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. The latter refers to his misconduct that led to the deaths of several patients. The Perfect ScamSMis a project of theAARP Fraud Watch Network, which equips consumers like you with the knowledge to give you power over scams. [00:15:28] Bob: As Hannah's story becomes more intense, the news on Benita's ex-husband, John, gets worse. And we rode for probably 30, 45 minutes until I sort of found a spot that I thought was appropriate, and I got off the bike and I went to the water. But despite his seemingly busy schedule, Alexander said Macchiarini offered to plan their wedding. Although her family said the injury wasn't serious enough to necessitate a tracheal transplant, she still underwent the procedure and went on to experience tremendous pain. And so there was a lot of palpable excitement about this wedding, you know, people were really eager and excited for this wedding. He was giving people who had no other hope. [00:35:25] Matthew Christopher: Um, gosh, 1-2-3 for her. 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. Macchiarini had been credited with developing innovative surgical techniques using stem cells in synthetic trachea transplants. On the back of his motorcycle, he drove her along the Illinois River until they found a place where she could memorialize her ex-husband. "He comes around the corner, he looks right at me and in that second something happened. Subtle message to him, perhaps. The slip from "Prince Charming to pathological liar" took place over just two years, she said. It was eight months later when they became properly engaged after Macchiarini presented her with a $100K ring. [00:33:17] Bob: What he thinks is this is going to be an incredible challenge. [00:25:56] Bob: How did he take to being questioned? And he said, he finally said, "Well, I'm going to go and talk to my contacts at the Vatican." But before the wedding can happen, Benita makes a discovery that may prove the doctor is not all he claims to be. And she, unfortunately, was born with no windpipe. Alexander was assigned to work on the documentary about Paolo Macchiarini who has considered a pioneer in organ transplant. Benita Alexander thought she had found her modern day Prince Charming. Thats what I have the power to do now. And each surprise was a bigger wow factor than the last one. 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. She was just like a little ray of sunshine, and a) I was just, it was so devastating when she didn't make it. The happy couple start planning their wedding in earnest, and well, we already know Paolo likes a challenge. 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. As a journalist, Alexander knew she couldn't get involved with the subject of her story. "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. She works in Rockefeller Center and flies all around the world, and on one of these trip, she meets the man of her dreams. The Love Con: Directed by Star Price. [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. "He didnt know Pope Francis, he wasnt his personal doctor.". A JOURNALIST revealed the chilling clue that disclosed her lover and famed surgeon as a "romance scammer.". And it was so fun to work with, with all of them, you know, anybody that, and they have private appointments that wanted to come in. You will be asked to register or log in. And then in radio, producing a radio talk show, and then in local television. [00:02:15] Bob: Still a young journalist, she found her way to the top of her profession very quickly. Um, which is just something I never thought I would do, you know. [00:35:01] Matthew Christopher: No, no, just her friends who are so much fun. We have somebody who has been brave enough to share something thats already humiliating and devastating. Famous For Being an American actress and producer. In the next 24 hours, you will receive an email to confirm your subscription to receive emails It was killing me, and but I was also so in love with him. But her death was awful. Nothing anybody could do for her, and then like so many of Dr. Paolo Macchiarini's patients, they did a google search and found this kind of a magician of a surgeon who said I can help your little girl. What is happening? When her ex-husband died, Macchiarini helped Alexander cope. And she meets Christopher at his shop. We had a long time together on the flight from Korea to Illinois. A love story gone bad for Benita Alexander, an award-winning documentary television producer and Paolo Macchiarini, an internationally renowned surgeon. Benita Alexander has been married twice. But this magic carpet ride takes so many twists and turns that well, you just have to hear them for yourself. Before their wedding, the couple visited Italy, where Alexander asked Macchiarini to show her where their wedding celebrations would take place. Benita Alexanders personal life story was part of the documentary film, He Lied About Everything. [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. And Paolo never talks about his personal life. The scale . And he was not doing well, and I was really struggling with the fact that I was about to become a single mother. 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. They make it for you in the lab, right. 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. Her new podcast "Benita and the Berracas," will feature Benita talking to other women who open up to her about their own love conned stories, along with advice on how to avoid becoming a victim. But the biopsies showed the cells were dead and that there was actually fungi growing on the plastic, he said. In July 2015 their "cat and mouse game" came to an end when she revealed to him everything she found through the private investigation. Prior to this, Benita spent 17 years in network television, producing long-form documentaries, breaking news, investigations, specials and hard news features for NBC. [00:19:03] Benita: (laugh) Yeah, yep, yeah. Are you new to podcasts? On your mark, get set, go. If I had a checklist, he, he was everything I would want in a partner, everything you would want in a man. I mean I'm going to achieve this; you know what I mean? You know the, the invitations talked about needing a password, a secret password to get into the wedding, and you couldn't get in unless you had the invitation with you. And so he took me on his motorcycle along the Illinois River. Oh, and a dance gown too, that was crazy fun. What started as dream relationship developed into a nightmare filled with lies and deceit. But when it comes to the wedding, Paolo takes the lead. The way he used stem cells with his plastic tracheas would eventually develop into something quite extraordinary where you could use stem cells to target organs or other areas of the body where the, where there was a medical problem. And so does anyone who has anything to do with the wedding. [00:12:57] Bob: And there is another reason Benita must focus on her work at the time. Documentary Two-hour special that investigates the perfect engagement gone wrong between Emmy award-winning journalist, Benita Alexander, and the internationally acclaimed surgeon, Dr. Paolo Macchiarini. What did he do this time?" The personal relationship between Alexander and Macchiarini continued to blossom. 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. [00:11:57] Benita: Ooh, you're going to make me do math. [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. If you want to tell somebody's story well, it, it helps if you can really tell it from their perspective. By the time he performed the artificial trachea transplant on Cetir, he had already performed the same procedure on four other patients. 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. I did not think that by pulling that thread, we would completely undo the sweater.". [00:00:03] He was incredibly generous, you know, and so romantic and just so wonderful. "I talked to my editors and we started thinking, 'Well, let's just keep pulling on this thread. He also directed ABC News to a list of reforms the Institute was implementing in the wake of the scandal. They become engaged and plan a lavish dream wedding, to be attended by celebrities and officiated by none other than Pope Francis himself. During her investigation into Macchiarini, Alexander hired private investigators in the U.S. and Italy. It could go out the window. And that frees up Benita to go public about their relationship. Uh, I think he actually appreciated being challenged to an extent. Ole Petter Ottersen, president of the Karolinska Institute since 2017, told ABC News in a request for comment on Macchiarini, "It is obvious that KI's initial handling of this case was insufficient and inadequate on several points. She had spent her entire little life in the hospital, never left the hospital because she had a tube down her throat just to live. [00:05:44] Benita: Yeah, I mean the, we wanted to do a story about this field called regenerative medicine which added base core, the most simplistic way to define this is, it's sort of sci-fi, futuristic medicine where the, the goal is to be able to create body parts or organs in the lab, man-made. again. Who lost her dad. Among several lies, Macchiarini told Alexander, one of those was Pope Francis officiating their wedding. And so now his son, who I think was about 8 or 9 at the time, was in Brazil with her family, and he was engaged in this very difficult and complicated fight to try and get his son back, and such a loving father. 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. Alexander was in head over heels for Macchiarini. I was like why, why are you videotaping me again. En Espanol And I said, "Well how's that going to work, because we're both divorcees," or so I thought, and I'm not Catholic. 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. Benita was pursuing a big story when the ill-fated lovers met in 2013. There's so much she couldn't do, but she had this sparkling personality. I think he needs to be behind bars. 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 Macchiarini denied the accusations coming from his colleagues at the Karolinska Institute to Alexander, and she doubled down on supporting Macchiarini. When a magical romance with a world-renowned surgeon develops into a nightmare, his fianc uncovers a path of destruction that leaves dead patients and shattered families in its wake. I'm, you know, I like, I like information. He spent months supposedly going to different churches in Italy, and he would send me pictures of these places, and all these details, and asked me if I liked them or not. 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. I love some pressure, let's go for it. She graduated magna cum laude from WSU with a degree in journalism in 1987. But there was something, yeah, something happened between us the, the moment we met. "The outcry was such that the Karolinska Institute had to do something," said Ritchie. You can also manage your communication preferences by updating your account at anytime. But Macchiarini showered her in flowers and jewelry. Benita was also the Co-Executive Producer and narrator for the 2016 TLC documentary, "Breaking the Silence," about sexual abuse. After a few days there, she traveled to Macchiarini's home in Barcelona, Spain, with some friends who came along for support. 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. And when we went to Boston to interview Dr. Macchiarini, when he came in, it was um, I was with a colleague, and he, he came into this bar where we had arranged to have a coffee with him just to say hello the night before the interview, and you know there's, he's a very charming, good-looking man. She started her career at a local news station before moving on to work at NBC in New York. They became friends and over time she felt herself falling for him, despite her journalistic integrity impeding the romance. The two-part special He Lied About Everything premieres on ID on Wednesday, Feb. 14 from 8 to 10 p.m. Macchiarini had reported that after his first patient underwent the procedure, a healthy trachea was beginning to develop, Lindquist said. ", "As devastated as I was and as much as I wanted to crawl under the covers and hide and stay there, I knew I couldn't fall apart," she said. I was like, 'What is happening to Benita,'" Alexander's friend, Marian Fontana, said. "That wasn't true. 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." [00:06:46] Benita: And he was, as I said, called the super surgeon, and he was the pioneer in this field. [00:17:24] Bob: He was there when she needed somebody. Documentary producer Benita Alexander thought it was love when her job introduced her to internationally renowned surgeon Paolo Macchiarini. [00:01:54] Bob: Benita didn't start her career working for a larger network in New York. Emmy Award Winning . I was torn up about it, and my last day at NBC was in May of 2015. Benita Alexander-Jeune started her career as a journalist for a few minor television stations. You could uh, train stem cells so that, and then inject them into the body and the stem cells would do the work, the surgery, not the knife. I, I had just, in that moment I didn't have the information yet, but I just knew he was lying about everything. And so we were looking into this field, and we found this doctor. [00:23:14] Bo Lindquist: And then we traveled to different places. He's also never spoken publicly about his relationship with Alexander. The 56-year-old actually has a podcast appropriately titled Benita & the Berracas for the same, and she continues to be an active advocate on the matter. I was really taken back. 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 Experiments" told the stories of some of Maccharini's patients, including young mother Julia Tuulik, who damaged her trachea in a car accident. "I went full on into investigator mode as I knew he wouldnt tell me the truth," Benita said. He was incredibly generous, you know, and so romantic and just so wonderful. I didn't, you know, how do you, how do you not ask any questions, but all my friends convinced me, they said, "You know, Benita, you know he has amazing taste. Of course, it's Valentine's Day, I'm like, oh my God. 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. He is Italian. Um, maybe I felt like that at some point when I was really young and I had a, had a crush in school, I don't know, but I don't, I don't ever remember feeling like that. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. In fact, the scientist was embroiled in lawsuits and accusations at work. And she was Daddy's Little Girl. [00:23:07] Bob: The first time you met him was where? 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