William McCorckle. How could I ever forget him? I got sold an empty promise by this guy back in the early 90’s (hey, I was a kid). This silver tounged devil was selling hopes and dreams in the form of get-rich-quick real estate bookets for $69. If they thought you were a really big sucker, you were put on the phone with someone in a boiler room and they sold you a “boot camp” series of videos for a cool $1,000.

All I remember is William standing in front a a private jet that had his name on it. He smooth talked about how he bought all this stuff from his real estate fortune, and he promised he would help pay for half of any good real estate deals you find.

William McCorckle had it all. He had made an astonishing $36,000,00 from his infomercial. He had an empire. The world was his.

Then, in April 1998 it all came crashing down. William McCorckle’s house was raided by the IRS, the FBI and agents from the Postal Inspectors Office. William and his wife Chantel were arrested and charged with 90 Federal counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and one charge of using a fake social security number. Agents seized 23 bank accounts, nine parcels of real estate, four luxury cars and nearly $5.3 million in Florida and Cayman Islands bank accounts.

Then, in a Scarface-like fashion, William and his wife hired high powered attorney F. Lee Bailey and posted a $3,000,000 bond. But not even a high powered attorney and huge piles of cash could make the mounds of evidence against William McCorckle and his wife go away. In 1999 William McCorckle and his wife were both sentenced to 24 years in prison each. Upon hearing his sentence, William McCorckle vomited on the floor while being handcuffed by the deputy, and was taken off to prison.

Chantel proceeds to claim she is innocent to this very day.

- Wealth Store