NOTE: This piece was first published on NYNewsPress.com.
By Richard Luthmann with Michael Volpe
The Unknown Podcast, hosted by investigative journalists Richard Luthmann and Michael Volpe, dives headfirst into the week’s biggest political and legal bombshells with their signature mix of grit, humor, and unapologetic truth.
In Episode 62, the duo tackles Trump’s Asia trade tour and the brewing tensions in Venezuela, NYC’s bizarre surge in early voting, YouTube’s censorship crusade against independent journalists, and the unraveling scandals of Jeremy Hales, Danesh Noshirvan, and Francesca Amato.
Trump’s Asia Deal, Venezuela War Drums & NYC Voting Chaos
In an explosive foreign policy rundown, Richard Luthmann hailed Donald Trump as a “deal maker president” brokering an Asian trade triumph. From Cambodia to Japan, Trump struck side-deals to dodge his own hefty tariffs, including a “$10 billion” Toyota investment that cemented Japan as the “jewel in the crown” of his Asia tour. A U.S. aircraft carrier docked in Tokyo Bay underscored the message – a not-so-subtle flex aimed at Beijing.
“They understand this is a little bit of saber rattling… and I think it’s great,” Luthmann cheered, applauding Trump for making allies feel secure against China.
Co-host Michael Volpe offered cautious praise, grading Trump “C+ on trade” until a real China deal emerges. He noted Trump’s tariff crusade bucks decades of GOP orthodoxy – not necessarily wrong, but risky if driven by a wounded ego.
Back in America’s backyard, Trump is rattling sabers at Venezuela. Volpe blasted Trump for blowing up alleged drug boats without Congress: “He keeps blowing up ships… you have to go and get a declaration of war.”
Luthmann fired back that Monroe Doctrine justice is at play – China’s tentacles in Caracas make Maduro a proxy pusher of fentanyl, so Trump is policing our hemisphere. If Venezuela’s regime doesn’t heed the warning, Luthmann warned, “Maduro’s gonna be dead.” The fiery exchange painted Trump as straddling peacemaker and warmonger, with history’s verdict still pending.
Stateside, early voting chaos in New York City’s mayoral race added another twist. A hard-left upstart (whom Luthmann dubs a communist) is front-running against two scandal-scarred veterans – ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa – in what Volpe calls a trio of “weak” candidates.
But something bizarre is happening in the five boroughs: a gray wave of senior voters flooding polling sites in record numbers. Turnout among voters 50 and older is up five- to six-fold compared to the last mayoral election, a surge Luthmann calls “really crazy.”
This unexpected glut of older voters – typically a conservative-leaning bloc – could scramble predictions. Observers are split: is it an early voting fad or a late-breaking revolt against the progressive frontrunner?
“I just can’t believe you’re gonna have this massive turnout for these three guys,” Volpe said skeptically.
Luthmann insists the numbers don’t lie – New Yorkers are mobilized like never before. If true, the NYC mayor’s race may be headed for a shocking upset amid the chaos at the polls.
The Unknown Podcast Episode 62: YouTube Ban and Hales’ Free Speech Hijinks
The show’s next segment, pointedly titled “What the Hales,” exposed YouTube star Jeremy Hales’s alleged abuse of courts and platforms to muzzle critics. Michael Volpe played a chilling voicemail from an Ohio police officer ordering him to cease contact with Hales, a YouTuber apparently siccing cops on a journalist. Volpe seethed that Hales has “no use for free speech… he will sue you frivolously… file a frivolous protective order… [and] use cops to intimidate you.”
Hales, who boasts millions of followers, allegedly wields harassment claims like a bludgeon to silence dissent. When those tactics failed on Volpe, Hales went for the digital kill: over the weekend, YouTube terminated Volpe’s entire channel of 15 years on a dubious “nudity and sexual content” violation. The supposed offense? A satirical video where Luthmann placed adult toys in frame behind a photo of one of Hales’s cronies.
There was no actual nudity – just edgy humor – yet YouTube dropped the hammer without warning. Volpe noted he’d had only one minor strike in 14 years, but since covering Hales’s antics, he’s been hit with a barrage of harassment and privacy complaints, and now this smear. The evidence suggests a coordinated mass-reporting campaign by Hales’s fans to weaponize YouTube’s vague content rules.
“I can’t believe YouTube’s algorithm can’t pick that up… sudden complaints all at once,” Volpe said, slamming the platform for falling for what he calls a censorship-by-mob scheme.
Luthmann urged fighting back with lawyering as aggressive as Hales’s stunts. His take: sue everybody – Hales and YouTube included – because the tech giant may have voided its Section 230 shield by favoring a cash-cow creator over a smaller journalist. Hales reportedly makes “a couple hundred thousand a month” for YouTube, giving the company a motive to protect him. That pecuniary relationship means YouTube stopped acting as a neutral platform and put its thumb on the scale.
“They breached their contract with you, BIGLY – you could get $10 million in damages here, Michael,” Luthmann said, eyeing a blockbuster lawsuit. Volpe, though angry, balked at turning to the courts just yet. Meanwhile, Hales’s legal harassment continues offline.
The hosts revealed Hales’ latest gambit: exploiting a friendly Ohio judge to stretch a two-year protective order against his neighbors over online chatter he doesn’t like. Hales claimed – without evidence – that his neighbors incited others to post “harassing messages” and even threats against him, so he needs the order extended.
“No competent judge should allow this,” Volpe fumed, calling the move propaganda by protective order.
Yet Judge Candy O’Connor – a ringer judge in Hales’s pocket – incredibly granted him a hearing for November 3. Luthmann and Volpe were aghast that such vague, third-hand gripes weren’t tossed outright.
It’s “taking a sledgehammer to all parts of protective order law,” Volpe snapped at the court’s indulgence.
From YouTube’s complicity to courtroom chicanery, the Hales saga paints a disturbing picture: a savvy influencer using every tool, from algorithms to injunctions, to muzzle criticism—and largely getting away with it (for now).
The Unknown Podcast Episode 62: Lies, Lawyers and $277K: Danesh’s Legal Circus
The episode’s third act dove into the legal trainwreck of Danesh Noshirvan, a notorious internet agitator whose courtroom saga has it all: lies in sworn affidavits, staggering legal bills, and an attorney caught impersonating a colleague. Luthmann and Volpe drew parallels between Danesh and Hales – both are online provocateurs with “scumbag lawyers” doing their bidding – but noted a key difference. Danesh is overtly political (a hard-left firebrand who once doxxed U.S. Supreme Court justices), and he’s facing federal judges who aren’t amused by his antics.
Case in point: Danesh filed a fresh affidavit last week, and Luthmann says “the affidavit itself is laced with lies.” The whopper? Danesh swore that his attorney, Nick Chiappetta, is working on an hourly fee – directly contradicting prior statements that their arrangement was contingency-based.
Why lie?
Money. Danesh was recently slapped with over $62k in sanctions for bad-faith litigation, and he’s pleading poverty, claiming to be of “modest means.” But court records show Chiappetta has billed an eye-popping $277,304.60 in Danesh’s case – hardly modest.
“How can someone who paid $130k to his lawyer be of modest means?” Volpe quipped, calling out the self-contradiction. Either Danesh lied about his finances, or Chiappetta is running up a tab the client can never pay.
“He keeps using that word ‘modest’ – I don’t think it means what he thinks it means,” Volpe deadpanned, borrowing a famous The Princess Bride line to mock Danesh’s dubious claims.
This nest of lies could trigger serious fallout. Over the summer, U.S. District Judge John Steele (a Clinton appointee known for zero tolerance) warned Danesh and Chiappetta that one more act of bad faith would nuke their case. Luthmann argues the falsified affidavit is the final straw – grounds for Judge Steele to dismiss Danesh’s claims entirely.
And the hits keep coming: thanks to dogged reporting by Frank Parlato of The Frank Report, Chiappetta is now embroiled in an impersonation scandal that sounds like a legal thriller. Parlato uncovered that Chiappetta created a fake email address impersonating another lawyer on the case (Patrick Trainor) to deceive opponents. Caught by a screenshot he himself had filed (d’oh!), Chiappetta confessed to creating the “PTESQ1@yahoo.com” account – calling it a “childish” prank, “nothing nefarious.”
However, Yahoo’s policy indicates that the account would have been deleted if truly unused for a year, suggesting that Chiappetta did log in recently. In other words, he lied about his lie. If investigators find he actually sent emails posing as Trainor to gain an advantage, Luthmann warns Chiappetta could face federal charges for aggravated identity theft – a felony carrying a mandatory two-year prison term.
It’s legal chaos for Danesh: his lawyer might go to jail, his case teeters on dismissal for fraud on the court, and judges have lost all patience. Unlike Hales, who benefited from magistrates and “flunky” judges, Danesh has landed before Article III judges who are hammering every falsehood.
The result?
A courtroom comeuppance years in the making.
As Luthmann put it, once you pull one string of Danesh’s lies, “it unravels the whole thing.” The Danesh saga has morphed into a full-blown legal circus – and the final act may be imminent.
The Unknown Podcast Episode 62: Francesca Amato-Banfield’s Fake Bill Scam Blows Up
The hosts turned to Francesca Amato-Banfield, a self-promoting family court reform advocate now accused of orchestrating a bogus bill scam in Washington, D.C. Last week, Luthmann and Volpe initially reported on Francesca’s suspicious activities; now journalist Julie Holburn’s new exposé has poured gas on the fire.
The allegations are stunning: Francesca hoodwinked dozens of desperate parents into believing Congress was about to pass her pet legislation. She drafted a so-called “Family Justice and Accountability Act” – despite holding no office – and lured parents to D.C. with promises of imminent hearings on this “bill.”
Some parents spent hundreds they could barely afford, thinking they’d speak under oath before lawmakers. In reality, Francesca’s big event was a glorified meetup in a public library near the Capitol, where parents gave impassioned speeches to each other – not official testimony.
“She even named it [the Act]… That’s ridiculous,” Volpe scoffed, noting Congress would never use her title even if by some miracle it got introduced.
Both hosts confronted Francesca about this charade – and her reaction was to double down with an even bigger lie. She began dropping the names of real lawmakers to lend fake legitimacy, claiming that Senator Chuck Grassley and Representative Barry Moore were sponsoring her bill. That was too much for Grassley and Moore, two respected conservatives who swiftly debunked her claims.
Holburn contacted both offices: “We did not sponsor any bill,” they confirmed flatly. In fact, Rep. Moore said his only involvement was doing a favor for a friend – reserving a conference room for someone else’s meeting – and that he’s “not involved with [Francesca’s] law” at all. He’s actually backing a completely different reform bill (the real Advocates for Family Act, H.R. 5647), highlighting just how far off the mark Francesca’s stunt was.
Luthmann and Volpe pulled no punches in condemning this shameless scam.
“This is pretty serious,” Volpe said. “She hoodwinked people… If you were down to your last $800 and spent it on a trip to D.C. ’cause you thought a bill was about to be introduced… that’s a problem.” Beyond the financial hit to trusting parents, Francesca may have inflicted lasting damage on the very cause she pretends to champion.
“The second part may be a huge problem,” Volpe warned, “Are [Grassley and Moore] now going through Congress telling everyone about the crazy lady Francesca?” By using esteemed legislators as propaganda pawns, Francesca risks poisoning the well – the next time genuine advocates seek help on family court reform, they could be met with eye-rolls thanks to her fiasco.
“No member of Congress wants to be used as propaganda,” Volpe noted, saying her scheme likely angered the very allies reformers need. Confronted with exposure, did Francesca apologize or retreat? Quite the opposite – she went on a cease-and-desist rampage.
In the past week, she has fired off at least a dozen legal threat letters to Holburn, Volpe, and Luthmann, outrageously accusing them of “defamation” for reporting the truth. Volpe chuckled at the amateurish cease-and-desist notices, describing them as boilerplate gibberish with blank lines (one even said “Date: [insert date]” because the sender had forgotten to fill it in).
“These letters are boring, Francesca. If you wanna sue someone, sue,” Volpe challenged, calling her bluff on empty threats.
He pointed out that a proper cease-and-desist specifies what statements are false and how to remedy them – Francesca’s screeds merely screamed “liar!” without a single factual rebuttal.
Luthmann’s advice for Francesca is equally blunt: stop digging.
“She’s digging herself a hole… the first step if you want to fix this is to stop digging,” he urged.
But unless Francesca comes clean, it appears she’ll keep flailing with baseless letters and fantasy bills as her credibility crumbles. In the end, her D.C. deception not only imploded but also undermined real reformers fighting for change – a self-inflicted tragedy worthy of a headline in The New York Post.
Each segment of Episode 62 delivered its own fire and brimstone. From Trump’s high-wire diplomacy and potential war drums, to a YouTuber’s crusade against journalism, a courtroom saga of lies, and a faux reformer exposed, Luthmann and Volpe left no scandal untouched. Bombast met substance in this tell-all podcast – a wild ride through headlines, current and yet to come, all dissected with a razor-sharp edge and an unapologetically sensational flair.
The Unknown Podcast’s latest outing proves that in today’s America, truth is stranger than fiction – and sometimes, it takes a bit of bombast to expose it.
