Plot Synopsis

Executive produced by Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson, MCMILLION$ is a six-part documentary series that tells the story of a criminal mastermind named "Uncle Jerry," who defrauded the hugely popular McDonald's Monopoly promotional game of millions of dollars in prize money from 1989 to 2001. By stealing valuable game pieces from McDonald's, Jerry was able to hand-select winners, hoodwink the authorities and share the ill-gotten gains. The deception, which started among family and friends, soon expanded to include a cast of shifty ex-cons with ties to the mafia and unsuspecting co-conspirators. The series delves into this stranger-than-fiction story and hears directly from the FBI agents who worked tirelessly to uncover Uncle Jerry's true identity and the workings of the scam, the McDonald's executives who were themselves duped but ended up aiding the investigation, the underworld figures drawn into the money-making gamble and the so-called "winners" who dreamed of being overnight millionaires. This American story, which reached its conclusion on September 10th, 2001, and was eclipsed by events the following day, reveals the timeless power of greed and profiteering that can lead people to do extraordinary things. Many who found the prospect of winning a ticket too good to turn down found out the hard way that it was too good to be true - and the negative repercussions continue to affect their lives today. MCMILLION$ features interviews and candid footage with the key players, including larger-than-life, rookie FBI agent Doug Mathews, Gennaro "Jerry" Colombo of the infamous New York Colombo crime family, widow Robin Colombo, her brother- and sister-in-law Frank and Heather Colombo and several million dollar "winners" all spilling the beans about "the biggest fraud you never heard of."

Starting in 1987, McDonald's teamed with Simon Marketing Ltd. to implement the Monopoly promotional game. Players could find game pieces on McDonald's product packaging or in magazine inserts, and winning tickets could be exchanged for prizes ranging from free burgers to the high value prize of one million dollars. In 2001, the Jacksonville Florida branch of the FBI received an anonymous tip that several of the million-dollar winners were related family members and that a giant embezzlement scheme was being controlled by "Uncle Jerry". As the FBI's investigation, codenamed "Operation Final Answer" grew, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Devereaux agreed to prosecute the case once they had enough evidence since the chance of having numerous relatives win was astronomical. "No one knew the truth about the game being played. No one," commented Devereaux. The executives at McDonald's were also stunned when they learned of the fraud. "I was utterly shocked. How in the world could this have happened and more importantly, was anyone from McDonald's a part of this?" asks Rob Holm, McDonald's Director of Global Security. FBI Special Agent Doug Mathews, a young, hungry rookie keen to get out of desk drudgery, wanted something exciting - and he got just that. He proposed an unorthodox idea: to pose as a video production crew to lure the "winners" into giving interviews during which they would hopefully incriminate themselves. Mathews got clearance to recruit Amy Murray, Senior Director of Global Marketing at McDonald's, as part of the undercover operation to help with the phony shoots. While it is very rare for the FBI to use a civilian in a sting operation, Murray was given the go-ahead, admitting she was "nervous, but all in." As the investigation grew, more and more "winners" were discovered to be part of the scam. Some of them had checkered pasts, such as Andrew Glomb, a former drug trafficker and fugitive, while others were unwitting pawns in the criminal activities, such as George Chandler, who was duped by his foster father, a highly respected member of their community. Somewhere in the middle was Gloria Brown, a struggling single mother who knew it sounded too good to be true but convinced herself that "it was a blessing that came knocking at [her] door."
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On Monday, March 9, 2020 at 10pm ET/PT, HBO premiered the finale of MCMILLION$. As the trial nears, any of the defendants take plea deals, but George Chandler and others decide to fight to prove their innocence; when Jerome "Jerry" Jacobson takes the stand, the remaining details of how he pulled off his scheme are disclosed.