Entertainment journalists and authorities alike have been hot on the trail of the so-called Hollywood Con Queen — a scam artist who for years has impersonated some of Tinseltown’s biggest power players, including Amy Pascal, Kathleen Kennedy and Stacey Snider.
In 2019, a corporate security firm, K2 Intelligence, uncovered that the “queen” — who is an expert at impersonating female voices and targeted hundreds of Hollywood types with promises of work, only to bilk them for thousands of dollars — is actually a man.
Now journalists Josh Dean and Vanessa Grigoriadis — who host the podcast “Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen,” devoted to investigating the elaborate ruse — have gone a step further and say they’ve identified the likely suspect. On their Thursday episode, the duo alleges that they’ve uncovered a possible culprit, we hear, and will name him.
They’ve reported on the story for over a year, and say the person of interest is currently a restaurant influencer in London — and was once imprisoned in Indonesia. He even has a long string of wild aliases.
The duo interviewed guards in the prison where their suspected con man was incarcerated, as well as chefs with whom he’s hung out and the ex-wife of a close associate.
Grigoriadis has also penned a piece on the revelation for Vanity Fair.
The Hollywood con that has been going on for six years involves the scammer convincing actors, writers, makeup artists and stunt performers, among others, to fly to Jakarta, Indonesia, for a big break, where they wind up pressured into paying for various services.
The FBI has been searching for victims of the scam, which has also included lewd phone conversations not involving money.
The “Chameleon” podcast previously aired a taped conversation with the anonymous scammer that was set up by power producer Deb Snyder as a sting.
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