February 26, 2025 • 29 mins
Caroline and her business partners begin to wrap their heads around David Bloom’s real occupation: Full-time Scammer. He’s been a con artist ever since he was a teenager. He scammed his parents. He scammed his friends. He scammed everyone with fake investments that were nothing more than Ponzi schemes to fund his exorbitant lifestyle. No one would know better than David's ex-wife, who suddenly surfaces with a truly shocking account of what it was like to be married to a charlatan.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Previously on Once Upon a Con.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
You want to discuss what happen?
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Your team, my business partners and I fly to Texas
for a meeting David Bloom set up that's going to
make Pizza Girl Pasta sauce a national brand.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
A steeting in the headquarters of Wholefood.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
But delay after delay leads us all to a shocking discovery.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
He's a scanner, is Ady Gil a few times waitresses.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Yep, we just realized we're all getting scammed by David Bloom.
The thirty five thousand dollars we gave him for that
soho house IPO gone and this entire meeting with Whole
Food CEO Ac Gallo is one big hoax. But David
doesn't know we're on to him, so we start reporting
(00:54):
all his phone calls as evidence of his crimes for police,
and he's still pushing this Whole Food scam really really.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
Hard that I just want you all common and cool
headed because you are going to have a meeting and
they're going to offer you something.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Stand there, I took some shit to you.
Speaker 6 (01:14):
Well, notice what you'll do us, Julie.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I'm Caroline Dumoury and this is Once Upon a Con
episode four, The Best Friend You Never asked for.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Let's not forget that David Bloom was a professional con artist.
He had been doing this for thirty years. We didn't
know it at the time, but you know, looking back,
this is what he does, and he did it incredibly successfully.
So you didn't stand a chance.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, But then, speaking to Acy Gallo, I never thought
in a million years that somebody would do this about
another person for somebody else. I was absurd, and you
do have all these questions, but then you question yourself.
Speaker 7 (02:12):
But I wanted to.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Now if that's why he had to send us to Austin,
because that was it was going to crumble if you
didn't believe that was Icy Gellow.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
So he had to.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Keep dangling this meeting that came out of that call.
To legitimize the call.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
My business partners Beck and Aaron and I are Monday
morning quarterbacking David Bloom's insane scam.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Overwhelming feeling were two things. One was poor Caroline. She
was in so much pain. It was awful.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
I was carrying a weight that no one else in
that room had to carry because I truly feel responsible
right for Ryan, for you got the reason we're there.
I continued to champion this guy and believe in him,
and I made everybody else join. So I literally, you, guys,
I'm not even kidding you. Like I had, Like I
(03:10):
hate saying this, but I had really dark thoughts, you
know what I mean, Like really dark thoughts in that moment,
and when I had my panic attack, just feel like
I just feel like I didn't know that I was
gonna ever come out of that.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
It was traumatic.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I'm not gonna lie. I was having like suicidal thoughts,
like for a little bit of time after that, I
was having a really hard time. And as it's all unraveling,
I'm falling apart, then putting myself back together, only to
fall apart again. Deep down, I know I have to
(03:53):
do something. I'm not gonna let this lying asshole get
away with this. I'm now in like at this stage,
like I already went through my crying. Now I'm in
the stage of like I just want to get this motherfucker.
Speaker 8 (04:06):
He's preying on people that are fucking working their asses
off and that are desperate, and it just came out
of a divorce. He knew that I had fucking nothing,
and that I rallied every fucking dollar that I had.
Speaker 7 (04:17):
Surprise all there, but he knew.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
I had nothing.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
He doesn't care.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
One of the articles that judge said, I have never
seen such depraved, remorseless behavior.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
He's a moral So beck Aaron and I start recording
all of David Bloom's phone calls from that point on,
and I get him to confirm every single scam he's
ever pulled on me.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
And we're gonna have a meeting. I'm not gonna know
now for the next hour, and I have to switching around.
She's getting a final word from that other department of
the company about the cleaning, whether anyone could come and stay.
Speaker 8 (04:51):
I know, But David, if you're my friend, you know
that I've been here, you know, like trying my hard
is to make this, you know, work out.
Speaker 5 (04:58):
It's a hotspot for co than in Austin right now,
and so this is happening.
Speaker 7 (05:03):
What should I do?
Speaker 1 (05:04):
And what do I tell my team?
Speaker 7 (05:05):
And what do I do?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
You tell your team? Exactly what I'm telling you. I mean,
I don't know what else to tell you.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
There's a reason why we couldn't go when I'm Friday,
because it was thirteen days not fourteen days and then
we had a whole conversation and they offered to get
you in as quickly as possible. They all scrambled to
change their schedule, which they did for today. And now
they've had a little outbreak of COVID amongst some of
their team members.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Over the weekend, and.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
Their corporate protocol, every corporate protocol requires for them to
sanitize those office areas where people have COVID and not
allow people to protect employees, to protect visitors for all
those things that everyone's talking about every day.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Well, and that's why all companies are doing zoom. They
really are.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
They are Actually they aren't all doing zoom. I go
into meetings every week. I actually have non zoom thing.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
It was outdoor on the owner's property yesterday and that
fled yesterday for three hours. So everyone isn't doing zoom.
They want to meet you in person for this particular thing.
This is not a normal meaning like you have going
forward once you signed in the agreement with them, and
they want to.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Bet you a person for this.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Wow, David's on a roll. So I bring up that
SOHO house IPO. What are all the details with that?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
There are there no details. I was just finalized.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
I was hearing the final prices being sold at twenty
six in the quarter next Monday.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Wow, I saw that it went down to nine or something.
So David tricked us into believing he used our thirty
five thousand dollars to buy shares and Soho House for
a dollar a share. I checked that day and they
were trading at nine dollars a share. But David is
telling me they're trading at twenty six dollars a share,
which is obviously a lie on top of a lie
(06:44):
on top of another lie. And this is how he
masterfully explains the stock price disparity after I pointed out
to him he uses his good friend, billionaire Ron Berkel.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
He has a hedge fund in London buying my home
block of shares of twenty.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Six in the quarter next meeting.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Ron does, Yes, it's.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
All been free ranged. That's why this deal was so certain.
That's why you know, knowing your circumstance, I knew that
this was going to be a good. Thanks.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
We're selling you the twenty six in a quarter next Monday,
and then ten days later you'll have a wire transfer
check if.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
That were actually true, A check for nearly a million
dollars would be hitting my bank account in ten days,
which would be really awesome because right now I'm flat
broke after giving that fucker all the money I had,
And if I didn't know what I know now about
his past scams, he really sounds like he actually cares
(07:40):
about me.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, you need money, just tell me when you come back,
I'll give you money. I don't care.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
It's not Ron.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
Ryan doesn't have to know. No one has to know.
I don't talk about those things. You'll like my sister.
If you need something, just tell me you need something.
You're gonna have money in the next twenty days. That's
that's sign that that's sealed and delivered. The twenty six
in the corner, your shares are being sold for. All
of our shares are being sold for twenty six in
the quarter next.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Monday, liquidated at market. So that's all taking care of him.
Ten business days after. You'll have your mindy.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
I mean you know that, I obviously appreciate that opportunity.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
And I've always been your corner. I love you. Set
up sand O Ryan, and please don't worry about money,
you know, whatever, whatever, whatever you need, so that money
comes and you just tell me, I'll hand it to you, okay, Las,
I love you man.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
You know I'm always here for you, no matter how
busy I am. I'm always here for you. You you
were in my.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Corner when I was very lonely and when I needed friends,
and that goes a long way with me. And so
we just have to keep our heads straight. And I've
learned this with these kinds of people. You have to
be low key. No matter what stress we're feeling. We
have to put out in our pocket and walk in
with a confident face. And no matter how many delays
and disappointments, whether they're deserved or they're not, I'm just
(08:54):
chilled because it's that poker face you have to show
to people all the time. And I love you and
all learn experience, but I will never let you down.
I will never lead you astray, and I'll always been
here learner to help you whatever you need.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Just tell me what you need.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Listening to David Bloom tell me he loves me and
that he'll always be in my corner makes me sick
to my stomach. The good news is this long rambling
phone call.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I'll call you your backroom okay, okay, sounds good.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Well, is exactly what we need to give police to
prove David scammed us. He talked about all his contents,
the Whole Foods meeting, billionaire Ron Berkel, and that SOHO
house IPO listening to.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Him psychopath saying yeah stuff. I mean, basically he's just
confirmed everything he's done on that call.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Like that we've recorded.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
From an evidence point of view, he.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Just thinks I'm just a freaking gummy.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Now the table's a turn like he doesn't know that
you know, and now you're playing in so that he
can get his just rewards.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
David is insistent that we all stay in Austin, especially me,
until this bogus Whole Foods meeting actually happens, which of
course it never will. So I tell David, after today
I cannot stay. Should I ask for Rebecca and Erin
to stay?
Speaker 7 (10:17):
Should I have them go in?
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Like? What do I do?
Speaker 5 (10:20):
This is about meeting you. This is not about meeting
Rebecca and Eron they are a pizza girl.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
After today, I cannot stay. Should I ask for Rebecca
and Erin to stay?
Speaker 7 (10:35):
Should I have them go in?
Speaker 5 (10:36):
Like?
Speaker 2 (10:37):
What do I do? This is about meeting you. This
is not about meeting Rebecca Aron. They are a pizza girl.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
He wants to meet you, and if team wants to
meet with you after this meeting, probably the rest of
your life be on zoom that there might be a
rare say.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Wants you're in a combat a person for the first day.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
It's about personality and that's not something you do on
so that's something you.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Do in person.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
He sounds pretty convining, right, And in order to keep
it going on our end so we can keep gathering
evidence for police, we come up with a way that
gets us back home to Los Angeles while letting David
think it's my fault that this fictitious Whole Foods meeting
didn't happen.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
We devised this thing with Caroline, said David, we can't
wait for this meeting now. My daughter needs me back,
So we're going to apply back to we'll reschedule this
Whole Foods mate.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
And we knew that he was going to blame it,
just like he blamed things on COVID. He's going to
blame it on the fact that I needed to go
home to my daughter. Well, you have to go home
to your daughter. So we were giving almost him and out.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
We had to give him and out so that we
could fly home.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
You know what I mean, like and not give up
that we knew anything. But I had no idea that
while I was in Austin for five days chasing a
wild goose named a c. Gallow, David was trash talking
me to all my neighbors at the Villa Carlatta. Because
by the time I got back, David had already told
everybody that I was unstable, that I was an alcoholic
(12:01):
and a drug addict. Yeah, and that was his new
story because he knew I was coming back with a vengeance.
He knew we were coming back not liking no, But
I'm saying he was preparing for it. Yes, absolutely, But
we hit it. And when I get back to the
Villa Carlata, I have one hell of a poker face on.
(12:22):
I can't tell anyone I know David's true identity because
I need to keep gathering evidence. But some of my
neighbors actually believe David's lies about me, that I'm this
mentally unstable drug addict, and they avoid me. They have
no idea that this dude is a sophisticated con artist
with four decades of swindling hundreds of innocent victims under
(12:46):
his belt.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
David Bloom is better known as the Wall Street whiz kid.
He is generally considered a high level grifter.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
That's James Qely, a crime reporter for the La Times.
He actually spent months in investigating the many scams of
David Bloom for a story he did in September of
twenty twenty two.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
So the difference between David Bloom and my regular beat
is just the nature of the crime. I think, by
and large, over the course of my career, I've normally
covered filent crime that is normally just what resonates. And
you know the old adage newspapers is true, right, if
it leads, it leads. Bloom is more of a mental
gymnastics criminal fraudster, taking money from people in positions of power.
(13:26):
Quite honestly, I tend to write a lot about downtrodden victims,
people who don't get a voice otherwise, people from communities
that are marginalized, under privileged. Bloom strikes at people largely
in his same tax bracket, or the tax bracket he
once occupied. He goes after people with money, and he
goes after people with privilege. And you know, it kind
of shows that wealth doesn't insulate you from that.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
And it also explains why he moved into the Villa Carlotta,
a super high end building with dozens and dozens of wealthy,
ambitious residents who were ripe for the scamming. David Bloom
convinced us all that he came from money and that
he built his business empire with shrewd investments using powerful connections.
(14:10):
But where does this grifter actually come from?
Speaker 4 (14:13):
David Bloom's origin story traces all the way back to
the wealthiest parts of Manhattan. I guess would have been
the eighties would have been his real coming of age.
He grows up really wealthy Upper east Side Manhattan, vacations
in the Hamptons, and he starts this investment group that
is basically the beginnings of what would become his grift
of choice. Right that he has inside information or he
(14:34):
can get access to these groups that are about to
go public or these stocks that you know you can
get into a low value you gonna triple, You're going
to quintuple your investment. Said he had connections to the
Rockefeller said, he had connections to Bill Cosby, And this
is back at the time when that would be a
connection you would want to have, you know, he's still
just the jello guy.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Then this sickening irony of one predator using another to
further their cause is not lost on me. David Bloom
makes a literal fortune early on in his career of conning.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
He in the eighties took over one hundred people for
over fifteen million dollars. One of the victims was his
own grandmother.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
David actually starts a private investment club while he's getting
his art history degree at Duke University in the early
nineteen eighties. He quickly develops a reputation for making everyone
a lot of money and eventually opens his own company,
the Greater Sutton Investor Group, and in a few years
he's taken in millions and millions of dollars from hundreds
(15:34):
of investors, including his close friends and family. In the meantime,
he's spending millions of dollars on high end homes, luxury cars,
and priceless paintings. He even buys a fifty two carrot
diamond necklace for one of his girlfriends. The crazy thing
is all of David Bloom's clients are happy for years
(15:58):
because David is mailing them entirely fictitious statements every month,
giving them all the false impression that they're making a
lot of money with him.
Speaker 7 (16:07):
David Bloom was an infant when I first saw him
in East Hampton. He was a quiet little fellow, and
he was quite small.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
That's a woman we're calling Elizabeth because she wants to
remain anonymous. Both she and her husband were actually good
friends with David Bloom's parents and watched him grow up
to become, by all accounts, a hugely successful young man.
People even start calling him the Wall Street whiz kid
because he's still in his early twenties at this point.
Speaker 7 (16:39):
My husband and I would go out to dinner with
the Blooms, and always a new restaurant, a fine restaurant,
places where they were able to tell us of the
exploits and fabulous things that their son David was. Still
(17:01):
All the conversation was about David. We could not speak
of anything else but listen to stories of David and
how much money he was making for people, and how
many clients he had. And he lived in this elegant
apartment on seventy second Street. I think it was he
(17:25):
had offices at the six sixth building on fifty seventh
to fifty ninth Street, there was a British secretary and
answered his office phone. David had a Bentley and a chauffeur.
David was a genius. David was admired by all. In fact,
(17:50):
when we would go to these restaurants, once we were
identified as David Bloomed associates, they treated us like we
were celebrities. They could not do enough cross One time
when I was with him for dinner and he had
(18:11):
to take a phone call. After he got off the phone,
he came back he said, oh, it was a self
number nine. He wants to invest with me. He's so interested,
And we became impressed with it because we were very
interested in the fact that he was making so much
money for so many people, including his grandmother, and so
(18:37):
at a certain point we cracked and we decided we
wanted in on that.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
So Elizabeth and her husband give David one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars to invest for them back in nineteen
eighty seven, which is the equivalent of nearly four hundred
thousand dollars in today's money. But months later they start
hearing troubling rumors about the Wall Street whiz kid.
Speaker 7 (19:05):
I think the fives were already after him by then.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Yep. As it turns out, David Bloom was actually running
an elaborate Ponzi scheme. There were no investments. When one
client wanted their money back, he used another clients to
cover it. Sound familiar. Bloom was pulling a Bernie made
Off before most people even knew who Bernie Madeoff was,
and eventually everything blew up in his face too.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
When it was all said and done, he was convicted
of various financial crimes and barred from operating as a
any sort of financial advisor or otherwise anything governed by
the Security Exchange Commission for I believe it was a
lifetime ban.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
The courts sell all of David's assets and are able
to return some of his victim's money, including Elizabeth and
her husband.
Speaker 7 (19:54):
We invested one hundred and fifty and got seventy five
thousand back, so we were lucky.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
And in nineteen eighty eight, David Bloom is sentenced to
eight years in federal prison, but he gets out early.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
He'd spent a couple of years in prison, resurfaces in Manhattan,
kind of doing the same thing, but on a lower level.
Now he's targeting bartender. Now he's targeting aspiring actor. He's
going by the name David Daily. Now he's purposely not
calling himself Bloom.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
David Daily aka David Bloom is in his mid thirties
in nineteen ninety eight when he becomes a regular at
a restaurant in Manhattan's financial district called Houston's. He always
wears expensive suits with French cuffs, and he really impresses
all the waiters and bartenders there with his apparent wealth.
(20:42):
He tells them all he drives a Bentley. He also
says he's an investment banker and then gives them all
stock tips that actually end up being spot on. They're impressed.
He then offers to help one bartender who's an aspiring actor,
land a big time agent, and tells another impull some
strings to get him an investment banking job at one
(21:03):
of the big firms next door. But before any of
that happens, David offers another couple of bartenders the opportunity
of a lifetime. He says he's got some quote gift
IPOs that'll be worth twenty to thirty times whatever they
put in. According to one of those bartenders quote.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
David said his clients weren't interested in them because they
were only a couple of thousand shares and not millions
of shares.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
So David takes tens of thousands of dollars in cash
from two of those bartenders at Houston's. One of them
is so confident he's about to become a millionaire he
actually quits his bartending job, but surprise, surprise, it was
all a scam. They never see their money ever again. Eventually,
(21:55):
the other bartender manages to trick David Bloom into meeting
for a drink discuss things, and unbeknownst to David, it
was all a ruse, because suddenly three undercover officers seemingly
show about of nowhere and escort David Bloom outside for questioning.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
He's accusing defrauding a couple of people upwards of fifty thousand,
but certainly not the fifteen million dollars swindle from the.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
First time, and David is charged and then convicted of
grand larceny and scheming to defraud. He spends five more
years behind bars and gets out in two thousand and six. Eventually,
he heads west to Los Angeles, and in the decade
or so before I ever meet him at the Villa Carlata,
he scams dozens and dozens of hardworking, unsuspecting people. Reporter
(22:43):
James Coeley writes about some of them in that La
Times article.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Bloom generally targeted people with money. Many of the victims
wanted to remain anonymous due to their positions.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
In Venice, an eclectic, bohemian neighborhood in Los Angeles, David
befriends a pair of liquor store owners and impresses them
with his investment savvy. One of them told the La
Times quote.
Speaker 9 (23:09):
He never asked for a lot of money. There wasn't
a red flag. It wasn't like you should give me
twenty five thousand dollars.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
He says, if you.
Speaker 9 (23:16):
Want to invest a hundred, if you want to invest
a thousand, whatever amount you want.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
And that's exactly what he told me. Eventually, David scams
more than one hundred thousand dollars out of those liquor
store owners by tricking them into believing he was getting
them in on the ground floor of Snapchat's IPO.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
This is around the time when Snapchat was more or
less taking over the neighborhood. This is when they I
think we're just going public with the IBO, right like
twenty seventeen ish, and he said he had arrowing access
to that.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Fifteen miles away at the Frolic Room, a storied Hollywood
bar featured in a bunch of movies and TV shows,
David scams tens of thousands of dollars from bar patrons
and employees claiming to have early access to Super Bowl tickets.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Bloom is really a very talented manipulator, and he's been
convicted of doing this twice. And he's got so many
other people and so many positions of power, from so
much wealth to you know, kind of fall under his spell.
For lack of a better term. People are still embarrassed
because at the end of the day when they think
back on it now, to some extent, there's a weird
simplicity to his scam. It's just like, I have this
thing that you don't understand, but it can make you rich.
(24:27):
The commonalities between the griffs from the people I talk
to it He'll name drop a lot. He will definitely
have a tendency of just snowing you and overwhelming you
with I know this broker, I know this guy, I
know this hedge fund CFO. You know whatever it is
just throwing around. You know, high finance is generally not
a world that I think the average human knows a
lot about. I certainly don't, and what little I do
(24:49):
I gained from reporting this story. So it's probably very
easy to say I know the CFO of instacart, and
this is why I can get it. You might be
sitting there going, don't I barely know what a CFO is,
and I don't know what instacart is. But you know,
everybody wants to be on the ground floor or something.
Everybody wants to get the new gadget. Everybody wants to
get the leg up that somebody else doesn't. You know,
you want to be the guy who invested in Apple
(25:11):
before the iPhone. So if you see a chance like that,
it's a very appealing opportunity, and you're almost like in
your nature, don't want to ask too many questions. He
has a habit of using something that's called me syndrome
with victim who's an artist. He suddenly liked their painting.
He was a victim who's a film buff. He suddenly
was talking about you know European cinema.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
In the bar, a.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
Lot of the people were sports fans, you know, the
frolic room, he allegedly claimed he had tickets to the
super Bowl because it was in Los Angeles the year
that he was doing a lot of these things, and
he played on their football interest. There was a guy
in there who was an inspiring screenwriter, so he claimed
he knew the CEO of Netflix. He takes what you
love and uses it against you, and of course it's
the stop trading like that's ultimately is always the gambit,
(25:52):
it seems across all three criminal investigations, is I have
access to this thing, and then they bite and he
reels them and then he disappears.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
At this point, there are possibly hundreds of David Bloom
victims in and around Los Angeles, but a lot of
them will never come forward out of shame and embarrassment.
While dozens of his victims have in fact gone to
police already, as of today March thirtieth, twenty twenty three,
David Bloom is still a free man targeting potential marks
(26:26):
right now at bars, restaurants, and coffee shops.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
Bloom was the best friend you never asked for. Was
kind of the phrasing I would get from people he
has a habit, or he has an ability rather to
sit down and become the most indispensable person in your life.
He was patient, he was deliberate. A lot of his
victims have told me he never discussed specifics, he never
discussed large quantities. He really made them feel like he
(26:52):
was doing them a favor, and that probably lulled them
into giving more.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
And while I've personally lost a lot of money to
David Bloom and fell victim to his endless lies and
crazy manipulations, what happened to me pales in comparison to
what happened to another woman he scammed.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
He made me feel special, you know, as he started
his campaign, I would call it that he waged against
me the time we were married.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Being married to connartist David Bloom is a thousand times
worse than you ever ever could imagine.
Speaker 6 (27:33):
It's kind of like a cult. That's what I'd like
in it too. He brainwashed me. He made me feel
like the world hated me, and he was the only
person that understood me and loved me, and I could
not live without him.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Next time, on Once upon a con.
Speaker 6 (27:51):
We exchanged information and he told me he was going
to the Hampton for the weekend stay at Tommy Hillfriggers. Wow,
how cool is that?
Speaker 2 (28:01):
You know?
Speaker 1 (28:02):
But David Bloom's ex wife has no idea she's about
to enter the twilight zone and she might not live
to tell about it either.
Speaker 6 (28:11):
That I was barely functioning and I just had this
realization that he will not stop until he kills me.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
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 thirty two Flavors, hosted by Me
Caroline de Morey. Executive producers Eliza Rosen for AYR Media,
(28:44):
Alex Baskin for thirty two Flavors, and Jonathan Walton for
Jonathan Walton Productions. Written by Jonathan Walton, Producer Caroline de Morey,
Senior associate producer Joe Pushesnik, Coordinator Melena Croyer. Sound designed
by Tim Mulhern, Edited and mixed by Tim Mulhern, Supervising
(29:06):
editor Victoria Chang. Mastered by Victoria Chang. Engineering by Justin
Longerbeam Legal counsel for AYR Media Gianni Douglas, voice acting
by Jorge Farragut and David Titelbaum. Our theme song, Freshly Served,
was written and performed by the incredibly talented Mattie Noise
(29:27):
and is available on her SoundCloud
Previously on Once Upon a Con.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
You want to discuss what happen?
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Your team, my business partners and I fly to Texas
for a meeting David Bloom set up that's going to
make Pizza Girl Pasta sauce a national brand.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
A steeting in the headquarters of Wholefood.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
But delay after delay leads us all to a shocking discovery.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
He's a scanner, is Ady Gil a few times waitresses.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Yep, we just realized we're all getting scammed by David Bloom.
The thirty five thousand dollars we gave him for that
soho house IPO gone and this entire meeting with Whole
Food CEO Ac Gallo is one big hoax. But David
doesn't know we're on to him, so we start reporting
(00:54):
all his phone calls as evidence of his crimes for police,
and he's still pushing this Whole Food scam really really.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
Hard that I just want you all common and cool
headed because you are going to have a meeting and
they're going to offer you something.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Stand there, I took some shit to you.
Speaker 6 (01:14):
Well, notice what you'll do us, Julie.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I'm Caroline Dumoury and this is Once Upon a Con
episode four, The Best Friend You Never asked for.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Let's not forget that David Bloom was a professional con artist.
He had been doing this for thirty years. We didn't
know it at the time, but you know, looking back,
this is what he does, and he did it incredibly successfully.
So you didn't stand a chance.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, But then, speaking to Acy Gallo, I never thought
in a million years that somebody would do this about
another person for somebody else. I was absurd, and you
do have all these questions, but then you question yourself.
Speaker 7 (02:12):
But I wanted to.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Now if that's why he had to send us to Austin,
because that was it was going to crumble if you
didn't believe that was Icy Gellow.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
So he had to.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Keep dangling this meeting that came out of that call.
To legitimize the call.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
My business partners Beck and Aaron and I are Monday
morning quarterbacking David Bloom's insane scam.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Overwhelming feeling were two things. One was poor Caroline. She
was in so much pain. It was awful.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
I was carrying a weight that no one else in
that room had to carry because I truly feel responsible
right for Ryan, for you got the reason we're there.
I continued to champion this guy and believe in him,
and I made everybody else join. So I literally, you, guys,
I'm not even kidding you. Like I had, Like I
(03:10):
hate saying this, but I had really dark thoughts, you
know what I mean, Like really dark thoughts in that moment,
and when I had my panic attack, just feel like
I just feel like I didn't know that I was
gonna ever come out of that.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
It was traumatic.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I'm not gonna lie. I was having like suicidal thoughts,
like for a little bit of time after that, I
was having a really hard time. And as it's all unraveling,
I'm falling apart, then putting myself back together, only to
fall apart again. Deep down, I know I have to
(03:53):
do something. I'm not gonna let this lying asshole get
away with this. I'm now in like at this stage,
like I already went through my crying. Now I'm in
the stage of like I just want to get this motherfucker.
Speaker 8 (04:06):
He's preying on people that are fucking working their asses
off and that are desperate, and it just came out
of a divorce. He knew that I had fucking nothing,
and that I rallied every fucking dollar that I had.
Speaker 7 (04:17):
Surprise all there, but he knew.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
I had nothing.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
He doesn't care.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
One of the articles that judge said, I have never
seen such depraved, remorseless behavior.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
He's a moral So beck Aaron and I start recording
all of David Bloom's phone calls from that point on,
and I get him to confirm every single scam he's
ever pulled on me.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
And we're gonna have a meeting. I'm not gonna know
now for the next hour, and I have to switching around.
She's getting a final word from that other department of
the company about the cleaning, whether anyone could come and stay.
Speaker 8 (04:51):
I know, But David, if you're my friend, you know
that I've been here, you know, like trying my hard
is to make this, you know, work out.
Speaker 5 (04:58):
It's a hotspot for co than in Austin right now,
and so this is happening.
Speaker 7 (05:03):
What should I do?
Speaker 1 (05:04):
And what do I tell my team?
Speaker 7 (05:05):
And what do I do?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
You tell your team? Exactly what I'm telling you. I mean,
I don't know what else to tell you.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
There's a reason why we couldn't go when I'm Friday,
because it was thirteen days not fourteen days and then
we had a whole conversation and they offered to get
you in as quickly as possible. They all scrambled to
change their schedule, which they did for today. And now
they've had a little outbreak of COVID amongst some of
their team members.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Over the weekend, and.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
Their corporate protocol, every corporate protocol requires for them to
sanitize those office areas where people have COVID and not
allow people to protect employees, to protect visitors for all
those things that everyone's talking about every day.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Well, and that's why all companies are doing zoom. They
really are.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
They are Actually they aren't all doing zoom. I go
into meetings every week. I actually have non zoom thing.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
It was outdoor on the owner's property yesterday and that
fled yesterday for three hours. So everyone isn't doing zoom.
They want to meet you in person for this particular thing.
This is not a normal meaning like you have going
forward once you signed in the agreement with them, and
they want to.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Bet you a person for this.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Wow, David's on a roll. So I bring up that
SOHO house IPO. What are all the details with that?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
There are there no details. I was just finalized.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
I was hearing the final prices being sold at twenty
six in the quarter next Monday.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Wow, I saw that it went down to nine or something.
So David tricked us into believing he used our thirty
five thousand dollars to buy shares and Soho House for
a dollar a share. I checked that day and they
were trading at nine dollars a share. But David is
telling me they're trading at twenty six dollars a share,
which is obviously a lie on top of a lie
(06:44):
on top of another lie. And this is how he
masterfully explains the stock price disparity after I pointed out
to him he uses his good friend, billionaire Ron Berkel.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
He has a hedge fund in London buying my home
block of shares of twenty.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Six in the quarter next meeting.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Ron does, Yes, it's.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
All been free ranged. That's why this deal was so certain.
That's why you know, knowing your circumstance, I knew that
this was going to be a good. Thanks.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
We're selling you the twenty six in a quarter next Monday,
and then ten days later you'll have a wire transfer
check if.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
That were actually true, A check for nearly a million
dollars would be hitting my bank account in ten days,
which would be really awesome because right now I'm flat
broke after giving that fucker all the money I had,
And if I didn't know what I know now about
his past scams, he really sounds like he actually cares
(07:40):
about me.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, you need money, just tell me when you come back,
I'll give you money. I don't care.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
It's not Ron.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
Ryan doesn't have to know. No one has to know.
I don't talk about those things. You'll like my sister.
If you need something, just tell me you need something.
You're gonna have money in the next twenty days. That's
that's sign that that's sealed and delivered. The twenty six
in the corner, your shares are being sold for. All
of our shares are being sold for twenty six in
the quarter next.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Monday, liquidated at market. So that's all taking care of him.
Ten business days after. You'll have your mindy.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
I mean you know that, I obviously appreciate that opportunity.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
And I've always been your corner. I love you. Set
up sand O Ryan, and please don't worry about money,
you know, whatever, whatever, whatever you need, so that money
comes and you just tell me, I'll hand it to you, okay, Las,
I love you man.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
You know I'm always here for you, no matter how
busy I am. I'm always here for you. You you
were in my.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Corner when I was very lonely and when I needed friends,
and that goes a long way with me. And so
we just have to keep our heads straight. And I've
learned this with these kinds of people. You have to
be low key. No matter what stress we're feeling. We
have to put out in our pocket and walk in
with a confident face. And no matter how many delays
and disappointments, whether they're deserved or they're not, I'm just
(08:54):
chilled because it's that poker face you have to show
to people all the time. And I love you and
all learn experience, but I will never let you down.
I will never lead you astray, and I'll always been
here learner to help you whatever you need.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Just tell me what you need.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Listening to David Bloom tell me he loves me and
that he'll always be in my corner makes me sick
to my stomach. The good news is this long rambling
phone call.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I'll call you your backroom okay, okay, sounds good.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Well, is exactly what we need to give police to
prove David scammed us. He talked about all his contents,
the Whole Foods meeting, billionaire Ron Berkel, and that SOHO
house IPO listening to.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Him psychopath saying yeah stuff. I mean, basically he's just
confirmed everything he's done on that call.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Like that we've recorded.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
From an evidence point of view, he.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Just thinks I'm just a freaking gummy.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Now the table's a turn like he doesn't know that
you know, and now you're playing in so that he
can get his just rewards.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
David is insistent that we all stay in Austin, especially me,
until this bogus Whole Foods meeting actually happens, which of
course it never will. So I tell David, after today
I cannot stay. Should I ask for Rebecca and Erin
to stay?
Speaker 7 (10:17):
Should I have them go in?
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Like? What do I do?
Speaker 5 (10:20):
This is about meeting you. This is not about meeting
Rebecca and Eron they are a pizza girl.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
After today, I cannot stay. Should I ask for Rebecca
and Erin to stay?
Speaker 7 (10:35):
Should I have them go in?
Speaker 5 (10:36):
Like?
Speaker 2 (10:37):
What do I do? This is about meeting you. This
is not about meeting Rebecca Aron. They are a pizza girl.
Speaker 5 (10:43):
He wants to meet you, and if team wants to
meet with you after this meeting, probably the rest of
your life be on zoom that there might be a
rare say.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Wants you're in a combat a person for the first day.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
It's about personality and that's not something you do on
so that's something you.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Do in person.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
He sounds pretty convining, right, And in order to keep
it going on our end so we can keep gathering
evidence for police, we come up with a way that
gets us back home to Los Angeles while letting David
think it's my fault that this fictitious Whole Foods meeting
didn't happen.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
We devised this thing with Caroline, said David, we can't
wait for this meeting now. My daughter needs me back,
So we're going to apply back to we'll reschedule this
Whole Foods mate.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
And we knew that he was going to blame it,
just like he blamed things on COVID. He's going to
blame it on the fact that I needed to go
home to my daughter. Well, you have to go home
to your daughter. So we were giving almost him and out.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
We had to give him and out so that we
could fly home.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
You know what I mean, like and not give up
that we knew anything. But I had no idea that
while I was in Austin for five days chasing a
wild goose named a c. Gallow, David was trash talking
me to all my neighbors at the Villa Carlatta. Because
by the time I got back, David had already told
everybody that I was unstable, that I was an alcoholic
(12:01):
and a drug addict. Yeah, and that was his new
story because he knew I was coming back with a vengeance.
He knew we were coming back not liking no, But
I'm saying he was preparing for it. Yes, absolutely, But
we hit it. And when I get back to the
Villa Carlata, I have one hell of a poker face on.
(12:22):
I can't tell anyone I know David's true identity because
I need to keep gathering evidence. But some of my
neighbors actually believe David's lies about me, that I'm this
mentally unstable drug addict, and they avoid me. They have
no idea that this dude is a sophisticated con artist
with four decades of swindling hundreds of innocent victims under
(12:46):
his belt.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
David Bloom is better known as the Wall Street whiz kid.
He is generally considered a high level grifter.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
That's James Qely, a crime reporter for the La Times.
He actually spent months in investigating the many scams of
David Bloom for a story he did in September of
twenty twenty two.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
So the difference between David Bloom and my regular beat
is just the nature of the crime. I think, by
and large, over the course of my career, I've normally
covered filent crime that is normally just what resonates. And
you know the old adage newspapers is true, right, if
it leads, it leads. Bloom is more of a mental
gymnastics criminal fraudster, taking money from people in positions of power.
(13:26):
Quite honestly, I tend to write a lot about downtrodden victims,
people who don't get a voice otherwise, people from communities
that are marginalized, under privileged. Bloom strikes at people largely
in his same tax bracket, or the tax bracket he
once occupied. He goes after people with money, and he
goes after people with privilege. And you know, it kind
of shows that wealth doesn't insulate you from that.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
And it also explains why he moved into the Villa Carlotta,
a super high end building with dozens and dozens of wealthy,
ambitious residents who were ripe for the scamming. David Bloom
convinced us all that he came from money and that
he built his business empire with shrewd investments using powerful connections.
(14:10):
But where does this grifter actually come from?
Speaker 4 (14:13):
David Bloom's origin story traces all the way back to
the wealthiest parts of Manhattan. I guess would have been
the eighties would have been his real coming of age.
He grows up really wealthy Upper east Side Manhattan, vacations
in the Hamptons, and he starts this investment group that
is basically the beginnings of what would become his grift
of choice. Right that he has inside information or he
(14:34):
can get access to these groups that are about to
go public or these stocks that you know you can
get into a low value you gonna triple, You're going
to quintuple your investment. Said he had connections to the
Rockefeller said, he had connections to Bill Cosby, And this
is back at the time when that would be a
connection you would want to have, you know, he's still
just the jello guy.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Then this sickening irony of one predator using another to
further their cause is not lost on me. David Bloom
makes a literal fortune early on in his career of conning.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
He in the eighties took over one hundred people for
over fifteen million dollars. One of the victims was his
own grandmother.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
David actually starts a private investment club while he's getting
his art history degree at Duke University in the early
nineteen eighties. He quickly develops a reputation for making everyone
a lot of money and eventually opens his own company,
the Greater Sutton Investor Group, and in a few years
he's taken in millions and millions of dollars from hundreds
(15:34):
of investors, including his close friends and family. In the meantime,
he's spending millions of dollars on high end homes, luxury cars,
and priceless paintings. He even buys a fifty two carrot
diamond necklace for one of his girlfriends. The crazy thing
is all of David Bloom's clients are happy for years
(15:58):
because David is mailing them entirely fictitious statements every month,
giving them all the false impression that they're making a
lot of money with him.
Speaker 7 (16:07):
David Bloom was an infant when I first saw him
in East Hampton. He was a quiet little fellow, and
he was quite small.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
That's a woman we're calling Elizabeth because she wants to
remain anonymous. Both she and her husband were actually good
friends with David Bloom's parents and watched him grow up
to become, by all accounts, a hugely successful young man.
People even start calling him the Wall Street whiz kid
because he's still in his early twenties at this point.
Speaker 7 (16:39):
My husband and I would go out to dinner with
the Blooms, and always a new restaurant, a fine restaurant,
places where they were able to tell us of the
exploits and fabulous things that their son David was. Still
(17:01):
All the conversation was about David. We could not speak
of anything else but listen to stories of David and
how much money he was making for people, and how
many clients he had. And he lived in this elegant
apartment on seventy second Street. I think it was he
(17:25):
had offices at the six sixth building on fifty seventh
to fifty ninth Street, there was a British secretary and
answered his office phone. David had a Bentley and a chauffeur.
David was a genius. David was admired by all. In fact,
(17:50):
when we would go to these restaurants, once we were
identified as David Bloomed associates, they treated us like we
were celebrities. They could not do enough cross One time
when I was with him for dinner and he had
(18:11):
to take a phone call. After he got off the phone,
he came back he said, oh, it was a self
number nine. He wants to invest with me. He's so interested,
And we became impressed with it because we were very
interested in the fact that he was making so much
money for so many people, including his grandmother, and so
(18:37):
at a certain point we cracked and we decided we
wanted in on that.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
So Elizabeth and her husband give David one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars to invest for them back in nineteen
eighty seven, which is the equivalent of nearly four hundred
thousand dollars in today's money. But months later they start
hearing troubling rumors about the Wall Street whiz kid.
Speaker 7 (19:05):
I think the fives were already after him by then.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Yep. As it turns out, David Bloom was actually running
an elaborate Ponzi scheme. There were no investments. When one
client wanted their money back, he used another clients to
cover it. Sound familiar. Bloom was pulling a Bernie made
Off before most people even knew who Bernie Madeoff was,
and eventually everything blew up in his face too.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
When it was all said and done, he was convicted
of various financial crimes and barred from operating as a
any sort of financial advisor or otherwise anything governed by
the Security Exchange Commission for I believe it was a
lifetime ban.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
The courts sell all of David's assets and are able
to return some of his victim's money, including Elizabeth and
her husband.
Speaker 7 (19:54):
We invested one hundred and fifty and got seventy five
thousand back, so we were lucky.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
And in nineteen eighty eight, David Bloom is sentenced to
eight years in federal prison, but he gets out early.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
He'd spent a couple of years in prison, resurfaces in Manhattan,
kind of doing the same thing, but on a lower level.
Now he's targeting bartender. Now he's targeting aspiring actor. He's
going by the name David Daily. Now he's purposely not
calling himself Bloom.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
David Daily aka David Bloom is in his mid thirties
in nineteen ninety eight when he becomes a regular at
a restaurant in Manhattan's financial district called Houston's. He always
wears expensive suits with French cuffs, and he really impresses
all the waiters and bartenders there with his apparent wealth.
(20:42):
He tells them all he drives a Bentley. He also
says he's an investment banker and then gives them all
stock tips that actually end up being spot on. They're impressed.
He then offers to help one bartender who's an aspiring actor,
land a big time agent, and tells another impull some
strings to get him an investment banking job at one
(21:03):
of the big firms next door. But before any of
that happens, David offers another couple of bartenders the opportunity
of a lifetime. He says he's got some quote gift
IPOs that'll be worth twenty to thirty times whatever they
put in. According to one of those bartenders quote.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
David said his clients weren't interested in them because they
were only a couple of thousand shares and not millions
of shares.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
So David takes tens of thousands of dollars in cash
from two of those bartenders at Houston's. One of them
is so confident he's about to become a millionaire he
actually quits his bartending job, but surprise, surprise, it was
all a scam. They never see their money ever again. Eventually,
(21:55):
the other bartender manages to trick David Bloom into meeting
for a drink discuss things, and unbeknownst to David, it
was all a ruse, because suddenly three undercover officers seemingly
show about of nowhere and escort David Bloom outside for questioning.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
He's accusing defrauding a couple of people upwards of fifty thousand,
but certainly not the fifteen million dollars swindle from the.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
First time, and David is charged and then convicted of
grand larceny and scheming to defraud. He spends five more
years behind bars and gets out in two thousand and six. Eventually,
he heads west to Los Angeles, and in the decade
or so before I ever meet him at the Villa Carlata,
he scams dozens and dozens of hardworking, unsuspecting people. Reporter
(22:43):
James Coeley writes about some of them in that La
Times article.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Bloom generally targeted people with money. Many of the victims
wanted to remain anonymous due to their positions.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
In Venice, an eclectic, bohemian neighborhood in Los Angeles, David
befriends a pair of liquor store owners and impresses them
with his investment savvy. One of them told the La
Times quote.
Speaker 9 (23:09):
He never asked for a lot of money. There wasn't
a red flag. It wasn't like you should give me
twenty five thousand dollars.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
He says, if you.
Speaker 9 (23:16):
Want to invest a hundred, if you want to invest
a thousand, whatever amount you want.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
And that's exactly what he told me. Eventually, David scams
more than one hundred thousand dollars out of those liquor
store owners by tricking them into believing he was getting
them in on the ground floor of Snapchat's IPO.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
This is around the time when Snapchat was more or
less taking over the neighborhood. This is when they I
think we're just going public with the IBO, right like
twenty seventeen ish, and he said he had arrowing access
to that.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Fifteen miles away at the Frolic Room, a storied Hollywood
bar featured in a bunch of movies and TV shows,
David scams tens of thousands of dollars from bar patrons
and employees claiming to have early access to Super Bowl tickets.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Bloom is really a very talented manipulator, and he's been
convicted of doing this twice. And he's got so many
other people and so many positions of power, from so
much wealth to you know, kind of fall under his spell.
For lack of a better term. People are still embarrassed
because at the end of the day when they think
back on it now, to some extent, there's a weird
simplicity to his scam. It's just like, I have this
thing that you don't understand, but it can make you rich.
(24:27):
The commonalities between the griffs from the people I talk
to it He'll name drop a lot. He will definitely
have a tendency of just snowing you and overwhelming you
with I know this broker, I know this guy, I
know this hedge fund CFO. You know whatever it is
just throwing around. You know, high finance is generally not
a world that I think the average human knows a
lot about. I certainly don't, and what little I do
(24:49):
I gained from reporting this story. So it's probably very
easy to say I know the CFO of instacart, and
this is why I can get it. You might be
sitting there going, don't I barely know what a CFO is,
and I don't know what instacart is. But you know,
everybody wants to be on the ground floor or something.
Everybody wants to get the new gadget. Everybody wants to
get the leg up that somebody else doesn't. You know,
you want to be the guy who invested in Apple
(25:11):
before the iPhone. So if you see a chance like that,
it's a very appealing opportunity, and you're almost like in
your nature, don't want to ask too many questions. He
has a habit of using something that's called me syndrome
with victim who's an artist. He suddenly liked their painting.
He was a victim who's a film buff. He suddenly
was talking about you know European cinema.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
In the bar, a.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
Lot of the people were sports fans, you know, the
frolic room, he allegedly claimed he had tickets to the
super Bowl because it was in Los Angeles the year
that he was doing a lot of these things, and
he played on their football interest. There was a guy
in there who was an inspiring screenwriter, so he claimed
he knew the CEO of Netflix. He takes what you
love and uses it against you, and of course it's
the stop trading like that's ultimately is always the gambit,
(25:52):
it seems across all three criminal investigations, is I have
access to this thing, and then they bite and he
reels them and then he disappears.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
At this point, there are possibly hundreds of David Bloom
victims in and around Los Angeles, but a lot of
them will never come forward out of shame and embarrassment.
While dozens of his victims have in fact gone to
police already, as of today March thirtieth, twenty twenty three,
David Bloom is still a free man targeting potential marks
(26:26):
right now at bars, restaurants, and coffee shops.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
Bloom was the best friend you never asked for. Was
kind of the phrasing I would get from people he
has a habit, or he has an ability rather to
sit down and become the most indispensable person in your life.
He was patient, he was deliberate. A lot of his
victims have told me he never discussed specifics, he never
discussed large quantities. He really made them feel like he
(26:52):
was doing them a favor, and that probably lulled them
into giving more.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
And while I've personally lost a lot of money to
David Bloom and fell victim to his endless lies and
crazy manipulations, what happened to me pales in comparison to
what happened to another woman he scammed.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
He made me feel special, you know, as he started
his campaign, I would call it that he waged against
me the time we were married.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Being married to connartist David Bloom is a thousand times
worse than you ever ever could imagine.
Speaker 6 (27:33):
It's kind of like a cult. That's what I'd like
in it too. He brainwashed me. He made me feel
like the world hated me, and he was the only
person that understood me and loved me, and I could
not live without him.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Next time, on Once upon a con.
Speaker 6 (27:51):
We exchanged information and he told me he was going
to the Hampton for the weekend stay at Tommy Hillfriggers. Wow,
how cool is that?
Speaker 2 (28:01):
You know?
Speaker 1 (28:02):
But David Bloom's ex wife has no idea she's about
to enter the twilight zone and she might not live
to tell about it either.
Speaker 6 (28:11):
That I was barely functioning and I just had this
realization that he will not stop until he kills me.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
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 thirty two Flavors, hosted by Me
Caroline de Morey. Executive producers Eliza Rosen for AYR Media,
(28:44):
Alex Baskin for thirty two Flavors, and Jonathan Walton for
Jonathan Walton Productions. Written by Jonathan Walton, Producer Caroline de Morey,
Senior associate producer Joe Pushesnik, Coordinator Melena Croyer. Sound designed
by Tim Mulhern, Edited and mixed by Tim Mulhern, Supervising
(29:06):
editor Victoria Chang. Mastered by Victoria Chang. Engineering by Justin
Longerbeam Legal counsel for AYR Media Gianni Douglas, voice acting
by Jorge Farragut and David Titelbaum. Our theme song, Freshly Served,
was written and performed by the incredibly talented Mattie Noise
(29:27):
and is available on her SoundCloud
Host
Caroline D’Amore
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com