S3 E3: “With Friends Like These …”

Dirty Money Moves: Women in White Collar Crime

It’s September 2008 and Tracii Hutsona has been out on bond for the last 10 months. By this time, the original indictment has been superseded twice, adding numerous charges for the schemes she pulled at several staffing agencies. Tracii has also been evicted from her $1.5 million Orange County, CA home for failing to pay over $30,000 in rent, but Jacqueline Ellman didn’t know any of this. If she had, she probably would’ve never become close friends with Tracii. Now, Jacqueline was holding the bill for a credit card in her name that she’d never seen before, and she had a sneaking suspicion Tracii had something to do with it. She sent Tracii a text message asking her about it. Tracii called back and tearfully admitted to the fraud, telling Jacqueline that she had a problem, but she was trying to be better. In reality, Tracii had opened not one, but TWO cards in Jacqueline's name, and used her existing cards without permission. She also attempted to rent an apartment in her so-called friend’s name. Unbelievably, Jacqueline wasn’t even the only “friend” that Tracii was taking advantage of during this time.

In this week’s episode we’ll explore how, even though Tracii touted herself as an advocate for women and social justice, it was women whom she chose to victimize, women who were close friends, whom she exploited at seemingly every turn. We’ll also follow Tracii through another round of federal charges, sentencing, and prison time. Will she emerge a changed and rehabilitated woman? Or, will she continue her pattern of manipulating anyone who dared offer her a little bit of grace?

Follow host, Jami Rice, @JamiOnAir on Instagram and TikTok to keep up with this case, and others.

Check out Jami’s other true crime podcast, MURDERISH.

Dirty Money Moves is a collaboration between MURDERISH and Cloud10 Media.

Executive Producers are: Jami Rice and Sim Sarna

Research and Writing by: Gina Mazzolini

If you enjoy Dirty Money Moves, please leave the podcast a 5-star rating and review in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any podcast player.

Sources are available at MURDERISH.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices