Frank Abagnale was best known to the public from the movie Catch Me If You Can (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), the clever con man who, before he was well into his 21st birthday, pretended to be a doctor, a lawyer and a RAN AM pilot to get around the world in the 1960s.
In hot pursuit to arrest him was FBI agent Carl (Tom Hanks). Frank's capture had become an obsession for him. Frank Abagnale made about $2,500,000[/B] by writing bad checks, all while being pursued relentlessly by the FBI and Interpol. His fantastical exploits were immortalized in his book in 1980, in his 2002 film and later, in 2011, in a Broadway musical.
Subsequently, she became widely known as "Anna Delvey", a notorious con artist who played the German heiress to an untold fortune and conned New York high society. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison for thefts totaling $275,000, having previously managed to fly in a private jet, for free of course. Her story was made into a Netflix series called "Inventing Anna". Now she is under house arrest in New York.
Now it's time to meet another con artist. 26-year-old Nicholas Bryant, who claims to have "put the glasses" on Abagnale and Delvey after he fraudulently secured a long life, much more intense than the other two grifters. Bryant, posing as the son of an oil tycoon, stole approximately $1.5 million and defrauded at least 50 people with his elaborate scheme, which involved purchasing various products and using services, which he then "paid" electronically with fake items through online payment platforms.
He traveled at least 17 times on private jets, rented a house-in the Caribbean-for $30,000 a night and purchased five luxury cars worth $500.000 dollars!
On November 9, Bryant pleaded guilty to online fraud and now faces up to 20 years in prison. "This defendant was well on his way to becoming Anna Delvey or Frank Abagnale," U.S. Attorney Chad Mickam said in a statement about Bryant's case.
[/P]But he seemed "offended": "It's crazy to be compared to those two," he said, proudly adding that he had surpassed them! "My own story is wilder than theirs! I can guarantee it!" he said."
The Young Con Man's Long Life
The first time Bryant spoke about his scam spree was to the Daily Beast via text messages and phone calls from the Detention Center, when he said the allegations against him "are almost true. And then he went into the details: "I traveled on private jets and stayed in the most expensive AirBnb's and hotels. I went underwater fishing in the ocean and enjoyed as many things as I could. I bought and drove five different luxury cars. By far my favorite trip was to the Turks and Caicos (ed. Caribbean island grouping). I spent two weeks there fishing and taking yacht rides. I stayed in a house that cost $30,000 a night. It was amazing."
His social media posts from that time depict him traveling on private jets and enjoying his vodka on the flight, enjoying steak and champagne dinners with friends on luxury yachts and relaxing in five-star hotel rooms.
Each time, Bryant invented different names and profiles to appear credible and trustworthy. Most of the time he said he was "the son of an oil tycoon." He had convinced those dealing with him that he had a "secretary" who handled his finances and sent the money, which, of course, turned out to be false. "I knew how to play the part," Bryant said."
How the big scam started
In late 2019, Bryant's friend Egmyer was looking for a job and contacted Bryant about a possible partnership with him in the oil industry. He too had believed the story and Bryant, who admits that his friend was a victim of his crimes, seemed to have some remorse. Although he did not go into details about this scam, Bryant said Egmyer was "working" for him while he was "running an oil company." Whether that company actually existed or was a fabrication by Bryant exploiting the bureaucracy is under investigation. Either way, however, this company "went out of business when employees and service companies weren't paid and investors didn't see a dime." "I was pocketing all the proceeds and using them to finance my lavish lifestyle," Bryant confessed. "I was 23 years old and making about 60 grand a month."
His plan for the big scam began in January 2020, when he and a friend were at a regular golf club in Dallas on a Thursday night and agreed that "playing a round of golf in Scottsdale, Arizona" (i.e. luxury golf clubs) would be much more fun. So, he started calling charter companies and was surprised when they were able to fly to Arizona soon after. "We made the trip without a problem and when I asked how to pay for it, the company told me I could put the money in the bank," he said, noting that he simply Googled "third-party bank transfers" and learned that these systems sent instant payment confirmation messages, but they could later be cancelled.
The 26-year-old admitted that between 2020 and 2021, he used online platforms such as QuickBooks to send payment confirmations without ever intending to pay. However, it took days for vendors and businesses to learn that Bryant had cancelled that transaction before the money was sent. By then, Bryant had already enjoyed his private jet trip and luxurious accommodations and had disappeared. He also convinced a developer to start building him a $980,000 pool house and never paid him.
The late payment confirmations, he said, were the key to how he was able to "get away with it for so long."
Then, of course, he was constantly hounded by private jet companies when they realized he wasn't paying. He stopped taking their calls.
The latest scam and the expected jail bars
Bryant was arrested in March 2020 on fraud charges in Texas and was eventually released on $150,000 bail. But that didn't stop him from continuing his scheme. As he says, he used the luxury getaways to escape the realities of his life. "I was living life," he said. "I was spending $50, $70, $100,000 a day. I was so deep into it that it didn't matter how much I was spending." Eventually Bryant's plan fell apart after a private jet trip to Miami on November 18, 2021.
Bryant showed up at a company, stating that he was interested in buying an airplane of the type that company was chartering and wanted a "demo flight" to decide whether to proceed with the purchase. The flight was scheduled from Lubbock to Houston and then to Miami and back - it cost $33,000, but an additional $5,000 was added to the bill for in-flight drinks and limousine transportation.
The invoice totaled $76,000. The only charge against Bryant is related to this trip. As Bryant says, his biggest mistake on the November 2021 trip was using the same private charter company for his flight back to Texas.
Bryant was arrested the following month when he was at a car dealership trying to buy an Audi and a Maserati. "At that moment, I felt some relief because I knew it was over," he added.
He has remained in custody since his arrest in December 2021, a period that Bryant said gave him time to "think about how fast it all happened and how outrageous it was." As he stated: "It was fun, but I definitely regret it. Behind a lot of these companies are good, hard-working people. They built these companies and it's hard to take a $100,000 loss . And I did that to 50 people. It's definitely weird to look at pictures of that era and think wow, I was just living in the moment. The serious consequences of my actions did not make the slightest impression on me."
After all, no one gets away with it forever...
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