Naked News, Tuesday March 3, 2020

Hello, one and all, I’m Shannon Blake, and this is Naked News. I’m sure many of you have been watching the excellent docuseries McMillions over the last month… but for those of you who got rid of your HBO subscriptions when Game of Thrones ended, Marina’s here to bring you up to speed! And buckle in, ’cause it’s a wild ride!

The HBO miniseries McMillions is a riveting look at how scammers rigged McDonald’s popular monopoly game. It began way back in 1987, and swept across the country, to the point that half a BILLION game pieces were in circulation. But by 2001, the contest was killed off, and for good reason!

Turns out there was a man on the inside who FOR YEARS was giving winning pieces to people, in exchange for a cut. All told, this scheme took McDonald’s for over TWENTY-FOUR MILLION dollars in prizes!

They might have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for an anonymous tip sent to the FBI. Special Agent Richard Dent started an investigation after hearing tthe games had been rigged by someone known as “Uncle Jerry.”

The feds soon figured out that was Jerry Jacobson, a former cop working as a security officer for the company that printed the pieces. As for his co-conspirators, they were a colorful cast of characters. Including a mobster named Gennaro Colombo, who even ended up in a McDonald’s commercial!

The dominoes started to fall as the FBI checked on the winners… and found their stories didn’t check out. Arrests began in August 2001, and Jacobson was eventually sentenced to about three years in jail.

And if you don’t remember the trial of his co-conspirators, it’s probably because it began on September 10th, 2001… so by the next day, it was no longer a story people were interested in.

That said, we’re sure interested now. More than fifty people were convicted of mail fraud and conspiracy… and none of them had a Get Out of Jail Free card! For their stories, and the WHOLE story, now’s the time to check out McMillions on HBO! For Naked News, I’m Marina Valmont.