if you watch Leverage and wonder about the real cases behind the fictionalised (but sadly very much reality-inspired) marks on the show, i highly recommend listening to the podcast Swindled. it explores white collar crimes and corruption, with many of the cases and people discussed being real life examples of the cases and marks on Leverage. some of them are cases that directly inspired Leverage marks & episodes. i’d especially recommend episode 10: The Judges (Kids for Cash), which explains the true story of the scheme portrayed in The Jailhouse Job episode of Leverage. the difference between Leverage and real life? in Leverage, the people being unjustly imprisoned so that corrupt judges could get money from private prisons were adults. in real life, they were children. it’s an extremely upsetting case but an important one to hear, imo.
i like the extra details and context you can get from the podcast. if you get a bit lost sometimes when hearing about the financial details of these situations, the explanations in the podcast really helped me understand what was going on. i also feel like it’s taught me more about how to spot scams and corporate wrongdoings.














