"Cover Story: Seed Money" Podcast: Billionaire Gone Wild

 Billionaires behaving badly. When is that ever happened? Elon Musk? Jeff Bezos? Jeffrey Epstein? Donald Trump?

Now there's a podcast about one such billionaire.

New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network released the latest episode of the series, Cover Story: Seed Money. Hosted by New York’s editorial director of audio and former co-host of Invisibilia, Hanna Rosin, and investigative reporter Ken Silverstein, Cover Story: Seed Money tells the full story of Michael Goguen, the Montana based billionaire, and Matthew Marshall, the ex-spy who accused him of running a sexual enterprise. 

 

Goguen made headlines over the years after losing his job as a venture capitalist at Sequoia Capital when he was sued by a stripper for emotional and psychological abuse. That’s the story the world heard but it’s not nearly as outrageous as what actually happened. 


In the latest episode, Rosin and Silverstein reveal the truth. Marshall - the main source for this story, and the person accusing Goguen, had been swearing that he would never plead guilty. 

 

“Why would I plead guilty?” he told the hosts. “ I'd be giving up everything that I've fought for and stood for my entire adult life” 

 

A few days later, he did. 

 

And the hosts pick apart his relationship with the billionaire, and the whole house starts to crumble. As promised in episode one, the hosts uncover a spectacular con, in glorious detail. And reckon with how thoroughly we ourselves were fooled. 

 

 According to Marshall, Goguen sometimes refers to himself as Bruce Wayne, wears Batman underwear, and runs a rescue-helicopter operation called “Two Bear Air,” a motif that shows up at the entrance of his massive compound in the mountains above Whitefish, Montana.


In addition to this recent episode, New York Magazine has also published Seed Money by Ken Silverstein, a deep dive on how Goguen  got conned by his best friend, who saw him as the perfect mark.

 

Check out the six-part Cover Story podcast series, Seed Money

 


 

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