Fraudsters

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 with journalist Brian Conway for an in-depth look at the operation's impact, and Tommy Chong himself alongside his son, Paris, who share their experience getting busted and reflect on the evolving war on drugs. It's a wild ride through one of the most notable moments in the history of drug enforcement.Follow The Show: Twitter: https://twitter.com/fraudstersLPNInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fraudsterslpn/Discord: https://discord.gg/WRZ8zgusPTWebsite: https://fraudsters.fm/ Follow the Hosts: https://www.instagram.com/seenanow/?hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/justin_williams_comedyhttps://twitter.com/arielleaty  Follow our Guests:https://www.instagram.com/heytommychong/?hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/paristchong/?hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/elbrayanmiguel/https://www.instagram.com/pghindependent/  Sources:https://www.laweekly.com/chong-family-values/https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2003/February/03_crm_106.htmhttps://www.huffpost.com/entry/operation-pipe-dream-10-y_b_2745740https://collider.com/the-wolf-of-wall-street-jordan-belfort-tommy-chong/https://finance.yahoo.com/news/real-wolf-wall-street-lived-190304316.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAALUINWjWcu9pmFFwl1XO5zewBMO7I0sXu_qS8YEWYEixh5aJ4UDIIqFJdR06DFb2gbD5B6i09_gPwroh-Z6gvveQYz2JQMzRKxBYKyTtQKjnya-3ud1iCd6YPnkTIzjIKrkT8MC94tyWOl1vH0xVd2-vAjm1HMR1xk70YEw7Mmh2&guccounter=2https://www.legistorm.com/stormfeed/view_rss/385742/organization/95775/title/operations-pipe-dreams-and-headhunter-put-illegal-drug-paraphernalia-sellers-out-of-business.htmlhttps://www.c-span.org/program/news-conference/anti-drug-initiatives/123135https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihDXmNzc9JA&t=40s Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts to listen to ad-free new episodes.

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, shattered communities, and contrasting fates for these corporate villains, it’s a class war in a pill bottle. Who paid the price—and who walked free?Follow The Show: Twitter: https://twitter.com/fraudstersLPNInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fraudsterslpn/Discord: https://discord.gg/WRZ8zgusPTWebsite: https://fraudsters.fm/Follow the Hosts: https://www.instagram.com/seenanow/?hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/justin_williams_comedyhttps://twitter.com/arielleaty Sources:https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/13/meet-the-sacklers-the-family-feuding-over-blame-for-the-opioid-crisishttps://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/business/01sackler.htmlhttps://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a12775932/sackler-family-oxycontin/https://theconversation.com/a-dangerous-method-in-defence-of-freuds-psychoanalysis-5989#:~:text=According to Freud's theory%2C mental,caused by early childhood trauma.https://www.bmj.com/content/suppl/2005/07/18/331.7509.DC1https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/12-napp-pharmaceutical-holdings-rhmq8hnpfgxhttps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sackler-family-oxycontin-opioid-drug-scandal-british-connection-q3wd30s35https://lithub.com/on-terminal-pain-and-the-origins-of-the-end-of-life-movement/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/27/obituaries/dr-arthur-sackler-dies-at-73-philanthropist-and-art-patron.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/business/raymond-sackler-dead-of-purdue-pharma.htmlal-health-data/https://casetext.com/case/kottayil-v-insys-therapeutics-inc/https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1516479/000143774915019892/R12.htmhttps://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/page/file/947866/dl?inlinehttps://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/page/file/1010246/dl?inlinehttps://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/10/health/insys-opioid-bankruptcy.html?searchResultPosition=6https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/14/business/doubts-raised-about-off-label-use-of-subsys-a-strong-painkiller.html?action=click&module=RelatedCoverage&pgtype=Article®ion=FooterLinks to clips:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaxlJXpwkzshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTR3R2jYw4Q&t=1127shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkeQifzvSNE&t=80shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtwFZwjCSTEhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w327H5VNT9Ahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s8kybr-YFU Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts to listen to ad-free new episodes.

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 minors into facilities over petty offenses, their scheme destroyed lives for kickbacks. Join us as we unravel their twisted web of greed and power with guests Marsha Levick co-founder of the Juvenile Law Center and Corene Kendrick of the ACLU.Follow The Show:Twitter: https://twitter.com/fraudstersLPNInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fraudsterslpn/Discord: https://discord.gg/WRZ8zgusPTWebsite: https://fraudsters.fm/ Follow the Hosts: https://www.instagram.com/seenanow/?hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/justin_williams_comedyhttps://twitter.com/arielleaty Follow Our Guests:https://x.com/ck94117https://x.com/marshalevick?lang=en Sources:https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-152/issue-30/extensions-of-remarks-section/article/E330-1https://ursdayton.org/about/https://thearc.org/https://www.timesleader.com/archive/330195/news-local-news-523246-ciavarellas-wife-files-for-divorce-2https://www.timesleader.com/top-stories/816416/ciavarella-denied-compassionate-releasehttps://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/us/21judge.html?searchResultPosition=1https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/us/12brfs-JUDGESARECHA_BRF.html?searchResultPosition=13https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/us/28judges.htmlhttps://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/20090328_judges_charges.pdfhttps://www.newspapers.com/image/535978548/https://www.newspapers.com/image/508543336/https://jlc.org/news/lessons-kids-cash-part-2-all-children-must-have-access-legal-representation-courthttps://jlc.org/cases/am-v-luzerne-county-juvenile-detention-centerhttps://www.newspapers.com/image/504007342/ Clips:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO-bXCdZpMwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdhsf1u3JVY Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts to listen to ad-free new episodes.

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 with the 1994 Crime Bill, fueling mass incarceration and devastating policies, with guests Kris Henning (Director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic at Georgetown Law) and Yasmin Cader (Deputy Director at the ACLU). Through stories like Terrance Lewis’s—wrongfully imprisoned for 22 years—we reveal the human cost of a lie that reshaped America’s justice system.Follow The Show:Twitter: https://twitter.com/fraudstersLPNInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fraudsterslpn/Discord: https://discord.gg/WRZ8zgusPTWebsite: https://fraudsters.fm/ Follow the Hosts: https://www.instagram.com/seenanow/?hl=enhttps://www.instagram.com/justin_williams_comedyhttps://twitter.com/arielleaty Follow Our Guests:https://x.com/profkrishenninghttps://www.instagram.com/yasmin_cader/?hl=en Sources:https://www.newsweek.com/did-liberals-put-black-america-behind-bars-297096[↩︎](about:blank#fnref1)Martinson, R. "What works?—questions and answers about prison reform". Public Interest 1974↩︎https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/03/us/politics/bush-willie-horton.html[↩︎](about:blank#fnref3)https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/1992-democratic-party-platform[↩︎](about:blank#fnref4)https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/1994-crime-bill-and-beyond-how-federal-funding-shapes-criminal-justice[↩︎](about:blank#fnref5)https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/6/20/18677998/joe-biden-1994-crime-bill-law-mass-incarceration[↩︎](about:blank#fnref6)Clips:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HY45DY2B8w&t=356shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izRCGHJmg0M&t=1568shttps://www.pbs.org/video/retro-report-on-pbs-season-1-episode-8-correcting-myth-superpredator/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0uCrA7ePno Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts to listen to ad-free new episodes.