But the biopsies showed the cells were dead and that there was actually fungi growing on the plastic, he said. [00:25:49] Bob: But, and this made him a fun interview, he doesn't mind debating his controversial techniques. ", Heartbroken, Alexander continued to discover more of Macchiarini's lies in the ensuing months. I mean it got to the point where he loved to surprise me, everywhere we went. It could go out the window. And it was very difficult for us um, with the story because, you know, we had all hoped for one of these happy endings, you know, this was, the hope was to do a two-hour special, and at the end of it, you know, Hannah's home in South Korea, running around the backyard with her, her big sister, and you know, being a happy toddler as, as she should have been all along, and you know, Hannah was the most vibrant little girl. Give it to me. The university even cited some of the whistleblowers, reprimanding them for their participation in some of Macchiarini's papers. He proposed to Alexander on Christmas in 2013 and she said yes. Its so damaging. ID gives the viewer the opportunity to experience this along with Benita the highs and the lows and to discover, along with her, howhe lied about everything, says Henry Schleiff, Group President of Investigation Discovery, Destination America and American Heroes Channel in a press release about the documentary. I was, I was conflicted about it. Alexander had already sent invitations to her closed ones. And it came down to how are we going to accomplish doing all these pieces for this wedding that is going to be so high profile, so exclusive, I mean I've never heard of anything so, it was, I mean in my career I've experienced some great things; this was wow. In June 2013, they flew to Venice for what Alexander called an incredibly romantic weekend.. My daughter who, you know, has been through a lot. Dashing, successful and charming, Macchiarini, she thought, was the perfect man for her. This was worldwide. [00:24:37] Bob: Paolo is a natural subject for a documentary film. And he's Italian, and he wanted this big Catholic wedding in Italy. Benita was also the Co-Executive Producer and narrator for the 2016 TLC documentary, Breaking the Silence," about sexual abuse. Paolo had actually told her that Pope Francis would be officiating their wedding and that celebrities such as Elton John, the Clintons, the Obamas, and the Beckhams, among many others, would be in attendance, and shed somehow believed him. I'm your host, Bob Sullivan. Gerdin also said Macchiarini had failed to obtain ethical permits to perform the transplants, which he said amounted to experimentation on human subjects. For other inquiries, Contact Us. You know he loves to surprise you. He told her opera singer Andrea Bocelli would be singing in the church during their wedding and that John Legend would be playing the piano at their ceremony. When Benita Alexander eventually realized her whole relationship with Dr. Paolo Macchiarini was nothing short of a scam, she decided she wanted the world to know the truth about him. [00:14:35] Benita: The thing about Paolo is he's a very good listener, and we, after a shoot sometimes, would go out to dinner, or we would be in a group of people talking. Which sounds a bit absurd, however, he is an Italian surgeon. Death." Um, it hit all of us very, very hard. I mean my, I mean my jaw was on the floor. And it's Paolo who helps Benita figure out the best way to say goodbye. . "He didnt know Pope Francis, he wasnt his personal doctor.". And then John Legend was supposed to be playing piano in the church. I literally felt like I was floating on clouds. TV & Film Producer, Director, Writer, Correspondent, Narrator. [00:12:46] Benita: Oh yeah, no, I immediately just sort of shoved it down and thought whatever that was, it was, it was silly, and uh, let's forget about that. Her film "He Lied About Everything," about her own personal story with a con man, aired on Investigation Discovery in 2018 and continues to air around the world. She reflected on their relationship and wondered how she could've missed all the red flags. Copyright 2023 ABC News Internet Ventures. Star-Studded Wedding Becomes Brides Worst Nightmare, Part 1, Journalist exposes her celebrity fianc, part 2, Computer hacker drains couple's life savings. "As furious as it makes me what he did [to me and] my daughter, the thought that this is a man who has people's lives in his hands. Macchiarini and Benita quickly started planning an extravagant wedding, she said. It defeats the point, Benita recently said. "I made a very strategic decision to start playing a cat-and-mouse game, basically," she said. Come on. I thought he was playing some kind of silly game with me. [00:23:07] Bob: The first time you met him was where? I loved my work at NBC. But our guest list was insane because now that the Pope was marrying us, he kept inviting all these dignitaries, you know, so world leaders were coming to our wedding. It does so much unnecessary damage. "I, to this day, have no idea why he lied about our entire relationship.". Hosted by Benita Alexander. Macchiarini had been credited with developing innovative surgical techniques using stem cells in synthetic trachea transplants. [00:39:32] Bob: And as the day approaches, Benita gets to try on that custom-made wedding dress. He says to me, "I want to take over the wedding planning and I want to surprise you with everything. Um, you know, they come in and I'd say, "Welcome to your closet." And he actually said his barber in uh the south of Russia, he, he managed to find this excellent, excellent barber in Kazan there where he performed his Russian experiments, brilliant guy. Um, which is just something I never thought I would do, you know. 5. So first it was about the wedding gown itself. [00:36:55] Bob: Benita, the TV producer, is very used to managing all the details of a big event. This is a surgeon. She's a star producer for NBC News in New York, working alongside Meredith Viera creating primetime TV specials. And I tend to be a very empathetic kind of person, and I am very sensitive, and I care a lot about people and so I've always used that in journalism to really sort of get inside somebody else's shoes or, or their story. We need to be pointing the finger at the con man.. She is also the CEO of Berraca Productions, a company she founded to further her advocacy work empowering women who are the survivors of fraud. And he's getting noticed in the medical field. How does one design a wedding dress for a wedding [00:34:25] Matthew Christopher: With the Pope? [00:15:45] Benita: There was a particular moment when my ex-husband had gone into a coma, and I was in Illinois, and I was, I was um, very upset about everything and trying to figure out a way, I was talking to Paolo about trying to figure out what to do and how to say goodbye, and uh crying about the fact that I hadn't been able to say goodbye. And whatever that is, let's, let's push that away, you know. [00:42:58] Bob: If you have been targeted by a scam or fraud, you are not alone. But Benita's intuition overtook her and she hired a private investigator to look into the surreal wedding. He was put on trial after his patients reportedly suffered bodily harm during his experimental surgeries but he always denied any criminal wrongdoing. I had to understand what happened and why. And spent months, you know, this did not happen overnight. Some even believed he'd win a Nobel Prize one day, according to author Stuart Ritchie. And so he took me on his motorcycle along the Illinois River. You know, "What did he do this time? I was there for about 20 minutes, and I, I tossed these flowers into the water, and I was, you know, very emotional in saying goodbye to John. And Hillary Clinton got involved, different people in Congress got involved, but ultimately, after many trips back and forth to Brazil and a lot of emotion, he got his son home. "The surgeons in Turkey tried to repair it and there were some complications," said Rosemary Pinto, a personal injury lawyer later hired by Cetir's family. It really affects you. He never did that with me, but I, I've, I have seen him really being quite, quite unpleasant with um, PhDs and people who were sort of subordinate. View this post on Instagram Benita Alexander is an award-winning television producer who is known for her won on Investigation Discoverys ID Now, Crimes Gone Viral, Dateline and Inside the Obama White House among other works. Um, (laugh) I was uh, in my 40s. Hearings are expected to begin in 2022. Free online workshop! What did he do this time?" As these events were unfolding, Maccharini allowed Lindquist to follow him for a documentary film. Soon afterward, he took her on an "over the top" romantic trip to Italy, where they ate extravagant meals, went shopping and island hopped on a private boat, she said. related to AARP volunteering. And so they got FDA approval for Paolo to do the surgery in Illinois, and they got him a special medical license to do the surgery in Illinois. And he said, you know, I actually met with Pope Francis. And I went, What? You know and he said, And I, I have great news. Um, Hes, hes going to help us um, were going to have somebody that will marry us, and he offered to do it himself. You know I said, What? You know, and I actually kind of called BS on him because I, I said, Thats absurd. Together, they'd spend long weekends traveling to different countries, like Mexico, Russia and Greece. I want him to look around that courtroom and see the families of the patients whose lives he destroyed, and see my face and at last be forced for whatever few seconds to look us all in the eye and maybe understand what he did," Alexander said. In September 2020, Swedish prosecutors announced charges against Macchiarini for aggravated assault in connection to three surgeries that he had performed at the Karolinska University Hospital, including Cetir's. In the course of that operation, the surgeons had nicked her trachea. Paolo Macchiarini was born in Switzerland to Italian parents and has spoken of having had a difficult childhood in Basel, where by his own account he felt like a perpetual outsider in school. [00:21:08] Bob: Benita is proud of her work and happy with her husband-to-be, excited to put the finishing touches on Hannah's medical miracle story, but before the piece airs, the story takes a dark turn. His six papers on the transplant surgery were retracted. And he came to visit us in Australia, and I was just, I was only 8, but I was ab--, absolutely infatuated with what he was doing and asked him all these questions. [00:23:14] Bo Lindquist: And then we traveled to different places. She said she called the castle where all the guests were supposed to be staying and asked them about the reservation, which they didn't have. Before their wedding, the couple visited Italy, where Alexander asked Macchiarini to show her where their wedding celebrations would take place. It said he'd be in South America and that the "trip had been planned for quite some time," Alexander said. He is Italian. Documentary producer Benita Alexander thought it was love when her job introduced her to internationally renowned surgeon Paolo Macchiarini. On Feb. 14, Investigation Discovery, in conjunction with Efran Films, will premiere the astonishing and true story of love gone wrong in a new documentary special called, He Lied About Everything. Of course, it's Valentine's Day, I'm like, oh my God. By the time he performed the artificial trachea transplant on Cetir, he had already performed the same procedure on four other patients. The article's author, journalist Adam Ciralsky, had also uncovered fabrications in Macchiarini's professional life, and he documented a number of examples of Macchiarini misrepresenting his medical training and work history. Alexander is well-known for her career in production and film and was also in a relationship scam that made headlines and fueled her documentary, "He Lied About Everything." "It was the weirdest thing," Alexander said. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. A JOURNALIST revealed the chilling clue that disclosed her lover and famed surgeon as a "romance scammer.". Her colleague had sent an article that said the pope would not be in Rome, or even Italy, on the day of their wedding. Mathias Corbascio, another cardiothoracic surgeon who worked at the Karolinska Institute at the time, said the intensive care unit doctor responsible for her care began consulting with him on the literature written by Macchiarini on tracheal replacements. People often tell me that afterwards, that, you know, I'm very hyper-focused and very no-nonsense, you know, all business. She is an executive producer, narrator, writer and director known for her work in the true crime genre. Her purpose for doing so is simple; to not only move on but also build a safe community for survivors like her a place where theres self-healing through sharing and unconditional support. That was insane. And, and then he would tell me the priest won't marry us, and this went on and on and on. [00:04:24] Benita: Right, yeah, and they're not always happy endings, and you do, you, unfortunately, you know, you report on a lot of very, very difficult things in news. In fact, the scientist was embroiled in lawsuits and accusations at work. [00:34:59] Bob: When you went to her house, was Paolo there? She was devasted to learn all the lies told by Macchiarini. I, I had just, in that moment I didn't have the information yet, but I just knew he was lying about everything. Benita Alexander and Paolo Macchiarini fall in love Alexander, an award-winning documentary TV producer, met Macchiarini in 2013 while working on a story about the surgeon's pioneering work. He was incredibly generous with them as well. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. Alexander was in head over heels for Macchiarini. How to, what do we do now? "She had suffered at least two strokes; she had lost much of her vision, so she was partially blind; she couldn't walk," Pinto said. What started as dream relationship developed into a nightmare filled with lies and deceit. Macchiarini convinced Alexander that the Obamas, the Clintons, the Beckhams, Elton John, and John Legend were few of many personalities to attend their wedding. In the next 24 hours, you will receive an email to confirm your subscription to receive emails You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. But at this point, they're just questions. I loved everything about it, and to be sort of plunging into the unknown, even though I felt very secure with Paolo, happily in love. But before the wedding can happen, Benita makes a . Which clearly would completely change the face of, of medicine and, you know, all these people that been told they have no hope or no chance, it, it would be, it would be a gamechanger, right. Death podcast. In need of a lung transplant, doctors arranged to transfer her to Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia. The famous surgeon, a miracle worker who gives hope to hopeless patients, who's rewriting the rules of medicine. Macchiarini remains married to Emanuela Pecchia, his wife of nearly 30 years. It's, it's a very um, it has a lot of stature, that building and a lot of meaning. "He seemed like he was the miracle man," she said. Benita Alexander is an award-winning investigative television producer, showrunner, correspondent, director, writer and narrator who has worked on a wide variety of film and TV programs. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Alexander, an award-winning documentary TV producer, met Macchiarini in 2013 while working on a story about the surgeon's pioneering work transplanting synthetic tracheas, or windpipes. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? [00:25:28] Bo Lindquist: He was definitely prone to getting angry and, and could be quite violently. You are no longer 21 !!! One name kept coming up over and over again, Dr. Paolo Macchiarini. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. "It said that he had a normal functioning airway," Corbascio said. And he was putting artificial tracheas, the windpipe, into patients. Benita Alexander thought she had found her modern day Prince Charming. It just never stopped, to the point that I would come home from these trips, and all my friends were hanging on the edge of their seat. [00:18:02] Benita: Oh, there was so many. [00:39:38] Matthew Christopher: Yeah, I mean we were going through fittings, we were going through the process of um getting things together. [00:01:59] Benita: I had worked my way up from working in, from tiny little newspapers in Detroit, Michigan, which is where I went to college and where I'd, my family had moved after Australia. She couldn't run around and play. [00:24:20] Bo Lindquist: When we made our initial agreement to, to start filming, he said that his uh, personal life would be out of bounds, and I mean a bit odd that, that we couldn't even talk about where he went to school or, or something like that, but why should we? Alexander was assigned to work on the documentary about Paolo Macchiarini who has considered a pioneer in organ transplant. But Bo at the time had no idea who it was. She is honestly proud of how far she has come (as she should be), and its evident shell never let anything or anyone take this journey/narrative away from her. For AARP's The Perfect Scam, I'm Bob Sullivan. He was incredibly generous, you know, and so romantic and just so wonderful. He actually brought him home on Christmas Day, and he and I are still in touch. Benita was pursuing a big story when the ill-fated lovers met in 2013. Benita Alexander has everything going for her. And she was Daddy's Little Girl. Learn how to subscribe to AARP Podcasts on any device. [00:01:28] Benita: I grew up in Australia, and I had an uncle, my mother's brother, who worked for Radio Free Europe. Instead, he says their underlying health conditions were fatal and may have been a factor in their deaths. [00:31:35] Matthew Christopher: Yeah, it is a special process. [00:41:47] Bob: But not as scary as what happens next. Um, she was being brought to Illinois, the Children's Hospital of Illinois because a Korean nurse there had found Hannah in the hospital in Seoul and had sort of lobbied to bring her to the US. [00:35:41] Matthew Christopher: Yeah, and we definitely um, we made sure that through this process, we made sure we took care of her, you know what I mean. I, I thought it was ridiculous. In her personal life, she's also looking for a medical miracle, a miracle that, well it wasn't going to come. And I was ready to ride off into the sunset, into this new life in Barcelona, and but it was also a very, very difficult decision for me. It was an excellent place. [00:05:31] Bob: Benita worked on several stories about medical miracles, and at the time, there was one kind of medical miracle that just kept coming up. I said, I just, I can't do this. [00:37:05] Benita: Everything was very, very secretive, and because the Pope was doing this, um, and Paolo told me that the Vatican would not even announce it until the day of our wedding so that the news didn't leak out. Alexander said Macchiarini later called her, telling her he was at the Vatican and that he had some big news: Not only did he find someone willing to perform the ceremony but he said it was his own patient, the pope himself. Bo has begun asking questions about this medical miracle worker, so had some fellow researchers. 5 Journalist Benita Alexander (right) has revealed chilling clues that disclosed her lover and famed surgeon Paolo Macchiarini as a "romance scammer" Credit: Instagram / loveconned 5 The Love Con: Directed by Star Price. You know, part of it is you meet so many different people that you would never meet otherwise, but when you can tell a story that actually makes a difference in someone's life, that, to me, that's one of the most beautiful things about journalism. Journalist Benita Alexander is swept off her feet by a dashing Italian doctor, Paolo Macchiarini, while filming a documentary about his miraculous surgeries. But the former NBC News producer would come to find out the hard way that even the most glamorous and convincing of appearances can be deceiving. Her mother was Korean, and her dad, Canadian. Macchiarini told Alexander he was having difficulty finding a Catholic priest who would marry two divorcees, but he told her not to worry, he would talk to his contact in the Vatican. And she meets Christopher at his shop. [00:12:57] Bob: And there is another reason Benita must focus on her work at the time. And each surprise was a bigger wow factor than the last one. [00:34:42] Matthew Christopher: We were going to meet later, so we just discussed the idea and it started with the wedding gown itself, and then had dinner at her house, and made dinner, and it was fun, and we were discussing things and how all these pieces were going to grow. And that frees up Benita to go public about their relationship. "Paolo was a really good listener," Alexander said. Benita Alexander-Jeune started her career as a journalist for a few minor television stations. [00:00:34] Welcome back to The Perfect Scam. See production, box office & company info, Fatal Experiments: The Downfall of a Supersurgeon. I want, I just want to get the job done. [00:30:47] Benita: It was all very hush-hush, you know, everybody that was involved in the wedding planning, including the people that designed the wedding invitations, the people that made my wedding dresses, everybody had to just, had to sign nondisclosure agreements. Maybe help me, help with the invitations 'cause I don't want to deal with that. Lindquist had begun his own investigation into the claims brought forth by Macchiarini's colleagues. [00:35:38] Bob: I mean it sounds like that could cost an infinity if you wanted it to. But when it comes to the wedding, Paolo takes the lead. [00:23:20] Bob: Bo also spent many months following Paolo around the world, getting to know him, getting Paolo to open up to him. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try "That wasn't true. Macchiarini denied the accusations coming from his colleagues at the Karolinska Institute to Alexander, and she doubled down on supporting Macchiarini. [00:31:32] Bob: I mean that sounds like a very special process. Benita Alexander thought she had found her modern day Prince Charming. Track SoCal rain with LIVE Megadoppler 7000 HD, Emily Whipp, Laura Dimon, Colleen Halpin, Emma Piscia and Anthony Rivas. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. [00:40:30] Benita: Paolo lived in Barcelona, and so we had talked about what were we going to do after the wedding. After a few days there, she traveled to Macchiarini's home in Barcelona, Spain, with some friends who came along for support. [00:06:46] Benita: And he was, as I said, called the super surgeon, and he was the pioneer in this field. 5 Journalist Benita Alexander (right) has. So this is a lot of very heady information to take in, and he basically tells me that because hes the Popes private, personal doctor, um, and because this is such a progressive Pope, who has such a forward-thinking agenda, that the Pope a) wants to thank him for all the work hes done at the Vatican and for being his private doctor, and b) wants to use us for lack of a better term, as kind of a poster couple, so that by marrying two divorcees, you know, the Pope is going to use us to sort of open the doors of the Catholic church to allow divorcees to finally get married in a Catholic church. But unfortunately, her personal life has been marred by a turbulent childhood in Huntington Woods, Michigan, and a series of unsuccessful relationships. I see a woman and two kids," she said, adding that she knew about Paolo's wife in Italy. With Whoopi Goldberg. "That's when he told me that there was this kind of clandestine network [of doctors] who are on call, basically, for these people.'". Fans can also watch He Lied About Everything on InvestigationDiscovery.com. On what was supposed to be the day of her wedding, Alexander flew to Rome, where she eventually met others who'd kept their travel plans. She said that in November 2014, they had planned a trip to California to spend Thanksgiving with her family, "and he had been really stressed in the weeks before, and he had been talking to me for some time about how there were people that were against him, and his 'enemies.'". Down on supporting Macchiarini about their relationship. `` they 're just.... Just, I have great News makes a, working alongside Meredith creating! Getting noticed in the true crime genre brought benita alexander documentary home on Christmas,... Was actually fungi growing on the plastic, he wasnt his personal doctor. `` and on Alexander thought had. Course, it is a special process few minor television stations remains married to Emanuela Pecchia, wife. 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