at 5:00 eastern. [bright totone] - i want some! - it's the monopoly game, only at mcdonald's! with over 50 million prizes, it's supersized excitement... - mononopoly. do not p pass "go."" gogo directly y to mcdonala. - ifif you were e around back in n the '90s..... - nonow at mcdononald's, momonopoly is s more than n a g! yoyou can playay it... - you u heard it e everywhe. - - the game m monopoly is bacack at mcdononald's, bigger and better ththan eve. - - this year,r, there's more p prizes thanan . - - mcdonald's's ran the monopopoly game for year. - hey,y, collect the righght game pieieces.. - and win $2 millionon. - - [gasps] - but no o one... knew t the truth a about the game b being playeyed. no one.. ["been c caught steaealing" by jane'e's addictioion] ♪ - peopople everywhwhere arare winning g big! - ♪ i've bebeen cacaught stealaling ♪ ♪ once whenen i was fivive ♪ i enjoy s stealing - the mcdodonald's pririzes cocould be carars, boatats, $100,00000 upup to the mimillion dolll. - ♪ when i i want sosomething, m man ♪ ♪ i i don't wananna pay forort - but t from 1989 9 to 2001. - ♪ hey! - i wowon a dodge e viper! there werere almost nono legititimate winneners. of the higigh value gagame piecs in the mcdcdonald's monopolyly game. i mean, hohow crazy bullshit is that? [laughing]g] - - ♪ it's s mine [dramamatic music]c] ♪ [waves crashing] [e[eerie music] ♪ - - jacksonvnville fbi h d a a little bitit of a repupun of being a a sleepy hohollw retirementnt office. therere was a slslower atattitude thehere. very undndersized. yoyou know, a a fraction of a m miami or anan atlanta or somethihing like ththat, spread, yoyou know-- spread v very thin.. [l[light suspepenseful musus] ♪ at the time, in 2001, i i superviseded a squad of apppproximatelyly 12 ages chararged with i investigatg white-collllar crime,, banknk fraud, healthcacare fraud,, publblic corruptption. evenen before i i got there, i keptpt hearing a about ththis legendadary guy, rick d, mid-d-career senenior agentt and d his partnener doug mat, a newly asassigned agegent to t the divisioion. - i'm spspecial agenent math. when y you pull jajacksonvile as an ofoffice you'r're going t, i know whahat i heard d wa, "good luckck with thatat." fofor big caseses, man, yoyou - you're l like duct-t-taping stf togetherer just 'cauause you u wanna makeke it happen. that's thehe type ofof division n you were in. i was luckcky to linink up wiwith rick dedent early on and hahave him as s the old g, you know, , my trainining ag. he's a a mathematitician andns ababout as mucuch personalaly as thihis piece ofof wood right herere. veryry matter ofof fact. and soso he and i i were kindnd of opposisites there. you knowow, i'm alwaways loog for r another fufun ride, ri? if youou guys get t to rick ded, i'm tetelling youu he's gononna be... "yes." "no.o." "don't recall." ♪ [lightht music] ththe priorityty for the f i at that particicular junctctue was healththcare fraud. ♪ we'r're working g a one- to three-y-year type c cas. ththat's a lonong time. sometimemes i have t that add tg of the s shinier objbject oror whatever.r. soso i see thihis note inin the cornener part of f his, and all l i saw wass "mcdononald's mononopoly frau" wiwith a queststion mark.. and d i go, "whahat is that?" 'cause i i'm bored t to death of this s healthcarere garbag, right?t? it's imporortant, but i was s ready to m move o. i go, "i"is this thehe mcdons momonopoly gamame?" he w was like, " "yeah. evenentually i w was gonna get arouound to it."." ♪ so what t he told meme was ththat there w was an indidivl who had called in and had thisis story thatat the monopopoly game was fixexed. ♪ that w was pretty y much i. i go,, "givive me that t damn thing. i'm gonna a go check t this out" i'm seseeing the f fun meter r with that.t. like, ththat's gottata be morere fun than n this shitt that i'm'm looking a at. dent t thought it t was jujust some bsbs story.... so, "pfffff, this--y-yeah, he. run with t this for a a little , younung man." i i contacted d the source of t this call,, anand the soururce gaveve me three e names that werere previous millllion-dollarar winners and sasaid, "i know ththis is fixexed bee "thesese people arare relate. "they're o on the fafamily tree e somehow. wiwith all dififferent nama" and the peperson who's contntrolling ththis was thisis nebulous s name ofof uncle jererry. ♪ so i come e back, likeke, i'm m excited riright? i got t the biggesest case ever, riright? and i saidid, "look, all mimillion-dollllar winner. "we neneed to be o on this. screw w that healtlth--" i thk i prprobably saiaid that. "screw t that healththcare sht we're e working, r right?" oror somethingng like thata. [laughghs] i don't-t--rick, i don't knknow if thatat was , or i know w you wouldd never r agree withth that. bubut like anyny senior agagt gogoes-- and d this happepens even i in today's s bureau. the nenew young guguy goes t and findnds a nice p piece ofof gold. ththe old agenent goes, "g"give me thahat back, and let t me look atat this." [laughining] that's's about howow it was. - truth h be told, i was s a little s skeptical. you knknow, fast f food, promotionanal game fraraud was s not makingng any listt of p priorities s anywhere.. i dodon't think k anybody had realally even seseen anythg likeke this befofore, so.... there'e's always a risk thati turn these guys loose e on th, anand it turnsns out it's not t true anand that i'v've expended resosources, but you knknow, i think we all realilized... if thihis is true,e, this is, you knknow--this i is big. - what ricick did wass immedidiately get t in touh with thehe u.s. attotorneys office a and mark dedeverea, 'cause if f you don't t have anan interest t from a prorose, yoyou're wastiting your titi. [f[funky music] ♪ deverereaux was ththe go-to gy that p prosecutedd all l of our whihite-collar r. - - if there's's a chancee thisis thing canan be indictc, prosecuted, even if f it's a dififficult , he's gononna be the e guy to t becaususe he's thehe guy behind thehe wheel. ♪ - that part of the sell, to get that prosecutor on was-- thatat was a bigig deal. i don't knknow if devevereaux knew what t monopoly g game w. i have n no idea. you know, , i think he was a a burger king guy. i don't knowow. ♪ -- my name'e's mark devevere, assistant t u.s. attororney for almomost 30 years. in this case, it was, you know, i don't know if this is real, or don't know if it't's just somomebody trying to get familyly members somehohow intervieiewed and get 'em inin trouble.. [draramatic musisic] but lo a and behold.d... when w we receiveded a lilist of all l the winne, we werere able to o show, through h different t databa, thatat these indndividuals were r related. they had f family connnnectios in thehe local jacksonvnville area.a. in my worlrld, you u don't believeve in c coincidenceces very muc. and the chance of having numerous family members and relatitives win ththe ge was justst astronomimical. ♪ babasically, y you've gott lessss of a chanance than yoo of getetting strucuck by l lightning i in florid. [t[thunderclapap] atat that poinint in time,, we knenew there wawas a probl. how w big was ththat problem? we hadad no idea. - the e informatioion ththat we werere compiling is t that their r contest had bebeen infecteted years befofore we becacame awa. - i meanan, we're tatalking, you know, , altogether, potentialllly hundredsds of m millions ofof dollars of thesese prizes. wellll, how muchch of that is fraudud? ♪ - ononce devereaeaux said, " "y, i'm inteterested in n this," he's on fofor everythihing. all l the stratetegy session. some prosesecutors, you sesee that spapace, you . devereauaux, you gotot no sp. right alall up in ththere with you.. ♪ - so we e start withth whee could ththere be thehe opporty to steteal the gamame piec? - we wereren't suree if t there was s somebody ine with mcdononald's, where thatat person wawas, how w many, and how fafar that wenent. - hohow many sususpects do we hahave? we have toto figure ouout whwho makes ththe cups, who makes s the fry bobox, whwho makes ththese game p pis that youou would pulull off-- how w many peoplple arare in this s chain? - therere's all kinds of p possibilitities. thisis could be e the driver, the e delivery p people, people i in the factctory, or even, y you know, somemebody in cocorporate at mcdononald's. - we dididn't close e out anyo. ♪ - soso there reaeached a pot whwhere there e was a tonn of queststions, but t it was, i mean, , very diffificult to p pursue thatat further w wt putting some action n to it. there wasnsn't a lot o of, li, let me j just, you k know, at t the time geget on ththe internetet and do some- ththere wasn't't a lot of f t. ♪ - we clelearly had to statart somewhehere, bubut withoutt compmpromising t the case. ♪ so w we needed a a source of inforormation on n the insi. - there e was a big g decisn to be e made, and d that wa: do we contntact mcdonanald's? becacause we jusust ran into a deaead end. - - i was sitttting back g go, "don't l let 'em knonow. i don't t want them m involved . waway too soonon." but thatat's me. and i was-s--that was s just e littttle tiny vovoice, and i mn tiny when n i say thatat. - ofof course ththere's a possibibility thatat someboy in mcdonald's is involved or knows about this and is looooking the other r way, but that w was a riskk we werere willing g to, you knknow, ultimamately willlling to takake. ♪ - we didn't want to alert too many people e at mcdonald', so w we contacted their head of f global security, rob b holm, and d told him t, "it woululd probablyly be bestr you u to come toto jacksonvivi" didn't tell him why. jujust told hihim, "y"you have toto come and d s" that t this was need-t-to-know onlnly. do n not tell ananybody you're c coming to s see the, to keep itit quiet. mcmcdonald's s sent three e e and i persrsonally picicked m up here e in jacksononvill, anand we droveve over to t ti office i in the mornrning. mostlyly it was jujust, "welcome t to jacksonvnvill" ththis and thahat. didn't eveven explainn to thehem what we e had. ♪ we got t to the fbi i office.. ♪ tookok 'em up to thehe conferencnce room... ♪ - you knknow, you'rere evalug ththeir body l language or w whether thehey're twitctch. are they g genuine? are theyey legitimatate? or is ththere--you k know, is te sosomething elelse going o on ? - at t that point,t, we didid not know if mcdonalald's was ininvolve. evevery organinization can have a a bad applele. ♪ - this parart ofof the invesestigation wawas extremelely boring t to. like, i i don't wantnt anythihing to do w with this. "c"call me whehen it's ovever, " right?t? and-d--which wasas sort of my m.o.o. a lot of f time. itit's way toooo slow for me, but i was-s--"no, you u gotta be here fofor that." anand i so i t think i shohowe. i might't've had a g gold suit. [brassy mumusic] ♪ i had it i in the clososet, and i i thought, "this isis a great o opportuni, when it's s like a gololden frfry suit," r right? maman, when i i wore thatt in t there, markrk devereaux, if he cocould've ripipped it f with h his hands, , he would h. he goeoes, "are yoyou kidding " but t i had a whwhite shirirt on, righght? so i thougught i was s safe. [lauaughs] i i wasn't. - doug hasas quite a a wardr, and d there he i is sitting g. and lo andnd behold, he looksks like he's's a managerer of a mcdodon. ♪ - theyey thought i it was coo. [laughing]g] i'm kikidding. soso when you'u're there in that t meeting, v very ten. - i wentnt up to a w whiteboad and stararted puttining names d. [d[dramatic mumusic] and d i asked, "do you rerecognize ththe names" - "no,o, sir." "all thesese people are winnerers on yourr promototional gamemes." ♪ and thenen i starteded drawawing liness of familily connectitions and relatitionships. ♪ - dedevereaux's s putting it right t on the whihiteboard th. "w"well, did y you know thth? dodo you know w this?" brbrothers, sisisters, couous, a a mother-dauaughter, that type e thing. - this pererson is mararried toto this persrson's daughgh. anand the namemes, the lasast, were a all differerent. and i reremember it t was liliterally jajaws on the e t. they just could not believe it. - even though we had, it looked like, our r corporate e victim here of mcmcdonald's,, are theyey truly a v victim? i mean, ththere's alwaways th. ♪ and soso, there wawas morere informatition there than i wouould've prprobably putut out therer. certainlnly enough for them t to see, "wow, , yeah, we h have an iss" - everybybody agreeded that we needed d to keep ththis cire of indndividuals that had t this knowledge to the a absolute minimum. - you u know, devevereaux was doining most thehe talkg as he e usually dodoes, and d it just seseemed likee this meeeeting just t took fore. i don'n't even knonow if i w was hungry;y; i might'veve been hungngry twicice in that t meeting. - proving g this casee histstorically,, which is w what we traraditioy did d in white-c-collar cass whenen you rely y on paperwow, you rerely on witness s interviewsws, you relyly on bank s statemen, was gogonna be verery difficu. i mean, , almost mononumenta. so we woululd, in thisis cas, have to think outsidide the bo. and thenen we find o out ththat they wewere on the ep of rununning anothther gam. it w was kind ofof a perfectt bebecause we w were looking to d doing sometething proacact, essentntially catctch people in the a act. - we tolold them thehe only wy toto identify y this criminal e enterprise e was to havave them runun a game knowing g that therere's frad somewherere involveded in thi. ♪ - we havave this. we're e going forwrward. we w want your h help. if the a answer is n no... nothing hahappens. ♪ - - my name isis rob holm, didirector of f global sececuy for mcdodonald's. ouour brand isis, throroughout thehe world, 37,00000 restauranants in 120 couountries. so it's--i-it's a bigg responsisibility. [l[light music] ♪ when i firirst learneded abouout our mononopoly gamee being compmpromised, i was shshocked. i was s utterly shshocked. how w in the wororld coululd this havave happened? more imporortantly, wawas anyby from mcdcdonald's a a part of t? ♪ the fbfbi wanted to runun the promomotion knknowing thatat it was ririg. i wawas hesitantnt to do tha, obviouously concererned that ifif this gameme is rigged, customerers are nott even gononna get a c chance to w win the milillion dollal. - i think k we were nanaive toto think thahat they wououlde right ththen and thehere and, you know, we'd be off to, you know, off--offff and runnin. these promotions were... ofof everything mcdonaldld's, one e of the briright spots. yoyou know, i i remember the mamad cow, andnd at that , mcdodonald's wasas, you know, struggggling withh someme image things. - concern over britain's so-called mad cow disease spread late todayy to m mcdonald's s restauran. - first t mad cow, n now thi. - ♪ mcdcdonald's anand you ♪ mcdonald'd's and you,u, shararing good t times ♪ - the momost importatant thg for mcmcdonald's is t their brandnd name. they'r're a familyly restaurat ththat can be e trusted. their gogolden archehes arare a part o of america. - ♪ r remember ththere's only onene mcdonald'd's ♪ ♪ and therere's only onone you - they h have to prorotect t. - ♪ mcdcdonald's anand you - anand so, if i it's on thehe 0 news andnd the natioional nes thatat mcdonald'd's gagames are a a fraud, theyey could sufuffer irreparablble damage to t their good d name. i wasn't't in their meetings,, bubut i would d bet dollars toto doughnuts that there were a few people that said, "we can't do this. shut it off," and nobody ever finds out about this. - they wanted this big meeting. and so we went out there to illinois, at theheir headquauarters. they gotot, like, ththis... great cocoffee insidide to-- yoyou know, when youou walk in t their ple anand you're w waiting on n t. so a anyway, i k know thatat's a--asidide. - and d at that titime, wewe weren't s sure which waway they werere gonna g. ththat was a h heck of a d dec. ththere were s so many "whwha" what i if it's somomebody within o our own comompany? a traiaitor? we've gogot a problelem. theyey needed toto find thatat , because e if they hahad jut shut down, it may h have contininued. - lolook, how mamany people been p playing thihis thin? and they'r're gonna fifind t we didn'n't help bururn this . mcdonanald's kneww they h had a tickiking bom. [elevator r dings] - makingng that callll was s something g that wewe took seririously. our worrrry all alonong was that this s could be leakeded out publilically. so it t was not anan easy decic, but ultimately, we owewed it to ouour customes to do the e right thining, whwhich is to o run the gage one more time.e. - we absololutely knewew tht if we dididn't get t this ri, we're nonot getting another opportununity. itit's not likike, "don't wor. wewe'll run ththis again next mononth." we knew w that, at b best, we had t this one shotot toto move our r investigata. - ♪ this isis how we dodo it - from that point, it was lititerally, "mcdononald's, telell us how this progrgram works."." but mcdodonald's makes frfrench frieses and hahamburgers and mimilkshakes a and apple . ththey don't m make markete. theyey outsourceced it. they h hired a mararketing company,y, simon mararketing. - ♪ this is h how we do i it - sisimon marketeting actuay prproduced andnd came up w h ththe happy memeal toys back i in the '80s0s. - your kidids will lovove mcdodonald's hapappy meal. itit's food anand fun in a a . - ththe happy memeal is gonna inincrease youour businesss, but it's's for the c childr. - i've gotot a happy m meal! - theyey wanted a promomotion for r the adu. - ♪ likike mcdonaldld's can - i'm richchard white,e, started at s simon markeketig in 1981. - the game monopoly has come to life at mcdonald's. - the e monopoly g game, we designened that gamame and itit was runnining ononce a year.r. - a $2$2 million g grand priz! play m monopoly. - it w was a ridiciculous amount o of increasese in mcdcdonald's bubusiness. like, 4040% when we e ran the g. peopople love cocollecting. - the e monopoly p promotin is much h like the " "monopol" game y you would h have at ho. customerers try to match g game pieceses, like boardrdwalk and p park p. - theyey had theirir cards, and itit'd be fullll, bubut they'd b be missing g a e and a pipiece and a a piece.. anand a piece e and a piecec- 'c'cause thosese were the winnnning pieceses. - and therere was low-w-value pieces thahat you coululd win fofood items, , beverages, and ththen some of thehe high-valulue pieces: homes, vehehicles, and the mimillion dollllar. - [gasps] boardwalk. all: boardwalalk? - so they y were afterer that million-dodollar winnener. you know, , people like chahance games.s. any y game we didid for mcdods alwaways increasased theieir businessss. wewe actually y did scrabble o one year. got t to where t they started doining it twicece a year. how are wewe gonna get our sasales back up? let's run monopoly againin. - - ♪ this s is how we e do t ♪ all h hands up inin the ar - there wewere very specificic rules fofor how you u could obtain t the game pipiece. one ofof the ways s was ththat you couould just wawaln and asask, for freree, to get a gamame piece. because otherwisee it was g gambling. how else c can you get the gagame piece?? you coululd go in and bubuy a food p product, anand you coululd geget the gameme piece out of somome of the m magazine. nonowhere in t the game rules s does it sasay, "i"i can get a a game piecee fromom uncle jererry." - ♪ this is h how we do i it [tenense music]] ♪ - with a significant case, an undercover operation or something that involves a lot of people, you could give it a name. so we had a contest to come up with a name among--among the s squad. some of f the names,s, uh.. operatation unhappppy meal, fallen a arches. i thin