Scamfluencers - The Cell(phone) Block Tango

Episode Date: April 1, 2024

After a daring bank robbery, Arthur Cofield winds up behind bars as a teenager. But prison doesn’t put an end to his life of crime. Instead, it only emboldens him. From his cell, he becomes the head of a powerful criminal syndicate that targets the bank accounts of billionaires. But when Arthur gets a little too brazen, the authorities realize they know exactly where to find him: He’s already in custody.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to scamfluencers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or Apple podcasts. Sachi, if you were in prison, what is the one thing you would try your best to smuggle in? I would try to smuggle in a phone and like an unlimited charging bank. I think I could do any amount of time anywhere as long as I had access to like Reddit. Something to read. Well, it's interesting you say that, Sachie, because cell phones play a huge role in the story I'm about to tell you. And it all happens in prison.

It's June 2018, and Arthur Cofield is scrolling through Instagram. Arthur is a very large, heavyset black man in his mid-20s. He's in a tiny, sweltering room in Jackson, Georgia, less than an hour outside of Atlanta. Beads of sweat drip down his neck over his tattoos. One reads, laugh now, cry later, and another is of clowns. They're a reminder to enjoy the moment. For right now, Arthur's feeling some classic FOMO. He's looking at posts from a recent party

at one of his favorite spots, Club Crucial. The rapper T.I. opened the club in 2005, and it's quickly become a staple in the music scene in Atlanta. Rappers like 21 Savage and YG frequently perform there. This particular party was hosted by a crew called YAP, which stands for Young and Paid. They're known around Atlanta for throwing a lot of parties and for putting out their own music, like this song called, Lavish. We live and live, high like a pellet,

Number's four, part of the dimension, Three twenty thousand, just wanna take it for- This yap party was thrown in honor of Arthur's friend, a guy named DaVinciO Rogers. DaVinciO just got out of prison after serving seven years for manslaughter. To celebrate, Yap paid for everyone's drinks and spent a bunch of money on a twerking contest.

The winner took home $1,500. There are a bunch of videos from the party that Arthur is probably watching on his phone. Sachi, take a look at one of them. Alright, so this is a video of, I guess, this rapper throwing a bunch of money into a very welcoming crowd. I too would also welcome several thousands of money into a very welcoming crowd. I too would also welcome several thousands of dollars if I just went to a concert. I think it'd be hard to go to regular concerts after that. But it's a little odd that Arthur wasn't at the party because he actually co-founded YAP along with DaVinci.io.

And the free drinks and torquing contests were mostly paid for with Arthur's money. But it's weirder that Arthur is even watching these videos online because he shouldn't even have a phone. That's because, Sachi, the tiny, sweltering room he's in is a prison cell. Oh, incredible. Incredible! He must have such foma. Yeah, Arthur's found a way around all the restrictions that come with being locked up.

He's been stealing millions of dollars straight out of rich people's bank accounts. And the only tool he needs to do it is the same one he's using right now, a cell phone. Every day in America, 60 million packages are delivered. on. serial bomber for 19 days. From Sony Music Entertainment, Campside Media, and Pegalo Pictures, this is Witnessed, 19 days. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts to binge all episodes or listen weekly wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Peter Frankenpern. And I'm Afro-Hersch. And we're here to tell you about our new season of Legacy, covering the iconic, troubled musical genius that was Nina Simone. Full disclosure, this is a big one for me. Nina Simone, one of my favourite artists of all time, somebody who's had a huge impact on me, who I think objectively stands apart for the level of her talent, the audacity of her message. If I was a first year at university,

the first time I sat down and really listened to her and engaged with her message, it totally floored me. And the truth and pain and messiness of her struggle that's all captured in unforgettable music that has stood the test of time. Think that's fair, Peter? I mean, the way in which her music comes across is so powerful, no matter what song it is.

So join us on Legacy for Nina Simone. From Wondery, I'm Sarah Haggi and I'm Slaachi Cole. And this is Scamfluencers. Come and give me your attention, I won't ever learn my lesson. Turn my speakers to 11, I feel like a legend. Arthur Cofield grew up poor and it wasn't until he got locked up that he ended up getting incredibly wealthy. He flaunted his money by buying mansions, funding rap songs, and even taking out hits on his rivals. And because he was already in prison, he had no fear of getting caught.

It's a pretty incredible con, unlike anything we've ever covered on this show. I'm calling it the Cell Phone Block Tango. Arthur Lee Cofield Jr. is born in 1991 in East Point, a poor suburb of Atlanta. And as a kid, he discovers he's good at riding dirt bikes. He starts competing in motocross tournaments while he's still in elementary school. When he's eight years old, he finishes fourth at the amateur national motocross championship. Arthur knows he has what it takes to make it in the sport.

But he also knows that it's going to be an uphill battle because motocross is really expensive. A nice bike can run several thousand dollars. Plus, there's maintenance, safety gear, and the cost of travel to competitions. Even the riders who are really good might spend more on the competition than they make in prize money.

That makes motocross sound like the masculine-coded beauty pageant, where, like, it costs so much just to do it. Oh, totally. And it's a struggle, but Arthur's father does what he can to support his son's dream. Like, he even converts a moving truck into a place they can live and sleep while they're on the road for competitions. Even still, motocross is a very white sport, some moving truck into a place they can live and sleep while they're on the road for competitions.

Even still, motocross is a very white sport, and Arthur is constantly reminded that he doesn't fit in. A friend later tells a New Yorker that Arthur was regularly called racial slurs by the other riders and their fans. Well, none of this deters Arthur, but it seems like the financial strain on his family does get to him. So when he's about 14 years old, Arthur decides to take matters into his own hands. He reportedly steals more than $8,000 from the entry gate at a racetrack.

A member of the family that owned the track later tells a New Yorker that they find the money in Arthur's family's truck, but decide to not press charges. After that, Arthur quits motocross for good. By this point, he's also quit going to school. He decides he doesn't need education or extracurriculars. He's going all in on crime. This is sad. It's like such a bad plan.

Yeah, it really is depressing. And two years after the incident at the racetrack, he walks into a bank, pulls a gun on one of the tellers, and walks out with $2,600 in cash. He hustles to the getaway car his friend is driving, which was stolen from an enterprise rent-a-car. Just a few minutes later, the two boys get a nasty surprise. A cloud of thick, colorful smoke erupts from the bag of cash. It's the bank's security measure and it's been activated. Now they're choking and can't see. In the

confusion, they crash the car. Arthur flees on foot, but the cops are right behind him. And before he knows it, he's in handcuffs. His bank robbing career has lasted maybe 15 minutes. Four months later, Arthur pleads guilty to armed robbery. In Georgia, kids as young as 13 can be tried as adults for violent crimes, which is how Arthur winds up sentenced to 14 years in prison before he's even old enough to vote. Now, usually this is where our stories end, with a conviction and a sentencing. But Arthur's story is just getting started. Incarceration doesn't slow him down at all.

In fact, he's about to level up in a big way. Being in prison cuts Arthur off from the rest of the world. So there are certain details about his life that we just don't know. Like what kind of quote unquote job the prison makes him do. Inmates in Georgia sometimes have to work in the laundry room, clean or milk cows on a prison dairy farm.

We do know that whatever Arthur's doing, he almost certainly is not getting paid for it. Georgia is one of a handful of states where prisoners don't earn any money for their labor. And even though he's in prison, Arthur still needs money to buy basic things at the commissary, stuff like toothpaste, shampoo, coffee, even underwear.

He needs to find a way to survive. So about two years after he's locked up, he handwrites a complaint against two correctional officers and the prison warden. He files a lawsuit that alleges he was attacked by an inmate who cut up his arm with razor blades. Arthur says the attacker was friends with his cellmate and that the attack was retaliation

because he'd seen his cellmate making an apparent drug deal with a guard. He says that after the assault, the guard delayed his medical treatment and threatened his life if he told anyone what he'd seen. Arthur argues that this injury will threaten his livelihood once he's released from prison. It doesn't seem like there's evidence to support this,

but he alleges that before he was imprisoned, he was making over $100,000 a year riding motocross, and that now he won't be able to compete. He asks for over a million dollars in damages You have to respect the hustle I guess. I mean I've heard of far dumber lawsuits Yeah, well the lawsuit ends up getting dismissed. So Arthur finds himself a different side hustle He starts smuggling cell phones into prison It's actually pretty easy for him.

Some of the phones come in care packages, hidden inside things like bottles of shampoo and conditioner. It's possible he also has guards smuggle the phones in for him, but we don't know for sure. We do know that phones are hot commodities and can go for thousands of dollars a pop. It seems like a lot of them come with data plans, paid for by a relative or friend on the outside.

Arthur also keeps some of these phones for himself. Having internet access opens up the world to him again. Now he can listen to music, see what friends and family are up to, and even make posts of his own. Over the next few years, Arthur gets transferred to a few different prisons. At every one of them he smuggles in phones and at every one of them some

of these phones get taken away from him. Guards find smuggled phones all over the place in a soapbox taped to his waist and stuffed in his shorts. And while there are plenty of ways that guards can make his life hell doesn't seem like the punishments are especially serious. Certainly not enough to make him stop. Arthur has finally found a way to make money behind bars. But it's not enough to just be able to afford stuff at the commissary. He wants to expand.

And to do it, he's going to need something he can't sneak into a shampoo bottle. In 2014, about seven years into his sentence, Arthur is transferred to yet another prison in Georgia. That's where everything clicks into place for him. Because this is where he meets DaVinci O'Rogers. DaVinci O'Rogers is 28 years old, about five years older than Arthur. He's serving time for murder and aggravated assault

with a deadly weapon. He's black and lanky with close-cropped hair. He and Arthur are both ambitious and they share similar instincts. DiVincchio got his hands on a phone about three years earlier when he was still in jail awaiting trial. And then he did what anyone would do. He started tweeting. Pictures of his cell, his meals, and even something that looks a lot like weed.

Okay, this is another example of people who would probably get away with things if they would just be quiet. Yeah, and I mean, DaVinci wasn't the only person posting through it from jail, but his tweets became a big news story. Prison higher-ups promised to do something about the plague of phone smuggling. But the crackdown never came. By the time DeVinci0 meets Arthur, the two men are already pros at phone smuggling, each running their own operation.

Up until now, Arthur and DeVinci0 have probably been using their phones the way most inmates do. They might scroll through social media, take online classes, Until now, Arthur and DaVinci have probably been using their phones the way most inmates do. They might scroll through social media, take online classes, or read books that are banned by the prison's library system. But together, Arthur and DaVinci realize they can start something bigger, something that will have an impact even beyond the prison's walls.

But to do that, they need to get serious about the paid part of young and paid. And Arthur has a way to get all the money they'll ever need. Sachi, there's a lot of illegal activity in this episode, but this is Arthur's central scam. Here's how it works. He starts by choosing a wealthy target and then tracking down enough personal information to access their bank account. We're not sure exactly how he gets the information

or picks his targets, but it's possible he has an accomplice who works at a bank and passes it along to him. The easiest targets are older and not very tech savvy, ideally someone who hasn't set up online banking or at least someone who doesn't know about digital fraud alerts. He also looks for people who are so wealthy that they won't

immediately notice hundreds of thousands of dollars missing from their accounts. Arthur then uses the target's money to buy gold coins, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars worth. He has the gold shipped to a UPS center in Atlanta, where an associate picks it up and converts it into cold, hard, untraceable cash. This is so complex and kind of smart because like gold is very valuable. And it's a great way to probably get the most for whatever money he's siphoning out. Yeah, and also once a person gets that gold, you can't reverse that, you know? The money's gone, yeah.

Over time, he starts creating fake email addresses for big-name billionaires, media moguls, CEOs, and big-time investors. It seems like he's aiming to swindle some of the richest people in the world. And to be clear, DaVinciio is never charged in relation to the scam, but it does seem like he probably knew

something shady was going on. Either way, it's clear that he benefits from Arthur's connections in the outside world. Because he's friends with Arthur, he gets to buy whatever he wants at the prison commissary. And he also starts to gain a reputation among fellow prisoners who realize the Yacht Boys aren't just talking a big game. They're actually making big money. But now, like so many other young men who have made fortunes on their phones,

Arthur realizes he needs a girlfriend. Around the same time Arthur starts stealing money, Selena Holmes is working at a Panera in Atlanta. Selena is 19 years old with long dark hair and a cross tattooed at the base of her throat. She grew up in a poor part of town, like the one where Arthur was raised and dropped out of high school.

One day, someone reportedly approaches her and says he knows some guys who'd be interested in talking to her. In exchange, they'll look out for her financially. The catch is the men are all in prison, and Selena has to get on the phone with them. Okay, I think you know what I'm gonna say, which is that this sounds like an ideal scenario.

You don't have to see him, you barely have to talk to him, and then he'll just like give you some gold bars now and then. I don't see what the problem is. You know what? I don't either, and it is in some ways a modern fairy tale. We don't really know why Selena agrees to talk to Arthur or why Arthur wants to talk to her, but a few days later, she picks up a call from him.

We don't know what they talk about, but they must come to some kind of understanding, because soon after that, another man reportedly walks up to Selena and hands her $15,000. This is how dating apps should work. If I speak to a man for 15 minutes on a phone, I should receive $15,000.

Yes, but Arthur and Selena start spending hours on the phone together. One thing they talk about is business. Selena knows all about Arthur's bank fraud scheme. We don't know for sure, but it's likely that she helps run errands for him, like converting some of the gold coins into cash. Whatever she's doing, Selena commits 100%.

She even gets a yap tattoo and earns herself the nickname Yap Mrs. Arthur also follows through on his promise. He buys her a Mercedes and sends her on a luxurious trip to Los Angeles. He also shells out a few thousand dollars a month for an apartment in a new high rise building. It has a rooftop pool and Florida ceiling windows.

Plus Selena gets to host parties at places like Club Crucial. Is this where I saw the video of everybody being showered in bills? Yes, this is the spot. And Selena is now one half of a power couple and people are eager to pay tribute to her, especially other members who have joined the crew but aren't in prison. In late April of 2018,

a few months after Selena joins YAP, crew member YAP Moncho releases Lavish, the song we listened to earlier. On SoundCloud, he writes that the song was, quote, inspired by YAP CEO, L Lavish and YAPmisses, AKA Arthur and Selena. To promote it, he gives an interview to a YouTube channel called Hood Affairs.

He brags about how rich the crew is, including their private jets, fancy cars, and multiple homes. This, I mean, only mansion. We got two other mansions in Beverly Hills and Florida. He also shouts out Selena specifically and talks about how lucky she is to be with a guy like Arthur. She gonna be a pop-up shit, you know what I'm saying?

Because she really got the most richest motherfucker in the city. Selena is helping Arthur maintain the illusion that he can have the lifestyle he wants from prison. But the house, the parties, and Selena herself are ultimately on the outside, which means they're outside of Arthur's control. And when he's confronted with this fact,

Arthur will graduate from theft to attempted murder. from theft to attempted murder. Maybe that's a stretch, but if I say pop star and shuttlecocks, you know who I'm talking about. No? Short shorts? Free cocktails? Careless whispers? Okay, last one. It's not Andrew Ridgely. Yep, that's right. It's Stone Cold icon George Michael.

From teen pop sensation to one of the biggest solo artists on the planet, join us for our new series, George Michael's Fight for Freedom. From the outside, it looks like he has it all. But behind the trademark dark sunglasses is a man in turmoil. George is trapped in a lie of his own making, with a secret he feels would ruin him if the truth ever came out. Follow Terribly Famous wherever you listen to your podcasts, or listen early and ad-free on Wandery Plus on Apple Podcasts or the Wandery app. I'm Matt Ford. And I'm Alice Levine.

And we're the hosts of British Scandal. In our latest series, we're visiting one of the rockiest sibling relationships ever. OK, so I'm thinking Danny and Kylie. No, no, no, I'm thinking Anne Boleyn and the other Boleyn. No, no, Barry and Paul Chuckle. No, it's Noel and Liam Gallagher. Now these two couldn't be more different, but they're tied to each other in musical dependency. Despite their music catching the attention of people around the world, Liam's behaviour could destroy their chances. However, their manager saw an opportunity to build a brand around their rebellious nature.

It's got fights on boats, fights on planes, fights on land. They just fight everywhere. If you like fights, you'll love this. To find out the full story, follow British Scandal wherever you listen to podcasts. Or listen early and ad-free on Wondry+, on Apple Podcasts or on the Wondry app. After Da Vincio is released from prison in June of 2018, Arthur watches him closely on social media. He's probably hungry to see what it looks like

to be a rich man in the outside world. And DaVinci0 isn't shy about showing off. Remember that welcome home party with the twerking contest? There is plenty more where that came from. Here's one of DaVinci0's first Instagram posts from after he gets out. Sachi, can you describe it for me? Yeah, this is a post from YapFootball. Is this DaVincio, I'm guessing? Mm-hmm.

Hanging out next to a big fireplace. It says Yap over the fireplace. And the caption is, boss of all bosses, if you ain't know what it mean, hashtag yap. Y'all know how we come in. I'm back like I left something. And then several emojis. Okay, I'm back like I left something is truly, that's a bar. I'm gonna say that every day for the rest of my life.

A lot of DaVincios posts are like this. He's wearing designers like Gucci and Chanel, posing in front of an exotic shark tank or on top of a white Rolls Royce. But he also makes a point of giving back. In August, he goes shopping and buys hundreds of pairs of sneakers for local kids. Arthur is probably glad to see Yap's reputation

for being rich and generous, spreading to a whole new generation. But he also must be frustrated by his own situation. So he goes looking for ways to have more fun behind bars. Around this time, he asks Selena to have sex with another woman while he watches via FaceTime. Selena recruits a woman who works as a stripper and goes by the name Indiana.

Indiana is already pretty well known in Atlanta. She has a great smile and Arthur likes her right away. He likes her so much in fact, that he starts seeing her behind Selena's back. Which of course means a lot of talking on the phone. Sometimes he asks her to get naked for him. Other times they just watch movies together. Arthur is as generous with Indiana as he is with Selena.

Soon enough, he's footing the bill for a $4.5 million mansion, two rain drovers, and a $400,000 Rolls Royce SUV. Can't even keep a man loyal if he's in prison. Even literal bars will not stop a man from cheating on you. Yeah, Sachi. Arthur seems to be having a good time showering Indiana with money and attention. But when he hears Selena is getting close to a new guy,

can't help but get jealous. The new guy's name is Antorus Young. He's in his 30s with a goatee and four rows. Arthur is stewing. He desperately wants to confront Antorus, but he can't. So he allegedly finds a plan B, hiring a hitman to take him out. Pretty soon, the plan is in motion. The hitman follows Antorus in a car,

and Da Vincio and Selena follow the hitman. Meanwhile, Da Vincio is Selena follow the hitman. Meanwhile, Da Vincio is on the phone with Arthur, giving him constant updates. At least, this is what prosecutors later allege. For what it's worth, Selena's lawyer later says that Selena was forced into participating at gunpoint. There's my least favorite scamfluencer's bingo card, which is domestic violence. We're back. I know, it is messed up.

The crew eventually tails Antorus to a street outside a recording studio. And once Lena confirms that he is, in fact, their target, the hitman opens fire. Arthur, who's allegedly listening over the phone, must be hyped on adrenaline, feeling powerful even from behind bars. But pretty soon, he gets word that Intoros survived the attack.

The shooting paralyzes the lower half of his body. It takes only a couple of months before Da Vincio, Selena, and Arthur are all charged in connection with attempted murder. Da Vincio and Selena plead guilty, but Arthur maintains that he wasn't involved. While Arthur's dealing with his legal trouble, he decides to get more serious with Indiana. In June of 2019, they get married, after knowing each other for about a year. It may be that they're in love,

but their marriage also serves a practical purpose. It means that Indiana can handle Arthur's money for him. And if it comes down to it, she can't be called to testify against him in court. One of the weirdest advantages of marriage. So strange. Yeah, that's the only reason why I'm getting married. It's the only reason I would do it in the future for sure. Well, a few months later, towards the end of 2019, Arthur is transferred again, this time to Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison.

It's about 60 miles south of Atlanta. This place is hardcore. It's where death row inmates are housed and executed. Arthur is put in their special management unit, which is reserved for people considered to be especially dangerous and aggressive. The cells have metal doors and metal shields over the windows, so prisoners can't communicate

with each other. Arthur has to stay in his cell 23 hours a day. This sounds cruel and unusual, despite his many crimes. Well, Arthur manages to remain cool and collected, even in these extreme circumstances. He makes a point of being polite to the guards, which is a big deal in a ward where prisoners are often screaming and banging on their doors. But Arthur still manages to smuggle phones in

and get them taken away. Like one day in November 2019, the guards find a couple of phones, including one tucked away in the folds of Arthur's belly. But that doesn't stop him from gearing up for his biggest score yet. In the summer of 2019, Arthur's texting was someone who's listed in his phone only as Yum.

Prosecutors believe that it's Yum who gives Arthur the details he needs to go after a billionaire named Sidney Kimmel. Sidney founded a fashion empire called Jones New York, the company behind brands like Nine West and Anne Klein. These days he lives in New York and his company also produces movies like Crazy Rich Asians. He's in his 90s which makes him a perfect target for a tech-savvy scammer. Arthur calls up Schwab Bank and, in his best scratchy old man voice, says he's Sidney Kimmel. The person on the other end asks for some information to confirm, like Sidney's social security number and his mother's maiden name. Arthur has the

answers at the ready. He then asks the bank to connect Sydney's checking account to an online account Arthur recently created. The bank goes ahead and does it. It seems like no one wants to piss Sydney Kimmel off, so they just don't ask too many questions. Then Arthur sits back and waits. Not long after, a woman calls Schwab and says she's Sidney Kimmel's wife, and that she wants to use $11 million to buy gold coins from an LLC registered in Idaho. Now, we don't know for sure who this woman is, but I'm going to guess it's Indiana. The bank contacts Arthur, who they believe is Sidney, and he gives the okay. Oh my god. Our money is safe nowhere.

No. Then Arthur, still pretending to be Sydney, hires a security company to put the coins on a small plane and fly them to a private runway in Atlanta. Indiana's father, Eldridge, is in charge of picking up the coins once the plane lands. Arthur told him to bring a fake ID since he knows the company is going to ask.

He also told the security company to wipe any photos it takes of the car or Eldridge's fake ID. Arthur's trying as hard as he can to cover every angle so that there's no link between any of his people and this pickup. But when the night finally comes, all Arthur can do is pace around his cell, hoping everything is going according to plan. It's a stormy June night and the plane doesn't land until 2 a.m.

Arthur is probably nervous for most of the night. After a while, he gets confirmation that his operation went smoothly. It's all good. He can finally rest easy. But eventually, people start to notice that money's going missing from rich people's bank accounts. And when they do, the government will finally start looking into it. After years of scamming, Arthur's number is about to come due.

A few weeks after the plane handoff, a prosecutor named Scott McAfee sits in his office in Atlanta. Scott's in his early 30s. He's a skinny white guy with a receding hairline and an assistant U.S. attorney in Georgia's Northern District. He's ambitious and already thinking about his next move. He wants to get appointed to the federal bench. But before he can climb the ladder, he needs to help nail a criminal. This is what he knows.

Money has been going missing from wealthy people's bank accounts, and the federal government has struggled to crack the case. But a few months ago, they got a big break. They tracked the IP addresses of the devices that access the bank accounts. And one of those devices leads investigators straight to Arthur's prison. Can you imagine being the fed who like does the IP tracking and they're like, it's a prison?

Oh man. It's such a brilliant scam, but the smallest thing really got him here. It's always the dumbest thing. Well, Scott's team asks the prison to look for the phone. That's when the guards confiscated some of Arthur's phones, including the one in the rolls of a stomach. It's not clear which phone was used in the crimes,

but it does seem like Scott was able to connect Arthur to at least one of the thefts. Still, he needed more evidence. And today, one of his investigators got a call from Charles Schwab. They're concerned that someone might have impersonated their client, Sydney Kimmel. Soon enough, Scott's team is able to find a smoking gun. The newest batch of confiscated phones show direct communication between Arthur and the LLC that provided the coins, plus documents with Sydney's personal information. It's a clear link between Arthur and the LLC that provided the coins, plus documents with Sydney's personal information.

It's a clear link between Arthur and the recent fraud. The former warden of the special management unit later says that the phone also tied Arthur to a bank account with a balance of $31 million. He's a rich man, but his wealth won't save him from the mounting evidence against him. The Real Housewives franchise brought some pretty iconic rivalries, but there has never been a fallout as explosive and dramatic as the feud between Candy Burris and Phaedra

Parks of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Dis and Tell is a podcast from Wondry hosted by comedians Sydney Battle and Matt Bellassai. Each hilarious episode will take you through one of pop culture's most iconic celebrity feuds and there's no shortage of Housewives rivalries. Candy and Phaedra went from TV besties to sworn mortal enemies. The relationship ended with a criminal allegation that rocked Bravo and its fandom for years to come. So how do they get there? Dis Intel tries to get to the bottom of the fallout and also looks at all the

iconic drama of the season 9 reunion. Follow Dis Intel on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Dis Intel early and ad free right now by joining Wondry+. by joining Wondery+. In December 2020, Arthur is indicted on charges including identity theft, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and money laundering. But it takes a few years for him to end up in court. Partly that's because of COVID. Then there's the usual legal delays. It doesn't matter to Arthur, he's in prison either way.

He finally takes a stand in April 2023. But unlike when he was a kid, this time, he now has more expensive lawyers. He's being represented by two guys with ties to Donald Trump. One who used to be on his legal team, and another who currently is. Arthur tells a judge he's guilty, but he shows no emotion when he describes what he did.

He got caught. That's all there is to it. He does leave out one big piece of information though. Scott and his team couldn't find the bulk of Arthur's gold coin stash likely worth millions of dollars. And obviously Arthur's not saying where it is. When Arthur's testimony is done, the judge shakes his head. He says, Arthur is clearly a smart guy.

He probably could have gotten rich legally and things could be very different. One of Arthur's lawyers even says he would have invested with him. Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people in the justice system like to say, like, everything could have been perfect if only you hadn't made this one decision. And it's like, well, it's a chain reaction of lots of things.

But sure, Judge. Yeah. Arthur says he wants to respond, but the judge has other ideas and tells him he's said enough. For the rest of the hearing, the only words that leave Arthur's mouth are yes, sir, and no, sir. Sounds like he's scared. Yeah. Well, Arthur is eventually sentenced to an additional 12 years and sent back to the special management unit.

But the thing is, that's where he's been this whole time. There's no more restrictive place he can be sent, so there's no reason to believe this sentence will stop him from committing more crimes. Not long after he goes back in, he has two more phones confiscated from his cell. The guards look into what he's been up to, and it turns out he was googling U.S. Marshals uniforms. A detective tells the New Yorker that he suspects Arthur was trying to hatch an escape plan. And most of Arthur's co-conspirators end up in prison too. Selena gets a 15-year sentence for her role in the attempted murder.

Then, in 2022, she's charged for her part in a plan to smuggle marijuana and meth into the prison where she's being held. Prosecutors allege that she had one of the prison's teachers help her bring it in, along with tobacco, lip gloss, and contact lenses. Indiana and her father Eldridge are charged with multiple fraud counts. They both plead guilty to helping Arthur with his bank scam. Eldridge is serving a four-year sentence, and Indiana is sentenced to two years of probation. She's ordered to pay back more than $4 million in restitution.

DiVincchio is serving time too, but on charges related to the hit on Antorus Young. Last summer, his lawyer told The New Yorker that he survived a stabbing attack. His Instagram account is still atyap underscore football. On New Year's Day of this year, he posted a selfie in prison wearing a white T-shirt.

The caption read, New Year, new money bags emoji. Sachi, this was a very unusual episode for many reasons, mostly because our main scammer here has already been facing consequences. And there are no more for him to face once he is caught for this scam. He really is in the worst place possible.

Nothing that much worse is gonna happen to him other than prolonging his stay in prison, which I feel like he kind of felt was gonna happen in some way. Yeah, I mean, I guess this is a story about, like, somebody making whatever decisions they want because it can't get better for them. Nothing's gonna get better.

It can only kind of get, like, shades of worse. And yet, the thing I hate the most about this story is how this guy treated his girlfriend. You know, I agree. I mean, listen, nothing he did was good. I'm not here defending that. I will say that he seemed to have accepted his fate the second he first went to prison.

And it felt like a lot of what was happening outside of prison to him was like a video game. It was like he's playing The Sims, you know what I mean? Like he does not know what life is. Like if you go to prison when you're a teenager, how are you supposed to think about the outside world when you don't really know what the outside world is as an adult?

Yeah. I think often we have scammers where they start from such a place of entitlement, and then they just keep being entitled, and this isn't really like that. It's like a rough start for a young kid who learns all the wrong lessons and then keeps doing the worst possible thing before he becomes too evil to recognize.

Yeah, in a weird way, I get it. His life is already effectively over. He's in prison. Even if he didn't do anything and got out, the chances of him getting a real job and moving on with his life or, you know, making something for himself are quite low. To me it is so interesting that he was able to recruit all these people from outside of prison and create this very loyal group of people to promote him and, you know, yap and everything. I found that so nuts.

Yeah, I mean, it never ceases to amaze me how many women want to just chat with a guy in jail and want to marry him, and, like, are willing to help support whatever kind of life he's trying to build legally often from the other side of the prison. It's wild to me. The bar is on the floor. The promise here for them was, like, probably a lot higher

than most women who get involved with inmates. Yeah, there was money to be seen. These people lived quite well, as long as they could, with the scam. And I do get it. Like, if you were gonna be with a gangster anyway, may as well, like, be with one that you don't actually have to fully commit to and is buying you a home worth millions of dollars, right?

Yeah, I guess, you know, as I said before, the first part of their relationship where she didn't have to physically see him a lot and he was just sending her cash was totally fine with me. It was the being held at gunpoint and attempted murder part that I really wasn't fond of. The murder part of it all was so crazy. He should have realistically known, like,

dude, you're in prison. It's probably one of many guys that she is talking to, my friend. Don't worry about it. Like, you should just close your eyes, pretend to not see it. Yeah, have your little see it. Yeah. Have your little phone relationship with her.

It'd be very easy to not see it if you're seeing it from jail. Yes, close your eyes, dude. I think the lesson here is willful ignorance can help you a lot in life sometimes. Pay less attention, everybody. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Scamfluencer's ad free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen ad free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. This is the cell Phone Block Tango. I'm Sarah Hegge.

And I'm Saatchi Cole. 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 How a Man in Prison Stole Millions from Billionaires by Charles Buffay for The New Yorker, inmate in Georgia's Maximum Security Prison Accused of Impersonating Billionaires to Steal Millions by Danny Robbins in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Reporting on Conditions in Georgia Prisons by The Marshall Project, NBC News, and the Southern Center

for Human Rights. Zan Romanoff wrote this episode, Additional writing by us, Sachi Cole, and Sarah Hegge. Sarah Eni is our story editor and producer and Eric Thurm is our story editor. Fact Checking by Will Tavlin. Sound Design by James Morgan. Additional audio assistance provided by Adrian Tapia. Our music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Freesan Sync. Our coordinating producer is Desi Blalock, and our managing producer is Matt Gant. Janine Cornelow and Stephanie Jens

are our development producers. Our associate producers are Charlotte Miller and Lexi Peery. Our producers are John Reed, Yasmin Ward, and Kate Young. Our senior producers are Ginny Bloom and Jen Swan. Our executive producers are Jenny Lauer-Beckman, Marshall Louie, and Erin O'Flaherty for Wondery. Wondery. Wondery. Wondery.

Wondery. Wondery. Wondery. Wondery. Wondery. Wondery. Wondery. Wondery.

Parenting can bring up many unexpected challenges, and there's so much advice out there, it can be hard to know where to find real help. I'm Janet Lansbury, host of Unruffled, a podcast with answers to the questions that arise when raising children. I've worked with children and parents for over 25 years, and I'm eager to share all that I've learned with you and, most of all, encourage you to trust yourself. In each episode, I address listeners' questions through the lens of my respectful parenting approach.

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