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. They become engaged and plan a lavish dream wedding, to be attended by celebrities and officiated by none other than Pope Francis himself. Macchiarini proposed to Alexander on Christmas Day in 2013. And this trip had been planned for a very long time. But then I, and this was October of 2014, and I went and googled, the first thing I did was I went to my desk and googled, literally googled, Does the Pope marry people? And what popped up was an article from a month earlier where the Pope had just married 20 couples in the Vatican. And that presence was really something, it was really something. Macchiarini ran into some legal trouble regarding his stem cell treatments with Swedish prosecutors recently appealing a sentence given to the Italian surgeon, the Associated Press reported. [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? You will be asked to register or log in. She was even more stunned when she began to realize that so much of what Macchiarini had told her about his personal and professional life was a lie. 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 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 she meets Christopher at his shop. "He was a top doctor, he spoke six or seven languages. [00:19:01] Bob: It's just making it harder for every man in the world. to search for ways to make a difference in your community at Oh my God, um, confident. When Benita discovers that her fiance is not who he claims to be, she goes on an emotional journey to unravel a trail of destruction that leaves patients dead and their shattered families in shock. I mean not, not physically, but he could be quite uh frightening actually when he got angry. 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. 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 also had my beard uh, uh, cut there. Her multiple awards include: Edward R. Murrow, 2 Emmys, 7 Emmy nominations, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia, NABJ and Sigma Delta Chi. If your response is to point a finger at a victim, thats really sad. Of the eight patients given artificial tracheas by Macchiarini, only one is still alive today. And it's presented to me by Paolo, it's not even about our wedding or about our love story. Best Known For For her appearance in ID Now (2017), Dateline NBC (1992) and Inside the Obama White House (2009). [00:39:32] Bob: And as the day approaches, Benita gets to try on that custom-made wedding dress. 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. "I wanted to get all the information that I could before I really confronted him.". Six years later, in 2009, they filed for divorce. When she continued to press Macchiarini about the pope, she said he blamed Vatican politics, alleging that the more conservative former Pope Benedict went behind Pope Francis' back to stop him from officiating the wedding. [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. Macchiarini remains married to Emanuela Pecchia, his wife of nearly 30 years. In the course of that operation, the surgeons had nicked her trachea. receive communications related to AARP volunteering. He also directed ABC News to a list of reforms the Institute was implementing in the wake of the scandal. [00:35:01] Matthew Christopher: No, no, just her friends who are so much fun. She is currently the Executive Producer/Showrunner of the true crime series "Crimes Gone Viral," which airs on Investigation Discovery and is in its second season. With the preparations nearly finished, Benita decides to take maybe the toughest step she's ever taken in her 20-year career as a journalist. And I was, I was really moved by that. Excellent place. Along the way he promises her a fairy tale wedding to be officiated by the Pope. [00:20:06] Benita: We had kind of quietly gotten engaged, but we weren't telling anybody um, because I mean the complicated thing about this is that there's a sort of unwritten rule in journalism that everybody understands, that, you know, there's, there is a line you just don't cross a kind of sacred line where you don't, you can empathize with a story subject, you can sympathize, but you don't become personally involved with a story subject for, for the reason, obviously, that your objectivity could be compromised, right. And so I thought, okay, maybe its not as crazy as it, as it sounds. It does so much unnecessary damage. "And then I want him to be held accountable. [00:01:28] Benita: I grew up in Australia, and I had an uncle, my mother's brother, who worked for Radio Free Europe. Alexander was working on a documentary about Macchiarini's success in the medical field. Macchiarini and Benita quickly started planning an extravagant wedding, she said. [00:13:10] Benita: When I met Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, and when I was working on this story, I was at an extremely vulnerable place in my life. It was at this point that Benita said she started to feel that something was not right. 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. Sought after worldwide, people believed Macchiarini would one day revolutionize the field of organ transplantation, journalist Bo Lindquist said. And he, so his reputation sort of proceeds him, but when he walked in to where we were sitting that day, he, when he walked in, he looked right at me, and our eyes met, and I've never in my life had something like this happen to me before, but I, I felt like a silly, little schoolgirl. 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. 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. [00:31:04] Matthew Christopher: I'm a couture wedding gown designer. And so does anyone who has anything to do with the wedding. So I just found him very, I don't want to say intimidating, because intimidating's not the word. Spouse John Noel, Edson Jeune, Macchiarini, Source of Wealth Acting and Producing career. In mid-2013, they became a couple and in December that year they became pre-engaged as Macchiarini, who lived in Barcelona, Spain, said he was still legally married with two children but had been separated for a long time and was filing for divorce. 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. One of the reasons I am so adamant about continuing to talk about this is because I think victim-shaming is terrible. [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. She was 100% Daddy's Little Girl, and he utterly adored her. Then, just before New Year's Eve, he left the U.S., telling Alexander that he had a "really important surgery" to perform. [00:33:49] Matthew Christopher: I mean yeah, I'm like oh, look. Alexander was assigned to work on the documentary about Paolo Macchiarini who has considered a pioneer in organ transplant. [00:19:03] Benita: (laugh) Yeah, yep, yeah. "He comes around the corner, he looks right at me and in that second something happened. My friends and my family all adored him. [00:00:03] He was incredibly generous, you know, and so romantic and just so wonderful. "He and I started going to dinners and I was kind of pouring my heart out to him about all this stuff. By the time Alexander discovered these things about Macchiarini, she said she'd spent over $50,000 on wedding preparations and quit her job. But at this point, they're just questions. I was just giddy with happiness. Benita graduated magna cum laude from Wayne State University in Michigan, with a B.A in journalism. "The first thing we did was inform our boss, and then we also informed Paolo Macchiarini's bosses at the university," Corbascio said. You can also manage your communication preferences by updating your account at anytime. And I literally, I was really like, what? That makes me crazy. [00:00:34] Welcome back to The Perfect Scam. View our online Press Pack. [00:23:44] Bo Lindquist: Paolo was very well-dressed and very careful with his looks. He's also never spoken publicly about his relationship with Alexander. She couldn't do anything that a normal child could do. And she, unfortunately, was born with no windpipe. 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. Firstly , on a personal observation , girl , you absolutely need a makeover. 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. [00:30:37] Bob: So now that she's been told the Pope is involved, Benita has another secret to keep. I mean most 8-year-olds will change their minds, you know, many times, but I never changed. What do they discover? "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. The personal relationship between Alexander and Macchiarini continued to blossom. I had tried, at one point I pushed him away, and we didn't see each other for about three months. In addition to her work at NBC, she was the Executive Producer of the Oxygen documentary, "Seduced by Evil," which premiered in 2019 and reveals how a group of women banded together to take down the man who stole everything from them. I was like why, why are you videotaping me again. NBC News is pulling "A Leap of Faith" Meredith Vieira's documentary on controversial . I loved my work at NBC. Benita Alexander, an award-winning documentary television producer and single mother, shares her story in ABC's "The Con." ABC News At the time, Macchiarini was employed by the prestigious Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. And so it was kind of the perfect case for us to focus our story around. 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 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. ", Alexander, who waited in the car, said that the last time she saw Macchiarini, he had turned around and walked back up the stairs. And he was putting artificial tracheas, the windpipe, into patients. But her death was awful. These were made in a lab out of the very same plastic that a soda bottle is made out of, and then he would bathe this in the patient's own stem cells in something called a bioreactor, and then transplant that, this plastic windpipe into people. [00:36:51] Matthew Christopher: Yeah, yes, oh my gosh. So he goes to the Vatican, ostensibly, to ask for help finding someone who will marry us, and he calls me after that meeting and says to me, tells me I need to sit down, um, he has good news, but I need to sit down. Learn how vehicle tech like blind spot warnings and drowsy driving alerts can help make driving safer. "We had to clear her throat basically every four to six hours, sort of 24 hours, seven days a week," said Oscar Simonson, a cardiothoracic surgeon who worked at the Karolinska Institute and its affiliated hospital at the time. By the time he performed the artificial trachea transplant on Cetir, he had already performed the same procedure on four other patients. They became friends and over time she felt herself falling for him, despite her journalistic integrity impeding the romance. Among several lies, Macchiarini told Alexander, one of those was Pope Francis officiating their wedding. 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. Benita was pursuing a big story when the ill-fated lovers met in 2013. Just like, oh, the dance dress was crazy. I, my friends sort of joke now that, you know, I was blushing all the time, and I was just giddy. You know, no, how do we take viewers through a two-hour journey of this little girl coming, you know, halfway across the world to get this radical surgery, and then she doesn't make it? The Korean girl that had undergone Macchiarini's procedure in Illinois, whose story Alexander had been sent to cover, had died in the time following the surgery. Cetir died waiting for the lung transplant she desperately needed. [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. In 2020, she appeared on the ABC documentary series The Con to discuss her personal life and narrate what happened between her and Paolo Macchiarini. We were sitting together on the, on the plane, and I just sort of started pouring my heart out to him, and he was a very good friend. We had a long time together on the flight from Korea to Illinois. Both have covered Macchiarini in their work. [00:25:49] Bob: But, and this made him a fun interview, he doesn't mind debating his controversial techniques. And then every month there was a new surprise. During her investigation into Macchiarini, Alexander hired private investigators in the U.S. and Italy. I also believe that exposing what happened, and exposing him, might keep him from hurting others. 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?'". 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. 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. 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. I had butterflies or something like some, some kind of electric spark went through my body, and I, my immediate thought was, what in the heck is that? For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, Journalist Benita Alexander (right) has revealed chilling clues that disclosed her lover and famed surgeon Paolo Macchiarini as a "romance scammer", The two fell for each other when Benita was interviewing Macchiarini for a story, The couple planned a lavish wedding set to take place in 2015 that felt too good to be true after Macchiarini said the Pope would officiate it, Benita decided to hire a private investigator, which led to her discovering her famous surgeon lover was actually facing legal trouble over his innovative techniques, Benita said she left her job of 17 years to marry Macchiarini, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). "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. And a very, very good listener and was giving me very wise, sage advice, you know, about all these questions; what to tell her, how to tell her, and I was sort of soaking it all up, and I was very touched by the fact that this man seemed so incredibly altruistic. [00:32:26] Bob: And so she comes in with a small team, right, and you all sit around a table, and what does she say to you? I was so career-driven, and so career-oriented, but I was madly in love. 5. Alexander was assigned to work on the documentary about Paolo Macchiarini who has considered a pioneer in organ transplant. ABC7's Dallas Raines explains the difference, Jury selection begins for convicted torturer accused of escaping jail. [00:34:26] Matthew Christopher: You put your, I am going to make the most gorgeous dress you've ever seen. Quack, quack, quack. And it was, when I walked back to the motorcycle, he kind of, he just got off the motorcycle and I walked up to him, and I had tears streaming down my face, and he, he just grabbed me, you know. He soon proposed, only for her to realize her fianc was a complete liar around a year later. Together, they'd spend long weekends traveling to different countries, like Mexico, Russia and Greece. Benita Alexander is a strong, independent, intelligent, warm, and loving woman who thought she found her love connection with a man that swept her off her feet, much like prince charming! Gerdin also said Macchiarini had failed to obtain ethical permits to perform the transplants, which he said amounted to experimentation on human subjects. 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. 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. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. 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. We need to be pointing the finger at the con man.. ET on ABC. A presence. 5 Journalist Benita Alexander (right) has. And you know, dozens of roses and champagne and always the best champagne. It wasnt surprising being a surgeon in Italy. Um, and so he had, we were coming back into the room after dinner one night, and I was kind of teasing him. 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. He was giving people who had no other hope. [00:33:44] Bob: And you, you had outfitted Broadway stars, famous people, but even for you this was a big deal. Benita is the Executive Producer of the documentary film, He Lied About Everything, which premiered in the U.S. in 2018 on Investigation Discovery, and continues to be broadcast around the world. "The outcry was such that the Karolinska Institute had to do something," said Ritchie. And that's where we met for the first time. Then, one morning, she read in The New York Times that Macchiarini's colleagues at the Karolinska Institute had accused him of scientific misconduct and filed a complaint with the university. And it was, it was things like this all the time. 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