Business Nation - June 2007

"THE 50 MILLION DOLLAR CON"

"Business Nation" goes inside a $50 million fraud.  Hakan Yalincak was a senior at New York University when he was arrested for bilking investors out of $7 million by peddling a phony hedge fund.  Trying to stay ahead of the law and desperate to pay off the investors who demanded their money back, Yalincak turned to a second scheme and tried to pass off $43 million dollars in phony checks. 

In the end, he was convicted and sent to prison, but not before telling his story exclusively to CNBC's Melissa Lee and "Business Nation."  Andrea Fleischer is the producer.

The $50 Million Con

An NYU undergrad bilked investors out of $7 million. He was sent to prison, but not before telling his story exclusively to CNBC’s Melissa Lee.

"TOYOTA VS. THE BIG 3"

Toyota has dethroned GM as the world's top-selling automaker.  But in the battle for the hearts and minds of America's consumers, Toyota isn't stopping at cars.  The company is now taking on the one segment where the Big 3 still dominate: trucks.  With its newly redesigned Tundra pick-up, Toyota is taking on a market in which nine out of ten vehicles sold are American made. 

"Business Nation" gets a first-ever look at the Texas factory where the Tundra is being manufactured, and a rare glimpse at the marketing strategy that represents the latest blow against the Big 3 automakers. 

CNBC's Phil LeBeau is the correspondent, Diane Simon the producer.

Toyota vs. the Big 3

Top-selling automaker Toyota is now going after the toughest customer of all: the American truck buyer. Phil LeBeau reports.

"SCHOOL OF ROCK"

You saw the movie -- now meet the impresario behind the real-life school of rock.  Paul Green was a high school dropout and frustrated rocker before he got his GED, went to an Ivy League school, and opened a music school in Philadelphia that taught kids how to play rock 'n roll.  Today, he's got 29 schools nationwide with plans for hundreds more.

A generation ago, parents paid for their children's violin lessons and dreamed they'd one day play in the philharmonic.  Today's aging boomers, raised on rock, are sending their kids to Paul Green's leather-clad conservatory where they get to jam on stage with the likes of Peter Frampton and Alice Cooper.  CNBC's Becky Quick is the correspondent, T. Sean Herbert the producer.

School of Rock

He's the one-of-a-kind mastermind behind the real-life school of rock. CNBC's Becky Quick meets the musician turned mogul who's built a nationwide music school for kids.