The Charity Cheat: Aaron Tonken

Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio Zarren.

You can't give in here, you get in here?

Was that? My girl? How you doing?

I'm great? How are you pretty well?

Feel okay? Greed for you?

I'm so happy for you. Do you know it's ridiculous I do, Okay?

So you know how I love giving people life tips and money advice.

Un solicitous.

I'm just going around well, no and all. Honestly, I never really do that, but I find it amusing how many how much media I consume where people are men telling other people how to live and especially with money and stuff. And then I found this guy and I was like, this is exactly life advice. I would have given a punk band on tour, but it wouldn't have worked for them because they would have been a punk band.

Anyway, here we go.

There was a screenshot from LinkedIn. I'm not on LinkedIn. I don't even believe it with social media, I'm like, come on, apparently people use it like Facebook. Anyway, here we go. Quote. For the last two months, I haven't paid for a single meal in New York City. How is that possible? You ask? It's simple, free hotel meals. New York has thirty six hundred hotels, and many of

I don't think it works that way.

It doesn't work that way. Room number, well, no, you can do that. I do just traveling, and they did exactly that. I just put it in on room number. They didn't ask me for any Nope, it's just all on paper. I just did this in a Hilton.

Like.

He's totally right about that aspect. Yeah, but it's still the ready. It's not going to work for most people. Yeah, yeah, yeah, who would probably want to benefit from this exactly? No, definitely not a punk band.

But who read whatever the four people who read?

But I did used to tell people who are on the road, go into nice hotels and eat a complimentary breakfast, grab some rolls for the road, and go.

That's smart, right. I used to in the city in San Francisco if I back in the days pre you know uber moved all that, when we're all taking taxis and on evenings like Friday nights, you couldn't get a cab. Yeah, I go into a hotel, come out and fact, like I was staying there and ask the you know guys in front of the bell hop or whatever to hail me a cab, and I always get one. Other people are all trying to flag him down the street totally.

I guess it's more of the doorman.

Than a yeah yeah, yeah, So that was the move.

That's a good one. I like, I'm gonna use that one.

Well, we don't take cabs anymore, I guess I do. Yeah, isn't that ridiculous? Though? That is ridiculous. I like them a lot. Do you know what else I like? And that is ridiculous?

No, Elizabeth? What else?

Gerald Ford getting paid? This is ridiculous crime A podcast about absurd and outrageous capers. I send cons. It's always ninety nine percent murder free and one hundred percent ridiculous.

Oh you damn right, Zaryn.

Yes, Eliza, I'm about to take you on a wild ride a fever dream.

Yes, I love your fever dreams.

Researcher Andrea the Magnificent She described a lot of this as surreal, and it is. It's so rich in eighties and nineties celebrities that you're gonna poop yourself.

Should I get on my big boy underwear.

I'm going to read you a list of names that

Why are you listing all my exes.

One thing in common?

I just told you what it was, herpies.

Oh no, that was a joke. They were all somehow connected to the scandals generated by one Aaron Tonka.

Are you kidding me?

Yeah? I want to tell you about Aaron gulf of Tonka.

He's an industry Oh.

God, have you ever heard of Aaron Tonka.

I've heard the name, I've never looked into him.

He was born in nineteen sixty five in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. He grew up in Michigan, just about you know, two hundred and fifty miles or so. He was obsessed with celebrities at an early age. When he was only twelve years old, he started cold calling Jacqueline Onassas and other celebrities like would get the number and be like, Hi, it's Aaron. Do you have a moment? I love that. He was desperate.

Do you think they ever had good conversations.

I don't think he had any conversation. I don't think he made it. No, he didn't make it through the screening. He wanted so badly to have Dean Martin performed at his bar mitzvah.

Oh same, I don't even have of bar mitsman.

I want that, and he just that's what he wanted. But he couldn't. He couldn't make it happen. Nineteen eighty seven, his dad dies of cancer. His dad was a doctor, and he had a really difficult relationship with his mom, and so he decided to just like split and leave. He went to live with his aunt and uncle in Detroit.

Teens.

Yeah, this is what his aunt said. Michelle Sill's quote. He drove to our house straight through without a nickel in his pocket. He had to bust through the toll gase because he had no money bust through. I love the theatrics of that quote, like no, come on, He's like.

He's splintering like a film montage.

Totally, So he's like crashing at all these various relatives houses. He didn't really get like a job or anything. Of course, yes, and he care of he'd lie and he say he'd say he was going to work, but he was just going to like restaurant openings and press conferences because he thought that celebrities would be there in Detroit.

Well, they do have the auto industry, so there might have been you.

Know, like I had coca. Oh yeah, And so he's hoping he can like rub shoulders with him and then he would come home and be like I sold two thousand pairs of socks today and they're like, that's amazing. You set a record. He's like, I totally did. So he wants to he wants to rub shoulders and by that I mean hobnob not massage. Yes, of course he wanted more. Though, what's more, Elizabeth he Arizona. He went

He's going through a platoon of old ladies. Yeah.

So there he is in Scottsdale, Okay, and it was there that he met John Murphy. John Murphy drove a nineteen eighty six corvette and he owned a silk pants company.

Oh so he's like a snowbird just cruising around Arizona. Like, pick it up on old bird.

He has my new fake job when introducing myself a purveyor of fine silk pants.

So I thought it was serious. He's aveyor.

We're sent dead to write serious that he's in an eighty six corvette and he owned a silk pants company. I love Saren, I'm telling you the truth here. So Murphy is like, I like the cut of your jip. I'm going to offer you a job. You can be a salesman. Tonkin's like, let's do this. This is what Murphy said. Quote. He was the best phone guy I'd ever seen, just incredibly persistent. I've sat in his office in l a And he's the fastest dialer I've ever seen,

You guys, and then I get to the hang up call onto the next so quick.

So in nineteen ninety, Murphy sells the pants company. But don't worry. I don't want you to worry about it when from him, uh tongan, don't worry about him. He's cozying up to Gilbert or Tega, aka the King of Indian Jewelry. So he owns Gilbert or Taga Galleries, which is the largest retail of Native American arts and crafts in the world. We're talking turquoise Bolo ties for days talking. He gets a job, a sales job from Ortega. Remember

Why not sure?

This is what Ortega's first wife, Linda Ortega said, quote, oh, well, you know when Aaron moved into Gilbert's house. The way Aaron got to Gilbert was he said his mother wanted him to learn business before he could collect his trust money. He said he thought Gilbert was the perfect person to learn from. It appealed to Gilbert's ego. You know, you're so great, I need to learn from you. It's the same when he met me. You're such a great mother.

Oh he played that flip so.

Pretty soon the Ortega's they're over him. Okay, yeah, they've had enough. This is what Gilbert said, quote he's very very very very very aggressive. If that boy learned to use his talents in the right way, he be a billionaire. But man, he'll eat up and spitch you out. That's a salesman talking, Gerry So talking. He eventually moved out, but he owed them money, of course. And his next gig he got as a marketing manager for Scottsdale Limousines.

Oh I guess like a Major League Baseball training you can meet Mike Schmid that.

Way, very prom forward gig, and then like minor league Baseball or major league.

Got a couple of ways.

This is what the owner, Eddie McCoy had to say, quote, he was just a kid, a kid I hired after he worked for Gilbert. He did very well on sales, brought in several accounts. I was always leary of him, though. He always wanted me to get into things. One time, I remember he asked me if I wanted to have breakfast with Grant Woods, the state attorney general. I said, why, why would I want to do that? In his heart of hearts, you can see Aaron was doing it because

And that's the bravest thing that this man saw you do. And he tried left Los Angeles.

So he gets a call. McCoy gets a call a few days later from the guy that sold the station wagon to Tonkin looking for payment. Yeah, because he's looking for who's going to pay me for the station wagon? He said to call you, and you bought it. So why did decided that it was time to head to Hollywood. I mean it's a natural thing for someone who's celebrity obsessed.

Oh, I don't know.

The impetus for him was that he had cozied up to Angelica Houston's stepmother. Angelica Houston's stepmother, I guess she lives in Arizona.

So John Houston's wife, the Bob I.

Expose, Yeah at some point. So he did a brief stint as her assistant, but it didn't work out. But when he was assistant to Angelica Houston's stepmother, he he rubbed shoulders and he meant the holy grail of aging Hollywood madness needed an assistant.

Would you believe me if I would have said, well, you asked me, why did he go to al Ja? I was pulling him west.

There was you could feel it.

I'm like, Lady the wonderhorse over here.

So 's an assistant. Tonkin needs a job. He also needs a place to live, natural fit faster. And you can see Kato Klin. He moved into the guest house in Jajaabor's backyard.

He's like, have you seen these fingers?

Now he'd made it. So he's getting chummy with the likes of Red Buttons and Milton Burrele. So assisting Jaja was was already starting to hurt. I know, I know, assisting Jajah is great, it's great work. But Tonkin's expenses exceeded his.

Income naturally, and that's that's a risk.

So when Jaja would go out of town, which is you know, pretty accident, Tonkin started going outside and waving down those tour buses that drive by with like the tours of those stars homes, star maps so and then he'd be like, wait, wait, wait, look, this is Jaja Boor's house. I'll give you a tour, and he would charge the people on the bus to get out and walk through Jaja Bar's house.

You know he's not watching them, So there's picket pocketing.

Stuffy Ja finds out because sees all of course Sar he gets fired, but that also meant that he lost his place to live.

So a reporter, why would he do that?

You know what?

I need to make money?

A reporter for the tabloid paper The Star.

All of her neighbors focus on the bus stopped Josh in front of your house.

Only employee's house, the gardeners lawn. So this reporter from the tabloid paper The Star heard about what happened between zz Gibor and Tucking and like and as an agent of chaos after my own heart, the reporter reaches out to Peter Paul, former manager of Fabio, and says, you've got to hire this guy, Aaron Tonkin. He needs a gig. He's an assistant. Like how chaotic? Is that so good? So? Who is Peter Paul? Hold the merry?

Why did that names come from?

He's gonna start ringing a lot of bells. In the seventies, he was an attorney in Miami and he represented Central and South American clients. In seventy nine, he got convicted of participating in the scheme to defraud the Cuban government.

That's a smart movie.

And then oh can I get a side order of cocaine possession?

Oh, there you go.

So he did his.

Time, conscious figure, he does.

His time, he moves to La. What did you do in La? Well, he did prod. He did what any of us who just got out of prison and needed a new start would do. He started charity foundations, including one for Jimmy Stewart, and so from there it was like an easy and natural jump to celebrity management. Of course, so his clients, the aforementioned Fabbia Mohammed Ali. He was Mohammed Ali's the manager for a while. So Paul, he listen from that.

You're like, come on, is not getting better.

It's not going well. Paul listened to that tabloid reporter higher Aaron Tonkin, why not talk? Got a desk in the hall offices at Wilshire Boulevard. Assignment One arranged for celebrities to make an appearance at a wedding in New Mexico.

Tonkin's ultiple celebrities at the same wedding.

Yeah, Tonkin's like hello, Pacific Southwest.

Okay, Yeah, this is my region. I've got friends.

He locked in Charlton Heston to give a Bible reading. He got members of Kiss to provide the music, Like what is this? What is this? Okay, so now he's cooking with Gats like he has put this together. Paul has connections Tonkin latches onto all of them. But it

Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I swear to god. I found Danny Divita's Rotex in the trash. I called him up. He wanted to beat.

Yeah, now we're friends. Sandra Taylor, Fabio's ex girlfriend, huh said quote. He started throwing these smart little dinner parties at the Beverly Hills restaurant Tattoo. The mix of people was just amazing. Joe Maloof from the Sacramento Kings, Jermaine Jackson, Milton Burle. He definitely had his regulars.

The maloof the owner of the Kings, not even like a player, the owner, the owner.

Can we talk a little about tattoo of Beverly Hills in the nineties it was the spot big Mickey Rourke hang out, probably Christopher roknkor as well. What a time to be alive. So anyway, not a lot of information available about the supper club slash restaurant nightclub, but anyway,

GoF did he loved to say that to a charity? Oh my god? The check oh my god.

Okay, so debt started stacking up for Tonking, figuring that printers, travel agencies, photographers, actors, charities like everything he had. Over two dozen separate actions were filed against him in LA Superior Court. Yeah, and most of them were just like you know, he took money for those services rendered.

He owes me eight thousand dollars for the car rental.

Yeah. May of nineteen ninety four, a Russian immigrant Alex Khakov, he said he paid Tonkin twenty grand to help him get into the movie business, which is so weird. Kodakov though he never even made it onto a movie set, and like, for years he tried to get his money back, no dice. His lawyer said, quote, ten years later, I'm done chasing that guy, like they kept trying twenty grand.

So he's just milking naive Russians totally.

And all she got out of it was an invitation or two to like a couple of Hollywood parties and so yeah, so her attorney boyfriend goes after him. Gave up trying to collect though, because it was happening. Nineteen ninety five, Tonkin through his own thirtieth birthday party at Tattoo.

All that before thirty.

Yeah, it was a who's who of young hot Hollywood Okay, Leonard Nimoy, Milton Burrell, Casey Kayson, Alan Thicck, Bob Barker, cast members from the soap opera The Young and the Restless, and then friends and family from Arizona. Who was the host for the evening's entertainment, Red Buttons, Red Button's son Adam Buttons, which like, I don't know that. I just read that over and over again, just for a fight.

Ohone Buttons.

Adam Buttons. But yes, he worked for Tonkin as a messenger. He said, quote, Aaron was out of his mind. Every time I went to his office, Aaron was screaming at the top of his lungs at someone. He had a nervous breakdown every five minutes. Tonkin's uncle Sills but goes to the party at Tattoo says quote, we couldn't believe it. I mean, here's a kid, he had nothing, could go nowhere, had obvious mental problems and suddenly he's in Hollywood meeting

Indeed we did.

Let's take a break. Can we come back. We'll find out whether Oh courant stars were in Aaron Tonkin's orbit. Welcome right, We're back to Hollywood cavalcade we're having here today.

Oh man, the stars are out tonight, Elizabeth, they really are.

They really are. So here we have Aaron Tonkin and his messenger boy Adam Buttons. So we have Aaron Tonkin throwing charity benefits with very cloudy accounting practices. A good friend of Aaron Tonkins was actor Jonathan Silverman, who grew up with David Schwimmer. So it was through that connection that Tonkin he gets tapped to organize the nineteen ninety seven Friends Helping Friends gala that's centered on the Friends cast.

Shows. Who wants to hear Wayne Newton totally?

Zaren close your eye. Oh my god, Okay, I want you to picture it. It's nineteen ninety seven and you are Randolph Duke, the designer for Halston. You were hired the year prior to revive the brand, and you are exceeding expectations. You are creating minimalist, clean designs in the iconic Halston style of relaxed urban discothech chic. You're fabulous, from your five o'clock shadow to your buttery driving loafers. Some months ago, you were introduced to a man, a small,

She tells her, dah now and tell Dan Cortez not to call me anymore.

Not Eric niece now. Vanity Fair sponsored the event. Vanity Fair's executive director of creative Services at the time was a woman, Gene Carlson. She said, quote, I don't think we knew what we were getting. The event was kind of messy. Everyone's screaming at me. At the end, they ran out of gift bags, and it went on so long. By the time Tony Bennett got up to sing, most of the people had left. It was not the work of a prot Let's check in with Adam Buttons. What is Adam Buttons.

Yes, Adam Buttons, he said.

Quote, I will go on record saying I did deliver cash to a number of celebrities on Friends Helping Friends. I don't know how much was in those envelopes. I didn't ask. I will say I didn't like the way he did business. That's why I stopped working for him. Say more Adam Buttons and like sorry, make red proud.

It's an interesting mix of the hot stars of the nineties and the fifties.

Well, it was mostly. By nineteen ninety eight, almost a dozen charities were suing him in an attempt to get the money back from all these events that just he would get paid for that never even took place, not even the big like messalage.

He's just faking. Yeah, what do you think in your quiet moments you're lying their bed. You've got twenty four charities trying to see in your life isn't care. I've made some mistakes.

No, no, just got to keep moving. Shark in the water. He filed for Chapter seven personal bankruptcy. Oh yeah, you got a BK when you hit that. But later the whole thing got dismissed because he didn't show up to the meeting of creditors.

How does that work?

I don't know. And it was during this time that Tonkin met Cynthia and Hal Gershman. They're an older couple who happened to be multimillionaires. Agency No, they had shopping centers. They had shopping centers, okay, And they also happened to live in Beverly Hills. And they also happened to throw amazing parties at their house. Of course, posy's up. They check all the boxes. So according to a family advisor, which like PS, you know you're wealthy when you have

Okay.

And a friend said later that when Hal died something changed in Cynthia. Quote Cindy decided she had been held down. It was a chance to have some fun. I want to have a good time. And be socially prominent and be an actress. She started taking acting classes. She was convinced she was going to be a movie star. Aaron's genius was that he listened to what people wanted and he gave it to them. Aaron was suddenly saying, I can do this, I can do that.

Of course. Yeah, that's the classic con is like, hey, what are you feeling?

What?

You know? Not confident about what you would love to feel confident about.

So Cynthia Gershman. She starts paying Tonkin in nineteen ninety eight. One of the loans was almost two million dollars. Yeah, and in return, he tells her, We're going to make you a movie star. You're going to be known as Cynthia Palmer.

Know you can make the movie.

There's no spring Chicken whatever. You could make the movie. Well she did. She got her Screen Actors Guild card, and she had roles in like like a couple of minor films, including the Burt Reynolds two thousand film, The Last Producer. Oh wow, she's in that. So we're talking like big stuff. Her steps on, Cynthia steps on Ronald. He worried about how all this was going to affect the financial situation of the family foundation.

So his inheritance.

Yeah, so he starts reorganized and he splits it off. He's like, okay, here's the family stuff and then here's yours. Just go nuts exactly, and so with control over her part of the dough, then she just ramps up these charity donations, but many of them were selected by Tonkin, not her. And then she also underwrote his benefits and that was like he did Gallas honoring Gladys Knight and Milton Burle shows up all the time. Oh yeah, total, plus the Pips and the Pips underwrite them of course.

I didn't read all the fine print.

Yeah, so he's looking down the barrel of like three hundred years in prison, no exaggeration, and he fled to Switzerland never came back to the States. He left behind his Democratic megadoner wife, Denise Rich. And you know, so it only makes sense then that around nineteen ninety nine, two thousand, so if Tonkin gets introduced to Denise Rich, Denise continues the celebrity chain by introducing Tonkin to then

Huh yeah, and how did her future go?

Tonkin tells Bill, I got an idea. Okay, let's have a bunch of Hollywood gallas to benefit Hillary's senatorial campaign and New York. Yeah, the New York campaign. But we'll do this in Hollywood. Gershman said that she would underwrite some of the expenses, but Tonkin wanted more money, so he reached out to his old friend and employer, Peter Paul. Remember Peter Paul Byammy Koch Lawyer in two thousand. This is this is, this is where we're into total fever dream Terri.

I just always keep picturing Jake Paul's father. I know he's not, but I'm like, that feels like it's Jake Paul, Peter Paul.

On Peter Paul Mary. In two thousand, Paul started a multimedia company built around stan Lee God stan Lee Wow, creator of Marvel comics. Paul was working with Lee on the internet based superhero creation, production and marketing studio stan Lee Media. Okay, And so the venture was only around for like two years. It was the victim of the first dot com shutdown. So it starts in ninety eight,

Yes, I could never guess. I just knew I would never.

There's something about me that not a lot of people know is that every night I have in my dreams, there's almost always a celebrity cameo, and it's usually like.

A d It's always.

And it feels like one long dream that I'm in. So Shaka Cohn's in the limo with Aaron Tonkin and Bill Clinton evening, and Tonkin is like, because Tonkin's going with like to escort Chaka Khan to an event. And Tonkin has this conversation with Bill and it ends up with Bill Clinton telling Aaron Tonkin to go forward with all the galla plans. Let's do it. Let's have a gala. So ahead, Peter Paul and Tonkin. That's like an also Ran full trio. They worked with Hillary Clinton's people to

This is fun.

And then Stevie Wonders Share, Melissa Ethridge, Natalie Cole, Diana Ross, Paul Anka popping his head up again, Tony Braxton, Patty LaBelle, Brian McKnight, and Sugar Ray performed. Can you believe they got Sugar Ray?

I cannot believe he was able to get his people on the y And.

Can you believe also that Tonkin booked someone born after Hawaii became a state. It's amazing to me. So that wasn't the only Clinton honor that Tonkin had up asleep. Yeah, he also put together an event called a Family Celebration two thousand and one on April first, two thousand and one at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Okay.

So, Brian Burrow, this is like, right when the Clintons are out of office, he's just trying to basically take his victory lap. He's raising money for his library, and she's using that as a time to basically also get donations for her senatorial campaign, So they need to be in the public. Yeah, so they'll take anything.

Yeah, Okay, and they loved Hollywood.

Yeah. I'm just trying trying to get why he's so keen to have.

Her all these Yeah. So this is what it was. In Vanity Fair, Brian Burrow wrote a piece quote the stars poured in. Sylvester Stallone was there in a tuxedo, chatting with his fellow honorees Betty and Gerald Ford. The evening's co chairman, Michelle Pfeiffer and her husband Ally mcbeil. Producer David E. Kelly sat at Clinton's table with members

Insane Sandy Laupper close.

So the main beneficiaries were supposed to be charities selected by Kelly and the cast of Ally McBeal, And for the uninitiated, Ally McBeal was a Mark E. Kelly joint about a lawyer played by Calista Flockhart. So he gave us Calista Flockhart, which means he probably said in motion her later romance with and marriage to Harrison Ford totally, which I feel like gave us Harrison Ford still peering.

And it did definitely. And also the people who like when he went and saved their lives, like but he's playing, or like people with the golfers he scared in Santamonic when he crashed his.

Because of Davidy Kelly.

All that's because of this, yeah, is right back.

Tonk can promised Kelly and his charities one hundred percent of whatever money was raised, but then Tonkin also struck a deal with in Syncs agents in exchange for their performance, Tonkin agreed that charities selected by the band would get fifty percent of the money raised, So one hundred and

Yes, usually don't get paid.

No. And then, according to Sandra Fert and Gabriel the a Washington event planner that Tonkin hired to supervise the evening when told like Ford got paid. Quote, he was President Ford. That explains so much. I mean why he went to that party the night before and the breakfast. Oh that stuns me. That's so ghosh, one of my favorite insulting descriptors. Ghosh. I love her. So, a spokesman for the Fords confirms, yeah, he got paid, but said that Tonkin only gave one hundred and fifty thousand to

Yeah.

Federal prosecutors later said that Paul participated in a scheme to manipulate stan Lee Media's stock price. He fled. Peter Paul fled to Brazil in December of two thousand, four months after the benefit federal investigators closing in. And it was during this time that Tonkin met one of Paul's oldest friends, a man named Stanley Myyatt. Let's take a break. When we come back, we'll learn about this. Stanley Mayott, Hello, Hi,

Hits he mixed nice on the ones and two.

I was telling you about how Peter Paul hold the Mary had taken off for Brazil to avoid federal charges over manipulating this stock price of Stanley Media fever dream I told you and Aaron Tonkin our focus today. He'd cozied up to a friend of Peter Paul's, a guy named Stanley.

Myatt, Yes, don't know that name.

Myatt was known as mister Covert Operations because he was an alleged CIA assassin. He was in with the Italian and Russian mobs. Wow, he was a Wall Street scam artist.

Everywhere he is.

He was a loan shark, FBI and dea informant.

Was he also a race car driver?

This is Aaron fever Dreams what I'm trying to say. So the Philadelphia Mob boss, Ralph Natali, he said, quote Mayat was an insurance scam man. He was a Wall Street scam man. He bootlegged cigarettes years ago, made a huge fortune. He got into the marijuana business and went away for a couple of years. He came back and he went down to live in Florida and he made a big connection with Russian mob that came up through Florida and him himself. He came to see me at

And they have to do that at a race check. Yeah, legit not to know that those meetings that you never know where they're going to take place.

True, And according to Peter Paul, Mayatt invested in dozens of companies. A lot of them were public at the request of FBI handlers because the Feds wanted to peek under the hood, and then Mayatt got him in there, and according to Paul, the FBI looked the other way while Mayatt quote looted the company. And how does Paul know this, he said, because he also worked for the FBI in the early eighties. And I also it was the early eighties. We were all working for the f

It really does.

It really doesn't make any sense. Mayatt had a Philadelphia based hip hop music company.

I'm gonna need you to say that again.

A Philadelphia based hip hop music company called Antra Records, best known for marketing the rapper Corrupt.

Oh wow, oh yes, I know.

Yeah. Two thousand and one, he closed up shop and he Mayatt met with Tonkin because he wanted to break into the LA music scene. He had a new LA company he called OFC Incorporated Organized Crime Family. Oh yeah, so auditors they later go in search of, like the missing money from a family celebration two thousand and one, the bogus ally mcbeil scala. They found out that hundreds of thousands of dollars passed through accounts controlled by Myatt,

Yeah, it's like being a family advisor cover so many.

Things, so many things. According to Peter Paul, Myyatt quote controlled Tonkin and used him to infiltrate the music and entertainment communities for the FBI.

Huh, so curious or and curious.

Mayat was also He was a source of funds for a family celebration two thousand and one, providing more than one hundred thousand dollars in cash, much of which went to Sylvester Stallone and Ray Charles demanded before they would appear, they.

Did that, James Brown, pay me or I'm not showing up.

Yeah, Sandra Ferton in cash, Yeah, Sandra Ferton. Gabriel, that event producer. She said she saw Tonkin pull cash out of the pocket of his g and he gave twenty grand to Ray Charles. She said, quote, I was floored, but that was just how Aaron did things.

Also, if you, I mean Ray Charles, if you grew up on the Chitlin circuit, you're going to be paid for your favors. Hit those.

Stallone's attorney said. Stallone like the thirty grand that he got. He had kind of earmarked it to pay for medical expenses of the relative of one of his housekeepers. Oh okay, sure, okay. And then the remaining sixty g's was supposed to be covering the trips that Tonkin promised two members of David E. Kelly's production staff. So, according to an anonymous source, I love those These are just one example of how celebrities

Well, it does give you a sense of what their life is the rest of the time when they're not around him.

Yeah, yeah, He's not the only one.

They're doing this too, and when.

It's not even supposed to be for charity, really knives out. So Tonkin he gets he's facing federal charges of fraud, one for mail fraud and the other for wire fraud. According to the indictment, in September of two thousand, Tonkin got five hundred and fifty thousand dollars for an event to honor Diana Ross and he promised three charities that

I'm just going to lay it out there.

And then Tonkin also caught state charges. He was accused of defrauding a bunch of like potential beneficiaries, including the Betty Ford Center, of at least one point five million. And for those charges, he was up against like maybe ten years in prison as well as half a million dollars fine, and then on top of that restitution for the victims. Isn't that right he's got back? Oh yeah, So all these charities, and of course Tonkin wrote a book, is.

Now a qualified author? He's got charges against you.

Two thousand and four, his book King of Cons came out, and he wrote that he would use cash, luxury vacations, jewelry, political donations to lure celebrities to his fundraisers and then that would then raise his profile. Quote, my bill at Cardier was a million dollars. I was handing out Hawaii trips like someone would hand out their business cards to these celebrities and their hangars on. I call it taking from the needy to feed the greedy.

Wow, what he just said it?

Uh huh. So in order to get Arnold Schwarzenegger at a charity event in September of two thousand and two, and this is before he was governor, cause he said that Tonkin said he first had to make a contribution to a campaign that Arnold had for a state ballot proposition to promote after school sports programs, which I vaguely remember, and that's when we all kind of knew this guy is going to do it. State election records confirmed that

One million dollars is a very small amount compared to one billion dollars.

It's all relative. George Byrd, another lawyer of Tonkins. He issued a statement saying that it was the politicians and the celebrity who quote benefited from Aaron's work. Unfortunately, the charities did not receive the funds that rightfully should have gone to them due to the greed of celebrities themselves, which you know, he's not wrong. So Ruben said, Tonkin didn't waste the money do flashy things. At the time this all went down, Tonkin lived in a nine hundred

Yeah.

But then he also hired three thousand dollars a night escorts.

Wait what yeah, three thousand dollars a night, yeah, escorts. Yeah, but three thousand dollars a night.

Yeah, what they're doing.

That's like a circ of sleat stuff. I mean, that's incredible.

So Ruben described Tonkin, who would not speak to reporters, is quote extremely remorseful about his conduct in the case. And then he said he played guilty because quote it was important for him to admit and accept responsibility. Aaron did something wrong, but he came in and faced the music and accepted his punishment. There were a lot more

Ooh does he even have any close to them? Think?

So he apologized in court and he said that he was excited for his life to quote move forward into a new chapter. September twenty second, two thousand and four, he starts serving his sentence federal facility in Kentucky. You know low scarities got.

Five and a quarter years ago. I mean that's it's going to be out in a couple.

Oh no, he was two thousand and four is when he went in, and he had for five years, so he was out twenty ten. He's out, and the LA Times runs this huge interview with him and they proclaim him reformed. And in search of redemption, and he was apparently trying to help his victims get their money back. He's like, let's work together to get the restitution because

Why Wayne, Why.

I don't know. But then on the other hand, we have Martin Gubb, a businessman who gave Tonkin cash for a Celine Dion fundraiser that never happened.

From the Gub report.

Yeah, quote, I hope he doesn't get his life back. What he did is beyond words.

Yeah.

So yes, we're gonna have both. It's unclear what became of Tonkin, Like, you know, he he doesn't have like a social media presence that I could finance, like an old Twitter account. He hasn't touched in ages. Part of his probation was that he was barred from fundraising or handling money for nonprofits. Oh but he could act as a consultant.

Oh well come on, come on, yeah, Oh he said he doesn't get to touch the money. Yeah, that's essentially what you did.

In twenty ten, he was also pitching a line of dietary supplements, of course, and then a year later, twenty eleven, he was involved in some sort of thing suing the insurance company for the old socialite Ladies Life insurancea Cynthia, No, the one he was Cynthia. Okay, yeah, so that I'm throwing in new celebrities exactly. I know, well she I'm surprised.

She left her money to like a cat or or something, a dog.

I think it's amazing horrible. So anyway, Yeah, so he was trying to get that out. He's just kind of dropped off. You can't find them interesting. But yeah, wherever he is, I hope he's doing well and not scamming folks.

I hope he's reformed somewhat. It feels better about himself.

What's your takeaway, Zaron in the ridiculous type of takeaway?

Well, you know, thanks for asking Elizabeth the When I was down in Hollywood, I learned really quickly that I had an advantage of her a lot of people, which is that I don't give a flying a fig about a celebrity. All I see is a person with a big head, and I oh, literally a physically big head. They often the TV actors in particular, have oversized that it's one of their secrets. But I could be in a room with no matter who and I was like,

What's your ridiculous ex ass?

Try it out.

Sometimes I think it's just backs up my suspicion of a lot of charities. Anytime you see like some big fundraiser gala, I worry about the amount of money that went in to put that kind of thing on. And I always look at look for like more immediate, ground level charities where you can see that the money goes right to action and not to And I'm just disgusted at these people asking for such amount of money, like to perform at a charity event like Ford.

I did not see the shakedown. These are charities are like zoos. I don't think we really need them anymore.

I really don't think so, Hey, David, can I have a talk back? I've been good?

Oh my god, I let get.

Hey Elizabeth, Hey, zeron, do you want to know what's ridiculous coming off of anesthesia and demanding to speak with you guys? I just head back surgery, and when I came off the anastesia, I just kept saying all these different things about different episodes from Ridiculous Crime and how much I needed to see Elizabeth Dutton and Zarin Burnett because I needed to see them. Love you guys.

I hope she's okay. I hope you're okay. Yeah, And I'm also I really apologize that we're so deep subconscious like that. That must be uncomfortable for you, but I am.

I'm that's nice.

Nice.

That's all I have for today. You can find us online at ridiculous Crime dot com and you can find us all over the internet. Just keep looking. That's all. No, Okay, fine, We're at Ridiculous Crime on Twitter and Instagram, Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com. Uh, talk back as you heard you know, you come out of surgery, you leave us a talkback first thing, reach out. Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zaron Burnett, produced and edited by

Cui Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.