We’ve interviewed dozens of people about their experiences with ‘Chris the Kiwi’ Ashenden, his billion-dollar company, and his market-leading AG1. They have questions stemming from his history of criminal dishonesty, from the job losses as he quietly cut production costs, and from his scientific claims today that stretch credibility. To find him, we’ve come all the way across the Pacific, from NZ to Chilé to Colombia…and now we discover Chris has flown out to Mexico. This is the final episode of...
Dec 22, 2024•54 min•Season 5Ep. 11
We’ve come 12,000 kilometres from Auckland to Medellín, on the trail of Chris Ashenden, the chief executive of AG1. We don’t have his number or his address, but we think he lives here. Today’s Medellín is a vibrant city that’s attracting new investment and faces from around the world – but the legacy of drug lord Pablo Escobar and the paramilitaries still echoes in violence on the streets. You might expect us to pack Kevlar body armour for our visit. Instead, we pack our gym gear – because one t...
Dec 17, 2024•32 min•Season 5Ep. 10
The US Food and Drug Administration reveals it’s received 118 adverse event complaints from AG1 users – this year alone. In particular, there are 30-plus reports of liver harm in 2023 and 2024. The billion dollar company dismisses the liver harm complaints as “extremely rare”, saying it can be caused by a range of things such as alcoholic liver injury, viral hepatitis and autoimmune disease. The FDA hasn’t investigated the complaints to confirm whether they are indeed caused by AG1 – but some co...
Dec 17, 2024•40 min•Season 5Ep. 9
We talk to people like Andy and Lisa who’ve used AG1 – and they’re not happy. They want to know what’s in the green powder supplement, in what quantities – and whether there’s any scientific evidence it has any health benefits. That’s a good question. So we bring in four world-leading university nutritionists and toxicologists to critique the research. They’re concerned there’s no gold standard large-scale clinical trial – and most of AG1’s published research is in a few controversial pay-to-pla...
Dec 10, 2024•29 min•Season 5Ep. 8
For years, AG1 has boasted of being ‘Made in New Zealand’. But where is its mystery factory? We track down a little-known contract manufacturing company in the sunny city of Nelson – and discover a much darker story. Despite trading off New Zealand’s clean, green brand, AG1 has been quietly shifting its production to America. In the past year, this has cost nearly 180 New Zealanders their jobs – and piqued the interest of the country’s commerce regulator. If AG1’s 700,000 customers can’t trust t...
Dec 03, 2024•40 min•Season 5Ep. 7
Joe Rogan is one of the world’s wealthiest influencers – and we’re told AG1 is one of his best clients, paying him about $10 million a year to promote its popular green powder. Scientist Dr Andrew Huberman gets about $2 million. Gwyneth Paltrow, Formula 1’s Sir Lewis Hamilton, Olympic champion Allyson Felix … the list goes on. AG1 is the OG of influencer marketing; it spends more on audio than just about any other company in the world. But are the company and its well-paid ambassadors being upfr...
Nov 26, 2024•41 min•Season 5Ep. 6
A leaked recording reveals the Kiwi founder of billion-dollar supplements firm AG1 misrepresented his criminal history in public statements and in a meeting with the company’s president and staff, just this year. Chris Ashenden’s high-powered American lawyer claimed he had never been charged with a crime, or convicted of a crime, or been the subject of an arrest warrant – but none of those things was correct. We listen to the recording alongside Anita Mika, who lost her home in Chris’s property ...
Nov 19, 2024•40 min•Season 5Ep. 5
Travelling to New Zealand’s southernmost city, with a chill wind that feels like it’s blowing off Antarctica, we discover it was a woman named Dee Chisholm who first blew the whistle on Chris the Kiwi’s criminal property schemes. But tracking her down won’t be easy…until we drive out to a small remote mining village called Nightcaps. Everyone has secrets. And in this episode, we finally meet the protagonists – some might call them antagonists – who faced off in former police officer Chris Ashend...
Nov 12, 2024•29 min•Season 5Ep. 4
We track down families who lost their homes in 'Chris the Kiwi’ Ashenden’s property dealings. And what happens next is what Powder Keg, the podcast, is all about – Ashenden, his unorthodox billion-dollar business and his magical mystery powder. All we know is that his company AG1 is headquartered at an address in Carson City, Nevada. If it comes to the crunch and he doesn’t front, we’ll need to go there to talk with the company’s founder. What we didn’t know is the story of criminal offending th...
Nov 05, 2024•31 min•Season 5Ep. 3
When investigative journalist Jonathan Milne started slugging back an expensive, vivid green AG1 shake every morning to get in shape for his 50th birthday, he knew what the company’s chief science officer said – that the green powder product would make him healthier. What he didn’t know about were the adverse reports to the Food and Drug Administration of liver damage, nor of the scrutiny by the courts, and now of a national regulator. Episodes 1 and 2 of Powder Keg are live now, with Episode 3 ...
Oct 30, 2024•27 min•Season 5Ep. 2
Chris Ashenden and Jonathan Milne are both Kiwi blokes in their late 40s. Chris has an unrelenting personal ambition – it’s served him well. The business leader’s quest wasn’t for the Holy Grail, it was for a holy green drink. Jonathan is an investigative journalist. What’s served him well is his doggedness. And when Chris wouldn’t front for an interview about the success of his green powder shake and his US$1.2 billion company, Jonathan began asking questions. At first, Chris’s AG1 supplement h...
Oct 30, 2024•27 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Some stories grow from a green shoot; some explode like a powder keg. The global supplement market is worth $200 billion a year, and Chris Ashenden is a rock star of the industry. Yet in his home country of New Zealand, nobody had heard of him. Investigative journalist Jonathan Milne wanted to tell his story – but when Chris proved elusive, alarm bells began to ring. In the latest electrifying podcast from DELVE, we investigate the superstar endorsements, the science and the safety of the world’...
Oct 29, 2024•2 min
Our final episode in this season coincides with world headlines about a man facing execution for the same diagnosis that imprisoned Zita. Shaken baby syndrome is being called “junk science” in the US, but it has upended the life Zita had hoped for in New Zealand. Now out of jail, she is battling her impending deportation with Immigration NZ, all while continuing to maintain her innocence. Will she get to see her daughter? Will the international experts come through in time? And why won’t Starshi...
Oct 29, 2024•32 min•Season 4Ep. 9
Things really start to wind up when Melanie and Bonnie have a major breakthrough and track down a UK paediatric pathologist who was at forefront of overturning murder charges in a high profile London case. She throws a whole new light on our case and will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew. Presented by award-winning investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at Newsroom.co.nz *Listen to the first eight episodes free. If you want to support our work and hear today’s Epi...
Oct 29, 2024•36 min•Season 4Ep. 8
How did moving to live in the dream country of New Zealand end up like this? Prison, divorce and a baby in the custody of the state. Presented by award-winning investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at Newsroom.co.nz *Listen to the first seven episodes free. If you want to support our work and hear today’s Episode 8 right away, become a subscriber to DELVE+. Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and receive exclusive bonus material, all ad-free.* Hosted on Acast. See a...
Oct 22, 2024•39 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Zita continues to maintain her innocence as the courtroom drama concludes with the judge delivering a sentence Zita is totally unprepared for. In jail, she is put in an isolation wing after inmates call her a baby killer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 15, 2024•26 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Did some of Baby K’s fractures occur while on 24 hour watch in the hospital? What about the traumatic birth? “Doctors sometimes can and do get it wrong”…all this and more in the final address of Zita’s lawyer. *Listen to the first five episodes free. If you want to support our work and hear today’s Episode 6 right away, become a subscriber to DELVE+. DELVE+ subscribers get Early Release, Ad Free listening.* Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Oct 08, 2024•35 min•Season 4Ep. 5
What is it like to be charged with child abuse in a foreign country? Zita finds out as she faces the might of Starship Hospital at her criminal trial. *Listen to the first four episodes free. If you want to hear today's Episode 5 right away, become a subscriber to DELVE+. DELVE+ subscribers get Early Release, Ad Free listening.* Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 01, 2024•33 min•Season 4Ep. 4
The NZ police investigation ramps up and, with their child taken, the couple have their house bugged, their phones tapped and just as they think it can’t get any worse…it does. *Listen to the first three episodes free. If you want to hear today’s Episode 4 right away, become a subscriber to DELVE+. DELVE+ subscribers get Early Release, Ad Free listening.* Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 24, 2024•22 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Melanie and Bonnie meet the young couple at the centre of this case and they begin to unravel the complex cascade of events that led to a young mother being accused, convicted and jailed for two and a half years - and the daunting fight that lies ahead. *If you want to hear Episode 3 as soon as it's released, become a subscriber to DELVE+* Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and receive exclusive bonus material, all ad-free. Presented by award-winning investigations editor Mela...
Sep 11, 2024•27 min•Season 4Ep. 2
What happens when the dream country, New Zealand, becomes a living hell? The Boy in the Water creator, multi-award-winning journalist Melanie Reid, is in the middle of another story when she receives an email that causes her to drop everything and get on a plane. After a year of extensive investigations, we now bring you that case. Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and receive exclusive bonus material, all ad-free. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Sep 11, 2024•24 min•Season 4Ep. 1
DELVE presents the new in-depth podcast from Melanie Reid Investigates about a controversial medical diagnosis from a New Zealand hospital and the cascade of events that followed. A baby taken, a mother jailed, a couple forced apart and facing deportation without their daughter. Crushed by the weight of multiple government departments working in lockstep, what happens when the dream of a new country becomes an unimaginable nightmare? In this new investigation, Melanie Reid and her team take the ...
Sep 10, 2024•2 min
On the final day of the coronial inquest into the death of three-year-old Lachie Jones, his mother has a statement read out in court, Lachie’s father addresses the Coroner and throws more shade on the police investigations - and the lawyers play their final cards for and against an accidental drowning. We also introduce our scorching, brand new podcast investigation on DELVE, coming very soon! Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and receive exclusive bonus material, all ad-free...
Sep 09, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 3Ep. 15
Jonathan appears via videolink from his new home in Australia to respond to allegations he threw his little brother Lachie in the pond, and the young man at the centre of the Facebook messages gets riled up during cross examination. Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and receive exclusive bonus material, all ad-free. Presented by award-winning investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at Newsroom.co.nz Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Sep 08, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 3Ep. 14
Things get heated in court when the young woman at the centre of the messages that allege Lachie’s brother threw him in the pond testifies at the inquest - and she fires back at attempts to question her motive and undermine her evidence. Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and receive exclusive bonus material, all ad-free. Presented by award-winning investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at Newsroom.co.nz Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Sep 05, 2024•55 min•Season 3Ep. 13
A doctor from Starship Children’s Hospital is questioned on all the big mysteries in the case including that Lachie was found face up, had no water in his lungs and had no external injuries. You can see an image of a cross section of the pond on our Facebook page and our Instagram page . Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and receive exclusive bonus material, all ad-free. Presented by award-winning investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at Newsroom.co.nz and search ...
Sep 04, 2024•49 min•Season 3Ep. 12
As the line-up of experts continues, we go on a crash course on the inner workings of the Gore sewerage ponds, and we hear yet another opinion on whether Lachie could have made it all the way out there by himself. You can see an image of a cross section of the pond on our Facebook page and our Instagram page . Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and receive exclusive bonus material, all ad-free. Presented by award-winning investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at New...
Sep 03, 2024•36 min•Season 3Ep. 11
In today’s episode, The Depot, three months after giving evidence in the first phase of the inquest, Michelle Officer presents a new sworn statement that changes her account of her movements at the depot that afternoon, but a contractor who works from the same depot says Lachie and his mother weren’t there. Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and receive exclusive bonus material, all ad-free. Presented by award-winning investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at Newsro...
Sep 02, 2024•26 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Robin Bates, lawyer for the police, goes into full Crown prosecutor mode, as he tries to dent the findings, methodology and conclusion in former forensic detective Karen Smith’s report. Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and receive exclusive bonus material, all ad-free. Presented by award-winning investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at Newsroom.co.nz and search for Melanie Reid Investigates on Facebook and Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor...
Sep 01, 2024•55 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Robin Bates, the lawyer representing the police, goes head to head with former forensic detective Karen Smith. Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and receive exclusive bonus material, all ad-free. Presented by award-winning investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at Newsroom.co.nz and search for Melanie Reid Investigates on Facebook and Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Aug 29, 2024•43 min•Season 3Ep. 8
