Fraudsters

In the final episode of our series on the war on drugs, we take a look at the present and future of this crisis with some help from Montel Williams and Dr. Sheila Vakharia. Yasmin Cader (ACLU) and Kris Henning (Georgetown Law) return for a roundtable discussion to offer their insight on the current state of the war on drugs and offer a hopeful outlook. From policy failures to glimmers of reform, w...

What, you thought we were done talking about The War on Drugs?! Well, think again! We’re back with a special epilogue and we're diving into Operation Pipe Dreams, the infamous federal investigation that led to the arrest of Tommy Chong. Join us as we explore how this operation led by John Ashcroft and Mary Beth Buchanon targeted businesses selling drug paraphernalia across the country. We sit down...

It’s the season finale of Fraudsters, and we’re reluctantly exploring the grim origins of America’s opioid crisis. From the Sackler family’s OxyContin empire, built on shameless marketing, fake science, and philanthropy-as-image-laundering, to John Kapoor’s Insys Pharmaceuticals, a scrappy underdog peddling fentanyl sprays, we unravel the fraud that fueled this epidemic. With half a million deaths...

Get ready for one of the most sinister and heartbreaking frauds this week – the Kids for Cash scandal. Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan turned Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system into their very own cash cow, sentencing kids to private detention centers they secretly profited from. How else are you gonna clear $330,000 of credit card debt…? From denying legal representation to forcing...

Picture this: it’s the mid-'90s. Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise dominates the airwaves, and America’s crime hysteria is peaking. It’s the perfect time for a new villain to emerge: the “superpredator.” Tune in as we unravel the fear-mongering myth born from flawed statistics, Ivy League arrogance, and moral panic—spearheaded by Princeton professor John DiIulio. We explore how this theory intersected w...

In the summer of 1989, President George H.W. Bush’s War on Drugs needs a dramatic touch for his first national address: a bag of crack cocaine bought steps from the White House. The DEA zeroes in on Keith Jackson, an unsuspecting young dealer, luring him into a dangerous setup to secure the president’s controversial prop. As Bush’s speech electrifies the nation, Keith faces life-altering consequen...

This week we’re taking a step back to Miami, 1987. South Beach is buzzing, and the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) looks like any other bank—until you take a closer look. BCCI was no ordinary financial institution. It was a global hub for money laundering, arms deals, and shady alliances with everyone from Columbian drug lords to CIA operatives. In this episode, we unravel the ris...

Get ready for a deep dive into America’s anti-drug propaganda! This week, we’re tackling everything from Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” crusade to McGruff the Crime Dog and the DARE program. We’re digging up the roots of these campaigns, exploring how they reshaped public perception and exposing the contradictions of Nancy’s White House role. From the scare tactics of Harry Anslinger to those unforg...

We're not done with Reagan just yet! This week, we’re honing in on the crack epidemic and its devastating impact on Black communities. We unpack the 1980s shift in American politics, where Reagan's policies expanded Nixon's "War on Drugs" and utilized racially coded language to criminalize Black Americans. We’ve got expert guests, Yasmin Cader, Dr. Sheila Vakharia, and Professor Anne Foster on the...

This week, we’re finally taking on Reagan and his starring role in the War on Drugs—there’s so much to unpack, we had to make it a two-parter. Reagan tackled the drug problem with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, ramping up incarcerations for nonviolent offenses and turning the fight against drugs into a military operation. In part one, we dive into Iran-Contra, Regan’s "October Surprise," Oliver N...

In this episode, we’re diving deep into the art of linguistic manipulation with a profile on one of America’s most racist presidents: Richard Nixon. Last week, we covered how the war on drugs helped fuel a system of police corruption. This week, we’re looking at how Nixon used clever rhetoric and dog-whistle politics to push forward an agenda that has left a lasting impact in the US. We’re talking...

This week we’re diving deep into the sick and twisted and well, corrupt underbelly of the NYPD during the 1960s and 70s. It was a simpler time when cops and criminals were one and the same. And the best part? Everyone knew about it and almost no one cared! That is until Frank Serpico came around. He was an idealistic young officer who refused to play along and take part in petty bribes, payoffs, a...

In this week’s episode, we bring to life a 1970 panel discussion hosted by Playboy magazine, where key figures from law enforcement, academia, medicine, and counterculture clash over cannabis. The debate features Harry Anslinger (J-L Cauvin), William Burroughs (Jim Taylor), Baba Ram Dass (Grant Gordon), John Finlator (Holden McNeely), Joel Fort (Greg Carere), Alan Watts (Ryan Feyk), Joseph Oteri (...

God Bless the Child that tunes into Fraudsters this week! In this episode, we’re diving deep into the story of Billie Holiday. Using three pivotal arrests from her life, we explore how systemic racism and unjust drug enforcement left Billie Holiday as a public target amidst Harry Anslinger and George Hunter White’s war on drugs. From her traumatic childhood to struggles with addiction, Billie’s fi...

In this week’s episode, we dive deeper into the sick and twisted mind of George Hunter White. We’re talking Operation Midnight Climax and everything that led up to the CIA’s most disturbing experiments. And of course, this includes a primer on “Poisoner in Chief” Sidney Gottlieb, who also enjoyed conducting LSD experiments on unsuspecting patients. They sprayed harmful chemicals over San Francisco...

In this week’s episode, we’re talking all things George Hunter White – an agent at the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and a monster! Maybe the two are synonymous… He infiltrated drug syndicates, tested truth serums, and eventually found his passion venturing into mind control and interrogation techniques for the government. We’ll get into the twists and turns of George Hunter White’s life – from bein...

We’re wrapping up the story on Harry Anslinger with the help of some incredible guests this week. We’ve got the voices of Harry Anslinger (J-L Cauvin), Dr. Woodward (Ryan Feyk), Representative McCormack (Marcus Parks), and Dr. Munch (Henry Zebrowski) to help us get across the absurdity that was the Marijuana Tax Act hearing. Let’s just say it involved a lot of talk about injecting weed into the br...

Harry Anslinger has now entered the chat. Meet the villainous mind who helped get us to where we are today in this one-sided “war” on drugs. This guy’s got it all: a strong anti-drug stance likely related to childhood trauma, racist tendencies and he’s a failed jazz musician – throw in some intense xenophobia and you’ve got the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics! Tune into this...

We’re back and better than ever baby! We’re shaking things up this time around and dedicating this entire season to breaking down the systemic fraud that is The War on Drugs. Would you believe us if we told you that this “war” has cost over a trillion dollars?? AND has ruined the lives of many in countless ways?! But before we get there, jump into the Introduction to Season 5 where our guest, Prof...

August 20th we're beginning our latest season - all on the War on Drugs! Subscribe now to get all the latest episodes every Tuesday! Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of Fraudsters ad-free.  Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collectio...

Join us for our last episode of season four as we close out the story of Milli Vanilli! We pick up right where we left off last week with the infamous track slip during Milli Vanilli’s live show that actually ended up making them MORE popular. Pretty soon after that, it became public knowledge that Rob and Fab were never the voices behind Milli Vanilli and they started on their journey to become r...

Girl you know it’s - girl you know it’s - girl you know it’s all about Milli Vanilli this week!!! We dive deep into the tragic story of the band and the producer behind it all, Frank Farian. Sure, Frank set himself up for success, but Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, the faces of the group… eh, not so much. Those two were famously just the faces of Milli Vanilli, no matter how hard they pushed Frank to...

This week, our journey with the former governor of Illinois comes to an end. Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened!! In this episode, we dive into our favorite crimes he committed and interview Rod’s attorney, Sam Adam Jr. We can all agree Rod’s accomplished quite a lot throughout his life. We wrap up his story by hitting some of the highlights talking through his trials, from att...

This week we’re back with more Blago, baby!! Rod Blagojevich is just the gift that keeps on giving– from Elvis impersonations to leaked angry phone calls to many, many, many talk show appearances. Rod’s given us a lot to work with, and for that we’re grateful!! In this episode, we not only talk Rod, but we try to untangle the web of corruption that was Chicago politics in the early aughts. Let’s j...

This week we begin our journey covering the one and only, Rod Blagojevich. Rod is the epitome of the American Dream– the son of Yugoslavian immigrants, he came from humble beginnings, shining shoes, delivering pizza, working as a… bookie. He worked himself all the way up to Congress and the story does not stop there! He ran for Governor of Illinois and won on an anti-corruption platform. Spoiler a...