Scamfluencers - Lisette Lee: The Simple Life Of Crime | 167

Episode Date: July 14, 2025

Lisette Lee is a party girl heiress who uses money, mean-girl bullying, and her early 2000s glam to control everyone around her. But when daddy’s cash isn’t enough to sustain her lifestyle, she manipulates her adoring posse into acting as her drug mules. But her scheme of trafficking weed via private jet raises suspicions, and drug-sniffing dogs are impervious to her charm.Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletterListen to Scamfluencers on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/scamfluencers/ now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey there, Scamfluencers fans! Want to be the first to know how these wild scams unfold? Join us on Patreon to get early access to episodes, ad-free listening, and exclusive content that reveals even more of the drama. Just search for Scamfluencers on Patreon and dive deeper into the scandal. Sarah, do you ever think about the scammers of yore, who we have to thank for the scammers of today? Like, who walked so Anna Delvey could run?

Yeah, you know, I do think there are true trailblazers in the field. I say the ones who scammed before, there was Photoshop and technology and the type of influence you can find online. Like, those were the OG trailblazers. Saudi Prince, he walked so Anna Delvey could run, for sure. Well, I like to think that we opened the door for multiracial scam artist podcasters everywhere. Absolutely. We made history, baby. You're welcome.

Well, today I'm bringing you back to our era of origin with an early-aught scammer that would give the bling ring a run for their stolen money. It's autumn 2009 in Los Angeles, and Miley Cady is at the bar at the Ritz Carlton sipping a dirty martini and reading a book. Miley is 21 years old with long, dark hair and hazel eyes, and she's waiting for a guy.

When Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome walks into the lobby, she greets him and leads him upstairs to a suite. And then she turns around and goes back to the bar. Miley is an aspiring actress. She's booked small roles on shows like Californication, but she's struggling to make ends meet. She's only here at the Ritz because she was invited by her friend Lisette. She is in awe of Lisette. Miley is from a small town in Washington state, while Lisette is a glamorous Beverly Hills

heiress. Lisette is an East Asian woman in her late 20s who nearly always sports a heavy smoky eye and winged liner. Lizette is an East Asian woman in her late 20s who nearly always sports a heavy, smoky eye and winged liner. She's confident and outrageous, and she does all kinds of crazy things Miley would never dream of. For example, it's Lizette's birthday,

and she wanted to spend the day with Miley at the Ritz, but she also rented this suite to see her boyfriend. Well, one of her boyfriends. That's the guy Miley just led upstairs. After the boyfriend leaves the Ritz, Miley goes up to the suite expecting to hang with Lisette. But Lisette sends her back to the lobby to wait for another guy and bring him up to the room. Ugh.

I feel like it'd be so undignified to kind of be facilitating this. Like, okay, I guess I'll be the one to run your boyfriends up and down the elevator to run your boyfriends up and down the elevator to visit you. Like, ew. Well, eventually the guys are gone and it's just Miley and Lisette. But Miley is a little anxious

because Lisette wants to talk to her about something. Lisette starts with an apology. She says that she's done taking Miley for granted and she's gonna start making amends by offering Miley a job as her personal assistant. Miley is intrigued. A job is exactly what she needs right now, even if Lisette is just making up a position

as a way to give her money. Lisette says that all Miley would have to do is travel with her on a private plane. She'll pay Miley in cash and give her all the time off she needs to get to auditions. It seems simple enough, so Miley in cash and give her all the time off she needs to get to auditions. It seems simple enough, so Miley says yes. This could be the answer to her prayers, but Miley doesn't realize that this so-called

job is about to take her on a high-flying adventure, one where she'll discover that behind this queen bee's perfect facade is a hive of secrets. where strategy meets top-tier gameplay. Drop in on the exciting Sugar Rush and Crazy Time slot games, or play the dazzling MGM Grand Emerald Nights, a slot experience that captures the magic of MGM. With so many games, it's time to make your move. Download the app and visit BedMGM Ontario today to experience the next level of gaming. Visit BedMGM.com for terms and conditions.

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I'm Gurdip Alawalia. And I'm Melanie Ng. At The Big Story, we slow the news down and examine one big story in depth. Something that matters. To give you some clarity amidst the chaos. Join us along with our team of award-winning journalists on The Big Story. Available every weekday morning.

Listen on the Seeker app or wherever you get your podcasts. From Wondery, I'm Saatchi Cole. And I'm Sarah Hegge. And this is Scamfluencers. Lizette Lee seems like the epitome of a 2000s-era L.A. it girl. She's a beautiful party girl heiress who uses money to control everyone around her. Her friends, her boyfriends, and her would-be boyfriends. But when daddy's cash isn't enough to sustain her lifestyle,

she makes a hard pivot into a new career as a bling-ring wannabe who manipulates her adoring posse into acting as her drug mules. I'm calling this one Lizette Lee, the simple life of crime. To understand how Lizette became Beverly Hills' pot princess, we need to go back a few decades and go halfway around the world to 1981 in Seoul, South Korea. Pam-Ko Lee has just gotten what would be exciting news.

His close friend, Yoshi Morita, had a baby. Pam-Ko is a taekwondo practitioner in his early 30s. He met Yoshi 13 years ago, when they studied under the same master, and they've stayed close ever since. Pumkol stuck with martial arts. He's now a sixth degree black belt and has earned the title Master Li.

The two are still tight. Master Li later describes their relationship as, quote, very close, more than brothers. But today, Yoshi is calling Master Lee to say that his new baby is a problem. Yoshi is Japanese, and his baby's mother, Corinne, is Korean.

The couple can't get married due to prevailing anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea. Plus, Korean culture doesn't look kindly on children raised by unmarried parents, so Yoshi needs his friends' help. Master Lee steps in. He and his wife offer to raise Yoshi's child. They adopt the baby when she's just three weeks old.

You know, that's a pretty incredible act of friendship to just make that decision, which I'm sure is hard for everyone involved. Yeah, it's pretty profound. Well, the baby's birth name is Ji Yun, but we'll call her Lizette, the name she eventually chooses for herself. In 1986, when Lizette is five,

Master Lee makes a big decision. He moves the family to a modest apartment in Beverly Hills. This is partly a work decision. Master Lee has gotten a well-paying job as a taekwondo instructor for Hollywood bigwigs. But this isn't the only thing drawing him to the States. Master Lee intends to raise baby Lizette with the values he's developed as a sixth-degree black belt.

Discipline, restraint, and self-respect. But to do this, he needs to get Lizette away from the influence of her birth parents. Because Corinne and Yoshi are both insanely rich. Corinne is the daughter of the founder of Samsung, and Yoshi's made a fortune in the casino business, an industry that has a lot of unsavory associations in Asia. Yoshi seems to appreciate everything Master Li is doing to give his daughter a normal upbringing.

The two men meet up every year or so, and each time, Yoshi gives Master Li $30,000 to $50,000 in cash. Master Li could use this money to send Lizette to a fancy private school. Instead, he enrolls her in public school, hoping to keep his adopted daughter away from the corrupting influence of money and privilege. But trying to keep a kid grounded

in the heart of Beverly Hills is something even a master can't hope to achieve. It's the middle of 2005, and Lisette is on a movie set wearing a fur coat and being shadowed by a bodyguard. She's in her 20s now, and she's following in the footsteps of the hottest celebrity in LA at the time, Paris Hilton. She's filming a cameo in an indie movie called The Doorman, playing herself.

Master Li has been trying to protect Lisette from the glamorous LA life, but it has not worked. Even when he pulled her out of school and started teaching her taekwondo, Yoshi was still there, giving her cash and expensive gifts. Like on Lizette's 16th birthday, Yoshi gave her a Mercedes convertible and a Ferrari 360 Modena Spider. And even though Master Lee doesn't approve,

Lizette and Yoshi see each other in person every once in a while. I mean, it must be hard when you definitely have the means to take care of a child, but maybe there's like a level of guilt he feels because it was all about societal pressure and not that he couldn't provide for his daughter. Yeah, it's a weird kind of gift-giving routine here. Yeah. Well, Lisette has used these flashy toys, along with a bit of exaggeration, to turn herself into a larger-than-life

character. The crew on the movie set has heard the rumors that she's an heiress to the Samsung fortune, so they treat her like a real celebrity. Now, it's true that Lisette's biological mother is a Samsung heiress, but as best we can tell, Lisette has never had a professional or financial relationship with the company. Still, none of the other people at the shoot know this. And Lisette isn't doing anything to dispel the rumors. She seems ready for the attention and immediately takes over the set. At some point, she sets her sight on Scott Bryan Cooper, a dark-haired, bearded publicist, aspiring actor, and party boy in his mid-30s.

When shooting stops for the day, Lisette sends her bodyguard home and hops into bed with Scott. But Lisette is currently living with someone, her boyfriend, Christian Navarro. Christian is a sharply dressed man with neat hair who wears horned rimmed glasses. He's a successful wine entrepreneur who's more than a decade older than Lisette.

But Lisette isn't sure she even wants to be with Christian. She started dating him because someone dared her to. And besides, being in a stable relationship doesn't exactly reflect a party girl lifestyle. Okay, she was dared to have a live-in boyfriend. What is this? What movie is this? Well, I guess she was dared to ask him for it. You know that thing of like, oh, man, I gave this guy a chance and now I live with him?

Oh my God, that is so insane. But you know what? Yeah, sure. I mean, it's crazy that she's like, well, I guess I live with this guy, but if I'm a real party girl, I should be with someone else. Well, don't get me wrong. She is getting something out of their relationship. Christian's wine connections in Hollywood get him into fancy events attended by celebrities like Pierce Brosnan and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

And obviously, Lisette is his plus one. Now, Lisette is interested in Scott for similar reasons. He has connections in the entertainment industry, including a record producer who agrees to produce an album for her. Lizette approaches music the same way she approached acting. She's less interested in making music and more into being the kind of person who can. So of course, she shows up to the recording studio wearing intense makeup and designer sunglasses, likely carrying a chihuahua, again trailed by a bodyguard.

By now, she knows exactly how she wants to come across, as a controlling, batshit diva. She looks around the room and notices that one of the people present is a six foot three, 400 pound black guy. She throws him the keys, calls him the N-word, and tells him to park the car. There's a moment of hesitation, but then almost everyone starts cracking up.

And the producer then reportedly says, quote, this girl's a star. Wow. This is so disturbing and diabolical. Isn't it crazy? This is like how we were raised in this cultural environment. Yes.

Yes, well, Sarah, you and I know that there's more to being a diva than throwing around racial slurs and having a squad of men desperate for your attention. If Lisette's gonna be a true early 2000s glamor monster, she needs one more thing. An uncomfortably close, borderline, homoerotic female friendship.

The Nicole to her Paris. It's November 2005, and Miley is driving up to a fancy West Hollywood apartment. She's nervous about meeting a new potential friend, Lisette. A mutual friend said she simply had to meet this Samsung heiress. Miley was skeptical, and that wasn't helped by what she found when they connected on MySpace. Lisette's username was RoyalPrincess007, and her page had an auto-playing rap song and blingy animations, along with glamorous modeling photos.

But their mutual friend told Miley that Lisette's looking for more down-to-earth friends, ones who haven't been corrupted by a rich Hollywood life. And after reading Lisette's first message to her, Miley decides to give her a chance. Sarah, Hollywood life. And after reading Lisette's first message to her, Miley decides to give her a chance. Sarah, will you read some of what Lisette wrote? I would love to.

She says, "'You'll get to know me and find out for yourself that I'm not what you might think. People misjudge me simply because I'm an heiress. Unfortunately, my former schoolmate, Paris Hilton, has given heiresses a bad name. We are not all like that. I don't only like to hang out with other rich people, and I care about more than just money.

Yeah, okay. If you have to say it that way, it's not true. And you know what? I would assume most heiresses and heiresses to a huge fortune are assholes. Also, she's connected to a family by blood, sure. Is she an actual heiress? No. You're making great points. And when Miley pulls up today, she sees Lisette's purple Mercedes and worries that she might have made a mistake.

She's nervous when Lisette insists that they go shopping. But to her relief, they don't hit the fanciest stores on Melrose Avenue. And Lisette is actually nice to the sales staff. Sure, Lisette insults Miley's taste in music almost immediately and tells her that she should start doing cocaine to lose weight, but Miley is new to LA and figures that this is probably normal here.

Plus she finds Lisette magnetic when Lisette later tells her, quote, I just know we're going to be best friends. Miley believes her. Here is a photo of the two of them together, Sarah. Okay, so it's a photo of them together, and Lisette, you know, she's smizing. She's smizing. And Miley is thrilled. Full teeth smile, which she will learn, hot girls don't do that. You never smile with your teeth.

It's a rule that they all have. It's unspoken. But that is how you know a baddie from a normie. I mean, you know I don't like to smile with my teeth. That's true. Yeah, and I smile with my teeth and that's why you're a baddie. But you know what is so fascinating here? Is that this is such a classic female friendship. Like, clueless-esque, rich girl. She's nice to me when no one's around.

Yeah, exactly. It's like, this is such a classic type of female friendship that is like borderline triggering. Yeah. Well, I don't think it's gonna get that much better. And I'm excited to see where this goes. I can't wait to see them maximize their joint slay. Two queens. Well, after their shopping trip,

Lisette takes Miley back to her condo. Miley is stunned as the elevator takes them to the top floor of the building and the heavy wooden door opens into a long hallway. Inside, the condo has polished granite countertops, heavy gold curtains, and a primary bedroom covered in mirrors. Lisette makes them Bloody Marys and she spills everything to Miley. About her boyfriend Christian and her birthright as an heiress to Samsung, Miley later learns

that Lisette was mixing truth and fiction, claiming that her parents live in Bel Air and that her dad was instrumental in Sony's success. But today, Miley is riveted as Lisette tells her that she skipped two grades at the elite Buckley School. And not long after, she also claims to be seeing Leonardo DiCaprio and Channing Tatum. Miley is totally swept away by Lisette's confidence and her glamorous life.

In just a few weeks, they become incredibly close. Sure, it's a little strange that they only hang out one-on-one in Lisette's condo with no cell phones, TV, or music. And the emotional intensity of their friendship can be a lot. Like one time, Miley tells Lisette that some of her hometown friends used to bully her

in elementary school. And Lisette that some of her hometown friends used to bully her in elementary school. And Lisette says, quote, These people make me fucking sick. They were never your friends. I would never do that to you. Miley feels defensive of her old friends, but she appreciates Lisette's protectiveness. She finds herself fantasizing about having had a friend like her as a child. had a friend like her as a child. It seems like she's made a rare and special connection, and she feels privileged to see the softer, private side of Lisette.

But one day, Miley opens a drawer in Lisette's hallway and finds a handgun. When Miley asks Lisette about it, Lisette says that she should feel safer knowing Lisette could protect them. Miley later writes in her memoir, Smoke, that, quote, "'I did feel safer knowing that she would be willing "'to kill someone to save me.'" to protect them. Miley later writes in her memoir, Smoke, that, quote, I did feel safer knowing that she would be willing

to kill someone to save me. Save you from what? What are we talking about here? You are two girls who like buying things. Save her from the haters and the hoes. Okay, it's like so confusing. Well, all this over the top love bombing comes with a flip side. Lisette can be casually cruel.

Miley later says Lisette introduces her to Scott as her, quote, little desperate whore. That's what I'm going to start calling you. Oh yeah, her. She's my little desperate whore. That's amazing. Well, after Miley finds a boyfriend, Lizette demands to scroll through her phone to keep tabs on her. Their insta relationship has shifted from being a love fest into straight-up abuse. Miley is fully caught in Lizette's thrall, and

she's not the only one. and she's not the only one. It's summer 2009, and Scott knows he should stop seeing Lisette. They've been hanging out for a few years now, and she humiliates him pretty much every chance she gets. One night, he even ran into Lisette and her boyfriend Christian at Spago, and he's sure that she set it up to embarrass him. Still, there's something about Lisette that keeps him coming back.

Maybe it's the 20 grand she's been promising to invest into his clothing company, which still hasn't materialized. That's why he's invited her to a party at the house of his record producer friend, where he's been crashing for a little while. But when she shows up, she gets distracted by another guy. His name is David Garrett.

He's in his late 20s with a shaved head, covered in tattoos, and wearing pricey jeans and a black polo. David is a drug dealer, and Lisette insists on trying his product. She cuts up some of his coke with a butcher knife from the kitchen. Then she throws a $100 bill at Scott

and tells him to go out and get her a bottle of Grey Goose. He wants to tell her to fuck off, but she's so commanding that he does what she says. When he comes back to the room where she's chatting up David, Nizette grabs the bottle and slams the door in his face. I mean, she treats people like garbage. I know, I honestly kind of find it really aspirational. Oh, God.

Well, Scott knows that he should probably cut his losses and move on. But he can't let it go. So a few weeks later, he decides to get back at Lisette. He tells her that he can't believe she hooked up with a, quote, thug. And he threatens to get in touch with Samsung to tell them what their Hollywood heiress has been up to. Scott and Lisette decide to meet up and talk things over. Lisette sends a black Escalade to pick Scott up. But when he gets into the car, Lisette isn't there.

Instead, two big muscly guys grab him and pull him into the back seat. The driver reportedly calls someone on the phone and says, yes, boss, we have the package. Then the two big guys take Scott's watch, shoes, and wallet before leaving him on the side of the road. They do leave him with his phone, though, and that way he can read the text

that he gets from Lizette later that night. Can you read what she said? Yes, she says, nobody talks to me like that. Now you see. Um, she is straight up crazy. Like, there's no other way to slice it. Also, I feel like he won't dig any further into her being a Samsung heiress now. This is kind of a way to show, like, I do whatever the hell I want.

And now you see what happens to people who do that. Yeah, this is gangster behavior. Well, Scott tried to push back against Lisette and he suffered the consequences. But while being roughed up and mugged is a terrifying experience, Scott was right to push Lisette away when he did. Because while Scott doesn't have the power

to threaten Lisette's cushy lifestyle, she's about to get involved in something that really, really does. David and Lizette's hookup turns into a relationship, even though they come from very different backgrounds. David was raised by a single mother, dropped out of high school, and started dealing drugs. Like Scott, he's insecure and nervous about keeping Lisette's attention. To keep her interested, he starts bragging about his connections in the drug trade. David tells Lisette that he has a supplier who can get him near endless amounts of weed at 500 bucks a pound. He says he also has contacts in Ohio who will buy from him for double that.

So if he can find a way to get it to Ohio, he can make a ton of money. Lisette is really interested and says there's an easy solution to his problem. Just hire a private jet. Sure, it costs 50 grand, but they can fit a lot of weed on a jet, which means they can cover the fee and still make a tidy profit. That's insane. Also, people look at what's on jets. You're not in this like a maritime law, like no what's on jets. You're not in this, like, maritime law, like... No man's land. ...world.

The sky has no rules. Just because the jet is private doesn't mean no one's gonna search it. Yeah, it's boneheaded. Well, Lisette offers to charter the jet, using her flashy lifestyle as a cover for the shipment. And David realizes, she's serious. At first, he isn't sure why a rich girl like Lisette would be so keen on turning to crime. Maybe her allowance isn't enough for the lifestyle she wants.

Or maybe it's just a thrill. He knows Lisette's favorite movie is Scarface. Maybe she's just seen it one too many times. Later, he tells Rolling Stone that Lisette was, quote, one of those rich girls that was bored. Whatever the reason, David can't pass up on an opportunity this good. He agrees to supply the pot and handle sales in Ohio. But it's up to Lisette to transport the goods.

Still, David's concerned about getting a privileged rich girl involved in a life of crime. If things go bad, he could be in a lot of trouble. The justice system wouldn't look kindly on him and neither would Lisette's father, who seems to have some scary connections in Japan. But what David doesn't realize is that he's not the mastermind here.

He's Lisette's first criminal dupe. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle III, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the Grandview's shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in the supernatural thriller

that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Hello, I'm Dax Shepard. And I'm Monica Padman.

And we love talking to people. Every Monday and Wednesday, we sit down with actors, authors, scientists, really anyone interesting and have real honest conversations about life, success, failure, and everything in between. We get vulnerable, we get nerdy, and yes, I occasionally overshare. Me too. And I would say more than occasionally. Yeah, but some of our favorite stories actually come from you, our listeners.

That's why we created Armchair Anonymous. Yes, every Friday on Armchair Anonymous, we get to hear your funniest, weirdest, most jaw-dropping confessions, and boy have you delivered. Yeah, from disastrous dates to family secrets to the time you accidentally joined a cult or evacuated without authorization. We really have heard it all.

Yes, we have, and we love it. So come pull up a chair, follow Armchair Expert on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe to Armchair Expert on YouTube. I feel like a legend. A few weeks after Lizette and David meet, Miley is linking up with Lisette at a hotel in Beverly Hills.

Miley agreed to be Lisette's personal assistant about a week ago. Now she's here to start her new job. Miley parks a few blocks away and walks, per Lisette's request. Lisette doesn't want anyone to see that Miley drives a VW Beetle. Miley arrives at the hotel and finds her friends sipping a gin and tonic in the lounge. Lisette is gathering everyone involved in her new venture. And Miley is surprised to see that this includes not one,

but two of Lisette's boyfriends. There's David, the drug dealer. But Lisette has also brought in Henry Hernandez, a 22-year-old who works as a doorman in her building. On top of that, there's Lisette's bodyguard and a friend of David's who fawns over Lisette like she's a real-life princess. Lisette asks Miley and Henry to go sit outside by the pool for a while. The two get to talking and Henry tells Miley he dropped out of college because he couldn't

afford tuition. This job is important to him. But like Miley, he also doesn't know what Lisette's getting them into. When Lisette calls them back in, she tells Miley to meet at David's place on Friday. Then they'll fly out on a private jet before returning the next day on a commercial flight. Lisette says that she isn't coming because she has meetings.

So Miley has to go in her place to, in Lisette's words, keep an eye on the boys. Miley still doesn't know why they're actually making the trip, but assumes that it must have something to do with Lisette's father's casino business. Lisette tells her to respond to any questions from friends or family by saying that she had to sign an NDA. Yeah, that wouldn't concern them at all, right?

If your friend got a job being her friend's assistant and was like, actually, I can't tell you anything about what's going on with my mildly abusive friend because I signed an NDA. You'd be like, I'm kidnapping you and saving you. I think everybody would be totally cool with it. Well, a few days later, Miley accompanies Lisette to a bank in Beverly Hills.

In the parking lot outside, Lisette casually pulls out 40 grand in cash to show Miley what it looks like. Inside the bank, Lisette introduces Miley as her assistant and deposits cash into Miley's account. Afterwards, she books a private jet using Miley's information and bank account. Miley is uncomfortable with this, but she's Lisette's employee now,

and she doesn't want to disappoint her. And besides, Lisette tells her it basically doesn't count if the money is only in her account for a few minutes. That is, like, the three-second rule of money. Yeah. Like, what? It's still good. It's still good. No, no, no, no, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. It's like this rich person law. You don't know about it. It's about money, yeah.

God. Well, Miley does still have a few questions. Like, aren't there going to be tax issues? Why do the payments have to go through her account? And why are they booking this private jet in the first place? Here's Miley describing what happened next in an interview with ABC's 2020. She said, you know what?

Your job is so easy. I don't know what you're complaining about. If you want, I would be more than happy to throw a stick down Sunset Boulevard and hit some other dumb broad who would do it for half the money. I like that Miley can laugh about this. I mean, it's objectively funny.

However, I'm not Miley, I don't know what it'd be like to be in that mindset. Would I continue doing it just to see it through, perhaps? Like, what is this crazy woman gonna do? Well, obviously, Miley goes ahead with the plan. On Friday, she meets David and the other boys at David's building. Lisette told her to dress like a diva, but Miley didn't really know what that meant, so she's wearing jeans, boots, and a basic black top.

She also brought a coat because David told her that they were heading somewhere cold. Lisette said that there was no room for extra bags on the plane, and Miley quickly finds out why. They're bringing seven suitcases with them that are so heavy, the guys struggle to load them into a limo.

Miley still has no idea what's inside. She goes with the luggage to Van Nuys Airport while David heads to LAX. When Miley gets on no idea what's inside. She goes with the luggage to Van Nys airport while David heads to LAX. When Miley gets on the tiny plane, she still doesn't know where she's headed or why. She falls asleep for a few hours and then wakes up as they touch down on a frosty tarmac. Miley offers to help the guys with the bags.

After some confusion, they rent a car and drive out to an old, run-down chain motel. Miley still doesn't even know what state they're in. But the next day, David hands Miley an envelope full of cash and puts her and Henry in a cab to the airport, where she finally learns where they are. Columbus, Ohio. They fly commercial back to LA, where Miley uses the money to pay off her bills and fill up her fridge for the first time in months. At least on paper, it seems like everything went according to plan.

But it turns out that Lisette is not happy. Remember how Miley offered to help with the bags? Well, Lisette heard about that and she is pissed. Apparently, it meant that no one would believe Miley is a proper diva, and for some reason, Miley doesn't fully understand. That's a problem. would believe Miley is a proper diva, and for some reason, Miley doesn't fully understand. That's a problem. Lizette says that now she has to come on all of their trips going forward. Oh, and she's docking Miley's pay. Miley is rattled, but she's still getting paid pretty well.

They start making more trips, with nicer planes and fancier hotels. Miley later says that running around with Lizette makes her feel like Ray Liotta's wife in Goodfellas. This feeling only intensifies when Lisette buys her a two and a half carat diamond ring and tells her to wear it on her engagement finger. Sarah, take a look at this picture of Miley on one of their flights. I know a Blackberry photo when I see one. Oh yeah, this is Blackberry Bold, baby.

It's an original. They're on a private jet, and it's a photo of Miley smiling. Just being Miley, one would say, holding a chihuahua and a glass of wine, probably. You know, everything here is spelling like, I'm gonna frame you. Being like, I'm so upset that you didn't look rich enough and that you helped with the bags. Well, this goes on for a few months. And then, in January,

Miley notices something on one of their flights. She can smell pot. Actually, the scent becomes so overwhelming that she later writes that it was like being, quote, stuck inside of a flying blunt. When they land and check into the hotel, Lizette complains that the plane smelled like a Cypress Hill show.

That's how Miley realizes that her weird little job is actually cross-country drug trafficking. But she's way past her first hit and in too deep with Lisette to get out now. It's spring 2010, and Lisette is at a hotel bar with Miley. Her phone rings, lines from the movie Scarface over music, It's spring 2010, and Lisette is at a hotel bar with Miley. Her phone rings, lines from the movie Scarface over music, and she's pleased to see that it's a new guy she's brought into both her drug operation and her roster of boyfriends.

Lisette needs fresh blood, because a lot of people are leaving her. Henry bailed on the operation when he realized what he'd gotten into. David, who knew all along, said that she was being unprofessional and unpredictable and left. Even Christian, her long-suffering boyfriend, is out of the picture now. To make matters worse, Miley won't shut up about her own boyfriend.

One night, Lisette asks Miley who she would choose to kill if she was forced to pick between them. And sure, eventually Miley says that she'd save Lisette, but she hesitated. What on earth? What the hell is going on? Lisette is so weird. Not only is she crazy, she's weird. First of all, Scarface Ringtone is really funny.

It's really funny. She loves the theme. But being like, okay, you have to kill one of us. Who do you pick? And then being, like, upset at the hesitation. It's like, what are you grooming her to be? Your henchwoman? Your bodyguard? Your proxy? Your best friend? Like, what is it? Because it's not really clear.

Yeah, it seems like Lisette wants loyalty, but she doesn't even know for what. Despite all of her challenges, Lisette is nothing, but she doesn't even know for what. Despite all of her challenges, Lisette is nothing if not resourceful. Sure, she could just cut her losses and move on, but the flow of money from her father is still a little unpredictable. She's had to borrow cars from friends on occasion,

and she's even started sticking other people with the bills when she goes out to eat. So when David left her, she went straight to his weed supplier and convinced him to sell to her directly. Team LL, as Lisette has dubbed the remaining crew, is doing just fine without the middleman. She's seen enough movies to know how to be the boss. Everyone has their burner phone and double O code name. Lisette's, of course, is double O seven. She continues booking the flights under a fake name and routes the money through Miley's bank account.

When airport staff asks why Lizette is traveling with so much luggage, she just tells them that she's moving to Ohio. But the stress is getting to her. She starts drinking heavily on the flights. She forces members of the gang to prove their loyalty by firing them and making them beg for their jobs back. On one flight, she has Miley and the gang spray entire bottles of air freshener onto

their suitcases to hide the pot stench. But it doesn't help. It just makes the planes smell like a mix of weed and several gallons of Febreze. Throughout it all, Lisette tries desperately to maintain her image. Like, she goes out of her way to show Miley two paintings by a French artist that she says were gifts from her mother. But they're actually commercial prints available at places like Bed Bath and beyond.

Lisette has spent years living the high life at the expense of everyone around her. But things are coming undone, and soon she's gonna be in for a crash landing. and soon she's gonna be in for a crash landing. It's mid-June in 2010, and Special Agent Matthew Heufelder is at the Columbus Airport, waiting for a Gulfstream jet to land. Matthew is a clean-shaven, mostly bald DEA agent in his 40s, and he's been investigating mysterious shipments of pot that have been coming into Ohio for the last seven months. Some colleagues in LA have tipped them off to a series of suspicious

private flights that might be the source. Who would fly from LA to Ohio on private jets more than 10 times in a year with a ton of baggage if they weren't carrying drugs or drug money. It's so insane that this very obvious flaw in this plan Lizette has is just like not on her radar. That's the number one question. Who is going from LA to Ohio with a bunch of bags all the time? Yeah, it's a good question. Well after the jet lands, Matthew and his team watch several burly men emerge from the plane and unload 13 suitcases as two women accompanying them stand and watch.

The luggage is so heavy that the crew can barely move it. They're preparing to shift the cases into waiting vehicles, but as the group goes to leave the airport, Matthew takes action. He moves on the crew with his armed backup and informs them that he's from the DEA. While most of Lisette's group tries to stay calm, one of them seems extremely flustered. And that, of course, is Miley. She's so obviously out of her depth,

one of Matthew's agents asks her, "'You're not in charge here, are you?' Matthew and his agents can tell who's running the show. Lisette has never been a shrinking violet, and she won't start now. Lisette tries to tell Matthew a story, and she won't start now. Lisette tries to tell Matthew a story about bringing supplies to her boyfriend's horse farm,

though she can't provide his last name. She also insists that she's a Korean pop star and model, but Matthew has brought someone with him that she can't lie to, a drug-stiffing canine. The dog goes nuts, and Matthew orders agents to open the van and take the luggage out. Here's a picture of the dog next to the suitcases. Sarah, please describe this very good boy.

Okay, so here is this cop dog. Cop dog. Standing in front of. He looks like a baby. He looks like a baby, like, I mean, free him, first of all. Cats would never work for the police, by the way. No, of course not. The amount of bags of weed behind him is astronomical.

It's such a huge amount of drugs to be carelessly traveling with. I'm shocked by the volume. Yeah, Sarah. It's more than 500 pounds of weed, as well as a little bit of coke, and a purchase ledger for the merchandise written in plain English on a hotel notepad. Michael Cotley's at Red Handed. Except when he sits down to interrogate her, she says she has no idea what he's talking about.

She says she was paid to make the trip and had no idea what she was transporting, but figured it had something to do with, quote, weapons and money laundering or something. Matthew knows this can't be true. According to the charter flight records and interviews he's conducted in LA, Lizette has made 14 of these trips, moving about 500 pounds of weed each time. She has shipped over 7,000 pounds of cannabis total for a net profit of over

$3 million. Sarah, can you read how an assistant U S attorney later described thousand pounds of cannabis total for a net profit of over three million dollars. Sarah, can you read how an assistant U.S. attorney later described it? Yeah, they describe it as enough to put one reefer in every seat of Ohio Stadium for the first four games of the Ohio State University football season. Okay, I get this is America and everything is about stadiums and sports and hamburgers and shit, but just give us Give us a true one-to-one. I don't know what this means. What is one reefer? Is that a joint? Yes, it's a joint One joint for every person. It was enough to get a bunch of people at a football game stoned. Thank you

Yeah, which sounds great actually. Yeah Well Matthew and the attorney general's office think this is going to be an open and shut case. But Lisette isn't about to back down. And she's going to pull out all the stops to try to pin her crimes on the very people she used to commit them. Hi, I'm Alok Jha, host of Babbage, The Economist's science and technology podcast.

80 years ago, an immense blast in the New Mexican desert propelled the world into the nuclear age. In a new four-part series, I'll uncover how scientists today are continuing to push the frontiers of extreme physics, material science and computing to make nuclear weapons fit for the 21st century. Listen and subscribe to The Bomb by searching for Economist Podcast Plus. Today is the worst day of Abby's life. The 17-year-old cradles her newborn son in her arms.

They all saw how much I loved him. They didn't have to take him from me. Between 1945 and the early 1970s, families ship their pregnant teenage daughters to maternity homes and force them to secretly place their babies for adoption. In hidden corners across America, it's still happening. My parents had me locked up in the godparent home against my will. They worked with them to manipulate me and to steal my son away from me. The godparent home is the brainchild of controversial preacher Jerry Falwell, the father of the modern evangelical right and the founder of Liberty University. Where powerful men, emboldened by their faith, determine who gets to be a parent and who must give

their child away. Follow Liberty Lost on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. About six months after she was arrested on the tarmac, Lisette is sitting in an imposing neoclassical courthouse in downtown Columbus. David, Henry, and most of the other members of Team LL have already pleaded out. Now it's Lisette's turn. It turns out the DEA only got her

because she kept feeding airport staff the same lie. They started to wonder, just how many times can one woman move to Ohio? About three months after Lisette and her crew got caught, They started to wonder, just how many times can one woman move to Ohio? About three months after Lizette and her crew got caught, a grand jury charged her with 15 counts, including conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute a thousand kilograms or more of marijuana. Lizette was pissed.

She even called one of her associates in LA to try to get him to hide the drug money. And she vowed to fight the charges in court. But the trial was awful for Lisette, and not just because of potential prison time. People did show up for her. Master Lee offered to monitor her 24 hours a day in his home, or even stay in Columbus to watch her until her court date. Even her ex, Christian, flew out to testify on her behalf,

saying he still does regular Taekwondo lessons with Master Lee. But each hearing was an opportunity to air more of her dirty laundry. The circumstances of her adoption, the lies about her childhood, it all came out. Samsung even issued a public statement disavowing any relationship between Lizette and the company, despite her aunt testifying otherwise. It was a crushing blow to the mythos of Lisette Lee. She was so angry that she fired the expensive lawyers her family hired, got new ones, and then fired those lawyers.

She even argued in federal court that the judge couldn't fairly determine her fate because the judge is quote, non-Asian and presumably not the progeny of an internationally prominent family and seemingly not aware or sensitive to the many nuances, demands, and societal burdens contained therefrom. In the end, she decides to take a plea deal for six years. Her sentence is light, perhaps because of some powerful letters the court received from her family. Sarah, do you want to read this quote by Lisette's birth father, Yoshi?

He says, In pursuing the creation and maintenance of my own empire, I have sacrificed an invaluable aspect of being a normal dad in society's eyes. I believe my daughter's mistake was an indirect statement of rebellion towards me. I mean, it could be, but also it's still not really an excuse. I think it is really probably tough to know that you were put up for adoption in some sense because of societal pressure and not because your parents couldn't provide for you or that they were too young or something.

But also she was given quite a lot. Yeah. Well, Lizette isn't done trying to control her life's narrative. She files a motion requesting that her sentence be vacated or reduced, alleging that her lawyers undermined her case with, quote, self-serving television appearances and news articles. Then, in May 2012,

she gets in touch with a reporter named Sabrina Erdly. Sabrina reached out to Lisette back in 2010 to ask about profiling her for Rolling Stone. Sabrina said she would humanize Lisette in contrast to the sensational coverage of her crimes. At first, Lisette said no, but now she's ready to talk. Lisette sits down with Sabrina in the federal prison in Dublin, California, where she's serving her sentence.

She sports blue-colored contacts and heavy makeup, and she tries her best to make her case. She calls her lawyers bumble-fuck incompetence. She claims to be using her, quote, vacation in prison as a learning experience and says that she's trying to think of it as a kind of no-frills boarding school. And for some reason, she does the entire interview

in a British accent. Why wouldn't she? Why not? Why not? I think this is her breaking down mentally. Yeah. Well, throughout the interview, Lisette blames everyone else.

She says that David manipulated her into the plot. She calls Miley, quote, a known drug user, and points out that the flights were chartered in her name. Of course, this was the whole point of booking the flights that way in the first place. But when Sabrina's story is published in Rolling Stone, Lisette is less than thrilled.

She responds in a later issue of the magazine. Sarah, can you read some of it? Yeah, she says, my greatest fear was that this would be a take-down piece, a total hatchet job. That fear, unfortunately, has been realized. It is completely defamatory, salacious, and frankly, catty. You know, she's someone who could be saying a lot worse, as we know,

but it's always funny to me when someone responds this way to an interview or some type of profile with a journalist that they don't know at all that owes them nothing because if it doesn't turn out the way they want it to, it's like automatically a hit piece, which I'm sure you haven't ever experienced with any of your subjects, right, Sachi? I have no idea what you're talking about. This has never happened to me before in my life. As I was saying that, like, four profiles you've written popped into my head. That's wrong.

Everybody likes everything I write. Nobody has any complaints. Well, Lisette says that the article isn't an accurate portrayal, that it's based on interviews with a small number of people who didn't know her very well, and that Sabrina has tried to make her look like, quote, a complete head case. It's worth noting that a couple of years later, Sabrina in Rolling Stone made headlines for her retracted,

defamatory story about a rape case at a college in Virginia. But there have been no indications of faulty reporting on Lisette, except from Lisette herself. The truth about Lisette is now out in the open. For the public, it's a bizarre and entertaining spectacle. But for the people who were closest to her, it's a startling revelation that she's lied about nearly everything she's ever told them.

Lisette is finally facing consequences for her actions, but the damage she's done to other people's lives might exceed what she's done to her actions. But the damage she's done to other people's lives might exceed what she's done to her own. Lisette, of course, isn't the only one facing legal consequences. On August 26, 2011, Miley holds her breath as the judge reads out her sentence in the Columbus Federal Courthouse.

She's terrified she'll get years in prison and be dragged out screaming by armed guards. Instead, the judge gives her 30 days in custody, a year of house arrest, and three years probation. Before her sentence begins, Miley reads about Lisette's own six-year prison sentence in the newspaper. Soon after, she receives a call from someone she hasn't spoken to in a long time, the friend who introduced her to Lizette in the first place. He tells her that he has Lizette on the other line. She wants to talk.

Miley thinks about accepting, but ultimately she says no. And minutes later, she gets another call from a restricted number, and she ignores it. You know, at that point, I would just accept. I would just be like, you're like in too deep. What more could she do? I'm out of this. What could she possibly have to say? Like, I would pick up the phone for the plot completely.

You're such a sucker, Sarah. I am. I'm such a sucker. I would do it. Well, Miley serves one month in prison in Victorville, California. After her release, she returns to LA, where she begins writing a blog called House Arrest Girl. During this time, she meets a producer who gets her a literary agent. She develops her story into a book called Smoke, how a small-town girl accidentally

wound up smuggling 7,000 pounds of marijuana with the pot princess of Beverly Hills. In the book, she notes that she never spoke to Lizette again after their arrest, saying, quote, She had to be dead to me, and I would be dead to her. I could never hate her. If I allowed that to happen, I risked the possibility of loving her again. Miley didn't find success as an actor, but she began a new career in PR after the publication of the book.

David, meanwhile, got 10 years. The feds eventually caught his supplier, who they alleged had connections to a Mexican cartel. And as for Lisette, she stayed out of the spotlight since her release in 2015. She's now in her mid-40s and seems to have put her glamorous days of excess behind her. If anything, she seems to be living out the one thing she was always running away from, a quiet, anonymous existence. Sarah, unfortunately I love this scammer because I think it's funny when women are rude,

which I know is not a laudable position, but I do think some of the things she said are genuinely so funny. She was really funny to me because she was trying so hard to be someone she wasn't. You know, there was this whole playbook she was following to try and be this type of character that you and I knew very well because we were teenagers around this time. You know, this type of girl who's just saying something crazy and has a little dog and is wearing a little skirt.

It's just like this caricature of a baddie at the time. And I love that she was actually not really that good at it. I mean, the thing is, is she barely did the heiress part. Like she was doing the scam part so much that how could she even have the time to do the fun part? Like she had enough money to just be an heiress. 50 grand really meant something in 2006 in Beverly Hills. You could do something with that.

And it was also an easier time to become this type of proto-influencer. Yeah. She obviously had some connections, but it's a little weird to me that even she didn't really have like a gaggle of women outside of Miley to parade around and have them do her bidding. Like, you saying wannabe bling ring makes total sense. Yeah. of women outside of Miley to parade around and have them do her bidding.

Like you saying wannabe bling ring makes total sense. Yeah. Because it's like even those girls were able to really do it properly, like create the false image. At least they were having fun. I feel like the issue with Lizette is she didn't party enough. She was only bitchy and capitalistic,

but she forgot to like go to the clurb. Yeah, and you know, I also think she was trying too hard to be a gangster. She was trying to be this like girly Tony Montana. She just couldn't really pull it off, which is the funniest part to me. You know, Sarah, I think this scam has really encouraged me to think big in terms of crime. Think bigger. I think often about how I would be if I was in one of these scams or like what kind of, how I'd be reacting,

how scared I'd be. And the thing is like, if you're brave enough and crazy enough to smuggle drugs on a private jet at the same place 10 times a year or whatever, like have an imagination is all I'm saying. Yeah, you know what? A plus for attitude, B minus for execution. Did you learn anything? I absolutely learned nothing actually.

Okay, that's what I like to hear. Loving Scamfluencers? Get exclusive episodes and early access to new ones all ad free on Wendree+. Join now in the Wendree app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Before you go, help us out by taking a quick survey at wendree.com slash survey. This is Lizette Lee, the simple life of crime. I'm Saatchi Cole. And I'm Sarah Haggis. If you have a tip for us on a story that you think we should cover, please email us at scamfluencers at wondery.com. We use many sources in our research.

A few that were particularly helpful were Smoke, How a Small Town Girl Accidentally Wound Up Smuggling, 7,000 Pounds of Marijuana with the Pot Princess of Beverly Hills by Miley Hady, The Gangster Princess of Beverly Hills by Sabrinailey Cady, The Gangster Princess of Beverly Hills by Sabrina Rubin Erdly for Rolling Stone, and The Pop Princess of Beverly Hills, Lizette Lee, produced by Stephen Michaels, Jonathan Koch,

Mark Monroe, and Alex Piper for Gangsters, America's Most Evil. Merrick Kay wrote this episode. Additional writing by us, Sachi Cole and Sarah Hagge. Eric Thurm is our story editor. Fact-checking by Kalina Newman. Sound design by James Morgan. Additional audio assistance provided by Augustine Lim.

Our music supervisor is Scaf Alaskes for Freeze On Sync. Our managing producer is Desi Blaylock. Our senior managing producer is Callum Plues. Janine Cornelow and Stephanie Gens are our development producers. Our associate producer is Charlotte Miller. Our producer is Julie McGruder. Our senior producers are Sarah Enney and Ginny Bloom.

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