Unscrupulous

This week Bec (they/them) give us a bit of an epic, which is pretty fitting since it all takes place on one of the most epic tv shows of all time. Elisabeth Finch landed her dream job writing for Grey's Anatomy season ten, she wasn't going to let something like bone cancer stop her from success. But tragedy continues to strike Elisabeth everywhere she goes, is it bad luck or a very vivid imagination and a need for attention? 

Next Adam (he/him) teaches us that apparently white people have been pretending to be other races for much longer than you probably thought. Meet Archie Stansfield Belaney, but according to him, you can call him Grey Owl. After finding success in trapping, Archie has a change of heart and becomes an advocate for the wildlife he used to hunt. But what does it mean for all the valuable  conservation work that Belaney did while he was in a racist disguise the whole time?


Bec's Sources:

• https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/05/greys-anatomy-elisabeth-finch-truth-lies
• https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/05/greys-anatomy-elisabeth-finch-jennifer-beyer
• https://theankler.com/p/the-greys-anatomy-liar-confesses

Adam's Sources:

• Grey Owl - Wikipedia
• Grey Owl: Canada’s great conservationist and imposter - BBC News

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First Adam (he/him) tells us about a woman who would do anything to relive her glory years. And by anything, obviously I mean assuming her teenage daughter's identity to join the cheerleading squad.

Next Bec (they/them) recounts the epic opponents. Nancy Kerrigan and Tony Harding were constantly being compared, and right before the 1994 Olympics an assault against Kerrigan would change both skaters lives forever.



Adam's Resources:
Why One Woman Pretended to Be a High-School Cheerleader - The Atlantic

Bec's Resources:
The Price of Gold Documentary - Imdb 

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Ever wanted to learn about the Salt Lake City straight edge scene?? Now you get to!

First Bec (they/them) introduces us to the Hipster Grifter, Kari Ferrell. A young girl from SLC who has a penchant for lying; from her health, to her job, to the very existence of bank accounts. Kari uses her feminine wiles to defraud a lot of young men out of a lot of money.

Next Adam (he/him) introduces us to another sort of grifter. Ferdinand Demara is what you may call book-smart, so book-smart in fact, that all he needs is to stay one chapter ahead in order to become a teacher, a doctor and even a surgeon! This story feels very much like Catch Me If You Can, but is status the motivation here? Or just a desire to live the most exciting life possible?



Bec's Sources:
 https://observer.com/2009/04/the-hipster-grifter/

https://www.thecut.com/2022/05/kari-ferrell-hipster-grifter-comeback.html#:~:text=In%202008%2C%2021%2Dyear%2D,her%20and%20found%20the%20warrants.

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/hipster-grifter-kari-ferrell-speaks-jail-bad-checks/story?id=8552059

Adam's Sources:

• Fred Demara, the Great Imposter - HeadStuff
• Ferdinand Waldo Demara - Wikipedia

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Adam (he/him) returns us to the high seas. His story takes us to the Medici family in olden times Italy, one of the earliest art heists ever recorded and some piratesssss!!!! Yar might want to pop any seasickness pills yee have at the ready.

Next, Bec (they/them) takes us back to land to share the story or Rita Crundwell; comptroller, equestrian, embezzler. How does one woman steal literal millions of dollars from her work undetected for two decades, only to spend to all on horses? This is a wild story of a woman with brazen entitlement and a desire to live beyond her means. And if it wasn't for one co-worker seeing something they weren't meant to see, who's to say when or if she would've been caught.

Adam's Sources:

• Six of History's Most Incredible Art Heists
• 9 of the Most Brazen Art Thefts
• Paul Beneke - Wikipedia
• Anglo-Hanseatic War - Wikipedia
• Medici Bank - Wikipedia
• Hans Memling's The Last Judgment - the National Museum in Gdańsk

Bec's Sources:
Doc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXSZhKEddxI 

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First Bec (they/them) tells us about the very first child actor to hit it big in Hollywood! Working hard since he was a baby, Jackie Coogan starred in films with Charlie Chaplin, was the highest paid actor in Hollywood, and was the first to become successful from marketing himself. Unfortunately, his parents had other ideas of where his earnings should go.

Next Adam (he/him) tests his friendship with Bec by telling the scariest story that also happened in their own backyard! Home invasions, sleep watchers, let's just say you're going to want the lights on for this one.

Bec's resources:
https://medium.com/the-dustbin/the-story-of-actor-jackie-coogan-a-millionaire-child-who-was-beaten-to-the-ends-by-his-own-8d319ab9b02c

https://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/02/obituaries/jackie-coogan-child-star-of-films-dies-at-69.html

Wiki

Adam's resources:

• Encounters with The Sleep Watcher
• Still at large
• Police confirm photos taken in south end of Halifax
• Man acquitted in Halifax ‘sleepwatcher’ case will not have to obey peace bond in St. John’s

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First Adam (he/him) starts us off on a real bummer of a tale. A twisted tale of wrongful convictions, forced confessions and a group of students who fancy themselves pretty smart investigators. Spoiler alert: they are not, and they go on to disrupt a lot of lives in the meantime.


Next Bec (they/them) tells us all about Rick Singer and his side door action to get undeserving rich kids into good schools. It's all going so well until it blows up in his face and we have the wire taps to prove e v e r y t h i n g.


Adam's Resources:

• Anthony Porter's Wikipedia
• Alstory Simon, freed from prison after wrongful conviction, spends his time in Greater Cleveland working to free others

Bec's Resources:

• Netflix Documentary "Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal"

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Quit playing games with my heart.

We are diving into Bec's (they/them) totally embarrassing obsession with boybands from the 90s, namely the bands created, managed and exploited by one Lou Perlman. Lou's entire life was a Ponzi scheme it seems, and even while creating culture defining bands, behind the scenes, he was ripping off every single person he came into contact with.

Then Adam (he/him) teaches us about the most petty palaeontologists in history. These two men take "frenemies" to a whole new level. Foiling one another at every turn, paying off locals and even going so far as to hinder the pursuit of scientific discovery all in the name of being able to say they were there first.

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Bec's Sources:

https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/celebrity-mugshots/lou-pearlman/

Documentary on Youtube

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/apr/09/the-boy-band-con-lou-pearlman-story-youtube-documentary-nsync-backstreet-boys

Adam's Sources:

• The 20-Year Bone Wars That Changed History
• O.C. Marsh and E.D. Cope: A Rivalry

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Twitter fraud! Grand heists!

This week Bec (they/them) introduces us to Ryan Schultz, just an average twitter user and baseball writer with a dark hobby of harassing women online. But when he makes one too many women feel small, they fight back and expose Ryan's deepest secret yet.

Then Adam (he/him) tells us about a Canadian Danny Ocean. We make way too may Ocean's 11 references and giggle ourselves silly with every single one. Gerald Blanchard started his life as a criminal at a young age, starting with bottles of milk, but his ultimate masterpiece was stealing Empress Sisi's beloved jewels under everyone's noses. 



Bec's Sources:
Twitter thread 

https://deadspin.com/teen-girl-posed-for-8-years-as-married-man-to-write-abo-1820305588

Adam's Sources:
Art of the Steal: On the Trail of the World's Most Ingenious Thief

Make sure to follow us on instagram @unscrupulouspod and send us an email at [email protected]

A week of some pretty tricky international ladies!

First Adam (he/him) takes us to beautiful Italy, where we get to meet another clairvoyant! Eusapia travels the world dazzling audiences with her otherworldly talents; how does she make that table levitate? How did she leave a mark on the table with nothing but her touch? Well, if you even so much as take a guess, Eusapia will happily tell you how she does it, and give you a plaster souvenir of her face for your trouble.

Next Bec (they/them) takes us to New Zealand where we meet Amy Bock, or is it Percival Redwood? Or is it the local school teacher who sent an entire family a set of coffins out of nowhere? Either way, the odd behaviour of this Aussie expat disturbed those around her until the day she died.

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Adam's Sources:

• Becoming Eusapia: The rise of the “Diva of Scientists”
• Eusapia Palladino - Psi Encyclopedia

Bec's Sources:

https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-case-of-the-female-bridegroom/

https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/black-sheep/story/2018670137/con-artist-the-story-of-amy-bock

Wiki

Make sure to follow us on instagram @unscrupulouspod and send us an email at [email protected]

First Bec (they/them) takes us to Boston, the day after St. Patrick's Day. Unknown men dressed as cops take the opportunity of the distractions caused by the Irish celebrations to pull off the world's biggest art heist. Was it mastermind by the mob, or a stoned 25 year old?

Next Adam (he/him) tells us the story of the poor family de Védrines - poor only in luck, real rich with money cause they are aristocrats. Somehow average as all hell Thierry Tilly casts them all under a wild spell. Tune in to hear how one devious man uses his power of persuasion to take advantage of an entire family tree.

Bec's Sources:
https://www.gardnermuseum.org/about/theft-story

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Stewart_Gardner_Museum_theft

Adam's Sources:
Aristocrats and Demons | Vanity Fair by Michael Joseph Gross

ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: The Tilly Cult - Noble Blood | iHeart

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