In Part 2 of our Eric Adams deep-dive – Seena, Ariel, and Justin continue exploring how the former mayor (and current Albanian citizen) left the city with a $12 billion budget shortfall, led his entire team to federal indictments, and temporarily ended all racism with his cryptocurrency. 

00:02:30 — The episode properly begins. Seena sets up Part 2 as covering the ramifications of the Turkish pivot, additional scam highlights, and the moment the feds come knocking.

 00:05:00 — Ariel takes the audience through Adams' relationship with the truth via a catalog of minor biographical lies: the fake gun story blamed on a nonexistent co-author, the skateboarding claim that required his office to officially define a plywood board with metal wheels as a skateboard, the New Jersey residency mystery resolved by a press tour of an apartment he may or may not have lived in.

00:07:30 — The FBI raids begin. Search warrants hit his fundraiser and staffers. Agents seize his phones. The personal phone is not on him. He produces it the next day claiming he changed the password to preserve evidence and then forgot the new password.

00:09:00 — The Red Wedding. In a single week in September 2024, federal agents seize phones from the police commissioner, the first deputy mayor, the school chancellor, the deputy mayor for public safety, a senior advisor, and the chancellor's partner. Resignations follow like dominoes through October.

00:11:20 — The indictment. Five federal counts. Adams becomes the first sitting New York City mayor charged with a federal crime. He pleads not guilty and calls it politically motivated.

00:13:50 — The Trump pivot and the DOJ dismissal. Adams cozies up to Trump, cancels MLK Day events to attend the inauguration, and the Justice Department drops his case — explicitly, in writing, not based on the evidence but to preserve his ability to support the president's immigration agenda. The Klobuchar-Bove hearing plays out live. Danielle Sassoon, Trump appointee and Scalia clerk, refuses to drop the case and resigns. Six other prosecutors follow.

00:30:20 — The chip bribe. Winnie Greco hands a city reporter a bag of Herr's sour cream and onion chips at a Whole Foods. Inside: $300 in cash. Greco's lawyer calls it a Chinese cultural gesture of friendship. It is not.

00:36:10 — The NYC Token. Adams launches a cryptocurrency post-mayoralty at a Times Square press conference, claims it will fight antisemitism, calls blockchain technology block change technology twice on Fox News, watches it hit a $600 million market cap, then watches it crash 80% when a wallet linked to the deployer withdraws $2.5 million in liquidity. Classic rug pull. Frank Carone is involved.

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In the first deep-dive of Season 6 – Seena, Ariel, and Justin discuss former New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and his tenuous relationship with the truth. In Part One, we track his rise from a skateboarding (?), rat-owning (?) youth through his time in the NYPD, NY State Senate, and eventually all the way to City Hall where he proudly served the citizens of NYC (and Turkey).

00:04:20 — Eric Adams' origin story begins. Brownsville, Brooklyn, 1960. The absent father, the alcoholic butcher, the bag of clothes carried to school in case of eviction. The nail-studded bat.

00:07:10 — The Mickey incident. Adams and his brother rob a woman named Mickey, a dancer and part-time sex worker whose errands he'd been running. Later he claims he had a pet rat named Mickey. The hosts correctly identify this as a deliberate rewrite of his own biography.

00:09:00 — The precinct basement. Two white cops beat Adams and his brother on the groin and testicles specifically so the bruises won't show. A Black cop ends it. Adams sees the Black cop's power and wants it. This is his actual origin story.

00:22:40 — The One Brooklyn Fund. Adams creates a nonprofit as Borough President that functions as a shadow political operation — taking unlimited, undisclosed donations, routing Borough Hall rental fees into a private account, and using award galas where 70% of proceeds paid for the gala itself to build his future mayoral coalition.

00:34:30 — The Turkish connection begins. Two trips to Turkey arranged by a man whose explicit business was connecting Turkish corporations to influential politicians. Free business class tickets. The Cosmopolitan Suite at the St. Regis at a nearly 92% discount. An email claiming $10,000 in cash was left in a desk drawer. The cash did not exist.

00:39:50 — The straw donor scheme. Unable to take foreign campaign contributions legally, Adams is explicitly told by a Turkish entrepreneur that the donations will be funneled through American citizens. He says proceed. His staffers coordinate fake paper trails. Ten construction workers each donate $1,250, are secretly reimbursed, and the illegal donations unlock New York City's 8-to-1 public matching funds.

00:44:10 — The fire code favor. Turkey's $300 million Turkish House skyscraper needs to pass fire inspection for Erdogan's ribbon-cutting. It has significant fire code violations. Adams pressures the FDNY to approve it anyway. He texts about it. He does not delete the text. Ozgur tells him he is a true friend of Turkey. Adams responds: you are my brother.

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On the first Fraudwire of Season 6, Seena and Ariel delve into World Cup shadiness, some creative basketball player fraud, and Ken Paxton's bold pro-mistress voting record.

00:01:20 — Seena announces the episode topics: FIFA, basketball, politics. Patreon plug. Season 6 is officially underway, Justin is missing in Detroit.

00:06:10 — FIFA segment begins in earnest. Trump gets a red card overturned by calling his buddy the FIFA president. Ted Cruz thanks him out loud. The hosts establish FIFA as an affinity fraud operation masquerading as international goodwill.

00:15:30 — Pivot to Kara Krista. Former D1 basketball player from Estonia. $2.2 million fraud. He told one victim he would sell his organs to pay her back. Then he posed as his own mother asking for cancer treatment money. Then he invented a woman named Irene.

00:21:30 — Malik Beasley segment. Former NBA player. Allegedly agreed to manipulate his own stats in at least four games so an illegal gambling ring could cash out. He owed the ringleader millions in gambling debt. Six people charged, including wire fraud and money laundering.

00:28:00 — Ken Paxton segment. Texas AG voted in six elections while registered at an address he hasn't lived at since his divorce. Second-degree felony. He also spent the Fourth of July in London with his mistress. He cannot be stopped. He will not be stopped.

00:35:20 — Wrap and Patreon. Eric Adams deep dive is coming next week. Justin returns. Fraudwires will keep dropping throughout the season.

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Fraudsters is back with SEASON 6 - THE VILLAINS. We know, every season has villains, but this season will feel hit different: a crooked mayor, a deranged CEO, a children's show hellbent on hijacking YOUR kid's brain and a few more surprises. Seena, Justin, and Ariel are back! Expect deep dives mixed in with some Fraudwires so we can talk about the latest in what's frauding around the world.
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For our very last bonus episode of Season 5, we have an interview with Tommy and Paris Chong. And for the kids listening to the show, Tommy Chong is a Canadian-American comedian, actor, and activist, mostly known for his weed humor with comedian Cheech Marin and their classic stoner movies like Up in Smoke and Nice Dreams. In this interview, you’ll hear how Tommy got into comedy, what it was like for Paris to grow up as Tommy Chong’s son, and how they got into the business of selling bongs together, which of course led to Tommy’s arrest in 2003, as part of Operation Pipe Dreams. It’s a wild one, man!

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This week’s bonus episode is an interview with Marsha Levick, the co-founder and Chief Legal Officer of the Juvenile Law Center. We dive into the infamous Kids for Cash scandal—how it was exposed, the fight for justice, and the larger patterns of corruption that allow people to profit from locking up kids. We also explore the devastating impact of the War on Drugs on juvenile incarceration, the dehumanization of youth in the system, and how policing and policy have evolved from Reagan to today. Where have we made progress, and what work still needs to be done?

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Blume Professor of Law and Director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic and Initiative at Georgetown Law, Kris Henning, sat down with us over Zoom in the summer of 2024 to talk about the War on Drugs. She spoke about what led to her writing her book, “The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth,” how drug policies have affected kids in juvenile court and detention centers, the importance of language, and the role dehumanization plays in the War on Drugs.

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Check out ‘The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth’ by Kris Henning here: https://www.amazon.com/Rage-Innocence-America-Criminalizes-Black/dp/1524748900

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In this week’s bonus interview, we sit down with Yasmin Cader, Deputy Director of the ACLU and Director of the Trone Center for Justice and Equality, to explore the lasting impact of the War on Drugs on the U.S. criminal justice system. Yasmin shares what led her to become a public defender and her experiences practicing in D.C., NYC, and L.A. at the height of mass incarceration. We dive into the role of punitive drug laws, racial disparities in enforcement, police militarization, and the myths surrounding mass incarceration. Finally, we discuss the critical work being done to challenge the prison industrial complex and explore real solutions for drug policy reform.

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This week, we’re talking all things drug policy, harm reduction, and the lingering effects of the War on Drugs with our special guest, Dr. Sheila Vakharia. Dr. Vakharia is the Deputy Director of Research and Academic Engagement at the Drug Policy Alliance, which is a fantastic organization that addresses the harms of drug use and drug criminalization through policy solutions, organizing, and public education. Dr. Vakharia is also a harm reductionist, social worker, and author of “The Harm Reduction Gap”. Listen as Dr. Vakharia shares stories from her book and personal experiences, including working at a Syringe Service Program and the challenges of advocating for harm reduction in a system designed to perpetuate stigma. And we take a look at what’s next: progressive decriminalization efforts, lessons from Oregon’s missteps, and how the average person can make a difference.

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Welcome to the land of bonus episodes, where we release long-form interviews with a variety of guests about the war on drugs that we recorded in the summer of 2024. Here is our interview with Montel Williams. Now the host of Let’s Be Blunt, the number one rated Cannabis podcast in 2023, Montel Williams was a Marine and Navy officer where he undertook rescue missions and earned multiple medals of distinction. He then transitioned into the world of television where he became a household name with The Montel Williams Show, winning an Emmy in 1996 for Outstanding Talk Show Host. As you’ll hear in this interview, his show often tackled tough, controversial subjects, including the war on drugs and CIA involvement. We’ll hear about his transition from military service to talk show host, how his MS diagnosis led him to become an advocate of cannabis, and how the US used racism to perpetuate the war on drugs.

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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, we wonder, where do we go from here?

Stay tuned for bonus content with full interviews!

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Check out The Harm Reduction Gap by Dr. Sheila Vakharia and Let’s Be Blunt with Montel Williams 

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