In 2001, the U.S. promotion was halted after fraud was uncovered. A subcontracting company, Simon Marketing (then a subsidiary of Cyrk), which had been hired by McDonald's to organize and promote the game, failed to recognize a flaw in its procedures. Chief of security Jerome P. Jacobson was able to remove the most valuable game pieces, which he then passed to associates who would redeem them and share the proceeds. Jacobson justified his long-running multi-million dollar crime as being his reaction to executives re-running randomized draws to ensure high-level prizes went to areas in the United States rather than Canadathough he did not take the stolen pieces to Canada to rectify this supposed problem, choosing instead to personally gain by selling the pieces. He began stealing winning game pieces after a supplier mistakenly provided him a sheet of the anti-tamper seals needed to secretly make the swap. Jacobson sold winning pieces for a percentage of the winnings in advance, initially to friends and family but expanding nationwide after a chance meeting in the Atlanta airport between him and Gennaro "Jerry" Colombo of the Colombo crime family.