The Infomercial Imposter w/ Tawny Newsome (Fraud Friday)

This week, Laci is joined by actress, comedian, and musician Tawny Newsome (Bajillion Dollar Propertie$, Space Force) to hear the sales pitch from the star fraud salesman himself, Don Lapre. Plus more proof that love is blind (and expensive), as Jenifer Lewis discovered. Stay Schemin’! (Originally released 06/08/2020) CON-gregation, keep the scams coming and snitch on your friends by emailing us at [email protected]. Follow on Instagram: Scam Goddess Pod: @scamgoddesspod Laci Mosley: @divalaci Tawny Newsome: @trondynewman Research Assistant: Sharilyn Vera Sources: https://thegrio.com/2020/05/10/jenifer-lewis-victim-of-con-artist-nearly-400000-scheme/amp/ https://ktla.com/news/local-news/santa-monica-man-allegedly-conned-4-women-including-actress-jenifer-lewis-out-of- [ktla.com]nearly-400000-in-a-romance-scam/ [ktla.com] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWSCOQlicoU

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDeck's loans, up to $400,000, help make it happen fast. Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of five-star TrustPilot reviews, OnDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at ondeck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 0:29Speaker 01

  My name is Jessa. One of the things I love the most about working for UnitedHealthcare is that everybody matters. Every moment matters. There's a person behind every problem. I care because it's what I was put on this earth to do.

• 0:45Speaker 02

  I'm Ben, and I work at UnitedHealthcare. I am just one piece of a larger puzzle, but every piece matters. It's more than just work. We want to make the healthcare system better for everyone. I care because I want to make a difference. That's what committed to care means to me.

• 0:59Speaker 03

  Parents and grandparents, if you want a gift that won't be forgotten by New Year's, give a Guardian Bike. It's America's favorite kids' bike because most kids learn to ride in just one day. No training wheels needed. They're lightweight and low to the ground with a wide wheelbase for balance. It's no wonder they have a 4.9 out of 5-star rating with over a million happy riders. They're also designed and assembled in the USA, and they've been the New York Times Wirecutter's top pick four years in a row. This holiday season, save over 40% on kids' bikes. Plus, get $100 in free accessories: a lock, pump, bell, grips, and clamp. That's stocking stuffers covered. They have helmets and adult bikes, too, so the whole family can ride. Shop guardianbikes.com.

• 1:44Speaker 03

  That's guardianbikes.com.

• 1:51Speaker 04

  She'd throw things, wander, and started hoarding. Mom's Alzheimer's was already so hard, but then we found out she had agitation that may happen with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. And that was a different kind of difficult. So we asked her doctor for more help.

• 2:06Speaker 05

  Seeing symptoms like these in a loved one? It could be time to ask their doctor about Rexulti, Rexiprazole 2mg, the first FDA-approved treatment for this condition. Rexulti is proven to reduce agitation symptoms. Rexulti should not be used as an as-needed treatment. Elderly people with dementia-related psychosis have increased risk of death or stroke. Report fever, stiff muscles, and confusion, which can be life-threatening, or uncontrolled muscle movements, which may be permanent. High blood sugar can lead to coma or death. Weight gain, increased cholesterol, unusual urges, dizziness on standing, falls, seizures, trouble swallowing, or sleepiness may occur. Learn more about these and other side effects at rexulti.com. Tap ad for PI.

• 2:41Speaker 04

  I'm glad I asked for help.

• 2:43Speaker 05

  Ask your loved one's doctor about Rexulti.

• 2:48Laci Mosley?

  What's poppin', congregation? It's your girl, Lacey Mosley, aka Scam Goddess. Welcome to an episode of Fraud Fridays, where we release older episodes from the Scam Goddess vault. That's right. Fraud Fridays is where we bring back your favorite episodes from behind the paywall. Enjoy this episode from behind the paywall, and as always, stay schemin'.

• 3:29Laci Mosley?

  What's poppin', congregation? We are back for another installment of Scam Goddess. And yes, we are at home on our couches in the cribs, and that's all we're gonna say about that. I'm your host, Lacey Mosley, aka Scam Goddess, and I'm super thrilled. Look, I gave y'all a new word. I know I say "excited" a lot. Today, I'm saying "thrilled," okay? Even more excited. Uh, for our guest, she's a queen. You've heard her on her podcast, Yo, Is This Racist?, which is so amazing and popular and fucking dope. Also, you can see her starring in the new Netflix show with Steve Carell called Space Force. We have Miss Toni Newsom. Toni, did I say your last name right?

• 4:08Speaker 07

  Oh, Lacey, thank you so much. I think so. I don't know. There's a weird delay. It could have been wrong, but you probably got it.

• 4:14Laci Mosley?

  It's Newsom. I just feel like I never say your last name. Like, I know you. We have this always, Toni. Like, I never really say your last name.

• 4:21Speaker 07

  Yeah, you don't really need, I don't really know many other Tonys, so we don't need it.

• 4:26Laci Mosley?

  It's a good name. It's a really, it's like Lacey, like Lacey, we're pretty rare. I rarely meet a Lacey. There's like Lacey Duval, she be fucking, and then Lacey Peterson, that was sad. Um, people just call me Lacey Peterson.

• 4:39Speaker 07

  I know a Lacey, I know a, a white Lacey who used to teach spin classes in my old neighborhood, but then she got fired for yelling at a white man. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.

• 4:51Laci Mosley?

  I think I like that Lacey. I think I like that Lacey. Sounds like we would be cool.

• 4:56Speaker 07

  I was on her side. She did, she did yell at him real hard, but also like, he was wild, so. I'm with that Lacey. All the Lacies I know personally, I'm with.

• 5:06Laci Mosley?

  Yes. I, I can't, I've only gotten to really yell at somebody real hard, like twice in my life. And boy, can I tell you, it's liberating. Have you ever just cuss somebody out real good? They, cuz they deserved it. They deserved it. I did it once and unfortunately, the circumstances weren't great cuz I was outside of a theater, we won't say which. And there was a valet line and I started cursing these heifers out so bad. The valet line started clapping at the end. I was like, oh, I need to go home.

• 5:39Speaker 07

  Hell, yeah.

• 5:40Laci Mosley?

  So first I wanna ask you just a little question, like, do you have any relationship with scams? Have you ever been scammed?

• 5:45Speaker 07

  You know, um, I was raised by a very tough mom who, um, always taught me to be on the lookout for shenanigans and taught me to keep my wits about me. I will say this, I have never been pickpocketed. I have never been mugged. I have no, and a lot of that is luck. A lot of that is my height and my stature. I'm, I'm not a small woman, so I am less likely to be grabbed or to be, uh, for people to try and pull some shit with me. But also like my head is on a swivel, honey, to the point where I look crazy when I travel. I look, I'm just, I'm the, I'm the paranoid friend you want with you on a crowded train in a country you've never been to before.

• 6:23Laci Mosley?

  Like if you were in Taken, they would have been. If you were in Taken, you would be like, girl, we ain't getting in a car here. Oh damn, you would have been Liam, you wouldn't even have been the friend. Tommy, Tommy, I'm a neck chopping.

• 6:39Speaker 07

  I am a little like, I'm a little bit of a vigilante in that way. Just because like, I can see, my mom just taught me to recognize behaviors of just people who meant you harm. Even if it's, you know, mild harm, even if it's just like pickpocketing or whatever. So I will say that I have been lucky and I've been strategic and that's never happened to me. I will recall one time I went with my mom to Barcelona and you know, a lot of European cities have a lot of just like petty pickpocketing. That's not even in any shade. America has way bigger problems, but just in Europe, the pickpocketing game is rampant.

• 7:14Laci Mosley?

  It's cute. It's a little cute.

• 7:15Speaker 07

  There.

• 7:16Laci Mosley?

  It's like the little kids.

• 7:18Speaker 07

  It's a little Oliver twist.

• 7:19Laci Mosley?

  Hello, may I rob your pockets? And you know, it feels a little cute. I'm like, yeah, why not?

• 7:26Speaker 07

  Why not? And I will never forget coming down some steps in a subway and I turn around to look for my mom and my mom has a 12-year-old child by the wrist and she's just looking her in the eyes and going, "Why did you put your hand in my purse?" And the kid's like, "Uh, uh, uh," and then just breaks free and runs away. I was like, "Okay, we're gonna, we're gonna be alright." Because I was a little nervous, like, traveling, I was traveling with my mom, my husband's mom. It was like, we had all these moms with us and I was like, "Oh, I'm dragging them through, through Europe. They're gonna get their ass pickpocketed or something." But no one did. So yeah, I'm always on the lookout for scams.

• 8:01Laci Mosley?

  I love how calm your mom was. She was like, "Why are you wrapping me?"

• 8:03Speaker 07

  Because she was also like, "It's a child." Right. Like, she wanted to freak out or scream. She was just like, "Hey, we don't do that." I'll also say, my dad is a very paranoid person and he has always raised me to be paranoid.

• 8:17Laci Mosley?

  Yeah, that's a black people thing.

• 8:19Speaker 07

  I've combated, it's a real black people thing. He loves to send me an article about the KKK, like, you know, often. So, and most of the time, he's right, but... What what has just done for me is it's kept me, it's kept me aware of scams even when they're a little, even when maybe they're not that, um, you know, threatening. I I think I'm a.

• 8:42Laci Mosley?

  Yeah.

• 8:42Speaker 07

  I think I can avoid stuff pretty well.

• 8:44Laci Mosley?

  I appreciate that. So you're definitely not a mark. So you're probably closer to maybe one day being a scammer. Cause that's, you know, that's how the the scale goes. It goes, we have hardcore marks and empathizers on one side. And then we have people who are real, real alert towards the middle. And then the far right is like really bad scammers. And then the middle of the right is like people who just like a little, you know, just like a little light fraud, you know, just like a little taste of chicanery.

• 9:09Speaker 07

  Mm hmm.

• 9:10Laci Mosley?

  You know, every now and then we skip a line.

• 9:12Speaker 07

  I would love a little bit of, I'd love to do some light fraud. I wonder if it's just never occurred to me. But I think I would be good at it. Is that a bad thing to say?

• 9:20Laci Mosley?

  No, I think that's an excellent thing to say. And I also think you would be excellent at it, as you are at most things. All things really that I know that you do, Toni, are excellent. So I I su- I fully believe that you would also succeed at this. Um, you know, what's funny about scamming is like, a lot of times it's just shit that nobody thinks up to do. Like I took a psychology class, which really in college, which really, really started me like being interested in scams because they were teaching me stuff in the psych class about, you know, bystander effect and uh, ways that, you know, social uh, communities interact with one another as a whole. And then I was reading it and started to realize that I was like, oh, I could just start cheating people. That's not what they were trying to teach me. But I was like, hmm.

• 10:01Laci Mosley?

  That's what I took from it. Shout out to the University of Pittsburgh College. Like, for example, if you're in a line and you give anybody an excuse in front of you for why you need to cut them. Unless like, it's like a concert or something that people are real thirsty for, like a sneaker release or whatever. They'll normally let you in front of them. So if you're just in line at the grocery store and you're like, hey, my car is running. People will let you in front of them. Like, what does that even mean? Your car is running?

• 10:25Speaker 07

  See.

• 10:27Laci Mosley?

  Because people don't want confrontation.

• 10:28Speaker 07

  Why do you leave it run? Turn it off.

• 10:29Laci Mosley?

  And like anytime I've cut.

• 10:31Speaker 07

  You know what, Lacey? I get, I get this so hard because I am terrified of consequences. So I, I guess I'm not a scammer because I don't want to get caught doing shit like this. But you know what makes me a superhead on a swivel person? Is if you come up to me and go, hey, my car's running. Can I get in front of you? I will let you, but I will always be like, this is a scam. I will always be like, okay, I'm gonna let you have your scam. But even people who are like trying to do legitimate things, I'm usually like, this is a scam. They're running.

• 10:57Laci Mosley?

  Right. And a lot of times they are because my ass be out here scamming. I remember one time I was going to like a Barry Jenkins Film Festival, some, some shit that where he was speaking. And they were like playing one of his movies and it's pretty exclusive. I got there way too late. The line was wrapped around the block. And I was like, I don't be doing lines like that. So I walked right up to almost the front, like maybe six people behind. And then I just started standing on the corner. And then I just started leaning in closer and just leaning in closer. I'm all the time on my phone or like pretending to talk on the phone like I was distracted. And then I was good. And but it was a black event, right? It's Barry Jenkins and Ryan Coogler. These six white people come up and they get in line right in front of me with somebody who had been holding their place.

• 11:40Laci Mosley?

  Now there is this little Latina woman, Afro Latina woman, and she was not having it. She said, we will not have it. And she was like, I know y'all didn't all just get in front. And I was like, damn, they really did get in front of y'all, huh? You know, actually, how about you go up there? I was like, you skip all of them and then I'm gonna get behind you. No, and damn well I cut her too.

• 12:02Speaker 07

  Ooh, so you used, you used someone else's failed scam to advance your own. Now that, that is some inception level scamming and I applaud you.

• 12:09Laci Mosley?

  I was like, damn sis, I know how you feel. I can't believe they did that to you. You've been here since three o'clock. It's eight PM.

• 12:19Speaker 07

  See, this is a boldness that I don't possess.

• 12:21Laci Mosley?

  It's mostly panic because I'm like, I can't lose. Something comes over me and is like, I cannot lose. And then I'm like, I got to keep going. Scam!

• 12:32Speaker 00

  Cash Flow Crunch, OnDeck's small business line of credit, gives your business immediate access to funds up to $200,000 right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 13:03Speaker 03

  Parents and grandparents, if you want a gift that won't be forgotten by New Year's, give a Guardian bike. Guardian bikes are built just for kids. Lightweight, low to the ground, with a wide wheelbase for balance. Most kids learn to ride in just one day. No training wheels needed. Their patented SureStop brake stops both wheels with a single lever, helping prevent head-over-handlebar falls. It's the number one kids' bike on the market, designed and assembled in the USA, and the New York Times Wirecutter's top pick four years in a row. This holiday, save over 40% on kids' bikes. Plus, get $100 in free accessories. A lock, pump, bell, grips, and clamp. The stocking stuffers, covered. They have helmets and adult bikes, too, so the whole family can ride.

• 13:48Speaker 03

  Join over a million happy riders at guardianbikes.com. That's guardianbikes.com.

• 13:56Speaker 08

  Hi, I'm Jenna Oshkowitz. You might know me from Glee. This is At the Table, the food allergy podcast, a show about food, connection, and what it really looks like to live with food allergies. Each episode, we hear stories from real people like Daniel.

• 14:10Speaker 09

  People would always think I was lactose intolerant, so I just kind of shortened my explanation to I'm deathly allergic in a big way that defined a lot of my childhood.

• 14:21Speaker 08

  And while there are challenges, there are moments that remind you you're not alone.

• 14:27Speaker 10

  One of the best guys that I dated, he made a point to memorize all my food allergies.

• 14:32Speaker 08

  So join us and hear their stories and more because living with food allergies isn't just about what you can't eat. It's about still having your seat at the table. Brought to you by Genentech and Novartis. Listen to At The Table, the food allergy podcast on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow At The Table and start listening on the free iHeart radio app today.

• 14:55Laci Mosley?

  But yes, Tawny, so let's get into our first segment. What's hot and fried? So I got a listener letter for you, Tawny. And this listener letter really intrigued me because when I first opened it, it says, I didn't want to send this until I checked the statute of limitations. And I said, yes, yes. Okay, whatever this is spicy, flavorful, delicious. I will imbibe. And we will call this person, you know, I'm gonna call this person Teddy Riley. And that's just a deep cut for y'all black folks. Teddy Riley.

• 15:31Speaker 07

  I love your, I love your aliases you be giving people. They crack me up.

• 15:37Laci Mosley?

  Right, like, y'all, white folks, Google Teddy Riley versus battle so y'all can get the gifs and the memes. That was so funny. Who Teddy Riley was doing the most?

• 15:46Speaker 07

  Oh, my God.

• 15:47Laci Mosley?

  Shout out to a king. That was like years ago.

• 15:48Speaker 07

  That was wild.

• 15:50Laci Mosley?

  I can't believe that. That was like months ago. It's crazy. So Teddy Riley said.

• 15:53Speaker 07

  That was early, that was early teen.

• 15:56Laci Mosley?

  Damn, it was. The teen is, the time is starting to fly by, which I'm okay with because I'm like, let's get to November because we got work to do. So the teen can keep flying, although my birthday is coming up the 4th of July. And if I gotta be inside on my birthday by myself, like, I'mma really be sad. My city boy.

• 16:14Speaker 07

  You're gonna loot your own house.

• 16:15Laci Mosley?

  My city girl's voice came out. I was like, I'mma really be sad because I was supposed to be having a hot girl summer. And instead, I'm having a earth condition lonely girl summer. Like, no.

• 16:28Speaker 07

  Oh.

• 16:30Laci Mosley?

  It's not hot at all.

• 16:31Speaker 07

  No, no, no. We'll have a little, we'll plan you a little social distancing hang like we did for producer Emeritus Zig.

• 16:37Laci Mosley?

  I don't want that shit. I love Zig. And I went to it, but I want a party. I want to rent a mansion.

• 16:45Speaker 07

  You, you throw this in my face. I planned that soiree. I had to.

• 16:49Laci Mosley?

  No, I loved it.

• 16:50Speaker 07

  What I have to do. I had to send a Zoom link. I had to, um, what I have to do. I had to get myself a drink. It was hard planning.

• 16:58Laci Mosley?

  I had to, what I had to do. I had to.

• 17:01Speaker 07

  What I had to do.

• 17:02Laci Mosley?

  Having to recall what you had to do. Guys, whenever.

• 17:05Speaker 07

  I had to have the Zoom Pro account.

• 17:08Laci Mosley?

  Yeah, you do have to have an account to send the links. I just click on links. I ain't never started a Zoom in my life, honey. That's my scam. Y'all don't start the Zooms, just have people invite you. Uh, but guys, you know when I have.

• 17:18Speaker 07

  And see, I recognize my inherent privilege. And so I, I say I can afford the Zoom Pro account.

• 17:24Laci Mosley?

  You got Zoom Pro coins, Miss Space, okay? Okay? Okay, Miss Space Force. Uh, so, guys, I just have to say, you know, when I have a friend on the show, we gonna be making tangents. Okay, so don't be tweeting me about these, okay? But like we were saying, Teddy Riley. So Teddy Riley told us, I need to make sure I didn't send this in before the feds could watch. And we appreciate that, Teddy. We not trying to get you arrested. Teddy said, please don't use my name. Anyway, if you must call me, call me Slick from Seattle. Oh, he had, Teddy had already come up with a name. Okay, well Teddy, I like Teddy better, but Slick from Seattle is cute. Anyway, anyone that deserves to know will know.

• 18:05Laci Mosley?

  Anywho, this was all back about eighteen to twenty years ago. The first new twenties with the big faces were the norm. And old twenties were still very common. This was also right when laser jet printers got good. My cousin and I tried printing off some twenty dollar bills and they looked very convincing, but they didn't feel like real money. You know what I mean. Oh, you know, I know what you mean. I used to work at bars where I had to rub the money, because there's parts on the money that's like, um.

• 18:38Speaker 07

  Me too.

• 18:39Laci Mosley?

  Right, that has that like kind of surface on it.

• 18:41Speaker 07

  Like not raised?

• 18:42Laci Mosley?

  Yeah, that's textured. And then we would mark it with a pen. We'd hold it up to the light, because, phew, the fake twenties in New York were flying. So, I know what you're talking about. He says, we tried to pass off fake bills at some convenience stores and it worked a couple times. But a couple times, we had to run away from a suspicious clerk. After this, we just used fake bills to burn corny high school drug dealers. We were still young at the time. We weren't beaten up little kids. Okay, I guess. Listen, high school drug dealers need

• 19:13Speaker 07

  That's his

• 19:14Laci Mosley?

  I guess they need their money the least.

• 19:16Speaker 07

  I'm just confused about, yeah, that's true. I'm just confused about his range of bad things to do. Give fake money to corny drug dealers to beating up little kids. I don't really understand.

• 19:26Laci Mosley?

  You thought we were gonna A to C. You thought we were gonna go from, oh, he's giving fake money to high school children to, he's beating them up. I wasn't gonna go there. Were you beating them up? I think you might have been beating them up, Teddy Riley.

• 19:40Laci Mosley?

  Might have been beating them up.

• 19:42Speaker 07

  So, one day, I saw a TV ad that gave me an idea. And here I have a photo, and it's Barbie, Mattel's Barbie guys. And it's called the Fashion Designer Refill Kit. It says, make more real clothes for your Barbie doll. So Barbie is making these like, print out like, digital printer kinda things. So that kids can, you know, give Barbie a new fit, honey. Did you ever have a Barbie doll? Yeah, I had a, I had a bunch of Barbie dolls.

• 20:16Laci Mosley?

  Did you ever tear their hairs off?

• 20:18Speaker 07

  Tear their what? Tear their hair off?

• 20:21Laci Mosley?

  Is that weird?

• 20:22Speaker 07

  Who does, why? Why would I do that?

• 20:24Laci Mosley?

  You ain't never get your Barbie a shape up?

• 20:25Speaker 07

  I mean, no, I guess I was just like, so fucking brainwashed and covetous of the long, straight hair they all had. I was like, oh, beauty.

• 20:34Laci Mosley?

  Oh damn, I guess something was wrong with me, cuz I was giving my Barbies fades and shit.

• 20:41Speaker 07

  I bet they looked great. No, my Barbies were corny. They stayed in the outfits they came in. They didn't have other outfits. I had to build them a dream house. I wasn't allowed to have a house for it. Cuz I guess my parents thought, you can have thirty-seven Barbies, but if you have, if they have any, if the Barbies own any property, then you're too bougie. So, I had to build them, I had to take scarves and clothes and build them little tents. So, my Barbies look like they live in a little refugee camp most of the time.

• 21:04Laci Mosley?

  Oh no, your Barbies was hippies. They out here in yurts.

• 21:11Laci Mosley?

  We love to see it.

• 21:12Speaker 07

  My Barbies were a little bit Burning Man, yeah.

• 21:14Laci Mosley?

  Yeah, right. Right, your Barbie's out here trading shit for like, Ken, I can trade you this. This dirt for

• 21:24Laci Mosley?

  the sports car. That's a lot. I love it. So this product's available for kids to design and print out Barbie outfits. The ad said something about it being real fabric and I figured something. We got a pack and printed a bunch of twenties on them and they looked right and they didn't quite feel like real money, but they didn't feel like paper you would use, you know, like from a printer. The old twenties didn't have the color change thing, so we didn't need to worry about that. Plus, at this point, people were used to new twenties, so an old one feeling a little different didn't freak people out. We made it look worn. Seriously, all that shit that they did in the wire to stain money is hella real, he says in parentheses.

• 22:06Speaker 07

  Uh huh.

• 22:07Laci Mosley?

  And then my cousin, who looked like an, like older than she was, would buy cartons of cigarettes from the gas station and we'd sell them out of our trunk or trade cigarettes for weed and sell that. This was very reliable hustle for about a year until people got so used to new twenties that the old ones started tripping them up. By then, we were old enough to move on to armed robbery, so fuck it. Oh my god.

• 22:29Speaker 07

  Whoa, my god, this took a turn.

• 22:32Laci Mosley?

  Teddy!

• 22:33Speaker 07

  Armed robbery.

• 22:35Laci Mosley?

  Teddy is a criminal!

• 22:37Speaker 07

  Teddy.

• 22:42Speaker 07

  I like discovering this in real time with you.

• 22:44Laci Mosley?

  Teddy, how you gonna slip that in? Teddy, how you gonna slip that in in the end like that?

• 22:49Speaker 07

  I love that he has emailed an entertainment podcast and been like, hey, please don't use my name because like, I'm just not sure about some of the statute of limitations. And we think he's just gonna talk about some little counterfeit Barbie money bullshit. And then he's like, and then we had guns and we're robbing people.

• 23:04Laci Mosley?

  Teddy!

• 23:05Speaker 07

  What?

• 23:06Laci Mosley?

  And like, but I will say this about Teddy that I fuck with. He trusted me enough to send me this from a real email account. Like, I would never snitch on nobody. And honestly, I might just delete this email after we record this show, so I have no record of where it came from. So just in case any feds is listening, they can't call you, girl. I am gonna delete the email. Y'all can't call me looking for Teddy, because I don't know where he at, okay?

• 23:30Speaker 07

  No.

• 23:30Laci Mosley?

  And I'll never know.

• 23:32Speaker 07

  We don't know him.

• 23:33Laci Mosley?

  For all we know, Teddy could be lying, you know? Teddy could be lying, this could be all a lie, so.

• 23:39Speaker 07

  That's true. Maybe he's one of those little like halfway criminals who's like dang, this Barbie money story makes me look kinda soft. I better throw in some armed robbery at the end.

• 23:48Laci Mosley?

  Bitch, I'm about to be a character witness at Teddy trial.

• 23:53Laci Mosley?

  Teddy was a good man. He was a kind man. He ain't never did nothing to nobody. Teddy, you slipped this armed robbery in here. You crazy. Alright, it's time for historic hoodwinks. My favorite segment of the show where I will regale Toni with the historic hoodwinks and she will interrupt as she pleases freely with opinions and questions and whatever she likes. She is a queen. So Toni.

• 24:22Speaker 07

  I love this.

• 24:23Laci Mosley?

  Today, we're talking about Don Lapre. So Don Lapre was a multi-level marketing and infomercial guru, honey. He sold packages that would teach people to make money or any other number of things that simply did not work. His infomercials were so familiar, they were parodied by David Letterman and Saturday Night Live. All eventually came to a halt in 2011 when Lapre was convicted on forty-one charges of fraud. Curious? Conspiracy and money laundering. Arrested and indicted, he allegedly scammed more than fifty million dollars from at least two hundred and twenty thousand

• 25:05Laci Mosley?

  people from two thousand four to two thousand seven. Wow. I'm trying to think, Don Lapre, was he that ShamWow nigga? No, he wasn't that guy. Who, who, who was Don?

• 25:21Laci Mosley?

  I'm trying to look up right now.

• 25:22Speaker 07

  This was maybe before our, before our like real, you know, cognit- cognitive time. Is that the word I'm trying to say? Like before we were old enough to be watching Letterman and stuff.

• 25:32Laci Mosley?

  Right. I'm looking him up now and he used to do like the greatest vitamin in the world and making money secrets. He was popping in like the nineties and the, the nine nines in the two thousands, as cash money would say. He said, give me all your cash here. I won't give it back yet.

• 25:53Laci Mosley?

  Yes, Dollar Pray.

• 25:55Speaker 07

  Somebody needs to remake, remake one of his commercials with that.

• 25:59Laci Mosley?

  Yes. Girl, you looking good. Why don't you open that wallet up? Come on now. Um, wallet didn't work, but you know.

• 26:06Speaker 07

  Why don't you open that cash app?

• 26:07Laci Mosley?

  Girl, you look good.

• 26:08Speaker 07

  I guess there were no cash apps.

• 26:09Laci Mosley?

  That's right. That's what it is. Girl, you looking good. Why don't you open that cash up? You's a big fine woman. Why don't you open that cash up? Call me rich daddy when you open that cash up.

• 26:20Laci Mosley?

  Done. We love you already. Lapre moved to Phoenix when he, with his family when he was a child. In 1988, he married Sally Redondo. Ooh, Sally Redondo, did you have some money? Did you own Redondo Beach? And two years later, the pair started a credit business called Unknown Concepts. Let me tell you something about scammer names.

• 26:42Speaker 07

  What?

• 26:43Laci Mosley?

  For businesses.

• 26:44Speaker 07

  What?

• 26:45Laci Mosley?

  Yo' business, yes, I'm saying business. Your business is called Unknown Concepts. What y'all do over there?

• 26:56Speaker 07

  Unknown. It's unknown.

• 27:01Laci Mosley?

  Don't worry about what we do over here.

• 27:02Speaker 07

  Unknown. It is not known. Yeah. You don't need to have a concept of we do. It's unknown. Like, what? You're not even trying to make this sound legitimate.

• 27:12Laci Mosley?

  Like, right. They said scams incorporated.

• 27:16Laci Mosley?

  Can you give yourself a real business name? Like, something that's gonna garner some kind of trust in the public? But anyway, the Attorney General's Office charged the couple with violating the state's Consumer Fraud Act and obtained a consent judgment permanently assisting or participating in any credit services from engaging. So basically, they, I was trying to read this. It's very complicated, uh, law language. But to break it down to layman's terms, they said, y'all are violating the Fraud Act and you can no longer engage or participate in any credit services because you're basically being deceptive as fuck. So, Unknown Concepts, which really seemed like-

• 27:57Speaker 07

  But Judge. Yeah, Judge, I'm not, okay, but may I please start up my new, uh, organization? Which is called, um, uh, Unintelligible Dreams? That has nothing to do with credit, we think.

• 28:15Laci Mosley?

  We have a new business. It's called Vague Incorporated. It has nothing to do with anything.

• 28:20Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 28:22Speaker 07

  Nothing, nothing. So please let us.

• 28:25Laci Mosley?

  The judge said you cannot, because in credit repair, you have to be able to run people's credit scores. So people do have to trust you with a bit of personal information. And this is why, uh, you know, a lot of credit bureau kind of online liaisons got sued. And a lot of people got restitution because when they got hacked, they released a lot of people's personal information. And you know, Free Credit.com, a lot of these places exist online. I'm not saying it was free credit. Um, but this is a common practice. We all use these sites to check our credit. So they came up with unknown concepts, which was like, y'all put your credit information in here. And we gonna, uh, we gonna make sure it's a one, eight hundred, eight hundred. That's what, that's a good score, right? Eight hundred? We gonna make sure it's eight hundred. So the judge said, y'all can't be near nobody's credit.

• 29:08Speaker 07

  Yeah, I always get it confused with SAT scores. I think it's, they're both eight hundred is what you're shooting for.

• 29:14Laci Mosley?

  It used to be sixteen, but then they lowered it because I remember when I did the SATs, I think like a twelve hundred was the best you could get. So they were like, yeah, we gonna make sure your credit scored it, your credit score is Andre three thousand, okay? So just enter your information.

• 29:29Laci Mosley?

  And we will check on your credit immediately. So the judge ruled that y'all can't check nobody's credit no more.

• 29:36Laci Mosley?

  Y'all are doing fraud with their information.

• 29:38Speaker 07

  Right.

• 29:39Laci Mosley?

  Uh, lest they be deterred though, okay? The defendants were ordered to pay a civil penalty and more than five thousand dollars of restitution to complaints. Then they moved on and started selling thirty-six page booklets explaining how to recover a federal home association insurance refund after paying off a home mortgage. I don't even know what that is. I might be interested.

• 30:01Speaker 07

  An FHA loan, as I understand it, is a type of loan that you can get if you're a first time home buyer and it has a very low, uh, down payment. And I think it means you can usually secure a low interest rate. So they're trying to teach people how to pay off the house, but then

• 30:16Laci Mosley?

  Get an insurance refund.

• 30:17Speaker 07

  Back somehow?

• 30:19Laci Mosley?

  Yeah, they say you can get an insurance refund.

• 30:21Speaker 07

  Because your mortgage insurance, interesting. I don't understand that fully, but it sounds like fraud and scams.

• 30:26Laci Mosley?

  Right. So on his infamous infomercials, which took off shortly after he began unknown concepts, AKA Vague Incorporated.

• 30:36Laci Mosley?

  His trademark sales pitch was by placing tiny classified ads in the newspaper. I'm able to make fifty thousand dollars a week from my tiny one bedroom apartment. Lapre began broadcasting the Making Money Show with Don Lapre in nineteen ninety-two. Whoo, okay, we were very young during this time. So for years.

• 30:57Speaker 07

  That's where all these Instagram make five thousand dollar a day people came from. This is the forefather, this is the L. Ron Hubbard of those motherfuckers.

• 31:05Laci Mosley?

  Yes, this guy is on Mount Rushmore of infomercial scammers. Okay, you thought Miracle Spring Water's been around, honey. But uh, my man Don, he paved the way. He is a leader in the movement of chicanery and I stan. So for years, the show was ranked among the ten most frequently broadcasted cable infomercials. The principal product was his Money Making Secrets, a package of booklets and tapes and common sense tips for placing ads. The product was sold through the New Strategies, whose parent company was Tropical Beaches. Soon after purchasing the package, buyers would be telemarketed by sales representatives who offered additional psychic, dating,

• 31:51Laci Mosley?

  entertainment and chat nine hundred lines plus free websites that together cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. So after you bought the whole booklet about how you can advertise in newspapers and make fifty thousand dollars from your one bedroom apartment. Which also like, nobody questioned Don Lapre and was like, how you making fifty thousand dollars a month and you living in a bachelor? Well, how that?

• 32:16Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 32:17Laci Mosley?

  Where the fifty, where the fifty can't go on?

• 32:19Speaker 07

  What are you doing with it? Are you making the fifty thousand, but then you have to pay forty-eight thousand to something?

• 32:24Laci Mosley?

  I'm confused, but you know what? He said unknown. And that's what he means by unknown concepts. You will never know.

• 32:33Speaker 07

  Mm-hmm.

• 32:34Laci Mosley?

  Also.

• 32:34Speaker 07

  You will never know the concept of where all this money goes he's supposedly making.

• 32:38Laci Mosley?

  Honestly, he sounds like an honest man. He was being truthful. He said, "Unknown. You're not gonna know. You never will know." And I appreciate that. Okay.

• 32:46Speaker 07

  Yeah, a lot of this, I mean, as I am a fan of this show, a lot of this stuff, you, as, the more you listen, you're like, "Well, the scammer spelled it all right out for you." They said, "I am a scam. This is fraud. This is crimes I'm going to do unto you." And you still said, "Okay, I want in."

• 33:01Laci Mosley?

  Well, you know what? It's legitimized by television. And in the 90s, television was a legitimate source for information. We didn't have Twitter. We didn't have any other resource to, you know, get our information from. I mean, look at all the protests that have been happening. If we had just only had the news, bruh, we would not know what the fuck was going on in America. Because I've seen news reporters straight up lie with a, like, do a voiceover on a video where I'm, I have eyes, I have retinas, and I'm looking, right? With pupils engaged.

• 33:32Speaker 07

  I have to tell you, I just saw, I just saw a news reporter, and I don't need to put her name out there because it really was a slip of the tongue, but Lacey, this news reporter was reporting from a protest, and she turned around and said, "You know what's interesting is that it is all types of people out here, not just color people, but white people too." And I'm like, "I did not just hear colored people on the news right now. The news has to go."

• 33:57Laci Mosley?

  That's.

• 33:57Speaker 07

  The television, throw it away. Throw it away.

• 34:00Laci Mosley?

  Throw it in the trash. Um, that's like when Kobe Bryant passed away, God bless, um, and the woman was on the news, and I won't say her name either. She said, "The Los Angeles Nakers."

• 34:11Laci Mosley?

  She was about to say niggas.

• 34:12Speaker 07

  Oh, the LA Nakers.

• 34:14Laci Mosley?

  The LA Nakers.

• 34:18Speaker 07

  Uh-uh.

• 34:19Laci Mosley?

  So, and, and specifically, what I was talking about was in a protest, I'm watching with my pupils and my retinas, right? Dilated, not dilated, and I see the police shove an old white man with a cane to the ground. And this police officer said, "This old white man fell."

• 34:39Laci Mosley?

  I said, "Girl, it's a video playing. We know he ain't fall. We just saw him get put." What?

• 34:47Speaker 07

  Also, why are you shouting about the thing that just happened? If I saw an old white man fall in front of me, my words would be, "Are you okay? Do you need help?" Not, "Looky here, this old white man hath fallen." Like, what are you, the town crier? They're clearly lying.

• 35:08Laci Mosley?

  They're like, "Look, we came here to report the news, okay? We can't help. We cannot help anybody."

• 35:15Speaker 00

  OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDeck's loans up to $400,000 help make it happen fast. Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of five-star TrustPilot reviews, OnDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at ondeck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 35:45Speaker 03

  Parents and grandparents, if you want a gift that won't be forgotten by New Year's, give a Guardian Bike. It's America's favorite kids' bike because most kids learn to ride in just one day. No training wheels needed. They're lightweight and low to the ground with a wide wheelbase for balance. It's no wonder they have a 4.9 out of 5-star rating with over a million happy riders. They're also designed and assembled in the USA, and they've been the New York Times Wirecutter's top pick four years in a row. This holiday season, save over 40% on kids' bikes. Plus, get $100 in free accessories: a lock, pump, bell, grips, and clamp. That's stocking stuffers covered. They have helmets and adult bikes, too, so the whole family can ride. Shop guardianbikes.com.

• 36:30Speaker 03

  That's guardianbikes.com.

• 36:33Speaker 08

  Hi, I'm Jenna Oshkowitz. You might know me from Glee. This is At the Table, the food allergy podcast, a show about food, connection, and what it really looks like to live with food allergies. Each episode, we hear stories from real people like Daniel.

• 36:48Speaker 09

  People would always think I was lactose intolerant, so I just kind of shortened my explanation to, "I'm deathly allergic," in a big way that defined a lot of my childhood.

• 36:59Speaker 08

  And while there are challenges, there are moments that remind you you're not alone.

• 37:04Speaker 10

  One of the best guys that I dated, he made a point to memorize all my food allergies.

• 37:10Speaker 08

  So join us and hear their stories and more because living with food allergies isn't just about what you can't eat. It's about still having your seat at the table. Brought to you by Genentech and Novartis. Listen to At The Table, the food allergy podcast on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow At The Table and start listening on the free iHeart radio app today.

• 37:30Laci Mosley?

  So like we're saying, in 1992, like television was this viable resource. It's why stereotypes are so bad. It's why everything, you know, has been so rough for especially Gen X and baby boomers because television was the only information people had. So they could create the narratives at that point. And that cable wasn't really popping at this time. So all we had was what we were spoon fed by these networks. So something that you see on TV looks legitimate at this time period, which is why I love going back in the past because I love scammers and I love talking about the scams of the current, you know, moment. But I also love talking about how we've evolved from them because obviously now no one's running scams on television because it's just too hot. You do it on

• 38:13Laci Mosley?

  Instagram, you do it on Twitter, you email people from fake email addresses, you try to tap into personal, more closely related systems to them. You don't just get on television and be like, unless you Miracle Spring Water, which does still air every night at 3 a.m. on Adult Swim, or actually on BET, and I love it. I almost ordered some of Peter Popov's Miracle Spring Water. I was like, shit, it's 2020. What can it hurt? Let me put some Miracle Spring Water out here.

• 38:37Speaker 07

  I mean, at the very least, you'll be hydrated, right? That's, that's

• 38:41Laci Mosley?

  By Jesus or, or, you know, somebody adjacent.

• 38:47Laci Mosley?

  Johnny, Johnny Jesus, you know, somebody. So.

• 38:53Laci Mosley?

  And also they're calling people who have purchased these packages to be like, hey, now advertise for these other businesses that we have. And at the time, 9800 chat or 900 chat lines were still popping. Child, I thank God that in my acting career, I never had to get on TV and be like, we are 18. We is so horny.

• 39:12Speaker 07

  I know.

• 39:13Laci Mosley?

  Hey, hey, nasty men. We horny. Call us now. Like, I bet you everybody at we are 18 is a strong 37. And that ain't no shade. I'm proud of y'all. Like hi.

• 39:28Speaker 07

  Well, I'm proud of the way it's done now where I feel like women are more empowered.

• 39:33Laci Mosley?

  Yeah.

• 39:34Speaker 07

  In some instances, in some circumstances, they're definitely still being exploited. But I'm just saying, I see more and more stuff that's like, no, I wanna be a webcam girl. I'm, I'm taking control of like this actual content and I'm selling this purposefully.

• 39:47Laci Mosley?

  Hell, yeah.

• 39:47Speaker 07

  As opposed to back when we were young and we'd just see those girls on like a, on a billboard, dressed in nothing, holding a super soaker that just says, come on down and buy a tractor or whatever the fuck. And I'm like, oh, no, honey.

• 39:58Laci Mosley?

  And they would, they would look at the bill, you could see their eyes at the billboard like, hell, hell. Like now, I feel like I'm watching.

• 40:06Speaker 07

  Lied to while the picture was being taken.

• 40:10Laci Mosley?

  You could tell they showed up and they thought it was an acting job and they was like, where it is. It's like, this is floss, this is dental floss. Like, and now, you know, OnlyFans, which OnlyFans is starting to be shady, cause after celebrities got involved, now they're trying to boot off the sex workers who made the website what it is, and I do not fucking appreciate that shit. I have friends who are sex workers, like, fuck that shit. Like, let the sex workers get their coins. I love women being able to get their money from home by being fine, okay? I love it. I remember, I used to always joke in college about how like, if shit didn't work out, I was gonna become a stripper. Then I saw strippers stripping and I said, oh bitch, y'all, oh, so y'all Gabby Douglas? Oh, so I can't do this, huh? This is a real talent. You know, here I was the whole time thinking I just had to get out here and shake my ass

• 40:53Laci Mosley?

  and, and look a little sad, but y'all are strong. Like, I can't do this?

• 40:59Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 40:59Laci Mosley?

  It really thwarted me. I was like, wow.

• 41:01Speaker 07

  Too much strength involved.

• 41:02Laci Mosley?

  Like, strength, beauty, charisma, you gotta be able to talk to everybody, honey, and have the energy, like, that's a talent. And I don't care what y'all say, cause a lot of us have gone to strip clubs, but then we still wanna be shady towards strippers and I don't believe in it, honey. Get that money, anyways.

• 41:18Speaker 07

  Let them have it. I don't even wear high heels walking around on the earth, let alone, can you imagine dancing or being on a pole with them? I tell every costume designer, I'm five foot ten and I never learned to walk in heels. And I just accept my little sad pair of loafers and my feet don't hurt.

• 41:33Laci Mosley?

  Your loafers are cute, girl.

• 41:35Speaker 07

  I can't, I just, I would be a mess.

• 41:36Laci Mosley?

  Your, your flash shoes are very cute.

• 41:38Speaker 07

  Yeah, I know, I try to just.

• 41:39Laci Mosley?

  You be giving fashions and.

• 41:41Speaker 07

  I, I try to make it sound like, um, I'm.

• 41:43Laci Mosley?

  I wear heels, cause I have a tall personality.

• 41:46Speaker 07

  Sorry, go ahead.

• 41:46Laci Mosley?

  But I'm five feet tall.

• 41:49Laci Mosley?

  Every time I take a picture, everybody

• 41:50Speaker 07

  And you're good at them. You look good.

• 41:52Laci Mosley?

  They're like, why are you so short? I'm like, what you mean? You heard my voice. You thought I was tall? That's my scam.

• 41:59Speaker 07

  That is a scam. And that's a scam that you're running and you're doing it well.

• 42:02Laci Mosley?

  So obviously, they upsell these people after they bought this package and they're like, go sell these, we are eighteen ads and go sell all this other shit. But they would rarely even receive what they paid for. And many customers like complained that the opportunities were minimal and they were being ripped off. In nineteen ninety-four, Lapre was forced to pay the state of Arizona forty-five thousand dollars for unemployment and withholding taxes that he neglected to file in nineteen ninety-three and nineteen ninety-four. In nineteen ninety-nine, Lapre had filed for Chapter eleven bankruptcy on behalf of himself, New Strategies, Tropical Beaches, Dolphin Media, Don's Making Money, another one of his businesses, and the National Reminder Service, which I don't even, what is that? These businesses that you

• 42:42Speaker 07

  What is that?

• 42:43Laci Mosley?

  I don't know, but I love these, these businesses. The names that Don gave them are just delicious. So his filing listed his assets.

• 42:51Speaker 07

  The National Reminder Service is almost like too specific. Like, u- uncertain times or whatever, you know, unknown vortex, that one is like too vague. But like, the, the reminder company, I'm like, okay, I guess I know what you do, but I still don't understand.

• 43:08Laci Mosley?

  So we're here to remind you nationally. I love it. I don't even know what it means. I never know what Don Lapre's businesses mean, and I love it. So his filing listed, uh, assets of nine million dollars and liabilities of twelve point five million. In nineteen ninety-seven, the Internal Revenue Service issued a lien of nine hundred fifty-seven thousand dollars. Excuse me, it's nine hundred fifty-seven thousand, nine hundred and nine dollars and forty-nine cents against Donald and Sally Lapre for failing to pay delinquent taxes. So now he's in tax trouble, and that's where you don't want to be because Uncle Sam is the pettiest motherfucker alive. I don't know how Uncle Sam does it. It's crazy because I've talked about this before, but people lobby the IRS to make sure that they never are funded enough to be able to audit billionaires.

• 43:52Laci Mosley?

  So if you're in the middle class or the upper middle class like Don the Prey, you are going to get that smoke. Because they can't come after the Jeff Bezos of the world because they're offshoring their money. They have money in too many different places. It's too expensive to audit them. Which is why fuck billionaires, guys. They're not paying proportionally what you're paying in taxes. They don't have to and we don't have the physical capabilities to make them. So instead they're going after Don the Prey and they say, we saw you on TV. Uncle Sam was like, we saw you on TV, girl. And last time I checked, I did not get my coins.

• 44:26Laci Mosley?

  So this is when Don enters the vitamin world. Don is busy. He is busy. So now he said, you know what?

• 44:35Speaker 07

  So many things.

• 44:37Laci Mosley?

  We're not doing advertisements from home anymore. We're selling vitamins, which is also another scam because health industries are a scam, guys. We all know that when you're born, it's like this weird trap where you're like, damn, I gotta die someday? I ain't need to have wanted to be alive. But then you're like, being alive is cool and I don't know what comes after, so I want to stay alive, you know? So health is one of the biggest scams in every industry because you're trying to buy more life. And to a certain extent, you feel better about yourself when you drink some grass.

• 45:14Laci Mosley?

  I've drank wheat grass and eh bluegrass and any type of grass they tell me to drink. I say, okay, it's scratching my throat, but I feel alive.

• 45:23Speaker 07

  I take a handful of pills every day that I got from a woman who I met in Santa Monica and she had glowing skin and I said, I want this life. And I still take those pills because I'm.

• 45:35Laci Mosley?

  Your skin do look good. Your skin looks good.

• 45:37Speaker 07

  I don't, that's it.

• 45:38Laci Mosley?

  Looks like it's glowing, girl.

• 45:40Speaker 07

  Thanks, but I think it did before.

• 45:41Laci Mosley?

  Yeah, probably did, but.

• 45:45Laci Mosley?

  No harm in keeping it up, maybe. Here's what I have to say about it.

• 45:49Speaker 07

  Right, and what's the harm I'm doing by swallowing these little pills? It's just, I'm putting a little too much, um, right, you know?

• 45:57Laci Mosley?

  No, I absolutely agree with you. I also have to say that even though a lot of health stuff is a scam, placebo effect is real. So if you feel better about the way that you're living your life, if you feel good about the crystals you buy, if you feel better when you wave some sage up in your house, honey, because I be doing that, honey, um, then it's worth what you paid because really what you want is calm and peace and things that reduce stress and cortisol. And even if it's not directly from the product that you've purchased, if you're, see, I'm, I'm a scammer because I'm over here trying to convince y'all to buy.

• 46:32Speaker 07

  What's interesting is you're a scammer, but you're a, in this instance, you're a proud mark. Like, you, you accept your markness, but only in this instance, because otherwise you're a very screwed scammer. You know, we're all multifaceted.

• 46:44Laci Mosley?

  You're right, and I, I have been duped, I have been scammed, which is why I love scams and I can love them from both sides. Because I've been hurt by scams, absolutely, and I want to keep you guys from being hurt, but also like, there's some scams that I'm like, this ain't so bad. So, he starts selling Vitamians. Eventually, authorities started to notice one of LaPraire's newer projects, The Greatest Vitamin of the World. Customers were being told that they could earn commission checks of a thousand dollars or more by getting people to buy vitamins through customized websites that sold internet advertising packages. So now he's just combining two scams. He was telling people to buy newspaper ads and he was sending them advertisers. And now he's like, sell vitamins and also sell them on the internet.

• 47:29Laci Mosley?

  So according to federal prosecutors, the marketing was mostly ineffective and full of pop-up banner ads, which in the nineties, if you got a pop-up, it would ruin your whole computer. That's before we had Macs. And Macs have kind of been the most fortified when it comes to viruses. So you got a HP or a desktop, like, honey, those pop-ups were...

• 47:47Speaker 07

  Yeah, you had a gateway. You had to throw it away.

• 47:51Laci Mosley?

  That's the rhyme? When you, when you got a gateway, you gotta throw it away.

• 47:57Laci Mosley?

  Everybody knows the gateway, you got two years out of that bitch before every pop up is coming up like penis enlargement. You gotta just put it in the trash.

• 48:05Speaker 07

  Yeah, then it's just, then it's just a doorstop.

• 48:08Laci Mosley?

  So, in two thousand and five, the Food and Drug Administration cited the entrepreneur for his claims that his vitamins were for diseases like diabetes, stroke, heart disease, insomnia, cancer, and arthritis, warning him in a statement that his products were not generally recognized as safe or effective. So not only were they not effective, they're like, these might kill people. Also, you trying to treat too many diseases, Don? You can't just be like, my pill works for diabetes, rashes, eczema, restless leg syndrome. Uh, you got corneas, you got cataracts, you got a, a, a bad tooth. You got, like, it can't work for everything, Don. Pick a lane.

• 48:51Speaker 07

  I feel like that's the hallmark of a fake, that's the hallmark of a fake miracle cure, right? Because like, you look at aspirin. Aspirin cures one, two, three things, maybe. They'll be like, does your head hurt? Does a small thing in your body hurt? Are you maybe having a small heart attack?

• 49:08Laci Mosley?

  Are you having a very chill heart attack? Bayer. Don't even go to the doctor. You having a chill heart attack? You just like, ow, my heart. Go ahead and have some Bayer.

• 49:19Speaker 07

  Just like a whisper?

• 49:20Laci Mosley?

  And take a nap.

• 49:23Speaker 07

  Right? But like, all these miracle ones try to, oh my god. You know what? I actually remembered, my husband and I once, we were in Ecuador, and he got food poisoning, and this is a small tangent, uh, dear readers, but, um, he got food poisoning, and the people we were staying with were like, oh, well, we have this stuff that we can give you. Um, you have to mix it really carefully, and here, you should read this binder to make sure you're okay taking it. And they were these chill, like Ecuadorian hippie people, so I was like, okay, I'll read their little hippie cure or whatever, and it was that M M, uh, M M S stuff? You know, that like miracle solution, whatever that they say cures, like autism, but you're drinking bleach? And I was like, no, no, no, no.

• 50:02Laci Mosley?

  Y'all were like, why does the bottle say Clorox?

• 50:05Speaker 07

  Cause it, right, why? How come something that's supposed to cure, he ate a bad piece of chicken? And he's taken a drug supposedly that cures autism?

• 50:13Laci Mosley?

  Oh, good. The company failed to substantiate the following advertisement claims. They said, our company will pay you a thousand dollars upfront or two hundred a month for the rest of your life. Every single time you get twenty new people to try our amazing vitamin. You know, and this is something that like, this is language that's really deceptive. When it comes to the type of people who are probably participating in this scam, where people may have lower income. Um, I've had people in my family take really poor deals because they want to cash up front. It, but the interesting thing here is, is that they're saying two hundred a month forever. Or a thousand dollars right now. And so of course, people are going to equate two hundred mu- a month forever is more money and go with that. But each week, they said that they pay you on all the revenue earned the week prior.

• 50:56Laci Mosley?

  This is the easiest way in the world to start generi- generating a thousand dollar checks over and over again. This all made no damn sense. They said, our top people have made thousands of thousands of dollars doing this, which very much sounds like Donald Trump. Like, can y'all put a real number on it? Each month, you get just a hundred new vitamin clients, just a hundred. You know, a chill hundred new vitamin clients. And we pay you five thousand dollars as a bonus. You know how hard it is to get a hundred people to buy anything? When you were just a person?

• 51:24Speaker 07

  You know how hard it is to get a hundred people to just like, follow you on social media? If you don't have something specific you're on, like, to convince a hundred people to do anything?

• 51:33Laci Mosley?

  You can't even get a hundred people on Evite to RSVP to your function.

• 51:39Speaker 07

  You can't get a hundred people to come to, um, you know, a ladies' night at a club where like, the drinks are half off early. Like, there's still gonna be, you're gonna get like fifty-eight.

• 51:49Laci Mosley?

  Free before eleven at the club can't get a hundred people.

• 51:53Laci Mosley?

  And y'all thought we was gonna get a hundred people buying vitamins in the nineties? So they told all these lies. And his business was raided by the US Postal Inspection Service. By the beginning of 2008, his greatest vitamin of the world sites were no longer functioning. So they did an investigation on my guy. On the day he was supposed to appear in court for his arraignment, he was found near a local fitness center in bad physical condition. Apparently, living inside of a gym for a day and a half before he was found. He went underwent emergency surgery and was arraigned at the hospital. Leading up to his death, Lapre posted what seemed to be a farewell statement on his website,

• 52:32Laci Mosley?

  saying that he was left to fight a battle that will for sure destroy what energy I have left inside. I mean, he was charismatic. He was a great scammer. I guess he decided to hide out from the feds in a gym. He went to 24 Hour Fitness and he was like, I'm gonna be here 24 hours. I guess. Wait, what did he die of? Uh, I haven't told you what he died of yet. Um, he actually, this is the only bummer, guys. Uh, we try to keep it light here, but, uh, Don Lapre unfortunately took his own life in prison. But, um, he added, "I tried to create the best product on earth, paid out millions, made very little trying to make it a success. I have been accused of something I did not do. I did not have the perfect company, but never once did I allow one thing to be done that would violate any law."

• 53:16Laci Mosley?

  He concluded by thanking his supporters and telling them to never stop dreaming. He has one commercial on YouTube that's his last commercial, and all the comments are just fans of Don Lapre. He had a following. He had a lot of people who loved him. He was a, essentially a cult leader. And they're charismatic, they're, I mean, I've looked him up online. He's just, has a kind of face that you would kinda trust. Cause you know what it is? When you're in a position where your Despo meter is high, like we say on the show, and you may not be making a lot of money, I mean, capitalism is fucked. As we've seen over the past few weeks, America's been scammed by our government, by our political leaders. They're giving more, 50% of LA's budget right now, which we all emailed and called, but we don't know if it's gonna work yet,

• 54:01Laci Mosley?

  is going to the LAPD. 54%, mind you. They, they are outfitted, like they are going to war in these protests. Meanwhile, our healthcare providers and professionals.

• 54:15Laci Mosley?

  Don't even have PPE. They're covering themselves in trash bags to treat coronavirus. Like, we have fucked up priorities in this country and we've, everything's fucked up when it comes to where our money goes. And I look at Don and I've looked at his face and he looks like a working class guy. He looks like a guy who's been through shit. I could easily see why people would look at him and be like, he's one of us. And he's trying to help us scam the system and get rich too. Cause I don't think anybody looked at unknown concepts and thought that that shit was a legitimate business. They were like, we're entering a scam business. And we have to.

• 54:46Speaker 07

  Yeah, they want to join the scam a little bit, which you don't, I don't blame some people for. They've been working hard, too hard and not being rewarded. So then they want, they want something that seems a little easier.

• 54:56Laci Mosley?

  Not being rewarded, not being respected by this country. So I absolutely understand why people be like, hmm. We might as well go ahead and join

• 55:08Laci Mosley?

  the national reminder. I'mma give reminders nationally. That makes sense.

• 55:16Laci Mosley?

  I love that name. I absolutely adore it. I think it's fantastic. But guys, this is always the saddest portion of the show. This is when I'm gonna have to let my sis Toni go. But before she goes, to live her excellent life. Oh, I just adore everything about you Toni. You have no idea. Scammer of the week. So Toni, we're just gonna talk about an infamous charlatan that is worthy of our praise. Uh, and the scammer of the week. Okay, so I have to caveat this because the scammer of the week this week. I don't like this scammer, but he scammed somebody that we love, a black queen.

• 55:57Speaker 07

  Oh no.

• 55:58Laci Mosley?

  Antonio Marriott Wilson is a con artist who targeted Jennifer Lewis of Blackish.

• 56:08Speaker 07

  You better get out of here. You absolutely not.

• 56:13Laci Mosley?

  Every black person's auntie, mama and grandma since I was alive, Jennifer Lewis. And it ain't right.

• 56:22Speaker 07

  The queen of her chin in the air acting.

• 56:28Laci Mosley?

  The chin in the air and the enunciation acting. How dare you, Antonio.

• 56:34Speaker 07

  You will hear her consonants and vowels.

• 56:41Laci Mosley?

  What's?

• 56:42Speaker 07

  Oh, I love her. What did this man do to her?

• 56:45Laci Mosley?

  What's, what's that, uh, My Fair Lady? Is that it? What's that movie where they teach that white lady how to talk? Is she British?

• 56:51Speaker 07

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. That, that's some Hen- Henry Higgins, um, elocution lessons.

• 56:55Laci Mosley?

  They with the knife or whatever the fuck. Like, she could never, she could never, okay, honey? Nobody has a grasp on consonants like our queen Jennifer.

• 57:05Speaker 07

  And, and I am hearing you. What you're saying is, what you're saying is, we need a reboot of My Fair Lady with Jennifer Lewis in the lead, and I do sign that petition.

• 57:13Laci Mosley?

  And honestly, we need it. The cu- the, the culture needs it. So Antonio actually pled guilty a few weeks ago to a federal wire charge for conning Lewis and three other women to invest in a fake business. And this is from KTLA in Los Angeles. The Santa Monica man tricked $387,000 out of these women. Wilson, that's Antonio, is 57. He worked at an LA fitness gym in Los Angeles where he met Jennifer Lewis. Lewis states that Wilson conned $50,000 from her following a three-month romantic relationship with him, and falsely convinced her that he was an Oscar winner and that the money was an investment in a film project.

• 57:59Speaker 07

  Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. So in addition to stealing her money, he also like dirty johned her? Like, he conned her into a romantic relationship too?

• 58:10Laci Mosley?

  Yes. And I listened to an interview with Jennifer where she was saying that she was very busy at this time. Obviously, she was doing Blackish, she was preparing, uh, to be an honorary graduate at a university and give a speech at their graduation. She was very kind of overwhelmed in this part of her lifestyle. Like, honey's working. She's booked and busy, and she's a queen. And honestly, Antonio, I, I have to infer that you got good dick because, you know, it's just, it's just right there. Like, you must be out here really piping it, you know? Because otherwise, how are we getting so distracted? Um, also, like, Oscar winner? I love Jennifer. Oscar winner, but now, but now he work at the, at the LA Fitness?

• 58:54Speaker 07

  Like, what do you, did he win an Oscar for stunts?

• 59:01Speaker 07

  Okay.

• 59:02Laci Mosley?

  He said he had won it for a film, girl, so, you know, and that's not to say that you can't.

• 59:08Speaker 07

  She was busy.

• 59:09Laci Mosley?

  To a, she was busy.

• 59:13Laci Mosley?

  I'm trying to defend my queen. I'm like, this has to say you can't get to a certain statue in Holly- Hollywood, or get to a certain position, or make a certain amount of money, and that can change. Actors have to pay aggressive taxes on what we make. We don't get taxes pulled out by the government. So Uncle Sam comes for us for five, six figures at the end of the year. But you know, it, nothing that we do is stable. He engaged in a romantic relationship with three other women via the Bumble dating app, and convinced them into giving him money to invest in a software company called Second Life, and sound design company called Ultimate FX. Now these, unlike, um, what was vague enterprises?

• 59:55Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 59:56Laci Mosley?

  That Don had. Unlike his names, these sound legitimate. When I hear sound design and I hear Ultimate FX, I'm like, that sounds like sound. When I hear Second Life, I think software. I'm like, these are good names. But obviously, both were shams. Jennifer Lewis sued the gym, and settled out of court for thirteen thousand dollars, according to Daily Mail. In addition to falsely claiming, because basically what she was saying in her interview was that he got the job at the gym, because he had targeted Jennifer Lewis, because he had found out that she worked out at this gym. So then he went and got a membership, because he was trying to get next to her. So in addition to falsely claiming to have won an Academy Award, Wilson also claimed to be an Oxford University professor,

• 1:00:41Laci Mosley?

  and a US Navy SEAL. Bruh, you were have, you gave yourself a real accomplished life for working at LA Fitness. No shade if you work at LA Fitness. No shade at all, but I am saying. If you went to Oxford in London and you were a professor and you were a US Navy SEAL, it just would seem like you have enough other skillsets to not necessarily warrant working at a gym.

• 1:01:05Speaker 07

  Right. It's like he added too many things. And I know you talk about this a lot, like scammers, they just be like, they giving you too much information. Because why is he gonna be like all these things? And then like, it's just too much. It's like, oh, I'm also the prince of Monaco and my dad is Desmond Tutu and I invented Post-its.

• 1:01:20Laci Mosley?

  I also have a sailboat. And it's like, why? But we didn't ask this.

• 1:01:24Speaker 07

  I have a nut allergy.

• 1:01:25Laci Mosley?

  I don't know these things about a man. Right. But I've dated for three months. I don't know these things. So Wilson used the money to pay for credit card debt and personal expenses. He had previously served four years in prison for tax evasion and wire fraud. So he is a career scammer. He faces up to 20 years during this sentence. Antonio, I do not applaud this scam. I know you're scammer of the week, but it's not for a good reason. You scammed our queen. It ain't right.

• 1:01:53Speaker 07

  It's not right. And I know that brings Lacey no joy to not support one of her good scammers, but you pushed us too far.

• 1:02:01Laci Mosley?

  I'm depleted.

• 1:02:02Speaker 07

  Not this week. Not this week. Not, you're not gonna mess with a black queen.

• 1:02:05Laci Mosley?

  How dare you.

• 1:02:05Speaker 07

  Not a matriarch this week, sir.

• 1:02:08Laci Mosley?

  A pillar of the community.

• 1:02:10Speaker 07

  The community.

• 1:02:11Laci Mosley?

  And I made sure to pronounce all of those. Yes, the community. I pronounced every consonanta.

• 1:02:18Speaker 07

  You heard both Ms. in community.

• 1:02:23Laci Mosley?

  I'm going to add some more consonantsa, ta ta pa pa. Okay?

• 1:02:29Laci Mosley?

  Like, no. I can't believe you, Antonio. You ain't right. You ain't right.

• 1:02:35Speaker 07

  We don't approve.

• 1:02:35Laci Mosley?

  And on that note, we have reached the end of another episode. As always, guys, if you are doing armed robbery. You wanna email us.

• 1:02:48Laci Mosley?

  We will never say your name and we will delete your email before the feds come. [email protected]. If you wanna reach out to us, scamgotuspod on Twitter and on Instagram. If you wanna find me and whatever antics I'm up to. D I V A L A C I D, Velaci on all platforms. Guys, Toni Newsom's in a hot new Netflix show with Steve Carell and the girls and the late Fred Willard, who is so hilarious. So this is your last time to see him, girls, I'm pretty sure. Uh, Space Force on Netflix. It is out now. And Toni, where would you like to be found and what else would you like to plug?

• 1:03:26Speaker 07

  Oh, my lord, I'd like to be found safe in my house and I'd like you to all be found there as well. Just safe and inside, because the world is crazy and bad right now. No, but thank you, um, thank you, Lacey. This was delightful. Uh, you can find me online. I'm at Trondi Newman, or you can put Toni Newsom in. There's no other ones. You'll find me. Um, my hair will be different all the time, so if you don't understand that, maybe you won't find me and then you'll learn some things. Um, but, uh, I don't know. I feel crazy, but this was really nice to talk to you and to, and to learn about just some, some cool hoodwink.

• 1:04:00Laci Mosley?

  And also Yo Is This Racist on Earwolf, guys. If, if you enjoy the fact that I'm black on here and you like hearing about black things or wanna become more educated about, not even just black things. It's also hosted by Andrew T, who is an Asian man of color. If you wanna hear their amazing show on Earwolf, Yo Is This Racist as well. Sorry, Toni, I'm doing all your plugs.

• 1:04:20Speaker 07

  No, it's good because you have better energy than I do. I've been, it's so funny. I've been so looking forward to this episode with you. And then I feel like I came on and I was like, oh, the world. But, um, but no, so thank you for doing my plugs appropriately.

• 1:04:33Laci Mosley?

  And you're a test, this is a testament to black women rallying for y'all, guys, because our shit is on fire, but we are still making this content for y'all because we love you. And we're here for you. So go ahead and be here for us, honey.

• 1:04:45Speaker 07

  Especially when we can do it together. That's the whole reason I'm here is for Miss Lacey, for y'all's queen. This is one of my favorite shows. You are doing it. You are keeping me entertained on a lot of airplane rides. So, thank you.

• 1:04:59Laci Mosley?

  Thank you. We love you, congregation. Stay Schemin.

• 1:05:05Speaker 03

  Parents and grandparents, if you want a gift that won't be forgotten by New Year's, give a Guardian bike. Guardian bikes are built just for kids. Lightweight, low to the ground, with a wide wheelbase for balance. Most kids learn to ride in just one day. No training wheels needed. Their patented Sure Stop Brake stops both wheels with a single lever, helping prevent head-over-handlebar falls. It's the number one kids' bike on the market. Designed and assembled in the USA, and the New York Times Wirecutter's top pick four years in a row. This holiday, save over 40% on kids' bikes. Plus, get $100 in free accessories. A lock, pump, bell, grips, and clamp. The stocking stuffers, covered.

• 1:05:47Speaker 03

  They have helmets and adult bikes too, so the whole family can ride. Join over a million happy riders at guardianbikes.com. That's guardianbikes.com.

• 1:05:59Speaker 11

  She's been thinking about this sleepover all week, but I think about her food allergies all the time. Fortunately, her doctor prescribed Zolair, omalizumab. It's proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens.

• 1:06:12Speaker 12

  Zolair 150mg is a prescription medication used to treat food allergy in people one year of age and older to reduce allergic reactions due to accidental exposure to one or more foods. While taking Zolair, you should continue to avoid all foods to which you are allergic. Don't use if you are allergic to Zolair. Zolair may cause a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Tell your doctor if you ever had anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have trouble breathing or if you have swelling of your throat or tongue. Zolair should not be used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. Zolair is for maintenance use to reduce allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, while avoiding food allergens. Serious side effects such as cancer, fever, muscle aches and rash, parasitic infection, or heart and circulation problems have been reported. Please see zolair.com for full prescribing information. Ask an allergist about Zolair.

• 1:06:55Speaker 12

  This is an advertisement for Zolair, paid for by Genentech and Novartis.

• 1:06:58Speaker 00

  OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDeck's loans up to $400,000 help make it happen fast. Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of 5-star TrustPilot reviews, OnDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at ondeck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.