Have You Seen This Man?

John Ruffo falsely traded on the name and clout of American tobacco giant Philip Morris — an audacious crime and the biggest swindle of its time. Getting access to millions of dollars, Ruffo transformed himself into a Wall Street high roller. He spun fantastical tales of secret government missions. When his life started to unravel, he pulled off a con as daring as his fraud: After convincing prosecutors and a judge to let him self-report for a 17 ½ year prison term, he disappeared. The U.S. marshals chased a promising tip when a relative reported spotting someone resembling Ruffo seated behind home plate at a Los Angeles Dodger game.

John Ruffo, who ran a small computer sales company from New York City, had a surprising gift for deception and committed a staggeringly brazen $353 million bank fraud. The FBI arrested Ruffo in 1997, he pled guilty, and the judge sentenced him to 17 ½ years in federal prison. What happened next left a trail of shattered lives and sparked one of the longest, most intensive searches in U.S. history.

In diaries he left behind, John Ruffo spins an exotic Cold War tale. Is it all part of another Ruffo con? To find out, the team goes in search of an infamous FBI turncoat and a Soviet diplomat, who Ruffo claimed was a target for defection. Would fresh answers to the mysteries of Ruffo’s escape emerge from behind a Cold War curtain? Or could the answer lie closer to home, still shrouded in secrecy by the American mob?