The Age of Influence (2023–…): Season 1, Episode 6 - The Con-fluencer - full transcript

An influencer
is somebody who can

persuade somebody's idea
of something else,

and it's just that simple.

It could be anything in life.

- Too much.

If you looked at

Tracii Hutsona's Instagram page,

it was full of private jets
and infinity pools

and Tracii standing
in front of step and repeats.

It created the impression
that she was living

this lavish life
among the glitterati of LA.



- We are at Peter Marco
in Beverly Hills,

picking up the jewels
that I'll be dressed in

for today's shoot.

In her YouTube show,

she presented herself
as totally authentic,

but it was all just
a carefully-crafted persona,

which is, of course, an
incredible psychological trick

to convince people she was real.

Tracii's game
is impersonating other people.

- It's almost like she did
a hardcore study on my life

and then decided,
I'm gonna recreate this.

- We're living
like millionaires.

We're living like
our billionaire clients.

- She's so believable that
it makes you feel so loved.



You get entangled in that web.

- People who say that they
would never get caught up in it

have never met Tracii.

Sometimes, prettier things
are on the outside,

the more rot there is
on the inside.

My name is
Loriann Hart Flaherty.

I'm a second generation
Los Angeleno.

I come from a long line
of entertainers.

I have been a singer
and an actress.

I'm currently doing voiceovers.

Hi, Beau-Beau. Hi!

Then there's my baby Beau.

Yeah, I've got pictures of him
on his birthday.

I am full of love,
full of laughter.

I am a complete empath,

and, um, I can be very naive.

I first met
Tracii Hutsona in 2002.

My son became friends
with Tracii's son

when they were in first grade.

We became friends based on
our love for our children

and our love for fun.

My life had changed
so radically since the time

that I was young and single,

hanging out with OJ and Nicole

and Stephen Stills
and Ringo Starr

and all those people.

I missed it.

I saw in Tracii a glamour.

People were so drawn to her.

People wanted to be her friend.

She was cool,

and makes you feel cool
to be with her.

Tracii always wanted
to make a big mark,

to be a powerful
and influential person.

You'd see her on
Facebook and Instagram.

She'd make sure that
you could see this opulence

that she was living.

She always wanted to portray

an image of herself
to be envied.

Tracii wanted
all eyes on Tracii.

But the more I think about it,

I realized she had a plan
from the get-go.

It's all about being famous,

so she had to be
on social media.

- What up, buddy?
- Everybody comes here,

and they think they want
to see somebody.

So they want you
to be somebody so bad.

- They looking
for Kim and Kanye,

but they fail to realize
they live in Calabasas.

They don't live in LA.

She even started
a Kardashians-type of show

on social media with
Derrell, her husband.

It's a super busy weekend.

We rented out, um,
all the houses,

including our own,
and we rented out all the cars.

We love how we live.
We love where we live.

The trade-off is that
we got to pack it up.

Babe, you packed up
my closet, too?

- Yeah, I got...
- I love you.

On Homeless Millionaires,

she's being the cool gal

who's with her
14-years-younger husband,

driving in a fancy car,

going to fancy places,

looking at expensive jewelry.

And they were just trying
to get the notoriety

and get the Instagram followers.

Everything she posts
is just showing off,

is saying,
"See what a great life I have?

Don't you wish you were me?"

But unfortunately,
from what I've learned,

Tracii was a master at pulling
the wool over people's eyes.

I didn't grow up with much.

I worked full time
at a makeup counter,

did modeling gigs on the side.

So when I got married
to an NBA player,

it was a little bit
of a crash course in,

you know,
living in the limelight.

- What's it been like to be
a part of Jason's success

here in his first year
in New Jersey?

- It's amazing. I can't even...

It was fun, it was awesome,

and it gave me
great opportunities

to, you know, pursue journalism.

I was always in charge
of my money pre-marriage.

Then, you know, obviously,
getting married,

it was like, whoa, OK,

these are numbers
I've never seen.

And I wasn't prepared
for what comes with it.

My name is Joumana Kidd.

Um, a lot of people know me

because I was once married
to Jason Kidd,

but I'm a lot more than
Jason Kidd's ex-wife.

I'm a businesswoman,
a philanthropist...

And a mom of three
amazing children.

After my divorce,

I moved to Los Angeles,

which was a really,
really big decision for me.

And it was like the final hour
before we're moving,

and I found out
I had breast cancer.

It's a lot to have to come
to a new place,

do all this stuff,
and deal with it,

you know, a scary illness.

And so I knew that
I was gonna need some help,

almost like a glorified nanny...

You know, that, um,
could also be, like,

a house manager.

So I actually reached out to
a friend who I trust very much

and asked her
if she knew anyone.

She called me back and said,
"There is this one lady

that we always, like, use
for random concierge stuff."

She has this business
called Elite Lux Life,

which is a concierge service.

- My name's Tracii.

I'm calling from
Elite Luxe Life in Los Angeles.

They could get your Airbnb.

You would get your car rental.

This house comes with yacht.

They could hook
you up with makeup artists.

They could hook you up
with tickets.

I mean, really,
whatever you need.

Her social feeds
were very elaborate

and high-end cars and jewelry.

Everyone viewed her as

this really accomplished
businesswoman

who can make anything happen.

So I kind of
expected her to come

and be way too overqualified,
want way too much money.

So I don't know if she's even
gonna be interested in this,

but she wants
to take the meeting.

So I'm like, OK, cool.

And that's how I met
Tracii Hutsona.

She bonded with me,

and she was very,
very flexible and easy.

Honestly, I felt like
I was winning.

Like, whoa.
How did this land on my lap?

I got along well with Tracii.

She was easy to talk to.

I leaned on her a lot
during my treatment.

Honestly, it would have been
so tough to do on my own,

and it was nice to have
a caring, maternal person

helping me care for my kids.

And they were happy that I
found someone that could help.

It was almost like
she was my, like,

fill-in husband or something,
you know what I mean?

Like, she was the person
that cared just as much.

- No, no, no, no, no.

It was nice having
someone have my back,

someone looking out for me.

- So with our lifestyle
management clients,

I just need to pop in
and, you know,

boss everybody around once in
a while and then pop back out.

I remember Tracii talked about

Homeless Millionaires
as if it was, like,

some type of promo
for their Elite Luxe Life.

She had explained to me
that it's so funny.

Like, you know,
we rent everything out,

including our own home,
if someone wants it.

And that's where the
"Homeless Millionaires" term

came about.

But no one watched
Homeless Millionaires.

It's kind of funny when
I look back at how little

I was interested
in her social media.

And I think that ended up
working against me,

in a way, because I probably

would have seen
a lot more red flags.

Ever since I moved
to Los Angeles,

Ron, my financial advisor,

would always kind of
periodically reach out.

Just be like, slow down.
Like, you're overspending.

You guys want a treat?

OK.

And I talked about it
in front of Tracii.

She would even, like, pitch in.

She was always
trying to find a deal

or find something
less expensive.

But one day,
Ron calls me and tells me,

OK, you're not
a credit card person.

Why do you have this
additional credit card?

And I'm like,
what are you talking about?

I just have my Amex,
and I have my visa.

And that's it.
And he was like, no.

There's a Chase Card.

So I was on the phone
with Tracii.

Do you ever hear me
talk about a Chase card?

That's crazy.
And she was just like,

you know, I think maybe
because your kid's

gonna be starting college,
don't you remember us

talking about having
a credit card?

I'm like, maybe.
I don't remember.

You know, didn't even think
anything of it,

but I just kind of figured
I'll get to the bottom of this.

And about 30 minutes later,
she was at my door.

Then she's crying.

That credit card, that was me.

She had charged
close to $100,000.

"You should call the cops
right now."

My name is Gabrielle Bluestone.

I'm a journalist,
author, and attorney,

and I broke the Tracii Hutsona
story for The New York Times.

I cover everything
ranging from celebrities

to fraud to crime.

My book is called

How Scammers,
Grifters, and Con Artists

Are Taking Over the Internet...
And Why We're Following.

And it looks at
how modern-day scammers

are able to subvert tools,

whether it's social media,
Google results,

any kind of algorithm

to hide in plain sight
and to effectuate their scams.

And as I investigated Tracii,
I realized that

this was a fascinating story
of celebrity

and fraud and social influence.

There was definitely a gulf
between what you could

discover about her online

versus what was happening
in real life.

Doing Elite Luxe Life
absolutely gave Tracii access

to the trappings of wealth,
which she certainly flaunted

both on Instagram and on
the home-produced reality show

that she hosted on YouTube.

This is one of
my favorite houses.

This is our
Hollywood Hills stunner.

Tracii and Derrell
would give tours

of the luxury homes
they were renting out,

which they would go and film at.

She emulated
that Kardashian lifestyle.

It's all of these
homes and luxury cars,

you know, Rolls-Royces
and Lamborghinis

and ridiculous kind of stuff.

And you know,

they were employees of that,

but that wasn't their life.

- We're living
like millionaires.

Right.

- We're living like
our billionaire clients.

- Right.
- But...

- But you're working.
- Yeah, we're working.

But you're always working.

- We're working, always.

The more I investigated Tracii,

the more it was clear
that she is someone

who is extraordinarily good
at impersonating

multiple people,
and that this dated back

to when she was a teenager.

They didn't RSVP
for our wedding.

She does not look
her age at all.

I'm not gonna
underestimate things.

- I kind of always
knew that my sister

would make it onto the
national stage, you know?

It might have taken
30 years for her to do it,

but I knew she would.

She's bigger than life.

My name is
Deborah Show-Lindstrom,

and I'm Tracii's older sister.

This is how Tracii is,
as I remember her as a kid.

I'm looking at the face
and trying to see a sign

of the woman she'd become.

But really, I just see a kid.

She had absolutely no fear.

If there was a way
you could describe a child

as having electricity, she did.

My sister was born
into a household

that was really chaotic.

Our dad was a lost soul,

because he was always,
always stoned.

Marijuana at first,
and then cocaine later on.

But my mom projected
this image, you know,

of perfection.

She made herself look beautiful.

Always had nice things
for herself.

- Tracii painted her
background as one of

coming from a loving family,
and she revered her mother.

Our mother became
a real estate agent.

She had a way of getting
people into houses.

She called it
creative financing.

So even if you didn't
have the money,

she'd get you into a house.

So she kind of
established a reputation

as a means-to-an-end person.

If our mother had been alive
in the age of social media,

I'm sure that she would have
put out a curated image

of having it all.

She had this vision,
and so she kind of

transmitted that to us girls,

almost like a stage mom,
in a way.

And Tracii got that message.

She had that excitement
just from early on.

She wants to be adored.

You can really see how
she's trying to be relevant.

For her, image is everything.

In 1984, maybe,
when she first came down to LA,

there wasn't a chance for her
to do this kind of thing,

when she was, like,
an 18-year-old.

But now, she sees
opportunity everywhere.

- When Tracii was
at my door and had, like,

her complete breakdown
about the credit card,

it was a weekend
when my kids were away.

She said that she was
just bringing mail in,

and there was
a preapproved card.

She was having a weak moment,

and then she just
kind of blurted it out.

"That credit card that Ron's
talking about, that was me."

She had charged
close to $100,000,

and she was mortified.

It was like
a full-on confessional.

Tracii had been working for me
about 3 and 1/2 years.

It was a lot of emotions.

And I was very confused

by the level of deceit,

because she just was
so genuine and so sweet

and was such a hard worker.

This was the last person
I actually would have thought

would be capable
of something like this.

So I was thinking, wow.

Like, you had to
have been at a low.

This is not like you.

Next thing you know,
she's on her knees

and she's crying
and begging for forgiveness.

"I just want to die.

You should call the cops
right now."

I'm trying to talk her
off the ledge

and telling her, like,
you made a big mistake.

We can figure this out.

I told her, like,
you know, don't worry.

No one has to know about this.

I did say, like,

I-I do think it's important
that you tell Derrell.

He's your husband,
and I think it's important

that you tell him.

Two days later,
she came over with Derrell.

Um, and they sat down with me.

And she said, you know, I told
Derrell what you wanted me to.

And Derrell, he was like.

He was just so shook
and so shocked.

And everyone was crying.

Like, it was, like, a really
heartfelt conversation.

I didn't think that
she needed to go to jail.

But at the same time,
I did want her to pay me back.

I came up with
the idea of, like,

would you be comfortable
if we signed something,

just so I don't feel like
a complete idiot here,

you know?

It's gonna spell out
what she did,

and it's gonna say
if there's anything else,

that I'm going straight
to the authorities.

And she had no problem
signing it and was so grateful.

I'm still thinking
I couldn't trust her anymore

at that point.

I changed all my passwords.

I changed the lock to my house.

But by the end of that week,
she came with $5,000,

and then, you know,
another couple thousand.

Honestly, I felt like
I had it under control.

I really did.

It had been several months now

of us in this deal
of her paying me back.

Then she told me
about a restaurant

that she had just opened
in San Diego

called Breakfast Bitch.

- Welcome to Breakfast Bitch.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

She's like, I'm telling you now,

we've opened a restaurant.

And I can pay you back
in increments of even, like,

$10,000.

As soon as I have it,
you'll have it.

And I was like,
that sounds great,

another business for you guys.

And she's posting
on social media

at her restaurant all the time.

- We're very excited.

We're doing something, like,
that neither of us

have experience in,
which is a little scary.

But it's gonna be fun.

- Go, go!
- Yay!

- If this is gonna pay me back,
do what you got to do.

All right.

Man.
It was just a long trip.

I won't even wake up.

Thank you.

I launched it during...
In 2019.

We made it just for women.

Um, it tastes like juice.

I do very well with women.

I actually get along with women
better than men.

My name's Chris Viso.

I create concepts.
I'm a visionary.

I can see five years
ahead of time

and create things that
really create a reaction.

I would never think of myself
as an influencer, ever.

I just create cool shit.

It's been told and said
all the time in Miami

everything I touch is gold.

The idea for me was to always
open a restaurant in Miami.

That was my goal.

I opened Bacon Bitch in 2017.

I built a lot of stuff
for other people,

and this was the
first one I actually

built from scratch, by myself.

And it worked, and everybody
told me it wasn't gonna.

From day one,

they said, you're crazy,
you can't name it this.

But when it started,
I didn't have any money.

So I had to create something
that was gonna market itself.

Probably walk in to the hostess.
Right away, hey, bitch.

How you doing?
Everything good today?

It was an idea that
I knew was progressive,

and my goal was to make
the word "bitch" OK.

And I got to tell you,
I think I did.

And I started really
making an entire brand.

Because a brand
isn't just a name.

Brand's a feeling
and brand's an experience.

And once it went
on social media,

it just tripled, quadrupled.

Then it started going viral
all the time.

You had to go to Bacon Bitch
if you went to South Beach.

So it was 2019.

I had a really good
relationship with Yelp.

And one of the girls
who worked there

called me one day,
and she's like,

"Chris, you're never
gonna believe this.

"Somebody called me today
and tried to open up a Yelp

with the name
Breakfast Bitch."

I was like,
"You're fucking with me. No way.

"Like, they called you,
out of all the people?

How big is this company?
And they called you?"

She's like, "Chris,
I don't even believe it myself.

"And then she sent me the menu,
and it was your menu,

your exact same menu."

I was like, "No way.
No way, no way, no way."

And it was the exact menu,
word for word.

Insane.

And it says "Inspired by Miami's
most iconic brunch restaurant."

I was like, wow.

And the girl's name
was Tracii Hutsona.

I went into the situation
with Tracii

almost like she didn't know
what she was doing.

Once I found out she was
really trying to do this,

I was like, well,

why didn't you just call me
and try to franchise this?

So I went back and looked, and
she had two franchise requests

a month and a half before
with her name, Tracii Hutsona.

Franchise, San Diego.

I was like, how is she
gonna deny this now?

Finally got a hold of 'em.

She just kept adamantly denying

that she tried to copy us.

So why'd you send me
two franchise requests

if you weren't trying to do this

and then decided
to do the same thing?

And then she would just try
to say, it's different.

It's this and that.
I'm like, what? How?

I didn't know the extent
of the similarities

until she opened the restaurant.

She copied everything.

I'm talking about the menu

and the merchandise
and clothing.

- All bitches are welcome.

She started saying,
"Hey, bitch" to the customers,

which was a big point for me,

because that was what made us
who we were at the beginning.

You're a bitch
and you're a bitch.

- Tracii was pretty
consistently promoting herself

on social media,
showing off the restaurant

that she called Bacon Bitch.

No, Breakfast Bitch.
See? Even I get confused.

I felt like
the customer would think,

when they went to
Breakfast Bitch,

they were in Bacon Bitch,

which was literally
the biggest part of why

she can't do what she's doing.

We called Tracii over and over,

got nowhere.

It was to the point where
we had to finally file a suit.

The more I looked
into Tracii's history,

it became clear that this
was a much bigger story...

Her whole life.

It certainly seemed like
Tracii is acting with

the sense that
"I can't get caught.

And if I do,
I won't get in trouble."

Tracii was scamming

multiple people
over multiple years.

Her first run-in with
the law was in 1994

when she was arrested
for using a bad check

to purchase a 1988 Jeep
from a dealership.

- According to my mom,
she walked into a car dealership

and pretended that she was on
the set of Jingle All the Way

and that Arnold Schwarzenegger
needed a car to drive around.

And she convinced these poor
saps into giving her a car.

After the dealership arrest,

Tracii was charged with forgery,
larceny, and grand theft,

and sentenced to three years.

My mother died in 1997,

and it was heartbreaking
that she had to die

with my sister in jail.

- By all accounts,
her prison sentence

was very tough on her family.

So when she came out,

it was kind of their chance
to start over.

So in 2004,
Tracii got a really good job

at a well-known staffing agency

and was earning
close to $100,000 a year.

She was living in
Malibu, Pacific Palisades,

spending a lot of money
on plastic surgery,

clothing,
renting these fancy houses.

She had all this talent,
and she could have been a CEO.

But I don't think that would
ever be enough for her.

As vice president
of business development,

Tracii was responsible for

finding and hiring temp workers

for her company's clients.

Approximately five months later,

she started
her first fraud scheme.

My name is Jeff Mitchell.
I'm a federal prosecutor

at the United States Attorney's
office in Los Angeles.

Tracii's fraud scheme
was continuous,

deliberate, and calculated.

She took her passport

and her husband's passport
and photoshopped them a bit.

Tracii created these
two fictitious people

and convinced this staffing
company that they were real.

She created these fake employees

and had all of their paychecks
direct deposited

into her personal bank accounts.

The investigation
into her started

in May of 2006

when her staffing company
called the police.

I mean, that kind of kicked off

a series of events
that took several years

and saw Tracii move from
company to company.

So as that first scam ended,

that's when
the second scam started.

- We were able to obtain
her bank records,

and the bank records show
that she was receiving

deposits from
several staffing companies.

And when the
second scam was discovered,

that's when she launched
a third scam.

Looking at it
from a bird's eye view,

it was just so audacious.

I mean, she had to have known

when the paychecks stopped
coming from the first company

that law enforcement
was likely to be involved,

and yet she did it again.

And when those
paychecks stopped,

she did it a third time,
using the same bank account.

It really was kind of amazing.

- Over the course of 18 months,

she stole approximately
a half a million dollars.

Tracii told me
that the FBI was after her.

And Tracii talked to me
about how innocent she was

and how she was being framed.

And I was dumbfounded.

I believed that they had
to have been wrong.

Not my friend.

In October 2008,

Tracii pleaded guilty
to one count of wire fraud,

one count of aggravated
identity theft,

and one count of tax evasion.

She was being
escorted into custody,

and she stopped,

she turned around,
and she yelled at me,

something to the extent of,
"I hope you're happy."

Over the course of 15 years,
I don't think anybody

has ever made it personal
or yelled at me,

so she sticks out
for that reason.

- Ultimately, she was sentenced
to 75 months in prison.

Over six years' imprisonment

was a significant sentence
for her.

It was longer than anything
she had received in the past,

um, and we hoped
it would deter her.

But unfortunately, it did not.

I was so shocked
by the whole thing.

I didn't communicate
with Tracii at all

while she was in prison.

I figured that was it.

I would never hear
from her again.

Then, in 2014,
I was, on the road

coming back from Palm Springs

when Tracii called me
out of the blue.

For her to call me after
seven years was surprising.

We had a very long conversation,

and she was in a halfway house
in downtown LA at that point.

And so I opened up
my arms to her,

because I figured
she had been rehabilitated.

It's a pattern
that you will see repeated

a number of times
in Tracii's life,

where people repeatedly
offer her grace.

I have been an angel
in many people's lives.

I'm not ashamed to say that,
and I thought I was her angel.

And it just occurred to
my husband, Vince, and I

that maybe she should move
into the other house,

which is on our property
as well.

We thought it was a good idea

because it would give her
a place to start over

and to rebuild.

Tracii moved into this.

This is the back side
of the 12,000-square-foot home

that Vince built.

She moved in there and,
enjoyed every minute of it,

as you can imagine.

She went from living in
a prison cell for seven years

to moving into
a 12,000-square-foot mansion

in, like, one day.

It's a big place
with painted murals,

all wood-paneled,
and it's just beautiful.

My husband and I were together
for about 17 years

before she came here
and moved in.

Vince and I had
a really rocky relationship.

When Tracii came here,
she recognized that right away.

And she would agree that
I was being disrespected.

Tracii was telling me that

Vince was a narcissistic
piece of crap,

and what
a terrible person he was,

and how I needed
to get rid of him.

And she wouldn't really tell me

exactly why she felt that way.

And at the same time,
she told me

how wonderful I was
and how special a person I am.

For nine months,
I was being built up,

loved, and respected.

But I'm not really sure what
she was doing behind my back.

She played Polly Purebred
with me.

She dressed very plainly.

On the other hand,

when she was at
the other house around Vince,

she'd be dressing
very, very sexily,

to a point where
it was embarrassing.

And I asked her,
would you please

stop dressing in this fashion?

It's not fair to Vince.

It's not fair to my son.

It's inappropriate.

Please don't do that.

I didn't know that they were
going places together.

And when I found that out,
I was appalled and hurt.

I felt that he was
choosing Tracii over me,

that Tracii was the younger
version and the trophy girl.

Her end game,
I don't know for sure.

But I feel that she wanted to

get Vince to herself

and be the proud owner of the
villa and any other property.

I just think that
she wanted something I had

and was trying to get it.

I'm angry and I'm hurt
to this day.

I still cry about it.
It was that painful.

I couldn't believe that people
would treat me that way,

people who supposedly loved me.

I'm sorry.
Should I take a break?

As I spoke
to more and more people

who knew Tracii,

a number of traits
kind of stuck out.

Tracii is extraordinarily
intelligent

in the emotional sense,

someone who is good
at understanding

what people are looking for,

who is very good
at getting you to help her

while thinking that
she's helping you.

All the while,
she's the one in control.

And there's really no real way
to tell what's what.

She doesn't think
she's gonna get in trouble.

A good example is of
what she did with Joumana.

And Joumana gave her
a second chance,

and she did worse.

It had been several months now

of us in this deal
of Tracii paying me back

the $100,000 that she put
on the credit cards.

She had already paid me
a good, like, 45,000.

It is extremely important for me

when people are genuine,
when people are transparent,

when people are humble.

And I do believe
that everyone always

deserves a second chance.

And after the confession,

I would wake up to random texts.

She said, like,
"You had no reason

to give me the level of grace
that you've given me."

And you know,
"There's so many people

"who just say they're Christian.

You really live it."

It was just kind of like
an ongoing affirmation

that I did the right thing,
allowing her to pay me back.

I hadn't talked
to anyone about it.

And I just felt like
I needed to tell someone.

And I called
my financial advisor, Ron,

and I said, remember that
Chase card from a while back?

It-it was Tracii.

That was a really
tough conversation,

because he was just
so disappointed in me

and so upset with me.

And so then Ron says to me, OK,
don't ever talk to her again.

Don't fire her.
Don't say a word to her.

He called these, like,
forensic guys

that dive into cases like this.

And I started
calling credit cards.

I called Bank of America,
and I told them

that I needed to cancel my card

and I needed to close
my checking and my savings.

And so he pulls it all up.

And he says,
OK, well, that's done.

How about the other ones?

And I'm like,
there are no other ones.

And he's like,
there are other ones.

And you actually
have limited access.

I was just overwhelmed.

Like, how is all of this
happening?

At that point, I thought,
let me call everything.

So I called
the kids' college funds.

Their college money
was no longer there.

I just became undone
at that point.

Who does that?

I think that is when
I removed her

from, like, the human category.

You can attack me,
you can steal from me,

but this was an attack
at my children.

That was probably one of
the lowest points of my life.

I told my kids.

They were just so sweet
and, like,

wanting to make sure
that I knew that,

"You didn't let us down."

And then we went
right into Quantico mode.

It was like
this huge investigation

of trying to figure out
who Tracii was.

My daughter had this app
where you could, like,

download every text
you've ever had.

Our goal was to look at
the credit card statements,

social media, and connect it
all with the texts

and see consistencies,
inconsistencies.

This went from one credit card
to a slew of things in a day.

So many bank statements,
credit card statements.

It was, like,
a lot of moving money.

It consumed us.

Starts off the conversation
telling me that

she needs to take one
of the cars in for service.

And then she texts me.

She needed to get
a security question.

What city is your mother
born in?

The last thing I'm thinking
is that this person

is trying to get information.

I really couldn't
wrap my brain around

how she was getting
all the access.

I finally learned she had
power of attorney.

And I'm like, wait, what?

I-I've never signed
a power of attorney.

So we asked for a copy of it.

So she had snuck a page

into something
that I was signing.

When she had that
power of attorney signed,

she had full acc... she was me.

There was nothing
she didn't have access to.

Tracii ended up stealing

1.5 million cash...

Including between
600,000 and 700,000

from the kids' college funds,

and then another
1.14 million in credit.

Our goal was to have this,
like, airtight case,

and to make sure that
it went straight to the DA.

Every time I found something,

I would just
send it off to them.

And I was told that we'll
have her arrested by December.

And then that didn't happen.

Then they said,
OK, probably January.

And then that didn't happen.

And, um, I really thought
that once we figured out

all the fraud stuff,
if you had that evidence,

you can go to jail.

But she still has
the restaurants.

As a matter of fact,
she ended up branching out

and opening a second one
in Phoenix.

This was all after
I'd turned her in.

She's just posting
on social media.

- The same way she stole
Joumana's identity,

I mean, Breakfast Bitch
stole Bacon Bitch's identity.

This is the MO.

So I wake up one morning,
and my phone's blowing up.

And I look, and I'm watching

Jimmy Fallon
talking about Bacon Bitch.

- The owners of the
restaurant Bacon Bitch

are suing the owners
of a San Diego restaurant

called Breakfast Bitch...

For stealing their idea.

This was the first
national attention we had.

And then the stories
were everywhere.

But not only did it hit
the late nights,

but it also hit the news.

I was kind of
already contemplating

letting her run her businesses
into the ground

because she doesn't know
what she's doing.

And I don't know how
she's affording all this.

When you open a store,

you don't make money
for the first year.

It doesn't matter
how busy you are.

So, like, I...
I-I knew something was off.

I was like, she must
be getting the money

from an illicit source.

Little did I know, she was
stealing money from Joumana.

- So when the police were
ready to arrest Tracii,

they had me call her,

try to, you know,
get her on the phone

so they can nail down
her location.

She never answered,

but she ended up sending me
this long text

the very next day,

just basically saying how,
you know, she was just...

It just rocked her to the core
to hear my voice.

"No matter how I try to pay it
forward in acts of kindness,

I feel like I'm a fraud."

One day, she's gonna woman up

and have a conversation with me
and how she's sorry.

It's just so fake.

But it was what
the police needed,

and I guess they were able
to secure her location.

When the police
were ready to arrest Tracii,

they drove by the restaurant.

And then they saw her
in the alley.

And once she saw them,
apparently, she ran on foot.

Tracii Hutsona
is accused of stealing

more than $1,000,000.

Our camera's there
as she's arrested in Phoenix,

getting out of her company car.

They arrested her,
and it was a great day.

But Tracii went to jail
and got out,

like, the next day on bail.

Hutsona denies it all.

I mean, not even house arrest?

Part of me felt...

I hate to go this route,
but, like,

the white privilege
was just next level.

I've heard stories of people
being pulled over with weed

and they're doing life.

This woman is robbing people.

We even had evidence that
she had purchased things

to open the restaurant
on my credit cards.

- Chilling on a Friday.

She's posting videos
floating in her pool,

talking about, um,
living the life,

and looks dead in the camera
and says,

"Just don't con anyone."

- Like, what the fuck
is wrong with her?

I'm not gonna
underestimate things.

- My sister is so good
at her game.

Most of you know me.

She's mastered it.

- I keep it real 100%.

So I'm just gonna tell you
the truth right now.

- "I'm gonna tell you the truth
right now."

So Joumana Kidd was
just being human.

And people who say
that they would never

get caught up in it have never
met my sister, Tracii.

Tracii has a way of getting you

to feel like she had your back,

and then she'd stick
the knife in.

I'm a savvy person.

I've been around the block
more than once.

She really can sell you.

I was her best friend.

She loved me
more than her sisters.

I was the greatest friend
she's ever had in her life.

I mean, even with
this interview,

I have a little tiny bit of me

that makes me feel like
I'm betraying Tracii.

- Fraudsters need to convince
their victims

that they're authentic
and genuine.

So having
a social media presence

or indicators of trustworthiness

is important to the fraud.

It's the perfect time
for Tracii,

if only she wasn't 54 years old.

When image is everything,
it's got to be really hard

when you see yourself
getting older.

There's only so many
filtered photographs

you can put out there.

And we finally got Tracii

to come to mediation, and...

Didn't get anywhere.

I decided to walk away
from the lawsuit

and let it get dismissed.

The last thing I wanted to do
was be throwing money at her.

She had no intention
of coming to a solution.

- It's just something that
she gets a high off of.

She's not someone who's stealing

to put food on the table
for her kids.

The US Attorney's office

calls the owner of this
Hillcrest restaurant

a "serial con artist."

She faces up to
20 years in prison

if convicted on all charges.

When I caught wind
of Tracii in trouble again,

I wanted to find out
more and more.

And I reached out to Debbie
and told her who I was

and what had happened.

And she set me up
with meeting Joumana.

- Tracii would be
devastated to know

that I've been talking
to Joumana Kidd.

- It made things come together.

The puzzle was more complete.

I am the person
who will tell you

that something good
came out of anything.

Bringing me together with, like,

Chris Viso, Deb, and Loriann
is a gift on its own.

In July 2022,

Tracii pled guilty
to one count of wire fraud.

She only pleaded to one count,

so they obviously
struck some bargain.

Cameras caught Tracii
as she was leaving the court

with her attorney,

but she declined
to comment to reporters.

Tracii finally
came to a plea deal,

and she agreed to pay
1.1 million back to me,

and 1.1 million in
forfeitures to the government.

Well, I feel like she owes me
more than 1.1 million.

And by the way, that's
a really high-profile lawyer

she has there.

So I'd love to know how
she's affording that also.

I guess I'm paying for that too.

- Even after the arrest
became public,

Tracii was pretty consistently
promoting herself

on social media,
proclaiming her innocence

and that the truth
would come out.

When I started
investigating the story,

the Breakfast Bitch account

started liking photos
on my Instagram.

You know,
there was definitely no,

you know, attempt to
kind of retreat in any way.

100%, she was
striving to be an influencer.

It's just all so fake.

She's pretending
she's something she's not.

- Tracii is a manipulative,
calculated con artist

who is absolutely addicted
to conning.

Someone like that's
capable of anything.