Who Wants to Be a Billionaire?

"Oh, my gosh. You have got to be kidding," she says. "I hope they investigate it enough, because this is just completely bogus. It's bogus."

Doug Parks, Leola Gross' former attorney, says, "Has it occurred to anybody that Sam is crazy?"

Richard Borge

Mark Graham

CNN's Anderson Cooper called Sam Gross, who appears beside him in a February 16, 2006, broadcast, the "calmest about-to-be billionaire I've ever heard from."

Related Content

• Former Head of City's Urban Forest Advisory Committee Begs CPC Not to Approve Walmart
  November 17, 2011

More About

• Sam Gross
• Annie Lee Gross
• Zelma Joiner
• Floyd Lee
• Bobby Calhoun

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter: Our weekly feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more - minus the newsprint and sent directly to your inbox.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

Nothing, however, deters Sam Gross.

And out of undeniable tragedy--the mental decline and eventual suicide of Annie Lee Gross, leaving a 9-year-old boy without his mother or father--another string of misfortunes has come. Sam Gross is broke and has often filed court papers as an indigent; he's divorced from his second wife, legal assistant Dreka Posteal; he owes a lot of money to supporters; a landlord has had to file eviction papers several times; he subsists on offering credit advice and conducting financial seminars on biblical principles through a business he formed called "Concept to Wealth."

"Through Concept to Wealth," he says in promotional materials, "you will learn the proven hidden concept that has made and is making millions of dollars for hundreds of people. You will also discover how to become financially free, and spend more time with those you care most about."

And what exactly isthat concept? And who has it benefited?

Certainly not Sam Gross' children. His first-born son was murdered outside a Dallas nightclub in 2003. And in an affidavit he filed in defense of a suit brought by the state of Texas and his first wife, Brenda Warren, seeking unpaid child support, Gross paints a sad picture of his children's wellbeing--and blames it all on others. "Because the Attorney General knew that my mother's estate couldn't distribute assets belonging to [Gross]...which caused [Gross] to be unable to handle responsibilities to family and friends. Their lack of fiduciary responsibility caused pain and suffering against [Gross'] children, Samuel Raithel Gross, Jr., now deceased at 22 years of age; Christopher Lee Gross, who did not finish high school and is now unemployed as of the date of this oath; Terry Ray Gross, who is in the Air Force, struggling to make a living; and Sherry Ann Gross, who has a daughter and is also struggling to make a living with her boyfriend."

Maybe Gross' new attorney, Joe Ashmore, sums it up best.

"Money," he says, "brings out the worst in people."

Dallas Observer Editorial Assistant Natalie Trevino contributed to this report.