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Show Me The Money

What would you do if you stumbled onto a fortune, in this case $200 million, and no one was looking? Would you keep it, or turn it in?

That's exactly the choice a group of American soldiers found themselves facing in the chaos after the invasion of Baghdad. On one day in April 2003, life-and-death decisions in combat took a back seat to personal decisions about right and wrong, and what to do with that cash windfall.

One of those soldiers, Matt Novak, says he made the wrong choice, a choice he's been paying for ever since. reports.


Matt Novak keeps small souvenirs of his glory days during the war in Iraq, mere trinkets compared with the items the former supply sergeant says he was sent out to find.

Novak and his unit, part of the Army's Third Infantry Division, were among the first to cross the desert into Baghdad. Novak's assignment was to scrounge for everything, from hot meals to mattresses. He says they called him the "go-to guy" because "there was pretty much nothing that I couldn't get my hands on."

After two weeks in the heat of desert battle, commanders wanted to give the troops more than just necessities. As the fighting continued, Novak says he and his assistant, Spc. Jamal Mann, were given their own special mission.

"You need water and you need cleaning supplies or you need whatever," says Novak. "And it goes from that to TVs, VCRs, DVD players, computers, to toilets, to sinks, to mirrors, to prints, to books. … It was everything."

And in order to get all the things that his unit needed, Novak says he had to bend the rules. Did his superiors know that?

"Yes," says Novak. "They told me to do it."

What did they say, specifically? "'Any means, necessary, Novak. Stealth is the key,'" says Novak. "'We need this. You have got to have this by noon.'"

Novak, a 12-year decorated Army veteran, was finding those things in abandoned buildings around the city, mostly in Saddam's palaces and the opulent mansions of his cronies.

"He was fairly legendary within that battalion as the guy who could get anything," says David Zucchino, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times who was embedded with the Third Infantry on the run to Baghdad. The first time they met, Novak was coming out of an abandoned palace – loaded down with expensive scuba gear.

"This was war booty! It was war booty! It was wide open," says Zucchino. "And the understood rule, nobody said it, the understood rule is whatever you need, you grab it."

But it was a discovery on April 18, 2003, that changed everything. Novak wasn't there, but that's when two of his fellow sergeants in the Third Infantry Division found a pair of cement sheds filled with metal boxes. Inside each box was $4 million in cash -- $230 million American dollars in all.

They turned the money in. The cash was thought to be part of Saddam's illegal kickbacks from the United Nations Oil-For-Food Program.

A commander at the scene showed off the money to reporters. "These are soldiers who make like $30,000 a year, so you can imagine what went through their minds when they saw this," says Zucchino.

"It was party time. They were just beside themselves. They were ecstatic," adds Zucchino. "I mean, they were giddy. People were laughing and joking and talking about what they'd spend the money on. Houses, cars, boats, yachts, college educations for their kids."

But the party was cut short by Maj. Kent Rideout, who locked the cash up and posted guards immediately. "These guys find $300-plus million and then what do they do? They come and tell their boss, and go, 'Boss, this is – so – we gotta get this outta here,'" says Rideout. "'Look at what we found. These guys are absolute heroes.'"

Are there any rules about finding money? "No, absolutely not," says Rideout. "You know, rules can't cover everything."

They got the first $320 million locked away, but that started a frenzy."The treasure hunt was on. It was like a fever, and these guys caught the money fever," says Zucchino. "And people were running through the bushes and looking in old buildings, and turning over garbage dumps, looking everywhere."

And no one had the money fever more than the ultimate scroungers, Matt Novak and Jamal Mann. "Why can't it be us that find the money," says Mann. "I wanted the chance to get some."

He got the chance that night with Matt Novak and a small group of other soldiers. Less than a mile from base, they saw a building just like they'd heard about. They decided to break in, with Novak in the lead. Inside there were 50 more metal boxes, like the ones from earlier that day.

"The floor actually looked like it was made of them. They were jammed in there very tight," says Novak. "We all took turns [getting it open]. When it finally opened, money's all over."

Novak and the others had found another $200 million, in hundred dollar bills. What were people saying?

"Holy crap," says Novak. "Oh my God!"

A while later, the lieutenant went inside, along with First Sgt. Eric Wilson. Novak says both men outranked him, and neither one was taking charge.

"I'm like, 'Hey, first sergeant. Aren't you retiring soon?' Threw him a stack of bills," says Novak. "And then Mann starts having a conversation with him: 'Don't you have kids going to school?'"

Novak says that's when the power of the money took hold, starting with a comment from First Sgt. Wilson, a comment Wilson denies to this day.

"And he's like, 'If you're gonna do this, do it smartly. Take only the used bills. Get rid of the new bills in the boxes,'" says Novak. "And then … there was a moment that everything turned … evil. The air was thick…The looks had changed. You could see that everyone was just out for themselves."

"What do you mean, evil?" asks Mabrey.

"Have you ever been in a room with that much money?" asks Novak, adding that another soldier actually talked about killing someone to keep the discovery quiet.

"Did you think, 'This money belongs to somebody. We shouldn't take someone else's money,'" asks Mabrey.

"Who did it belong to?" asks Novak. "Who did it belong to, Saddam?"

Novak says money was everywhere. They were stuffing wads of cash in their pockets, and Novak and another soldier dumped a box into a nearby canal. Mann helped them dump another. They figured the scuba gear Novak scrounged earlier would come in handy to retrieve those two boxes with $8 million inside. And they stashed another $600,000 in loose bills in a palm tree.

When Maj. Rideout, who'd locked up the money from the previous find, showed up, he knew immediately that something was wrong.

"Well my God! You walked right across the street, you know, 20 feet away, in this palm tree, and there's a wad of cash stuck in the fork of a tree, you know," says Rideout. "Right there in plain-sight view. And it was like, 'OK, you know, we have a problem!'" Rideout recovered the money from the palm tree and began an investigation. At least $12 million had gone missing. Novak, Mann and two others were confined to base for questioning. An amnesty was offered and eventually they started talking.

"Is there, in your mind, any justification for it?" asks Mabrey.

"Not at all," says Rideout. "No justification. Not at all. I mean, I thought about it for about two seconds."

"You actually thought about it when you walked in and saw that much money?" asks Mabrey.

"When I walked in and saw that much money, that flashed through my mind for a couple seconds," says Rideout. "'You know, God...that would be neat.' Then it's like, 'OK, Rideout. Wake up, you know? It's now time to be the leader that you should be and are. And let's get on this. This is bad.'"

In all, three boxes that had been hidden were recovered during Rideout's investigation – though one of them was no longer full. The lure of the money was so strong that Mann slipped off base and mailed almost $10,000 to his mother's house. Some of the cash actually made it all the way to New Jersey, but it was later recovered.

"I would have loved to have sat there and go, 'OK, soldier, you are awesome. Nice job these last few weeks, here's a hundred million,'" says Rideout. "We could have squared away the whole task force with that kind of money."

"But do you understand guys who don't make much money, who are in a terrible situation, they're being shot at," says Mabrey. "Do you understand the motivation to take it?"

"They get the little angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other," says Rideout. "Am I going to listen to the devil? Or am I going to listen to the angel? And I'm sorry, but that angel's gotta be strong. That angel's gotta come through. And those guys have gotta say, 'Love to do this. Not right. Not what we do for a living. I'm in the Army. I'm not a thief.'"

In the end, Rideout says most of the men got a break. First Sgt. Eric Wilson is still in the Army teaching ROTC. Spc. Jamal Mann received an honorable discharge and is now back home in New Jersey making $35,000 a year installing cable TV. But the Army decided Matt Novak was the ringleader and kicked him out.

"The Army's stance is that Sgt. Novak is the mastermind of this huge conspiracy to go out and steal all of this money and blah blah," says Novak. "The truth of the matter? It was no different than any other day. The money crossed … some certain boundary for them, which I don't really see that boundary."

The money, $780 million in all from four different finds, was flown out of Iraq – but not before a military driver tried to take $300,000 dollars on the way to the airport. Kent Rideout, now lieutenant colonel, told 60 Minutes Wednesday the whole haul is being used for the reconstruction of Iraq.

Novak is now back home in Wisconsin working at a hospital. He didn't come back with any money. "Would we know it?" asks Mabrey. "Would we see a change in your lifestyle if you had?"

"No," says Novak. But he's sure to this day that some soldiers are spending the money they found in Iraq.

"I know this," says Novak.

"What do you think others would have done?" asks Mabrey.

"What would you do right now?" asks Novak. "If you walk outside right now even here and you see money laying on the ground, don't know who it belongs to, would you pick it up?"

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