All language subtitles for The.Age.of.Influence.S01E01.720p.WEB.h264-ETHEL

ANNA:
I think the term "influencer"

is, like, so shallow.

Nobody should be calling
themselves an influencer.

[inquisitive music]

It's not up to you to decide
if you're influencing anybody.

It should be
up to others to judge

if you're really one or not.

- [whispering]
Influence.

This is an episode about
Danielle Miller, isn't it?

Where does it start?

Everything that she's
ever tried to do

is just gain attention.

- She was just like, oh, like,

Danielle Miller,
that nice girl.

But no, she wanted
to be somebody.

DILLON: And now she can craft
her story on social media.

- She has found something
she wants to be...

And that is
a famous con artist.

- I feel like she wanted
to be that bad girl.

She wanted to show her family
that she's a bad girl.

And that's what she did.

NATHANIEL: Social media has
afforded her the opportunity

to showcase what she was doing

at the peak of the alleged
criminal conduct.

- She thinks that
there's no consequences.

You can send her to jail,
she'll get out.

She can do whatever she wants.

DETECTIVE:
When we went through the car,

they found several IDs.

So I just need to know which
person are you gonna be today?

So I can write
my report correctly.

- I want a lawyer.

- This girl is someone creative
and beautiful and smart

and resourceful and artistic.

But she's also batshit.

She belongs in a fucking cage.

[upbeat dreamy music]

♪♪ ♪♪

[upbeat music]

♪♪ ♪♪

[curious music]

♪♪ ♪♪

GABRIELLE: My name is
Gabrielle Bluestone.

I am a journalist and author.

My beat is scammers and fraud.

On July 28, 2021,

I saw the DOJ
tweet out a press release

about an Instagram influencer

who had been using
pandemic funds

to fund a lavish lifestyle.

You better believe I clicked
that as fast as I could.

And it was shocking because,

you know,
I was one paragraph in,

and I realized, oh, my God,
I know this girl.

It was about Danielle Miller.

I was the Class of 2007
at Horace Mann,

and Danielle was
a year behind me.

Horace Mann is a
New York City private school

in Riverdale, New York,

and it is a place
of extreme privilege.

It is where, you know,
the kids

of kind of the titans
of New York, um,

are often sent.

Then Governor Eliot Spitzer,

uh, was a parent
at that school.

The head of Goldman Sachs
was a parent at that school.

Danielle's mother
was a former Rockette,

um, and her father was
a prominent estate attorney,

who also served
as the president

of the New York State
Bar Association.

But Horace Mann was
the kind of place

where the kids
of lawyers and doctors

were the middle class kids.

And so it is a very bizarre
kind of experience.

I had lost touch with
Danielle after high school,

but I went about getting
in contact with her.

At that point, she was
in custody in Sarasota,

and, you know,
it was a wild experience

to walk into the jail

and see a former
high school classmate.

As I started
investigating the story

and looking at her Instagram,
I realized

it's impossible to discuss
who Danielle is today

without talking about
when this incredibly

traumatic event happened
to her in middle school.

[tense music]

♪♪ ♪♪

DILLON: What comes to mind
when I hear Danielle Miller?

Immediately, Swiffer Girl.

I'm Dillon Breslin, born
and raised in New York City.

I was a freshman
in high school,

and a classmate of mine
was asking everybody,

had they heard of or seen
the Swiffer Girl videos?

There's an eighth grader at
Horace Mann who taped herself

masturbating with a Swiffer.

And it turned out he had
literal burned DVD copies.

And he was literally handing
them out like lollipops

at the doctor's office.

He just gave it to me,
and he was laughing.

And I did watch the videos
as soon as I got home.

GABRIELLE:
Danielle had made this video

for a boy that she liked.

And the boy that she liked
had sent it

to her then-best friend,

who sent it to a few people,

who sent it
to a few more people.

It was one of those moments,
like, you don't really forget,

'cause nothing had ever
gone viral like that before.

[inquisitive music]

EJ: The Hill Schools
are a trio of private schools.

It's Fieldston,
Horace Mann, and Riverdale.

I was there in Riverdale

from seventh grade
to senior year.

It was just word of mouth.

You know, some eighth grader
at Horace Mann

had privately sent a video
of herself with a Swiffer,

and it was something that
circulated for a while.

GABRIELLE: It spread across
the country through AOL.

That was kind of
the nexus of it.

And before you knew it, like,
your camp friends had seen it.

Your friends in LA
had seen it.

And then in a really
horrifying turn of events,

it did end up on file
sharing profiles like Kazaa.

She was kind of innocuous.

Then she became the most
famous high schooler

in New York after Swiffergate,

as it was referred to
at the time.

There were stories going around
that she had been

charging people for autographs,
and, you know, the school

had made her parents watch the
tape along with the principal.

And she says
none of those were true,

but what definitely
was true was,

everywhere she went,
people knew who she was.

DILLON: The guy's popularity
actually increased.

♪♪ ♪♪

For Danielle, since this was
her coming out party,

if you will,
to the rest of the city...

She was immediately outcasted.

GABRIELLE: Everyone kind of
acted like it was her fault

that that had happened to her,

you know, when in retrospect,
she's the victim.

NIKI: I'd never heard
of Swiffer Girl,

so when presented
with the idea

of interviewing Swiffer Girl,

I googled it.

♪♪ ♪♪

And I was just, like,
blown away at the story.

I couldn't believe it.

My name is Niki Takesh.

I have a podcast
with Julia Fox

called "Forbidden Fruits"
on Spotify.

At the time, Julia was,
like, the most famous person.

So we actually had
Danielle Miller as a guest.

Today's guest, I know New York
people will know her.

She's the infamous
Upper East Side Swiffer Girl.

- Just got off Zoom
with one of my

probation officers in Florida,

and she has not
listened to the podcast I did,

"Forbidden Fruits,"
with Julia Fox and Niki Takesh.

She's super excited to.

And if you haven't
listened to it yet,

then you should click below.

- Our podcast was the
first time that she ever, like,

gave kind of any sort of
confirmation

that she is the Swiffer Girl,

which I thought
was very shocking.

DANIELLE: This is also crazy
because this is literally

the first time ever
that I'm confirming or denying

that I'm Swiffer Girl
ever to the public.

NIKI: So it was kind of
the first time

that she'd publicly spoke
about what she went through.

DANIELLE: It's just crazy
because at such a young age,

like, I had to start,
like, compartmentalizing,

like, how to trust people,
and like, that--

that was just, like,
so gnarly,

and you're so young.

I mean, people were really,

really mean to me
for a long time.

- I remember
my friend was over,

and we were talking about it.

And my mom overheard, and she
was like, this is horrible.

That poor girl, like,
what a horrible thing

for someone
to make this public.

And I think she was
the only person

who voiced that opinion
at the time.

I certainly did not hear that

from other people
at high school.

I don't think
the language of consent

was really ever on the table.

- It was, like,
a very bizarre time

to kind of come of age
as a woman.

There was this really
aggressive sexuality

that kind of defined that era.

Paris Hilton was the most
famous person on the planet,

and it was weirdly acceptable
for, you know, magazines

to run upskirt photos

of Britney Spears
and Lindsay Lohan.

And that definitely
trickled down into the way

that impressionable
young teenagers

were expressing themselves
online.

- Girls like Danielle and I,
who grew up in that era,

like, that's what we saw.

Those were who we, like,
kind of idolized, in a way,

like infamy.

SECURITY GUARD:
Behind the barricades.

FAN 1:
Don't be shy.

FAN 2:
Can I get a smile, Paris?

Paris, look over this way.

- I mean, I think nowadays,
we have way more compassion

for women, and instead of,
you know, bashing them

or calling them sluts
or this or that--

which is definitely
what was going on in 2004

when she made
those Swiffer videos--

now we can see it as,
she's a victim.

And she is.

She really is
a victim of child porn.

DANIELLE: Like, even with
Paris's video or whatever,

like, she was over age.

Like, this still, like,
comes back to the point

that, like, people were just
readily passing around

child pornography
and laughing about it

and thinking it was funny
and then attacking me for it.

NIKI: You know,
she never moved schools.

She didn't move cities.

So, you know, she had
to live with this identity

as the Swiffer Girl.

DANIELLE: It's, like, pretty
wild to think that, like,

the one mistake that I made

became not just a definition
of, like,

my coming of age story,
but, like, of all of my peers'

coming of age story.

- That adolescent mischief
and sexual exploration

is nothing new.

But what was new in 2004--
very new--was the ease

in which adolescents could
capture themselves

engaged in this type
of sexual exploration

and share the proof,
if you will.

And I am not surprised
that in 2004,

the boy who passed it along

and the others
who passed it along

didn't get in trouble,
because there was

no revenge porn
or nonconsensual porn law

on the books.

DILLON: If the Swiffer Girl
videos were leaked today,

I foresee an entirely
different scenario,

where these guys
are kicked out of school,

potentially prosecuted,
thrown in jail, lives ruined,

and the roles would have been
completely reversed.

- She would have had better
mental health assistance,

and she would have been
recognized as the victim

that she was.

[upbeat music]

♪♪ ♪♪

QUENTIN:
I've never seen the video.

How do you survive?

I mean, you just have to
own it and live with it.

My name is Quentin Brown.

Um, my friends call me Esme,

and I grew up in New York.

I did not have exposure
to Danielle

until I was maybe 15.

I had a girl sleeping over
at my house,

and we were on Park Avenue,
and we were in our taxi,

and there were a group
of people on the corner,

and Danielle was there.

And the girl I was with yelled
out the window, "Swiffer Girl."

And I felt like I was in the
car with someone very cruel.

I was really lost
at that time in my life.

And at that time,
Danielle, however we met--

I think she invited me
to dinner.

And Danielle has a lot
of really amazing qualities.

And more than anything,
there was an unspoken thing

that everyone knew about her.

Um, so whether she was
or wasn't in a place to judge,

she just wasn't judgmental.

And she was pretty wild.

- Like, the shock value
was strong when I found out

that I was gonna meet her,
because she was an urban legend

at that point,
like, Swiffer Girl--

literally,
she was Swiffer Girl.

- She kind of became the girl
that if you wanted to party

on a weeknight
or go to a bar, well,

that was who you would call.

- Well, I asked her about that
on our podcast.

Did you use drugs?

DANIELLE: Well, no,
everyone thought I did drugs.

So everyone thought
I'd had sex.

Everyone thought I did drugs.

Everyone thought
I was this bad girl.

And I literally--
the way that I coped with it,

I leaned into that
really fucking hard.

- The fact that she was
confident, outgoing, happy,

and always down
to have a good time,

I have to assume that
that was survival.

- She went on to Arizona.

When she graduated
Horace Mann,

she thought she would have
some kind of anonymity,

and every time
she told someone

that she had gone
to Horace Mann,

their first question
was inevitably,

oh, my God,
do you know Swiffer Girl?

And then after that,
she moved out to Los Angeles.

QUENTIN:
LA is a shining beacon

of make yourself
whoever you wanna be.

And she chose to restart
as a con artist.

♪♪ ♪♪

DILLON: I moved
to Los Angeles in May 2013,

and Danielle Miller popped up

and wanted to reconnect.

And she targeted
the individuals who were

New York City transplants.

[soft inquisitive music]

- I was living in
Beechwood Canyon at the time,

and my life had shifted
a little bit.

GABRIELLE: Esme made headlines

in recent years...

Because she had married
one of her friends.

Tiffany Trump served
as their flower girl.

But at the time, Esme was just
a well-known socialite

from New York
who was living in LA.

QUENTIN: Danielle told me
she had been accepted

to work at the Beverly Hills
Chamber of Commerce.

And I remember thinking
that was incredible.

I had a whole new life in LA.

Like, I sort of distanced
myself here and there.

But she was
one of those people

who you could call at any time,
and she would come.

I have a rare
neurological disease

that can cause seizures,

and I remember
texting Danielle,

"Just wanna take a shower,

"but I'm nervous
I'm gonna have a seizure

and I'm gonna
crack my head open."

And she said,
"I have a lunch break.

"Why don't I come over?
You can shower.

I'll make it. I'll be there."

She provided a lot...

And she really wanted
to be accepted and loved.

[upbeat music]

♪♪ ♪♪

So I took her out.

She met a few people.

Danielle is very funny.

She's very clever.
She's very personable.

And she's definitely
a chameleon.

DILLON: She wanted
everybody's attention.

She wanted to be
everybody's friend.

QUENTIN:
One day, she approached me

about a gala that was hosted

by the Beverly Hills

Chamber of Commerce.

And she said,
"I don't know anyone here.

"I just moved here.

"I am new to this job,
and I just want them

"to think I've sold tables.

"I can buy a table.

Can you put it in your name?"

So I went, brought friends.

But, you know, it's not fun.
[chuckles]

And it's, like,
the mayor speaking.

It's not like, uh, something

for 22-year-old people
to enjoy.

You know, after,
she thanked me,

and she posted
all these pictures.

So at the time, we were seeing
each other occasionally.

There was a club
called Warwick.

We had gone out--
she, I, Dillon.

We all got way too intoxicated,
and we parted ways.

I went home,
and I went to sleep.

And I don't know how much
time passed, but I woke up,

and Danielle was standing...

[soft suspenseful music]

In front of my bed,

and she was rummaging around.

And she said that
she was looking for her keys

or had left her keys.

It was just so bizarre.

- The next day,
I was like, well,

we're in a house where
you literally

have security cameras
all around.

And so we looked.

Lo and behold,
we watched Danielle Miller

climbing into her home.

Esme is like,
why the fuck was she here?

- I can't recall if I ever
confronted her about it.

I don't even think
I wanted to.

Dillon and I just took her as,
that's Danielle.

It's harmless.

♪♪ ♪♪

And then it was

probably the first week
of October.

[phone rings]

My mother called me, screaming,

"You've stolen money again."

I had made a lot
of bad decisions, um,

due to drug abuse.

But I was so shocked, as one is

when they're accused
of something they haven't done.

She said that there had
been roughly $20,000 taken.

I can remember it
as if it were yesterday.

I remember going to Citibank.

My roommate and I walked in.

We found a teller.

I couldn't even say anything.

And my roommate said,
"Okay, this is the situation.

We need to see every check
that's been issued."

And they were all my writing,
and it's the same checks,

same checks, same checks.

And then it just came
through Danielle Miller.

And then the next one,
Danielle Miller.

And then I saw one for 4,500

to the Beverly Hills
Chamber of Commerce.

I just literally
stared in horror.

♪♪ ♪♪

I kept my checkbook
in my office.

Danielle had seen me
open that drawer.

She knew where they were.

So I went back to my mom.

And I knew we were
gonna confront her

or figure this out.

My mom said to me, "I don't
wanna call the police,

and I'm not going to."

And my mom took over
the situation for me

with Danielle's father.

And it was suggested
to my mother that basically,

the amount would be
reimbursed in full.

So my mom's job
for the next two months

became chasing Danielle
on money owed to us.

But about a year later,
it happens again.

So at this point, um,
I hired an attorney,

and we began a suit.

- On our podcast,
when I brought up

Quentin "Esme" Brown
and the check fraud,

she shut that down.

Are you able to talk about
the alleged crimes in--

I believe it was 2012 or 2013
with Quentin Brown

and writing checks
to yourself?

DANIELLE: Oh, yeah, no,
I'm not talking about that

for, like, her protection.
NIKI: Okay.

Got it.

Are you guys still friends?

DANIELLE:
No, we don't speak anymore.

QUENTIN: With Danielle,
I don't think

there's any desperation
or need for money.

So I don't know what
the gain was for her.

This is not just a theft.

This is a cycle of behavior

that should have been
prevented.

♪♪ ♪♪

MACKINZIE: All right, all
right, all right, all right.

What's up, guys?

Yo, my name is Mackinzie Dae.

I usually go by Mac,
Mack Dae of D, the Bad Doctor.

Uh, we are here
in an undisclosed location

because I'm mentioning
Danielle Miller.

[upbeat inquisitive music]

I was introduced to Danielle
Miller in a outside bar

from a friend,
and, uh, that is the start

of a very serious six months.

These little tiny moments
in your life, right,

can change everything.

- What's crazy
is that Mackinzie,

who has been through two wars,

said that
his time with Danielle

was the craziest thing
he's ever been through.

MACKINZIE:
Danielle is terrifying.

There is nothing else in this
woman, uh, other than evil.

When I first met
Danielle Miller

when I moved to LA
to start my film career...

- This is Mackinzie.

He directed today's
music video.

It's about to be fire.

- Thank you so much, bro.
- Absolutely.

MACKINZIE: You know,
I'm living in, like,

the epicenter of, like,
all these, like, YouTubers

and Instagrammers,
and, like, social media kids,

and like, Danielle Miller.

She quit her job
to start her own agency

called Epoch Advisory.

The only context that I had
to be able to figure out

if this girl was legit or not
was this article

about how she's everywhere.

Later, I found out that the
article was paid advertising.

She had paid for it.

But it was a great
fucking article.

It's like,
she knows entertainment.

She knows styling.

Plus, she knows social media.

She also had access to money

because she said
she was a trust fund kid.

And I'm like, oh, cool,
someone that can help me.

And so we partnered up.

SINGER: ♪♪ Floating by myself,
by myself ♪♪

MACKINZIE: And it was always,
like, us on the red carpet,

like, oh, who, who, who?

Dani Miller
and, uh, Mackinzie Dae.

Then these guys,
they offer me a job.

[vocalizing]

- [laughs]

MACKINZIE: It was
a three-month contract

to do the Dolan Twins'
music video.

- Let's get 40,000 thumbs ups.

- It's a four-minute song,
and it's, like,

heavily produced, time period
piece, on a low budget.

I need help.

So I decided to invite Dani
to be a co-producer.

We were doing the music video.

It was a really sick project.

But I got pulled aside
numerous times by the talent,

and they hated her.

The talent comes up to you
and goes, yo, throw me a water.

And she goes,
you can get it yourself.

She just uses every
and every instinct

to just be, like, this
New York, like, glamor girl.

Like, what do they call that,
"Gossip Girl"?

I realized that if we weren't
paying attention to her...

PERSON:
D.

MACKINZIE:
She was creating chaos.

PERSON:
Is that a wrap?

Is that a wrap?

MACKINZIE:
She will not put in the effort

to do the real shit.

I was like, hey, listen,
this is not working out.

It's not cool.

It's been, like,
the most terrible experience

I've ever had.

Everyone hates you.

I cannot talk
to this woman anymore.

It's like, I pull the plug.

And then everything
after that was batshit crazy.

She would send me devastating
text messages, like...

Hold on. Where's my phone?
I guess we'll do this.

[soft suspenseful music]

She sent me,
"I'm sorry for all the things

"that you think I've done,
for all the things

"that I've put you through.

"This is literally it for me.

"I'm way better dead,
and you're going to be

"a lot happier that way.

"It doesn't matter because
I've only caused you problems.

You said that
my parents have too."

My response--"Danielle,
you're going to continue

to hurt people along the road
unless you heal yourself."

♪♪ ♪♪

So I go to her house
to get all my shit out of it

because we were
working together.

And I'm looking for my laptop,

and I see
a little nice envelope.

And it says, you know,
Mac Dae, whatever.

And it's a brand new
debit card.

I also found out that she was
creating all these, like,

fake credit cards,
stealing from, like,

merchant banking accounts.

♪♪ ♪♪

- I honestly think
that Mackinzie was just

another victim of her fraud.

So I asked her
about the allegations.

I'm curious what
your response is to--

you know, this magazine
article states that

you basically stole
Mackinzie's identity

and took out loans
and credit cards.

DANIELLE:
100% no.

NIKI: She just kinda
denied everything.

/narrator: There's no
court documents about it.

Like, I don't know what
they're talking about at all.

NIKI: Right.
So he never pressed charges?

DANIELLE: No, because he
doesn't have anything

to press charges
against me for.

MACKINZIE:
I hate this girl, dude.

I fucking hate this girl.

Every person you ever meet,
you rob, you con.

You destroy their lives,
and they don't even know

until five months later when
you totally bankrupted them.

Are you fucking kidding me?

The whole thing is, like--

I don't even know how to wrap
this up in a sensible manner.

♪♪ ♪♪

GABRIELLE: I was surprised
by how many records came up,

especially from her time
in California.

There were a number
of eviction records.

There were these court files

by Esme Brown against her.

And you could really
see the progression

of how she kind of went
from petty crime

to criminal mastermind.

♪♪ ♪♪

EUGENE:
My name is Eugene Kagansky,

and I got Danielle Miller
arrested.

[indistinct radio chatter]

[inquisitive music]

♪♪ ♪♪

EUGENE: I'm the founder
of BodyFactory Skin Care.

It's an aesthetic bar
specializing

in aesthetic beauty.

We do Botox fillers, uh,
different facials.

In 2017,
Danielle Miller purchased

a bunch of different services,

including, uh,
laser hair removal, facials.

She did the lip
augmentation treatments,

as well as, uh,
under-eye treatment,

jaw reduction treatment.

And I can see
all the transactions,

they're coming in
through the online store.

And usually I flag those
kind of large transactions

just to be sure that
they're all legit.

And then one day,
I'm receiving emails

saying that all
of those transactions

start coming back as a fraud.

I decided to investigate
a little bit more,

so I let Danielle Miller
keep coming back to a location

to more treatments.

I don't think that she
realized that she's dealing

with a Russian Israeli
immigrant

that really care
for his business

and that I will be the one
who is gonna catch her.

So on November 25, 2017,
Danielle Miller

booked an appointment for
laser hair removal session.

I immediately called
the detectives

and told them that
she is on her way.

When she arrived,
the detective were standing

outside of the location.

And I told her that
all the transactions

that she purchased online
were declined.

She was like, oh, my God,
this has never happened.

It's not me.

- On our podcast, Danielle
denies the whole thing.

DANIELLE:
I didn't do that. [laughs]

Someone must have used
my profile at this place

and used
someone's credit card.

But I literally
didn't do that.

- So at that time,
our detective took her bag.

And they handcuffed her,
and they took her.

To be honest with you, I have
a little smile on my face

because I felt like I did
what I needed to do.

It was identity theft.

She scammed my company
in about $6,000.

I came from another country

and established myself
in the United States.

And every dollar, uh,
I--I take it very seriously.

Her father is a big lawyer
in New York.

They have money.

They give her everything,

all the best education

and the best schools
and the best clothing

and the best housing.

In my opinion, what she
really wanted is attention.

Because the money
was not the problem.

- When she was
initially arrested,

uh, her family helped
get her released.

[suspenseful music]

But once she went back
to California

and began missing court dates,

a bench warrant was issued
for her arrest.

- She ends up going to Mexico
in October 2018

to celebrate her birthday...

And upon re-entering
the country

is met with Border Patrol,
who is like,

you have a warrant out
for your arrest.

She was wearing an
Herve Leger bikini,

a Missoni wrap, and Valentino
rock-studded heels,

and put into handcuffs.

Put her on a commercial flight
in handcuffs

with a towel
wrapped around her

and sent her to New York
to press charges.

She told us on her podcast
about it.

DANIELLE: They had to, like,
tell the whole staff

of the plane
that they were armed

and they were bringing, like,
a fugitive on the plane.

And I had to get on last and
walk past every single person

on the plane,
handcuffed to myself,

in my [bleep] bathing suit,
to New York,

to 32-degree weather,

to the last row
on the fucking flight.

Literally, everyone was
staring at me, and I clearly--

NIKI:
Oh, my God.

DANIELLE: You would have
thought I could have done

this, like, fugitive strut
a million times,

'cause I just played into it,
leaned into it,

as I did with, like,
the Swiffer Girl stuff.

I was like, okay, I just
have to own this right now

because I'm gonna
fucking lose it.

- A friend of mine reached out
to me on Instagram,

and she said, have you
heard where Danielle is?

She said,
she's at Rikers Island.

GABRIELLE: You know, Danielle
is an incredibly charismatic,

uh, person who prides herself
on being able

to make friends
wherever she is.

Apparently, in, like, the
first ten minutes in the dorm,

she heard someone say her name
in kind of a crazy accent,

and that person
was Anna Delvey.

[suspenseful music]

♪♪ ♪♪

- Hi, guys.
My name is Anna Delvey.

I'm the real, live, um, Anna

from Inventing Anna.

- I have a question.

What are you wearing?
You look poor.

REPORTER 1: She's been called
the Soho Grifter.

REPORTER 2: Gray's Anatomy
creator Shonda Rhimes

behind an upcoming project
for Netflix

based on this
New York Magazine article.

NIKI: Honestly, Anna Delvey,
the fake German heiress,

was, like, part of the reason
I started a podcast.

I'm obviously talking
about my dear sis,

Anna [bleep] Delvey.

I was so fascinated by her.

And things that she did
were just so unbelievable.

- And seeing the reaction
I've been getting,

um, changed my perspective
about the impact my story had.

People reacted
like Anna allegedly

stole all this money.

Then she got a Netflix deal,
and she became famous.

That's obviously
a very wrong message to send.

♪♪ ♪♪

I would hate for it to, like,
encourage even one person

to pursue any kind
of illegal activity

just because they look at me

and they see that
I made something out of it.

NIKI: Danielle didn't know who
Anna Delvey was at the time.

But they ended up
becoming jail buddies,

according to Danielle.

DANIELLE: She, like,
heard my voice or something,

and she was like, come here.
I have this bed.

You can have this bed.
And it was a dummy bed.

NIKI: She's like, I could tell
you're a rich girl.

JULIA:
You had money.

Yeah, she could
smell the money.

[laughter]

DANIELLE: So we quickly
became friends--

like, really good friends.

- This is an Upper
East Side girl

who has grown up
knowing what Rikers was,

just a few miles from Rikers,
suddenly locked inside of it.

And each time that
Danielle has found herself

in a negative situation,

she doubles down on it.

QUENTIN:
I know how Rikers works.

I know it's not, like,
a long-term prison.

And my first thought was,
she would use it to learn.

She's never not used
an opportunity to learn.

- It sounds to me like being
a scammer was something

she, like, aspired to be

or something
that she takes pride in.

[ferry horn blares]

GABRIELLE: She was kept
at Rikers through April,

when she eventually
pleaded guilty.

That was her first
criminal conviction.

That was her first time
behind bars.

And I think it really
kind of set the stage

for what was to come.

She kept launching
more and more scams,

all while the net
was closing in on her.

♪♪ ♪♪

[somber music]

♪♪ ♪♪

GABRIELLE:
So according to Danielle,

as the pandemic started,

she fled to Miami.

[upbeat music]

♪♪ ♪♪

And once she was there,
she says that Ciera Blas,

who was in Rikers with her,

decided to come join her.

EJ: You look at her Instagram,
and it's all these images

of, like,
luxury and sumptuousness

and this high-end lifestyle.

It was like a testament to her
capacity to self-reinvent.

GABRIELLE: She spent her time
living the life

of a very wealthy
Instagram influencer.

She took pictures and videos
with a Rolex on one hand,

driving a Mercedes.

She would film herself
shopping at Bal Harbor,

picking up designer goods
and Fendi purses, Gucci shoes.

Ciera and Danielle
basically spent

about two months together
in Florida.

And then on May 7th,
Ciera and Danielle

got in a rented Jaguar,

and they drove
from Miami to Sarasota.

When they went to the bank
and allegedly

attempted to remove $8,000...

[suspenseful music]

Something about their approach
made the teller suspicious.

At which point,
the bank contacted the police.

♪♪ ♪♪

DANIELLE:
Am I getting arrested?

DETECTIVE: Well, you're not
technically in cuffs yet,

but you're not free to go,
because you're detained.

- Okay.
DETECTIVE: Does that make sense?

- Sort of.
I don't really understand.

DETECTIVE: I'm detaining you

to investigate this case
of a fraud...

DANIELLE: What is the
case about?

DETECTIVE: That occurred at a
bank, which I told you earlier.

GABRIELLE: The police
collected at least three IDs

with Danielle's photo
and other, uh,

people's names underneath.

DETECTIVE: You presented
the name of Erika Biers.

GABRIELLE:
Mm-hmm.

DETECTIVE:
That is the ID, correct,

that you showed us earlier
at the bank?

Like, this is what
you provided them?

- Yes.
DETECTIVE: Okay.

So I went through the car.

I found several IDs.

One is the name
of Danielle Miller,

which I think,
that's your correct ID.

The other one is [bleep].

- What are those--
DETECTIVE: [bleep]

- Are those pictures of me?

DETECTIVE: Of course, yeah,
absolutely, and [bleep].

So I just need to know,

which person are you gonna
be today?

So I can write
my report correctly.

- I want a lawyer.

- They also found $25,000
in cash in the car,

as well as six cell phones.

CIERA: We fucking
sitting there in the car,

fucking go into the bank,
and you're fucking taking

our money from your account?

And you fucking arrest us?
DANIELLE: Like, what the fuck?

How am I going to jail
for taking out money--

for trying to take money
from my own account?

I don't get it.

Can't they tell
exactly who I am

from my fucking fingerprint,

that I'm fucking Erika?
[laughs]

GABRIELLE:
The case grew exponentially

once police were able to look

through the six cell phones

that they had confiscated
from Danielle and Ciera.

Their forensic investigation
revealed that

there were dozens of other
victims and potential victims

whose identity information was
being stored in these phones.

And I believe
there's currently

more than 30, uh, individuals

who are part of a larger case
that's still pending

against Danielle and Ciera.

- My head is killing me.

- I can't hear you.

- My head hurts.

- I know. And I'm hungry.

I can't wait to get out
of here and eat.

Ugh.

GABRIELLE: Danielle was
initially charged

with seven counts of fraud,

while Ciera was
just one charge

related to a fraudulent ID.

CIERA:
Don't cry.

DANIELLE: Okay.
CIERA: I got you.

DANIELLE:
You too.

I love you.

You heard me?
CIERA: Huh?

DANIELLE:
I said I love you.

- I love you too.

♪♪ ♪♪

GABRIELLE: They pleaded not
guilty and then bailed out.

And actually,
no one's really been

face-to-face with Ciera since.

According to court records,
she is currently on the run.

[upbeat music]

While she was out on bail,
Danielle spent

a little bit of time
laying low.

But by August-September,
she had begun to live that

kind of conspicuous
consumption lifestyle again.

- There was an Instagram post
sent to me with the caption,

"She's back."

And I laughed.

It's like she's mocking us.

Like, it's wild.

DILLON: To me, there's two
types of scammers, right?

There are scammers that
want to lurk in the shadows

because they're doing
bad things,

and they know they're
doing bad things.

The other type of scammer
is somebody

who wants to be seen and
famous and in front of you.

REPORTER 1: Infamous socialite
grifter Anna Delvey is back--

REPORTER 2:
Out on the town,

back on the streets
of New York City.

[suspenseful music]

ANNA: After serving my time
for my criminal conviction,

I got on social media
pretty much, like, two,

three hours after my release.

♪♪ ♪♪

On Instagram, I had, like,

a bit over one million
followers.

NIKI:
I see so many similarities

between Anna and Danielle.

Danielle really
wanted to, like,

you know,
associate with Anna Delvey.

ANNA: Danielle Miller
DMed me on Instagram.

I would not say
she was my best friend, um,

but, um, she was, like,
mentioning me in stories.

DANIELLE: We talked almost,
like, every day,

and then all of the sudden,
she's gone,

and I was like, wait,
what the fuck happened?

ANNA: I went to check in
with ICE officials,

and they decided to detain me.

So my freedom
was a very short-lived.

- Do I think Danielle
thinks she's an influencer?

I think she is an influencer.

There's no other way around it.

I mean, Anna Delvey taught her

what she knows, right,
in Rikers?

ANNA:
So many people feel like,

oh, any attention
is better than none,

like, even if it's negative.

It's easy to look back
and say, oh, well,

it all worked out great.

But you just never know
what's going to happen to you.

GABRIELLE: She basically
was just on social media,

living this
high-roller lifestyle

with no apparent job,
no apparent source of money.

Her family had cut her off.

- Her legal status at the time
was that she was, like,

I guess out on bail,
pending trial.

I asked her, I'm like,
I don't understand how you

could afford this lifestyle.

I know a lot of people that
own production companies

and produce music videos
in LA, and none of them

can afford a Birkin
and a Rolls Royce

and like,
half the things that you own.

DANIELLE:
I also have rich boyfriends.

NIKI:
Um--right, right.

I'm sure there is
some truth to that,

but I wouldn't be surprised

if she got the money
fraudulently somehow.

I'd seen the screenshots,
you know,

just her, like,
living lavishly,

you know, showing off
her outfits and her BBL and...

- A BBL is a
Brazilian butt lift.

DANIELLE: You guys,
look at my ass. [laughs]

NIKI: Very popular,
trending procedure these days.

They just liposuction fat
from other parts of your body

and re-injects it
into your butt.

So it's kind of a great way to
lose weight and get a fat ass.

After you get a BBL,
you're supposed

to wear this garment--

I think it's called a faja--

and it's kind of like
this compression garment

that kind of sucks in
all the fat and blood and stuff

that's been transferred.

And they're supposed to
wear them 24/7 for a month.

- People on pre-trial release
are usually

relatively well behaved.

But for some, their nature is
simply to push the boundaries.

It seems clear that Danielle
Miller had a lot of cash

after she had been arrested.

She's putting that money to use
in the most extravagant way

and telling the world about it.

When you're a
criminal defendant,

sometimes there is such a thing
as bad publicity.

[waves crashing]

[upbeat music]

♪♪ ♪♪

GABRIELLE: So Danielle was in
her luxury Miami apartment,

recovering from her BBL,

when she got a call
from the front desk

of her apartment building,

telling her that she needed
to come downstairs

to pick up a package.

When she opened the door...

[music winds down]

OFFICER:
Police!

[suspenseful music]

GABRIELLE: She realized
that it was a ruse.

Federal agents poured
out of the hallway...

Arrested her for fraud...

And began searching
her apartment.

Because of the nature
of the surgery,

when they transferred her
to prison,

she was unable to kind of sit
directly down.

So the way she
described it to me was,

she had to be transported
in a starfish position.

And she was taken into
custody on federal charges.

[siren wailing]
[indistinct radio chatter]

♪♪ ♪♪

NATHANIEL: I'm not sure
that we'll know why

Danielle Miller
did what she did

or thinks the way she thinks.

But we do know that
until she stops,

it's just gonna be
a long trail of victims.

- My name is Nathaniel Mendell,

and I was the acting
U.S. attorney

when the
District of Massachusetts

brought an indictment
against Danielle Miller.

[suspenseful music]

♪♪ ♪♪

Very early in the pandemic,

the government started pushing
out huge amounts of relief

to small businesses
and individuals.

And almost as soon as
the money started going out,

federal investigators
were investigating fraud

related to those benefits.

- The American people deserve
to know that their tax dollars

are being spent as intended.

NATHANIEL: There were a number
of complaints that came

to our office regarding fraud
related to pandemic assistance.

The Abington
Police Department,

just outside of Boston,

had a couple of victims who
were particularly compelling.

The government started
an initial investigation.

We were able to determine
that the IP address linked

to the first victim
had been used also

to access 27 other identities

just in the Massachusetts
RMV system.

We worked back from that
to see other activity,

and that led us
to Danielle Miller.

GABRIELLE:
She was able to effectuate

a very sophisticated scheme

that involved fake passports

and impersonating
multiple people.

- Danielle Miller would use
someone's stolen identity

to go into the My RMV site,
change information there,

use that information
to apply for a bank account,

and then use that
bank account information

to apply for a loan,

and received
hundreds of thousands

of dollars in loans
just days later.

♪♪ ♪♪

Social media has afforded her
the opportunity

to showcase just exactly
what she was doing,

the peak of the alleged
criminal conduct...

When most of the world was
just trying to stay safe.

It's interesting--
when I look at these posts,

I put myself
in the mind of the victims,

right, who are having
loans taken out

almost as this is happening

for hundreds of thousands
of dollars in their name,

being spent in this way.

It's really a serious, serious
injury that they suffered

and an injustice.

GABRIELLE:
This is a girl whose identity

was stolen from her
at such a young age

and who has now grown up
to become

an identity thief herself.

NIKI:
So the federal government

is charging Danielle

with the mountain of crimes

that she is alleged
to be a part of.

But she ultimately did
get out.

But she was on house arrest,
pending trial.

It's funny 'cause
she actually DMed me.

I posted a picture
of my nails, and I--

that I hadn't gotten done
in over a month.

And she responded, being like,
oh, my God, same.

I didn't respond. I hearted it.

GABRIELLE: I think I spent
about 20 hours talking to her.

Some of that time was
while she was still

in prison in Florida,
and then some of it

was while she was out
on house arrest in New York,

under an ankle
monitoring bracelet.

Danielle said,

I moreso consider myself

a con artist than anything.

She was so open and so
willing to talk about things

that, like, multiple times,
I reminded her,

you know, we're on the record.

Everything you're saying
I can use.

And it didn't seem
to bother her at the time.

- She told us on our podcast
that she...

kind of felt betrayed
by the article.

DANIELLE: I mean, I'm innocent
until proven guilty.

And I have not guilty plea
on all of my cases.

- But I don't think
she's concerned--

or she didn't come off
that way, at least--

about her pending court cases.

You know,
she's facing a lot of time,

and she's facing
some very serious allegations,

but I think that's part
of how her brain works.

It's like she is just maybe
somewhat in denial

about the whole thing
and maybe just

kind of pretending
it's not happening.

REPORTER: Danielle,
is there anything you wanna say

on your side?
- No comment.

[suspenseful music]

♪♪ ♪♪

JUDGE: It's an open plea for
the court to decide sentence

to one count of fraudulent use

of personal identification
information.

GABRIELLE: The first case
that proceeded against her

was just one count related
to a fraudulent ID.

And she hammered out a deal

in which she pleaded
nolo contendere,

which is essentially
pleading guilty

without, um, admitting guilt.

She was very confident that she
was going to get no jail time.

DANIELLE:
Good afternoon, Your Honor.

Um, when I was 13 years old,

I went through
a traumatic experience

as a victim
of child pornography

that scarred me
for the rest of my life.

Um, it left a mark
on my psyche,

and I never really confronted
or dealt with that

and the pain it caused,

and it inevitably
led me down a path

of regrettable decisions.

One of those regrets...

- Should she be punished
for her alleged actions?

Yes.

Should we try
to understand them

within the framework
of the events

that happened in her life?
Also yes.

She was like the patient zero
of revenge porn,

and she had to deal
with the aftermath of that

the rest of her life.

DANIELLE: Um, I just wanna say
I'm truly sorry

for what I did in this case,
and I apologize.

And I would never let this
happen ever, ever, ever again.

- Well, how do you say this
when it's your second time

or maybe third?

Here we are again.

DANIELLE: I know.
It doesn't look good.

- I think
the appropriate sentence is,

I am going to
adjudicate you guilty.

I'm gonna sentence you
to five years

in the Florida State Prison.

♪♪ ♪♪

GABRIELLE: The judge
sentenced her to the maximum

on that charge,
which was, I think,

surprising not only
to Danielle,

but to people
watching the case.

DANIELLE: I just need to, like,
pack up my apartment and stuff.

JUDGE: No, you're gonna go into
custody today, Ms. Miller.

And here's the reason why.

I mean, today was
the sentencing day.

This was something that
should have been contemplated.

[Danielle sobs]

- There's currently, like,
a larger case

that's still pending
against Danielle

and the federal case that's
currently pending against her.

NATHANIEL: Her lawyer asked
for the court to make time

for her to come in
and plead guilty.

In the federal case, it will
be very interesting to see

what sentence the court imposes

and also what charges Danielle
Miller pleads guilty to.

If she pleads guilty
to aggravated identity theft,

she must serve at least
two years in prison.

If she pleads
only to the wire fraud,

however, the court will be free
to sentence her to anything

from 0 to 20 years in prison.

♪♪ ♪♪

QUENTIN: I don't know what
would have prevented

what has happened
with Danielle.

Social media itself has
allowed for this to snowball.

As someone who is a survivor
of sexual trauma,

it's incredibly tragic.

But I think that there were
a lot of places along the way

to stop and realign
and perhaps prevent her

from what, essentially,
will have

taken away her own freedom.

[pensive music]

EJ:
In the age of the influencer,

there is this narrative
of being self-made.

DANIELLE:
I don't wanna be pretty.

I wanna be iconic.

- Like, with a little gumption
and, like, a phone,

and you can, like,
totally reinvent yourself.

And we celebrate that
as if that's a good thing.

NIKI: I really think that she
was enjoying the attention,

you know, whether it was
negative or positive.

She was just kind of
capitalizing off her moment,

the same way Anna Delvey was.

ANNA: Here is one of my
more famous sketches.

It's called
"Trial Is the New Sex Tape,"

and it's a play on what sex
tapes used to be,

like, 10, 20 years ago.

Pretty much how
a negative experience

can be turned
into something positive.

[suspenseful music]

REPORTER:
Anna's first solo art show

with the tongue-in-cheek title
"Allegedly" is live--

20 pieces
all sketched and colored

while in ICE custody.

- We sold a couple
thousand dollars of prints

in the first three minutes.

EJ: She had an art show
that I attended,

and it was a very
surreal experience.

There was a very, like,
tongue-in-cheek "yes, queen,

slay, girlboss" vibe
at this event

that was extremely
disconcerting.

- Anna, we love you so much.

The show looks amazing.

- I think that the veneration
of the "female con artist"

is, like, really silly.

I don't think that speaks well
of our culture.

Like, this is a woman
who is a convicted criminal.

ANNA: I feel like
for better or for worse,

everybody can't wait to see
what I'm going to do next.

DANIELLE: At heart, like,
I'm a researcher, and like,

things are interesting to me,
and I, like, get really

in-depth of, like,
certain topics.

- I'm still trying
to figure out what's possible,

but I'm working on a podcast

where I will have
different guests.

DANIELLE: I'm working
on a limited series.

I'm working on, um, a podcast.

I'm working on a doc.

- At the end of the day, it's
like they just kind of, like,

need some sort of attention
to cope or to feel something,

and it's really sad.

What is next for Danielle?

I mean, probably a lot
of jail time.

DANIELLE:
I'm hopeful about my cases.

I mean, the way
that I've literally

gotten through every single
trauma that's happened to me

is just by always having
a positive outlook in it.

And that made people even
at Rikers really upset

because I was just
always so, like, happy.

It's like how I've also
gotten through everything,

except for, apparently,
Swiffer Girl.

Swiffer Girl
is never ending ever.

NIKI:
Right, right, yeah.

JULIA: Yeah.
What a fucking story, babe.

[door slams]

♪♪ ♪♪