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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Members of U.S. Navy Attacked in Turkey; Thieves Use Stolen Credit Card Numbers to Buy Gas; Harold Hamm Pays Wife $1 Billion in Divorce Settlement; Women Loses 100 Pounds, Becomes Triathlete

Aired November 12, 2014 - 12:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Some pretty disturbing video we showed you just going to break. I want to show this to you again.

Some American sailors wearing civilian clothing in Istanbul, Turkey, suddenly they are attacked by a group of angry and violent protesters, all of it caught on camera. Take a look at what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want you -- we want you to get out of our land or we will...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are using to wipe (ph) the both of you.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go home. Yankee, go home. Yankee, go home. Yankee, go home. Yankee, go home. Yankee, go home. Yankee, go home.

BANFIELD (voice-over): That's probably the more harrowing part where bags are put over their heads, but luckily, this is how it ends. They get out of there. They make a quick exit and then they run.

So, "Yankee, go home," rocks being thrown at them -- again, this is in Istanbul, Turkey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Barbara Star is live for us at the Pentagon on this one. So, Barbara, that video is really alarming, but is the situation in Turkey as alarming?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, what U.S. Navy and military officials are telling us, Ashleigh, is this video is appalling, disturbing, but they don't believe it really reflects the relationship between the American people and the people of Turkey and the two governments.

Turkey, of course, a NATO ally. U.S. Navy warships call at Turkish ports all the time. That's what was going on here. These three sailors were on shore leave. But make no mistake, a lot of concern here. This is a group that had identified itself as the Turkish Youth Union. It is an anti-government left wing group in Turkey, not associated with ISIS, not associated with Al-Qaeda, you know. But plenty of concern obviously that they can launch this kind of attack on the street.

Now, U.S. officials are working with the Turks to identify the individuals and to see exactly what did happen here.

Very concerning that this three young American service members got attacked in this way and really, you know, the bags over their heads and everything. But what I'll tell you is Navy officials have looked at this, one, are thankful they were able to get away, get back to the ship unhurt. And are very thankful at the presence of mind these three young men apparently had. They did not resist, they basically put their hands up, they did not go on the offense against these thugs, and they were able to get away. Officials are telling me, they're very proud of the way the sailors acted, that essentially they diffused the situation and got out of there. But bags over their heads on the streets of Turkey, a NATO ally, plenty of concern, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Quick confirmation, Barbara. Shore leave for the sailors are canceled at least for the remainder of the day, but ended longer?

STARR: Well, exactly. For the USS Ross, their ship, no more shore leave. The Ross will likely pull out of Turkey on schedule fairly soon. And then look, they're going to have to -- the Navy is going to have to look at this for the next, maybe ships that go in and see what the security situation is and whether there is a continued threat.

BANFIELD: So sad. Turkey is one of my favorite countries in the world, and such incredibly, friendly people there. This was really unusual to see this.

Barbara Starr live at the Pentagon, thank you for that.

Police have something to tell you about this video. See the guy pumping up, you know, gas into -- looks like big van. This allegedly is no regular fill up. It is a giant mobile that (ph) of gas, apparently using your good credits to heave it and resell it. What the heck? Pirates at the pump? We're going to explain this one, next

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: The family of a Liberian man, who died of Ebola in Dallas, announced a settlement with Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. You might recall that Thomas Eric Duncan was initially sent home with antibiotics when he came to the E.R. with Ebola symptoms and reported that he actually came from West Africa. This deal avert (ph) to lawsuit that under Texas law would have been tough for the family to win actually, dollar amounts, not being disclosed at least at this time.

Next time you pull out your credit card at the gas pump, trust me, you're going to be thinking about the video and the story I'm about to tell you. You're about to see a gas theft ring in action, alleged. It is not just that they're using stolen credit card numbers to steal huge amounts of gas, it is the audacity of how these rings operate that will probably knock you over.

Over the past years, senior investigator correspondent, Drew Griffin and his team got extraordinary access to investigators as they track one suspected gas ring. Just take a look at the cameras catch them actually in the act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go straight up.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: What you are looking at is gas being stolen. Police say it's paid for with stolen credit cards and pumped into gas tank like you've never seen before.

BERT ROSS, LILBURN, GEORGIA POLICE DETECTIVE: That's the van. There is a stain on the side of the van, he's been seen before. They use a multiple of, you know, six or seven different credit cards in one day.

GRIFFIN: For the past year and a half, Lilburn, Georgia police detective, Bert Ross, has been tracking a ring gas thieves. It's a scheme called pump and dump. Across the country, these turn stolen credit card numbers into cash by stealing then reselling hundreds of gallons of gas at a time at a discount to truckers and unscrupulous gas station owners. And they key centers around these specially- equipped rigs.

STEVE SCARINCE, SECRET SERVICE AGENT: From the outside, this looks a stereotypical excursion that you'd see everyday on the road. But this thing is been completely retrofitted with siphoning systems and an internal secreted (ph) fuel bladder in the back of the truck here.

GRIFFIN: Secret Service agent Steve Scarince, who supervises the Los Angeles Fraud Task Force has been tracking the scam nationally. He says hidden compartments can hold up to 300 gallons of fuel. It's transferred then sent right back into the system.

SCARINCE: It looks like -- yes. It looks like a very legitimate delivery because this, what, delivers normal gas, not stolen. So you wouldn't think twice about this particular truck being in a lot offloading fuel.

So you got two ends of this deal. One guy is stealing the gas, the other guys is knowingly buying stolen gas.

GRIFFIN: Correct.

SCARINCE: And that's the scheme, and they're making a lot of money.

GRIFFIN: Millions. Millions and millions of dollars.

SCARINCE: With six trucks. Let's say six truck with a 600 gallon tank, they fill it twice a day, six days a week. Gross profit is close to probably $10 million. GRIFFIN: The ring being watched by Lilburn police detective Bert Ross is working their scheme just outside Atlanta. Here in a suburban gas station, we watched as the suspect with the white van uses one stolen credit card after another to pay for diesel fuel.

ROSS: Well, this is definitely one of our primary guys.

GRIFFIN: During his 17 minutes at the pump, the suspect uses two stolen credit cards, four separate transactions, totaling $349 dollars to pay for 95 gallons of diesel fuel. Thieves either steal credit card information or buy stolen credit card numbers online, then make the cards themselves with machines like this, also easily bought online.

Back at police headquarters, Ross watches the suspected ring leader use stolen credit cards at a gas station as a hidden camera watches.

ROSS: This is our primary suspect driving his vehicle into the gas station, and pumping diesel into the vehicle which we suspect has a bladder in the back. He has no idea and he's, you know, he doesn't seem to care too much about the fact that that's what he's doing. To the rest of the world, he's just another person pumping gas into his car.

GRIFFIN: The surveillance video shows the suspect coming back day after day and week after week. Detective Ross follows other suspected members of the same ring.

ROSS: He's moving? OK. Which way is he going? He's obviously looking around. He's a little suspicious but he sees nothing around to worry about. He continues on.

GRIFFIN: The suspicious trucks keep active.

ROSS: I want to turn back around because I want to take some pictures of that vehicle. We don't want to make him too suspicious. There's -- one of the suspect's right there, he's outside. There's a van. A white van that's back there.

GRIFFIN: It's sophisticated, organized crime. And according to the secret service, everyone involved knows this is illegal.

SCARINCE: And there's no doubt that the "bad" gas station owners know they're getting stolen gas.

GRIFFIN: Absolutely. Crooked gas stations buy the fuel for roughly a dollar a gallon. Truckers in on the scheme in Georgia get a deep discount.

ROSS: They're transporting that fuel all around the state, sometimes outside of the state, and they're meeting with truckers, semi-truck drivers, and they're selling the fuel for about half the price.

On Monday, October 27th, at 5:00 a.m., operation members let's cue (ph) the search and arrest warrants... GRIFFIN: 18 months after Detective Ross was tipped off that this ring working in his area, the criminals are about to get an early wake up call.

ROSS. These are our primary suspects.

GRIFFIN: 75 law enforcement officers span out before sunrise. And hit seven locations including the ring leader's home.

Jorge Garcia Ramirez is identified as the boss. Inside his house, police say, is evidence of stolen credit cards at a fulltime operation. He's the suspect caught on camera at the gas station.

ROSS: This time we suspect that there's some evidence at this location that they may be manufacturing the con cards.

GRIFFIN: Ramirez has not yet entered a plea to fraud and identity theft. And the suspect we saw pumping gas into the white van, police are looking for him.

Also, confiscated, what Detective Ross says, are the vehicles used to pump and dump the gas. Customized hidden containers. This L-shaped box can hold up to 113 gallons.

Any idea how much money is involved here?

ROSS: A lot. But they operate five, six days a week every week, all year long, committing these crimes and it's up until now, where they finally had to pay for what they've done.

GRIFFIN: But busting this one ring took 18 months. There's no telling how many is still operate across the country, stealing credit card numbers to pump and dump gas.

Drew Griffin, CNN, Lilburn, Georgia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Did you hear the one about the woman who got a billion dollars -- "buh", billion dollars into her divorce settlement? Did you hear the one about how that actually might have been a ripoff for her? Believe it or not, that story next.

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BANFIELD: OK, buckle up for a whopper of a divorce. Earlier this week, an Oklahoma judge ordered oil tycoon Harold Hamm to pay his ex- wife Sue Ann Hamm a -- basically $1 billion, just shy of it. Joining the ranks of the biggest divorces in history, but Hamm's settlement actually looks like a bargain compared to the $4.8 billion that the Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev was ordered to pay his ex-wife Elena earlier this year.

And who could forget Alex and Jocelyn Wildenstein their divorce otherwise known as the cat woman because of all the plastic surgeries she got. She was awarded $2.5 billion in then sum (ph). Joining me to talk about this massive divorce settlement and how they actually come up with them, CNN Legal Analyst Paul Callan.

Everybody went bananas upon hearing $1 billion, for heaven's sake that's crazy. But what was this guy actually worth? What were their marital assets?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well he was worth in excess of $20 billion and they had been married for over 20 years. So, when you look at in that context...

BANFIELD: Like 26 years.

CALLAN: 26 years, when you look at it in that context, it may not be as big as you think. And just for comparison purposes, let's say an ordinary guy who's making $500 a week, the court says, you know, the wife would should get $250 an alibi (ph), right.

You say, "Well, gee, that's not too bad." Well, that's the equivalent of what, $10 billion here. She's getting $1 billion. So this is like the $500 a week guy giving $50 a week to his wife.

BANFIELD: $50.

CALLAN: OK?

BANFIELD: So why is that? Look, when the high stakes, does it change when it's higher stakes? Shouldn't she get 50 percent of the marital assets? By the way she was part of the company. She actually was a leader of one of the divisions, she comes in amongst (inaudible) she did a lot of work for the company, 26 years together, two grown children?

CALLAN: When you get into these really high income, high assets situations, it's a very different world, because there'll be a claim made by the husband if the husband just wanted the assets that a lot of his assets he brought into the marriage and then interest to crude on them or maybe the investment that was made originally was a pre- existing asset of one or the other.

So it's a complex analysis that occurs by the court and nobody is going to cry if she only gets a few billion dollars, you know...

BANFIELD: Well, apparently it's a shy of $1 billion and who knows what expenses their lifestyle actually take to keep going.

CALLAN: It's a tough life out there, Ashleigh, you know.

BANFIELD: Rich people's problems. Paul Callan, thank you.

CALLAN: Thank you.

BANFIELD: I appreciate it. So we're waiting for some pictures on the history-making faith mission and just ahead you got to find out what's happening on the surface of a speeding comet where it's true the probe actually successfully landed. Tale a look at that. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Today in our Human Factor I want you to meet the woman who lost 100 pounds all on her own, but that was just a start. She joined the CNN Fit Nation Challenge and she just went ahead and shed another 100 pounds too, two -- 200.

CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us this unbelievable transformation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: At over 400 pounds, Sia Figel was revered in her Samoan culture.

SIA FIGIEL: I was considered by people Samoan woman of strength, but there is no strength in pain, in hurt, and living with uncontrolled diabetes.

GUPTA: Complications for her diabetes even forced her to have all of her teeth removed.

FIGIEL: It was on that same day that I decided to be an activist against obesity and diabetes.

GUPTA: Already an acclaimed author, she used her platform to become a crusader, speaking to school children and parents about the dangers of obesity.

To jump start her own weight loss, she joined the 2014 CNN Fit Nation team and then began training to the Nautica Malibu Triathlon. In eight months, she not only lost weight by swimming, biking, and running, she also gained a lot of confidence. On September 14th, she became a triathlete.

FIGIEL: I just feel like I'm a new person. I feel like I've been rebirth, I've been baptized.

GUPTA: Not even a nasty bike crash could keep Figiel from reaching the finish line.

FIGIEL: And they wanted to take me in the emergency vehicle, but I said, "I can't do that. My family is out there. My team is out there. I cannot ride in a car. I came to do a race."

GUPTA: She finished the race with her team by her side.

FIGIEL: My team was there. I mean, the Sassy were there. And they brought me in.

GUPTA: More than 100 pounds lighter now, she's not ready to stop.

FIGIEL: I'll do it again.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Malibu.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BANFIELD: If anyone deserves a, "You go girl," it's you, girl, you go. All right, thanks for watching everybody. Wolf starts right now.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer.