Lies We Tell

In the corrupt and deadly world of the illegal wildlife trade, criminals are responsible for the wholesale slaughter of animals, and the suffering of people, too. Justice is rarely found. Undeterred, one man set out to bring down one of the biggest wildlife trafficking syndicates on the African continent. His name is Wolf. And he’s a spy. Investigative journalist Runako Celina takes us through the bizarre and far-reaching web of the global illegal wildlife trade and those trying to dismantle it. From Luminary, Drake's DreamCrew Entertainment, Novel, and Thread Studios, this is Pull The Thread, Season 1: The Wild Life.

A suspicious death. A letter from the grave. A murder trial. Over two decades of legal battles. A look at the complicated case of a poisoned woman, and the lie of believing we can ever tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

When a school aide tried out a new communication technique with a non-verbal autistic girl, everyone involved had only the best intentions. This is the story of one woman’s journey to make amends for the damage she caused by coming to terms with her own self-deception.

After two men lied, pretending to have served in the military to get out of jail, a Montana judge sentenced them to carry signs announcing “I am a liar” in some very unusual and detailed parole conditions. We examine the war between American values in cases of Stolen Valor.

Syed Arbab starts a frat house hedge fund that begins to spiral out of control and brings his life crashing down. Why do hundreds around him buy into the lie, and how in his own heart does Syed deceive himself?

When one man’s obsession to hold long distance race cheaters to public account goes viral, there are tragic human consequences. Sometimes bringing the truth to light has profound implications. 

What are the long-term effects of deception? Undercover cops put their own identity on the line for their work, the risks – and the value of this work – may itself also be hidden.

When one aspiring screenwriter stumbles into a web of lies, the scale of this elaborate scam reveals quite a production, and hundreds of victims.

Pulitzer-prize winning historian Joseph Ellis’ vivid storytelling about our national history earned him many fans, including Alex Gibney. But when the Boston Globe’s Walter Robinson looked into Ellis’ personal history, he found some darker truths.