4: Friends in High Places

We created our own podcast. Oh, hey Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it.

“We just contributed to our people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick”

and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired of just a strong way to put it, but you know, tired and sick, tired and sick. Listen to hey Jonas on the iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Just listen, we don't care where you hear it. High listeners on Michelle, host of the Kingdom of Fraud podcast.

And I'm excited to share this incredible story with you. I'm also excited to tell you that you can

get access to all episodes of Kingdom of Fraud 100% ad-free in one week early through the iHeart True Crime Plus subscription available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Plus, you'll get access to other chart topping true crime shows you love, like the girlfriends, the trail, the godmother, paper goes, picked in massacre, murder homes, unrestorable, and more. So don't wait. Head to Apple Podcasts search for iHeart True Crime Plus and subscribe today.

“That is not the look of an innocent man. Is everyone lying to me about who they are?”

I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do.

Listen to deep cover the family man. I mean, iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, I'm Dr Maya Shanker, a cognitive scientist and host of the podcast, a slight change of plans, a show about who we are and who we become when life makes other plans. I wish that i hadn't resisted for so long, the need to change. We have to be willing to live with a kind of uncertainty that none of us likes. You can have opinions. You can have like a strong stance. And then there's your body.

Yeah, having its own program. Listen to a slight change of plans on the iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Novo. No one thought movies would make it. They are the perpetual underdog.

But to everyone shock in 2013, they qualify for their first ever major international soccer tournament.

The 2013 gold cup played right here in the USA. Their opening game against the US national team is played in Portland, Oregon. Belize is a small country on the Central American coast with just 400,000 residents. People are huddles around TV's all over the nation that night. But there's no real drama on the field that night. As predicted,

the Belize and Jaguahars get thumped by the US national team. Off the field though, that's an entirely different matter. I was at the Gold Cup and I was embedded with the team in Portland. Tools Vazquez is the news director of Channel 7 News, a Belize and television station. Normally, he covers political scandals and corruption. He's that guy that dirty politicians

run from when they see him coming with his microphone. But he couldn't miss out on the opportunity to follow his team's historic appearance at the Gold Cup, which is why he's in the US covering the tournament. He's hanging around the squad, reporting from the team bus, the training facilities, and he starts hearing some weird rumors

“about a strange character. He was a whisper. Almost like this fucking unicorn, right?”

It does get caring about Lev. You know, all the players are from very average backgrounds, average to poor, and all of them are like, if I score on Gold, let's say give me $10,000. Wait, did he just say, if I score a goal, Lev says he will give me 10 grand? We knew him as Lev Durman. Lev Durman is just another version of a name. You and I know very well, Lev on Tremenzian. But what the hell is Lev on doing?

What the Belizean soccer team? Soon, Drull's realizes that this Lev Durman is pals with their De facto mascot, a Belizean Bigwig, a government minister. John Salivar, thank for that, the Minnesota's hanging out with Lev.

arriving with him and tools never sees Lev on with his own eyes, though.

“These guys are moving in much more rare effects circles than I was right? I was thinking of”

fucking Moto L6. It's only long after the Gold Cup is over. Years later, that tools hears about Lev on again. This time, he's the lynch pen, and one of Belize's most explosive political scandals. It was visorally repognant, a grotesque violation of every ethic in old public official to comport him or herself. In Belize, Jacob in Lev on's fraud escalates to a high stakes transnational operation. One surrounded by powerful political figures around

the globe, but the higher the circles Jacob is elevated to, the higher the pressure.

“My name is Michelle McVee, and from the teams at novel and iHeart Podcasts, this is Kingdom of”

Fraud, episode four, friends in high places. It's the spring of 2013, and Jacob Kingston is back in LA to meet Lev on. But this meeting is different because, according to Jacob's testimony, Lev on isn't satisfied with the millions upon millions they're raking in anymore. Jacob says Lev on wants more. A lot more. Here's me, and my producer, Jake, reenacting and exchange between Jacob and the prosecutor in court

about what is agreed to in this 2013 meeting. Were you planning to claim more than $10 million from the IRS? Yes. How much? Lev on talked about 10 or no, it was about $50 million a month. $50 million a month.

That would come to over half a billion dollars a year. Jacob is anxious. He's never committed fraud

on this scale before. Not to mention, the feds are still sniffing around W. Ari. There'd been that IRS oughta we talked about in the previous episode, and remember, a few years back, the EPA also targeted Jacob. As he meets Lev on in 2013, he's still negotiating a settlement with them. At first, at least according to Jacob, he resists Lev on's idea to inflate the fraud. Eventually, though, he gives in because let's be real. This will mean a huge payday for Jacob too.

Plus, he believes this whole thing is being protected from the IRS and the EPA by LeBond's boys,

“those crooked cops surrounding him. So the next question is, how do you steal $50 million a month?”

To them, it was simple. You've heard it all before. They come up with ways to move around a lot of biofuel, and they pretend they produced it by faking paperwork, only on a much bigger scale than ever before. And just like that, checks from the IRS start coming in every few weeks. Literally, paper checks that come in the mail. But this time, they're big ones. 11 million here, 11 million there. One of them is made out for $25 million dollars. This means boom time

for Jacob's company, wash a key renewable energy. Jacob rents a fancy new downtown office space. His roughly 200 employees get free smoothies, a salad bar, late parties, as kind of like Utah Google. But it's not all Rosie and Jacob's kingdom of God.

He's always with LeBond, and Sally, his first wife, is getting pissed. The final straw is

once it becomes pregnant again. And Jacob nearly misses the birth of his own child. Some people have spoken to, say Jacob really loves Sally, but he's struggling to balance the two

confiding in LeBond about his marriage woes. And LeBond gives Jacob some relationship advice.

“Here's my amazing producer, Jake, help a me out by reading Jacob's testimony.”

We was going to get her a house. LeBond told me that I need to get her a big house, because he said that's our style. Sally finds a place she likes. In in July 2013, LeBond flies to Utah to handle the couple's sale. Naturally, he arrives in style. He's dressed to the nines. He flies in his bodyguards and even brings his chrome Lamborghini. He put it on a truck and shipped it here, and I rented an escalate, and I picked him up at the

airport and he flew in a private jet to Salt Lake. Me and LeBond travel to the house in the Lamborghini. LeBond and Jacob look around the property. LeBond did all the negotiating. That's just what he did.

He always took control of the meetings. And then LeBond has a question. He asked the real estate agent,

"Are there any ordinances that would prevent me from keeping a lion on the property?" "As in a real roaring lion." To be honest, I don't even know how you'd respond to that. It might be the reason the owner of the house asked for so much money that LeBond turns it down on the spot and walks away. But as they drive off, Jacob says they go past a different house,

“a mansion. LeBond said this is the house you need to buy because this is our style.”

That is the house, Jacob ends up getting. The one LeBond picks out for him.

It costs Jacob 3 million dollars. But LeBond's visit to Utah doesn't end there.

The day of the house viewing happens to be July 24, 2013, Pioneer Day. An entourage comprised of Jacob Sally LeBond in the bodyguards built two SUVs in the chrome Lamborghini. They drive to Bountiful, outside of Salt Lake City, where Jacob's family is celebrating. You might remember what happens next. "I introduce LeBond to my dad. I introduce him to my uncle."

“LeBond meets and greets the Kingston's. Order members stare at this stranger who”

shown up at their private family function. The shiny Lamborghini causes Pandemonium. And then, as we was leaving, LeBond handed me the keys and says, "Here, it's yours." And I drove away in it. This is the moment when LeBond pulls Jacob into his fold. And does it in front of all of his relatives, initiates him into a new kind of life, the highlight.

During this year, 2013, Jacob starts to change. He ditches his shitty old Toyota and starts driving around in the chrome Lambo. LeBond even gives him another car. This one, a golden Ferrari. Jacob starts wearing $600 shirts, spends thousands on shoes, and even buys a $40,000 watch. Jacob now has a public profile. WRE starts to sponsor the local NBA team, the Utah Jazz, which gets him an executive box at the arena. It was crazy to see him raise to that

level, especially with how fast he did it. Andrew Robinson is one of Jacob's half-brothers. A lot of the money he brought in. I didn't really see it benefiting a lot of people. And I was thinking, "Well, I'm just open eventually some of this can benefit families like mine and my mom's." At a family meeting, organized by their dad Daniel, Andrew hears where some of Jacob's money has gone. My dad had a lot of debts with the order bank,

so we was told that Jacob paid off all of that debt. Based on what prosecutors alleged in court records,

it seems that Jacob repaid $17 million of his father's debt. In these family meetings,

Andrew gets to see the effect the money has had on his brother. Jacob would show us all these tax return checks from IRS, and it was like $23 million, $22 million.

"This is only possible here in this group." He kind of just had the attitude of, "I have

“divine protection." Jacob's dad is proud of him. The powerful men at the top of the order”

are impressed by him, too. But his high-flying lifestyle doesn't play so well with those order members who often struggle to just feed their families. When he did get these nice cars and the big house, then most everyone was upset, and that's when I kind of learned about their family. That is Jenny Kingston. Before the pioneer day picnic in 2013, Jacob and Sally were just a distant family on the periphery of the order to her. But soon,

she gets pulled into their world. SWRE expands, Jenny gets a job there. And on her very first

“day, she gets seated right next to the boss's teenage son, Jacob Kingston Jr. Tall,”

super skinny, dark hair, like he was smart, played a lot of video games, just a little dork. They don't really have anything in common. They barely even talked to each other at work. But then, Jenny starts hearing rumors that Jacob Jr. wants to marry her. She realizes that's probably the only reason she's even working at WRE. Jenny is absolutely not interested though. There's another boy she's been secretly dating.

But Jacob Kingston Sr. is determined to get his son what he wants. He sets up an unforgettable first date for the two teenagers. His dad planned this whole trip to Las Vegas with a private jet. So we pull up to the airport. I see the private jet. It all looks like what

like this has never happened before in the order. And I was really excited.

Jenny is dazzled sure, but she still doesn't like Jacob Jr. Even being Westoff to Vegas won't change that. But it seems everyone around her wants this marriage to happen. Except for Jenny. She resists for a long time, which gets her into trouble with her family.

“But the pressure to marry Jacob Jr. is unrelenting. All these important people in the order”

are telling her its gods will. It becomes too much. We got married in Jacob's mansion. The wedding ceremony was indoor in the main room because it was huge. And then he did have like a pull-out side. So we did go out there for like the deaths. The reception part of it. They marry in 2015. They're both just teenagers. After the wedding, they move into the big family mansion. The one that Levant picked out. When I first saw it, then I was like what a fuck. Like this is so

beautiful. It was so big. Like it, the feelings were super tall. I feel like I was excited at this point because they have money. A lot of families in the order don't have money. And so I was excited for that. Just having a better life, I guess. Jacob in his company have surpassed everyone's expectations. He has status and influence now. And he's not afraid to throw it around. But outside of the order, it's a completely different story. More on that after the break.

First guest is a big one. Paul Rudd. Steve Correll is a great singer. He told you not to audition the office or something. I told him. We were feeling anchorman. Clearly I was the idiot. Thank God he didn't listen to him, right? Listen to hey Jonas on the iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi listeners, I'm Michelle. Host of the kingdom of fraud podcast.

And I'm excited to share this incredible story with you. I'm also excited to tell you that you can

get access to all episodes of kingdom of fraud. 100% ad-free in one week early through the iHeart

other chart topping true crime shows you love like the girlfriends, the trail, the godmother,

“paper goes, picked in massacre, murder homes, unrestorable and more. So don't wait, head to Apple Podcasts”

search for iHeart true crime plus and subscribe today. Keith Jumaco seemed like a mild mannered suburban dad. But secretly, he became someone else. A master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about

how we could go wrong and what that might look like? No, I didn't want to manifest that. I wanted to, I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secrets.

“But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the”

look of an innocent man. This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to deep cover the family man. I mean, I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can hear it true, but now see it. Crime stories now available with video episodes free in the iHeart app. Watch all your favorite podcasts, full episodes, start to finish,

gavl to gavl, soup to nuts, all in the free iHeart app. You can also watch all your other favorite podcasts. Like, hey, Jonas, let's call the rest does. Post run high and so many more.

“Here are the voices you know. Now, see them and see the moments you've missed.”

Open the iHeart Radio app, search video podcasts and crime stories, and then just tap, watch. I'll see you on video friend. With each new paper check hitting the mailbox, Jacob and Levon's pile of hot money grows.

They're taking intense of millions of dollars every month. The problem is,

it can't just sit around in their bank accounts. That would be suspicious. So, Jacob says, Levon comes up with a solution. We have a system of governance where there are no checks and balances on ministerial powers. Belize is a democratic country, but tools vast press. The Belizeian reporter from earlier says it's riddled with corruption. There are no regulations on campaign finance and there is a lot of

dark money. Unregulated money that gives political donors a lot of big swing. They expect the ability to get permits to facilitate enterprise for maybe mining or extraction. They want to move like a brief fist to all the government bureaucracy.

It's October 2012 when Jacob first gets an invite from Levon to visit Belize.

They want to open a casino down there, among other things. The casino operation is going to be called lion gaming, obviously. Jacob and Levon become frequent flyers to Belize. It are welcomed by a cast of infamous political figures with open arms. Most prominent of all active government minister, John Sal-Diver, Levon's buddy from the soccer tournament in the US.

During these trips, everyone gets chummy. For example, one time Jacob claims his high-ranking minister takes some all-out for a boat ride, but not just any boat ride. They sail along the tropical Belizeian coast, aboard two gunships, belonging to the Belizeian Coast Guard. It was really grotesque. How much have you be in a pocket of these people? When you will use the professional staff of the Coast Guard, and you will take

this guy on a treasure tour of the islands. Jacob spent years living in that sneak-infested shack.

All these escapades are under the guise of doing business. Jacob claims he and Levon are trying

“to get licenses and buy property for their casino. But Jacob says he's sidelined in these discussions.”

That it's a Le Mans doing all the negotiating, just like with Jacob's own house. Jacob agrees to shell out all the money for the new Belizeian business ventures, like their plan casino, lying gaming. First, he pays for the physical property. Then, Jacob's company wires $742,000 to a former Belizeian official. Jacob claims, forgetting a signature on the casino licenses. Jacob is also sending money to John Sal Deaver,

the active and powerful government politician. Jacob claims that he and Levon repeatedly

hand him tens of thousands, sometimes stuffed in designer backs. To be clear, John Sal Deaver has not

“faced corruption charges and he denies any allegations of wrongdoing. But in 2022, the United”

State State Department formally designated him for, quote, "his involvement in significant corruption," which bans him from entering the country. Whatever Jacob and Levon are up to in Belize, it has its benefits. In 2013, Levon becomes a Belizeian citizen, but he has even laughed here aspirations. Levon had tried to become a diplomat. Ferris ministers have included the minister of foreign affairs to make him a consular, representative. Levon wants to be

the Belizeian consul in Las Vegas, a government official. The Belizeian government puts his name forward, but American officials reject their application. Still, the way Jacob sees it, Levon seems to have big sway in Belize. And a few years later, all these backroom deals become public. A slew of tax John Sal Deaver sent to Jacob requesting cash payments, get released. It was exclusive irreversible. When these tax get out, it's an election year in Belize.

The timing could not be worse. The corruption inside the party was laid there. They had a historic loss. The worse electoral loss at that point in Belize's history. It was a dead melt. Levon and Jacob have wreaked havoc in Belize. These guys just inadvertently upended the entire political landscape of a small central American country. But for them, it's just a warm-up. Levon couldn't make it to Jenny Kingston's big order wedding in Salt Lake City.

“Remember, she married Jacob Sun, Jacob Jr., but he was going to make it up to the couple.”

Lion's Dial. We went to Turkey and had another wedding there because Levon wanted to celebrate wanted to pay for it. Jenny flies to Turkey with her new family. They stay on the Indian coast with its evergreen pines, shimmering waters, and jagged rocky coastlines. The place they're staying at is nothing short of spectacular. It was like a huge resort hotel. It was right next to the ocean. Inside, it looks a little like Trump's White House,

or an eight-flosh red chairs, massive chandeliers in lots of gold.

On arrival, Jenny watches her father-in-law, Jacob, take charge. When we first got there,

he had them open the kitchen back up to make us all dinner because it was late and it was closed at the time. Jacob is giving orders to the hotel staff and they snap to it. They cook up a feast for the family after the kitchen is closed for the night. Which she thinks is kind of weird. Turns out, Jacob owns this place, a five-star ocean-side resort in Turkey. He and Levon bought it with their fraud money. But this is only the first of many signs of Jacob's

extensive links to Turkey. After a few days of Uber luxury that Jenny used to read about in travel and leisure, you can go kayaking, jet skiing, scuba diving, they had free ice cream,

all day long. It's time for her second wedding.

The wedding was on a yacht, lights everywhere, like big huge cake during the dinner part,

It's like a dream. Jenny didn't want to marry Jacob Jr., but now that she's floating in these beautiful blue waters on a multi-million-dollar yacht, maybe this spectacular new life isn't that bad. It's on board the yacht at the wedding. The Jenny meets Barron Cookmots, a Turkish guy who's

“clearly important to Jacob and he's tight with the bond. They both were really nice. They”

gave me a little wedding gift and treated me like family because Jacob was family to them. Barron invited us over to have dinner at his house and it was like on top of the mountain. So

there's like trees everywhere, you can see a view to the ocean. Barron is wealthy and crucial to

this story because he's allegedly at the center of what will become Jacob and Levon's Turkish business empire. The relationship started in 2013, years before Jenny's wedding, back then Levon invited Jacob to his temple to meet Barron for the first time. Here's my producer reading Jacob Kingston's testimony.

“Barron is in the business of buying distressed assets and either selling them or turning them around.”

Soon after they first meet, Levon and Jacob start funneling their fraud money into these kinds of investments. And Barron allegedly runs the operation for them. Jacob's role in all of this seems pretty clear from their first deal. The project was that Levon and I and Barron would split the investment in a warehouse and it would get flipped within 90 days. During one of Jacob and Levon's trips to Turkey, they drive out to see this warehouse. Standing in the vast echoing

hall, Levon and Barron negotiate the price. The trouble is, Barron doesn't speak in English.

And Jacob doesn't speak any Turkish, but Levon does. Levon would translate. I was always on the

“sideline during the meetings. Jacob doesn't understand a word of what's being said.”

Until Levon turns to him and says, we've got a deal. It was a $5 million investment each, $5 million for me and $5 million for Levon. But it's Jacob who will front the 10 million bucks, which will come from the shared profits of their ongoing biofuel fraud. This means it's only Jacob who's on all the paperwork. His name is all over the dirty money. If the feds ever catch on to what's really happening here,

a sophisticated money laundering scheme, it's a pretty crafty move by Levon. The question is, will Jacob clock what's happening before it's too late? That's coming up after the break. Hey Jonas is available now, and their first guest is a big one, Paul Rudd. You know, Steve Correll is a great singer. We tell you not to audition for the office or something. I told him, we were filling in, I'm clearly, I was the idiot.

Thank God he didn't listen to me, right? Listen to hey Jonas on the I Heart Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi listeners, I'm Michelle, host of the Kingdom of Fraud Podcast.

And I'm excited to share this incredible story with you.

I'm also excited to tell you that you can get access to all episodes of Kingdom of Fraud. 100% ad-free in one week early, through the I Heart True Crime Plus subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Plus, you'll get access to other chart topping true crime shows you love, like the girlfriends, the trail, the godmother, paper goes, picked in massacre, murder homes, unrestorable, and more. So don't wait,

head to Apple Podcasts, search for I Heart True Crime Plus, and subscribe today. Keith Jumaco seemed like a mild mannered suburban dad, but secretly he became someone else. A master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate

Did you allow yourself to think about how could go wrong and what that might look like?

“No, I didn't want to manifest that. I wanted to, I was trying to manifest success.”

Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever, because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to deep cover the family man. I mean, I Heart Radio, App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can hear it true, but now see it. Crime stories now available with video episodes

free in the iHeart app. Watch all your favorite podcasts, full episodes, start to finish, gavl to gavl, soup to nuts, all in the free iHeart app. You can also watch all your other

“favorite podcasts. Like, hey, Jonas, Los Carthoris does post run high and so many more.”

Here are the voices you know. Now, see them and see the moments you've missed. Open the iHeart Radio app, search video podcasts, and crime stories, and then just tap, watch. I'll see you on video friend. I was kind of intrigued to see that somebody who's interested in a Turkish tutor in the Utah area. It's the summer of 2013 and Brad Dennis has received an email from a potential student.

At the time, Brad's pursuing a doctorate in languages at the University of Utah and doing some tutoring as a side hustle. This guy looks like a fed, shaved head and deep set piercing eyes. He doesn't immediately give off linguist vibes, but he speaks fluent Turkish, which is the language his new perspective student wants to learn. Jacob Kingston. Kind of a soft spoken, it's like a nice guy, just a little bit shy.

At their first meeting, they talk about why Jacob even wants to learn Turkish in the first place.

So he said he just had all these contacts in Turkey and was trying to communicate with them better. It sounds like Jacob is fed up with the inside line. It wants to be part of the action. Brad and Jacob agreed to do two classes a week, but Jacob makes it only five or six lessons before he gives up, which means he barely learns any Turkish at all. A few phrases that say, "How are you doing?" All of them Jacob Kingston, yeah, my name's Jacob Kingston.

He's very busy, very occupied, and he just didn't have the time. I mean,

“if you want to learn language, you can put your notes to the grindstone.”

Brad doesn't think twice about it. People quit like this all the time, but a year later, their paths cross again. Brad is finishing up his PhD and not having a lot of luck on the job market. So he's thinking that maybe his old student Jacob could set him up with a gig at his company, WRE. He reaches out to Jacob and it turns out he does have a potential opening. They grab a power lunch and Jacob tells Brad about how WRE is expanding its international reach.

But then the conversation takes a turn. He said he's working with a lot of really bad people, just bad people. You could see just kind of the very serious expression in his face when he said that. You know, these people, some will kill you, you know, it's just like, wow. Over that same lunch, Jacob offers Brad a job. It sounds kind of nebulous. Brad would be

Jacob's relationship manager for business associates around the world. Some of them, presumably, those bad people. Still, Brad takes the job. He has a young family and needs the money. It doesn't take him long to realize things are not going well for Jacob. You see the freight a lot. You could just tell you, there's something going on or there's something wrong or there's something he's not in control of. He just didn't seem in control.

Jacob starts sending Brad out on missions abroad. Go check on stuff in Mexico. Go check on stuff in Houston. Go check on stuff in Turkey. You kind of what's going on and report back to me.

I think he hired me to be a sort of watchman on these other folks. The business associates. It seems that Jacob can't shake the feeling

“the people he's doing business with are fucking him over. But what can Brad do about that?”

Even he doesn't really know. But he keeps on going wherever Jacob sends him. The most interesting of the trips Brad remembers is the one to Turkey. Where Brad meets Barang Corkmots. Barang was just absolutely fascinating. He's very wealthy.

He's the side of his thumbball I'd never seen. Put me in the private car and he's a private

driver. I'd like a siren. So he'd bypass all a traffic. Barang's status and reach is a world away from suburban Utah. Everybody would treat him with extreme death runs. He bragged about it. Oh, I can get Jacob in and out of the country without a passport. Barang had contact with his president Erdogan. That might sound far-fetched. But I've reported on this and so have both the Wall Street Journal and the organized crime and corruption reporting project. Confirming that Barang

is linked to the Turkish president. Now through him, so are Jacob in LeBond.

But Barang's connections don't stop there. He also has powerful American relationships.

His friends and high unlikely places include James Woolsey, the former head of the CIA. What's more? It's well documented that Barang has also been at the center of carefully negotiated back-room diplomatic deals between Turkey and shadowy U.S. government officials. At one point during Brad's trip, Barang opens up about his feelings regarding Jacob as a

“businessman. Jacob's a very scared person. You need to be strong to be in business.”

It doesn't sound like Barang. This supposed close friend and partner of Jacob's has a lot of respect for him. During this period of time, while Brad is working for Jacob, a massive portion of WRI's fraudulent tax credits are being sent straight to Turkey.

It all started with the first $10 million warehouse purchase. But then,

Jacob says LeBond wants more and more of their money to be wired to a bunch of different Turkish bank accounts. It's not exactly clear to me why Jacob goes along with all this, but what we do know is that the money is allegedly being used by Barang to buy up a bunch of failing companies in real estate. For example, that fancy hotel in Turkey? Another stupidly upscale hotel in Switzerland, a seaside mansion in Istanbul, the yacht where Jenny had her LeBond funded wedding.

There's a farmer's suitable company called Biofama, an airline called Borjet, the list goes on and on. All together, Jacob and LeBond wire over $130 million in stolen proceeds to Turkey. In fact, at one point, Barang, LeBond and Jacob make an official joint announcement with the Turkish government, where they pledged to invest $950 million in the country. That announcement was solidified with an official presidential photo. One that shows an awkward looking president

Erdogan, flanked by Barano one side in the ever uncomfortable Jacob on the other. All of this, of course, is about money laundering. In standing next to a president, makes it all look pretty legit. Jacob is appointed as the chairman or director of many of these overseas investments. But in reality, he admits he's just a paper president. This is how Jacob describes the setup in his testimony. I was told they needed a white boy face to be the owner as a foreign investor.

“It's important to note that Barang Korkmots has been indicted on charges of money laundering”

and wire fraud by federal prosecutors in Utah, but he hasn't been tried yet, and he's pleaded not guilty. We've reached out to him for comment, but he hasn't responded. Brad Dennis says he has no idea what's really going on for Jacob and Turkey, and obviously he has nothing to do with the fraud, but he's seen enough to form an impression of Jacob's relationship with his business partners overseas. It's almost like they found him and were taking advantage

what he could do. Either way, it won't be Brad's problem for much longer. After about five months of working for Jacob, Brad comes back from a trip to Turkey to some surprising news. HR called me in and they're like, "Okay, well, we're terminating the position that you're in." It's like nothing against you, just determining the position. Just like that, no heads up. Brad gets fired from WRE. It gets a break-up text from Jacob.

Yeah, sorry, I couldn't really find anything for you to do. That's the last time they ever talk. From the outside, Jacob's life seems glitzy and successful, but Brad has gotten a glimpse of Jacob's

increasingly dangerous reality. When I first started tutoring him,

he was hopeful. He had ambitions. And when I started working with him, he's still hopeful, but he's starting to realize I can tell, you know, there's bad people working around him.

“He was really stressed out. It appears that much of Jacob Kingston's life is a facade.”

And as not just Brad who sees this, Jacob's daughter-in-law, Jenny Kingston, is about to find out for herself. When Jenny gets initiated into the Kingston household, she realizes they're a turbulent family. They were mean to each other and they, like, I come from a family who, like, gives each other hugs and we like each other and talk to each other nice. And they didn't at all, like, I struggled with it a lot because I don't know. I was like, how can you guys be so mean to each other and, like,

yell at each other all the time and treat each other like that? Jacob's many, many kids act like a pack of wild animals constantly at each other's throats. They were comparing themselves, like, I do this better. Well, I do this better. I make this much money. Well, I make this much money, like, all the time. Soon, she realizes where they get it from.

Jacob and Sally never, they never showed affection to their kids. Even at work,

then Jacob's senior would, like, make fun of people about, like, mostly being fat or being ugly or, like, he just was mean and, like, just the people around him would just laugh and agree with him, like, nobody stood up to him. Jenny says Jacob Jr. would tell her about his childhood. Back when his parents, Jacob and Sally had no money.

He would tell me that they fought all the time and he would listen to them a lot. He said that he remembers only maybe five times that his dad has ever told him he loved him. This wrought, running through the family, it also starts eating away at Jenny's marriage to Jacob Jr. Yeah, it was rough. We fought a lot. We fought a lot. To be clear, this is Jenny's version of events. She claims Jacob Jr. is constantly playing video games,

lying about going to work or never cleaning up after himself.

“She quickly starts to feel trapped. I remember, like, thinking, this is the rest of my life.”

I don't like this person. What did I get myself into? Like, now I'm sealed for time and all eternity to this man. How is this little boy going to take me to the highest degree of glory? Like, he can't clean up after himself. After about a year of marriage, Jenny claims things get worse. The more we got comfortable with each other and being mean to each other, then it got worse for sure. There were just certain things that would trigger him. Like,

he would just be mad and then, like, if he got triggered too bad, then it would turn into physical abuse. I kind of knew that I didn't want to be with him. Like, I wanted to leave. But I just didn't see it as an option. I didn't see how I could get out. I still believed the order was right. So I just dealt with it. We've reached out to Jacob Kingston Jr. for comment about this, but we haven't heard back from him.

Jacob's scheme is pulling in hundreds of millions of dollars. He's flying all around the world,

“closing major business deals, and building an empire. One that shows the order how important”

he has become. But he's under enormous pressure every day, suspicious about getting cheated by

including the one started by the EPA. Remember what I mentioned that he's been negotiating

“a settlement with the agency? Well, after five years of back and forth, there's finally movement.”

Jacob gets called to Denver for another meeting with the civil division. In the middle of it, one of the EPA agents delivers some breaking news. They're pressing pause on their civil case against WRA. But this isn't God smiling down on Jacob. The agents proceed to tell him that instead of the civil case, he and WRA are now the targets of a criminal investigation. The kingdom he's been carefully crafting is starting to crumble.

Next time on kingdom of fraud, federal agents gear up for a blockbuster case.

The largest tax investigation in American history.

“Kingdom of fraud is produced by novel for iHeart Podcasts. For more from novel, visit novel.odio.”

The show is hosted by me, Michelle McFee, and produced by Jake Otayovich. It's reported by me and Jake Otayovich. Our system produces our Megan Dean and Amelia Sortland. With additional production from Myron Kaplan and Liz Sanchez, our editor is Sandra Schmoulli, production management from Cherie Houston, Joe Savage, and Charlotte Wolf. Our fact chapter is Fendell Fulton, sound designed and mixing by Mark Pittum, original music composed and performed by Nicholas Alexander

in Daniel Kempson. Music supervision from Jake Otayovich, Sandra Schmoulli, and Max O'Brien. Willard Foptin is creative director at novel. Our executive producers are me, Michelle McFee, Max O'Brien, and Craig Straken for novel, and Stephanie Lange. Petrina Norbel and Nikki E. Twar are the executive producers for iHeart Podcasts, and the marketing lead is Alice in Canter. Special thanks to Carrie Lieberman, Will Pearson, and the whole team at WME.

Hey guys, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, I'm Joe. I'm Kevin, and I'm Nick, and guess what? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas, we invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to our people to do podcasts. We used to ask other people questions, because we're sick and tired of being an ask questions. Well, sick and tired of just a strong way to put it, but you know, tired and sick, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the iHeart Radio App,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen, we don't care where you hear it. Hi listeners, I'm Michelle, host of the Kingdom of Fraud podcast, and I'm excited to share this

incredible story with you. I'm also excited to tell you that you can get access to all episodes

of Kingdom of Fraud. 100% ad-free, and one week early, through the iHeart True Crime Plus subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Plus, you'll get access to other chart-topping True Crime shows you love, like the girlfriends, the trail, the godmother, paper goes, piked in massacre, murder homes, unrestorable, and more. So don't wait, head to Apple Podcasts, search for iHeart True Crime Plus, and subscribe today. Hey, I'm Dr. Maya Shanker,

a cognitive scientist and host of the podcast, a slight change of plans, a show about who we are and who we become when life makes other plans. I wish that I hadn't resisted for so long the need to change. We have to be willing to live with a kind of uncertainty that none of us likes. You can have opinions, you can have like a strong stance, and then there's your body, having its own program. Listen to a slight change of plans on the iHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every family has its secrets,

“but what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life?”

That is not the look of an innocent man. Is everyone lying to me about who they are?

Listen to deep cover the family man. I mean, iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.