American Greed -- Some People Will Do Anything For Money

The Scams, The Schemes, The Broken Dream Some People Will Do Anything for Money

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., January 25, 2010—An all-new season of CNBC’s unprecedented original primetime series, “American Greed,” which examines the dark side of the American Dream, premieres Wednesday, February 3rd at 9PM ET.

The premiere episode tells the bizarre saga of Sam Israel III, a big money hedge fund manager, who made headlines for his Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of 300 million dollars. Once the toast of Wall Street, Israel’s hunger for fame, fortune and success sends him in free fall, leading to the destruction of his company, a bridge, a suicide note and a man on the run. CNBC gives you this shocking story of a con artist who fell for the ultimate con himself!

This season of CNBC’s “American Greed” will take a look at other well-known and high-profile stories including The Black Widows—Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt—two California women who infamously befriended and staged the deaths of homeless men for insurance money and Raffaello Follieri, millionaire playboy and former boyfriend of Hollywood star, Anne Hathaway, who drew worldwide attention for his Vati-con scandal that scammed investors with phony connections to the Pope.

For more information and special web exclusives, logon to americangreed.cnbc.com.

CNBC’s “American Greed” is narrated by actor Stacy Keach and produced exclusively for CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, by Kurtis Productions. Sharon Barrett is the producer for Kurtis Productions. Charles Schaeffer is the Executive Producer for CNBC. Ray Borelli is the Vice President of Strategic Research, Scheduling and Long Form Programming.

CNBC’s “American Greed” will air on Wednesday nights at 9PM, 10PM and 1AM ET beginning Wednesday, February 3rd.