Doug Mathews: Where Is the ‘McMillions’ FBI Agent Now?

Doug Mathews is an FBI special agent who was a breakout star of the HBO documentary series “McMillions” as he showcased his oversized personality while talking about how he helped crack a multi-state, multi-million-dollar McDonald’s Monopoly game scam. In the documentary, Mathews talks about his love for going undercover, the delicious coffee at the fast-food company’s Illinois headquarters and the gold suit he wore to meet with executives from the Golden Arches. The 54-year-old Mathews is still an FBI agent today and is still investigating fraud.

Mathews was one of the lead FBI agents on the investigation the bureau dubbed “Final Answer,” which started in 2000 when Mathews’ partner and mentor, Special Agent Richard Dent, received an anonymous tip that someone had been scamming the McDonald’s Monopoly giveaway game since 1989 and there had not been any legitimate winners during that stretch. The documentary examines how the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida uncovered and took down a scheme that stole $24 million.

Mathews was working at the FBI’s Jacksonville field office when the investigation started and was a relatively new field agent at the time. In its review of the documentary series, the Los Angeles Times wrote, “The directors found that many people on the law enforcement side were not just willing but also eager to talk with them, including FBI agent Doug Mathews, an attention-seeking ham who defies the buttoned-up bureau stereotype.”

Janet Pelliciotti, a former FBI agent who led the undercover operations at the FBI’s Jacksonville office said during the documentary, “Doug is one of the hardest working agents I’ve ever met in my life. Very creative. He’ll do anything, he’ll try anything and he can talk forever. He is relentless.”

Here’s what you need to know about where Doug Mathews is now and what his background is:

Doug Mathews Helped Investigate Financial Fraud Cases Releated to the 2008 Housing Market Crash

Doug Mathews is still helping crack fraud cases for the FBI. Court records show that he continued to work with his boss, FBI Special Agent in Charge Tom Kneir, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Devereaux while in the FBI’s Jacksonville office. He and Devereaux worked together on cases that involved the 2008 housing bubble crash. He has focused a lot of his investigative efforts on financial and foreclosure fraud.

“Back during the height of the Financial and foreclosure I met and spent time with FBI Agent Doug Mathews and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Devereaux when I testified against Lorraine Brown, basically the only person who went to jail back then. Doug’s investigation was incredibly thorough,” Jeff Thigpen wrote on Facebook. “I can tell you, those two guys went after it and understood exactly what happened. If I remember correctly, Mark finished the sentencing hearing and was furloughed based on cuts in the federal budget. A lot of what’s wrong with our country held folks like them back from going after the bad guys.”

Thigpen added, “If anything we, in our nation, let them down. It was a true honor to meet Doug and Mark down in Jacksonville FLA. You may have never heard of them. It’s really heartening to see this piece.”

According to a press release from the Department of Justice, Lorraine Brown was an executive at a Florida-based company who was sentenced to five years in prison for her role in a mortgage-related document fraud scheme. “The investigation of sophisticated mortgage and corporate fraud schemes continues to be a priority for the Federal Bureau of Investigation as such criminal activities have a significant economic impact on our community,” said Special Agent in Charge Michelle Klimtof at the time of her 2013 sentencing.

Doug Mathews Is Now Working in the FBI’s South Carolina Office & Recently Helped Take Down a Fraud Ring That Was Targeting Veterans

Doug Mathews has moved on from the Jacksonville office and now calls South Carolina home. Mathews continues to investigate fraud cases in the Palmetto State. Mathews, whose full name is John Douglas Mathews and goes by J. Douglas Mathews in official documents, recently helped take down a scam that was targeting veterans, according to a report in the Greenville News.

Mathews started the investigation in 2018, and arrested a California man, Scott Kohn, in November 2019, charging him in a $300 million fraud scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina.

According to the indictment, Mathews’ investigation found that Kohn’s company “operated a Ponzi scheme in which it actively recruited pension holders who were desperate for money, including many veterans of the United States Armed Forces. The pensioners made monthly payments to FIP in exchange for a lump sum payment or loan. The adjusted annual percentage rate on these transactions often exceeded 100 percent.”

Mathews, Who Is Married With a Son, Is a North Carolina Native Who Graduated From UNC & Worked in His Home State’s Tax Department as an Auditor

Doug Mathews lives in South Carolina with his wife and son. A friend wrote on Twitter about Mathews, “Can confirm he’s a genuinely nice guy and a credit to the Bureau. Also pretty damned good as a Little League coach.”

Mathews grew up near his current home. He was born and raised in North Carolina, in Brevard, and later moved to Asheville. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a degree in economics, according to his 1994 wedding announcement. Mathews worked as an auditor with the North Carolina Department of Revenue before joining the FBI.

Mathews and his wife were married at the Temple Baptist Church in Brevard in October 1994.

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