This, coupled with the firm being penalized “$18.8 million, the largest penalty ever handed down in a consumer protection case”, [2] by the Federal Trade Commission, inspired Lipman-Stern to expose the company on film.

[4] Lipman-Stern continued work on the project sporadically, including some scenes shot whilst he attended film school at Temple University.

Lough spent a weekend in Joshua Tree National Park watching the raw footage, and came to the conclusion that a project could be made with the material.

Lipman-Stern and Bhala Lough then developed the project into a docuseries, with the Safdies boarding as executive producers via their Elara Pictures banner, as did Green, McBride, Hill, and Brandon James of Rough House.

They reached out and interviewed several police lodges that had been the beneficiary of telemarketing funds, as well as Scott Pasch and David Keezer, the owners of Civic Development Group, who declined to participate.

[23] Nearly two weeks after the finale aired, Blumenthal issued a statement that he planned to request appropriate agencies to review their actions and recommend policy changes regarding the kind of telemarketing fraud that the documentary covered.

Specifically, he was “preparing to send letters to the heads of the Federal Election Commission and the Federal Trade Commission this week, requesting that each agency conduct a review of their tactics and recommend policy changes to help regulators step up enforcement against unscrupulous callers who “prey on” Americans’ goodwill and political contributions.”[24] On October 2, 2023, less than two months after the series premiered, a media release was published revealing that Pespas had been missing since September 29 and had been last spotted in a bar in Pittsburgh.