George Poulos
Appearances
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
It was a famous CPA accountant in Newport, she told me. I don't even know the guy's name, nothing. I know nothing about him. And we get the money back plus interest in 90 days. She goes, I've loaned him before. He always pays early and he's a repeat customer. I went, oh, okay.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
She always made it sound like he was protecting her. That's how she worded it. There didn't seem to be any love interest between the two of them. It was more of maybe a mentor type of thing.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
One day, and it was before I had put the money into the deal... I went, I spent a day with John McCabe. He drove me around.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
So she was holding the car with a signed pink slip from the owner. She had them in a little, like a little plastic envelope, like a clear envelope just to protect them, you know. And I collected six of them because I wanted to verify VINs. And so John was like, hey, no big deal. I'll take you to all the car places.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
We went to a place kind of close to where I'm at now in Costa Mesa. There was probably 20 Ferraris. Not all hers, but some. And there was one the guy was working on. He was a restoration. He was working on it. It was a black one. And it was an older one, like in the 80s or something like that. But it was pretty well torn apart on the inside. But he was restoring it. And Chilton matched the Vins.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
And I'm like, it matched. So we did that to the rest of the cars. I had lunch with John.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
So we go down into Newport. We go to Lido, and it's down there. We go in. I go right on it. I'm standing on it. It's got a little dinghy next to it. Very nice condition, clean, not stinky, the whole bit. Oh, okay, he fires it up. See?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
You know, she spilled a bunch of jewelry and watches onto her desk out of the safe she had under her desk. You know, it was like 12 inches by 12 inches square, and she just dumped it. You know, she had tags on them saying who they belonged to, you know, that kind of thing.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
She showed me her Rolls Royce she was having wrapped.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
You know, when you're in that mode, you're excited because you're theoretically going to make money.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
And so it all looked legit. So... I said, let's go ahead and do it. So she drew up a contract and we just did a deal for that particular deal, $125,000 for me to go in and then I'd have the money back in 90 days, plus X amount of money.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
And they're like, well, these rich people get paid once every three months, and they need this money just to bridge from one paycheck to another. Their checks are so big, it doesn't matter to them. And I'm like, okay.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
Yeah, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, I heard it. I heard it. She wanted to make like a lone mafia situation down in South Orange County. And that was kind of our motto. We were all like, it was me, her, her assistant, John, and another guy. We're like, let's just put our heads together. We have all these skills here. Let's make something of this. Let's make it like a legit big business.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
And let's use her business model that she's got running, which at that time we didn't know was false, to build upon that. And, you know, I was going to be the guy to like technologize everything because everything, there was nothing on the computer. So I was going to do that side of it, you know, take care of all the technology. And, you know, everybody was going to do some of their part.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
And she was on board.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
I had worked with an online software company to put her loan business online. And so we could track and we could look at everything, all the loans, where they are, where they are in their process, how much money is going to come back to us, everything. It was all spelled out. Well, so I said, I got it all running and I worked with her assistant to both learn it.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
The guy gave us lessons and the whole bit.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
As John and I got to know each other a little bit, he goes, dude, you don't want the people that are looking for her after you. You don't want it. And I was like, what have I stepped into? You know, because I got two kids at home, dogs, wife, the whole bit. I don't need any trouble.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
When I got the system all running, I needed to put the loans in. And she had made comments like, well, we have 10 or 15 loans out that are in flight, that were in process, you know, including the one I was on in her church. I go, great, give me the list. I'll put a system so we can get this thing started. So it's like active. Oh, all right.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
She hands me a fucking napkin with like chicken scratch on it. And I go, well, what's this? Well, those are loans. I go, what loans? I don't see anything on here about any money. I go, what about the one I'm on? What's in there? It's right there. And it was just chicken scratch, right? On like a little piece of paper. And I'm all.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
You don't have like an Excel spreadsheet or something that this is in? No? Why? I mean, it's all in my head. I go, then write it in your fucking English. Right. Loan one. How much was it for? Who? How much did you put in? What's the end date? And what kind of profit? Let's get columns so we can just look at it and know where we are.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
Massive pile of dog crap. Massive. And she couldn't produce one. I gave her a couple of days. You know, she goes, I'm working on it. And then to pay for the software, she gave me her credit card, which shocking, bounced. You know, they wanted like a small fee per month for four or five users. And she couldn't even pay that.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
So when I saw the lack of any records, I went, uh-oh. I'm screwed. And she kept making excuses. I'll get them. I have them. They're in my house. I lost it. You know, all this bull crap. It's like third grade. You're like, really? I mean, you claim you're a lawyer. You don't lose stuff.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
At that time, they were watching Sarah's house 24 hours a day. She was on full surveillance by non-PI people 24-7.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
I honestly thought she would not make it. Honestly. Between all of us, I thought, somebody's going to get her. I didn't know who it was going to be, but I just thought, you know.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
Her apartment, I think it was the fifth or sixth level, And across the street was a parking garage where you could go up to the top and you could park. And that's where they were observing her from. And they had some sort of binocular, telescope, whatever it was. I wasn't there, but I knew where they were. They bring food and they just sit there and watch her.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
And you could see her buzzing around her apartment at like midnight. And you're just going, what the fuck?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
You know, she's doing Adderall nonstop. You know, she's up all night because she goes, she just doesn't sleep. And I go, she just looks very jittery, whatever the word you want to use. I didn't know at the time what was going on until, you know, they all told me. And even John would go, she doesn't go to bed.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
It was 3 o'clock in the morning. You could see the timestamp on the iPhone. 3 a.m. and Zara was on a treadmill singing at the top of her fucking lungs. And it was like 3.10 in the morning. She's a messed up individual. I mean, there's no way around it. She's down there bringing like birthday cards to me with $100 bills and exchanging that for Adderall at different places.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
I ran into one of her other people. Again, he shall remain nameless. And they had loaned a similar amount of money that I did, but he involved his mom and dad. So, and they're part of a very large, wealthy family here in Newport Beach, like horrifically wealthy.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
The dad, they invited her, or I don't know how the phone call went to get her to go to this restaurant, but she showed up. Maybe they said, we're going to give you more money. Maybe they tricked her. I don't know. I wasn't there. But the dad leaned in and just told her, if we don't have all of our money by tomorrow morning, you're not going to make it till 8 o'clock.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
And you'll be cut up into little pieces. There'll be no investigation. There'll be nothing. You will cease to exist. And they had all their money the next morning. Complete. Just boom. He goes, I don't want any fucking profit out of you. I want the money you took.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
New in the DeutschlandCard App.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
It's a fucking disaster. Pardon my fucking French, but, you know, it is what it is.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
Buckle up, girls. Buckle up.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
I met her through a friend. I was looking for an investment and that's how I got introduced.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Lady Mafia | 4. “Cut up into Little Pieces”
Yeah, she was, how do I want to word this? Flirtatious to a male, of course. You know, she's not exactly what I would consider ugly. She wore relatively revealing clothes, which no big deal. I mean, but she told me about some of her deals and I had said I would be willing to split one with her. And that's how we started progressing forward.