.
- In the criminal justice system,
sexually based offenses
are considered especially heinous.
In New York City, the dedicated detectives
who investigate these vicious felonies
are members of an elite squad
known as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
[gentle piano music playing]
* *
- There she is--Kelsey Sommers, my favorite reporter.
- Mario, my guardian angel.
- Mwah, mwah.
There's a hunk waiting for you at your table.
Is this some kind of interview?
- Actually, it is a date.
- A date? Wow.
I'm glad to see that you're finally getting
yourself back out there.
Here you are.
- You must be Tyler. - Nice to meet you, Kelsey.
- Your waiter will be with you shortly.
- Thank you.
Would you like to have a seat?
- [exhales]
- Everything all right? - Yeah.
This is my first date in a while.
- Well, you know, you are even more gorgeous in person
than you are on TV.
Honestly.
- Sancerre? - Your drink, right?
- You actually read my profile?
- May I pour you a glass? - That would be nice.
[Joe Sparrow's "Numb"]
- * Help me feel numb *
* Numb, numb *
[romantic pop music]
* Help me feel numb, numb *
- I take it that your date went well?
- Is it that obvious?
- You're wearing the same dress from yesterday.
- I'll get something from wardrobe.
- So what was it like?
Being on the market a year after your engagement imploded.
- He was a gentleman.
The exact opposite of Jake.
- I'm sorry, who? - Oh, well played.
- Yeah, I'm on team Kelsey,
even if you didn't make me swear to never
utter his name again.
- Oh, wow. - What?
- Uh, is this normal for online dating?
[chuckles]
- Honey, that is not normal for anywhere but porn.
What are you even doing here? I would have called out sick.
- It's kind of nice. - Uh, yeah.
- No, not that.
I've been waiting a really long time.
- Can I have one more peek? - No, he's mine.
- Oh, come on.
[chuckles]
[phone swooshes]
[ominous music]
[camera shutter snaps]
[phone swooshes]
* *
- Kels, you in here?
- Yeah, what's up?
- There's been a train derailment.
- Subway?
- LIRR, going into Jamaica, Queens.
Dozens of injuries.
- I'll meet you in the van.
Crews have been working tirelessly to clear the damage
as authorities attempt to determine
what caused this accident.
From Jamaica, I'm Kelsey Sommers for 1NYC.
[knocking]
[tense music]
* *
- Kelsey! [chuckles]
You're on TV.
I can rewind. Watch with me.
- Mom, have you gotten a text from anyone?
- What text? From who? - Where is your phone?
- Honey, what's going on?
Have you eaten anything?
- [exhales] I need some air.
- Kelsey.
- Tyler, why are you doing this to me?
Please text me back, please.
[phone dings]
Oh, my God.
[phone clatters]
* *
[breathing heavily]
- Kelsey?
- [sobbing]
- Kelsey, what are you doing?
Please get down from there. You're scaring me.
- I swore I'd never let anyone control me again.
He has more of them.
He says he's gonna send them to everyone I know.
[gasps]
* *
[dramatic music]
* *
.
- We get an ID on the jumper?
- It's Kelsey Sommers. - The reporter?
- ESU says she's being sextorted.
- Her mother is the one that called it in.
- Says she went on a date with some clown,
and now he's threatening her. - What does he have on her?
- The way the mother tells it, graphic nude photos.
- He says he's gonna send them to everyone
she knows unless she pays up. - Okay.
All right, guys, I'm going up.
[tense music]
- [gasps]
[breathing shakily]
- Kelsey.
All we wanna do is help.
- Leave me alone. [sobs]
- Kelsey...
I'm Captain Benson from SVU.
- Sex crimes? [whimpers]
Who called you?
- So what is this I'm hearing about you being extorted?
I got it from here, Chief. - Captain.
- I got it.
- Let's go, guys.
- How much do you know?
- Only that you were betrayed
by somebody that you thought you could trust.
Hold on, Kelsey. No, no, no, no.
Listen to me. Kelsey, look at me.
Let me help you.
- [sobbing]
- Let me help you. Come on.
Come here. - [grunts]
- I got you.
I got you.
- [sobs]
I can't believe I was actually going to go through with that.
Thank you.
I'm never gonna do anything like this again, I promise.
- We're so glad to hear that.
But Kelsey, we--we still have a few questions, okay?
- [sighs] Okay.
- You said you met this guy online?
- Tyler Camden.
He was so charming.
He looked exactly like his profile pic.
I'm new to this, so maybe that's why my--
my guard was down.
- And where did you go on this date?
- Harry's. I'm a regular there.
- And who paid? - Tyler did, in cash.
He left a good tip.
- And after that?
- I wouldn't normally do this, but I got us a hotel room.
- No one's judging. - He let me go at my own pace.
He didn't force anything.
We slept in. We had room service.
We had sex one last time before work.
And then he sent me a naked picture.
- And I'm assuming he asked for one back.
- And the next thing I know, I'm taking a photo up my skirt
in the bathroom at work. - Okay.
So what is he demanding from you?
- 50,000 in cash
or he sends the pics to all my contacts.
- Did this Tyler guy give you a deadline?
- No. No, not yet.
I mean, it's like he's toying with me.
God, I'm worried this story is gonna get out anyway.
I mean, me in the psych ward?
- And you're used to reporting the story,
not being the story.
Nobody is gonna hear anything from us, Kelsey.
That we can assure you.
I'm assuming that you always wanted to be a reporter?
- Yeah. Yeah, since I was little.
- So hold your head high, do your job,
and you don't let anyone derail you,
especially this guy.
[pensive music]
* *
[knocks]
- Hey, how's the victim?
- You know, as well as can be expected.
There's no press leaks so far.
- Has she been contacted again by the perp?
- Uh, not yet.
So he has an Instagram account and a dating app profile.
- And we still can't find this guy?
He's nowhere in the system?
- Big tech is stonewalling us, so we could use a court order.
- Yeah, it's not a problem. Anything else in the meantime?
- She met him at Harry's.
He paid the bill in cash, then they went to the hotel.
So I'm hoping that we get lucky with DNA or prints.
- I don't get it. This guy's a male model type.
Usually these scammers, they spend their time
in their mother's basement
licking the Cheeto dust off their fingers.
- Well, he certainly doesn't fit that profile.
- Captain.
- Kelsey, what's going on? - He recorded us having sex.
[tense music]
* *
I'm hungry. You wanna grab some breakfast?
- Mm.
I've got a better idea. - Ah.
- So has he made any more demands on you?
- That I have 48 hours to pay or this goes right to 1NYC.
- Okay, we're gonna find him before that.
- I never should have let my guard down.
- Kelsey, Kelsey, this is not on you.
- Really? Because I must have a type.
When I left my ex, he took everything--
the apartment, the dog. He emptied my bank account.
My job was the one thing I had left
that was purely mine. I built it.
I was the face people could trust.
Who's gonna trust my judgment now?
[somber music]
* *
.
- How's Kelsey?
- Hanging in there for now.
- 48 hours isn't a lot of time.
- Where are we with TARU?
- Did a number trace, but no luck.
Looks like the guy is using some kind
of a second number app. - Okay.
What about prints, DNA at the hotel?
- There was no matches in the system.
- So you're telling me that our only point of connection
with this guy is a bogus number
that he's been using to text Kelsey?
- Pretty much, yeah.
- I called a buddy of mine who works in the Bronx.
He says they've been having a rash of these
sextortion cases lately.
- All young, upwardly mobile female vics.
- Any chance that this is our guy?
- They sent in the pictures, but it was a different guy.
One of the vics killed herself.
I managed to reach out to another victim, Ruby Conzo.
She's only 19.
- I'll talk to her.
Ruby, does this man look familiar to you at all?
- No, this isn't the guy who extorted me.
You still think my case is connected to the one
you're working on now?
- Well, that's what we're trying to figure out.
- Well, the guy who extorted me,
I met him on an online bereavement forum.
- Bereavement?
- My parents were killed in a car accident a few years back.
Commercial truck blindsided them.
- Ruby, I'm so sorry.
- I was depressed, lonely.
This guy said his name was Nick.
He told me his girlfriend just died of cancer.
- So you started communicating on the forum?
- Yeah.
And after a few weeks, I felt comfortable enough
to FaceTime him.
- And may I ask you when it turned sexual?
- After, um, a few weeks of going out,
I asked him over to watch a movie.
We sat right here on this couch,
and he brought a bottle of wine.
We had sex in my bedroom.
- And he secretly filmed it.
- The next day, he sent me the video.
[somber music]
He demanded 50,000,
or he'd send it to everyone I knew,
all the friends I made on our bereavement forum,
relatives, my little sister.
I'm supposed to set an example for her.
- Ruby, listen to me.
You didn't do anything wrong.
You are the victim of a crime.
You didn't do anything wrong.
- [breathes deeply]
I went to Bronx SVU, but it--
it didn't seem like they could help me.
Not before time ran out. - So you paid it.
I understand.
But how did you manage to come up with all that money?
- The settlement from my parents' death.
- And you told Nick about that online?
- On the forum. It was so stupid.
[door clicks]
- I'm home.
- Hi. I'm Olivia.
- I got you Shake Shack, Josie. It's on the counter.
* *
I don't think I'll be able to trust anyone ever again.
- Let's see if we can try to change that.
Hey, any luck tracking down the phone number
Ruby's perp was FaceTiming her from?
- TARU did a track and trace, but the number's dead.
- And we checked the bereavement forum,
but the guy ghosted.
- And since Ruby deleted her photos of this guy,
there's no way to run facial recognition.
- Unless TARU can find those pictures,
it's like he never existed.
- That's because he never did.
- Guys, is there any connection between this ghost and Tyler?
- Not that we can find, no.
- What's our next move here, Captain?
- Well, I was hoping that it wouldn't come to this, but I--
I think we have to have Kelsey get in contact with Tyler.
- Tyler, it's me. I have the cash.
Where do you want me to drop it off?
Please call me back.
Straight to voicemail, automated outgoing message.
- If he wants that money, he's gonna get back to you.
[phone buzzes] - Oh, we got him on the hook.
- There we go.
[tense music]
* *
[phone swooshes]
Okay. Where? Where?
* *
Okay. Step one, stand by.
- Copy that, Captain.
- Someone's headed our way.
- That's not our guy.
- Then we got a problem. He's taking the cash.
- It must be a two-man operation.
- Let's move!
NYPD. Hands where we can see them.
- Who the hell are you? Where's Tyler?
- Hey, hey, hey, hey, Kelsey. - Who's Tyler?
- We'll sort that out down at the station.
- Station? Am I under arrest?
- Good guess.
- Hey, I asked you a question. - Kelsey, not now.
- But I need an answer. - I understand that, right?
But you need to let us do our job.
- Come on. Come on. - Okay?
- Captain. - Great, thank you.
.
- So, Ruby...
- I've never seen this guy before.
Is he the one behind the scam?
- Well, um, we're trying to sort that out,
but we set up a sting, and this is the guy
who picked up the money.
- From the trunk of a car?
That's the same way I dropped off my cash.
- Yes, and that's why I need you to tell me
exactly how this went down.
- Nick, or who I thought was Nick,
texted me to leave the cash in the trunk of a rental car.
- And how did you know it was the right car?
- He texted me the license plate number.
I--I heard a chirp. The trunk opened.
I left the cash and got out of there.
- This is the exact same MO as the case that we're working on.
- So they are connected?
- It's starting to look like it.
- Can you get the money back?
I was gonna use it for my college,
and the rest is for Josie's.
- So I can't make any promises right now,
but I want you to know that we are doing
everything we can to catch whoever is behind this.
- As the deadline nears, the UFT president says
teachers are ready to come back to the bargaining table--
excuse me, will not be ready.
I'm Kelsey Sommers... - Hey.
- For 1NYC.
- I see that our sextorter already lawyered up.
So who is this guy?
- His name is Neil Marsh, and he's an unemployed copywriter.
- So in other words, not Tyler. - Oh, they're working together.
- So Tyler was the bait, and this guy's what,
the bookkeeper?
50 grand, huh? Not bad for a day's work.
- Fin and Bruno will take a statement,
and Velasco and Silva are searching his apartment.
- More importantly, how's Kelsey doing?
- You know, she's trying to maintain
her on-air personality from the looks of it,
but, you know, feeling robbed of her sense of control.
- I can't say that I blame her.
But for the time being, at least the sex tape
hasn't been released.
- Look, the clock is still ticking.
And we have at least one known accomplice.
- I don't see an unemployed copywriter
willing to do hard time, do you?
- A woman like Kelsey would never go to a hotel
with a guy like me.
- So what's your role in this?
- I'm just a mouthpiece. - And bag man, evidently.
- I was forced into it.
- As I was trying to tell you, my client's the victim
of sextortion as well.
- We're listening.
[tense music]
- Go ahead, Neil.
- Six months ago, a woman reached out to me on Instagram.
She was hot.
I'm talking about a New York ten.
At first, I thought she was just a bot,
but she seemed legit, especially when
she agreed to meet me in person.
She was everything I've been looking for--
sweet, Midwestern, a good conversationalist.
- You two have sex? - No, never got that far.
- But let me guess. She sent you nudes.
- Then asked for some of me.
- Look, tell them what happened when you sent the pictures.
- My mom was sent one first. - Then what?
- I was told all my LinkedIn contacts
would get one unless I paid 50 grand.
I knew I'd never work again.
Problem was, I didn't have the cash.
- So in exchange, you had to work it off?
- By scouring Instagram and dating apps
for anyone with a blue checkmark,
anyone with clout or a good career.
I'd hit them up, get them hooked.
- So if Tyler was the eye candy,
and you were just some kind of sick Cyrano de Bergerac,
who's getting all the money?
- His name is Constantine. He lives out in Queens.
That's all I know.
- Do we believe this guy? - I mean, the story checks out.
TARU took his laptop and iPad.
No photos or videos of Kelsey on them.
- And he is unemployed.
He worked at a prestigious ad agency until AI came along.
- Another occupation on life support.
- Well, it explains why this guy out in Queens
let Neil put his own sextortion case on layaway.
- But why go after him in the first place?
I mean, Kelsey is a professional woman.
She's on an upward trajectory.
- She's pulling in six figures.
She just won the Press Club Award.
- Yeah, but Neil is a schlub with no job.
- Well, his Instagram account says otherwise.
- Let me see.
- Exotic travel, sports cars, yachts--
probably rented.
- So this guy's entire digital life is a mirage?
- Oh, you should see his apartment.
500-square-foot studio in Hoboken.
- Okay, so what do we do with him?
- I could charge him with grand larceny and coercion,
but if he really is a victim--
- He's not the only one we should be going after.
I mean, Constantine is where the money goes,
so he has to be in control of all the photos.
- Which means he's the one that we should be charging.
- So what's the play here?
Flip Neil and get to the head of the operation?
- I have another idea.
- Seems like you're having a bad day, Neil.
- Who's this guy?
- I'm just a lowly public servant
on a mission of mercy.
- Weren't you listening, Counselor?
My client's a victim himself. - No, I heard, I heard.
But, uh, we don't have anybody else
in custody at present.
- What we do have is your client,
on the record, admitting to extortion.
- And we caught him red-handed picking up the ransom.
- So just off the top of my head,
coercion, grand larceny.
You see, Neil, you went from victim
to accomplice the second you extorted Kelsey.
- You'll never get those charges to stick.
My client's not in possession of the photos or sex video.
- Well, I'm willing to talk about a deal,
as long as it gets us to whoever does have possession.
[suspenseful music]
* *
- What do you want me to do?
- You must have a way of getting in touch
with Constantine. - We communicate by Snapchat.
- Okay, we'll get you your phone back
so you can contact him.
- And tell him what?
He's gonna ask about Kelsey's 50 grand.
- Just tell him you're still working on it.
But in the meantime, you've snared
a young, rich venture capitalist
from Mexico City. - Mexico City?
- Yeah, and he's married.
He's in New York for a few days.
He's looking to get laid.
* *
- He'll cooperate, but with one caveat.
- I want my nude photos back too.
Not just the one he sent to my mom.
- So Neil did not have my photos?
- No, he didn't,
but he did put us on track of who does.
- Then what was his involvement?
- So Neil is a victim
of sextortion, same as you,
only he didn't have the money to pay up.
- So whoever is behind this made him work it off?
[pensive music]
And what about Tyler?
- The local PD just picked him up.
As of now, it seems that he was hired
to seduce you and record you having sex.
- Was I raped?
- I certainly understand how you would feel that way,
and you were definitely victimized.
Tyler will do time.
- And what about the video?
I mean, there's less than a day left on the clock.
- We are working on a way to get whoever's behind this
before the time runs out.
- And what if you don't?
- Kelsey, we're putting every effort into this.
Unfortunately, I can't make any promises,
but we'll find him.
- Okay. You are all set.
- Test it out. - One, two.
Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis.
- You're good. You're good.
[phone buzzes]
- Oh, that's your date?
- Yeah, Audra. Neil just sent it.
- Tough night at work, Detective.
- She's hot. - Okay, you're funny.
- Except you don't really look like a venture capitalist.
- NYPD couldn't afford Armani, all right?
What? You don't think I look the part?
- How the hell would I know? I've never dated a money guy.
- Women like Audra notice watches.
- How much you pay for this?
- Hell of a lot more than the NYPD paid for that suit.
[relaxed music playing]
* *
- Audra? - Hi.
You must be Juan Pablo.
- Nice to meet you.
I like the place you picked.
You know, I spend a lot of time in Tokyo and London,
but never New York.
- Well, we need to change that.
- How about a drink?
I see they got my tequila here.
- Your tequila? - Yeah.
My family were early investors.
- Mm, let's get a bottle.
- Hermano.
[speaking Spanish]
Gracias.
- Hmm, that's pretty slick.
- Velasco started out in undercover work.
- Yeah, I know.
I checked him out before I transferred
from Brooklyn Homicide.
- Did you check me out too?
So you know about my lawsuit? - Against the NYPD?
Yeah.
My dad's, uh, not exactly a fan of yours.
- Ready for another one?
- How about we bring this bottle back to the room?
- Um, what room?
- The one you're gonna get us, right now.
- Believe me, I wanna, but I, uh--
I already got a suite uptown.
- Great, I'll get us a ride.
- [sighs] You're making this really hard,
but I do have a meeting with my board in the morning.
- I respect that.
- I'll tell you what, I'm here for three more days,
and I would love to see you again.
- Me too.
How about we exchange numbers?
- Give me your phone. I'll text you.
[tense music]
* *
- Hey, they're coming out.
Nice work.
Give me the watch back.
- Okay, stay on her.
- Mm-hmm.
Is that our guy?
- I can smell the air freshener from here.
There's her payment for getting Juan Pablo on the hook.
- Okay, light 'em up.
[tires squealing]
[suspenseful music]
- Yo! [horn honks]
Yo, move!
Yo, get out of the way!
- NYPD.
- Get out of the car.
Now! Come on.
- You've got nothing on me, bro.
- How about solicitation, for starters?
- Is that some kind of a joke?
- You know many cops with a sense of humor?
- I want my lawyer, bro.
- You can tell him to meet you at the 16th Precinct.
.
- Okay, so what do we know about him?
- Constantine Koutris, 38.
Used to own a cell phone store in Astoria.
- Used to?
- Closed from a fire, May of '23.
- How much you wanna bet it was an insurance job?
- Well, based on looks alone, I wouldn't bet against it.
- And what's his criminal record?
- A couple of citations as a juvie, a few mis-d's.
He's a small-timer. - With his own extortion ring.
I guess we all have our dreams.
- I gotta tell you, Constantine,
you're looking awfully relaxed for a guy
facing serious time for extortion.
- Not to mention blackmail. - And unlawful surveillance.
- They have a word for something
like that, don't they? What am I thinking of?
- Scumbag. - [snaps]
- That's the one. - Scumbag.
- Nice try.
- You can attempt to rattle my client
all you want with this bad cop, slick lawyer routine.
But the simple fact is, you've got nothing
substantial on him. - We got his address.
- Yeah, and the cops are on the way right now.
- With a warrant for all his devices.
- And if we find anything,
he's looking at ten years per count.
- Look, fellas, my house is my sanctuary, all right?
I'm married.
I would never bring a woman like Audra to my home.
- Right, so that's why you met her at your car?
- [sighs]
All I did was give a woman in need a little bit of cash.
- [laughs] Yeah?
That's not the story she's telling.
- Look, I'm not trying to cause you any trouble.
- Really? Doesn't feel that way.
So I can just go home, go to sleep?
- Yeah, as soon as you tell us
how the scam works from your end.
- Who's us?
Ugh. You?
You're a cop?
- It's nice to see you again, Audra.
- I thought you were a married guy from Mexico.
You lied to me.
- Yeah, well, that's not against the law.
You, on the other hand-- - I don't talk to cops.
- Oh, and I get that.
But the sooner you do,
the sooner you can get out of here.
- I get paid to go on dates, get the guy's number
so they can start texting him.
- Is that all? - That's all.
- And you don't do any of the communicating?
- It's a compartmentalized organization.
- Yeah, you're really good at your job,
I'll give you that.
- Look, the real goal is just to get their number.
Then some other guy texts them and gets them to send
compromising pictures of themselves.
- So every time Constantine wants to hire you,
does he text?
- Usually, but we go way back.
Sometimes I'll meet him at Basil's house.
- Basil?
[tense music]
* *
You're in a lot of trouble here, Audra.
Extortion, for starters.
- Unless you got an address to that house.
* *
- [sighs]
[pen clatters]
- Mm.
I'll take this to the captain.
- That address checked out? - Yeah, McMansion in Queens.
Owner on record is Basil Koutris.
- Maybe they're brothers.
- We didn't find anything at Constantine's house.
- So hopefully Kelsey's photos
are on a thumb drive at the brother's place.
- I'm going to get Carisi started on a warrant.
Go to this McMansion, pick up the brother
before he has a chance to make good on his threat.
[sirens wailing]
[indistinct radio chatter]
- Nice place, if you've got no taste.
- There is a lot of money in other people's shame.
[doorbell rings]
- Yes?
- We're looking for Basil Koutris.
- He's not here. - That doesn't matter.
We got a warrant.
- You know where Basil went? - He just left for the airport.
- Was this a planned trip? - How would I know?
I'm his housekeeper.
- You think somebody tipped him off?
- Did he drive himself? - Took a QuikRide.
- Okay, get squad cars out
to JFK, Newark, and LaGuardia airports.
Notify Homeland Security and Port Authority.
- All right, I'll call dispatch.
Maybe we can exigent the QuikRide info.
- Captain, Kelsey's here. - What's up?
- One of my sources told me you got him.
Did you?
- Not yet, but we're-- we're very close.
- We got half the force on it.
- What about my video?
- We have warrants
for his phones, for his computers.
They're searching that house right now.
- You got Basil?
- The unis pulled him over heading towards
the JFK departure ramp.
- That son of a bitch tried to run.
- Anything on him? - No weapons.
No boarding pass either.
- Yeah, he didn't have time to book a flight.
- What about his luggage?
- All we found was 85 grand in cash strapped to his person.
- How's it going, Basil?
- Where are you going in such a hurry?
- To visit my family in Greece.
- Well, I hope you bought travel insurance,
'cause you're not making any flights today.
- Thanks, Fin.
We got him. - [gasps]
- I'll get started on the indictments
for both the Koutris brothers.
- If this does go to trial, you still may have to testify.
- But nobody will ever see that video?
- No.
- That is all that matters. - Yes.
[phone buzzes]
Kelsey, what's wrong?
[tense music]
- He sent it. - What?
[phone rings]
- Lisette, how bad is it?
Who got it? - Um...
[phones buzzing, ringing]
Everyone.
It arrived in our inboxes at the same time.
It must have been a scheduled send.
The head of the network's on the floor.
You should probably get back over here ASAP.
I'm so sorry, Kelsey.
- [sniffles]
It's over.
- I am so sorry.
- You never should have talked me off that roof.
- Kelsey, don't say that. Don't say that.
- God, what am I gonna do? - Listen to me.
Listen to me.
We're gonna figure something out.
- Like what? It's done.
I'm done.
- I might know how to turn this around.
.
- Sorry to interrupt, Counselor,
but there's somebody Mr. Koutris might wanna see.
- Basil. Vasili!
Hey, Vasi--Vasili!
What's he doing here? - He tried to run out on you.
- Oh, he didn't tell you?
He took off with 85 grand, headed to the motherland.
- What are you talking about?
- That kind of money would last an awful long time in Greece.
- It sounded like he was planning on staying a while.
- So maybe you wanna have a conversation,
or should we talk to your brother first?
- [breathes deeply]
- That's right.
- My brother would never betray me.
- I hate to break it to you, Constantine,
but he already did.
- And aside from the cash,
he cleared out your crypto accounts.
- [speaking Greek] That son of a bitch.
- Don't listen to them, Constantine.
They're lying.
- Doesn't sound like counsel's looking out
for your best interest here. - Excuse me?
- What are you talking about? - Who called her for you?
- Better yet, who's paying for her?
Let me guess, your brother?
- All right, this interview is over.
- I don't think she's representing you.
- But we wanna help you, Constantine.
You still have an opportunity to make a deal for yourself.
- Why go down for the whole scam
when you're just doing your brother's dirty work?
- I said that's enough.
This is highly unprofessional. - All right. Hey, hey.
Why don't you just go take a walk, huh?
- But Constantine, they'll-- - Get out!
[tense music]
I said get out.
All right.
You wanna talk, hmm?
[sighs] I'm ready to listen.
- Basil Koutris, you are charged
with three counts unlawful surveillance in the second,
seven counts coercion in the first,
seven counts grand larceny in the second.
How do you plead? - Not guilty.
- People on bail?
- We request remand, Your Honor.
The defendant was apprehended attempting to flee the country.
He's got the means and the motivation to do so again.
- My client had no prior knowledge
of a warrant for his arrest.
He was on his way to the airport
for a pre-planned trip.
The timing was pure coincidence.
- Save it, Counselor.
The people's request is granted.
Next case.
[cameras clicking]
- That judge sure doesn't waste any time.
- Serani? No, that's his MO.
Treats every case like a hemorrhoid.
- Uh, detectives?
- Neil.
- I know we didn't get off on the right foot,
but I wanted to say thank you.
Those photos of me?
Never saw the light of day.
- Yeah, well, not everyone was so lucky.
- I know.
I guess I played a part in that, didn't I?
- I guess you did the right thing
when it counted.
- Silver lining is, I got wrongfully
terminated from my old job.
- You did? - Yeah.
I realized after Kelsey interviewed me.
- Wait, Kelsey Sommers interviewed you?
- Yeah, she told me I was a part of a,
uh, protected class, a victim of a crime.
So my last employer couldn't technically fire me,
so I'm suing now. [chuckles]
- Congratulations.
What's Kelsey doing interviewing
other victims, anyway?
- I guess she wasn't fired either.
- It starts innocently enough--
a match on a dating app, a DM on Instagram.
And you may think you're too worldly
to become ensnared, but if you have a heart,
it can be used against you by criminals
who are experts in manipulating
our need for human connection,
as this reporter went undercover
to witness firsthand.
- Undercover, huh?
That your idea?
- I may have had something to do with it,
but it was Kelsey's idea to tell her bosses
that she was working on a story,
and she is playing it beautifully.
- Big brother taking a plea?
- Oh, even his lawyer is not reckless enough
to let this go to trial,
not with the evidence Carisi has.
- Yeah, well, this isn't doing him any favors.
- From outside the Manhattan courthouse,
I'm Kelsey Sommers for 1NYC.
- So you really caught these guys?
- Well, it turns out that they've been
extorting hundreds of people.
You know, teenagers, single people, older people.
Anyone vulnerable,
anybody with enough money to pay them.
- And you're sure these are the guys behind my case?
- So TARU is still going through the electronics,
but we did find the video that was used to extort you,
and we seized, uh,
a significant amount of assets.
- So I get my money back?
- Well, that's gonna take a little bit of time,
because everything that we recovered
has to be processed as evidence,
but, eventually, yes.
And NYPD is gonna write you a check.
- [laughs]
[soft music]
I've been in limbo for a year,
not able to make a decision about my future
or what that even looks like.
- Ruby, when you get your money back,
I think you're gonna be surprised
at all the options you have.
- Well, after what happened, it's--
it's hard to believe that.
- Well, don't trust me.
Trust yourself.
* *
[dramatic music]
* *
[wolf howls]