# An Influencer's False Promise to Make His Followers Rich

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-journal-547598/an-influencer-s-false-promise-to-make-his-followers-rich
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-journal-547598/an-influencer-s-false-promise-to-make-his-followers-rich.md
Podcast: [The Journal.](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-journal-547598)
Published: 2026-04-17T20:38:00+00:00
Episode link: https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/WSJ4492260128.mp3?updated=1776464178
Audio file: https://pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/WSJ4492260128.mp3?updated=1776464178
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-journal-547598/episodes/an-influencer-s-false-promise-to-make-his-followers-rich
Duration seconds: 1364

## Resource

Get your tickets to our L.A. live show here! In 2019, influencer Tai Lopez made a pitch to his social media followers: by buying up distressed retail brands like Radio Shack and Pier 1 out of bankruptcy, they could all get rich. But as WSJ’s Suzanne Kapner reports, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Lopez of running a “Ponzi-like scheme” through his company, Retail Ecommerce Ventures. Ryan Knutson hosts. Further Listening/Viewing: - Influencer Arielle Charnas’s Fashion Fail - How a Miami Couple Used Empty Mansions to Pocket Millions Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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## Transcript

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