Way before Will Smith’s slap, Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s sex tape and Britney Spears’ conservatorship, Hollywood was consumed by the Heidi Fleiss scandal. While running an upscale prostitution ring in the early 1990s, the 20-something ‘Hollywood Madam’ rubbed shoulders with Los Angeles’ rich and powerful – most famously Charlie Sheen, who confessed to spending US$53,000 a year with the 500 girls on Fleiss’ books – until she was convicted of federal charges in 1996. Now, new podcast HeidiWorld revisits the story, chronicling the rise and fall of Fleiss, from her LA upbringing and so-called intellectual hippie parents to the scandal, conviction and where she is now.
And if you devoured the likes of Fyre Festival, The Tinder Swindler and Becoming Anna, Scamfluencers brings a fresh batch of insidious con artists to light, unpacking epic tales of deception from the worlds of social media, fashion, finance, health and wellness. The first two episodes that debuted yesterday tell the story of the diversity-focused ballet school start-up which dissolves into suspected poisoning and murder – with the series promising even more bizarre true tales. Also new to the world of scandal-ridden true crime is Liar Liar, an in-depth look into the 2020 case of Australian conwoman Melissa Cuddick. Unpicking her Ponzi scheme in which she allegedly stole A$23 million from friends, family and even her own parents, things get even more interesting once it turns into a missing person’s case after her sudden disappearance. Charge up those AirPods, because they’re about to have a marathon workout.
