Jonathan Weil caught the journalism bug early. But it was his knack for spotting financial reporting sleight-of-hand that set him apart as a young reporter at the Wall Street Journal in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Caleb talks to Jon about the circumstances that led to him writing one of the earliest stories that questioned Enron’s accounting, his time peddling opinions as a columnist at Bloomberg, and his return to journalism after taking a spin through the hedge fund world.

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Join Caleb and Greg live in New Jersey NJCPA Convention & Expo [NJCPA]

HOW TO EARN FREE CPE

In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accounting CPE after listening to this episode. Download our mobile app, sign up, and look for the Oh My Fraud channel. Register for the course, complete a short quiz, and get your CPE certificate.

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Sources:
  Energy Traders Cite Gains, But Some Math Is Missing [WSJ]

  Dirty Secrets Fester in 50-Year Relationships [Bloomberg]

  Jonathan Weil [WSJ]

From Spanish Prisoners to Nigerian Princes, advance fee scams have endured for centuries, relying on victims to follow the same formula: pay first, regret later.

Sponsors
Routable - http://ohmyfraud.promo/routable
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• (00:00) - Introduction to Advanced Fee Scams

HOW TO EARN FREE CPE

In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accounting CPE after listening to this episode. Download our mobile app, sign up, and look for the Oh My Fraud channel. Register for the course, complete a short quiz, and get your CPE certificate.

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Sources:

• Advance-fee scam [Wikipedia]
• Spanish Prisoner [Wikipedia]
• Pigeon drop [Wikipedia]
• The 9 Lives of the Spanish Prisoner, the Treasure-Dangling Scam That Won’t Die [Atlas Obscura]
• AN OLD SWINDLE REVIVED. [NYT/TimesMachine]
• Nigerian Scams [Know Your Meme]
• We’re All Somebody’s Fool | Dan Simons & Chris Chabris [OMF]
• The Psychology Behind Advance Fee Scams [Fraud, Risk and Compliance]
• Chief Executive Officer And Orchestrator Of $10 Million Advance Fee And Alaskan Gold Mine Investment Schemes Sentenced To More Than 20 Years’ Imprisonment [DOJ]
• After Bilking Victims of $10 Million, Serial Swindler Is Sentenced to Nearly 22 Years [NYT]
• Lengthy Prison Term for Advance Fee Fraudster [FBI]
• Two Convicted in Multi-Million-Dollar Advance Fee and Alaskan Gold Mine Investment Schemes [FBI]
• The centuries-old scam still fooling thousands every year [Telegraph]
• Almost 800 arrested over Nigerian crypto-romance scam [Reuters]
• Nigeria investigates nearly 800 suspects arrested in massive cybercrime raid [VOA]
• EFCC bursts syndicate run by foreigners in Lagos operating crypto investment, romance scam [Ripples Nigeria]
• We’re Not a Bank in Kansas Anymore [OMF]
• 363: Enforcers [This American Life]

A respected leader of an Australian national search and rescue operation isn’t who he claims to be.

Sponsors
Routable - http://ohmyfraud.promo/routable
Rightworks Rightnow 2025 - https://ohmyfraud.promo/rightnow2025 (use code OMF15 for 15% OFF)

• (00:00) - - Introduction to Richard Flanagan and John Friedrich

In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accounting CPE after listening to this episode. Download our mobile app, sign up, and look for the Oh My Fraud channel. Register for the course, complete a short quiz, and get your CPE certificate.

https://www.earmark.app/

Download the app:

Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/earmark-cpe/id1562599728
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.earmarkcpe.app

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CONNECT WITH CALEB
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cnewquist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebnewquist/

Email us at [email protected]

Sources:

• Common seadragon [Wikipedia]
• List of impostors [Wikipedia]
• Fictional impostors [Wikipedia]
• National Safety Council of Australia [Wikipedia]
• Ash Wednesday bushfires [Wikipedia]
• John Friedrich (fraudster) [Wikipedia]
• The Story of John Friedrich: The Great Imposter [Australian Crime Stories / True Crime TV]
• Mr John FRIEDRICH Medal of the Order of Australia [Australian Government, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet]
• Friedrich and Flanagan: the con-man and his ghostwriter [Conversations / ABC]
• Richard Flanagan on lies, literature, and Australia’s greatest conman [The Guardian]

In this bonus episode, Caleb and his producer, Zach, discuss the 2009 film The Informant! Directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Matt Damon, The Informant! is based on the true story of a 90s-era price fixing scheme involving the multinational food processing and commodities trading giant, Archer-Daniels Midland.

• (00:00) - - Welcome to Oh My Fraud at the Movies

In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accounting CPE after listening to this episode. Download our mobile app, sign up, and look for the Oh My Fraud channel. Register for the course, complete a short quiz, and get your CPE certificate.

Download the app:

Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/earmark-cpe/id1562599728
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.earmarkcpe.app

Join Caleb and Greg live in New Jersey NJCPA Convention & Expo [NJCPA]

CONNECT WITH CALEB
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cnewquist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebnewquist/

Email us at [email protected]

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1130080/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Informant!

"A premiere true American...with integrity in all his pursuits.”

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Routable - http://ohmyfraud.promo/routable
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• (00:00) - Introduction and CPE Credit Information

In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accounting CPE after listening to this episode. Download our mobile app, sign up, and look for the Oh My Fraud channel. Register for the course, complete a short quiz, and get your CPE certificate.

Download the app:

Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/earmark-cpe/id1562599728
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.earmarkcpe.app

Join Caleb and Greg live in New Jersey NJCPA Convention & Expo [NJCPA]

CONNECT WITH CALEB
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cnewquist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebnewquist/

Email us at [email protected]

Sources:

• Cleansing of the Temple [Wikipedia]
• Money Doctor Neil Gallagher Gets a Bad Checkup [D Magazine]
• The Texas Preacher’s $24 Million Ponzi Scheme [Bloomberg]
• The Money Doctor — Parts I and II [The Perfect Scam]
• Securities and Exchange Commission v. William Neil "Doc" Gallagher, Gallagher Financial Group, Inc., and W. Neil Gallagher, Ph.D. Agency, Inc. [SEC]
• Securities and Exchange Commission v. William Neil “Doc” Gallagher [PACER, Case 3:19-cv-00575-K, retrieved March 13, 2025, SEC]
• One of D-FW’s best-known financial advisers is in Dallas County jail, with bail set at $1 million [Dallas Morning News]
• Confession [The State of Texas v. William Neil Gallagher]
• William Neil 'Doc' Gallagher: Sentenced to 25 Years, $10.3 Million Restitution [Texas State Securities Board]
• 13 things you need to know about Doc Gallagher, the Bernie Madoff of North Texas [Dallas Morning News]
• A Christian talk show host promised to enrich clients. His Ponzi scheme bilked them out of millions. [Washington Post]
• Now that prosecutors have put Doc Gallagher in prison for life, focus turns to his mistress [Dallas Morning News]
• Mistress of "Doc" Gallagher Sentenced to Life in Prison [Tarrant County, Texas]
• RECEIVER’S INITIAL STATUS REPORT AND FIRST QUARTERLY REPORT [GFG Receivership]
• The Money Doctor [Bloomberg Investigates]
• Gallagher Financial Group Receivership [GFG Receivership]

A baseball superstar winds up in the middle of a gambling scandal.

Sponsors
Routable - http://ohmyfraud.promo/routable
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• (00:00) - Introduction: The Legend of Shohei Ohtani

In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accounting CPE after listening to this episode. Download our mobile app, sign up, and look for the Oh My Fraud channel. Register for the course, complete a short quiz, and get your CPE certificate.

Download the app:

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CONNECT WITH CALEB
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cnewquist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebnewquist/

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Sources

• https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/shohei-ohtani-gambling-scandal-explained-everything-we-know-as-ippei-mizuhara-pleads-guilty-to-bank-fraud/
• https://igamingbusiness.com/sports-betting/bowyer-illegal-bookmaking-plea/
• https://www.mlb.com/news/ippei-mizuhara-guilty-plea
• https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bookie-pleads-guilty-running-illegal-gambling-business-used-ex-ohtani-rcna166050
• https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/japanese-language-translator-charged-complaint-illegally-transferring-more-16-million
• https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/orange-county-man-pleads-guilty-to-charges-of-illegal-sports-betting-involving-former-ohtani-interpreter/
• https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/orange-county-man-agrees-plead-guilty-illegally-transferring-nearly-17-million-mlb
• https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/40058806/ohtani-money-mizuhara-bookie-vegas-casino
• https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-28/ippei-mizuhara-shohei-ohtani-interpreter-mystery-gambling-scandal
• https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-20/gambling-story
• https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-04-11/ohtanis-former-interpreter-charged-in-federal-gambling-case
• https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-02-06/ippei-mizuhara-sentencing
• https://www.americangaming.org/resources/commercial-gaming-revenue-tracker/
• https://www.covers.com/industry/2024-aga-report-underscore-legal-sports-betting-market-growth
• https://sportshandle.com/report-suggests-illegal-betting-market-dominates/
• https://draftkings.gcs-web.com/news-releases/news-release-details/major-league-baseball-and-draftkings-expand-relationship-include
• https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/pete-rose-gambling-scandal-mlb-hits-record-banned-betting/bef86ec38adf1cb165801853
• https://www.espn.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=neyer_rob&id=1702483
• https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-court-sports-bets-20180514-story.html

Jonathan Todd Schwartz was a heavyweight business manager to some of the biggest names in show business. But a crippling gambling addiction led to his embezzlement of millions of dollars from numerous clients, including the singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette. Jonathan tells Caleb about his rise in entertainment, how it all fell apart, and how he has been working to seek forgiveness and redemption.

Sponsors
Routable - http://ohmyfraud.promo/routable
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• (00:00) - Welcome to Oh My Fraud

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-todd-schwartz-58585b333/

Altus Rehab

HOW TO EARN FREE CPE

In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accounting CPE after listening to this episode. Download our mobile app, sign up, and look for the Oh My Fraud channel. Register for the course, complete a short quiz, and get your CPE certificate.

Download the app:

Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/earmark-cpe/id1562599728
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.earmarkcpe.app

CONNECT WITH CALEB
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cnewquist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebnewquist/

Email us at [email protected]

See Greg and Caleb Live 

• NJCPA Convention & Expo [NJCPA]

Shownotes

• The Defrauded Famous | Alanis Morissette and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar [Ep. 68]

An elite medical school falls victim to an unexceptional scheme

Sponsors
Routable - http://ohmyfraud.promo/routable
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• (00:00) - A Suspicious Late Night at Work

In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accounting CPE after listening to this episode. Download our mobile app, sign up, and look for the Oh My Fraud channel. Register for the course, complete a short quiz, and get your CPE certificate.

Download the app:

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Sources:

• Complaint [PACER Search, Case #3:22-cr-00061-VDO, Sept. 2, 2021]
• Information: United States v. Jamie Petrone, [PACER Search, Case #3:22-cr-00061-VDO, March 28, 2022]
• Yale Med School Employee Charged with Stealing and Selling Millions of Dollars in Computer Hardware [DOJ]
• An administrator at Yale’s medical school is accused of stealing and reselling millions of dollars of computer equipment [Hartford Courant]
• An administrator at Yale Medical School admits stealing and reselling tens of millions of dollars of school computer equipment [Hartford Courant]
• Former Yale Med School Employee Pleads Guilty, Admits Stealing and Selling $40 Million in Electronics [DOJ]
• Former Yale Official Admits to $40 Million Fraud Scheme [NYT]
• Former Yale Med School Employee Who Stole $40 Million in Electronics Sentenced to 9 Years in Prison [DOJ]

A beloved zoo turns into a jungle of financial shenanigans.

Sponsors
Routable - http://ohmyfraud.promo/routable
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• (00:00) - The Unexpected Source of Hot Tickets

In less than 10 minutes, you can earn 1 hour of NASBA-approved accounting CPE after listening to this episode. Download our mobile app, sign up, and look for the Oh My Fraud channel. Register for the course, complete a short quiz, and get your CPE certificate.

Download the app:

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CONNECT WITH CALEB
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cnewquist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebnewquist/

Email us at [email protected]

Links:

• NJCPA Convention & Expo [NJCPA]

Sources:

• Barnum's American Museum [Wikipedia]
• What Is The Early History Of The Columbus Zoo? [WOSU]
• Columbus Zoo reviewing use of zoo-owned houses for family of executives [TCD Dispatch]
• Columbus Zoo: Top officials resign following Dispatch investigation [TCD]
• Columbus Zoo hires outside firm to investigate executives' use of zoo resources [TCD]
• Columbus Zoo executives may face investigation from Ohio Ethics Commission [TCD]
• Columbus Zoo won't share investigation details; Commissioners call for transparency [TCD]
• Columbus Zoo can't afford to get it wrong when it comes to CEO scandal [TCD]
• As scrutiny of Columbus Zoo mounts, board says they will release some investigation details [TCD]
• Columbus Zoo investigation: CEO used zoo money personally, failed to bid construction project at The Wilds [TCD]
• Columbus Zoo and Aquarium lost at least $631,000 because of misspending by former officials [TCD]
• Yost: 'The Bank hired the robbers to do security' on ex-zoo executives indicted Monday [TCD]
• Columbus Zoo 'clings to secrecy' construction company says in Ohio Supreme Court suit [TCD]
• Former Columbus Zoo Executives Indicted for Theft of More Than $2 Million [Ohio AG]
• Second Defendant in Columbus Zoo Investigation Sentenced [Ohio Auditor]
• Former Zoo Executive Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison for Fraud [Ohio AG]
• Former Columbus Zoo CEO Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison [Ohio Auditor of State]

Join Caleb Newquist as he discusses frauds great and small to understand the motives, methods, and impact of the occasionally hilarious but always devastating stories of betrayal and deceit.