I don't usually have time for 60 Minutes but I will stay up late to watch this one.
The teaser clip posted on the TV3 website is everything you'd hope to see in the circumstances – a harmless-looking, doddery old man turns to us and says: "I'll
break your frigging camera."
But the harmless-looking, doddery old man in question is one Wayne Leslie Davidson, who is apparently the number one New Zealander on the FBI's most wanted list.
In fact, Wayne is the only New Zealander wanted by the FBI, according to the TV3 website, which is quite an achievement - Kiwis can do anything.
The FBI couldn't find him "so we did" boasts the 60 Minutes teaser.
Maybe it was the Kiwi connections, or perhaps the FBI wasn't trying too hard, but the producer of the 60 Minutes piece, Phil Prendeville, told me it was relatively easy to track down Davidson to where he was holing up in Dubai.
This promises to be a real ripping yarn, or more accurately, a real ripping-off yarn.
So what did Davidson do to warrant such attention from the FBI? Phil told me the guy has been accused of siphoning up to $30 million from 'investors' in various exotic global locations, including Wanganui (and Whanganui). His chief scheme, allegedly, involved bogus 'gold-backed' bonds that would, at any moment, be transformed into billions of dollars.
In the promo clip the TV3 journo yells at Davidson about stealing millions of dollars from "innocent" people but I don't know if that's the right word. 'Gullible' might be better but that probably doesn't play as well on TV.
To swallow such nonsense must take some willing suspension of disbelief, spiced up with greed, and made palatable by the presence of a harmless old man.
Does Davidson break the frigging camera? I'll be tuning in to TV3, Wednesday April 14 at 7:30pm to find out.
