If you've worn out LuLaRich, try these 7 documentaries about grifters, scammers, and Fyre fraudsters

Is all the murder and mayhem of true-crime weighing on you? There’s a whole subgenre of fraud docs to take the edge off

PublishedSeptember 13, 2021

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Left to right: Billy McFarland in Fyre (Photo: Netflix); Matthew Modine as William ‘Rick’ Singer in Operation Varsity Blues (Photo: Adam Rose/Netflix); Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Devereaux in McMillion$ (Photo: HBO) — Left to right: Billy McFarland in *Fyre* (Photo: Netflix); Matthew Modine as William ‘Rick’ Singer in *Operation Varsity Blues* (Photo: Adam Rose/Netflix); Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Devereaux in *McMillion$* (Photo: HBO)

Our collective true-crime obsession has led to binges of breakout series like The Keepers, Tiger King, Wild Wild Country, and I’ll Be Gone In The Dark; multiple NXIVM docuseries; dozens of podcasts; and countless reexaminations of infamous serial killers. But if watching all of that murder and mayhem is starting to weigh on you (it’s definitely gotten to us), there’s a whole subgenre of fraud docs to take the edge off. Amazon Prime Video’s LuLaRich recently captivated audiences with its exploration of the MLM machinations at clothing company LuLaRoe, whose reputation is now threadbare. The A.V. Club has put together this list of seven additional docuseries about grifters, scammers, and outright thieves, and how they evaded justice or got their just deserts.

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Fyre Fraud / Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened

The Fyre Festival that never was spurred not one but two discerning documentaries released within days of each other in January 2019. Hulu’s Fyre Fraud, directed by LuLaRich duo Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason, came first. It was quietly released four days ahead of Chris Smith’s Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened on Netflix. Both films shed light on con artist Billy McFarland’s scheme to host a luxury music festival in the Bahamas, duping customers in the name of performances by Blink-182, Pusha T, and Major Lazer, as well as luxury tent villas and fancy food. McFarland proceeded with the event, knowing it would be impossible to pull it off in a limited time frame. He defrauded investors and customers to the tune of $27 million. Fyre Fraud zooms out of the nitty gritty to investigate the social media and celebrity culture surrounding the scam. The slightly better Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened features people closely involved in planning the festival. As Alex McLevy puts it in his double review: “Both movies fail to disclose their own complicity in their subjects, which is on them. Whether it’s worth it depends to a certain degree on the result—neither film is flawless, but the strengths of each help fill in the blanks of the other. Ultimately, where Fyre excels over Fyre Fraud is Smith, a director with a razor-sharp point of view and eye for crafting a narrative that captures surprising, small moments of human foibles amid all the madness.” [Saloni Gajjar]

Availability: Netflix (Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened), Hulu (Fyre Fraud)

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The Inventor: Out For Blood In Silicon Valley

Alex Gibney’s The Inventor: Out For Blood In Silicon Valley documents the rise and downfall of Theranos, a multibillion dollar healthcare tech company, and its eccentric founder, Elizabeth Holmes. Founded in 2003, the company was valued at $10 billion by 2014, thanks to its claims to have devised cheaper, more conveniently available blood tests that draw only small amounts of blood. Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou, whose 2018 book Bad Blood is seen as a companion piece to the doc, conducted a secret months-long investigation after being tipped off that the company’s claims were fraudulent. Theranos was defrauding investors and was using regular blood tests instead of their purportedly inventive one called Edison. Gibney traces the aftermath of the investigation and includes never-seen-before clips and interviews from insiders, including Theranos whistleblowers Erika Cheung and Tyler Shultz. It might not overtly denounce Holmes’ and her then-partner Ramesh Balwani’s actions, but The Inventor is a detailed overview of the shocking Theranos story. Its popularity has even prompted Hulu to create a TV show about Holmes starring Amanda Seyfried. [Saloni Gajjar]

Availability: HBO Max

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McMillion$

Two American “institutions”—McDonald’s and Monopoly—are at the center of this six-episode docuseries from directors James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte. The fast food giant’s Monopoly game, which was launched in 1987, turned each purchase of a Big Mac into a potential winning ticket, er, mini-property deed. (A $1 million prize AND a large fry? Now, that’s a Happy Meal.) But some people weren’t content to pin their hopes of a big payout to their lunch order, which led to an elaborate scheme, complete with mob connections. Between 1989 to 2001, a man named Jerome Jacobson (“Uncle Jerry” to the family members and friends he bestowed with cash-winning game pieces) scammed McDonald’s out of $24 million. That’s quite a feat, as it effectively meant there were no “legitimate winners” of the restaurant chain’s Monopoly game for much of its first 20 years in existence. Using archival footage, contemporary interviews, and a light hand with reenactments, McMillion$ giddily reconstructs one of the juiciest fraud stories of the last 50 years. [Danette Chavez]

Availability: HBO Max

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Love Fraud

As many of these fraud-focused documentaries demonstrate, it’s thrilling to watch a well-executed heist unfold. But it’s even more rousing to watch some good old-fashioned payback. Showtime’s Love Fraud has scams aplenty, but ups the ante with another killer storytelling element: revenge. Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, this 2020 docuseries follows a group of women who band together after learning they’d all been romanced and defrauded by the same man. This aging lothario and con man has left a trail of broken hearts and emptied bank accounts across several states, accumulating new wives and aliases just about everywhere he goes. But the women, as they’re called throughout the four-part series, are determined to put an end to his schemes—whether it’s by warning others away from him through an online message board, or teaming up with a wisecracking bounty hunter. In its commendable aversion to re-victimizing its subjects, Love Fraud ends up giving them a bit of the short shrift (we don’t need nearly so many animated scenes of the con artist’s childhood). But the series also affords them catharsis and compassion. [Danette Chavez]

Availability: Showtime

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Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal

In 2019, actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were among 53 people charged by U.S. federal prosecutors in a criminal conspiracy to commit fraud to gain undergraduate college admissions for their children at top universities. Thirty-three parents were accused of collectively paying more than $25 million to William “Rick” Singer, who, as chronicled in Chris Smith’s 2021 documentary, Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal, crafted an elaborate, seven-year scheme to inflate test scores and bribe college officials. Noel Murray writes in his review that it re-frames the story in unexpected ways: “While it doesn’t let the Huffmans and the Loughlins of this whole sordid saga off the hook, the movie does suggest there’s more to be upset about here than just the coddling of some undeserving rich kids. Operation Varsity Blues, Smith and his writer/editor/producer Jon Karmen combine some rigorous reporting with some daring storytelling choices, shaking up the common documentary conceit of the ‘dramatic reenactment.’ Relying mostly on the official transcripts from FBI wiretaps, the film has a cast of accomplished actors—including Matthew Modine as Singer—treating the telephone conversations like a script, which they imbue with real energy and nuance.” [Saloni Gajjar]

Availability: Netflix

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Heist

Not to be confused with Netflix’s other lurid, caper-focused series, Heist is definitely one of the lighter options for true-crime. The docuseries, from Dirty Robber and Emmy-nominated director Derek Doneen, covers real-life stories of thievery that run the gamut from the daring to the meticulous.There are two episodes dedicated to each of its subjects, including a man who took inspiration from Goodfellas and crime procedurals, a woman who took part in one of the boldest robberies in Las Vegas history, and a Kentucky dad who’s accused of pilfering the world’s most expensive bourbon. Heist goes a bit heavy on the reenactments, especially in its first episode, where fictionalized retellings take up more screen time than the talking heads with the real-life perpetrators/alleged perpetrators. They do bolster the playfulness of the show, which takes a very stylized approach to the crimes it relates. It’s in the second half of each subject’s story that consequences are confronted. But with episode titles like “Sex Magick Money Murder,” Heist remains a breezy watch from beginning to end. [Danette Chavez]

Availability: Netflix

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