April 2, 2025 • 25 mins
Caroline speaks at a press conference with CA District Attorney George Gascon after David Bloom is charged with 18 felonies. Caroline and L.A. Times writer James Queally discuss everything about the case, from how slow the process is to what a possible plea bargain could be. Caroline and James hope their publicization of Bloom’s crimes puts an end to his trail of deception. But will this con artist ever change?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Previously on Once upon a Con, I apologize to you.
Why would you do that to me when I thought
we were friends?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
We are friends? Well I'm not.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
What did you gain from that?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Nothing?
Speaker 3 (00:20):
What was the purpose?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Nothing? I almost loved everything, everything. Together with a group
of victims, I finally confront David Bloom.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I chose to tell a.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Bloom finally gets arrested, but then released.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
And then, in March of twenty twenty three, after ten
months of no action, a group of us decide to
take action outside the District Attorney's office.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Charge Shaved Bloom, Charge Haved Bloom.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Day Gloom.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
And then finally, it's five months later, August of two three,
and I'm invited to attend a press conference being held
by the Los Angeles District Attorney himself.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
George Gascon. He utters the words I was starting to
think I'd never hear.
Speaker 5 (01:12):
We're here to announce today that we are filing a
total of eighteen felony counts against David Bloom, nine counts
for fraud and nine counts for grand theft.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
The man who stole so much from me and so
many other victims is finally facing charges for his crimes.
(01:53):
I'm Caroline de Morey, and this is Once Upon a
Con Episode nine. This guy has eras. I was the
only one of Bloom's victims to speak at that district
attorney's press conference.
Speaker 5 (02:12):
I'm not going to turn her over to Caroline to
say a few words and then won't take any questions
you might have, Carol.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Okay, Hi, okay. To me, he pretended to be a
business mentor someone who believed in me and wanted to
help me. He knew I was a struggling single mom
going through a divorce and had her heart set on
becoming a businesswoman in the food space. I spoke about
(02:39):
the whole food scam Bloom played on me and my
business partners, luring us to Texas under the guise of
meeting the CEO. I spoke about the months and months
of manipulation and gaslighting. He makes you feel like he
believes in you and like you're smart and talented.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
David had a knowing that he was never going to
get caught.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
He knew it was hard to prove these crimes, and
he knew he was going to get away with it
for so long. But I want this moment to be
more than just about David Bloom. I want this moment
to be a lesson for all scam artists, for everybody
who thinks that that life is glamorous and that you
(03:21):
can just get away with it forever. This is a
moment where we say that we are not the ones
that need to be embarrassed.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
You are, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Almost a full year after that press conference, Bloom thankfully
is sitting in jail, but as of July twenty twenty four,
almost a full year later, no trial date has been set.
They say the wheels of justice move slowly, but in
this case, they seem to be barely moving at all.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Well, it's been a while.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Since I've seen you, or even really thought about David Bloom.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
I would imagine you don't want him renting a lot
of space up there, so I would understand that.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
I'm sitting down with LA Times reporter James Qeely, who
you heard from an episode two. We're talking about what's
happened since that fateful day. I asked him how he
first found out Bloom was finally getting arrested and charged.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
I had been on and off in touch with the
captain of the Commercial Crimes Division for LAPD, which had
investigated this case for over a year because you know,
I remember back with the protest with you, back the
first time we spoke. Yeah, there was definitely a lot
of confusion as to why he hadn't been charged. And
you know, because we knew that the behavior was We
had seen the behavior be repeated before, so it was
(04:41):
a legitimate concern.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
And just to his.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Credit, you know, I had bothered that poor guy, the captain,
not David Bloom. David has not responded to my inquiry. Shockingly,
you know, the captain, like, every couple weeks, did you
do it? Yet you'rest him? Wrestam was like, I forgot
how to say hello. After a while, porn I was like,
did you arrest him? Was the only greeting I could
come up with. And then I forgot to check in
for a few weeks. And of course some random Tuesday
(05:05):
when I'm in the courthouse and my emails, what's going off,
and just told me they told me they picked him up.
That was probably twenty four to thirty six hours before
the press conference. I don't think I called you because
I think they told me they were going to get
in touch with you, and I didn't want to, like
take law enforcements place. I know we talked the next
day because I saw you either in the bail court
or yeah, the call of justice across the street.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah. I just remember waiting kind of by the phone
to find out and just being so scared that he
was going to flee, but then remembering that he doesn't,
you know, and my friend had seen him on My
friend Hamilton had seen him on the street and like
(05:48):
hollered out at him and he was just standing on
like coincidentally right in front of a whole food on
Santa Monica in West Hollywood. I just spotted David Bloom
on the fucking street at the bus stop.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Folks, Hey, what's.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
Up, scammer? You scamming people at the bus stop. That's
what's up today?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Huh. And then I remember.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Kind of just losing sleep, wondering when he was going
to get picked up, wondering where where he even was.
Hearing from people who had seen him at different restaurants
throughout Hollywood who had then seen the story and who
actually were saved because of my Instagram story. They were like,
I was literally this couple girlfriend and boyfriend had called
(06:37):
me and they said, I literally have his phone number
in my phone because we were talking last night and
then out of nowhere, Yeah, found out he was in jail,
and I was super stoked, just relieved, because the man
just does not stop.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
I mean, this has been that's been the drum beat, right.
He was accused of doing this in the eighties, he
was duced to doing this the two thousands, he was
accused of doing this in the twenty twenties.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Leopards stripes and all that.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
So yeah, I mean, so there really hasn't been any
sort of like movement in what's going to happen in
the past year, other than just checking to make sure
he's still there.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Unfortunately, court is not like TV, especially not here. It's
a bunch of really boring, perfunctory hearings. I actually have
never laid eyes on the guy. I've seen the photos
that have been, you know, slipped to me. Yeah, and
I know, not of him in jail, of him just
him at the barbecue with the I don't know if
it was the barbecue that you told me about, but
like there's somebody the photo that we used in all.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
The stories of him at the pool.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Actually, the only time I've ever laid eyes on him,
he was not in court any of the times I've
got You've probably been in court more than me on this.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
It's not been like three times.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, yeah, which that I think you're leading three to one.
That on the scoreboard on me.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I got an email from the DA recently kind of
worried me.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Paul PRIs lomach this public record, that's not a secret.
Speaker 6 (07:59):
Five.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
So this was maybe two weeks ago, and he just
said I had a court appearance on this case this morning.
In my conversation with the defense attorney, he indicated that
he was interested in pursuing a potential plea agreement.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
To resolve this case.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
He further advised me that he is nearly complete with
the preparation of a mitigation packet, which he would like
to submit to my office for consideration. I will accept
anything that he wishes to submit to me. However, before
any offers are discussed or extended to the defense attorney,
I'll meet with any victims who would like to discuss
(08:37):
a disposition of this case so that you can provide input.
Please let me know if you are interested in participating
in that process. Our next court date is scheduled for
July second, but what exactly does that mean? Does that
mean that they're just trying to get.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Yeah, okay, I can't. Yeah I can plain legal expert.
I do not have a barcard, but I guess I.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Know court stuff, and you know more than I do.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Well, I married a lawyer, so I just try to
remind her that she's always smarter. So that, Yeah, that
that's kind of a little bit standard. So most cases,
I don't know, if you know, it's like almost any
almost like ninety eight percent of all cases end in
a plea deal.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
It's very rare that.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Something goes to trial. A lot of times defendants look
to settle things. Bloom I think both of his prior
cases ended in a in a plea agreement. The Manhattan
the second Manhattan one definitely did. What they're talking about,
the mitigation package is basically how the package they would
submit to let them know, you know, reasons that might
(09:35):
lessen culpability, Like.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
They could say he has a mental health issue.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
For argument's sake, they could say, you know, maybe that
they might raise questions about circumstantial evidence, like they may
try to point to just poke any holes.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
In the strength of the case.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Maybe they might could say to a certain count doesn't
fit the statute of limitations. They might try to point
to an admissibility issue with LAPD with evidence. I have
nothing to suggest any of that is what's going on,
But those are just examples of things that could be
that they could So they could try to seek a
and a plea agreement normally would partially involve not not
he would not be convicted or or held on no
(10:10):
contest of all eighteen counts. They may say, Okay, we'll
only convict you for the grand theft as opposed to
securities fraud.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Again, this is just like potential fotential.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Yeah, so yeah, but I don't I don't know off
the top of my head what the sentencing range for
these offenses are. But I don't think with that many
counts and his criminal history, he's.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Not like a strong candidate for probation.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
I would not like swear on a stack of Bibles
to you that he wouldn't get probation, but it doesn't
seem very likely. So, yeah, he has to give you
as much information as he can possibly share about the
terms of any plea or what this defense brings together
in this packet of mitigation before they do anything. So
it's not like if you don't answer by the second,
he's going to strike a deal without telling you right
(10:53):
like you have to, he'll have to. Hell, if something
happens between, like for argument's sake, tomorrow he wakes up
and there's a plea offer in negotiation, he'll tell.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
You, all right, thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Being a legal NERD is occasionally useful to people.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Actually it's interesting because I'm still in touch with David's wife,
and she texts me every I don't know, a couple
of weeks, just making sure he's still in jail because
for some reason she's not one of the victims that
is getting outreach from the DA, And I just think
(11:33):
everybody just really wants to make sure that. I mean,
at this point, it's pretty good that he's been in
jail for over a year now.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Yeah, the reach that he had, I don't know, this
is just like a funny little aside in my head.
I still will randomly end up talking to people who
not that they know who I am, but they recognize
the name only because of him. I was booking our
union's Christmas party at a bar that we will leave
out of this lind December and the guy on the
phone is like, oh, yeh doing no fee by the way,
(12:01):
because like David Bloom and I'm like, I'm sorry what
And the guy apparently knew somebody who had been victimized
by him or allegedly victimized by him, And yeah, so
I got a couple of free beers out of the
story at least.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Well, not that I need a parade, doesn't hurt.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Listen, anybody who has been a part of helping get
this man off the streets deserves a keg.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I'll take how's Nancy doing, by the way, She's okay.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
She moved away, she's out of California. She's out of California.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
La Times reporter James Coueley and I talk about Nancy,
David blooms ex wife in episode five. She told us
all about her harrowing experience being married to a con man.
She's moved away. Obviously, she's had a lot of financial
struggles after all of everything that he put her through.
(13:06):
But she's a strong, really strong woman, and seems like
she's doing okay. Everybody just wants to make sure that
he stays in jail or I mean, he can't stay
in jail for that long, right, I mean, who knows.
But then if he comes out, he's just going to
keep doing it. He's probably doing scams in jail right now.
(13:29):
Who would not be surprised?
Speaker 4 (13:31):
I mean, when you've repeated this behavior this long, I
definitely don't think I could make a strong counter argument
against that.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I don't know how.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Far selling prior access to IPOs gets you in like
Men's Central Jail.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I have thankfully never been a.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
Resident of Men's Central Jail. But yeah, I mean, I'd
like to believe that people can change. I have written
plenty of stories about people who have, you know, like
been wrongfully accused, got out of prison, change their lives,
Like there are plenty of reformation stories.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
But I you know, based on.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
The track record be I've seen, I'm not going to
bet one way or the other if he would be
one of them. But I hear, totally hear where you're
coming from.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
One thing Bloom's victims can take some solace in is
that he isn't going anywhere, well, not yet anyway. His
bail was originally set at five hundred thousand dollars, but
then got reduced by a lot. Prosecutors told me that
Bloom had to prove the money he was using to
post bail didn't come from one of his scams. He
(14:27):
had to show pay stubs, which he didn't have. He
had to show you some sort of proof of clean money.
And that is why I'm.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
So grateful for the DA because he had.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Been trying every which way to figure out how to
get himself the bail.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Yeah, now, bail source hearing is critical, and something like
this that's honestly something they usually use against like drug
dealers or gang members to make sure they're not using
the proceeds of their criminal conduct. But yeah, for a
financial crime somebody like this, that makes it makes too
much sense that he would do that.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
I heard there was a woman, someone new in David's life,
who was offering to pay his bail. I have no
doubt it's someone he was scamming right before he got arrested,
and it's certainly proof of how powerful of a con
artist he is. I mean, he convinced this woman to
give him money from the confines of a jail cell.
(15:22):
Thank god the judge didn't allow it, and thank god
David Bloom is still behind bars waiting like the rest
of us for what's next.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
It's a painfully slow process, and I get that that's
got to be incredibly frustrating for you. Even once they charge,
like it can just take an eternity.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
That's kind of the vibe that I've gotten throughout this
entire experience. You think, like from TV that it's like
this super slick covert operation with like plans in place,
And I don't know, after this, I just kind of, yeah,
couldn't believe how slow the process is. I mean, with
someone like this, you just think it's a slam dunk.
(16:03):
Like how many times his name has been mentioned, how
many people have come out and.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Said that he's done this.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
He's been convicted twice in New York, and for it
to take this long blows my mind.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
How is that even possible?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Some of it's weird, Some of what happened in this
case is particularly weird.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
And then some of it is Courts are slow, Like
you know, from when we first talked, the fact that
LAPD moved to make an arrest, which they you know,
if they do that on a random street crime, like
to stop a violent incident or someone's you know, acting
wild in the street, that might be just like they
make an arrest and they figure out if they have enough.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
To charge later.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Do you know where he was when he got arrested.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I actually don't.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Yeah, probably have that like in a file somewhere, but
I don't know where he got picked up.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
I think it was somewhere.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
I think it was somewhere in Hollywood, only because of
who was running the investigation, but the fact that this
was a like months long investigation for what I understand
they were, you know, they were doing financial stuff. They
were talking to people in the field Carlotta at the time.
When they do this kind of long form investigation, that
usually means they believe they have enough to charge.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
And it's commercial crimes is like one of the higher end.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
They do art theft, they do financial fraud, like this
is one of like the no disrespect to your average cop,
but this is where like the smart cops go, like
so usually they pile together their their cases, like they
bring this stuff to the DA kind of gift rapped.
So it's a little weird that it took as long
as it didn't know if you remember when we first met,
there was this weird ping ponging of like, oh we
didn't get the case, it got lost in the mail
kinet type. That's not literally what happened, but it's more
(17:27):
or less what happened.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
That's kind of what it felt like.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
We said, have got lost in the E filing system,
So it got lost in a spam folder effectively, Like
that's the closest analog.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
How does that happen?
Speaker 1 (17:34):
How does a convicted criminal with all of these victims
get lost in the E filing?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
If I knew, I would tell you and probably write
something about it.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
That's really terrifying.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
That was just weird.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
But the other parts that you've described, the like court
is boring, cord is slow, all the continuance is that
is unfortunately, that is the un sexy part of my
job that doesn't end the newspaper and is like eighty
percent of what I do just tapping my foot annoyed
in the.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Courthouse on Temple Street. So that part is normal and
I'm sorry that sad parts everybody.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Do you know anything about his defense attorney or who
he has or.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Public defender's office.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
I don't know if you remember early on in the
investigation the laped had said, you know, of course, despite
allegedly stealing as much money as he did, and have
a lot of it on hand, not a lot of
in the bank accounts. He qualified for indigen defense for
the Public Defender's office, meaning he doesn't have enough money
to pay for a private attorney.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
That's insane. Like where did he put all this money? Like,
that's a shocker. He's got it stashed somewhere for when
he gets out, for sure.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
That's an argument. There's an argument he made for that obviously. Also,
I believe other victims had made this claim. And also
the cops did suggest that, I don't know what happened
exactly after you guys confronted him, but that when when
threatened with exposure, right, he sometimes would move money like
that one victim paid him to pay off another.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Yes, he definitely did that a lot for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
So that's possible. Again, I'm not a forensic account.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
In one of our episodes, we literally uncovered the fact
that my money that he still went straight to Vincent,
And then I was the one that actually like called
Vincent and was like the one that kind of alerted
him to the fact that he just got scammed.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
That's both amazing and kind of horrifying.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yes, it really is.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
His story was so gut wrenching, but they all are
with this man, this ruthless man. But I just like
to say, you know what, he messed with the wrong one.
This time.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Someone sent me your story. I don't remember who it
might have been. It might have been one of the
initial victims.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
I'm talking to La Times reporter James Coely about con
artist David Bloom. I realized when we first spoke back
in twenty twenty two. I never asked him how he
found this story in the first place.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
The Villa Carlotta resident emailed my editor and we joke
about this now, But the time I almost didn't even
look at the story because it was so He sent
me a note that was so like rambling and coherent.
It kind of looked like in a movie when they
like tape the magazine letters together for a ransom note.
Me and this person laugh about it now, but he
was kind of annoyed when I made that joke the
first time. But it was just kind of like, there's
(20:06):
a scammer and he's getting away with it, and he's
been doing it since Manhattan, and like you got to
stop them. And like I get emails, like not emails
specifically like that, but I get you know, my cousin
was wrongfully convicted and like Nixon did it type.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Emails all the time, so I was like, I'm not
another one of these. He's like, God damn it, I
have too much fucking work to do. And then like
a court case got canceled.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Something happened that day that I suddenly became less busy
than I was, and I was like, all right, what
is this? And I someone across the New York Times
article and the name tracked and I reached out to
LAPD and they were like, yeah, no, we know this person,
Like oh shit, this is real. So I started kind
of clawing at it from there, and I spent two
different days at the Frolic. I met him, the informant
(20:46):
that I just described there once and you know, got
his story, but then another he told me that if
you just randomly go in there one day and start
mentioning Bloom's name, like, people are gonna get angry and
tell your stories.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
I was like, all right, what the hell?
Speaker 5 (20:56):
Why not?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Being at a bar is better than being at work
at like three o'clock on a front.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
So I started a very early happy hour, just sat
down with like a specifically, I think it was an
amstill light and to Jamison and just started talking to
people and yeah, somebody told me if they found him,
they were going to beat the shit out of him
in about five minutes. Because from what I remember the
original piece, I went to the Villa Carlotta. I spoke
to several victims from the Villa Carlotta.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Yeah, which is so crazy.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Some who do I don't know, have even been named
on this yet. Everybody who was on the record in
the original story was Nancy were the Venice victims from
the snapchat era back in twenty sixteen. I like, how
this guy his errors, like his epop.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Errors of yeah, his activities.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
Yeah, but yeah, somebody pointed me to you because I
want to say I reached out to you on Instagram
DM and was like, assuming you were going to think
I was some weirdo, but you have a million followers.
I was like, I think I feel like I typed
him deleted like please don't think I'm a creeper, like
three times to open up the message.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
But yeah, no, I think we were.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
You.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
You and I were operating completely independently until.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, you went public, and yeah, until I was just
so pet Up. I remember I was laying in bed,
my daughter was right next to me, and I'm just
hearing that he's just living it up at these parties,
and I knew in my mind he was doing this
to other people. And the next and in that night,
I sat up that super late, I think so late,
and just wrote the whole story and put it on
(22:13):
my Instagram because.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
I was fucking fed up. I was so fed up.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
That nothing had been done and nobody was using their names,
and in your article, nobody used their names. And I
was just like, how can we actually catch this guy
if nobody's willing to use their faces? And I was
just like, yeah, kind of done at that moment, And
then I was very scared.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
The next day, I was like, should I have done this?
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Yeah, a lot of people were afraid that, you know,
because that's the thing.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
He doesn't target people who aren't doing well right.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
They need to have money to be of any use
to him.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
So it's a lot of people the Lla Carloto, right,
you live there, Yeah, people running their own businesses, entrepreneurs, actors,
people in the Hollywood industry, like their entire game is reputation.
They can't be seen as having been you know, and
of course I mean no disrespect for this, but having
seen has been hoodwinked totally. I've seen it has been gullible.
That was a concern for a lot of people I
talked to.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Yeah, I was.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
It was a bit of a tug and pull to
get I mean, even you know Nancy to go on
the record, and she was so critical to telling the story,
but she didn't want this stain on her, even with
court records making clear she'd been married to him.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
For me, in doing this podcast, I wanted to completely
change that narrative, like we are not the ones that
need to be ashamed. He's the one that needs to
be ashamed. And I'm proud of us for uh kind
of just following through, you know.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
I mean, I just took notes. You did the work.
I appreciate the credit, but I'm not looking for it.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Like I just wrote. I just I just wrote, wrote
a very readable story. You did the actual work.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Sometimes it just takes one person to say something and
then it gives a lot of other people the comfort
to kind of come out and say something as well.
And you know, I was willing to be that person.
And here we are, you know, when he's in jail,
So I'm really happy about that.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Next time on Once Upon a Con, when.
Speaker 6 (24:08):
That rug gets pulled, you know, it's like you feel
like your whole world is crashing down, like nothing's ever
gonna be okay, and like the world is a fraud.
Everything is just you know, nothing is real.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Another Bloom victim speaks out about the devastating con that
almost happened.
Speaker 6 (24:26):
You rob me of emotional time with my family. You
rob me of my sanity at sometimes, you robbed me
of my peace of mind. No no amount of money
could ever repay what you did to my family.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Once Upon a Con is a production of AYR Media
and thirty two Flavors, hosted by Me Caroline de more
Executive producers Eliza Rosen for AYR Media, Alex Baskin for
thirty two Flavors, and Jonathan Walton for Jonathan Walton Productions.
Written by Elisa Rosen, producer Caroline de Morey, edited and
(25:07):
mixed by Justin Longerbeam Engineering by Justin Longerbeam. Our theme song,
Freshly Served was written and performed by the incredibly talented
Mattie Noise and is available on her SoundCloud
Previously on Once upon a Con, I apologize to you.
Why would you do that to me when I thought
we were friends?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
We are friends? Well I'm not.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
What did you gain from that?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Nothing?
Speaker 3 (00:20):
What was the purpose?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Nothing? I almost loved everything, everything. Together with a group
of victims, I finally confront David Bloom.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I chose to tell a.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Bloom finally gets arrested, but then released.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
And then, in March of twenty twenty three, after ten
months of no action, a group of us decide to
take action outside the District Attorney's office.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Charge Shaved Bloom, Charge Haved Bloom.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Day Gloom.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
And then finally, it's five months later, August of two three,
and I'm invited to attend a press conference being held
by the Los Angeles District Attorney himself.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
George Gascon. He utters the words I was starting to
think I'd never hear.
Speaker 5 (01:12):
We're here to announce today that we are filing a
total of eighteen felony counts against David Bloom, nine counts
for fraud and nine counts for grand theft.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
The man who stole so much from me and so
many other victims is finally facing charges for his crimes.
(01:53):
I'm Caroline de Morey, and this is Once Upon a
Con Episode nine. This guy has eras. I was the
only one of Bloom's victims to speak at that district
attorney's press conference.
Speaker 5 (02:12):
I'm not going to turn her over to Caroline to
say a few words and then won't take any questions
you might have, Carol.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Okay, Hi, okay. To me, he pretended to be a
business mentor someone who believed in me and wanted to
help me. He knew I was a struggling single mom
going through a divorce and had her heart set on
becoming a businesswoman in the food space. I spoke about
(02:39):
the whole food scam Bloom played on me and my
business partners, luring us to Texas under the guise of
meeting the CEO. I spoke about the months and months
of manipulation and gaslighting. He makes you feel like he
believes in you and like you're smart and talented.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
David had a knowing that he was never going to
get caught.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
He knew it was hard to prove these crimes, and
he knew he was going to get away with it
for so long. But I want this moment to be
more than just about David Bloom. I want this moment
to be a lesson for all scam artists, for everybody
who thinks that that life is glamorous and that you
(03:21):
can just get away with it forever. This is a
moment where we say that we are not the ones
that need to be embarrassed.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
You are, thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Almost a full year after that press conference, Bloom thankfully
is sitting in jail, but as of July twenty twenty four,
almost a full year later, no trial date has been set.
They say the wheels of justice move slowly, but in
this case, they seem to be barely moving at all.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Well, it's been a while.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Since I've seen you, or even really thought about David Bloom.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
I would imagine you don't want him renting a lot
of space up there, so I would understand that.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
I'm sitting down with LA Times reporter James Qeely, who
you heard from an episode two. We're talking about what's
happened since that fateful day. I asked him how he
first found out Bloom was finally getting arrested and charged.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
I had been on and off in touch with the
captain of the Commercial Crimes Division for LAPD, which had
investigated this case for over a year because you know,
I remember back with the protest with you, back the
first time we spoke. Yeah, there was definitely a lot
of confusion as to why he hadn't been charged. And
you know, because we knew that the behavior was We
had seen the behavior be repeated before, so it was
(04:41):
a legitimate concern.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
And just to his.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Credit, you know, I had bothered that poor guy, the captain,
not David Bloom. David has not responded to my inquiry. Shockingly,
you know, the captain, like, every couple weeks, did you
do it? Yet you'rest him? Wrestam was like, I forgot
how to say hello. After a while, porn I was like,
did you arrest him? Was the only greeting I could
come up with. And then I forgot to check in
for a few weeks. And of course some random Tuesday
(05:05):
when I'm in the courthouse and my emails, what's going off,
and just told me they told me they picked him up.
That was probably twenty four to thirty six hours before
the press conference. I don't think I called you because
I think they told me they were going to get
in touch with you, and I didn't want to, like
take law enforcements place. I know we talked the next
day because I saw you either in the bail court
or yeah, the call of justice across the street.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah. I just remember waiting kind of by the phone
to find out and just being so scared that he
was going to flee, but then remembering that he doesn't,
you know, and my friend had seen him on My
friend Hamilton had seen him on the street and like
(05:48):
hollered out at him and he was just standing on
like coincidentally right in front of a whole food on
Santa Monica in West Hollywood. I just spotted David Bloom
on the fucking street at the bus stop.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Folks, Hey, what's.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
Up, scammer? You scamming people at the bus stop. That's
what's up today?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Huh. And then I remember.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Kind of just losing sleep, wondering when he was going
to get picked up, wondering where where he even was.
Hearing from people who had seen him at different restaurants
throughout Hollywood who had then seen the story and who
actually were saved because of my Instagram story. They were like,
I was literally this couple girlfriend and boyfriend had called
(06:37):
me and they said, I literally have his phone number
in my phone because we were talking last night and
then out of nowhere, Yeah, found out he was in jail,
and I was super stoked, just relieved, because the man
just does not stop.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
I mean, this has been that's been the drum beat, right.
He was accused of doing this in the eighties, he
was duced to doing this the two thousands, he was
accused of doing this in the twenty twenties.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Leopards stripes and all that.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
So yeah, I mean, so there really hasn't been any
sort of like movement in what's going to happen in
the past year, other than just checking to make sure
he's still there.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Unfortunately, court is not like TV, especially not here. It's
a bunch of really boring, perfunctory hearings. I actually have
never laid eyes on the guy. I've seen the photos
that have been, you know, slipped to me. Yeah, and
I know, not of him in jail, of him just
him at the barbecue with the I don't know if
it was the barbecue that you told me about, but
like there's somebody the photo that we used in all.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
The stories of him at the pool.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Actually, the only time I've ever laid eyes on him,
he was not in court any of the times I've
got You've probably been in court more than me on this.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
It's not been like three times.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah, yeah, which that I think you're leading three to one.
That on the scoreboard on me.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I got an email from the DA recently kind of
worried me.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Paul PRIs lomach this public record, that's not a secret.
Speaker 6 (07:59):
Five.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
So this was maybe two weeks ago, and he just
said I had a court appearance on this case this morning.
In my conversation with the defense attorney, he indicated that
he was interested in pursuing a potential plea agreement.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
To resolve this case.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
He further advised me that he is nearly complete with
the preparation of a mitigation packet, which he would like
to submit to my office for consideration. I will accept
anything that he wishes to submit to me. However, before
any offers are discussed or extended to the defense attorney,
I'll meet with any victims who would like to discuss
(08:37):
a disposition of this case so that you can provide input.
Please let me know if you are interested in participating
in that process. Our next court date is scheduled for
July second, but what exactly does that mean? Does that
mean that they're just trying to get.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Yeah, okay, I can't. Yeah I can plain legal expert.
I do not have a barcard, but I guess I.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Know court stuff, and you know more than I do.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Well, I married a lawyer, so I just try to
remind her that she's always smarter. So that, Yeah, that
that's kind of a little bit standard. So most cases,
I don't know, if you know, it's like almost any
almost like ninety eight percent of all cases end in
a plea deal.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
It's very rare that.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Something goes to trial. A lot of times defendants look
to settle things. Bloom I think both of his prior
cases ended in a in a plea agreement. The Manhattan
the second Manhattan one definitely did. What they're talking about,
the mitigation package is basically how the package they would
submit to let them know, you know, reasons that might
(09:35):
lessen culpability, Like.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
They could say he has a mental health issue.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
For argument's sake, they could say, you know, maybe that
they might raise questions about circumstantial evidence, like they may
try to point to just poke any holes.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
In the strength of the case.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Maybe they might could say to a certain count doesn't
fit the statute of limitations. They might try to point
to an admissibility issue with LAPD with evidence. I have
nothing to suggest any of that is what's going on,
But those are just examples of things that could be
that they could So they could try to seek a
and a plea agreement normally would partially involve not not
he would not be convicted or or held on no
(10:10):
contest of all eighteen counts. They may say, Okay, we'll
only convict you for the grand theft as opposed to
securities fraud.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Again, this is just like potential fotential.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Yeah, so yeah, but I don't I don't know off
the top of my head what the sentencing range for
these offenses are. But I don't think with that many
counts and his criminal history, he's.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Not like a strong candidate for probation.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
I would not like swear on a stack of Bibles
to you that he wouldn't get probation, but it doesn't
seem very likely. So, yeah, he has to give you
as much information as he can possibly share about the
terms of any plea or what this defense brings together
in this packet of mitigation before they do anything. So
it's not like if you don't answer by the second,
he's going to strike a deal without telling you right
(10:53):
like you have to, he'll have to. Hell, if something
happens between, like for argument's sake, tomorrow he wakes up
and there's a plea offer in negotiation, he'll tell.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
You, all right, thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Being a legal NERD is occasionally useful to people.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Actually it's interesting because I'm still in touch with David's wife,
and she texts me every I don't know, a couple
of weeks, just making sure he's still in jail because
for some reason she's not one of the victims that
is getting outreach from the DA, And I just think
(11:33):
everybody just really wants to make sure that. I mean,
at this point, it's pretty good that he's been in
jail for over a year now.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Yeah, the reach that he had, I don't know, this
is just like a funny little aside in my head.
I still will randomly end up talking to people who
not that they know who I am, but they recognize
the name only because of him. I was booking our
union's Christmas party at a bar that we will leave
out of this lind December and the guy on the
phone is like, oh, yeh doing no fee by the way,
(12:01):
because like David Bloom and I'm like, I'm sorry what
And the guy apparently knew somebody who had been victimized
by him or allegedly victimized by him, And yeah, so
I got a couple of free beers out of the
story at least.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Well, not that I need a parade, doesn't hurt.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Listen, anybody who has been a part of helping get
this man off the streets deserves a keg.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I'll take how's Nancy doing, by the way, She's okay.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
She moved away, she's out of California. She's out of California.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
La Times reporter James Coueley and I talk about Nancy,
David blooms ex wife in episode five. She told us
all about her harrowing experience being married to a con man.
She's moved away. Obviously, she's had a lot of financial
struggles after all of everything that he put her through.
(13:06):
But she's a strong, really strong woman, and seems like
she's doing okay. Everybody just wants to make sure that
he stays in jail or I mean, he can't stay
in jail for that long, right, I mean, who knows.
But then if he comes out, he's just going to
keep doing it. He's probably doing scams in jail right now.
(13:29):
Who would not be surprised?
Speaker 4 (13:31):
I mean, when you've repeated this behavior this long, I
definitely don't think I could make a strong counter argument
against that.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I don't know how.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Far selling prior access to IPOs gets you in like
Men's Central Jail.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I have thankfully never been a.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
Resident of Men's Central Jail. But yeah, I mean, I'd
like to believe that people can change. I have written
plenty of stories about people who have, you know, like
been wrongfully accused, got out of prison, change their lives,
Like there are plenty of reformation stories.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
But I you know, based on.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
The track record be I've seen, I'm not going to
bet one way or the other if he would be
one of them. But I hear, totally hear where you're
coming from.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
One thing Bloom's victims can take some solace in is
that he isn't going anywhere, well, not yet anyway. His
bail was originally set at five hundred thousand dollars, but
then got reduced by a lot. Prosecutors told me that
Bloom had to prove the money he was using to
post bail didn't come from one of his scams. He
(14:27):
had to show pay stubs, which he didn't have. He
had to show you some sort of proof of clean money.
And that is why I'm.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
So grateful for the DA because he had.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Been trying every which way to figure out how to
get himself the bail.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Yeah, now, bail source hearing is critical, and something like
this that's honestly something they usually use against like drug
dealers or gang members to make sure they're not using
the proceeds of their criminal conduct. But yeah, for a
financial crime somebody like this, that makes it makes too
much sense that he would do that.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
I heard there was a woman, someone new in David's life,
who was offering to pay his bail. I have no
doubt it's someone he was scamming right before he got arrested,
and it's certainly proof of how powerful of a con
artist he is. I mean, he convinced this woman to
give him money from the confines of a jail cell.
(15:22):
Thank god the judge didn't allow it, and thank god
David Bloom is still behind bars waiting like the rest
of us for what's next.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
It's a painfully slow process, and I get that that's
got to be incredibly frustrating for you. Even once they charge,
like it can just take an eternity.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
That's kind of the vibe that I've gotten throughout this
entire experience. You think, like from TV that it's like
this super slick covert operation with like plans in place,
And I don't know, after this, I just kind of, yeah,
couldn't believe how slow the process is. I mean, with
someone like this, you just think it's a slam dunk.
(16:03):
Like how many times his name has been mentioned, how
many people have come out and.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
Said that he's done this.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
He's been convicted twice in New York, and for it
to take this long blows my mind.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
How is that even possible?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Some of it's weird, Some of what happened in this
case is particularly weird.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
And then some of it is Courts are slow, Like
you know, from when we first talked, the fact that
LAPD moved to make an arrest, which they you know,
if they do that on a random street crime, like
to stop a violent incident or someone's you know, acting
wild in the street, that might be just like they
make an arrest and they figure out if they have enough.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
To charge later.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Do you know where he was when he got arrested.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I actually don't.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Yeah, probably have that like in a file somewhere, but
I don't know where he got picked up.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
I think it was somewhere.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
I think it was somewhere in Hollywood, only because of
who was running the investigation, but the fact that this
was a like months long investigation for what I understand
they were, you know, they were doing financial stuff. They
were talking to people in the field Carlotta at the time.
When they do this kind of long form investigation, that
usually means they believe they have enough to charge.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
And it's commercial crimes is like one of the higher end.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
They do art theft, they do financial fraud, like this
is one of like the no disrespect to your average cop,
but this is where like the smart cops go, like
so usually they pile together their their cases, like they
bring this stuff to the DA kind of gift rapped.
So it's a little weird that it took as long
as it didn't know if you remember when we first met,
there was this weird ping ponging of like, oh we
didn't get the case, it got lost in the mail
kinet type. That's not literally what happened, but it's more
(17:27):
or less what happened.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
That's kind of what it felt like.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
We said, have got lost in the E filing system,
So it got lost in a spam folder effectively, Like
that's the closest analog.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
How does that happen?
Speaker 1 (17:34):
How does a convicted criminal with all of these victims
get lost in the E filing?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
If I knew, I would tell you and probably write
something about it.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
That's really terrifying.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
That was just weird.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
But the other parts that you've described, the like court
is boring, cord is slow, all the continuance is that
is unfortunately, that is the un sexy part of my
job that doesn't end the newspaper and is like eighty
percent of what I do just tapping my foot annoyed
in the.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Courthouse on Temple Street. So that part is normal and
I'm sorry that sad parts everybody.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Do you know anything about his defense attorney or who
he has or.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Public defender's office.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
I don't know if you remember early on in the
investigation the laped had said, you know, of course, despite
allegedly stealing as much money as he did, and have
a lot of it on hand, not a lot of
in the bank accounts. He qualified for indigen defense for
the Public Defender's office, meaning he doesn't have enough money
to pay for a private attorney.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
That's insane. Like where did he put all this money? Like,
that's a shocker. He's got it stashed somewhere for when
he gets out, for sure.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
That's an argument. There's an argument he made for that obviously. Also,
I believe other victims had made this claim. And also
the cops did suggest that, I don't know what happened
exactly after you guys confronted him, but that when when
threatened with exposure, right, he sometimes would move money like
that one victim paid him to pay off another.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Yes, he definitely did that a lot for sure.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
So that's possible. Again, I'm not a forensic account.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
In one of our episodes, we literally uncovered the fact
that my money that he still went straight to Vincent,
And then I was the one that actually like called
Vincent and was like the one that kind of alerted
him to the fact that he just got scammed.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
That's both amazing and kind of horrifying.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yes, it really is.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
His story was so gut wrenching, but they all are
with this man, this ruthless man. But I just like
to say, you know what, he messed with the wrong one.
This time.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Someone sent me your story. I don't remember who it
might have been. It might have been one of the
initial victims.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
I'm talking to La Times reporter James Coely about con
artist David Bloom. I realized when we first spoke back
in twenty twenty two. I never asked him how he
found this story in the first place.
Speaker 4 (19:44):
The Villa Carlotta resident emailed my editor and we joke
about this now, But the time I almost didn't even
look at the story because it was so He sent
me a note that was so like rambling and coherent.
It kind of looked like in a movie when they
like tape the magazine letters together for a ransom note.
Me and this person laugh about it now, but he
was kind of annoyed when I made that joke the
first time. But it was just kind of like, there's
(20:06):
a scammer and he's getting away with it, and he's
been doing it since Manhattan, and like you got to
stop them. And like I get emails, like not emails
specifically like that, but I get you know, my cousin
was wrongfully convicted and like Nixon did it type.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Emails all the time, so I was like, I'm not
another one of these. He's like, God damn it, I
have too much fucking work to do. And then like
a court case got canceled.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Something happened that day that I suddenly became less busy
than I was, and I was like, all right, what
is this? And I someone across the New York Times
article and the name tracked and I reached out to
LAPD and they were like, yeah, no, we know this person,
Like oh shit, this is real. So I started kind
of clawing at it from there, and I spent two
different days at the Frolic. I met him, the informant
(20:46):
that I just described there once and you know, got
his story, but then another he told me that if
you just randomly go in there one day and start
mentioning Bloom's name, like, people are gonna get angry and
tell your stories.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
I was like, all right, what the hell?
Speaker 5 (20:56):
Why not?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Being at a bar is better than being at work
at like three o'clock on a front.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
So I started a very early happy hour, just sat
down with like a specifically, I think it was an
amstill light and to Jamison and just started talking to
people and yeah, somebody told me if they found him,
they were going to beat the shit out of him
in about five minutes. Because from what I remember the
original piece, I went to the Villa Carlotta. I spoke
to several victims from the Villa Carlotta.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Yeah, which is so crazy.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Some who do I don't know, have even been named
on this yet. Everybody who was on the record in
the original story was Nancy were the Venice victims from
the snapchat era back in twenty sixteen. I like, how
this guy his errors, like his epop.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Errors of yeah, his activities.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
Yeah, but yeah, somebody pointed me to you because I
want to say I reached out to you on Instagram
DM and was like, assuming you were going to think
I was some weirdo, but you have a million followers.
I was like, I think I feel like I typed
him deleted like please don't think I'm a creeper, like
three times to open up the message.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
But yeah, no, I think we were.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
You.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
You and I were operating completely independently until.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, you went public, and yeah, until I was just
so pet Up. I remember I was laying in bed,
my daughter was right next to me, and I'm just
hearing that he's just living it up at these parties,
and I knew in my mind he was doing this
to other people. And the next and in that night,
I sat up that super late, I think so late,
and just wrote the whole story and put it on
(22:13):
my Instagram because.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
I was fucking fed up. I was so fed up.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
That nothing had been done and nobody was using their names,
and in your article, nobody used their names. And I
was just like, how can we actually catch this guy
if nobody's willing to use their faces? And I was
just like, yeah, kind of done at that moment, And
then I was very scared.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
The next day, I was like, should I have done this?
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Yeah, a lot of people were afraid that, you know,
because that's the thing.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
He doesn't target people who aren't doing well right.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
They need to have money to be of any use
to him.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
So it's a lot of people the Lla Carloto, right,
you live there, Yeah, people running their own businesses, entrepreneurs, actors,
people in the Hollywood industry, like their entire game is reputation.
They can't be seen as having been you know, and
of course I mean no disrespect for this, but having
seen has been hoodwinked totally. I've seen it has been gullible.
That was a concern for a lot of people I
talked to.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Yeah, I was.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
It was a bit of a tug and pull to
get I mean, even you know Nancy to go on
the record, and she was so critical to telling the story,
but she didn't want this stain on her, even with
court records making clear she'd been married to him.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
For me, in doing this podcast, I wanted to completely
change that narrative, like we are not the ones that
need to be ashamed. He's the one that needs to
be ashamed. And I'm proud of us for uh kind
of just following through, you know.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
I mean, I just took notes. You did the work.
I appreciate the credit, but I'm not looking for it.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Like I just wrote. I just I just wrote, wrote
a very readable story. You did the actual work.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Sometimes it just takes one person to say something and
then it gives a lot of other people the comfort
to kind of come out and say something as well.
And you know, I was willing to be that person.
And here we are, you know, when he's in jail,
So I'm really happy about that.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Next time on Once Upon a Con, when.
Speaker 6 (24:08):
That rug gets pulled, you know, it's like you feel
like your whole world is crashing down, like nothing's ever
gonna be okay, and like the world is a fraud.
Everything is just you know, nothing is real.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Another Bloom victim speaks out about the devastating con that
almost happened.
Speaker 6 (24:26):
You rob me of emotional time with my family. You
rob me of my sanity at sometimes, you robbed me
of my peace of mind. No no amount of money
could ever repay what you did to my family.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
Once Upon a Con is a production of AYR Media
and thirty two Flavors, hosted by Me Caroline de more
Executive producers Eliza Rosen for AYR Media, Alex Baskin for
thirty two Flavors, and Jonathan Walton for Jonathan Walton Productions.
Written by Elisa Rosen, producer Caroline de Morey, edited and
(25:07):
mixed by Justin Longerbeam Engineering by Justin Longerbeam. Our theme song,
Freshly Served was written and performed by the incredibly talented
Mattie Noise and is available on her SoundCloud
Host
Caroline D’Amore
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