Benita has become a recognized love conned expert and along with speaking engagements, she is a regular guest correspondent on "The Dr. Oz Show." [00:01:28] Benita: I grew up in Australia, and I had an uncle, my mother's brother, who worked for Radio Free Europe. Maybe help me, help with the invitations 'cause I don't want to deal with that. And one of those really, really tight embraces. I had tried, at one point I pushed him away, and we didn't see each other for about three months. "The headline is that it started out as a beautiful love story and it ended up as a total nightmare," said Benita. "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. With Whoopi Goldberg. And it's presented to me by Paolo, it's not even about our wedding or about our love story. With Whoopi Goldberg filling the narrators seat, the series kicks off with the story of Paolo Macchiarini, a former world-renowned thoracic surgeon now known for research fraud and his strange involvement with an unsuspecting producer by the name of Benita Alexander. I was just kind of like, um, 'cause Benita's so awesome and like, you know she was totally in love with him. 5. I mean, I got this sort of chill through my body, like there was some sort of electric spark, and I remember, in my head, thinking, 'What the hell was that?'". How to, what do we do now? [00:08:01] Bob: Benita knows she wants to do a special about Paolo's work, but she needs a story, a patient that viewers can follow from beginning to end. Sought after worldwide, people believed Macchiarini would one day revolutionize the field of organ transplantation, journalist Bo Lindquist said. [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. Emmy Award Winning . It was beyond Benita's wildest dreams - Macchiarini reportedly told her he invited Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Elton John, and that the Pope himself would oversee the ceremony. I mean things don't move forward if we don't have people who are willing to, you know, you know, push things a little bit and he, he was that guy, you know, and he, he was very fascinating. This was holy cow. Benita Alexander grew up like a regular American kid. So this is not really out of the realm of possibility that he would have contacts at the Vatican. That's pretty unusual too. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. [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. But everything else, I'm planning everything, and you can't ask me any questions.". "He was a top doctor, he spoke six or seven languages. Alexander, who said she'd become close to the girl's family, was "devastated," and that Macchiarini was "depressed" about it, as they both had become attached to her. The emotions of the moment overwhelm her. We need to be pointing the finger at the con man.. How does one design a wedding dress for a wedding [00:34:25] Matthew Christopher: With the Pope? The story with making a couture gown is, you know, it goes through, gosh, a team of pattern makers, drapers, um, stitchers, sewers, hand stitchers, beading and embroiderers, lace, and all that kind of stuff. It's a very aggressive form of brain cancer. But at this point, they're just questions. They live in the same area outside Florence. But Bo at the time had no idea who it was. Um, I almost actually passed out. Benita Alexander is a producer, director, writer, and narrator, who has actually been behind several episodes of ID's 'Now,' 'Dateline,' and even 'Inside the Obama White House.' It thus comes as no surprise that her professional success has given way to her confidence. I didn't know what to think. 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. [00:36:51] Matthew Christopher: Yeah, yes, oh my gosh. He actually brought him home on Christmas Day, and he and I are still in touch. Which sounds a bit absurd, however, he is an Italian surgeon. But her death was awful. Most importantly, though, we need to mention that Benita not only attended the former doctor/her former fiancs trial in Sweden, but she also covered it as a correspondent for season 3 of the Dr. People often tell me that afterwards, that, you know, I'm very hyper-focused and very no-nonsense, you know, all business. One name kept coming up over and over again, Dr. Paolo Macchiarini. He has peoples lives in his hands.. [00:09:18] Benita: Yeah, so we, we started focusing our story around Hannah and her family, and Hannah was actually, she was going to be the youngest person in the world to ever get one of his experimental transplants; the first toddler, and also the first patient to be operated on in the United States. 5. So over the next few days he tells me that theres something hes never told me before, and that he is actually Pope Franciss private personal doctor. 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. In need of a lung transplant, doctors arranged to transfer her to Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia. ", Jupiter and Venus appear to 'kiss' in the sky, What is graupel? I said, I just, I can't do this. 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. 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. Benita Alexander is a producer, director, writer, and narrator, who has actually been behind several episodes of IDs Now, Dateline, and even Inside the Obama White House. It thus comes as no surprise that her professional success has given way to her confidence. She said Macchiarini had told her that for their wedding, the Vatican had offered them the pope's summer residence in the Italian town of Castel Gandolfo. Instead, he says their underlying health conditions were fatal and may have been a factor in their deaths. [00:04:39] Benita: I think one of the things that can make you a good journalist if, is if you're able to put yourself in the other person's shoes, and if you're able to sympathize with them and empathize them and really try to understand what it is they're going through. "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. "The first thing we did was inform our boss, and then we also informed Paolo Macchiarini's bosses at the university," Corbascio said. Capping off a whirlwind romance filled with gondola rides in Venice and quiet dinners in the Greek islands, she was. Among several lies, Macchiarini told Alexander, one of those was Pope Francis officiating their wedding. And he said, "Just tell me when you want to stop." In a 500-page complaint filed in 2014 that detailed their allegations, the doctors accused Macchiarini of promoting a medical procedure that showed few signs of success while endangering the lives of his patients. NEW YORK Dr Paolo Macchiarini, He Lied About Everything with Benita Alexander Armchair MBA 18K subscribers Join Subscribe 1.5K Share Save 128K views 2 years ago I chat with Benita Alexander. What started as dream relationship developed into a nightmare filled with lies and deceit. In 2019, she produced the Oxygen doc Seduced By Evil, which chronicles another con-man, Derek Alldred. The two-part special He Lied About Everything premieres on ID on Wednesday, Feb. 14 from 8 to 10 p.m. But when it comes to the wedding, Paolo takes the lead. By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. The couple shares a daughter named Jessina, born in 2003. Macchiarini proposed to Alexander on Christmas Day in 2013. And he's getting noticed in the medical field. 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. I mean we were there to speak about science, so I thought, okay. In the course of that operation, the surgeons had nicked her trachea. Thank you to our team of scambusters; Executive Producer, Julie Getz; Researcher, Haley Nelson; Associate Producer, Annalea Embree; and of course, our Audio Engineer, Julio Gonzalez. [00:42:58] Bob: If you have been targeted by a scam or fraud, you are not alone. When her ex-husband died, Macchiarini helped Alexander cope. 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.'". Benita has since spoken up about her experiences in the media, given public speeches, and written detailed articles in renowned publications to bring awareness to the concept of love con. ABC News produced a tv series, The Con, that explores stories of people taken in by claims and promises that proved too good to be true, revealing how the victims were fooled and the cost of their false trust. We had a long time together on the flight from Korea to Illinois. The two-part special details how Alexander, an award-winning investigative news producer, met Dr. Paolo Macchiarini while she was producing an NBC News special about the renowned surgeons work in the field of regenerative medicine. [00:00:03] He was incredibly generous, you know, and so romantic and just so wonderful. But everything else, I'm planning everything, and you can't ask me any questions." View this post on Instagram Fans can also watch He Lied About Everything on InvestigationDiscovery.com. He's also had his artificial trachea removed. Read More: Where Is Paolo Macchiarini Now? You can also manage your communication preferences by updating your account at anytime. She couldn't run around and play. I did not think that by pulling that thread, we would completely undo the sweater.". Macchiarini was already being scrutinized for his work, including by doctors who had been trying to save the life of one of his patients, Yesim Cetir. After she called Macchiarini, furious about what she'd read, she began to wonder what else he might have lied about. "He comes around the corner, he looks right at me and in that second something happened. Macchiarini remains married to Emanuela Pecchia, his wife of nearly 30 years. Capping off a whirlwind romance filled with gondola rides in Venice and quiet dinners in the Greek islands, she was promised a wedding in the Italian countryside officiated by the Pope himself. Among the high-powered clients who Macchiarini claimed were on this network were the Clintons, the Obamas and even Pope Francis. Um, you know, they come in and I'd say, "Welcome to your closet." "Then he said he had connections to the Vatican. The personal relationship between Alexander and Macchiarini continued to blossom. She won a slew of honors for her work with the greatest in television reporting, including two Emmys. And you know, dozens of roses and champagne and always the best champagne. 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. And I was raised Episcopalian, but I said, "I know, I know enough about the Catholic religion to know that no priest is going to marry two divorcees," and he, he, you know, he said, "Don't worry. I, I thought it was ridiculous. I was really taken back. [00:17:35] Benita: Around this time that my ex-husband, John, passed away, we became romantically involved. Yeah. Kind of like being in a fairy tale, you know. [00:19:01] Bob: It's just making it harder for every man in the world. In 2015, she served as a co-executive producer on Breaking the Silence, which featured DWTS pro Cheryl Burke, and Counting On alums Jessa Seewald and Jill Duggar Dillard. In the months leading up to the airing of A Leap of Faith, in June 2014, Macchiarini and Alexander went on trips to the Bahamas, Turkey, Mexico, Greece, and Italy. After sweeping Alexander off her feet by taking her to jet-setting and romantic locales all over the world for months, Macchiarini proposed. "It was the weirdest thing," Alexander said. A JOURNALIST revealed the chilling clue that disclosed her lover and famed surgeon as a "romance scammer.". [00:00:01] Bob: This week on The Perfect Scam. Moreover, the Italian investigator found records showing that despite planning a wedding with Alexander for so long, Macchiarini was still legally married. "When I started reading specifically the papers that Paolo himself had written, then we could quite quickly come to the conclusion that what was written in the papers was not what was going on in reality," Corbascio said. The first meeting between Benita Alexander, an award-winning producer for NBC News, and Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, the famous transplant surgeon, took place at the bar at Bostons Mandarin Oriental hotel. And I had seen paperwork that he had done work at the Vatican, consulting work. A contact she had to the Clintons told her they'd never heard of Macchiarini. For more compelling true crime coverage, follow our Crime magazine on Flipboard. And the stem cells were supposed to magically integrate, and he was fixing people. [00:04:33] Bob: But it also sounds like you get pretty, your stories are very emotional, and you get pretty involved in your subjects, right. It said he'd be in South America and that the "trip had been planned for quite some time," Alexander said. She found out exactly what hed lied about - and she said it was extensive. She is an executive producer, narrator, writer and director known for her work in the true crime genre. She started her career at a local news station before moving on to work at NBC in New York. We had 300+ people coming from all over the world. And there are special considerations now that the wedding is going to be at the Vatican, so she asks the store how she can get in touch with the designer? Cetir came to Macchiarini's attention after undergoing an elective procedure to correct a condition that caused excessive sweating. Therefore, when Benita met the charming Paolo Macchiarini in the spring of 2013, thanks to NBCs A Leap of Faith, and he swept her off her feet, she crossed the professional line to start a romance with him. Because the, in itself, more gowns were added into the wedding. Documentary producer Benita Alexander thought it was love when her job introduced her to internationally renowned surgeon Paolo Macchiarini. She is currently the voice of the true crime series "Still A Mystery" on Investigation Discovery, and she has narrated four seasons of this ongoing, multi part show. Her colleague had sent an article that said the pope would not be in Rome, or even Italy, on the day of their wedding. Perfect. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. And I said, "Well how's that going to work, because we're both divorcees," or so I thought, and I'm not Catholic. Thats what I have the power to do now. [00:19:03] Benita: (laugh) Yeah, yep, yeah. Her mother was Korean, and her dad, Canadian. She was just like a little ray of sunshine, and a) I was just, it was so devastating when she didn't make it. 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. [00:23:07] Bob: The first time you met him was where? [00:25:22] Bob: And while Paolo loves to talk about his work, he isn't always charming. We had been divorced for a couple of years at that point and for three years, and he was diagnosed with glioblastoma which is a very, there's no good kind of cancer, no good kind of brain cancer, but the, you know, the outlook is not good, you know they, they kind of give someone two years at the most. [00:25:49] Bob: But, and this made him a fun interview, he doesn't mind debating his controversial techniques. And uh I decided to, to take his favorite flowers, birds of--, bird of paradise, and I ended up going to a flower shop and getting three birds of paradise; one for me, my, one for my daughter, and one for John, and Paolo um, loved motorcycles, and we had been shooting him on a motorcycle. Benita Alexander, an award-winning documentary TV producer and Paolo Macchiarini fall in love after meeting in 2013 while she is working on a story about the. I truly was for a period there, happier than I think I've ever been. And so we were looking into this field, and we found this doctor. I don't know what I was. I, my friends sort of joke now that, you know, I was blushing all the time, and I was just giddy. You know, "You've, you've renewed my faith in love.". Javascript must be enabled to use this site. That's next week on The Perfect Scam. 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