Television series

American Greed

Name: American Greed
Genre: Documentary, Crime
Released: 2007
Cast: Stacy Keach

American Greed is CNBC's long-running true-crime staple: hour-long morality tales narrated by Stacy Keach, each one a step-by-step autopsy of a real-life financial scam and the ordinary-seeming person behind it. It's comfort food for people who like their crime bloodless and their justice tidy — reenactments, talking heads, a ledger of losses, and the satisfaction of watching a con artist get led away in handcuffs.

TVMaze rating

6.0

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Dirty Money2018

The closest thing to American Greed with a bigger budget and sharper teeth — Netflix's anthology digs into corporate and individual fraud with the same slow-build reveal, but with cinematic polish and real access.

But Some episodes run feature-length and lean political, which can feel heavier than Greed's tidy hour.

McMillion$2020

A six-part HBO deep dive into the McDonald's Monopoly scam, packed with FBI wiretaps, over-the-top suspects and courtroom farce — the funniest true-crime miniseries about a fast-food promotion you'll ever need.

But The pacing sags mid-series once the mechanics of the scam are fully established.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room2005

The granddaddy of corporate-greed documentaries, and still the sharpest — it turns balance sheets into a genuine thriller and explains exactly how arrogance and accounting fiction sank a company.

But It's talkier and more analytical than Greed's reenactment-driven style; expect graphs, not handcuffs.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room poster

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

F for Fake1973

Same subject as any Greed episode — a charming fraud who fooled experts for years — but Welles uses the con man's own tricks to make the film, turning the exposé itself into a scam.

Orson Welles turns a documentary about real art forger Elmyr de Hory into a dazzling essay on lying itself — playful and self-aware, it questions whether any film about a con man can be trusted.

But It's experimental and digressive, more interested in ideas than a satisfying arrest; if you want a clean morality tale, this isn't it.

The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley2019

Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos get the full HBO treatment — a fascinating, slightly unnerving portrait of charisma outrunning competence, with archive footage that makes her voice alone feel like evidence.

But If you've already read or watched extensively about Theranos, little here will surprise you.

The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley poster

The Wolf of Wall Street2013

Scorsese and DiCaprio turn Jordan Belfort's pump-and-dump empire into three hours of gleeful, exhausting excess — the fictionalized cousin of every episode where the crook lived large before the fall.

But It glamorizes the greed more than it condemns it, and the runtime and hedonism aren't for everyone.

Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street2023no page yet

Netflix's docuseries on the largest Ponzi scheme in history gets the scale right — the sheer number of ruined lives — while interviewing investigators and victims who still sound stunned by how long it worked.

But It's thorough to the point of slow in places; not much new if you know the Madoff story well.

LuLaRich2021

A four-part look at the LuLaRoe leggings empire that plays like a pyramid scheme fever dream — founders in gold lamé, sobbing sellers, a company culture so strange it's funny before it's sad.

But Lower stakes than a Wall Street collapse might make it feel slighter, even though the human damage is real.

Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives.2022

A celebrity vegan restaurateur, a con man claiming he could make her dog immortal, and a fortune vanishing into thin air — stranger and messier than most Greed episodes, in the best way.

But The story gets so bizarre it occasionally strains credulity, and the pacing wanders in the back half.

Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives. poster

Generation Hustle2021no page yet

The closest tonal cousin to Greed still running — younger grifters, crypto and startup cons instead of classic Ponzi schemes, same reenact-and-reveal structure for a scroll-friendly generation of scams.

But It leans younger and glossier, and some episodes feel thin compared to Greed's deeper archival digs.

Catch Me If You Can2002

Same engine as Greed — an ordinary-looking person runs an elaborate scheme until the law catches up — but recast as a charming caper instead of a cautionary tale.

Spielberg fictionalizes real-life check forger Frank Abagnale Jr. as a charming teenage runaway outwitting the FBI — all the con-artist mechanics of a Greed episode, shot like a warm, wistful father-son story.

But It's romanticized Hollywood history — the real Abagnale's claims were later disputed — and the crime feels more like mischief than the ruin Greed usually documents.

La Casa de Papel2017

Same appetite for watching an elaborate financial scheme built and executed step by step, but flips Greed's downfall structure into a fantasy where the schemers might actually win.

A Spanish heist thriller about a crew who print billions inside the Royal Mint, it takes the plotting-and-scheming pleasure of watching a scam unfold and stretches it across a twisty, wildly popular serialized drama.

But It's fiction with a Robin Hood streak rather than a true-crime cautionary tale, and multiple seasons demand real commitment.