Case 1 follows one of the most lucrative pyramid schemes in history. Greater Ministries International founder Gerald Payne told the religious community that they could double their money if they donated to the church, securing $500 million dollars.Case 2 follows a cat burglar who works as a property manager by day and pulls off a number of daring jewel heists by night.

In case 1, the Baptist Foundation of Arizona is a non-profit fundraiser dedicated to the religious community, losing millions of dollars of investors' money in a Ponzi scheme. Case 2 follows a murderous Chicago doctor with a good bedside manner and lucrative practice, who conned Medicare and played the system to secure over a million dollars.

In case 1, in the west, there is a trend for thieves to use identity theft to fund meth addictions, with the victims also robbed. In case 2, in the affluent Chicago suburb Wheaton, Illinois, a serial bank robber is armed and prepared to fight.

In case 1, two men working at Fine Arts Express conspire to steal museum quality pieces by Picasso, Matisse, and Rothko, totaling more than $4 million.  

In case 2, Dr. Jorge Martinez routinely gives his patients expensive, painful and unnecessary shots as part of a multi-million-dollar billing scheme.

In case 1, for twenty years, Gerald Barnes faked being a doctor. He founded a successful practice that specialized in "executive" medical exams, earning a six-figure salary, despite not being the real Dr. Gerald Barnes. In case 2, the Interstate Bank Mart Bandit defrauded people out of their bank accounts, committing 43 robberies in 20 months with the same modus operandi and no evidence left behind.

In this episode of American Greed, see the detailed profile of a successful con artist & the investors he left with empty bank accounts.

Case 1 profiles Barry Hunt, a successful con artist who deceived investors throughout the United States. Case 2 follows the robbery of two paintings by famed American artist Maxfield Parrish. In a night-time heist, a hole is expertly cut in the roof and the paintings disappear even as an alarm goes off.