Several decades ago— long before I set out to launch a career on the traveling carnival circuit— my earliest jobs weren’t nearly as glamorous. Like many Americans, my first work experience was bathed in the light of the golden arches, as a crew member for the McDonald’s corporation. I spent two full years slaving away at my hometown franchise, filling every role from fry cook to drive-through cashier. Even though it was honest work and a steady paycheck, it wasn’t exactly a career-enhancing period, and I generally leave it off my resume. Working with my high school classmates was never boring, though, and I always enjoyed the company’s tie-in promotions with blockbuster Hollywood movies. I distinctly recall shilling McRib sandwiches for the Flintstones Movie and pushing collectible glassware for Batman Forever, which makes me one of the few living people who actually remembers those two flops.
But out of all the company’s promotions, my absolute favorite was the Monopoly Millionaires giveaway. The way it worked was, when customers placed their orders, they’d receive these special drink cups and fry containers with peel-off game pieces that looked like the squares on a Monopoly game board. The goal was to collect all the colors to earn a specific prize, but there were also a number of “instant win” pull tabs, offering prizes up to a cool million dollars— or more likely, a free bag of French fries or a small Coke. And even though those Karens of the 1990s had a way of charging in during the lunchtime rush with a small pile of peel off tickets and demanding that we feed their entire family for free, never mind the “one prize per person” disclaimer that was clearly printed on each ticket, it was always a thrill to think that the next customer could be a million-dollar winner. Sure enough, only a few weeks into the promotion, McDonald’s launched a series of commercials which showed the big winners driving away in a Dodge Viper, or cruising along on a matching pair of Seadoo Jet Skis.
The promotion was so successful that McDonalds went on to repeat it, year after year, from 1987 until 2000. I mean, the game was so much fun! It was always exciting!
And as I recently learned, it was also rigged.
Earlier this year, I came across McMillion$, by James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte. This book is a brilliant piece of investigative reporting that was also turned into a docuseries on HBO. Without giving away any spoilers, this project reveals how an “inside man” came up with a scheme to swap out the winning game pieces, passing them off to family and friends in exchange for hefty kickbacks. The fraud went on for years, through all of the game’s iterations, and might have continued indefinitely if someone hadn’t tipped off the Internal Revenue Service.
What came next is one of the most mind-blowing cases I’d never heard of. The task of investigating the most famous company in the world eventually fell to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, who left no stone unturned, using undercover agents, sting operations, and synchronized arrest rounds-ups. As I read through the book, I was absolutely enthralled with every new development. Page after page, I found myself wondering how I’d managed to live my whole adult life without ever hearing about this sensational crime.
But that particular mystery cleared itself up, just as soon as the authors mentioned the opening date of the McMillions trial.
September 10, 2001.
Sure enough, just after the McMillions scandal hit the headlines, the crime was overshadowed by Al Qaeda’s attacks on the United States. All of the FBI’s agents were redirected to focus on terrorism, leaving just a single Assistant US Attorney to prosecute more than 50 defendants. In some cases, the court proceedings stretched on for years— and McDonald’s quietly shelved their Monopoly Millionaires promotion while the litigation was ongoing.
As much as I enjoy reading true crime stories, the genre tends to focus on the act of murder, with the best-selling books featuring the grisliest crime scenes. Like, if you went into your local Barnes & Nobles and checked out their selection, you might come away thinking there was a serial killer on every corner, just waiting to pounce. In reality, crime takes many forms. It’s all around us, and sometimes it’s impossible to tell the criminals from the victims. To be honest, I think that’s a big reason why I found McMillions$ such a refreshing read. This book was a fascinating glimpse into the world of white collar crime, and it showed the true cost of all these “victimless” fraud cases.