Chameleon

In 2018, Michael Avenatti seemed to appear out of nowhere. A brash, flashy lawyer riding shotgun with the porn star Stormy Daniels as her allegations against Donald Trump exploded into a national scandal. Avenatti was everywhere and was even — briefly — considered to be a presidential contender. Then the mask slipped to reveal a man clinging to his own myth. Read Matthew Shear’s 2018 New York Time...

When Esther was a teenager, her parents supported her in joining a group that promised to help her with her drug problem. She found a world of secret rituals, forced confessions, endless meetings — and a community that for a while at least, seemed to be exactly what she felt she had been missing her whole life.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information ab...

Steffen Baldwin was a tattooed dog whisperer with an apparent gift for rehabilitating dangerous animals. He was a beloved local celebrity with a reputation for saving the most difficult dogs from being put down. But after one pit bull named Remy vanished, a determined owner, a vet and a local detective began to piece together a pattern of deception that revealed a far more sinister character than...

Jacob Kingston wanted money, status and the approval of his family. Then he met a charismatic Armenian oil tycoon called The Lion. What began with a deal over a shipment of stranded biofuel turned into a sprawling billion dollar scam where religious extremism, organized crime and green-energy policy collide. Listen to Michele’s podcast Kingdom of Fraud Chameleon is a production of Campside Media a...

When Mike Shannon was nine years old, he was told that his father had died fighting the Germans at the Battle of El Alamein. Michael’s father hadn’t died at all. He’d been a successful novelist and, quite possibly, a spy. We follow one journalist down a rabbit hole into the astonishing hidden lives of Alexander Wilson. Read Tim Crook's book The Secret Lives Of A Secret Agent Chameleon is a product...

A British band called The Zombies had a smash hit single in America with ‘Time of the Season’ in the late 60s. Shortly afterwards, four handsome Texans hit the road pretending to be the Zombies. This is the unbelievable true story of rock’s most brazen imposters… two of whom went on to form ZZ Top. Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck. Follow Chameleon on Instagram @chameleon...

The views from New York's luxury high-rise apartments can be spectacular. And the higher up you go, the more exclusive, and expensive the properties become. An artist became obsessed with those views, and the hidden world hiding behind them. She just needed to find a way in. Discover more about the Andi Schmied and her book “Private Views A High-Rise Panorama of Manhattan”   Chameleon is a product...

As a teenager in Milwaukee, Art Rapkin became a hustler, karate champion and a fake Bob Dylan. Then he started smuggling cocaine, before ending up in a Mexican prison, where he was tortured, before working with he FBI and DEA.  Read Poison for Rats by Arthur Rapkin and Alec Banks Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck. Follow Chameleon on Instagram @chameleonpod Hosted by Simpl...

Frank Abagnale Jr. became America's most famous con artist. He said he stole millions of dollars, posed as a pilot, a doctor and a lawyer, before working for the FBI. His story became a bestselling book, a Hollywood blockbuster and a Broadway musical. But what if the greatest con Frank Abagnale pulled was convincing the world that any of it was true? Listen to Javier Leiva’s podcast The Real Frank...

In the summer of 1991, a young woman walks into a police station in Ogden, Utah. She claims that just blocks away, amongst the manicured suburban sprawl, a self-proclaimed prophet has spent years building a secret religious empire — fuelled by fear, manipulation, and systematic abuse. Listen to Mike King’s podcast Gardens of Evil: Inside the Zion Society Cult Chameleon is a production of Campside...

The mayor of an idyllic seaside town in France had seemingly fallen under the spell of a glamorous mystic who claimed she could speak to the dead. Their relationship soon pulled the whole town into a mind-blowing scandal that blurred the line between personal loyalty and political corruption. Listen to Leo’s podcast The Mystic and the Mayor   Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audioch...

A promising high school basketball star seemed to appear out of nowhere—a talented homeless kid trying to rebuild his life after Hurricane Harvey. But Rashun Richardson was no ordinary freshman. In fact… He wasn’t even a teenager. Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck. Follow Chameleon on Instagram @chameleonpod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for...

In the late 1990s, a group of art students from Leeds, England, announce a week in Spain as their latest “conceptual artwork” — and Britain’s tabloids lose their collective mind. But as the headlines pile up, it becomes clear the “holiday” is only the surface story. And the Art is aimed straight at the culture machine that’s reporting it. Sarah Thornton's artist website Read Griselda Pollock’s boo...

His friends, family and a string of partners all believed a version of the same thing. That Randy was a former marine who now flew commercial airliners. But as the people around him started to look more closely, their ideas about who this charming man was began to wobble. And if Randy has been taking such great liberties with the truth then what else isn’t true? Chameleon is a production of Campsi...

A network of animal shelters in Uganda started posting heartbreaking videos of starving, mutilated dogs on social media, begging for donations from animal lovers. But as a group of women around the world began comparing notes, they uncovered something much darker: a sprawling scam operation where animals were being tortured for clicks, sympathy and cash. And they started fighting back. Follow Nico...

In 2009, Vincent Richardson walked into a Chicago police station and reported for duty. No one noticed he wasn’t actually a cop. No one noticed he was 14 years old. This is the story of the teenager who fooled the system time after time. Was it a prank? A cry for help? Or something else entirely? Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck. Launching November 13th wherever you get y...

When Heidi Cloud was twelve years old, she became the first child in America to be sent to jail for refusing a court-ordered visit with her father. As she grew up, Heidi came to understand that the real danger had been much closer to home. Her mother spent decades pulling everyone around her into a relentless world of conspiracy. Then she disappeared. Chameleon is a production of Campside Media an...

Heidi Cloud's childhood never stood a chance of being normal. A mother with a warped way of seeing the world keeps the family on the run and embroiled in an impossible custody battle with a historic and horrific conclusion. How does Heidi begin to untangle the truth when her own mother is as manipulative as she is convincing. Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck. Follow Chame...

He rode a mobility scooter through Central Park with a parrot on his shoulder. He also helped pull off one of the biggest financial scams in sports history. This is Chuck Blazer, the flamboyant soccer bureaucrat turned FBI informant whose corruption helped reveal criminal activity at FIFA — the organization responsible for world soccer, including the World Cup — from the inside.  Chameleon is a pr...

When Clayton Echard’s season of The Bachelor ended, he thought the public humiliation was behind him. Then a woman he barely knew claimed she was carrying his twins — something which, according to Clayton, was impossible. As the story exploded online sleuths begins pulling at loose threads. What they uncovered led to allegations of deception, forgery, and a pattern stretching back years. Listen to...

A swashbuckling South African expat, Benjamin Mauerberger, rose up as a boiler-room stock hustler in Southeast Asia, then reappeared years later with a diplomatic passport and extraordinary wealth. When reporters start pulling at threads, they uncover an entirely new identity: this stock scammer seems to now be a key player in the industrial “pig butchering” scam economy. How does a small-time con...

Join your Chameleon host Josh Dean and his partner in (dumb) crime, comedian Rory Scovel, as they dive into the incredible story of a shady Swami who scammed Newark, New Jersey into adopting the Hindu city of Kailasa as a “sister city.” The problem: Kailasa doesn’t exist. And the swami behind it? A notorious scammer who’s on the run from various charges, some of them very serious. “Very embarrassi...

Fyre Festival was sold as the most exclusive party on earth — a luxury music festival in the Bahamas for influencers, celebrities, and the ultra-wealthy. It became one of the most shared disasters of the social-media era, but by the time the truth had emerged, thousands of people had already bought into the dream. And if the organizer was right, could be persuaded to do so again. And again. And ag...

The story of a mild-mannered guy who charmed his way into the lives—and bank accounts—of women on two continents by posing as a wealthy heir with big crypto dreams. But Ken’s real talent isn’t getting your money — it’s disappearing before anyone can prove what he’s done. To listen to Natalie and Abukar’s podcast: Catch Me If You Ken Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck. Follo...

A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder should have been a footnote—a guy who raced once, finished 24th, and faded away. But in early 2026, Ryan Wedding resurfaces as a fugitive on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, accused of running a sprawling cocaine network and ordering hits across borders. How did a middle-class kid from a ski family end up here? Ready Alyssa and Tisha’s reporting on Wedding for ESPN...