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WORK TITLE: A Deal with the Devil: The Dark and Twisted True Story of One of the Biggest Cons in History
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Los Angeles
STATE: CA
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
https://www.cnn.com/profiles/melanie-hicken
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Female.
EDUCATION:Syracuse University, Newhouse School, degree, 2009; New York University, master’s degree.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Journalist. Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA, municipal government reporter; CNN, investigative reporter; Business Insider, reporter for the War Room section.
AWARDS:Heywood Broun Award of Distinction; International Association of Broadcasting award; National Press Club; Peabody Awards; News Guild; Society of American Business Editors and Writers; Newswomen’s Club of New York; National Endowment for Financial Education; Radio Television Digital News Association; National Association of Consumer Advocates.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Melanie Hicken is an award-winning investigative journalist with CNN. She frequently works with Blake Ellis to uncover fraud and abuse at nursing homes, government debt collection agencies, and toward consumers. Together, Hicken and Ellis exposed a scam on the elderly, disclosed in their book A Deal with the Devil: The Dark and Twisted True Story of One of the Biggest Cons in History. Hicken is also a journalist for the War Room section of Business Insider, and was previously a municipal government reporter for the community news division of the Los Angeles Times. She holds a master’s degree in business and economic reporting from New York University. Hicken and Ellis’s work has received numerous awards, including a Peabody Award and National Press Club award.
In the 2018 A Deal with the Devil, Hicken and Ellis are on the hunt for long-time scam artist, a French psychic who went by the name of Maria Duval. The authors follow reports that elderly people were mailing in thousands of dollars to a predatory scheme run by Duval. In the particularly widespread case, Duval sent American and Canadian senior citizens personalized letters claiming to have psychic powers and convincing them to send her their money in return for wealth, good health, and cheap, useless good luck charms. The scam lasted for more than three decades, and Duval accumulated more than $200 million from 1.4 million victims. Duval has never been caught. The book is based on the Hicken and Ellis’s five-part CNN website report in 2016, and includes their reporting on shell companies, international law, mail fraud, and a gun-toting U.S. postal inspector. “Their tales of the shady characters they encounter along the way make for a thrilling adventure,” Deirdre Bray Root commented in Library Journal.
Despite the authors’ writing a meandering chronicle with sidetracking clues that lead nowhere, “they provide an entertaining expose of an epic episode from the chronicles of consumer fraud,” noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Reporting that the authors’ hunt for Duval became a wild-goose chase, a Kirkus Reviews critic said: “Their uncertainties, questions, and disappointments figure largely in their discursive narrative. It’s a fascinating story of widespread malfeasance, but readers hoping for crisp, incisive reporting will be disappointed.” Nevertheless, showing the power of investigative journalism to uncover corruption, “Ellis and Hicken discover the truth about a complicated scheme, halting the financial victimization of those who could not help themselves,” according to Cindy Pauldine online at Shelf Awareness.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Library Journal, August 1, 2018, Deirdre Bray Root, review of A Deal with the Devil: The Dark and Twisted True Story of One of the Biggest Cons in History.
Publishers Weekly, April 30, 2018, review of A Deal with the Devil, p. 49.
ONLINE
Kirkus Reviews, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (September 1, 2018) review of A Deal with the Devil.
Shelf Awareness, http://www.shelf-awareness.com/(September 1, 2018), Cindy Pauldine, review of A Deal with the Devil.
Melanie Hicken lives in Los Angeles and is a graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School and New York University. With Blake Ellis, she is an award-winning investigative journalist with CNN. Their investigations have uncovered everything from nursing home abuse to widespread consumer fraud.
Melanie Hicken is a reporter for the War Room section of Business Insider. She is currently studying in New York University’s graduate Business and Economic Reporting program and is a 2009 graduate of Syracuse University.
Previously, she was a municipal government reporter for the community news division of the Los Angeles Times.
Melanie Hicken & Blake Ellis
award-winning female investigative duo at CNN
Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken are an award-winning female investigative duo at CNN who have exposed everything from sexual abuse in nursing homes to the predatory tactics of government debt collectors.
They have made it their mission to document disturbing and little-known forms of elder abuse, whether it’s mail fraudsters stealing millions of dollars from those suffering with dementia or drug companies targeting elderly nursing home patients.
Their work has been honored by the International Association of Broadcasting, the National Press Club, the Peabody Awards, the News Guild, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, the Newswomen's Club of New York, the National Endowment for Financial Education, the Radio Television Digital News Association and the National Association of Consumer Advocates.
Their upcoming book, A Deal with the Devil, chronicles their journey to uncover the perpetrators of one of the longest-running mail frauds in history.
While investigating financial crimes, Ellis and Hicken were intrigued by reports that elderly Americans were giving away thousands of dollars to mail-in schemes. With a little digging, they soon discovered a shocking true story.
Victims received personalized letters from a woman who, claiming amazing psychic powers, convinced them to send money in return for riches, good health, and good fortune. The predatory scam has continued unabated for decades, raking in more than $200 million in the United States and Canada alone—with investigators from all over the world unable to stop it. And at the center of it all—an elusive French psychic named Maria Duval.
Based on the five-part series that originally appeared on CNN’s website and was seen by more than three million people, A Deal with the Devil picks up where the series left off as Ellis and Hicken reveal more bizarre characters, follow new leads, close in on Maria Duval, and connect the dots in an edge-of-your-seat journey across the US to England and France. A Deal with the Devil is a fascinating, thrilling search for the truth and is long-form investigative journalism at its best.
The authors regularly appear on CNN and other television and radio networks to speak about their investigations. They can discuss journalism, fraud (prevention, as well as the tools and tricks to expose it), and ways to prevent and identify elder abuse.
Melanie Hicken
Senior Writer, CNN Investigates
Melanie Hicken is an award-winning investigative reporter for CNN. Her work has exposed everything from widespread sexual abuse in nursing homes to one of the longest-running scams in history. It has also inspired legislative action and government investigation. Email her at watchdog@cnn.com.
Melanie Hicken is an award-winning investigative reporter for CNN. Her work has exposed everything from widespread sexual abuse in nursing homes to one of the longest-running scams in history. It has also inspired legislative action and government investigation.
Hicken and her longtime reporting partner, Blake Ellis's groundbreaking investigation into the secret world of government debt collectors won the prestigious Heywood Broun Award of Distinction and inspired lawmakers to take action with legislation aimed at closing the loophole highlighted in the stories. They were finalists for a Peabody Award for CNN's coverage of guns in America, and the two journalists have been honored by the International Association of Broadcasting, the National Press Club, the National Endowment for Financial Education, the Radio Television Digital News Association and the National Association of Consumer Advocates. Hicken regularly appears on CNN and other television and radio networks to discuss her investigations
Before joining CNN, Hicken worked for the Los Angeles Times Community News group, where she won awards for her local government coverage and investigative reports. She is a graduate of Syracuse University's Newhouse School and holds a master's degree in business and economic reporting from New York University.
Email her at watchdog@cnn.com.
A Deal with the Devil: The Dark and Twisted True Story of One of the Biggest Cons in History
Publishers Weekly. 265.18 (Apr. 30, 2018): p49.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
A Deal with the Devil: The Dark and Twisted True Story of One of the Biggest Cons in History
Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken. Atria, $26
(288p) ISBN 978-1-5011-6384-5
In this meandering true crime account, journalists Ellis and Hicken investigate a decades-long international mail scam that bilked over $200 million from its 1.4 million victims in the United States alone. The mastermind behind it all was an elusive, self-proclaimed psychic who went by the alias Maria Duval and has never been apprehended. The authors, who first wrote about Duval for CNN in 2016, detail the methodology of her scam, which dates to at least the 1980s and involved mailing personalized letters to recipients, whose names and addresses Duval purchased from data brokers. Their investigation leads to a bizarre cast of characters, including a gun-toting U.S. postal inspector hell-bent on shutting down the scam, an alien-worshipping businessman whose companies distributed Duval's mass mailings, and a handful of zany psychics. The book gets sidetracked by frustrating dead ends in the inquiry--a chapter devoted entirely to a psychic named Patrick Guerin, for example, ends abruptly when the journalists receive no reply to one brief e-mail. While the authors never conclusively identify the person behind the Maria Duval alias, they provide an entertaining expose of an epic episode from the chronicles of consumer fraud. (July)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"A Deal with the Devil: The Dark and Twisted True Story of One of the Biggest Cons in History." Publishers Weekly, 30 Apr. 2018, p. 49. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A537852281/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=b34c7eeb. Accessed 27 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A537852281
A Deal with the Devil: The Dark and Twisted True Story of One of the Biggest Cons in History. By: Root, Deirdre Bray, Library Journal, 03630277, 8/1/2018, Vol. 143, Issue 13
In 2015, two CNN journalists picked up a piece of junk mail that would obsess them for the next three years. For more than 30 years, a psychic named Marie Duvall sent personalized letters to millions of vulnerable people worldwide, many elderly and friendless or those worried about their financial future. The recipients were convinced to send checks to the psychic, purchasing cheap "luck charms" and being promised a financial windfall in the future. After hearing some victims' tales, the reporters were determined to track down the psychic behind the scam. Wading through layers of shell companies and accomplices, with the help of law enforcement officials whose efforts to stop the scam were stymied by international boundaries, they stumbled toward the woman behind the multimillion-dollar business—but was she really the mastermind? Mail fraud is a frustrating tangle, but the authors do their best to lay it out for readers, and their tales of the shady characters they encounter along the way make for a thrilling adventure. VERDICT This entertaining account expands on a 2016 CNN five-part series and will be enjoyed by lovers of real-life con stories.
Review Posted Online: May 28th, 2018
A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL
The Dark and Twisted True Story of One of the Biggest Cons in History
by Blake Ellis & Melanie Hicken
KIRKUS REVIEW
On the trail of a French psychic who ran an international scam that preyed on some of society’s most vulnerable people.
In their first book, Ellis and Hicken, investigative journalists with CNN, build on their five-part online piece that first appeared on the CNN website in 2016, and the narrative morphs into a meandering tale full of dead ends, frustrations, and irrelevant details. The authors doggedly pursue the story of a long-lasting con targeting the lonely and credulous with promises of riches and friendship. Their investigation involves an unwieldy cast of characters, which the authors helpfully identify at the beginning of the book. However, many readers will still struggle to follow this Byzantine journey to uncover more information about Maria Duval, a self-proclaimed psychic whose name is on the millions of letters sent out to extract money from the gullible. The scam is reported to have affected more than 1.6 million victims in the United States and Canada, along with uncounted more across the globe. Ellis and Hicken provide a clear picture of the mindset of victims, showing why they were taken in by the scam and how their lives and those of their families were affected. These poor men and women, often demented and elderly (a demographic that loses “nearly $3 billion to fraud and other financial abuses every year”) and often mired in poverty, believed that by mailing money to Duval, they could change their lives for the better and become fantastically wealthy. The authors’ account of their attempts to track down Duval is less engaging. Their search for Duval is a wild-goose chase made difficult by their language limitations, by quirky email leads that do not pan out, and by unanswered correspondence and unreturned phone calls. Their uncertainties, questions, and disappointments figure largely in their discursive narrative.
It’s a fascinating story of widespread malfeasance, but readers hoping for crisp, incisive reporting will be disappointed.
A Deal with the Devil
The Dark and Twisted True Story of One of the Biggest Cons in History
by Blake Ellis; Melanie Hicken
Description
In this spellbinding true story, a pair of award-winning CNN investigative journalists track down the mysterious French psychic at the center of an international scam targeting the elderly and emotionally vulnerable, resulting in an exposé of one of the longest running cons in history.
While investigating financial crimes for CNN Money, Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken were intrigued by reports that elderly Americans were giving away thousands of dollars to mail-in schemes. With a little digging, they soon discovered a shocking true story.
Victims received personalized letters from a woman who, claiming amazing psychic powers, convinced them to send money in return for riches, good health, and good fortune. The predatory scam has continued unabated for decades, raking in more than $200 million in the United States and Canada alone—with investigators from all over the world unable to stop it. And at the center of it all—an elusive French psychic named Maria Duval.
Based on the five-part series that originally appeared on CNN’s website in 2016 and was seen by more than three million people, A Deal with the Devil picks up where the series left off as Ellis and Hicken reveal more bizarre characters, follow new leads, close in on Maria Duval, and connect the dots in an edge-of-your-seat journey across the US to England and France. A Deal with the Devil is a fascinating, thrilling search for the truth and is long-form investigative journalism at its best.
A Deal with the Devil: The Dark and Twisted True Story of One of the Biggest Cons in America
by Melanie Hicken, Blake Ellis
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A Deal with the Devil is the story of a global mail scam that bilked more than $200 million from its victims. Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken use their skills as award-winning investigative journalists to keep the narrative lively as they explain an extraordinarily complex financial scam.
Letters signed by French psychic Maria Duval arrived at the homes of mostly elderly people, prophesying better days ahead if they sent her money. "The letters appealed to the most base emotions of fear, loneliness, and hope--making it nearly impossible for victims to resist." International fraud units had tried without success over the years to get to the company behind the letters. Duval was "the psychic that no one ever sees."
Ellis and Hicken became obsessed with the extent of this fraud and reported on it for CNN Money in 2016. They spent countless hours on the phone and Internet tracking down what governments could not, and even traveled to France in an effort to meet Duval. Their reporting turns up a colorful cast of characters that includes a copywriter of scam letters, a Swiss attorney and an Argentinean landowner. As the authors wryly point out, "Whistleblowers have always been a journalist's best friend."
A Deal with the Devil shows the power of investigative journalism to uncover corruption. Ellis and Hicken discover the truth about a complicated scheme, halting the financial victimization of those who could not help themselves. --Cindy Pauldine, bookseller, the river's end bookstore, Oswego, N.Y.
Discover: A CNN investigative reporting team uncovers the incredible story behind a decades-long mail fraud that netted over $200 million.
award-winning female investigative duo at CNN
Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken are an award-winning female investigative duo at CNN who have exposed everything from sexual abuse in nursing homes to the predatory tactics of government debt collectors.
They have made it their mission to document disturbing and little-known forms of elder abuse, whether it’s mail fraudsters stealing millions of dollars from those suffering with dementia or drug companies targeting elderly nursing home patients.
Their work has been honored by the International Association of Broadcasting, the National Press Club, the Peabody Awards, the News Guild, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, the Newswomen's Club of New York, the National Endowment for Financial Education, the Radio Television Digital News Association and the National Association of Consumer Advocates.
Their upcoming book, A Deal with the Devil, chronicles their journey to uncover the perpetrators of one of the longest-running mail frauds in history.
While investigating financial crimes, Ellis and Hicken were intrigued by reports that elderly Americans were giving away thousands of dollars to mail-in schemes. With a little digging, they soon discovered a shocking true story.
Victims received personalized letters from a woman who, claiming amazing psychic powers, convinced them to send money in return for riches, good health, and good fortune. The predatory scam has continued unabated for decades, raking in more than $200 million in the United States and Canada alone—with investigators from all over the world unable to stop it. And at the center of it all—an elusive French psychic named Maria Duval.
Based on the five-part series that originally appeared on CNN’s website and was seen by more than three million people, A Deal with the Devil picks up where the series left off as Ellis and Hicken reveal more bizarre characters, follow new leads, close in on Maria Duval, and connect the dots in an edge-of-your-seat journey across the US to England and France. A Deal with the Devil is a fascinating, thrilling search for the truth and is long-form investigative journalism at its best.
The authors regularly appear on CNN and other television and radio networks to speak about their investigations. They can discuss journalism, fraud (prevention, as well as the tools and tricks to expose it), and ways to prevent and identify elder abuse.