Fraudsters

Welcome to season 2 of your favorite fraudsters podcast! We would do anything for our children, who wouldn’t? So, let’s go into the Rick Singer College Admission Scandal! In this episode, we meet Rick Singer, the man, the coach, the fraudster! Where did he come from? What is his backstory? What led him to be the protagonist of the College Admission Scandal? Jennifer Levitz and Melissa Korn, authors of the New York Times Bestseller “Unacceptable,” join us to learn more about Singer and his story. Get it on!

TIMESTAMPS

(02:38) - Let’s get into the Rick Singer College Admission Scandal! Aka parents paying a bunch of money (on top of that you also have to pay the tuition) to get their kids into private schools.

(07:46) - Jennifer Levitz and Melissa Korn, authors of the New York Times Bestseller “Unacceptable” are here to provide some wonderful background and insight on this case. 

(13:20) - Who was Rick Singer? Where did he grow up? A little bit of background on this fraudster. 

(18:07) - “I’m gonna be rich someday,” Singer’s drive to prove to other people how wrong they were about him and his big charisma. 

(27:13) - Singer getting triggered by goals, being always the winner, and becoming the coach with unorthodox motivation methods. 

(33:25) - The great epiphany - Singer realizes the kids needed to be mentored and guided on how to prepare themselves and get into college. 

RESOURCES

Unacceptable: Privilege, Deceit & the Making of College Admissions Scandal by Melissa Korn, Jennifer Levitz

Jennifer Levitz on Twitter

Jennifer Levitz on The Wall Street Journal 

Jennifer Levitz on LinkedIn

Melissa Korn on The Wall Street Journal

Melissa Korn on Twitter

Tab Cola “Beautiful People” Commercial (1978) 

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It’s our last episode for this season and for our big finale we talk about the sinking of the Titanic of companies: Enron! The tech bubble burst and changed the game. Journalists began to ask questions and Enron went from ferocious beast to wounded prey. We have our first whistleblower in the show, Sherron Watkins! Who is she? How did she get into Enron? How did she end up as a whistleblower? And finally, we see how white-collar crime can be life-threatening and extremely detrimental to its victims. 

TIMESTAMPS

(03:36) - From predator to prey -  Bethany McLean starts asking questions. Journalists and other investors are seeing blood and they are hungry. 

(12:26) -  Introducing Sherron Watkins, who shares with us her experience at Enron. But first, who was Sherron before Enron? How was it like to work for Arthur Andersen?

(19:57) - “Enron felt more sophisticated, a little more polished,” getting into Enron, her experience as a female executive and meeting the “big guys.”

(28:31) - The bright and ambitious “buzz saw” Sherron Watkins tells us about the projects she worked on at Enron and running accross the raptors.

(41:12) -  Pointing the iceberg to the captain with selective blindness - The confusion, the letter, learning more about the fraud, getting evidence together and getting ignored…

(50:53) - Becoming the Whistleblower - Who failed? How did her letter get published? How did it feel to become a troublemaker for her own tribe?

(59:57) - The dog and pony show - Testifying in front of Jeff Skilling. “Things go wrong when smart people stop asking questions,” and some final words from Sherron. 

(1:07:23) - The level of evil - The catastrophic end of Enron and the inhumane priceacross the victims had to pay.

RESOURCES

Bethany McLean on Twitter

Bethany McLean on LinkedIn

The Smartest Guys in the Room by Bethany McLean

Hotel Kenneth Laya lyrics

Sherron Watkins website

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In today's episode we dig deeper into that California energy crisis and outline Enron's side hustle - broadband.

Special thanks to Collin Whitehead, a former Real-Time Trader in Enron's Portland office, for speaking to us for this episode.

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In Part II of our final series of the season, we show how a few inordinately bad actors and weak regulation lead to state-wide rolling blackouts and surging energy costs.

Special thanks to Harvey Rosenfield, founder of Consumer Watchdog, for walking us through this dark saga.

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20 years ago one of the largest corporations in the U.S - an energy trading corp. that boasted 750% annual growth – went down in flames. In 24 days it went from the pride of Houston to a stain on the country - pulling millions out of the economy, devastating its employees, and largely contributing to an energy crisis in California. In Part I of our final series of season 1, we talk about the men behind Enron Corp.

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Once upon a time there was a Scottish guy who failed up so hard that he got knighted. Then he sold boat rides to an island civilization populated only by malaria-carrying mosquitos. And because it was a long time ago and no one had phones, he got away with it.

Don't believe me? Just listen.

Bullshit really is timeless.

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Today we're diving into Wirecard, a fictitious and spurious payment processing company out of Germany. We ask tough questions like "why do all fraudsters wear black turtlenecks?" and "is Kraftwerk just robots?"

Huge thanks to NYT reporter Christopher Schuetze (@CFSchuetze on Twitter) for speaking to us for this episode.

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For part II of our mini-series on Ruja Ignatova and OneCoin, we are joined by the amazing Jen McAdam, who founded a support group for victims of OneCoin after herself being defrauded of several thousands of dollars. Jen's story is so compelling that the rights to her forthcoming book 'Fake,' have already been purchased by MGM - Kate Winslet will play Jen in a movie directed by Scott Z. Burns and produced by Winslet and Jennifer Todd.

First person accounts of the devastating effects of pyramid schemes and cults are hard to come by so be sure to follow Jen on Twitter @JenMcAdamUK for updates on the book and movie!

Huge thanks to Jen for joining us for this episode.

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This week Seena and Justin take a trip back-in-time to the late 1800s to find the origin of the phrase "if you believe that, then I have a bridge to sell you" and who was the person the media called, the Queen of Swindlers. Big thanks to author Tori Telfer and her book "Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion".

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