American Greed

Synopsis

A dissection of the dark side of the American Dream, a survey of how far some people go to become rich, no matter the cost to themselves and those around them. Real-life cases are reviewed and involve such criminal activity as credit card scams, identity theft, counterfeiting and Ponzi schemes.

First Air Date: 2007-06-21

Last Air Date: 2023-03-01

Number of Seasons: 15

Number of Episodes: 222

Networks: CNBC

View Technical Specifications on IMDb

Top Cast

Stacy Keach as Self - Narrator (voice)
Allen Stanford as Self (archive footage)
Bryan Burrough as Self
Scott Cohn as Self
Paul Pelletier as Self
Charlie Rawl as Self
Mark Tidwell as Self
Doug Birdsong as Self
John Kapoor as Self (archive footage)

Seasons

Specials (2009) - (3 Episodes)

Season 1 (2007) - (6 Episodes)

Season 2 (2008) - (10 Episodes)

Season 3 (2009) - (8 Episodes)

Season 4 (2010) - (12 Episodes)

Season 5 (2011) - (14 Episodes)

Season 6 (2012) - (17 Episodes)

Season 7 (2013) - (13 Episodes)

Season 8 (2014) - (14 Episodes)

Season 9 (2015) - (16 Episodes)

Season 10 (2016) - (20 Episodes)

Season 11 (2017) - (20 Episodes)

Season 12 (2018) - (20 Episodes)

Season 13 (2019) - (16 Episodes)

Season 14 (2021) - (12 Episodes)

Season 15 (2022) - (24 Episodes)

Specials (2009)

No overview available for this season.

Episodes:

Ep. 1: The Last Days of Lehman Brothers (2009-09-09)

The heads of Wall Street's biggest investment banks were summoned to an evening meeting by the US Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, to discuss the plight of another - Lehman Brothers. After six months' turmoil in the world's financial markets, Lehman Brothers was on life support and the government was about to pull the plug. Lehman CEO, Dick Fuld, recently sidelined in a boardroom coup, spends the weekend desperately trying to resuscitate his beloved company through a merger with Bank of America or UK-based Barclays. But without the financial support of Paulson and Lehman's fiercest competitors, Fuld's empire - and with it, the stability of the world economy - teeters on the verge of extinction
Ep. 2: Mob Money (2010-08-11)

American Greed’s Mob Money reveals the inner workings of the mob through the eyes of New Jersey’s DeCavalcante family. They were once seen as second-class mobsters living in the shadows of the bigger New York City families. But that changed in the late 1990’s when the feds busted all five New York families for racketeering. For the DeCavalcantes, the timing couldn’t have been better. Discover how the family matures, becomes success and eventually bows to its weakness and crumbles to its knees. Organized crime activities bring in a worldwide annual income of between $50 and $90 billion…that’s more money than any major legitimate national industry. From loan-sharking and labor racketeering to illegal gambling and murder for hire to its recent invasion into Wall Street - it’s all part of the life and death business of organized crime. The way the mob does business isn’t all that different than any other big corporation. There’s a corporate structure with investments and returns. Mob bosses take their business as serious as any CEO with one major exception - the way organized crime deals with the competition--making them some of the most violent criminals around. Nothing and no one stands in their way.
Ep. 3: Madoff Behind Bars (2010-08-25)

He was the mastermind of the biggest Ponzi scheme in American History. He stole millions…maybe billions of dollars from unsuspecting clients. Lives were shattered and fortunes ruined. After confessing to his crimes, Bernie Madoff received the maximum sentence: 150 years in prison.