If you have time to go down a bad-business rabbit hole, ‘iilluminaughtii’ is breaking down all of the schemes and fraudsters
Blair Zoń hosts “iilluminaughtii,” a podcast all about digging into the dark underbelly of bad business. An audio version of her YouTube videos, this show is simply described as a “pyramid against pyramid schemes,” this podcast covers all things scams, swindles, and simple bad business. From multi-level marketing to pyramid and ponzi schemes, “iilluminaughtii” is educating all of us on the ins and outs of massive fraudsters.
There are nearly 300 “iilluminaughtii” episodes to choose from. Zoń releases three to four episodes a week, alternating between Multi-Level Mondays and Corporate Casket episodes. All episodes are a short, sweet, and shockingly informative 30 minutes.
For the past three years, Zoń has been diving into well-known scams and little-known cons. She is meticulous in her research, and her episodes are amazingly succinct considering the amount of information she covers. And we aren’t the only ones who think so – just ask any of her over one million YouTube subscribers.
In just half an hour, she manages to succinctly cover Jordan Belfort’s background, his scam, its unraveling, his lies, and where he is now better than even Wolf of Wall Street. She even covers his very bizarre social media presence, specifically on TikTok, where he promotes his motivational speaking business and talks a lot about male genitalia. You’ll have to listen to find out more about that. She explains the definition and use of penny stocks in a way that would have any economics professor seething with jealousy and explains how he used them to become rich beyond his wildest dreams.
She’s obviously digging into NFTs, crypto, and the wide array of frauds and scams that come with the unregulated-until-recently market. She’s been looking into Paul Denino, known by his screen name Ice Poseidon, and his serial fraudster tendencies most recently with Cx Coin.
It’s not all MLMs and famous ponzi schemes, though, “iilluminaughtii” truly covers it all. She’s discussed the recent college admissions scandal featuring Lori Loughlin, the scandals of the NFL, and even nonprofits who have turned out to in fact be making a big profit. She’s looked into Kellogg’s strange celibate story, the NRA and how it made lobbyists out of marksmen, and even the deeply problematic underbelly of the ballet industry.
On top of that, she also has a “Prism of the Past” segment, a weekly series covering historical events and figures from the über-famous to the forgotten. She’s given us rundowns on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the Bhopal gas tragedy, the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse of 1981, holidays’ pagan roots, the life of Rita Hayworth, and much, much more.
It’s hard to describe just how much Zoń covers. From religious institutions to the Clinton Foundation, Oprah Winfrey to Jussie Smollett, “iilluminaughtii” covers a lot of everything. Well-researched and well-written, “iilluminaughtii” will be your new obsession after just one listen. Good luck getting out of this rabbit hole.