The Big Flop - The “Male Enhancement” Millionaire Who Got a Stiff Sentence with the Camp Counselors Podcast | 78

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

In 2001, Steve Warshak turned America's insecurities into gold with Enzyte, a 'male enhancement' pill hawked by TV's smuggest pitchman, Smilin' Bob. But when federal agents discovered Steve��s real genius wasn't in making anything “bigger” (besides his bank account through fraud), they unearthed a world of fake doctors, unauthorized charges, and Steve’s 70-year-old mother who helped run a $200 million dollar scam. The hosts of Camp Counselors, Zachariah Porter and Jonathan Carson, join Misha to explain how Steve Warshak, the man behind the “male enhancement” pill, Enzyte, totally shafted his customers. Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletterListen to The Big Flop 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/the-big-flop/ now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You know what's even better than listening to the big flop? Listening to the big flop without any ads! With Wondery+, you can enjoy the floppiest of flops, completely uninterrupted. It's like having a front row seat to the world's biggest train wrecks. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcasts and upgrade your listening experience today. Have you ever seen ads for male enhancement products? You know, those pills that promise they'll make people say, is that a bottle of supplements in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? Well, today on The Big Flop, we're going long on Steve Warschack,

the man who made millions of dollars selling boner pills and wound up getting an incredibly stiff prison sentence. What? What did you think I was gonna say? Get your mind out of the gutter. Bob is looking cool. And with a call to insight about natural male enhancement, Bob is living large. The man behind Sm to n-side about natural male enhancement, Bob is living

large. The man behind Smiling Bob loses his fortune and his freedom. He was blinded by his own arrogance and greed that is the bottom line tonight from a federal judge who hit Steve Warshak with a 25-year prison sentence and a $500 million fine. million dollar fund. You just realized your business needed to hire someone like yesterday. With Indeed, there's no need to stress. You can find amazing candidates fast using sponsored jobs. With sponsored jobs, your post jumps to the top of the page for your relevant candidates so you can reach the people you want faster. And

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Indeed.com slash wonder ECA. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring indeed is all you need. From Wondery and Atwill Media, this is The Big Flop, where we chronicle the greatest flubs, fails and blunders of all time. I'm your host, Misha Brown, social media superstar with a naturally enormous personality at Don't Cross a Gay Man. And on our show today, I'm so excited because we have two incredibly campy guests

visiting us from Camp Shady Birch. It's the co-hosts of the podcast, Camp Counselors, Jonathan Carson and Zachariah Porter. Welcome to the show, besties. Woo! Hello, Misha. Thank you so much for having us. Yay! What an intro.

What an intro. The crowd goes wild. I'm sure we have so much like crossover in our followings. The besties, they're gonna be so excited for this episode. Oh, I'm pumped to be here. Let's give them a show, shall we? A very gay show. Let's go loud.

So, OK, before we get into the story of Enzite, what do you know about herbal supplements? Like, have you ever been tempted to try one? I have a story about herbal supplements. Oh, I don't know about this one. OK. OK, so it's a little different than this one that we're going to talk about, but there

was an herbal supplement called Garcinia. Does anyone remember this? It was like sold on television as like a diet pill, but it was an herbal supplement and I was really chubby at 17 years old and bought it online. And then when it came in the mail, it didn't work. And I didn't realize that the price I paid for it was the intro price. So when it was a subscription to the second bottle was sent to my house for the price of $120.

Oh. And I was 17 working at a movie theater. So I called them and I was like, you can't charge me. They're like, oh, you signed this. And I was like, I'm a minor. You're going to go to jail for this. And they did end up crediting my account. But that was the only time I've really

dabbled in an herbal supplement. Does that count? Yeah, I would say that counts, I think. I think it counts. Garcinia or something. Well, today we are covering a story that completely destroyed the search history of everyone who has worked on this episode.

We're going to bone up on Steve Warschack, the man behind Enzite, the male enhancement pills. So do you remember anything about those Enzite commercials and Enzite's mascot, Smilin' Bob? I do remember Bob. I recall seeing his cheery face, but I didn't understand what it was for. I just knew I was...

Because it was like... Was this the 2000s? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so I was like, okay, this guy's happy. I'll have what he's having. I'm like, don't need that. I like that. That's true. Well, thanks to Enzyte, Steve wound up

with an absolutely huge herbal supplements business. But that business shriveled up and Steve wound up behind bars because of his sketchy sales techniques. Now, to be clear, Steve does not have a background in medicine. He is first and foremost a marketing guy. In fact, his first business is about as far from the medical field as you could imagine. He sells ads that go up in hockey arenas. Oh, sports marketing. Yes.

Natural, natural jump right there. I see it. Yeah, the pipeline makes sense to me. Balls, I don't know. Balls. Yeah, they're in the same area, general area. But yeah, if you were at a hockey game in the 90s and saw Budweiser ad hanging on the wall, that might have been Steve's handiwork.

Hmm. Gotcha. How do you think he ends up like with his background that he winds up selling herbal supplements? I don't know. Did he meet somebody like someone on the street that had some like, I don't know, did he meet somebody? Like someone on the street that had some like, I don't know, like some grand power over him. You know what? He's attracted to money. So, and he's in the sports fields.

So, connect maybe seeing men. Maybe, I don't know. Or maybe he himself needed to take them. I don't know. He's a thinker. Tea. He's a thinker. Tea. He's a thinker. T.

Well, Steve's road to creating Enzyte comes in 1999 when he starts picking up on a trend. Male potency products are being advertised everywhere. Like for context, Viagra has just debuted in 1998 and it's getting a ton of press. Newsweek says Viagra is the hottest new drug in history, almost everywhere in the world, and the drug even makes the cover of Time magazine. Let's take a quick look at that cover.

Oh, my lord. They went the illustrated route, which I always appreciate. He's a little sneaker right there. Look at him. That's a creepy cover, I will say. It is so creepy, right? It's funny, I don't remember a time before Viagra was a thing, but I can assume that when that was released to the market, how that could change everyone's lives across the world.

So I can see how it would be the superstar that it is and get a magazine cover. Now you're gassing it up. Well, no, it's... I'm not at the point in my life where I need Viagra, but I would like to know that at some point, if things go south, I can always go north if I need it. Well, there we go.

There it is. But you know what I'm noticing about this cover is the fact that he's, like, secretly taking it as he's embracing his woman. So, like, is it a commentary on male shame? Mm. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, this is Professor Misha here. Okay, just kidding. Because this is a commentary.

That was a thinker. I'm stripping this podcast of its comedy title, and we're going straight into, like like bettering the world, everybody. No, but you're so right on that. And that's exactly what I'm seeing now that you bring it up, for sure. Well, Viagra is a huge financial success. In just three months after it debuted, Sales of the Drug brought in over $400 million.

Wow. That's400 million. Wow. Yeah. That's a splash. Yeah. And with Viagra and other mail enhancement products being advertised all over the place and raking in the dough, Steve can feel something massive. An opportunity. No.

You're welcome. Steve admits he only got into the herbal supplements business because it seemed like a surefire moneymaker. He says, quote, it was never a passion of mine to make sexual health products. If the marketplace had wanted pencils, we would have sold pencils. Period.

He said, I'm making that money regardless. He follows the cash. OK. I love that he still like, like picked a totally phallic example to use. I know. Like what? And so with the enhancement market booming, in 2001,

Steve founds his very own herbal supplements company in his basement. It's such a small operation, Steve even brings his mom, Harriet, who is in her seventies to help him out. Leave Harriet out of this. Like she's just trying to relax. Well, and remember Harriet for a little while later.

Oh, okay. Yeah, but it is very much giving like, mom, get down here, I need help boxing up these boner pills. I know, yeah, that's exactly what it's giving you, right? There's a little machine down there, factory style. Mm-hmm. He calls his new company, Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals. Okay, where do I invest?

See, I'm kind of an idiot, I hear something like that, and I'm like, well, that sounds like they know what they're doing. That is a great term, nutraceuticals. Like, he came up with that and he said, write that one down. Right. Yeah, like, where can we sign up to be angel investors for sure? Now, the bar is really low for the kinds of products that Steve is going to be selling. As long as you don't lie about your ingredients

and as long as your pill doesn't actively hurt people, you're pretty much good to go. Even if your product isn't proven to do anything. Totally legal. In America? In America. I want to be shocked. That's why I'm on TikTok shopping.

I'm like, do I need the rosemary oil? What is this? Is this for me? My cortisol level is through the roof. What was that one thing? I bought, it kept coming up. It was some oil and they said, put it in your belly button before you go to sleep and you'll wake up like a double zero. And I was like, I will take two. And I did, it was $58 and I bought it on the internet and...

Snake oil. Do you think I'm a double zero? Don't answer that. You know, I don't know. I can barely see you. I don't know. I'm so teensy. The same year that he founds Berkeley, Steve starts working on the product that will become the company's biggest moneymaker. Enzite. Enzite is a pill that you take once a day. And what does it supposedly do? Well, the ads for the product claim it will give users improved length and girth, roundness, and expanded tissue mass. Expanded tissue mass took it to a level where if I was an uneducated consumer,

I would say, oh, that's it. That's what I'm looking for. Expanded tissue mass. I never know what to say. Doesn't that sound legit? It does sound legitimate. I don't know. I read that and it made me vomit in my mouth a little bit. Just to spell it out in case any of our listeners have not gotten it yet. Anxiety is supposed to make your penis bigger. Like, that is what they're claiming. Yeah. Yeah, longer, wider, everything. It's got it all.

More tissues. More tissues. What is your feels about products that make these kinds of claims? I say if they actually work and they're actually helping people, that's great. We know differently here. So, I would say, but also what kind of research could they do back then as a consumer, you know? Yeah, coming off of the wave of Viagra,

maybe there was belief in it, but I think we all know at this point that those don't work. Were these sold behind the gas station counter? Are those a different level? Because I've seen things that are promising that behind the counter at mobile. Now, Enzite is going to be Steve's biggest product,

but that's not the only thing he was selling. And to learn about some of Steve's other seemingly questionable supplements, let's play a game. OK. So in this game, I'm going to tell you the name of one of Berkeley's products, and you have to guess what they claim the product does. Okay.

All right? The first one, dromias. Uh, a sleep aid. Yeah, I was gonna say good dreams. Oh my God, ding, ding, ding. Berkeley claims that dromias will help with insomnia. Yeah, I heard Dramamine. That's what I heard. I heard something in there. Drowsy.

Okay. Droopy. Maybe you guys, are you guys marketing geniuses? You would be like, he needs to hire you pronto. All right. The next product is a product called Ogoplex. Does it make your hair stronger? I'm just thinking Olaplex. Is it for hair?

No. Okay. Is it for eyes, eyesight? No. It supposedly would give users stronger orgasms. Oh. We're putting the O in O. Oh.

The big O for sure. All right. one more. Okay. A supplement that goes by the name Keflex. Keflex, Keflex. It's a nonstick pan. Yeah, you're thinking Teflon, Keflex. Muscle and joint pain.

Okay. It causes it? No, it helps with it. Oh, okay. Okay. I'll say two. Yeah. No, it supposedly would hide any traces of drugs that might be found in users' urine.

Oh, okay. He loves the underbelly of marketing. He's like, good sex, good orgasms. Get the drugs at your system. You gotta take a test soon. Don't worry about it. Yeah. Yeah.

He was a man of the people. He's just misunderstood. Yeah. I see it. I see it. Yeah. What would happen if we took all of these products at the same time?

We would probably get muscle and joint pain. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So what's exactly in Enzite? It's basically a bunch of ingredients you might find in lots of other supplements. Stuff like zinc. Things that may have health benefits, but that are very unlikely to have the enhancing

effect the ads were talking about. Now, ads for Enzite say the product was invented by two men who worked on it for 13 years. Dr. Frederick Tompkins, a physician with a biology degree from Stanford, and Dr. Michael Moore, a leading urologist from Harvard. I mean, that sounds great, right? Yeah. Yeah, like a meeting of the minds. I'm bought in.

Yeah. One little problem. Those two doctors are completely made up. Oh, and see, this is where we need the internet more than ever. Because how are we supposed to know? That's insane. You can't just make up the doctors. But he was smart in the sense, I give a criminal credit, here it is. I like where he chose, he said, what was it, urologist from Harvard, and then biology from Stanford.

He's like, for me as a consumer, it would be covering my bases. And he said 13 years, and I feel like that's like an odd number where I'm like, it's not 15 years, it's not 20, it's 13. I'm like, well, of course it was 13. Yeah, I believe it. Genius.

I'm very gullible. So to sum up, Enzyte doesn't contain any special medicine, isn't really at all different from many other supplement products on the market, and there's little scientific basis to think that it would actually do everything the ads say it can. Viagra, by contrast, has a real active ingredient, sidenafil citrate, and was slowly developed over the course of 10 years by a team of real scientists. So why does Enzyte wind up becoming such a huge seller when it debuts in 2001? Because they have one thing other supplements don't have.

Steve's marketing genius. Oh. The missing piece. I see where this is going. Steve himself admits, we didn't invent anything. We just created better marketing. While Viagra is primarily aimed at men over the age of 50, Steve decides to aim at a bigger market,

men between the ages of 30 and 50. And remember, Enzyte is a supplement, not an actual drug. So Enzyte pills are less expensive than Viagra. And another big part of the appeal of Enzyte compared to a prescription drug like Viagra may also be that you can just order it yourself and you don't have to talk to a doctor about your small penis.

OTC is the way to go. No, but it is smart though, because he's like he found like a genuine hole in the market. And he's targeting it like perfectly like an untargeted demographic right there with the 30 to 50. And he's probably Yeah, and when you have control over to buy it yourself that like strips away that shame, and that kind of secret of it all. Yeah, yeah, if only he was truthful.

He could have been a professor at Stanford in marketing. 13 years. That's what he could have done. He could have done it the right way. Yeah. But the biggest marketing breakthrough comes because Steve decides to focus on TV ads. So are we ready? Let's take a look at one of those ads. Yes. With just a quick phone call, Bob realized that he could have something better in his life. And what did he get? Why a big boost of confidence,

a little more self-esteem, and a very happy Mrs. At Home. Iconic, honestly, since nobody's going to say it was iconic. I remember the song. I remember the guy. The hoes. The hoes. I remember the hoes. I just didn't understand it back then, but now I do. Yeah. Yeah. It's smart marketing. It's clever.

It is clever. Those commercials were everywhere. Smile and Bob was a fixture in American pop culture at that time. I guess I didn't know what it was when I was a kid. I remember seeing that. Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. I feel like I'm a good, a decent amount of years older

than both of you, and so I definitely knew what they were about. Yeah. It was a moment. But by the way, the ad agency director behind the Smile and Bob ad is named Randy Spear. Randy Spear. Like he's Randy and he's got a big spear. Oh, see, he was already bought in from the jump right there.

I know. Now, Steven airs his commercials all over from CNN to ESPN. And eventually he puts over $125 million into TV advertising. Oh, my God. Do you think this is a good investment for him? I think, I would think so. I would think so. How else are you gonna advertise it? But it's also like then you have more eyes and more people

who are gonna be like, well, what is going on here? Is this being regulated? Like, in my head, I'm like, okay, if I'm doing something wrong, maybe let's just keep it over the counter behind the 7-Eleven cashier. I don't know. And the media literacy back then, I feel like, was, people would just believe what they would see. Especially with, like, on CNN, it's, like, kind of a huge network,

you know? It's... You can trust it. We're going back to a time when there really wasn't social media. That was not what the marketing landscape looked like. There was, we all were watching cable TV where these commercials were going. And I mean, like, diet pills. Everything was a pill to fix all of your ailments

and displeasures. So, I feel like people were really gonna buy in. Now, like I said, those ads do wind up becoming a cable TV fixture and the ads themselves become part of pop culture in a major way. The ads are discussed in legitimate news outlets like NPR and the Today Show. I mean, if NPR needs to weigh in on your boner pills, you have really hit the big time. Yeah.

Okay. So was it like in a positive light that they were talking about it? Well, it was like a mix like that the NPR commentator talking about Enzite says, as a sex advice columnist, I'm furious at Enzite for exploiting male insecurity. But as a media consultant, I can't help but admire the company's marketing strategy. Wow. And there it is.

Couldn't I have said it better myself? Yeah. And when Today Show viewers are asked to share their least favorite ads, one person writes in to say, I'd have to say that smug Bob in the Enzyte commercials drives me crazy. And when they mention and show his lovely wife waiting for him at home, she looks scared to death that he's home. She really did.

That was like their version of being in a comment section. They could like really let all of their feelings out. Having to literally write in or like, haul into a radio show, that's funny. But how fair is it to describe Bob as smug? He is smug. That's smug, man as smug? He is smug. That's smug, man. I think he's pretty smug.

But rightfully so if that's what he's getting, he's getting the end results you want. I feel worse for everybody else that's watching him. That looks like a sad puppy. I know. I wish I was like Bob. Well Steve ultimately produces 18 different Smile and Bob commercials. And even and people even make bootleg Smile and Bob shirts. I don't know if I would be wearing a smile and Bob shirt.

I wonder if there's any out there on the black market. I'm like, now you need like now this has been on the show. You need a smile and Bob shirt. I know I'm getting really quiet because I'm like, now you need one. Like, now this has been on the show, you need a Smiling Bob show. I know, I'm getting really quiet because I'm like, I am checking eBay after this. There's gotta be something. It's vintage. But most importantly, the ads do work. Once they're on TV, sales of Enzyte completely blow up.

By 2004, Berkeley is pulling in $200 million a year. Oh my God. And Ensight is responsible for fully 50% of that cash. That's insane. Yeah. That's crazy. With sales exploding, Steve moves the company out of his basement to a bigger office in Cincinnati. Thank God.

That's the thing. He was making $200 million a year in his mom's basement. Probably not paying rent. Right. I don't know. Hey, he's smart. I'm sorry. Crazy.

But he does move to Cincinnati and they open up a call center that runs day and night to take people's phone orders. And Steve employs over 1,000 people to help deal with all their new customers. In 2001, Berkeley got just 26,000 calls from people interested in ordering products. But now that number is up to 7.8 million. Well, before you said that, I was like 1,000 people in a call center is insane, but that, you would need that many people.

Yeah, that is nuts. Did you buy this in store at this point? Or was it just over the phone? It's just over the phone. Okay, so yeah, you're gonna need all that. Yeah. God, that's crazy. Well, the markets there and he knows that he found it. Yeah, I mean, at their busiest point, they're getting 65,000 calls a day. It was like, it was just not frantic and furious. Is anyone discussing amongst themselves the results? Yeah, I'm like, are we? There were no comment sections. Oh, but Berkeley nutraceuticals

isn't the only place getting a lot of calls. Here we go, Jonathan, answering your question. The Better Business Bureau has also been hearing from thousands of Steve's customers. Here we go, the triple B. People who bought Enzyte are upset because something is just too hard. What do you think the customers are upset about? Something is too hard. I have no idea what's too hard. I'm actually quaking. I'm shaking. Oh, wait. is it the stool?

Ooh. Is it a stool? Oh, it's not a stool hardener? Okay, I thought I was. That would be a crazy side effect. No, all of these customers have been calling the BBB because they're upset that it's basically impossible to get a refund when they realize

that Enzyte isn't doing anything for them. Yeah. Oh, OK. That's what's hard. I see. OK, got it. And this starts to attract some attention that is going to be a big problem for Steve. In 2004, four government agencies, including the FBI and the IRS, combine forces to investigate Steve and his company. Now, here's what's really mind blowing. Steve isn't being investigated because Enzyte doesn't seem to be working for the people who are taking it. As one FBI agent on the case says,

it's not illegal to sell snake oil if people are willing to buy it. Facts. So I'm excited to see what happens. Like, how are we going to end with that? Like, it's got a sap. Where does it end? I'm like, wait, what can I sell?

The show's inspiring fraud. I love it. For the record, though, some customers do complain that Enzyte is not actually very effective. One customer who took enzyme said, I didn't notice anything except I developed a stomach ache. So I thought, well, maybe I might need more. So the next day I took two and all I did

was get a bigger stomach ache. So maybe you were onto something with tummy issues. So the problem the FBI has is that Stephen has been using some incredibly shady business practices to get as much money out of his customers as possible. Now, Zachariah, please brace yourself. This might bring back some past trauma that you alluded to. For starters, Berkeley puts its customers into an auto ship program. This is what it you know, he invented this, I'm assuming, right?

He probably was like the fact he was like, Oh, I'm just gonna screw these people. Exactly. Exactly. Now they're like stuck with all these bonus pills, stomach aches, yeah, I'm sure it wasn't cheap either. Oh my god. Yeah. Yep.

Yep. They would start getting automatically billed once a month and every other month would automatically get sent a new box of Enzite. When Enzite buyers said they wanted more package, I don't think this is exactly what they had in mind. Ah, clever. Berkeley doesn't tell these customers that they're in this renewal program and the customers keep getting charged until they cancel and Steven makes sure it's not at all easy to figure out how to cancel. They never do. They never do. I know. What's your most frustrating experience trying to cancel something? I feel like it's with everybody has the same one with the gym.

The gym. Yeah. I was moving and I couldn't go back to that other gym because it was so far away from where I actually was. And they were like, oh, you have to go to like the spot of origin. I'm like, well, I'm not there anymore. Like, can't you, what can we do here? I don't remember what I ended up doing,

but they figured it out for me, but it's just like, come on. We just had a grocery service that they kept trying to like cut down the price of it. What if it's this price? It's like, I... Because now I'm being rude on the phone. I don't want to be snippy with you, but you're making me cop an attitude. Don't make this harder than it has to be.

Goodbyes are hard, I know, but like, we just have to let go. We're not meant to be anymore. The sooner you understand that it's time, the sooner you can start to heal. Thank you. start to heal. Exactly. There we go. Pretty sweet. So, if a customer does figure out how to cancel their order, Steve and Berkeley want to make

sure they won't be able to get a refund. They come up with the idea to tell unhappy customers that they can only get their money back if they obtain a notarized document indicating they had experienced no size increase. A notarized document? So who's notarizing this? So they have to, okay, wait, so they would have to go to the notary, like the doctor, take a pill, hang out for like an hour, however long it takes to activate and then be like, Doc, look, can you sign? Do you need the doctor or no? You don't need the doctor, right? Just a notarized, no, I don't know what exactly

they were going for. I'd be like, here, my wife is notarizing. How about that? My best friend growing up, his mom was like, she had the power, the power to notarize and people would just show up at her house. I wonder if she ever notarized someone's small penis document. I gotta hit up Lynn. Lynn wonder if she ever notarized someone's small penis document.

No. I got to hit up Lynn. Lynn, what were you notarizing? So the sketchy auto ship program is not a small part of the business. It's a huge part of what's keeping it so profitable. Steve writes in an email that this program is the company's lifeblood. Basically, Berkeley couldn't continue to exist without it. And Steve wants to make sure as many people as possible are signed up for it. He tells

Berkeley staff members to take those customers, even if they declined, even if they said no to the autoship program, go ahead and put them on the autoship program. Oh. Okay, I have advice. If Steve's listening to this out there, I think why didn't he just, like, take some time, you know, step away from doing all of this and actually find, I don't know, the people to put in the right ingredients that would actually get him better sales?

Just a thought. I'm just a gay with a microphone. I don't know much, but just a thought. Yeah. Steve also has no qualms about approving purchases that might seem a little shady. He wants those credit card numbers. In another email, he writes, I don't care if the card is taken from Grandma's purse

so Junior can buy some enzyme. You know what, though? This is like when I want this story to be turned into a movie. Because it's like those snappy scenes where I'm like, oh, Diva! Yeah, that's like, and this is where he probably could have gone on longer, had he, this one got too greedy. And now we're doing some shady stuff that we can prosecute, it seems. Yep. Yep. Steve finds ways to thwart unhappy customers basically at every turn. When people

call up Berkeley to complain, they're told they should get in touch with someone at the company named Michael Johnson. Who is Michael Johnson? You might know him better as Mike Johnson, the current speaker of the House of Representatives. Oh, it's always that, isn't it? I'm totally joking. I said, oh, the government's involved? Enzites Michael Johnson doesn't actually exist.

That much, that's where I thought we were going. The way that I'm being duped by this all. OK, I can't. I can't. So why do you think Steve is going so hard on all of this scamming? Because he has nothing else. He's money hungry and

he refuses to have a flop, even though all of his customers are flopping. Flopping. Is he trying to make as much money as possible for it? Does he know it's going to go under and he's trying to just capitalize on it? You know, his motives are unclear, but it does seem like he is just very money hungry. Yeah. I mean, and it is translating too big money for Steve.

Like at this point, he's built a personal fortune of $24 million. Wow. And he's been spending big on things like cars, real estate, resort memberships. He also buys two grand pianos and a Segway. That's so suiting new money behavior. I can't. Yeah. And speaking of which, don't forget to check out our episode that's all about the Segway. Oh, great Segway right there. Great segue for the segue.

And as Steve's raking in the dough, he continues taking his seemingly sketchy business practices to new heights. Enzy ads claim that 96% of customers are satisfied with the product, but this customer survey was also completely made up at Steve's request. What can't he do? Something right? Yeah, there we go. Steven even orders one employee to make up data about how effective Enzyte is.

They make up stats so that they can claim that people taking Enzyte saw a growth of 24%. See, there's that number again. You can't do 25. It's got to be something spooky like that. 24. I'm like, well, obviously it works. It's 24. It's not 25. Steve also pushes his staff to get even more creative about ways for them to market his products, aka he wants them to just start making stuff up so they can sell more pills. Steve says they should brainstorm marketing ideas like this, quote, Get three to four bottles of wine, then sit around and make shit up.

That's what I do. but write it all down, or you'll forget the next day. This time, he would have been fun to go out to a bar with. He would have. He just takes it too far, and then he opens the business. Yeah. When we have drinks with your father, he's always coming up with a business idea.

Don't you dare compare my father to this. He's the animal who takes it too far. But I do think it is funny how a little liquor. Yeah, my dad loves to have a couple sips of wine and then come up with a business plan. It's fun. It's fun. But then we end it there and not ruin people's lives and wieners. there and not ruin people's lives and wieners. Some employees do take Steve's cue to take more initiative. One of Berkeley's sleaziest schemes is actually cooked up by Steve's nephew, Jason, who works for the company. Though, I must add, he was never found guilty of any wrongdoing for this wild plan. Jason's idea is that when customers end their subscriptions,

Berkeley employees should phone them and lie to these former customers saying that they're calling because they work for a company contracted by a hospital to do health surveys. While on the call doing the bogus survey, the Berkeley employees can recommend a different Berkeley product to the former customer. Oh, my God.

This is audience retention to another level. So disturbed. No, it actually is. That's what it's so disturbing. Anadolphe could never. This is... So crazy. Yeah. So, of course, they just don't tell them it's a Berkeley product. They just say it's something less expensive that's recommended by this phony hospital.

I think it's important for us to also hear how Jason described the scheme in his own words. And we have Jason's words. This is the moment that I think you're going to really love. So he puts this whole idea for this scam into an email. And I would love if you two could alternate doing dramatic readings of this email from Steve's nephew. So, Zachariah, you can go first.

The poor customer bites thinking he's getting a deal, even though he's actually getting taken by a company for the second time around. The scheme is beautiful. Dreamed it up after many a bong hit one night. These customers are the fish in the barrel, man. You already spent the media dollars to get him in the barrel when you brought the Enzite spot. Don't let him get away so easy. Exploit the shit out of him't let them get away so easy.

Exploit the shit out of them. And then he takes a shot. Honestly, keep it in the family. It's a dark, dark family. Yes, this also, this is a company email. Yeah. Yeah. It's just, you know, who... Yeah.

Yeah, that didn't resonate with you. This is like, this is a real... Well, you know, who... Wait, yeah. Yeah, that didn't resonate with you? This is like, this isn't real. Well, you know what though? I don't feel like you have to be like at the top to understand a lot of what their business practices are like good. You know what I mean? So even people at the call centers,

they must know to a degree that this isn't like good business. So I think everyone that's working there for a little bit has to have some sort of like, I don't feel good about this. Do you think so? Where are they at? Cincinnati. Check LinkedIn.

No, I'm saying where are they at now. I'm going on LinkedIn. Who has listed that working at that call center? Yeah. I just need to talk. Well, I have some questions. So how do you think Steve responds to this email from his nephew?

Keep up the great work. He loves it. Of course he does, why wouldn't he? He thinks this is the smartest idea he's ever heard. He forwards this email to a bunch of execs at the company and adds, quote, the student has become the teacher. Our company was built on this kind of creative thinking. Thanks for the wake-up call, Jason.

Thanks for the wake-up call. Yeah, it's just a bunch of monsters all hanging out in the lair. This is crazy. Um, by the way, he also forwards that email message out after one o'clock in the morning. Oh, he's partying. He's up late. He's thinking of new ideas. It's snowing outside. I don't know.

So we've been talking a lot about Steve's emails in this part of the show. So here's what I'm wondering. How good of an idea is it that Steve's been putting all of his incredibly incriminating stuff in writing? I'm going to go ahead and say it's not great. You might be onto something there. As we will see, all of these emails are going to be a major problem for Steve once he gets a visit from law enforcement. In March of 2005, just a few weeks after Steve sends out his late night, extremely incriminating email, dozens of law enforcement

officers show up at Berkeley's offices. They're there to take the company's files and computers and they also take all $24 million of Steve's personal money. Oh, frozen. Frozen. In 2006, Steve is indicted for over 100 counts of money laundering, conspiracy, and three different types of fraud. Sorry, Steve. Turns out you're not allowed to just charge people's credit cards without their permission. Unbelievable. How many? Oh my God, that must be like lifetimes of jail time. That is crazy. Also remember how Steve had his 70 year old mom working for the company?

Oh my God, where is she? Mama Harriet also gets indicted. Oh. Elderly and then I know. At the end. Oh my God, she dies in jail. I knew it. Stop. I knew it. I was like calling it.

I knew it. I mean, how bad would you feel if you got your mom indicted? Did she know? Do we knew if she knew? I knew it. Stop! I knew it. We're calling it! I knew it. I mean, how bad would you feel if you got your mom indicted? Did she know? Do we knew if she knew? It's like, what extent did she know? It's unclear. Well, honestly, she raised this child so she should be arrested.

You know what? She was smart. She didn't put anything in writing. Yeah. Where her emails... I don't send emails for the exact reason. I don't understand the computer. It's 2005.

No, it turns out she was indicted for wearing disgustingly ugly kitten heels, not anything to do with this case. And I was thinking that to those nasty cork wedges. Let her click, click, clack around the office. Yeah. No, the trial finally starts in 2008, and you know those emails from Steve and that one from his nephew that we've been talking about?

A lot of those were used as evidence in Steve's trial. And you know those emails from Steve and that one from his nephew that we've been talking about? A lot of those were used as evidence in Steve's trial. Now based on what you've heard about these emails, like how bad is this for Steve that they're being used? Oh yeah, this is bad. But also I would love if they are made public, I would love to just do some late night reading. Just going through the transcript. This is bad news bears for him for sure. Now these emails, they aren't the only evidence against Steve. A former Berkeley executive also spills the beans about all the shady stuff Steve was

getting up to. The fake doctors in the ads, the phony survey, the made up growth statistics. Steve's own sister also winds up cooperating with the government as part of the case, though she was never implicated in any wrongdoing. And as all this information is coming out, Steve sitting in court barely reacts. He just sits with a neutral expression on his face. Oh, sociopath. For sure. Well, how do you think he tries to defend himself?

Like, what do you think his argument is? Results vary? I don't know. Nobody read the fine print. He probably gives some statistics that don't exist. Well, Steve, he doesn't testify during the trial, but as a defense, his lawyers say that basically everything Steve did was a totally normal way to run a company, guys. They say, quote, continuously revising corporate policies regarding refund and guarantee programs are standard American business practices. The American business. He is the original Gaslight Girl boss.

Yeah. He's like crazy. Later, after the trial, Steve also defends himself by saying that Enzite must be a good product because so many people bought it. He says, he says, quote, What a crazy argument. The products were definitely effective. And site was a brand that millions bought and re bought.

It was quality. No one wanted to rebuy it. They were forced to do will. With stolen credit card information. See, it's all in the wording. He said, but they were re bought and they were by millions. He's creative. We know he's creative. So obviously, his defense is going to be creative.

Yeah. Steve, he does acknowledge that his message in response to his nephew's email doesn't look good. But he's he says he's got an explanation for that. Any guess? That he took his own medication to like help him fall asleep and he was drowsy and that was what it was. That would have been a much better explanation. Yeah, that actually was good. That was good.

No, he says, I didn't really read it. It was late. And in his defense, it was late. It was late at night. And honestly relatable. I think we've all pretended to read an email one time or another. Yeah. Steve's trial lasts for six weeks,

and at the end, he is found guilty of 93 of the charges. Oh, wow. During sentencing, the judge is brutal about Steve. The judge says, quote, The judge is brutal about Steve. The judge says, quote, not only is Stephen Warshak corrupt, but he corrupted good people who worked for him. Oh.

How do you think his sentencing goes? Well, with 93 charges, you know what I mean? Like, I'm assuming he's there for life. No, no, he got out. He had to have gotten out, because he finds some slimy... He has a friend. He's got to have a friend.

Sure, he's got a friend who has a small wiener. But not this time. Steve gets 25 years in jail and has to give up $459 million worth of cash Berkeley had brought in from supplement sales. Now, Steve also has to give up a whole bunch of property like real estate, bank accounts, cars, even those two grand pianos and his Segway. Not the Segway. No. Yeah. Steve's mom is also given a two-year sentence. Now, that's the real cry. Get Gam Gam out of jail.

No, I'm over her. Free my girl. No, I'm over her. So finally, Berkeley declares bankruptcy. So Steve has gone from being worth hundreds of millions of dollars to spending a quarter of a century behind bars with nothing to his name, but some expired

mail enhancement pills. And let's not forget he's also responsible for his mom going to jail. So that's about as low as you can get. Yeah, absolutely. So let's do a little where are they now? Berkeley winds up getting bailed out of bankruptcy by a new owner and it's renamed Vianda. The company continued to sell a version of Enzite, but they said they no longer use Steve's questionable tactics for wringing more money out of customers. So, hey, you can buy Enzite knowing that even if it doesn't

work, at least they aren't going to charge your credit card a bunch of times for it. I would try if there's a free trial. I'm signing up. I'm try if there's a free trial. It's gonna go. Live on the edge. Meanwhile, Steve winds up getting a reduction that he's very happy about. A reduction in his prison sentence. Instead of 25 years, he's only going to have to serve 10. I knew it. Was it for good behavior? Well, the judge makes the decision not because he thinks Stephen has turned over a new leaf, but because it turns out that Enzyte customers didn't lose as much money as was previously thought.

And also because other people who were put on trial as part of Steve's schemes got much smaller sentences. The judge says that even though Steve's getting a lighter treatment, he still views Steven Warshak as a very clever and confident con man. Steve, however, claims he's learned a life-changing lesson and says that when he gets out of prison, he hopes to teach a class on business ethics. You keep that man out of the American school system.

Or I will be picking up the phone, and that is a promise. So is he out then? The trial starts in 2008, so he has to be out. He's on the podcast now. Let's bring him on. Yeah. You turn the camera on. And our next guest. Oh my God, can you imagine?

Now, Steve's mom, she also had her sentence reversed as well and was able to get out of prison. Oh. Okay. So GamGam did get out. So here on the Big Flop, we try to be positive people and end on a high. So are there any silver linings that you can think of that came about from Enzai? I would hope, you know what's interesting? I was taught media literacy in high school.

And I went to high school maybe like, I graduated in 2013, which was I went into high school 2009, after his case. So me, so I learned that you had to like double check your sources. So maybe this was a lesson for a lot of people that you can't trust false claims and to do your research. That's my silver lining. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I would say it's made me feel more creative in a less criminal sense, I will say. Okay.

As long as nobody's getting hurt, you know, it just kind of opens up my marketing mind in a positive light. Of course. And if you guys head over to my website, I will be selling those crazy pills. It is buy one, get one for our opening week. You sign up for our email list, send us your SSN. So actually there was one totally unexpected outcome of Steve's trial and that is more email privacy.

So remember all those incredibly juicy emails that were used at Steve's trial? It turns out investigators got hold of them without a warrant. And that's because at the time, if you were an email company and a prosecutor came to you and asked for one of your users messages, you would just have to hand those messages over. But following Steve's case, a court wound up ruling that sorry, prosecutors, you have to get a warrant before you can go snooping onto someone's email account. So listeners, you can rest easy that no one from the government can find out how many unread emails are in your inbox unless they have a warrant. That is interesting.

Thanks, Steve. That's interesting. That is interesting. Thanks, Steve. That is interesting, for sure. So now that you both know about Steve Warshak, the male enhancement mogul whose herbal supplements business wound up going totally flaccid, would you consider this a baby flop, a big flop, or a mega flop? I'm going mega flop. I'm going mega flop, like the biggest flop I've ever seen. Because he was such a diva about it.

Like it would have been a big flop if he... But if he... Those emails and that sass, and he's like 20... And you know what? Make it 24%. It's just like, it was just so diva. Um, I need this movie. I need this limited series. This is just...

Yeah, I need to do that. This was journalism. Thank you so much for educating us today. I loved it. Wow, a bit... I like... A mega flop for someone who had such a tiny flop of his own. And you know what we didn't hear about was any of his girlfriends. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Well, thank you so much to our naturally larger than life guests, Jonathan Carson and Zachariah Porter for joining us here on The Big Flop.

And of course, thanks to all of you for listening and watching. If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a rating and review. We'll be back next week with a marketing flop of global proportions, a time when a big tech mogul and a rock star teamed up to give the world a present it did not ask for. It's the biggest album release of all time. U2's Songs of Innocence. Bye. Bye.

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