Scamfluencers

The Bridgegate scandal was a prime example of New Jersey political corruption at its most ridiculous. At the center was Chris Christie – the brash Republican governor riding a landslide re-election and a fast track to the White House. But when the mayor of a small town refused to endorse Christie’s re-election, someone in the governor’s orbit decided to retaliate by weaponizing traffic. Four days of gridlock on the world’s busiest bridge. Ambulances stuck in traffic. Kids late to school. And a trail of texts and emails that led straight to the governor’s office. What started as petty political payback spiraled into a full-blown scandal implicated Christie’s closest allies, tanked his presidential ambitions, and ended up before the Supreme Court.
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Carl Rinsch had everything Hollywood loves in an up-and-coming director: talent, charisma, and the ability to make people believe. His obsessive perfectionism was written off as the mark of a visionary. But when Netflix handed him millions for a TV series and the pandemic kept everyone at a distance, Carl went on a spree – cars, crypto, luxury mattresses – torching the money and every relationship he’d ever built. By the end, no one was buying what Carl was selling.
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When news broke that Milli Vanilli were lip-syncing frauds, it was a defining moment in pop-culture. Forty years later, their name is still synonymous with fakery. But Rob and Fab weren’t the masterminds. Behind them was a Svengali producer named Frank Farian, who’d built his entire career on a simple formula: recruit talented artists to make the music, then cast beautiful people to sell it. But when the truth came out, Rob and Fab took the fall – while their puppet master walked away clean.
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We’ll be back next week with a brand new episode of Scamfluencers. In the meantime, enjoy the conclusion of Martha Stewart: the Homemaker Hustler:
In the summer of 2003, Martha Stewart is indicted for obstruction of justice and lying to investigators. She stubbornly maintains her innocence and vows to fight the charges, but her cover-up falls apart during a messy and humiliating public trial. She and her stockbroker are facing prison time, but she’s determined to come out on top – no matter what it takes to get there.
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We’ll be back in two weeks with new episodes, but in the meantime, we’re revisiting an episode about one of America’s most famous lifestyle moguls:

Martha Stewart spends decades building her lifestyle empire from the ground up. Her cut-throat business savvy helps make her America’s first self-made female billionaire. But when she becomes embroiled in an insider trading scandal in 2002, it’ll spark a media circus and threaten to muddy her squeaky clean image. A damning investigation by the U.S. government promises to take her down – alongside some of her closest friends.
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