Telemarketers 1
2023-08-13 | Documentary | 3 episodes1 Season
Episode
Episode 1 (2023)
Sam Lipman-Stern, a 14-year-old high school dropout, joins Civic Development Group (“CDG”) in 2001 as a telemarketer raising money for various charities. What starts off as horseplay, filming the outrageous office antics, leads Sam and his colleague Pat Pespas (a legendary salesman at the office who is also struggling with addiction) to closely examine their dubious fundraising practices and the players behind this seemingly large-scale fraud.
Directed By
- Sam Lipman-Stern
Episode 2 (2023)
In the wake of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shutting down CDG in 2009, other copy-cat telemarketing companies pop up and evade regulation by taking advantage of loopholes. Undeterred, Sam and Pat continue down a wild and twisted path. Through industry sources and obsessive muckraking, they learn that the industry’s corrupt ways run much deeper than just CDG. Just as they are gaining ground in their investigation, Pat unexpectedly disappears bringing their mission to a screeching halt.
Directed By
- Sam Lipman-Stern
Episode 3 (2023)
Years later, Sam and Pat reunite in present day to continue their investigation only to learn that telemarketing schemes are now even more brazen and opportunistic with the advent of robocalling, political action committees (PACs), and new technologies such as AI. They travel across the country, gathering compelling evidence from a range of sources, and find themselves on Capitol Hill in a meeting with a US Senator to bring their findings to, but the solutions prove to be more elusive than they imagined.
Directed By
- Sam Lipman-Stern
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