Swindled on RadioPublic

The Producer (Joe Francis)

April 1st, 2019

A young entrepreneur’s Girls Gone Wild franchise leads to a litany of legal issues related to tax evasion, bribery, and false imprisonment as well as …

The Downline (Herbalife)

March 17th, 2019

A multi-level marketing company becomes a global success despite accusations of dangerous products and exploitation. Prelude: The peaks and valleys …

The Sting (Abscam)

March 3rd, 2019

The FBI turns to a career con artist to assist with an undercover sting operation that ensnares multiple members of the United States Congress. …

The Mayor (Kwame Kilpatrick)

February 17th, 2019

A young politician ruins a promising career with numerous financial and sexual scandals. Prelude: The unsolved murder of Tamara Greene.

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The Body Snatcher (Michael Mastromarino)

February 3rd, 2019

A prominent oral surgeon embarks on a new career path after an addiction to painkillers leads to the loss of his dental license. // Prelude: A horrifying discovery is made at the Tri-State Crematory in northwest …

The Formula (Nestlé Boycott of 1977)

January 20th, 2019

An international boycott ensues after a multinational corporation is accused of contributing to the deaths of millions of infants around the world.

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The Mogul (Lou Pearlman)

January 6th, 2019

An aviation entrepreneur creates the boyband craze of the nineties and one of the longest running Ponzi schemes in American history.

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The Deputy (Frankie Bybee)

December 16th, 2018

A law enforcement officer goes beyond the call of duty in order to steal money from an elderly woman.

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The Psychic (Sylvia Browne)

December 2nd, 2018

A self-proclaimed psychic makes a fortune by using her supernatural powers to help solve missing persons cases.

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The Contestant (Charles Ingram)

November 18th, 2018

A British Army major and his wife devise a plan to cheat the popular television game show, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

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The Hostage (Tony Kiritsis)

November 4th, 2018

The president of a mortgage company is taken hostage by a paranoid loan customer after allegations of mistreatment. Special thanks to Alan Berry & Mark Enochs, the directors of Dead Man's Line. Visit …

The Fyre Festival (Billy McFarland)

October 21st, 2018

A technology entrepreneur defrauds investors in order to build a luxury music festival in the Bahamas.

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The Tycoon (Allen Stanford)

October 7th, 2018

The financial empire built by Allen Stanford, a mysterious man from Texas, is revealed to be a massive Ponzi scheme.

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The Lawsuit (McDonald's Hot Coffee)

September 23rd, 2018

An elderly woman suffers severe burns after spilling McDonald's coffee into her lap.

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The Canoe Man (John Darwin)

September 9th, 2018

An English man is presumed dead after he disappears while canoeing in the North Sea.

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The Gigolo (Richard Bailey)

July 1st, 2018

A smooth-talking con man becomes the prime suspect in the disappearance of Helen Brach, a multimillionaire candy heiress.

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The Association (FIFA)

June 14th, 2018

A culture of corruption at the international governing body of soccer has plagued the world's most popular sport for decades.

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The Pharma Bro (Martin Shkreli)

May 28th, 2018

A young pharmaceutical company CEO raises the price of a drug for a rare disease and becomes the "most hated man in America".

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The Televangelist (Jim Bakker)

May 13th, 2018

A popular evangelical preacher's financial and sexual scandals topple his Christian entertainment empire.

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The Hitman (Frank Howard)

April 29th, 2018

A quintessential family man embezzles millions of dollars from his employer to fund a love affair and the attempted murder of his wife.

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The Judges (Kids for Cash)

April 15th, 2018

Two Luzerne County judges are accused of accepting over $2 million in kickbacks in exchange for imposing harsh sentences on juveniles to increase occupancy at for-profit detention centers.

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The Leak (Bhopal Gas Disaster)

April 1st, 2018

An American company avoids accountability for its role in an accident at a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India. The effects of the tragedy have lasted …

The Impostor (Jimmy Sabatino)

March 18th, 2018

A serial con man uses multiple aliases and his gift of gab to bilk victims out of millions of dollars worth of hotel rooms, jewelry, clothes, and …

The Treasurer (Budd Dwyer)

March 4th, 2018

An honest, hardworking politician reaches his breaking point after becoming entangled in a bribery scandal.

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The Contraceptive (Dalkon Shield)

February 18th, 2018

A pharmaceutical company looks the other way as its promising new birth control product, the Dalkon Shield intrauterine device (IUD), endangers the …

The Delivery Man (Brian Wells)

February 4th, 2018

A bizarre bank robbery in Erie, Pennsylvania involving a pizza delivery man and an improvised collar bomb leads to a scavenger hunt full of …

The Canal (Love Canal)

January 21st, 2018

Once envisioned as a model community, the neighborhood of Love Canal in Niagra Falls, New York, became the victim of a massive, man-made environmental disaster.

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The Treasure Hunter (Tommy Thompson)

January 7th, 2018

An incredible discovery of sunken treasure leads to a manhunt for the person who investigators have called "one of the smartest fugitives ever".

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The Horse Queen (Rita Crundwell)

January 7th, 2018

A municipal employee embezzles over $50 million from the city of Dixon, Illinois, to support her extravagant lifestyle and expensive hobby.

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The Lucky Winner (Eddie Tipton)

January 7th, 2018

An unclaimed, jackpot-winning lottery ticket purchased in Iowa leads to a cross-continent search for the winner.

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