Remember the credit repair company David Bloom said he owned? Well, Harry actually owns it, but David was one of his best employees.

[Harry]

He wasn't conning clients. He really loved the company. That's one thing a lot of people there said is, you know, as much of a sleazeball as he turned out to be, he really did love my company, really did work hard. Like, everybody that worked around him knew he wasn't some slime ball just conning clients. He wasn't lying to the clients or he wasn't scamming anybody. He was just great at his job. He just. It wasn't enough. Like, something about that to him is just not enough. Like a cheater, I guess. Like, you can have a great woman, a great life, but just have this addiction that you just. It's never enough, you know?

[Caroline D'Amore]

Right.

[Harry]

That's what it seemed like yeah. Why did just do your job and make. You were making 15 grand a month, right? Salesman. Why not just do that?

[Caroline D'Amore]

How is it for him?

[Harry]

My God, it's never enough for somebody like that. See, when somebody's used to making millions off for free for just robbing people, taking advantage of them, I think it's just. It's almost like an addiction.

[Caroline D'Amore]

It's 2018 now. In Los Angeles, David's wife, Nancy, is trying to divorce him. He's been fired from his job selling advertising on bus benches. And he's looking for new opportunities and new marks, and he finds both at Harry's credit repair company. What does your company do exactly?

[Harry]

We work with lenders and realtors all across the country and help clients of theirs that have issues preventing them from qualifying, meaning credit issues or stuff that's holding them back from being approved for the financing. We help them work on solving issues that fix their credit or raise their credit scores or just help them become qualified.

[Caroline D'Amore]

And on one morning, back in 2018, David Blum suddenly shows up unannounced and determined.

[Harry]

He walked in off the street. So I happened to be. Actually, if I remember right, one of the reps came up to me and said, oh, there's somebody up front that would like to speak to the owner. They're looking at, seeing if we're hiring. So I went up and said, oh, hi, nice to meet you. And he seemed clean cut, well dressed, well spoken. You know, we went in the conference room, sat down, and me and the vp, you know, took a meeting with him. It was sort of like an impromptu interview, Right? That was the first impression. And immediately starts bragging about himself. He's, you know, he's a Duke grad. And I worked at this other credit repair firm. Top salesman, top salesman everywhere. I used to sell billboards on the side of benches, you know, the ones that you sit at the bus stop, those little, little billboards. And I made that company, rattled off all these millions. He made them, and they screwed me out of my commissions. And the reason I left is because I was entitled to blah, blah, blah, money. And he was really adamant about it, like it seemed legit, like he wasn't lying. You know, it was hard to not believe him.

[Jeremy Hobson]

We live in a divided country. I am a lifelong Republican with all kinds of different people.

[Maria Tremarki]

You know, I'm a mother, I'm a grandmother.

[Jeremy Hobson]

That's why we started the Middle with Jeremy Hobson. It's about bringing voices not from the extremes, but from the vast middle into the national con conversation.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Anna, I'm calling from Las Vegas.

[Jeremy Hobson]

Each week we bring together an all star panel. Mark Cuban, so great to have you on the Middle.

[Harry]

Thanks for having me.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Jeremy.

[Jeremy Hobson]

Neil Degrasse Tyson, welcome to the Middle.

[Harry]

Thanks for having me.

[Jeremy Hobson]

And hear from ordinary Americans from all over the country on the most important issues.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Hi, my name is Venkat. I'm calling you from Atlanta, Georgia.

[Jeremy Hobson]

And when you subscribe to the Middle, you also get an episode each week called One Thing Trump did that focuses on just one one item from the avalanche of news.

[Harry]

We should be examining what our government spends its money on and are these jobs necessary? And what are we doing here? But that doesn't seem to be what we're doing in this situation.

[Jeremy Hobson]

Listen to the Middle with Jeremy Hobson on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bob Pittman]

Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. I'm excited to share my podcast with you. Math and Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing this week I'm talking to the CEO of Moderna, Stephane Bonsell, about how he led his team through unprecedented times to create, test and distribute a COVID vaccine, all in less than a year.

[Vincent San Marco]

It becomes a human decision to decide to throw by the window your business strategy and to do what you think is the right thing for the world.

[Bob Pittman]

Join me as we uncover innovations in data and analytics, the math, and the ever important creative spark, the magic. Listen to math and stories from the frontiers of marketing on the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts are wherever you get your podcast.

[Maria Tremarki]

Welcome to the Criminalia Podcast. I'm Maria Tremarke.

[Holly Fry]

And I'm Holly Fry. Together we invite you into the dark and winding corridors of historical true crime.

[Maria Tremarki]

Each season we explore a new theme, everything from poisoners and pirates to art thieves and snake oil products and those who made and sold them.

[Holly Fry]

We uncover the stories and secrets of some of history's most compelling criminal figures, including a man who built a submarine screen as a getaway vehicle. Yep, that's a fact.

[Maria Tremarki]

We also look at what kinds of societal forces were at play at the time of the crime, from legal injustices to the ethics of body snatching, to see what, if anything, might look different through today's perspective.

[Holly Fry]

And be sure to tune in at the end of each episode as we indulge in custom made cocktails and mocktails inspired by the stories. There's one for every story we tell.

[Maria Tremarki]

Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Harry]

Hey there, SNAFU listeners.

[Jeremy Hobson]

I am beyond thrilled to finally share with you that this coming April, my very first book is coming out and it is based on this very podcast.

[Harry]

Packed with jaw dropping moments and tons of laughs.

[Jeremy Hobson]

Please stop by snafu-book.com and pre order yourself a book or two or 100.

[Harry]

Just keep them in the closet whenever.

[Jeremy Hobson]

You need to give out a cheeky, sophisticated gift.

[Harry]

Take care.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Did you like him?

[Harry]

Well, he was likable because, you know, he was very well spoken, very articulate. Well, matter of fact, you know, confident. Hey, I see you guys are credit repair. I was just working over here literally at Blah blah Blah, and the name of the building business was one of the ones I knew because the guy that owned it was sending me clients. And so I knew the name and when he came in, he said, I'm working. I used to work for this guy and I know the industry like the back of my hand. I could be great at it. Are you hiring? And so I was like, oh, yeah, well, we are hiring. Especially somebody that's already in the industry and knows, right? And so I said, well, I mean, if you're as good as you say you are, I'll give you a shot. You know, you can only see how you do. And when he came on board, I trained him probably two days. And then he was on the phones and everything. I trained him. He immediately got it. He was reading his scripts, like, perfect. And everything he was saying to the clients on the phone I could hear was exactly what I would say. At the time, I was just, you know, just surprised that somebody walked in that was looking for work that seemed like they would actually be pretty good at the job, you know, because usually we have to run an ad, go through about 10 to 20 people to find one, and then see if they even stick. And then it would be like every four people we hired, one would stick. So it takes like 40 people to get one that actually makes it. When one walks in off the street, like ready to go, and they're sounding like they're going to be pretty good at the job. It was really rare.

[Caroline D'Amore]

And David Blum took to selling credit repair services to prospective clients like a duck to water.

[Harry]

All of a sudden, his numbers just went through the roof. By eight months in, he had broken company records. Like, it was just like from six months, he was barely even getting it. Or numbers wise, even he sounded perfect all that time. But the numbers weren't there from like seven, eight, nine months, his just shot up. And so it was one of those flukes where he just walked in off the street. I want to say June of 2020 was his peak at my firm when he set the final record he broke. You know, he broke six records in a row, bringing the company in 50, 60 grand a month.

[Caroline D'Amore]

David Blum as this amazing salesman making nearly 4,000 a week kind of confirms what his ex wife Nancy previously said about David's incredible work ethic and Midas touch. Back in New York, David's working at.

[Holly Fry]

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.

[Caroline D'Amore]

And being that star employee at Harry's credit repair company is actually what facilitates his next scam. He is a very smart man.

[Harry]

Oh, he's a genius. Like, I have no doubt now that I've seen this side of him, because I always thought at the time he was just a great salesman. Now I realize he's just an absolute psychopath.

[Caroline D'Amore]

It's a realization that takes Harry nearly three years to reach, over the course of which David weaves a litany of elaborate stories flush with details involving a cast of impressive movers and shakers supposedly operating in David's orbit. Harry still has all of David's convoluted text messages. He's reading through them now.

[Harry]

Here's where it starts to tell you the story. The ambassador. Here he is. Noah has been one of my best friends for 20 years. He's a former ambassador to Argentina and one of the biggest fundraisers and dealmakers in town. He's awesome.

[Caroline D'Amore]

And David's made up association with all these important people, coupled with his stellar work performance as Harry's best employee, really sets Harry up to fall for what we all fell for. A seemingly amazing investment opportunity. How much money did you invest with him?

[Harry]

Total. I invested 40 grand total when he first started working for me. He hit us within a month of, oh, I'm so connected. I know everybody. My wife, she's doing all these things politically. She's connected to Gavin Newsom. And he dropped so many names. I mean, a head was spinning. He was showing me his phone. Oh, look, I got Adam Schiff's number on speed dial. I've got Gavin Newsom in my phone. And so he's like, I'm connected to the mayor. I got this great idea. We should present to the mayor. The mayor is doing this fund this. They Call it a bridge home, right? I mean, it all checked out. So he said the mayor's got this thing coming up that he's going to use some of the mayor's fund to launch this thing called a bridge home. It's to help people that are homeless go through a kind of like a path to get them off the streets. So first they were going to get them into a, you know, halfway housing where I got them clean. And then from there we were going to put them into credit repair to fix their credit. And then from there they were going to get a job, and then they were going to be out, you know, working. So it was kind of like, great idea. I mean, he had to present. It was going to make us half a million dollars a month. This is what he pitched. You know, he presented to us like, if we can do this many, you know, this many clients, if we can handle fixing this many clients credit, then I'll pitch the mayor on getting us 500amonth and we'll discount the fee to a thousand and blah, blah, blah. The mayor's fund is going to come out of their fund. They got the slush fund. So that's where I started getting conned by David. It wasn't conning me. Like, he wasn't asking me for anything. He just said, you know, give us a proposal that we can. I can present my wife and I can present to the mayor. He took it so far that he said he got it approved. There was a press release gonna happen. The mayor wanted me and the VP there. My VP was Hispanic at the time. So he was like, he's Hispanic and it'll look great. He had elaborate stories. We're talking about six months of this thing. We worked on this, right? We're expecting this. I'm getting excited telling my friends and family like, oh, my God, this is gonna be great. We're gonna help people. And this guy's like, connected to everybody. When the press release was supposed to happen, all of a sudden there was this last minute change of events where it didn't happen, right? So we went and bought suits. I brought my VP a suit. We're all excited. And then, oh, that's, you know, hey, David, today's the day, right? We're supposed to go somewhere. He's like, oh, that changed. That got changed. He. And he says they're not doing it now because it's bad timing. The mayor just got hit with a lawsuit because there's a bunch of fleas on skid row because he hasn't Cleaned up the trash in forever. Now they're. They're making a big deal about the fleas that are causing these people to get sick on skid row. So now he looks bad. We can't do a press release at the same time as him having this negative press. So we Google it, right? Fleas, skid Row. And sure enough, there's a whole article about how literally that day before there was this outbreak of fleas, people were getting sick Skid row. They haven't picked up the trash. So I'm like, oh, my God. I guess, I guess it's legit, you.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Know, but it wasn't legit. I mean, yes, there was a flea infestation on skid row. That part was true. But this whole homeless deal with the mayor of Los Angeles, who at the time was Eric Garcetti.

[Harry]

We've put 14,000 extra people into shelter.

[Caroline D'Amore]

And housing was all, you guessed it, bullshit. David is really good at using current events to corroborate his scams. I mean, he reads the newspaper every day. He knows what's going on in the world, and he uses those tidbits to sell his stories.

[Harry]

The mirror thing lasted about six months, and then right around the point where the flea thing happened, it started to fall apart. And his excuse for it not happening after that was, you know, it's going to be too much of a hassle because your company has some negative reviews on Yelp. And, you know, the mayor doesn't want to get behind that because it's going to look bad. So would you be willing to start a whole nother company, a whole nother corporation that we could do it? So I did. I went and opened up a whole nother corporation. Two of them just separate to make it clean, because he literally had us doing jumping through hoops like little circus animals, you know what I mean? And so we're doing all this and it's just never materialized.

[Caroline D'Amore]

But all that hoop jumping was just enough to distract Harry from the second part of David's plan, the money part.

[Jeremy Hobson]

We live in a divided country. I am a lifelong Republican with all kinds of different people.

[Maria Tremarki]

You know, I'm a mother, I'm a grandmother.

[Jeremy Hobson]

That's why we started the Middle with Jeremy Hobson. It's about bringing voices, not from the extremes, but from the vast middle, into the national conversation.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Anna, I'm calling from Las Vegas.

[Jeremy Hobson]

Each week we bring together an all star panel. Mark Cuban, so great to have you on the Middle.

[Harry]

Thanks for having me.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Jeremy.

[Jeremy Hobson]

Neil Degrasse Tyson, welcome to the Middle thanks for having me and hear from ordinary Americans from all over the country on the most important issues.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Hi, my name is Venkat. I'm calling you from Atlanta, Georgia and.

[Jeremy Hobson]

When you subscribe to the Middle, you also get an episode each week called One Thing Trump did that focuses on just one item from the avalanche of news.

[Harry]

We should be examining what our government spends its money on and are these jobs necessary and what are we doing here? But that doesn't seem to be what we're doing in this situation.

[Jeremy Hobson]

Listen to the Middle with Jeremy Hobson on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bob Pittman]

Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. I'm excited to share my podcast with you. Math and Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing this week I'm talking to the CEO of Moderna, Stephane Bonsell, about how he led his team through unprecedented times to create, test and distribute a COVID vaccine, all in less than a year.

[Vincent San Marco]

It becomes a human decision to decide to throw by the window your business strategy and to do what you think is the right thing for the world.

[Bob Pittman]

Join me as we uncover innovations in data and analytics, the math, and the ever important creative spark, the Magic. Listen to math and magic stories from the frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Maria Tremarki]

Welcome to the Criminalia Podcast. I'm Maria Tremarke.

[Holly Fry]

And I'm Holly Fry. Together we invite you into the dark and winding corridors of historical true crime.

[Maria Tremarki]

Each season we explore a new theme, everything from poisoners and pirates to art thieves and snake oil products and those who made and sold them.

[Holly Fry]

We uncover the stories and secrets of some of history's most compelling criminal figures, including a man who built a submarine as a getaway vehicle. Yep, that's a fact.

[Maria Tremarki]

We also look at what kinds of societal forces were at play at the time of the crime, from legal injustices to the ethics of body snatching, to see what, if anything, might look different through today's perspective.

[Holly Fry]

And be sure to tune in at the end of each episode as we indulge in custom made cocktails and mocktails inspired by the stories. There's one for every story we tell.

[Maria Tremarki]

Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The more you listen to your kids.

[Caroline D'Amore]

The closer you'll be. Find resources to help you support your.

[Maria Tremarki]

Kids and their emotional well [e-mail] that's sounditouttogether.org brought to you by the Ad Council and pivotal.

[Caroline D'Amore]

David convinces Harry that he has early access to the IPOs of companies like Coinbase and Instacart. Right around the time when those companies are reported to be going public. David tells Harry, I'm going to buy.

[Harry]

It privately because he knows the owner. Before it goes public, they can sell shares privately to their friends.

[Caroline D'Amore]

So Harry gives David $40,000 to invest, and in a few weeks, he actually sees what appears to be a return on his investment.

[Harry]

And then all of a sudden, I started getting a little money back because the first ones come through. But he can only give me nine grand every. Every day or every other day. So the first day, he gives me nine grand cash. Didn't look like he had taken the money out of the atm. It looked like out from under the mattress, to be honest with you. Yeah, these weren't bills that you get out of a bank.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Oh, so he gave you cash?

[Harry]

Yeah, it was cash. Always cash. Envelope full of $9,000 in bills, right? Hundreds. Because they think he was scamming other people and giving me money. I put 40 grand in that man's hands, and I got 27 back.

[Caroline D'Amore]

So Harry's only out $13,000, but he actually ends up losing much more than that. Remember the guy I spoke to on the phone that day who said he was Whole Food CEO A.C. gallo and played along with David to help scam me?

[Holly Fry]

Hey, Steve, I'm sitting here with Caroline, the founder and CEO of Pizza Girl.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Thank you so much for taking time to chat with me.

[Harry]

Yes, Ron Bergle took an interest in.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Your pasta salsa in August of 2021. Right after I start calling everyone David ever introduced me to, including Harry, to warn them. I make another call to Harry's credit repair company to check on my account, and this is the outgoing message I hear.

[Holly Fry]

Hi, this is Terry.

[Harry]

I can't talk to you right now.

[Jeremy Hobson]

So please leave me your name and.

[Bob Pittman]

Number and a message. I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

[Caroline D'Amore]

I was immediately shocked by how similar that voice sounds to the voice of the guy pretending to be AC Gallo on the phone with me that day in David's apartment.

[Harry]

Sounds great.

[Bob Pittman]

We're actually located products like yours that.

[Harry]

Align with our values.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Right.

[Harry]

And products. We can promote Charlie as a brand for our company.

[Caroline D'Amore]

And literally, my stomach just dropped, and I was like, this is the same voice in a crazy twist I did not see coming. It turns out while David was working at Harry's credit repair company, he convinces his Coworkers, a guy named Terry to pretend to be The Whole Foods CEO, A.C. gallo on the phone with me that day. When Harry finds out his employee Terry helped David scam me, it devastates him.

[Harry]

You know, Terry was with me for 10 years.

[Caroline D'Amore]

When I realized that the voices were the same. I was so scared to tell you.

[Harry]

I'm glad you did.

[Caroline D'Amore]

When I first told you, I said, hey, I think that this might be somebody pretending to be the president of Whole Foods. I think he works for you. You were like, there's no way. There's no way.

[Harry]

Because I've known Harry forever. And I was like, no way. Because I didn't picture David roping him into it. So it would be Terry doing this on his own. Why would he do it?

[Caroline D'Amore]

And then you came to the. The Villa Carlotta, and I pulled you in that back room, and I played you the voice, and you knew immediately I saw your face, and it just dropped.

[Harry]

It just sucked because it was like, wow, you think you know someone.

[Caroline D'Amore]

You know, I still kind of feel bad for Terry in a way, because I'm like, he got sucked into something. Did he ever explain to you what happened?

[Harry]

He never did. Well, he did tell me that David had told him he needed a favor. It was. I don't remember exactly how he explained it, because I got Terry to. I recorded Terry, and I took that to the police because I confronted Terry first. I went to the police right after all this happened. I went to there and filed my own report. When I talked to the lady, I was like, I'm going to confront my employee and find out if he really did this and what happened. Can I record him? I actually asked the lady first, the cop, if I could record Terry without him knowing about it first, because I wanted to get that evidence so I could get something to hand to them. And she said, yep, as long as it's not in a bathroom or some other thing, you can pretty much record people anywhere, you know, I was like, okay. So I had laid my phone on the counter in my office, called Terry in there, and I just confronted him, like, hey, Terry, you know, this is what's going on. I've heard this, this, and this. Did you do this? He was like, you know, it wasn't something. I knew what was going on on. He kind of danced around it. Like, the way he made it sound was he didn't know what he was doing, but he knew he was doing something David needed him to do. I even said, like, how could you do that and not know you were doing something wrong.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Right.

[Harry]

Yeah. He also did, you know, I said, did you know you. I'm pretty sure I asked him, did you know you were pretending to be the president of whole.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Yes, he did. I have the recording. He actually said hi. He's. I'm like in. And David's like AC ac. If you look up AC Gallo. I mean, I watched a bunch of his TED talks and everything.

[Harry]

Terry tried to. I think Terry knew he was caught at the time and so he didn't know he was being reported. But at the same time he kind of didn't want to lose face with me because he's been with me for 10 years at the time.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Yeah.

[Harry]

And so I was like, it didn't. His answer didn't sit well with me.

[Caroline D'Amore]

What could you possibly say is a.

[Harry]

Reason he made it sound like David wanted him to. I'm trying to remember. Or something to do with getting like a contract. It was something helping David out is what he. David. He described to me like he was helping David out. And then when I told him, it ruined this person's life. Like you do understand what you did? Like, this is what really happened. He was in shock. So I don't think Terry knew the full extent of what he did.

[Caroline D'Amore]

That recording Harry made confronting Terry back in late 2021 was submitted to police as evidence. But ever since Harry got a new phone, he can't find it to share with us. Regardless, Harry promptly fired Terry after that confrontation. I'm sorry. That's so hard.

[Harry]

That was the hardest thing to do.

[Caroline D'Amore]

I'm like wondering if like David even cared about what he did to Terry. You know what I mean? Like he lost his job of 10 years. He, you know, potentially could go to jail if anything ever surfaces. Like, it's just. Does David even care at all?

[Harry]

Because if he cared about that, he would have cared about you or he would have cared about me or he would have cared about everybody. Conned.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Yeah. I feel like he'll just never stop. We reached out to Terry to ask why on earth he would pretend to be AC Gallo in David Bloom's scam. He emailed us back saying in part.

[Bob Pittman]

Quote, that guy screwed me over, cost.

[Harry]

Me thousands of dollars and got me fired. I'm a frickin idiot and it makes me sick.

[Caroline D'Amore]

After sharing what I uncovered about David Blum with my neighbors at the Villa Carlotta and with several other victims he scammed, we have a series of meetings to figure out how we should move forward. I mean, we've got a bonafide Con artist living amongst us. And something needs to be done. So late one Sunday evening In September of 2021, a group of us who are mad as hell quietly tiptoe up the stairs and down the hallway to David Blum's apartment at the Villa Carlotta. With iPhones in hand recording. We knock on his front door, and what do you know? He actually comes out to talk to us.

[Harry]

David, how are you?

[Holly Fry]

What's going upstairs?

[Harry]

No, we're gonna do it right here.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Next time on Once Upon a Con.

[Harry]

I apologize to you.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Why would you do that to me when I thought we were friends?

[Harry]

We are friends.

[Holly Fry]

Well, I've not been friends, but what.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Did you gain from that?

[Harry]

Nothing.

[Caroline D'Amore]

What was the purpose?

[Harry]

Nothing.

[Caroline D'Amore]

I almost lost everything. Everything. It's time for David Blume to face the music. But will he weasel his way out of this one?

[Harry]

I can lose my company in this 15 years, I've worked to build that company. How could you lose your company? How couldn't I? You're committing crimes. So you all have your money back.

[Caroline D'Amore]

There's no trust anymore.

[Harry]

It has to happen now.

[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'Amore senior associate producer Jill Piesnik coordinator, Malena Kroljasky Sound design by Tim Mulhern Edited and mixed by Tim Mulhern Supervising editor, Victoria Chang Mastered by Victoria Chang Engineering Justin Longer Beam, legal counsel for Ayr Media, Gianni Douglas. Voice acting by David Teitelbaum. Our theme song, freshly Served, was written and performed by the incredibly talented Maddie Noyes and is available on her SoundCloud. In a world of economic uncertainty and workplace transformation, learn to lead by example. From visionary C Suite executives like Shannon Schuyler of PwC and Will Pearson of iHeartMedia. The good teacher explains the great teacher inspires.

[Harry]

Don't always leave your team to do the work. That's been the most important part of how to lead by example.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Listen to leading by Example executives making an impact on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jeremy Hobson]

We live in a divided country, and our media couldn't be more polarizing. That's why we started the Middle with Jeremy Hobson. It's about bringing voices not from the extremes but from the vast middle into the national conversation. Each week we hear from ordinary Americans from all over the country. And when you subscribe to the Middle, you also get an episode each week called One Thing Trump did that focuses on just one item from the avalanche of news. Listen to the Middle with Jeremy Hobson on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Maria Tremarki]

Welcome to the Criminalia Podcast. I'm Maria Tremarki.

[Holly Fry]

And I'm Holly Fry. Together we invite you into the dark and winding corridors of historical true crime.

[Maria Tremarki]

Each season we explore a new theme, from poisoners to art thieves.

[Holly Fry]

We uncover the secrets of history's most interesting figures, from legal injustices to body.

[Maria Tremarki]

Snatching, and tune in at the end of each episode as we indulge in cocktails and mocktails inspired by each story.

[Holly Fry]

Listen to criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jeremy Hobson]

I'm Mark Seal.

[Bob Pittman]

And I'm Nathan King.

[Harry]

This is Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli. The five families did not want us to shoot that picture.

[Bob Pittman]

This podcast is based on my co host Mark Seals best selling book of the same title. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Evans, James Caan, Talia Shire, and many others.

[Caroline D'Amore]

Yes, that was a real horse's head.

[Bob Pittman]

Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.