"I thought they were playing a prank on me," McMillions co-director James Lee Hernandez says of the first time the FBI set him up to talk with Doug Matthews, the larger-than-life special agent who became the breakout star of HBO's six-part docuseries on the McDonald's Monopoly game scam. "The second he walked in the room, it was like the cannons blared and the heavens crumbled and I was like, 'All right, we've got something here.' "
The scam, which ran from 1995 until it was busted in 2001, started when Jerry Jacobson —...
The scam, which ran from 1995 until it was busted in 2001, started when Jerry Jacobson —...
- 6/23/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Even if you already know the story of the rigged McDonald’s Monopoly game (which was covered extensively by The Daily Beast in 2018), HBO’s McMillions documentary series is a fun, informative and highly entertaining look into one strange scam.
The basic details are this: From 1989 to 2001, ex-cop Jerome “Jerry” Jacobson rigged the McDonald’s Monopoly game by basically handing over winning pieces to everyone from mobsters to single mothers in exchange for some of the prize money. Meaning, for about 12 years, nearly all of the game’s big-ticket winners were frauds. In 2000, a tip led the FBI to begin...
The basic details are this: From 1989 to 2001, ex-cop Jerome “Jerry” Jacobson rigged the McDonald’s Monopoly game by basically handing over winning pieces to everyone from mobsters to single mothers in exchange for some of the prize money. Meaning, for about 12 years, nearly all of the game’s big-ticket winners were frauds. In 2000, a tip led the FBI to begin...
- 1/29/2020
- TVLine.com
HBO is telling the tale of one of the most super-sized scams of all time: the McDonald’s Monopoly game.
Based on a 2018 Daily Beast story by Jeff Maysh, McMillions is a six-part docuseries about ex-cop Jerry Jacobson, nicknamed Uncle Jerry, who rigged the McDonald’s Monopoly game for a decade — effectively stealing millions of dollars and building a network of wrongdoers across the U.S.
“This story has got everything,” a series of interviewees intone at the start of the trailer, “revenge, drugs, greed, Ronald McDonald.”
If you weren’t...
Based on a 2018 Daily Beast story by Jeff Maysh, McMillions is a six-part docuseries about ex-cop Jerry Jacobson, nicknamed Uncle Jerry, who rigged the McDonald’s Monopoly game for a decade — effectively stealing millions of dollars and building a network of wrongdoers across the U.S.
“This story has got everything,” a series of interviewees intone at the start of the trailer, “revenge, drugs, greed, Ronald McDonald.”
If you weren’t...
- 1/9/2020
- by Brenna Ehrlich
- Rollingstone.com
Exclusive: Mark Wahlberg’s Unrealistic Ideas has signed on to produce McMillions, a true crime original documentary series that chronicles the extraordinary story of the rigged McDonald’s monopoly game.
The limited docuseries, which producers plan to shop to broadcast and cable networks and is in development, reveals the entire outrageous account of the McDonald’s Monopoly game scam as told by the participants in the case, including the prizewinners and the FBI agents who nabbed Jerry Jacobson, a former police officer, who was found to be at the heart of the complicated scheme. It also will include archival footage shot by the agents as part of their sting operation.
Last week, as Deadline exclusively reported, Fox won the ferocious bidding war for film rights to Jeff Maysh’s Daily Beast article that chronicled the scam, with Ben Affleck attached to direct and Matt Damon to star.
Unrealistic Ideas, the...
The limited docuseries, which producers plan to shop to broadcast and cable networks and is in development, reveals the entire outrageous account of the McDonald’s Monopoly game scam as told by the participants in the case, including the prizewinners and the FBI agents who nabbed Jerry Jacobson, a former police officer, who was found to be at the heart of the complicated scheme. It also will include archival footage shot by the agents as part of their sting operation.
Last week, as Deadline exclusively reported, Fox won the ferocious bidding war for film rights to Jeff Maysh’s Daily Beast article that chronicled the scam, with Ben Affleck attached to direct and Matt Damon to star.
Unrealistic Ideas, the...
- 8/11/2018
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Fox is poised to win the hot lit property in the marketplace at the moment, a giant Happy Meal that everyone wanted. Ben Affleck is attached to direct, and Matt Damon to star in a true crime story written by Jeff Maysh and published in The Daily Beast several days ago on an ex-cop who rigged the McDonald’s Monopoly game, allegedly stealing over $24 million dollars and sharing it with an unsavory group of co-conspirators who offered kickbacks to the mastermind. The Pearl Street partners will produce, and the Deadpool scribes Paul Wernick & Rhett Reese will write the script.
Sources said that bidding was ferocious for Maysh’s How An Ex-Cop Rigged McDonald’s Monopoly Game And Stole Millions. Lining up to bid were Universal for Kevin Hart, Warner Bros for John Requa & Glenn Ficarra and Steve Carell and producer Andrew Lazar, and Netflix, which bid for producing partners Eric Newman & Bryan Unkeless,...
Sources said that bidding was ferocious for Maysh’s How An Ex-Cop Rigged McDonald’s Monopoly Game And Stole Millions. Lining up to bid were Universal for Kevin Hart, Warner Bros for John Requa & Glenn Ficarra and Steve Carell and producer Andrew Lazar, and Netflix, which bid for producing partners Eric Newman & Bryan Unkeless,...
- 8/2/2018
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
This week the world's greatest winemakers will gather in New York for an annual bacchanal of tasting and feasting. Sophie Menin speaks to Daniel Johnnes who organizes the event.
Daniel Johnnes' office looks out onto the intersection of West Broadway and Canal Street at the mouth of the Holland Tunnel. Yet for Johnnes, the view is far less important than the gallery of photos on the wall to the right of his desk, where black-and-white headshots of Burgundy's greatest winemakers peer over his shoulder like patron saints: Christophe Roumier of Domaine Georges Roumier in Chambolle-Musigny; Jean-Marie Fourrier of Domaine Fourrier in Gevry Chambertin; Dominique Lafon of Domaine Comtes Lafon in Meursault; and Frédéric Mugnier of Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier also in Chambolle-Musigny, to name a few. All have the pensive eyes and deeply etched skin of men who spend their life in the vineyard and the cellar.
Related story on The...
Daniel Johnnes' office looks out onto the intersection of West Broadway and Canal Street at the mouth of the Holland Tunnel. Yet for Johnnes, the view is far less important than the gallery of photos on the wall to the right of his desk, where black-and-white headshots of Burgundy's greatest winemakers peer over his shoulder like patron saints: Christophe Roumier of Domaine Georges Roumier in Chambolle-Musigny; Jean-Marie Fourrier of Domaine Fourrier in Gevry Chambertin; Dominique Lafon of Domaine Comtes Lafon in Meursault; and Frédéric Mugnier of Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier also in Chambolle-Musigny, to name a few. All have the pensive eyes and deeply etched skin of men who spend their life in the vineyard and the cellar.
Related story on The...
- 2/7/2011
- by Sophie Menin
- The Daily Beast
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