Prepare to be stunned by the most jaw-dropping revelations from some of the most infamous scandals in recent history. From Hollywood elites to powerful moguls, we're diving deep into the shocking stories that exposed systemic corruption and abuse across various industries.
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00:00Finally, we return to the Harvey Weinstein story and new revelations about the great
00:05lengths he allegedly went to in order to quash stories, silence his accusers and intimidate
00:11journalists.
00:12Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:13And today, we're breaking down the biggest scandals in recent memory and the jaw dropping
00:17revelations that they unearthed.
00:18I would never hurt a child is totally false.
00:21I was outraged.
00:24Varsity Blues, Hollywood stars.
00:26I mean, they can do some crew that I don't know.
00:30Not a problem.
00:31Singer says.
00:32But at the end of the day, by the side door, I may be able to go to the sailing coach and
00:36say, hey, this family is willing to make a contribution.
00:41Turns out there is one school you can cheat your way into the School of Hard Knocks.
00:46And well, at least for a time, a number of top American universities in what the Federal
00:50Bureau of Investigation called Operation Varsity Blues, 33 parents of high school students
00:55who were applying to schools like Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and more conspired to illicitly
00:59get their children into those schools.
01:01The testing I knew was wrong.
01:04And I did it anyways, as I rationalized to myself that what's 10, 12, 13 kids who are
01:11good students, quality people.
01:14And this one score may screw them out of an opportunity to go to a decent school.
01:20So it worked.
01:21It did work.
01:22It worked.
01:23Patrick Singer cooperated with the FBI after it became clear that he had accepted over
01:26$25 million to bribe university officials and commit fraud on behalf of these parents.
01:30But the biggest shock of all, Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, both well-known Hollywood
01:35personalities, were part of the scheme.
01:37Both faced criminal charges, with Loughlin serving a two-month prison sentence.
01:41I think the people I owe a debt and an apology to is the academic community and to the students
01:51and the families that sacrifice and work really hard to get to where they're going legitimately.
01:59The FBI failed to prevent the USA Gymnastics scandal.
02:02Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison this week, with more than 150 people
02:06coming forward to his sentencing hearing to accuse the former USA Gymnastics team doctor
02:11of sexual abuse.
02:13But this should not be the end of the story.
02:14The problem is not just one predator.
02:16The problem goes all the way up to the top, the United States Olympic Committee.
02:21Like with Operation Varsity Blues, institutional corruption can run far deeper and for far
02:25longer than one might expect.
02:27Take the USA Gymnastics abuse scandal, for example.
02:30Considered as the largest abuse scandal of its kind in the history of sports, it was
02:33first reported upon by the Indianapolis Star in 2016.
02:37The standard and the expectation if you want to win is an environment that is rife with
02:42physical and emotional abuse, and I think this creates the conditions where sexual abuse
02:47can occur.
02:48They revealed that predatory coaches were allowed to move from gym to gym undetected
02:53by a lax system of oversight or dangerously passed on by USA Gymnastics certified gyms.
02:58The disturbing scandal snowballed from there, with unethical conduct on the part of physician
03:02Larry Nassar earning him up to 175 years in Michigan State Prison.
03:07Perhaps most troubling of all, the fact that the FBI was aware of the allegations against
03:11Nassar and declined to investigate.
03:14We suffered and continue to suffer because no one at FBI, USAG, or the USOPC did what
03:21was necessary to protect us.
03:24We have been failed and we deserve answers.
03:27Nassar is where he belongs, but those who enabled him deserve to be held accountable.
03:32If they are not, I am convinced that this will continue to happen to others across Olympic
03:37sports.
03:38Sandusky, Paterno, and Penn State.
03:41What kind of person knows about the abuse of children and does not do everything to
03:46stop it?
03:47Well tonight, fingers are pointing at a man millions long considered a symbol of decency.
03:52The 2011 Pennsylvania State University scandal unfortunately proves that, even if those willing
03:57to speak up in the face of injustice do so, bad actors can shut them down and perpetuate
04:01a predatory system.
04:03Reverend college football coach Jerry Sandusky, at one point the assistant coach to the university's
04:07Nittany Lions team, was indicted in November of 2011 on 52 counts of heinous treatment
04:12of minors, which had occurred between 1994 and 2009.
04:16An independent investigation determined that Joe Paterno, the team's head coach, as well
04:20as other university officials, were well aware of the allegations against Sandusky, but chose
04:25not to act.
04:26Unless people are directly confronted with something, many times they won't report it
04:32because they want to protect their world.
04:35He was only brought down when a 15-year-old boy spoke up.
04:39It's remarkable.
04:40It took a very brave person like the mom said today.
04:42She's very proud of her son because he had to stand up to this giant, this football god.
04:48Jared Fogle's ring of abusers.
04:50A multi-millionaire who made his fortune by being a relatable everyman has become one
04:55of the most reviled men in America.
04:58Former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle now agreeing to plead guilty to shocking charges.
05:04The wild, perturbing career trajectory of former Subway spokesman and current convicted
05:08felon Jared Fogle, his epic rise, and catastrophic, self-inflicted fall, will surely be studied
05:13for decades.
05:14In 1999, Fogle lost 245 pounds through a combination of physical exercise and Subway, well, subs.
05:21The media representative then enjoyed over a decade of public trust and credibility before
05:25it came to a screeching halt in 2015.
05:28Today, Jared Fogle has been charged and has admitted to participating in a five-year criminal
05:36scheme to exploit children.
05:38Surreptitiously recorded remarks made by Fogle revealed a history of making predatory comments
05:43and even advances on minors.
05:45Once it came out that others involved in Fogle's charity, the Jared Foundation, had participated
05:49in further abuse alongside its namesake, the former spokesman was down for the count, sentenced
05:53to 15 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release.
05:57What we've learned today is the fact that he is going to be monitored, he will have
06:02to undergo treatment, and that he will also be subjected to polygraphs.
06:07They also discussed the fact that he will not be allowed any unsupervised conduct with
06:13minors.
06:14NXIVM and Doss.
06:15You know, you have the people, the Ghandis, the Martin Luther Kings, all those great people
06:20of the world, and, you know, I'm nowhere, nowhere near that in what I've been able to
06:27achieve.
06:28Yet, in this particular case, I'm given a spotlight that is far greater than my personhood.
06:36As long as the devious and powerful are willing to take advantage of others, then predatory
06:40organizations like Keith Renier's NXIVM will continue to thrive.
06:44For the uninitiated, career criminal Renier provided self-help workshops as a front for
06:48criminal activity in 1998.
06:50Utilizing exploitative tactics drawn from multi-level marketing scams, Renier convinced
06:54a number of prominent public figures to take part, like Smallville star Allison Mack.
06:59According to court documents, Mack lured unsuspecting women into a secret sisterhood connected to
07:05a self-improvement organization known as NXIVM.
07:08But prosecutors say it was really a sex trafficking group, and Mack's job was to find women to
07:13become sex slaves for its alleged leader, Keith Renier.
07:16A 2017 New York Times exposé revealed the existence of DOS, which forced the cult's
07:22female members to debase themselves so as to provide material for blackmail if the truth
07:26about the group ever surfaced.
07:27Renier's reign of terror ended in 2019, when he was found guilty of all charges against
07:32him and sentenced to 120 years imprisonment.
07:34And before sentencing, Renier's lawyer had asked for a 20-year sentence, Renier did say
07:40a few words before sentencing, one of them, quote, I do believe strongly that I'm innocent
07:45of the charges, but it is also true, I see all this pain.
07:49We'll have more on this breaking story at 6, we're live outside Brooklyn Federal Court,
07:53Lisa Rosner, CBS 2 News.
07:55Okay, Lisa, thank you.
07:56How Bill Cosby kept the allegations at bay.
07:59I never saw any drugs, but I would wake up completely confused, half-dressed, and knowing
08:07that my body had been touched without my permission.
08:12America's dad, no more.
08:13Rumors about Cosby's alleged grave misconduct had swirled for decades, but they only truly
08:18came to light in 2014, after comedian Hannibal Burress made an offhand joke in an October
08:222014 stand-up set in Philadelphia.
08:25The joke, which Burress had incorporated into his act with little previous fanfare, kicked
08:29off a domino effect that resulted in the beloved Cosby's genteel public image being obliterated.
08:34We went up to his bungalow afterwards, he made me a drink, and very shortly after that,
08:40I just, I passed out.
08:46I woke up, or came to, very groggily with him removing my underwear.
08:52Over 60 women came forward, accusing the Cosby Show star of years of assault, abuse, harassment,
08:58and even involuntary drugging.
09:00The most damning charge of all?
09:01That Cosby had paid many of his accusers off to guarantee their silence.
09:04Well, there's this girl, Crazy Mary, you put some in her drink, man, she'd be like,
09:10yeah, Spanish, oh yeah, that's really groovy, man, Spanish fly is groovy, yeah, boy.
09:15From then on, man, any time you see a girl, well, she has a Spanish fly, whatever it is.
09:19Go to a party, see five girls standing alone, boy, if I had a whole jug of Spanish fly,
09:24I'd light that corner up over there.
09:26Michael Jackson shared a bed with his friends.
09:29When you're talking about children, we met Gavin, and it was a great privilege to meet
09:34Gavin because he's had a lot of suffering in his life.
09:37When Gavin was there, he talked about the fact that he shares your bedroom.
09:40Yes.
09:41Can you understand why people would worry about that?
09:45Because they're ignorant.
09:47He was the king of pop, but a series of explosive allegations from the early 1990s and mid-2000s
09:52seriously damaged Jackson's claim to the throne.
09:55In a long torrid saga beginning in 1993, dentist Evan Chandler accused Jackson of inappropriate
10:00conduct with his 13-year-old son, Jordan.
10:03These followed several trips to Jackson's Neverland Ranch amidst a blooming friendship
10:07between Jordan and the singer.
10:09As we sit here today, do you still think that it's acceptable to share your bed with children?
10:15Of course.
10:17Of course, why not?
10:19While Jackson wasn't brought up on charges, with relevant law enforcement agencies citing
10:23insufficient evidence to move forward with the case, children questioned, including actor
10:26Macaulay Culkin, confirmed that the Billie Jean singer often encouraged them to platonically
10:30sleep together.
10:32Macaulay told the outlet, he never did anything to me.
10:35I never saw him do anything, and especially at this flashpoint in time, I'd have no
10:40reason to hold anything back.
10:43The guy has passed on.
10:44If anything, I'm not gonna say it would be stylish or anything like that, but right
10:49now is a good time to speak up, and if I had something to speak up about, I would totally
10:54do it.
10:55What Sean Diddy Combs needed all that baby oil for?
10:58During bi-coastal raids on his homes in LA and Miami, authorities say they seized various
11:03freak-off supplies, including drugs, and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant.
11:09This former hip-hop mogul's fall from grace was swift, public, and relentless, and that's
11:14with good reason, especially if you ask the federal agents who raided Combs' Miami and
11:18LA properties in March 2024.
11:20Pulling on that tiny, loose thread tore the whole sweater apart.
11:23Not only did the raids reveal narcotics at Combs' residences, but reportedly, over 1,000
11:28bottles of baby oil and lubricant.
11:30Federal prosecutors said Sean Combs did not act alone.
11:34He had assistants, managers, security staff, who would make sure that women and male prostitutes
11:40were at these freak-offs, that the hotel rooms where they were staged were stocked with supplies
11:45like baby oil and lubricant.
11:48Predictably, Combs didn't just keep them around for household purposes, rather, the
11:52purpose was to facilitate his now infamous freak-offs.
11:55These were lengthy, hedonistic parties, which often featured unwitting participants in adult
11:59acts.
12:00Combs stands accused of orchestrating and directing these freak-offs, and threatening
12:04those who refuse to comply with career-ending blackmail.
12:07The freak-offs sometimes lasted days at a time.
12:10Prosecutors say that these were elaborately produced events, bringing lighting.
12:15Harvey Weinstein's attempts to silence his accusers.
12:18I appreciate the way I've behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and
12:23I sincerely apologize for it.
12:26And yet another example of wealthy elites finding out that the rules do indeed apply
12:30to them as well.
12:31Prominent film producer Weinstein's storied career ended in seconds in 2017.
12:36Weinstein was accused of misconduct stretching back at least three decades.
12:39According to the New York Times, Weinstein has reached settlements with a total of eight
12:43women over nearly three decades.
12:44A lawyer for Mr. Weinstein says he's preparing to sue the Times, claiming the article was
12:49quote, saturated with false and defamatory statements.
12:53Since the beginning of the hashtag MeToo movement, which aims to expose abuses of power
12:57by high-level executives across multiple industries, over 80 women came forth and blasted Weinstein
13:03for his misconduct, claiming that he had used his power and influence to coerce them into
13:07unwanted sex acts.
13:08To top it off, journalist Ronan Farrow reported that Weinstein had employed private security
13:13firms like Black Cube to spy on, intimidate, and discredit his accusers.
13:18These firms were either A, compiling information that was specifically, according to the documents
13:23that we have, designed to undermine and smear people, both women with allegations and reporters.
13:29And in other cases, were actually engaging in hands-on human intelligence tactics, insinuating
13:36themselves into people's lives using false identities.
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13:55The Epstein List
13:56Prince Andrew and the former president Bill Clinton have been named in newly released
14:01court documents relating to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
14:05They include associates, friends, and alleged victims of the disgraced billionaire who died
14:10in jail five years ago.
14:12The papers relate to a case that was brought against Epstein's associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
14:17Chances are you'd never heard the name Jeffrey Epstein before his 2019 death.
14:21However, if you hung around in the world of the rich and famous, then he likely would
14:25have been a familiar face.
14:26Epstein, a New York financer and broker, was arrested in July 2019 on federal charges of
14:31trafficking minors in Florida and New York.
14:33However, before Epstein could face justice for his transgressions, he was found dead
14:37in his jail cell the following month.
14:39There are 943 pages in all transcripts of interviews, depositions, all part of a civil
14:47lawsuit brought by one of Jeffrey Epstein's accusers against Ghislaine Maxwell, his longtime
14:54friend and associate, who is now serving 20 years in prison for crimes that she committed
14:59with him.
15:00While the circumstances of Epstein's death remain suspicious, significant attention was
15:04paid to unsealed court documents from a 2015 civil lawsuit that listed several high-profile
15:09individuals as his friends or associates.
15:11These included Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, Kevin Spacey, among
15:16others.
15:17Former President Bill Clinton is also mentioned, as expected.
15:21He was known sometimes to use Jeffrey Epstein's planes to fly on humanitarian trips to Africa.
15:28But again, there is no suggestion in these documents that he did anything illegal.
15:33There are also some references to Donald Trump, and again, no suggestion that he was involved
15:39in any wrongdoing.
15:41Which scandal shocked you the most?
15:43Are there any we missed?
15:44Be sure to let us know in the comments below.