Interview · moment 10 of 17

The Medium's Abusive Father and His Own Ponzi Scheme

from The Gift · #97

Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.

4 min

Guest

Details emerge that the medium's father is imprisoned for the abuse documented in the medium's childhood diary, and that the medium himself ran a fraudulent apartment-deposit Ponzi scheme in his 20s, which Tim and Ray find hilarious to reconcile with his 'gift.'

In this bit10 moments
  • 34:33The medium's abusive father is in prison for 12 years after Thomas kept a diary documenting the abuse, which became the main evidence against him.
  • 35:07Tim notes that women seem more willing than men to dive headfirst into horror stories and crazy situations.
  • 35:37Tim jokes that after his father died, the guest wanted to yell at him for getting robbed by a gold digger rather than leave money behind.
  • 36:00Discussion of how mediums do cold readings without advance information, with the guest claiming the medium didn't know who they were beforehand.
  • 36:25Tim and Carla frequent psychics as a hobby and have seen John Edwards and other well-known paranormal performers.
  • 36:48The street psychics in New York—the $5 mom-and-pop operations—manage to stay in business because people want immediate help with their problems.
  • 37:07Tim initially thought the street psychics were prostitutes until the guest corrects him that they're genuinely providing readings.
  • 37:49The medium ran a Ponzi scheme with apartments in his early 20s, a detail that came out in the Daily Mail or similar publication.
  • 38:15Tim presses the guest on glossing over the fact that the medium—someone they're debating the legitimacy of—admitted to running a Ponzi scheme.
  • 38:29Tim sarcastically repeats the guest's argument that you have to be open to the spiritual realm despite financial fraud.
Mentioned here

psychicsJohn EdwardsCarla

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