Under Investigation: The Inside Story of the Florida Attorney General's Investigation of Wilhelmina Scouting Network, the Largest Model and

So much information and so many details! An absolutely incredible primer for those interested in understanding how the criminal mind works, and how the government in Florida doesn't work. If every actor and showbiz parent could take the time to read this book, the scams would be non-existent. It's a long read, but a great investment of your time!

In the late 1990s I stumbled across the web pages of the Wilhelmina Scouting Network. I could not believe that the world renowned modeling agency would cheapen their brand on such a low-grade idea brand. It turns out I was right. They never had. I did not realize that until I read Les Henderson's expose Under Investigation. It is the tale of the largest modeling scam in America and secret political corruption at the Florida Attorney General's Office. It is the story of models who paid $995 to pursue their dream, only to discover they were scammed. It is the story of more than 2,000 consumers who filed complaints at the Florida Attorney General's Office expecting state action. Instead they got nothing. I have always been fascinated with great sales people who can only find scams to pursue. The legal road to riches is within their grasp. Instead they dedicate themselves to lives of deceit. Henderson is a skilled investigative journalist of the old school. He spares no one writing this book. Thoroughly researched and aggressive told, this tale leaves one wondering why we place any faith at all in our government to protect us from ourselves.

Mr. Henderson was definitely on to something huge here, and provides tons of evidence to show that fraud was taking place with the tacit blessing of then Attorney General and now Governor Charlie Crist. Henderson probably wasn't even aware that the wheels were already in motion to uncover the largest Ponzi scheme and bank fraud case the US has every seen. Recently boy-band Svengali Lou Pearlman (featured prominently in this book) was taken into Federal custody and has been indicted for bank fraud. Simultaneously, civil suits and forced bankruptcy proceedings are taking place. Transcontinental Talent (aka Wilhelmina, Options Talent, eModel, Studio 58 and others) is one of the businesses alleged to have been used to move and launder money for Pearlman's fake investment scheme estimated to have stolen half a billion dollars. Lawsuits allege that Crist knew this was going on, and allowed it to happen. Certainly he received campaign contributions and special favors from Pearlman and his companies. Mr. Henderson is to be commended for his simply amazing depth of research, getting his hands on documents the state of Florida certainly wouldn't want you to see. Unfortunately, we will probably never see a prominent republican like Crist prosecuted for virtually giving Pearlman the green light to steal.

As someone who was conned by the 'businessmen' mentioned in this book, I have to recommend it to anyone else who found themselves unknowingly caught up in this scam. Whether you were (like me) a talent scout, an aspiring model, a parent of a child who was told that your kid has model ability, a vendor, a franchise owner, a landlord, whatever... we were all duped and none of us will ever see a penny of what we put into this company. For me, there's a certain amount of closure that this book brought to me. It made me realize that no, I wasn't dumb to get caught up in this, they were just THAT GOOD at the game. And all of the things that I thought were shady, actually were. And that this whole thing was a giant, manufactured LIE of a business. Yes, it's very detailed. And it's history starts long before the WSN scam. But, the background helps to paint the picture of what was to come. And though the details can get tedious, it's the details that really made this business able to thrive, despite all of our government regulation of business in this country. It disappoints me that this book couldn't have had a happy ending, but I already knew that. But i'm glad to see that the WSN scam didn't just fade away in some people's minds.

Long gone are the days of World War II when real blood-and-guts investigative reporting existed right alongside the real-thing horrors of war. It not only prevailed but shined. Why have the methods of these journalistic giants disappeared as an art form? Who knows? Today,reporters wait for "official" handouts: spokespeople to clue them in; they wait to compare press releases from the news sources themselves. And, they compare rumors they hear with other reporters over lunch, and drinks in bars, before preparing their own pieces. The true investigative reporter--with the exception of a couple each at the Wall Street Journal and Investors Business Daily--is as long gone as the days of that world-wide near-Armageddon two-thirds of a century past. Until now, that is. Les Henderson's Under Investigation: Attorney General, State of Florida, is a genuine throwback to those days of yore. In this rock-solid compendium of long-running fraudulent antics at the highest level, he has stripped bare the foundation, the motives, the methods, and every other means of flim-flammery and hanky-panky practiced by a giant of the model talent agency business in Florida. Not only is the operation itself painstakingly pieced together, from skeleton to full flesh, for all to see, but the State of Florida's political side is exposed as well. Acquiescence and complicity are boldly spelled out. Buried in the bowels of the book, is perhaps the best example of Henderson's spellbinding wordcraft, his description of a disbarred attorney's involvement in the womb of the operation as well as the political aspects of it. Read it and see. His prose is not only revealing, captivating, but it flows like the cool waters of a high mountain stream. Overall, Les Henderson's Under Investigation: Attorney General, State of Florida, affords a front row seat for a thorough look at dysfunctional living, at its highest-off-the-hog end of the lifestyle spectrum. All at the expense of others, this is a scam to be thoroughly understood. And, thoughtfully contemplated.