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PRETEND

2208: State of Corruption: Ohio part 2

PRETEND

Javier Leiva

True Crime, Society & Culture, Technology

4.72.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 September 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Tyler Fehrman went undercover for the FBI after his mentor, Ohio GOP chair Matt Borges, offered him a $15,000 check. His recordings helped uncover a $63 million bribery scheme that brought down House Speaker Larry Householder. This is Part Two of State of Corruption from Pretend. Credits: Portions of this episode reference material from the HBO documentary Dark Money Games.Written and Produced by: Javier Leiva & Mackenzie AmesEditor: Puneeth Shenoy with Podcast Pundits Listening on Spotify? Scroll down and leave a comment on this episode. Tell me what corruption stories are happening in your state. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

True Story Media

0:05.4

Hello.

0:10.6

Hey, you got a minute?

0:12.2

Yeah, I'm going to.

0:13.1

I'm going to.

0:14.0

Watching the recording back in the documentary was the first time I'd really

0:18.5

watched the whole thing.

0:20.5

Got a question for you. I know when we sat down the other day and talked,

0:24.7

so I'm wondering if we can revisit what we discussed.

0:28.8

Because I have so. I have to get taken care of.

0:32.4

Of course we can.

0:33.9

Obviously, I want to help you. Obviously, you know that you can trust me.

0:40.1

You're listening to Tyler Furman on the phone. It's the meeting that changed everything.

0:46.0

He remembers the fear in his voice, the weight of what was being asked, and how quickly

0:51.5

that simple conversation turned into something much darker.

0:56.6

Seeing it again for the first time, I had a very visceral emotional reaction because I cannot

1:02.5

express to you the feeling of terror I had in person. And I'd never watching yourself in that

1:09.2

situation again, I brought all those feelings back.

1:12.4

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to go undercover?

1:16.6

Not as a cop or a federal agent, just as an ordinary person.

1:21.5

That's a position that Tyler Furman found himself in. Only there were no code names, no Hollywood gadgets, just a wire, and a lot of

1:30.0

fear. He was about to sit down with his mentor, Matt Borges, the former chair of the Ohio

...

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