Cheat!

Koko is perhaps the world's most famous gorilla. She was known for her ability to communicate using thousands of signs and gestures taught to her by her caretaker, Francine "Penny" Patterson as part of a research project that spanned 40 years. KoKo captured the public imagination with the way she appeared to think and emote like a human. But as Koko’s fame grew, animal behavioral theorists started...

In 2013, beef burgers—and other products advertised as beef—that were sold across Europe were found to contain traces, and in some cases, substantial portions of horse and pig DNA. Turns out, this wasn't a labeling mistake. It was a perfect storm: a largely self-regulated industry combined with precarious economic conditions, which led to a food safety scandal that rocked the world. This incident...

When Indian journalist Nidhi Razdan was tapped for a job as an associate professor at Harvard, she was overjoyed. She went through a full hiring process - resumes, interviews, recommendations, before receiving an offer. She quit her job and began preparing to move to the US. Then, one thing after another went wrong. Classes were delayed. Her housing wasn’t ready.  Turns out there was no job, and R...

Toby Groves was running a mortgage brokerage when he discovered a small mistake that had been losing the company money, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of money, very quickly. Toby was willing to do anything he could to save his company and the employee jobs that came with it – even if it meant breaking the law, over and over again.  At first it started with just one little, fraudulent loan...

Nigeria was struggling with a kidnapping crisis, that is until Abba Kyari took over as the head of an elite police unit. Kyari earned the spotlight through his ability to capture the country’s worst criminals: robbers, kidnappers, bombers, arms dealers, terrorists. His work was so dangerous—and he was so successful at it—that people started calling him “super cop.” He insisted he would go to any l...

On the surface, there was nothing remarkable about Larry Lavin. He lived in a quiet neighborhood with his wife and family, drove a Volvo, and practiced dentistry in Philadelphia. But, from 1978 to 1984, Dr. Lavin ran one of the largest cocaine enterprises on the entire eastern seaboard. Through the voices and perspectives of law enforcement, drug runners, friends, business associates and Larry Lav...

When Zoey Ellis lands a contract with a publisher to write a novel, she is thrilled. It's a dream come true. That is until she gets hit with accusations of plagiarism, and takedown notices are filed with all the e-book publishers. Her fantasy novel is set in the Omegaverse, a fan-created universe online populated by wolf-like creatures called Alphas, Betas and Omegas (A/B/O). The Omegaverse has it...

Pigs on planes? Snakes in stores? Alpacas in pharmacies? Most are emotional support animals (ESAs). And the demand for ESAs has grown considerably over the last few years, giving rise to a certification factory—all you need is the internet and some cash, and you can get a letter from a therapist designating your pet as an ESA. How has the rise in ESA certifications complicated the landscape for th...

Anyone growing up in the US in the 90s probably remembers hearing about how important it was to recycle.  By the early 1990s, the US’s landfills were overcrowded with plastic waste, and local governments were talking about banning certain types altogether. That is, until we all started working together to reduce, reuse and recycle. A years-long ad campaign taught us how to recycle, what to recycle...

How far would you go to eat a food that reminds you of home? Would you be willing to smuggle it over the border from Canada? Drive four hours each way just to taste it?  In this episode, we hear about a community of Pakistani Americans so obsessed with Pakistani mangos that they’ve developed their own supply chain--all to get a bite of a variety of mango you’ll never find in the grocery store. A S...

Instagram influencer Hushpuppi earned millions of followers by posting a window into the life of the ultra-rich, with his runway-ready designer outfits, garages full of Rolls Royces, private planes, glimpses into the glamorous parties. He had “made it” from nothing and he loved to be a symbol to that his followers they could do it too. But there was just one question: where did he get all his mone...

For 30 years, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper served as the principal of St. James Elementary—a Catholic school in Torrance, California. She implemented a curriculum that emphasized piety and Christian values—and was loved by parents. But financially, the small school struggled. There never seemed to be enough money for updated textbooks, field trips, or even lunch tables. Sister Mary Margaret spent...

Cheat! returns with new episodes weekly. Hosted by award-winning journalist and comedian Alzo Slade, Cheat! dives into the epic stories behind the biggest cheats and scandals out there, looking for answers about who they are and why they skirt the rules. From the allure of get rich quick schemes to the motivations of an imposter, Cheat! brings you stories of huge heists, online scams, dirty nuns,...

New Cheat episodes weekly starting in August with a whole new season of Cheat! Greg Priore was thrilled to be named the head archivist and manager of the special collections room at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He’d been trained in archives management and had an appreciation for the rare books he was now expected to protect. 25 years after Priore’s appointment to the role, the...

New Cheat! episodes weekly starting in August with a whole new season of Cheat! Here’s the final installment of fan favorites. In the mid-2000s a young guy from Indonesia single handedly changed the world of fine wine. He bought and sold hundred thousand dollar bottles without a second thought. He was a hero to a new generation of fine wine connoisseurs who had cash to flash in the boom years befo...

New Cheat! episodes weekly starting in August. While we’re away working on the new season, we’re highlighting some of our fan favorites, including this one from July 2021.  In the late noughties a woman appeared in New York. She was edgy and cool and she had a tattoo on her chest that read I Love Beards.  But she was hiding a secret. A secret that – when it came out – would turn her from just an o...

Missing your Cheat! fix? We've got a brand new season on the way.  In the meantime, we’re highlighting some of our fan favorites, including this this one from November 2021, where we talk to the cheater himself. At the beginning of spring 2003 a young journalist by the name of Jayson Blair seemingly had it all. In five years, he had gone from summer intern to staff reporter at one of the world's m...

Missing your Cheat! fix? We've got a brand new season on the way, full of new stories of the people we love to hate - Cheats! New episodes weekly starting in August.  In the meantime, we’re highlighting some of our fan favorites, starting with this one from October 2021 In 2010, the first of a series of international heists took place at a royal residence in Sweden. The thieves set fire to cars to...

In 1995, FOX aired the one-hour special, Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction? Amid various expert testimonies and commentary, there was a piece of footage from a mysterious source that further ignited a debate that had been raging for a while. Were aliens real? And did the U.S. government have more information—and more access—to them than we knew? A Somethin’ Else Production. Exclusive! Grab the NordVP...

In the 1980s, well-heeled Manhattanites opened their homes to a young man they believed to be Sidney Poitier’s son. He’d promise them parts in movies, and charm them with anecdotes of being on set with his father, or his life at Harvard University. They’d give him food, a place to sleep, and even a little money. The only problem was, Sidney Poitier didn’t have a son. A Somethin' Else Production. ...

Last year, Intuit—the company that owns the tax prep software TurboTax—reached a settlement with 50 state attorneys general, requiring the company to issue $141 million in refunds to users. The problem? For years, TurboTax has been advertising free filing services but only 2% of 70% eligible tax payers actually filed at no cost. And it turns out…that might have been Intuit’s plan the whole time. A...

At the end of this episode, last aired in August 2021, Alzo speaks to someone who knew the Heene family—behind the scenes.   In 2009, a little town in Denver called Fort Collins made international headlines. The Heene family were doing an experiment with a huge homemade balloon in their back garden when the balloon escaped its tethers and flew off. But it’s what they told the police that caused a...

For a long time, if you were in America and looking to gamble, you'd head to the racetrack to bet on horses. Maybe sip on some cocktails while you're there too. But that all changed in the mid-'90s--when gambling laws got lax. Suddenly there were more ways for folks to play it fast and loose with their hard-earned cash and racetracks had to find a way to stay afloat. The story of how one private i...

In the early 1990’s Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa. He began a process of shedding the sins of apartheid and show the rest of the world that his country wasn’t a rogue state. His foreign policy stretched from international aid missions to international sport. In this time, a new sporting hero came to fame: Hansie Cronje - the captain of South Africa’s cricket team. Over a six...

The day after Dr. Feng “Franklin” Tao returned from his trip to China in 2019, FBI agents were at the door of his home in Lawrence, Kansas. He was being arrested. Someone had called in a tip claiming that this University of Kansas chemistry professor might be involved in…espionage. An investigation began, under the mantle of a questionable national security program, which turned Dr. Tao’s life ups...