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No Taft, to my knowledge, has ever neglected a public duty for the sake of gratifying a private desire. Until more recently, a Taft, Bob Taft, the third of his name, became governor and got involved in the most obscure, odd scandal. It was called Coingate. In 1997, the Ohio General Assembly made an unorthodox decision.
Instead of relying solely on the stability and security of boring old stocks and bonds, the state legislator voted to loosen its investment policy and grow its workers' compensation fund by placing $500 million into alternative investments. Alternative investments like rare coins and old currency. A market as unregulated and speculative as Beanie Babies.
The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, or the BWC, is responsible for paying medical expenses and providing monthly checks to state workers who have been injured on the job. There's no reason for the department to be so aggressive or unconventional in its investment strategy.
But on March 31st, 2008, the state handed over $25 million to a coin dealer named Thomas Noe, who would rely on his decades of expertise in the coin business to buy and sell and manage the Bureau's holdings. For his trouble, Noe was entitled to 20% of any realized profits, while the other 80% would be returned to the state. Sounds great and all, but rare coins.
There's not a single other instance of a state government or municipality actively participating in the unusual investment. So why Ohio? The Toledo Blade newspaper had the same question and began to focus on the coin dealer who was in charge of investing the state's money. Thomas Noe had made a fortune in the coin business. The 50-year-old and his wife Bernadette, a lawyer, were well known in the Toledo area.
Both had served as chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party at different times and had contributed generously to Republican candidates over the years. Republican candidates such as former Ohio Governor George Voinovich, who a few years earlier, in 1995, had appointed Tom Noe to the Ohio Board of Regents, the governing body of higher education, even though Tom Noe had dropped out of college his freshman year. Not the best optics, but it didn't matter.
Capital Coin Funds No. 1, as it had been named, was performing well. In fact, it was performing so well that in July 2001, the state of Ohio approved Capital Coin Fund No. 2 and rewarded Noe with another $25 million to invest. The Toledo Blade found this second investment a bit disturbing when their team of journalists later discovered that the first coin fund had undergone an internal audit the year before and serious concerns had been raised.
On April 3, 2005, the Blade reported that the auditor had warned his superiors that the Capital Coin Fund had the potential for self-dealing. He warned that Noe, who was operating the fund under no supervision or oversight whatsoever, could be profiting from sales of the coins without anyone even knowing, and that, quote, "...such a situation presents a conflict of interest and potentially exposes both the managers and the Bureau to allegations of improper activity."
the auditor's concerns went ignored. In that same article, the Blade confirmed the auditor's suspicions. 121 of the precious coins managed by Thomas Noe had disappeared, including two from the 1800s worth $300,000 that had been lost in the mail en route to an associate in Colorado.
It was also discovered that Noe had loaned more than $850,000 of the state's money to a dealer in California who apparently blew it all on bad coin investments. That $850,000 had been written off as bad debt and the man Noe had loaned the money to, Mark Kranz, was a convicted felon who had spent time in prison in the 80s for concealing $33,000 in drug money as a rare coin transaction.
and if that action did not show enough of a complete lack of awareness, Thomas Noe had also used the capital coin funds to invest in the shady real estate business that sold inner-city homes to poor people at above-market interest rates. According to Noe, outside investments like that one were necessary when the coin business was slow. After all, it was his duty to generate money for the state, even if it was at the expense of the state's inhabitants.
and apparently the state of Ohio was inclined to agree, even after the blade waved the giant red flags in their faces. Governor Bob Taft became extremely defensive when speaking to the newspaper five days after their initial report on what was now being referred to as Coingate. When asked about the lost coins and bad debt, Governor Taft responded, "...those issues you're talking about have to do with performance. What about the other 50 investment firms that received Bureau money?"
Why don't you ask for an investigation on them? Let's look at everybody. The Bureau paid closer attention to this investment because it was unique. That's why they sent the auditor in there. The bottom line is, is it making money for the state? And it was. He was making money for the state. What's the problem? To which the Blade reporter responded, quote, The bottom line is, if you would ask for your $50 million back, he probably couldn't give it to you. Taft replied,
What you're saying implies to me that you guys have a vendetta against Tom Noe because you're trying to dredge up every conceivable fact that would be harmful to him. You're trying to kill him for some reason. I don't know why. There are few people that are talented and knowledgeable and smart and willing to give that amount of time. You ought to praise him for Christ's sake.
According to Ohio's top government officials, the Toledo Blades reporting on Tom Noe and Coingate was nothing but a politically motivated attack on Republicans. A witch hunt. But their defense was laughable. The so-called witch hunt had been uncovering millions of witches. There were many, many checks written that would say coins on the stuff, but the money was never used to buy coins.
The money was used to buy homes, to buy yachts, to buy boats, to buy any number of things. But that money was never used to buy coins. Tom Noe spent very little of the state's $50 million on coin purchases like he had claimed.
Instead, he liquidated his personal debts and bought a $480,000 condo on the Maumee River, a $600,000 house on Catawba Island, and a $1.85 million waterfront estate in Key Largo, Florida, along with boats, yachts, autographed footballs, and golf tournaments.
Noe also gave a total of $45,000 to 24 people so they could attend a 2003 fundraiser for President George W. Bush that cost $2,000 a plate, a direct violation of federal campaign finance law back when that still mattered. The funneling of state funds meant to be used for injured workers in Ohio had been funneled through the entire Republican Party all the way up to the President of the United States.
In fact, Noe's contributions to Republican campaigns had more than doubled after the coin funds were established, and he and his associates falsified the coin inventories to cover it all up. A few days after the Toledo Blades' damning report, the Inspector General of Ohio announced an investigation of the BWC's coin funds, an investigation that would reveal a $10-12 million shortfall of the state's investment.
Thomas Noe was indicted on 40 charges, including theft, money laundering, forging records, tampering with documents, and corruption. His campaign contributions were so vast that five of the state's Supreme Court justices had to recuse themselves from the case. On November 13, 2006, Thomas Noe was found guilty of 29 of the 40 charges, 25 of which were felonies.
He was sentenced to 18 years in prison. On top of the two years he received for the campaign finance violation related to the Bush fundraiser. In the end, more than 20 people would be convicted for crimes related to Coingate, including the defensive governor Bob Taft. Turns out Bob had been playing golf on his buddy Tom Noe's tab and taking cheap vacations to his Florida home.
Governor Taft pleaded no contest to multiple ethics violations and was fined $4,000 and ordered to apologize to the citizens of Ohio. The pay-to-play culture that was discovered in the months after the scandal broke uncovered influence peddling by investment chiefs at the BWC. Lobbyists and aides were discovered to have accepted tickets to sporting events, condo stays, cash, and other perks.
Eventually, the scandal hit the state's top Republican, then-Governor Bob Taft, who ended up pleading no contest to four ethics violations. Tom Noe was still in jail. He has served almost 11 years of his 18-year sentence and in 2018 was denied parole for the third time. Ms. Clemency report reads, quote, "...when answering basic questions about his crime, the applicant minimized his behavior."
The applicant maintained that what he did in terms of spending OBWC funds toward personal items was nothing more than him making purchases on the monies that were to be his portion of the profits, even though no profit had been realized and no investments pursued when said purchases were made. Noe is scheduled for release on October 22, 2026. He will be 72 years old.
Tom's wife, Bernadette Noe, stood by her husband's side, at least initially, and agreed that he had done nothing wrong. She told a local radio station, Bernadette would later divorce Tom in 2009 after she found out he had done something that he should not have done.
Tom admitted to having a lengthy affair with another woman in the early 2000s. But before that, Bernadette had tried to keep remnants of their old life alive. The couple had sold the River Condo and Island home before Tom went to prison. But she was still hanging on to the $2 million home in Florida. She needed help. Bernadette has said that the hurricane insurance alone was costing her more than $30,000 a year. So Bernadette Noe, at 50-some-odd years old, got roommates.
one of whom was a convicted felon 37 year old daniel ginyak had spent time in prison on drug and fraud convictions but bernadette didn't know that when he moved into her 5 000 square foot house on the atlantic ocean bernadette was just trying to help out a friend in need quote i gave daniel a place to stay down here after his mother died to give him a chance to get on his own feet bernadette had met daniel through tom who was locked up in michigan with daniel's brother anthony
The two families had become acquainted and discovered a mutually beneficial arrangement. Daniel Gignac could rent a room from Bernadette, who, as an attorney, could help Daniel's brother Anthony with his current legal troubles. And boy, did Anthony Gignac have a lot of those. A career con artist impersonates royalty to live an absolutely absurd lifestyle on this episode of Swindled.
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You know what it is? We shut the pools down so that a boss can swim in private. You know what it is? There's Foxy chilling. Foxy. Or Louie the Tom bag. This is what bosses do. We shut the entire pool down so they can drink. Pineapple mojito. And the palm trees. Cheers, everybody.
Enjoy life, celebrate yourself, and never forget to always be treated the way you should be. Prince Khalid bin Al-Sayyoud won the genetic lottery. Sure, he may be a little short and stubby with a few dozen extra pounds and crooked teeth, but he was still royalty. Khalid was the son of the king of Saudi Arabia, and he had 600 million American dollars in his bank account to prove it. He would even show you his monthly statement if you asked.
because Khalid was not afraid to show off his wealth. In fact, he chronicled his life and travels and purchases on Instagram. Videos shared by the prince show his wrist always dripping in jewelry. Sometimes he would wear a Rolex, a Cartier bracelet, and a 9-carat diamond ring on the same hand. But his Chihuahua Foxy, with her designer dog carrier and diamond-studded collar, appeared to be his favorite accessory.
next to his fleet of Rolls Royces, BMWs, Ferraris, yachts, and private planes, of course. Yeah, this is bullshit. My new yacht. Here we are. Foxy! Okay, I'm right here. Okay, you're okay. Come on. Yalla, ala khamad. Aww. Foxy! Sometimes, Prince Khalid would even record himself making the ultimate rich guy purchase without a second thought.
Is that a blooming onion? Damn, big baller. But life wasn't always fun and games and exorbitantly priced finger foods. Prince Khalid had moved to America to work, or at least to make his fortune work for him.
After receiving an education at Harvard and USC, the prince became a big-brained businessman who was always on the lookout for new investment opportunities. Sometimes he could be overheard talking on the phone to the likes of Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Bill Clinton. One time Khalid told a friend, quote, I'm sick and tired of Trump calling me and inviting me to the White House. No means no, Donnie. Besides, if you really want a visit from Prince Khalid bin al-Sayyoud,
You know what needs to be done. Appetizers. You know what it is. That's right. We do know what it is. It is fiction. All of it. Prince Khalid bin Al-Sayyoud was not really a sultan. Prince Khalid was not even Middle Eastern. Khalid was born in Colombia as Jose Enrique Moreno. His family was poor as dirt. A giant leap from royalty.
Jose and his younger brother were taken in by an orphanage in the late 70s after their biological father killed their youngest brother when it was decided that their family was too poor to feed three children. The remaining brothers, five years old and three years old at the time, lived on the streets of Bogota for two years, begging and stealing, doing anything to survive.
Prince Khalid or Jose claimed that during that time he had to sell his body on the streets to grown men just to feed his brother. "You do not know the pain I've gone through." Thankfully, Jose and his brother would eventually escape the horrors of being homeless and helpless in Colombia. In 1977, they were adopted by a middle-class couple from Michigan, Nancy and James Gignac. The Marino brothers could finally be comfortable.
But that pain Jose described would never go away. When seven-year-old Jose Marino, renamed Anthony Gignac, arrived in America, he could not speak a word of the English language. But as soon as he could, the lies began to pour out of his mouth. He told his second-grade classmates that his biological father was the famous actor Dom DeLuise and that his mother owned the historic Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. Even his Saudi Prince scam began at an early age.
In sixth grade, Anthony's adoptive mother received a call from a Mercedes dealership, letting her know that her new car was ready to come home. Apparently, Anthony had convinced a car salesman that he was a prince. He picked out the car he wanted, rode along on a test drive, and told the salesman that his father, the king of Saudi Arabia, would pay for it later. You know what it is. You know what it is.
Stunts like these landed Anthony Gignac in therapy by age 12, and he was sent to a camp for troubled kids where he continued to boast about his family's imaginary wealth. A lawyer would later write about Anthony's childhood lust for riches. "Tony was involved in convincing anyone in school that he had money, that he had power, because if he had the combination of power and money, then he would never be alone." Truth be told, Anthony Gignac was terrified of being alone.
Having to survive on the streets of a civil war torn country will do that to you, so we'll divorce. Anthony's adoptive parents ended their marriage in 1985 when he was in the 8th grade. Anthony stayed with his mother Nancy, whom he had grown quite close to, while his brother Daniel went to live with their father. A new arrangement that caused Tony a great deal of emotional distress. Quote, The one person who meant anything to me, my brother, who I took under my wings, was taken from me.
Soon after, Anthony Gignac suffered some sort of mental breakdown. His mother could no longer control him so he was sent to a psychiatric hospital where he stayed for a year before he was transferred to a halfway house as a ward of the state. But he ran away at age 17. His attorney would later write, "He was alone on the streets and felt that his mother had abandoned him." Anthony Gignac was alone again, but not for long.
He forced his way into the home of an Arab family in Ypsilanti, Michigan, after he convinced them that his name was Prince Adnan Khashoggi, a name he borrowed from the world's richest man at the time, and coincidentally, the uncle of Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist and American citizen that was dismembered with a bone saw inside of the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, per the orders of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
who has received nothing but praise from the current American government, even though a foreign country had just brutally murdered one of its citizens for all the world to see. But I digress. Anthony warned the Arab family that if they did not take him in, his father, the king, would be very angry. So they did. Two months later, in Los Angeles, Anthony Gignac, still a teenager, began to experiment with his new Middle Eastern identities in other ways.
He had received a state identification card under the name Khalid bin Al-Sayyoud, which he then used to his advantage. Gignac was able to convince the cashier at a Saks Fifth Avenue store that he was part of the Saudi royal family and was allowed to use the family's charge account. He left with more than $11,000 worth of merchandise in his trunk. Gignac pulled off the same scam later the same day at a Neiman Marcus, where he spent almost $18,000.
While in LA, Anthony also used fraudulently obtained credit cards to rent limousines, to book hotel rooms, and to buy jewelry. He was eventually caught and arrested for those thefts, but jumped bail and fled the state to avoid serving time. But Anthony Gignac would return to Los Angeles sooner than later. He had gotten a taste of the high life, the opulent dinners, the fancy clothes, the power, the admiration.
Being addressed as your royal highness every time he entered the hotel lobby was intoxicating, addicting even. That kind of lifestyle was like an itch that Anthony couldn't help but scratch. It just felt so good every time he touched it. Maybe it had something to do with being born into poverty, but whatever it was, that itch would not go away, and Anthony Gignac would spend the next 30 years clawing at it. Support for Swindled comes from Simply Safe.
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In July 1991, Anthony Gignac, now 21 years old, checked into the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. He racked up more than $3,000 in room and food charges and left after four days without paying. He had also accrued more than $7,500 in limousine services. Of course, Anthony did not have any legitimate forms of payment, so he was tracked down and arrested.
He pleaded no contest to the grand theft and forgery charges, but it is unclear if he spent any time in jail. Anthony Gignac did, however, receive a mention in the Los Angeles Times. The newspaper had nicknamed him Prince Fraud. In 1992, the Middle Eastern Jimmy Sabatino was back up to his old tricks. He used an American Express featuring the name Prince Khalid to book a stay at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco, where he performed the same old song and dance.
A 14-year-old boy has been arrested in Saudi Arabia for performing the Macarena. Okay, maybe just the song then. I forgot that dancing is actually banned in Saudi Arabia. Kind of like that movie Footloose, but with more stonings. Anyway, you know what I meant. Gignac enjoyed his stay and did not pay, so he was arrested again and served 53 days in jail.
When he was released on probation, Anthony fled the Golden Gate City for the beautiful shores of Hawaii, where he was able to con a married couple into paying his $20,000 resort tab. Back on the mainland, after a short stint in his adopted home state of Michigan, Anthony Gignac made his way to Scammer Central, aka Florida, and quickly joined in on the fun. You know what it is? It's always the 4th of July when you're ballin'. And for all the haters, pay down that.
fireworks and Jewelry. I guess no one told Anthony that Disney World has a fireworks show literally every single night of the year, but we will let him have his fun. I mean, listen to how excited he gets when he sees dolphins. Look at the dolphins! Wow! That is unbridled joy, just like the kind Anthony Gignac must have felt when he ran up a $14,000 tab at the Walt Disney Floridian Beach Resort in 1993.
He was given probation for that offense and went right back to doing the same thing less than a month later in Miami. But this time, karma caught up with him. On December 30th, 1993, after one of his signature shopping sprees, Anthony Gignac, again posing as a member of the Royal Saudi family, invited two men he had just met up to his penthouse in the Grand Bay Hotel in Coconut Grove for a party.
Once inside the room, the two men beat up Anthony and stole all of the cash and jewelry he had in his possession. The police were alerted but Prince Khalid had already vanished into the night by the time they arrived to the hotel. Concerned about foreign relations, a Miami detective contacted the Saudi embassy to inform them about the attack on one of the members of the royal family. But the embassy claimed to have never heard of this Prince Khalid.
After the incident, Detective Roberto Suarez told the Miami Herald, "I've busted people claiming to be many things. I once had a businessman with four resumes in his briefcase and a mustache and a beard kit, but to impersonate royalty? That's pretty bold." Authorities eventually caught up with Anthony Gignac in Chicago and extradited him back to Florida where he had been charged with defrauding the Grand Bay out of $27,000.
as well as Saks Fifth Avenue out of more than $50,000. While in jail waiting for his trial, Anthony pulled off another con, this time on a Miami attorney named Oscar Rodriguez. Gignac had convinced Rodriguez that he actually was a member of the Saudi royal family, and he promised the lawyer that if he helped bail him out of jail, he would become the family's American counsel for all of their future needs. It was a business opportunity that Oscar Rodriguez could not pass up.
$46,000 was paid by a bail bond company in August 1994 and Anthony Gignac was back on the street. But two bondsmen were assigned to watch the prince's every move until his father paid up. That payment never arrived so Gignac instructed his keepers to drive him to the American Express offices in Miami. And somehow he walked out with a black card and a $200 million credit limit.
The bondsman and Oscar Rodriguez became even more convinced that Prince Khalid was for real. But what those gentlemen did not know at the time was that Anthony Gignac had insiders at American Express. In exchange for two Rolex watches to be provided later, the Amex employees provided Gignac with data about the last two charges made on the Saudi family's account, which was apparently all the proof he needed to score the card. It didn't matter that Prince Khalid couldn't provide his own date of birth,
With the new card in hand, Anthony Gignac immediately went on another month-long shopping spree. He purchased the watches he owed and a bracelet for himself, more appetizers, of course, and thousands of dollars worth of clothes, and a sworn deposition. Suzanne Litt, the assistant manager at a Ralph Lauren store, recalled meeting Prince Khalid and not being very impressed. Quote, he was very demanding, saying, I want this. Bring it up now.
Anthony Gignac also used his new line of credit to fly home to Michigan and back in the same day. He bought out the entire first-class cabin of a Delta flight. One of the bondsmen told Vanity Fair, because, quote,
So if you were ever wondering why you've never seen a Saudi prince on a Delta flight, that's probably why. American Express eventually discovered their mistake and alerted the Bond company, but the prince was in New York, where he had rented out an entire floor the four seasons. Attorney Oscar Rodriguez and the bondsman caught the first flight from Florida and ambushed Gignac in his hotel room, where they were met with resistance.
One of the bondsmen told Vanity Fair that Anthony threatened to call the embassy and refused to go back to Florida. The bondsman replied, quote, You're right. You're not going to Miami. You're going out the fucking window. I'll go to Miami, Anthony replied. But at the airport, Anthony Gignac made a last-ditch effort to avoid going back to jail. He started screaming at the top of his lungs. I'm Prince Khalid bin Al-Sayyoud. They are kidnapping me. He has a gun. Call the embassy.
call CNN. Within seconds, the bondsmen were surrounded by cops with shotguns pointed in their faces. Luckily, the bondsmen had the paperwork on hand that proved they were transporting a criminal and were allowed to proceed. However, in order to avoid any future disturbances that might occur mid-flight, the men decided to rent a car instead. They drove the 24 hours back to Miami, with Anthony Gignac tucked safely away in the trunk. The Prince of Fraud spent the next six years in custody.
not only for his wire fraud crimes, but also for defrauding Syracuse University out of $16,000. Prince Khalid had told the school that he was interested in making a $45 million donation and somehow convinced them to send $16,000 to his bank account to cover a portion of the taxes. Actually, it wasn't Anthony's bank account. It was his brother Daniel's bank account. Daniel Gignac was also arrested for his part of the scam and was sentenced to five months in prison and ordered to return his half of the score.
While in jail, Anthony Gignac received an additional 37 months after a cartoonish escape attempt. Anthony had lit his jail cell on fire in hopes that the guards would rush in and slip on the shampoo he had spread on the floor. The guards were not amused. Anthony Gignac was released from prison in the early 2000s. He returned to Michigan for a brief stay, but by 2002, he was back in Florida.
He was arrested in Orlando in June of that year for a similar credit card scam, and again in January 2003 for impersonating a diplomat. He had also scammed a doctor in Atlanta out of $5,000 while he was in town to apparently buy the Atlanta Falcons. Anthony Gignac's schemes were becoming so over the top, it was almost like he believed his own bullshit, like he had convinced himself that he really was a prince and deserved to be treated like one.
Anthony explained in court that he wasn't really a prince. Surprise, but he had been having a sexual relationship with a certain member of the Saudi royal family since he was 17 years old. And he added that because homosexuality is a crime in Saudi Arabia, his royal lover felt compelled to shower him with wealth to keep his mouth shut. Quote,
Anthony's lies were endless and his deaths were redundant. He spent the rest of the decade in and out of jail for his usual crimes. It was time for a change. So upon his release in 2011, Anthony Gignac stepped his game up in a big way. He partnered with a British-born asset manager with high-level business contacts, the kind of business contacts with access to billions of dollars. And with that extra layer of legitimacy,
The Prince of Fraud returned to Miami, ready to claim his throne. Prince Khalid wanted to buy a resort.
In early 2014, he told his new friends Annette Robertson, a world-class diver and underwater photographer, and her world-famous painter husband, Weiland, a.k.a. the Artist of the Sea, that he was interested in partnering with them to build resorts. Together, they viewed three potential properties that Khalid was reportedly interested in buying, including the Chica Lodge in Spall and Isla Mirada.
Khalid offered to purchase the legendary 27-acre resort for $200 million, but management was skeptical. Even after Khalid effortlessly recited personal details about every sheik that the general manager of the Chika Lodge claimed to have met, ultimately, the resort passed on the offer after its director of security did some digging into Prince Khalid and discovered Anthony Gignac's past. And ultimately, Anthony Gignac went back to jail for another year.
Annette Robertson and her husband Weiland admitted that they should have probably seen it coming. There were plenty of red flags warning that Prince Khalid was not who he said he was, like when Annette delivered one of Weiland's paintings to the prince's house, which he claimed was owned by his brother. She noticed something odd about the decor. Annette told Vice, "...there was no original art in that house, just a bunch of crap. Very judgmental. Sounds like someone just needs to live, laugh, and love."
But she's right. There was no way the Prince of Saudi Arabia would decorate his royal palace with mass-produced garbage from Hobby Lobby. But that wasn't even the most obvious giveaway. Annette told Vice she noticed something else strange. Quote,
When Anthony Gignac was released from jail for the 11th time, he went straight back to Miami. South Beach, Miami, Florida. Masterpiece. But this time, the prince had a secret weapon. A 51-year-old British asset manager living in North Carolina named Carl Martin Williamson.
When Prince Khalid approached Carl with $600 million to invest, the well-connected wealth manager jumped at the chance to be partners.
Carl set up an LLC to manage the funds, and on July 26, 2015, Khalid announced their partnership on LinkedIn. Quote,
Mr. Williamson is a great man who is loyal and honest and understands the people of our region and its ways in business and our lives as a whole. Martin Williamson International will assist all people in helping them to protect their assets from what is going on in the world and to bring new business ideas to many of the Fortune 500 companies on behalf of its clients. So it is with great honor that I am introducing Martin Williamson International to the world and to our region.
And I ask Allah to guide him and his company and bring him and his clients much success, God willing. Knowing what we know about Anthony Gignac, this was obviously a scam. Here's how it worked. Prince Khalid, being Saudi Arabian royalty, had important connections.
And there just so happened to be a huge initial public offering on the horizon related to Saudi Arabia that had every investor salivating. This is not just deal of the year. This could be deal of the century, I dare say. I mean, $2 trillion we're talking about potentially that Saudi Aramco is going to raise. Aramco is Saudi Arabia's state-run oil company, possibly the most profitable company in the world.
and they were planning to go public to accept money from outside investors. So through Karl Martin Williamson, Prince Khalid would pre-offer investors a friends and family deal to buy stock in Aramco. Naturally, a lot of those investors bid. Some of them even gave the prince expensive gifts and loans after he requested a sign of devotion. In less than a year, Khalid and Williamson took in almost $8 million from 26 different investors, including some of the most savvy in the world.
and it's hard to blame them. Williamson claimed to have known Khalid and his family for over 20 years, and his presentation included statements proving that the prince had as much as $2 billion in the bank and another $600 million in real estate. Everything seemed legit. With the $8 million of new investor money, Anthony Gignac began living the life he had always dreamed of. You know what it is. It's taken off by the planes. You know what this life is made of.
We'll see you later. We're on our way for a business trip. Private jets, yachts, and bodyguards, a penthouse apartment on Fisher Island, tacky suits and chihuahuas, appetizers. Prince Khalid had it all. Almost. He still wanted that resort, or at least part of one. And he had his sights set on one of the most historic hotels Miami has to offer.
Welcome to the historic Fountain Blue Miami Beach. Back in the day, you couldn't swing a martini glass here without hitting Elvis, the Red Pack, or anybody who was anybody. Thanks, Heidi Klum. I'll see you later, right? Okay, cool. The Fountain Blue in Miami Beach was legendary, but its future was bleak because of persistent debt issues and past bankruptcies.
The resort's owner, billionaire Jeffrey Sofer of the Sofer real estate dynasty and former husband of swimsuit model Elle McPherson, would have loved for some sucker with big pockets and a willingness to overpay to walk through that door and buy the Fountain Blue and solve all of his problems. But what were the chances of that happening? Enter Prince Khalid bin Al-Sayyoud, a sucker with big pockets and a willingness to do anything to fit in.
On March 24th, 2017, an investment banker representing a Saudi prince contacted Jeffrey Sofer, expressing interest in purchasing part of the Fountain Blue. The prince extended an invite for Sofer to visit his residence on Fisher Island to continue negotiations. When the billionaire and his associates arrived to the prince's penthouse, he pressed the doorbell next to the label that simply read Sultan.
Khalid answered and gave Sofer and company a tour of his garage full of Ferraris and Rolls Royces that featured diplomat license plates. Khalid told them that the license plates actually allowed him to speed around Miami without consequence and that there was nothing Miami PD could do about it. No agreement was made during that meeting, but negotiations would continue. Prince Khalid told the Sofer group that it was customary in his culture to exchange lavish gifts during the negotiation process.
Days later, Sofer presented the prints with tokens of appreciation that included a diamond-encrusted dog collar for Foxy and expensive artwork. To seal the deal, Jeffrey Sofer invited Prince Khalid to take a trip on his private jet to Aspen, Colorado. You know what it is. We're taking off. We'll see you later. Getting ready to board. You know how we do it. But in Aspen, Prince Khalid's whole scheme fell apart.
So, first security team was already having doubts about the guy when they had discovered that Khalid did not own the high-rise he lived in as he had claimed. Khalid was renting, but it was what Khalid ordered for dinner that set off alarms. The devout Muslim prince ordered prosciutto or ham, pork, the other forbidden white meat, which Muslims do not eat. When confronted, Prince Khalid threw a tantrum.
He screamed at the Sofer group about insulting his honor and stormed into the lobby of the St. Regis Hotel. One of Khalid's investment bankers warned the billionaire that the deal was going to fall through. She said the prince requested a gift to get back into his good graces. The next night at dinner, Sofer offered Khalid a Cartier bracelet worth $50,000. The deal was back on. But back in Florida, the Sofer team continued to dig.
They contacted an intelligence firm run by D.C. Page, a former federal agent with connections to the Saudi royals. Page was able to quickly determine that Prince Khalid was a con man. The intelligence firm wrote a detailed report and handed it over to the FBI. When federal agents raided Prince Khalid's penthouse, they discovered that most of his jewelry was phony. Cheap Rolexes bedazzled with even cheaper diamonds. All of his cars and boats and planes were leased.
The same diplomat license plates he used on his cars could be found for sale on eBay for $79. Anthony Gignac was arrested at JFK Airport in New York on November 19, 2017. He had been using a fake passport on his travels to Paris, Hong Kong, and London. After pleading his diplomatic status to no avail, Anthony asked one of the agents, quote, On December 14, 2017, at 6.30 a.m.,
Carl M. Williamson was standing in his kitchen with one of his twin boys when federal agents let themselves in, guns drawn. The prince's financial partner was interrogated for six hours. His home office was torn apart. When the agents left, Carl promised his wife Denise that he did not know the prince was a fraud. That evening, at about 7.30 p.m., Carl skipped dinner and told his family that he was tired and that he was going to sleep early.
He closed the bedroom door behind him, wrote a short note apologizing to his family, and hanged himself. Carl M. Williamson died two days later from the injuries. In May 2019, after pleading guilty, withdrawing his plea, and then pleading guilty again,
47-year-old Anthony Gignac was sentenced to 18 years in prison for impersonating a foreign diplomat, aggravated identity theft, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. A con man who swindled over $11 million by posing as a Saudi prince has been jailed for 18 years in the U.S.,
Anthony Gignac posted as the royal for three decades as head of an international fraud scheme. Prosecutors say he used the character to victimise and scam investors from around the world. He purchased fake diplomatic licence plates and papers for his bodyguards and chronicled his fake life on Instagram. He was arrested 11 times in three decades for Prince-related schemes.
Before his sentencing, Gignac told the judge, quote, The entire blame of this entire operation is on me, and I accept that. But he added that other people should have been charged along with him. Quote, I am not a monster. Anthony Gignac is scheduled for release in 2035. He will be 65 years old. Chilling at the pool. There's Foxy. Say hi, Foxy.
You know how we do it. Just chilling, relaxing, enjoying this beautiful night, beautiful sunset, living life. God bless all of you. Enjoy life. Enjoy every day because you never know it might be your last. Swindled is written, researched, produced, and hosted by me, a concerned citizen, with original music by Trevor Howard.
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