The Myth of John DeLorean | Wax Wings | 3

Business Movers

Wondery

History, Business, Entrepreneurship

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2021

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Desperate to raise millions and save his company, John DeLorean cuts a backroom deal with a drug smuggler and a crooked banker. Little does John know, he’s fallen into an elaborate trap set by the United States government.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members. You can listen to business movers, add free on Amazon music. Download the app today.
0:21.0	It's July 11th, 1982 at the Newport Marriott in California. Three months before John DeLorean's arrest.
0:31.0	John walks into the nearly empty hotel bar. He's there to meet Jim Hoffman, a former neighbor of his from the San Diego area.
0:39.0	John's business is collapsing. The DeLorean factory in Northern Ireland has closed its doors.
0:45.0	In order to reopen in Belfast, save his company and restore his reputation, John has to raise a lot of money and very fast.
0:54.0	Jim Hoffman says he can help. But what John doesn't know is that Jim is an informant for the FBI and the DEA.
1:00.0	John, good to see you again. Good to see you, Jim. It's been a while.
1:05.0	Years ago, the two men lived close to each other in Palma Valley, California. While John was making money in the automobile industry,
1:12.0	Jim was serving as a logistics man for the cocaine and heroin trade. He mined if we grab a table in the back, John. In case the bar fills up.
1:21.0	Oh, no, sure thing.
1:23.0	Jim leads John past a screen into the back room of the bar and takes a seat at a dimly lit booth.
1:29.0	I don't want to sound like an old man, but I need more light than this if we're going to go over the materials I brought.
1:35.0	I'll be fine. Like I said over the phone, I just want to see if I can help.
1:39.0	You sure your company can be saved, right? It's not too late.
1:42.0	John spent the fall of 1981 fighting accusations of financial fraud.
1:47.0	John was cleared. But the British government, who poured over $100 million into the DeLorean Motor Company, cut John off.
1:55.0	Private investors are also staying away. So John needs to convince Jim that the situation is still salvageable.
2:01.0	Oh, no, no, it's not too late to save the company. And we still have a chance to be very successful.
2:06.0	Well, the news makes it sound like the money's run out.
2:09.0	The British government's out to get us. There's nothing we can do about that. We need to find other options.
2:14.0	Well, good. I think I can be an option for you. I know an interested party who's in the same business as me.
2:21.0	He could help you turn things around pretty fast while I'm always willing to meet a potential investor.
	...

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