The Ponzi Playbook is hosted by Neal McTighe and Javier Leiva. Neal holds the case — pulling and reading the court filings before a word of script gets written. Javier asks the questions a listener would, and brings the skepticism.
Neal McTighe is a business expert, researcher, and storyteller with a sharp eye for fraud and a deep love of the con. He founded and ran his own company for a decade, has advised hundreds of entrepreneurs over the past six years, whether in finance, strategy, or sales.
Armed with a PhD, Neal’s rigorous research skills have fueled his forthcoming nonfiction book, Big Time: The American Dream, a Ponzi Scheme, and the Lies That Led to Forty Years in Federal Prison. A passionate storyteller and educator, Neal wants to make you laugh, and make you cry, while showing you how the fraudsters get away with it.
neal [at] ponziplaybook [dot] com
Javier Leiva is an investigative storyteller and gifted keynote speaker who has traveled the world sharing stories about deception and human behavior. He's the creator and host of Pretend, a chart-topping true crime podcast that explores the minds of con artists, cult leaders, and criminals.
With over 500,000 downloads each month, Pretend consistently ranks among the top true crime podcasts in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia. The show has been featured in The New York Times, the BBC, Discovery+, and Netflix. On The Ponzi Playbook, Javier brings his signature blend of curiosity and skepticism to expose the boldest financial frauds in America.
Every case we cover starts with the original filings — indictments, SEC complaints, plea agreements, court opinions, and DOJ, FBI, and IRS-CI releases. News reporting fills gaps, but where a news account and a government record conflict, the government record wins.
It's slower. It also means when we tell you what happened, we can point at the page it came from.
