PRETEND
From cult leaders to con artists and undercover FBI agents, PRETEND exposes those pretending to be someone they're not.
Episodes
April 22, 2025 • 41 mins
Can you really fake being insane—and get away with it? In this episode of PRETEND, host Javier Leiva sits down with forensic psychologist Dr. Tristin Engels to pull back the curtain on the high-stakes world of mental health evaluations in the criminal justice system.
We explore how some criminals try to game the system, what psychologists look for when evaluating claims of mental illness, and why even experts can be fooled. Plus, ...
Mark as Played
April 15, 2025 • 36 mins
Interview with a man convicted of a Ponzi scheme. Bill Livolsi says he was just trying to help his wife, Linda—the ringleader of a multi-million dollar investment scam.
In this episode of PRETEND, Bill opens up about how he got roped into the scheme, ignored every red flag, and ultimately landed in prison. He describes fake hedge funds, imaginary employees, and a key investor who also happened to be a self-proclaimed witch and lot...
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April 8, 2025 • 52 mins
Trigger warning: This episode contains graphic discussions of emotional, financial, sexual, and physical abuse. Listener discretion is strongly advised.
When Lindsay first met him, he was charming, successful, and convincing—a financial advisor with all the right answers. What started as a storybook marriage quickly spiraled into a nightmare of manipulation, gaslighting, and escalating violence.
In this episode of PRETEND, Lind...
Mark as Played
April 1, 2025 • 16 mins
After publishing the story of a woman trapped in a marriage with a narcissist, I wasn't sure how it would land. It wasn’t flashy. It didn’t end in violence or arrest. But the response was overwhelming. Listeners wrote in to say, “That was me.” Some still carry the trauma years later. Others are just now realizing what they went through was abuse.
In this episode, we hear from listeners who saw their own relationships reflected in...
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March 25, 2025 • 55 mins
In this episode of PRETEND, we meet “Ashley”—not her real name—who recorded hours of arguments with her husband in an effort to understand what was happening inside her marriage. From the outside, it looked like petty spats over groceries or laundry. But when you hear the audio, you realize this was something darker.
Ashley’s husband was emotionally abusive, manipulative, and battling addiction. It wasn’t until COVID lockdowns that...
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March 21, 2025 • 35 mins
It started with a missing breast milk keepsake. But when Cheyna Lee joined an online group of frustrated customers, she uncovered something much bigger—hundreds of victims, stolen mementos, and a scam artist hiding in plain sight. This is the story of Destiny Magoon, a small business owner who promised sentimental jewelry made from ashes, hair, and even breast milk—but left heartbreak in her wake. What followed was an online invest...
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March 11, 2025 • 43 mins
Episode Summary:
While working on the new season of Pretend, I wanted to bring back an episode from 2018 that’s worth another listen. It’s the story of Art Schlichter, a former Ohio State football star whose gambling addiction wrecked his life—and the lives of others. One of those people was Anita Barney, the widow of a Wendy’s CEO, who lost everything after trusting the wrong person.
This isn’t just a story about gambling. It’s ab...
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March 4, 2025 • 34 mins
n part two of Licensed to Kill, we continue the shocking investigation into doctors who exploit their patients for profit. This episode follows Patty Hester, a fitness instructor who was misdiagnosed with a rare blood cancer and nearly subjected to years of unnecessary chemotherapy—all at the hands of Dr. Farid Fata, a Michigan oncologist who built his fortune by treating healthy patients for diseases they never had.
But Fata isn’t...
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February 25, 2025 • 42 mins
What if your doctor wasn’t trying to save you, but trying to cash in on you?
In this episode of Pretend, we uncover the shocking case of Dr. Thomas Weiner, an oncologist accused of prescribing years of brutal chemotherapy treatments to patients who may not have even had cancer.
We follow the story of Scott Warwick, a man who was told he had stage 4 lung cancer and endured 11 years of toxic treatments—only to later learn there was n...
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February 18, 2025 • 51 mins
A group of women, all with eerily similar stories, say they were deceived—emotionally and financially—by the same man: William Sullivan. But instead of staying silent, they took matters into their own hands. They formed Operation Cock Block, a coordinated effort to expose what they claim were Sullivan’s deceptive tactics and warn others before they fell victim.
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February 11, 2025 • 39 mins
Facilitated Communication is marketed as a miraculous tool for non-speaking autistic children. But what happens when this controversial method leads to devastating consequences? In this episode, we hear from Kevin Plantin, a father who was falsely accused of assault based solely on messages typed with the help of a facilitator.
Despite the evidence, some courts and institutions still give FC credibility—with tragic consequences.
In...
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February 4, 2025 • 50 mins
A mother kills her autistic son. Why? Because he asked her to.
The mother claims he used facilitated communication to ask her to help him die. This case is just one of many tied to the controversial method that claims to give a voice to non-speaking autistic individuals. But what if the voice wasn’t theirs at all?
Share Your Thoughts:
Have you listened to The Telepathy Tapes? What do you think about the claims it makes? We want t...
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January 28, 2025 • 46 mins
The Telepathy Tapes podcast shot to the top of the charts, making bold claims about telepathic abilities in non-verbal autistic children. But are the claims rooted in science—or something else entirely? In this episode of PRETEND, we take a closer look at the phenomenon, the controversies, and the skepticism surrounding these extraordinary claims.
We’ll discuss:
➜ The premise of The Telepathy Tapes and the experiments it presents...
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January 21, 2025 • 32 mins
Hello PRETENDERS! I'm excited to announce that the new season of my other podcast, Criminal Conduct Season, is here! To listen to the rest of the story, search for Criminal Conduct and subscribe.
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Buffalo Jim Barrier was a wrestling promoter, mechanic, and Las Vegas icon. He faced off against Rick Rizzolo, a powerful strip club owner with alleged mob ties. Their feud lasted decades. Days after Rizzolo’s release ...
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January 14, 2025 • 47 mins
Today on PRETEND, we’re featuring the season 5 premiere of Nobody Should Believe Me, a compelling podcast hosted by author Andrea Dunlop that explores Munchausen by proxy abuse. Dunlop’s investigative storytelling sheds light on a complex and deeply troubling form of abuse, offering listeners both empathy and insight.
Season 5 kicks off with an in-depth look at Sophie Hartman’s 2016 memoir, Crowns of Beauty, where Hartman recounts ...
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January 7, 2025 • 38 mins
DNA evidence is often seen as the gold standard in criminal investigations—a scientific fingerprint that can definitively prove guilt or innocence. But what happens when the science behind it is mishandled or manipulated? In this episode of PRETEND, we explore two shocking cases: the Garrett Coughlin triple homicide and the wrongful conviction of Josiah Sutton. Both cases reveal how sloppy forensic work and unethical practices can ...
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December 31, 2024 • 24 mins
People panicked when a swarm of mysterious drones appeared in New Jersey’s night skies. Were they military? Foreign spies? Aliens? But buried under all the hysteria was one theory that refused to die: Birds Aren't Real. Yeah, that old internet conspiracy claiming birds are actually government surveillance drones. But here’s the thing—what if the joke isn’t as silly as it seems?
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December 26, 2024 • 68 mins
As a holiday treat, Amanda of Wine & Crime, Javier of PRETEND, and Whitney of Navigating Advocacy sit down to chat true crime, being in the podcasting industry, cases that haunt us, dream collaborations, and more! Enjoy this bonus conversation and check out all of these amazing shows wherever you get your podcasts!
Javier Leiva - PRETEND, Criminal Conduct, Ponzi Playbook
Amanda Jacobson - Wine & Crime
https://open.spotify.com/s...
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December 24, 2024 • 40 mins
In today's Christmas episode, we delve into the story of David Ellisor, a man whose grand Christmas scheme left the city of Miami in disbelief. Ellisor, a real-life Grinch, planned to host "Christmas From Around the World," a supposed once-in-a-lifetime event promising the presence of ambassadors, live reindeer, and a spectacle of global traditions. But the event never happened. He collected the cash and made a run for it. This is ...
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December 23, 2024 • 69 mins
The true crime podcasting community has come together for the holiday season to discuss all things true crime podcasting. Over the next two weeks, ten shows will be dropping bonus episodes sharing these conversations. In this episode, I'm joined by Alvin Williams (Affirmative Murder) and Josh Hallmark (True Crime Bullsh**) to discuss how we started our shows, true crime as an industry, how we've grown and lessons we've learned, cas...
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