He would call his fraudulent company 'London Investors,' a tribute that is paid in the film by Rosenfeld naming his own fraudulent company 'London Associates.' Evelyn Knight, who Sydney Prosser is based on, and would later be Weinberg's wife, was part of the scheme. Weinberg would then apologize to his 'clients' and make off with the nonrefundable fee. But, the banks and individuals didn't exist. The premise of this con was pretty straightforward: For the price of $1000 or more, Weinberg would use his 'connections' to aid others in securing a loan from an overseas bank. In the late 1970s, Weinberg was caught conducting an advance fee scam. Through the use of a hired con man, Melvin Weinberg, whom Irving Rosenfeld is based on, the FBI was able to catch the convicted individuals taking bribes, extortion, and conspiracy. Abscam was an FBI investigation that would result in nearly twenty convictions of government officials and politicians. Abscam or Abdul Scam is the real-life central theme of American Hustle.
