True Con Artist

Der SPIEGEL-Bestseller, von dem die chinesische Regierung nicht will, dass wir ihn hören: Money, Macht und Willkür in China Wann ist man wirklich mächtig? Wenn auf dem Konto eine Milliarde liegt? Wenn die Ehefrau mit der Frau des Premiers beim Shoppen große Geschäfte macht?Desmond Shum wächst in Shanghai und Hongkong auf. Nach dem Studium in den USA stürzt er sich ins Beijinger Businessleben mit dem Blickwinkel eines Outsiders und den richtigen Connections. Er scheffelt mit Immobilientransaktionen Geld. Ehefrau Whitney pflegt Beziehungen zu Ehefrauen wichtiger politischer Akteure.

When Lt. Commander Bobby Thompson surfaced in Tampa in 1998, it was as if he had fallen from the sky, providing no hint of his past life. Eleven years later, St. Petersburg Times investigative reporter Jeff Testerman visited the rundown duplex Thompson used as his home and the epicenter of his sixty-thousand-member charity, the US Navy Veterans Association. But something was amiss. Thompson’s charity’s addresses were just maildrops, his members nonexistent, and his past a black hole.

Carolyn Woods lebte glücklich in einem ruhigen Dorf in den Cotswolds, als plötzlich ein attraktiver Fremder in ihr Leben trat. Er stellte sich als Mark Conway vor, und zu ihrer Überraschung war Carolyn schnell von diesem mysteriösen Mann fasziniert. Der reiche Schweizer Bankier (der später gestand, ein Spion zu sein) nahm Carolyn mit in eine aufregende, glamouröse Welt. Einige Dinge jedoch waren seltsam, und sie begann, ihren Liebhaber zu hinterfragen.

New York Times Bestseller #1. Die unglaubliche wahre Geschichte des begehrtesten Betrügers der Welt, die von Leonardo DiCaprio im Spielfilm von Steven Spielberg verewigt wurde. "Von Behörden und Nachrichtenreportern wurde ich als einer der gerissensten Scheckbetrüger, Trickdiebe und Gauner dieses Jahrhunderts bezeichnet, als Hochstapler vom Format eines Academy Award Preisträgers. Ich war ein Schwindler und Schauspieler mit erstaunlichen Fähigkeiten."

Don't hint that Richard Hauptmann was executed as an innocent man. Don't dare to think that Charles Lindbergh had clean hands when it came to the kidnapping and murder of his son. It's unpopular and may be dangerous to say aloud, but there was no kidnapping at the Lindbergh estate in 1932...No kidnapping...Instead of the story of the American hero and the trial, those parts are summarized, and the emphasis is on the actual evidence and the investigation. Hauptmann was innocent, there was no kidnapping, and the true killer is named.

Deepfake technology can create video evidence of just about anything: Hollywood superstar Margot Robbie in an orgy, Chinese president Xi Jinping declaring nuclear war, basketball legend Michael Jordan winning the World Cup. The only limit is the imagination. In a time where fake news and disinformation is becoming harder and harder to identify, it is more essential than ever to understand the dark origins of deepfakes. Journalist Michael Grothaus goes down the rabbit hole as he interviews the often morally dubious, yet incredibly skilled creators of this content.

P. T. Barnum, best known for his own use of hoaxes in his popular Barnum & Bailey Circus, found that the use of hoaxes was acceptable when the audience was getting the entertainment they paid for. When it came to religious hoaxes, fraud, and swindling, Barnum was avidly against it. He even went so far as to offer $500 to any medium who could prove that they actually could reach the dead. In this exposé of humbugs and the scams they perpetuate, he goes after religious quacks, witches and sorcerers, and other forms of frauds in all walks of life.

Diego Armando Maradona diceva: "Chi ruba a un ladro ha cent'anni di perdono". È davvero così? In modo sprezzante e semplicistico la si chiama truffa. Spesso però si tratta di prodotti di ingegno, colpi di genio, macchinazioni da grande attore, manipolazioni da ipnotista. In una sola parola: opere d'arte. Alcuni studi scientifici hanno rilevato un aumento esponenziale delle truffe nei Paesi occidentali in concomitanza con periodi di crisi economica. Questo, quindi, è il momento giusto per ogni truffatore di talento.

Nordisk Kriminalreportage indeholder en lang række spændende og autentiske politisager fra Sverige, Norge, Finland og Island. Sagerne er skrevet af de politifolk, der var med i opklaringsarbejdet. Sagerne er alle afsluttede, og domsfældelse har fundet sted. Det er hæsblæsende læsning, og ofte overgår virkeligheden fantasien. Læseren kommer med ind bag nogle af de mest dramatiske sager i skandinavisk politihistorie, og får stiftet bekendtskab med det puslespil, det er at finde frem til gerningsmændene.

Entre mayo y junio de 2019, se juzgó en Nueva York al falso gurú de la autoayuda, Keith Raniere, por un cúmulo de delitos que incluyen lavado de dinero, esclavitud sexual, extorsión, entre otros. Raniere aseguró por años ante sus fieles ser el hombre más inteligente y ético del mundo, aunque nunca demostró ninguno de estos dos atributos.

Rob Sand, the youngest attorney in his office, was assigned a new case by his boss, who was days away from retirement. Inside the thin accordion binder that Sand received was meager evidence that had been gathered over the course of two years by Iowa authorities regarding a suspicious lottery ticket. No one expected the case to go anywhere. No dead body, no shots fired, and no money paid out. Why should they care?

From poverty to lucky in love, Belle found her happy ending with a man named Mads…or so everyone thought. But when the wealthy Mads died a mysterious death, Belle collected the life insurance policy and remarried…only for her new husband to drop dead. With things going from strange to sinister, more men mysteriously die or go missing around Belle.

Márcame, amo es una recolección de las explosivas revelaciones alrededor del juicio de Keith Raniere, llevado a cabo entre mayo y junio de 2019 en la corte este del Estado de Nueva York. En sus páginas están los antecedentes del grupo que formó alrededor de él, sus cómplices y víctimas principales, y los mecanismos que le permitieron a Raniere convertirse, de un estafador de ligas menores, en el líder de una peligrosa secta de esclavas sexuales con presencia en Canadá, los Estados Unidos y México.

El 9 de diciembre de 2005, el reportero Pablo Reinah cubrió un “operativo” en el rancho Las Chinitas para Televisa. Se trataba de la captura de dos presuntos secuestradores de la banda Los Zodiaco: la francesa Florence Cassez y el mexicano Israel Vallarta. Poco después, se supo que este “operativo” había sido un montaje. La noticia se volvió un escándalo mediático y político de proporciones inimaginables que puso al descubierto las ineficiencias y la corrupción que atraviesan al sistema de justicia mexicano.

The third of a trilogy, this collection features 16 of the world's most outrageous scams and hoaxes. They all really happened, and were taken from firsthand accounts, newspaper reports, or historical documents found in public libraries. They date as far back as the late 1800s, but most are more recent. However, you won't find any defrauded widows or orphans in these stories; the victims are institutions or corporations quite capable of defending themselves, and the crooks who match wits with them are just as savvy. You could almost call it a fair fight!

Im Jahr 2019 beginnt der erfahrene Journalist Mark Seal, den verdächtigen Tod des Musikmoguls Peter Ikin zu untersuchen. Dieser hatte nur zweiunddreißig Tage vor seinem Tod einen gut aussehenden, eleganten Franzosen namens Alexandre geheiratet, der nun Ansprüche auf das Vermögen seines verstorbenen Mannes geltend machen will. Als Seal sich in den Fall vertieft, führt ihn die Spurensuche nach dem unglaublichen Leben von Alexandre Despallières von Paris über London bis nach Beverly Hills.

Do you ever feel like the world is spinning out of control? Do you ever wonder why there is so much violence, terror, and chaos in the news? Do you ever question the official narratives of history and politics? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this audio-book is for you.

At 23, William Simon Baekeland was well on his way to becoming the world’s best traveled person. The “billionaire” heir to a great plastics fortune had already visited 163 countries, but his real passion was finding ways to visit the world’s most challenging destinations. He earned rock-star status in the world of extreme travel. But when his story began to unravel, an eccentric group of hyper-well-traveled country collectors were left wondering how they had allowed their obsession to blind them to the warning signs that William Baekeland wasn’t who they thought he was.

In 1989 a woman fishing in Texas on a quiet stretch of the Colorado River snagged a body. Her “catch” was the corpse of Johnny Jenkins, shot in the head. His death was as dramatic as the rare book dealer’s life, which read, as the Austin American-Statesman declared, “like a best seller”. At the time of his death, Jenkins was about to be indicted by the ATF for the arson of his rare books, warehouse, and offices. Another investigation implicated Jenkins in forgeries of historical documents, including the Texas Declaration of Independence.

After an investigation spanning nearly two years, Los Angeles investigators come up empty in the case of a terrifying serial sex killer. But then, a seemingly unrelated arrest is made across state lines. In book two of Murder by Increments, we journey deeper into the life and mind of the suspect at the center of the case: one of the most confounding and mysterious serial killers in American history. Killing Cousins documents the shocking story of an abusive childhood that created a monster.