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The Fake Oilman Who Conned People Out of Millions

Alan Todd May passed himself off as an oil magnate, insinuated himself into West Palm Beach high society, and conned people out of millions.

Through classified ads in the Wall Street Journal, online listings, and billboards, May had attracted more than a hundred investors, including a piano teacher and the president of a small bank, who together eventually put some seven million dollars into Prosper’s coffers. May was sent to prison for twenty years—first in Texas, then at a facility in Colorado, which has housed at least two famous convicted fraudsters: Rod Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois, who attempted to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama in 2008, a charge which was later overturned; and Jeffrey Skilling, the former Enron C.E.O. “It was decided to leave the club and spend our lunch and alcohol money elsewhere, since none of us fancied Gruel.” At one point, May sent Jack a photo, without explanation, of him standing with Alvarez, his boyfriend, and Kevin McCarthy, then the Speaker of the House, in the lobby of the St. Regis hotel in New York City.

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