Resounding VICTORY for Justin Baldoni, Inside Weinstein’s Retrial, and Lynette Hooker's Disappearance, with Ashleigh Banfield

longtime co-host and friend Mark Erigos, Criminal Defense Attorney to the Stars. We're going to get into the Harvey Weinstein rape trial going on in New York right now, and later journalist co-host of the Drop Dead Series podcast, our friend Ashley Banfield will join us to discuss the latest on the investigation into the disappearance of Lynette Hooker. This is a real juicy one. She's the Michigan mom who allegedly fell overboard, allegedly allegedly

in the Bahamas, but first Mark, I want to discuss the way that it happened last week.

First, can we talk once I, you know, I hate it when people fall overboard. I, you

“know, it's a, by the way, don't I, I think one of the cases, before we talk about”

Blake Live or anything else, you have one of the original fellow overboard cases. That was why that was your claim to fame. I do indeed, and this is, I did a little dive into this this morning, and it is, it is, the parallels between this and the Tom and Jackie Hawks murder are just rich. So, well, talk about Blake Lively in the interim. You got to take a look at my Rex the George case, which was also a boat case, and we'll talk about that. But anyway,

Blake Lively, this one, we, I think we had the last statement by Brian Friedman prior to the settlement or the last interview, which is last week in episode one, right? Yeah, and just so everybody knows, I think, you know, Brian was about to go, he's Mark's buddy,

“he's about to stand up in front of a federal judge. So, Mark and I were very easy with”

him and the questions, and we didn't want to push, and, you know, as soon as we were done with the interview, we were kind of chatting with him, and he just, he just came alive with some, some really interesting stuff that we didn't want to air because we didn't want him to, to, to, to, especially in rage under the federal judge. Yeah, right. By the way, Southern District, a year ago this week, I was tapped, I told this story before.

I was tapped on the shoulder in a courtroom, in a Southern District courtroom, and Mark Agniflow said, "Come with me." And I said, "What do you, I'm in the audience." And he says, "The judge wants to see you in chambers." And it was the Ditty trial. And I go into chambers, and the judge, what I class act, a judge's subromanian, but says to me, at the time, Mr.

Gargas, "I've listened to your podcast, the government has filed a motion to basically

have me address the fact that you have called them on your podcast with RV11, not with you, Matt. I don't want to drag you into this." But that you called the government a six pack of white women. Now, and he found that to be outrageous. And I said, "Judged, you know, I've known Sean, coms for 20 years. He's a black, iconic billionaire." And I just thought it's a bad look to have the government prosecute him under the Man Act, which was formally

the white slavery act, and then have a six pack of white women. Now, when I said six pack white women, those who aren't in California may take that differently, because six pack outside of California is like your like Joe's six pack or it's a drug drug. We know that a six pack is a lineup, a photo lineup. But most people out here, this is where there's a cultural disconnect. That in a six pack lineup, photo lineup, it's been ruled that if you have

unduly suggestive kind of ethnicity or coloring or photographs, that that could be a problem.

“So anyway, the excoriated me told me I was, I needed to kind of button it up. And I think without”

realizing it, I said, as long as you subscribe, judge, I'm okay with it. So yeah, well, that's something that people need to be aware of just in federal court, even for us. It is a very

intimidating place. There's a saying that nothing on earth is more powerful than God, except

perhaps a federal judge. And that's kind of the way some of them act. So poor, poor Brian, he's talking to us, and I just didn't want to get the guy in trouble. But he, man, you asked him a question, Mark, very stupid. I thought about settlement. And he was, he was pretty cagey as his honor referred you to ADR or ordered mediation or settlement discussions.

I can speak to that. And that's the only orders that I'm aware of.

Well, you know, I speaking of fathers, my father used to say, you know, these cases never settle

sometimes until they see the whites of the jurors' eyes. So we'll see. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it is not, it's not the truth. What do you think happened in the settlement? I'll tell you, and by the way, I did not pick up his call. He just called. I was going to actually hold it up, but I didn't want to get him in trouble. So, and I did not take it because I didn't want him to ever have somebody coming out in that he told me. I, I can tell you with great, I've seen this happen before,

and I mentioned it last week. What inevitably happens whenever you've got big firm lawyers

who are on the brink of a trial is not only do they blink, but they're clawing in the blink.

They start to get the attorney's fees bill. There are, you know, the most of these lawyers have, you know, the great, they're great kind of studious T14 lawyers who have great resumes and clerk for federal judges, but the number of trials they've actually done, you could count on one hand. In fact, I've had clients that I've said, well, I've retried their case once twice, three times, and I've said, you've now got more trial experience than a, the head of litigation at x, y, and z

law firm. So, you have that working for you. You've got the fact that you did that lively, just had her case gutted by Judge Lyman, and I'm sure they went to a private mediation, and I'm sure

“what happened was is they said, you know, walk away now and kind of cut your losses, and that's what”

she did. Then you saw what happened today because Brian came out and declared victory and basically

implied no money changed hands even though he can't, I'm sure there's a, you know, confidentiality. They came out and they filed something in the docket, so they could get the protection, and they said, attorney's fees are still in the mix or something like that. Well, that was a motion, based on California code section that's been before Judge Lyman since September of last year. Talk about really going out of your way to try to declare victory two days later or three days later.

It was really kind of pathetic. But, you know, we see the spin machine, you know, picking up again, and that that appearance at the, at the Met Gala, right? Like that whole thing, just just straight out of the playbook, right? And they call it for the, for the viewer, they call it once you see the whites of the eyes of the jury, like it's like like bunker hell, and that happens all the time. And there she is, it's funny because everybody I've talked about this, I thought it was an odd

timing for her to be there, but that's just me. But apparently the dress itself didn't go over. That was kind of controversial and some of the, some of the commentary, but let me run something by you here. Yes, Mark. I found an interview with Brian. We, we went general on him, but this is

“really interesting. Remember those text messages that were leaked to the New York Times that essentially”

want to be a hit piece on Justin Baldoni that made him look pretty bad. Apparently the way they got those was, and again, this is the internet. So I don't know, it's a magical place so you can use your computer to find an information. I have no idea if this is true or not, but apparently what with the allegation is is that Blake Lively and her crew, proved together a essentially a fictitious corporation called Vansan. And she got win from some publicist, Jason or Justin Baldoni's

publicist had these text messages. And when she left her agency, she left her phone and these are private communications. She left her phone with the agency and apparently somebody at the agency called the Lively team and said, I've got these really bad text messages, but they didn't want to just release them. So they set up this corporation that sued and subpoenaed these records.

“And that's how they got them. And Brian called a sham litigation. And if that's true, Mark,”

I mean, and that has got to be unethical as hell, right? Like usually it's obviously you're trying to for those who may not understand, they all kinds of immunities, privileges, exists, litigation privileges, one, where you can wrap yourself up, you drop anything into a lawsuit, and then it's it's very difficult to get over the hurdle of Lively Slander. And I've seen that, I can't tell you

that's you drop all of this nonsense into a lawsuit without any kind of belief that it's actually

“true into your point. How is that ethical? Yeah. And look, I'm not saying her, the legal team that was”

involved in the case against Brian was, did that? I have no idea. We have no idea. We're talking just hypothetically what happens when somebody drops a bunch of stuff. You know, we saw it last

week in the case with JP Morgan, where a guy could say stuff in a lawsuit that you could never say

just in an interview, for instance. I mean, I remember out of the juicy small-let litigation that the two gentlemen ended up suing myself and my partner because, and they did it where they made all kinds of species allegations in a lawsuit. And then soon, I mean, that ended up going nowhere, but it's the same kind of a, it's the same kind of playbook that happens. Yeah, if I was a federal judge, man, I would, I would look very unkindly on that. If it's true, if it's true, I had one mark where

it was a rape case. And there's a bunch of victims and one of those things and the defense side,

“got one of these victims that I think they paid her out. I don't know for sure. I'll leave the names”

of the case out, but they got this fake friggin lawsuit going and they started doing depositions to circumvent all the rape shield protections of of the victims and really muddied the waters. And I had a week state judge guy, I've known for years, really, really liked him. I have liked him, still like him. But just didn't have the spine to shut that nonsense down. And I, I don't think this is over yet. I would imagine that if it's true, there's enough media out there

that maybe this state bar of New York will take an interest in that. And I don't know. We'll see. But you know one of the things that I find really fascinating about this case mark is that even grown up in LA, I've got, like, I think all of us have that. We see the glamour, like the Met Gallauder,

“right? We see the dresses and the limos and all this money and they're the beauty and the fame”

and the magazines. And then you start looking at a case like this and you start reading these text messages and, you know, or any other case involving celebrities who actually sort of get behind

the curtain. And these glamorous, you know, powerful rich people turn out to be some of the

pettiest, most gossipy, shittiest human beings. And you know what else is interesting is that you're instantly learned that the quick dialogue and the brilliance of the characters they play is not who they are at all. Like, there are some of them are not that bright. And you're, you've defended so many of them. You know this a lot more than me. I've had a recently celebrity case since I've been in private practice and they've all been really cool and not, none of them

are charged with anything. I came in as a fixer. That's sort of thing and I'll leave their names out. But, but it's a, it's a fascinating thing, isn't it? Like, you look up there and I just look

awful. I always say the, the biggest lift, sort of speak, is not the case itself and it's not the,

kind of the media surrounding it. It's the nickel and dime, the five and ten percent crowd that surrounds most of these people because either you or me, when you parachute in, you're in, you're out. And that's the end of the case. And you're not, I, a buddy of mine once said when he parachutes in, he says, you know, don't, I'm here. I'm captain of this ship, not you. And in, in fact, one of the cases we're going to talk about today is Harvey Weinstein. And I, without

quoting him directly, I will say that it has been said about Harvey, that this is not a movie. You're not producing this. You're not directing this. You're going to let the lawyers deal with it. That's one of the most. Yeah, that's, that's a real dynamic, isn't it, Mark? Thank you. It's because you generally, but it's something that happens whether it's celebrity or anytime you've got somebody who is used to kind of control and a, somebody who is a master of their craft

in some area. It's, and I find it the same way. I mean, if I'm ever, if I've got a lawyer, I'm the worst client in the world. I'm, I want to, I just can't help it. And they can't help it. They're used to kind of directing traffic. And when you're not the, when you're not the

Yeah, they say doctors make the worst patients and lawyers make the worst clients. Yeah, you can see that, right? Somebody like that, Harvey Weinstein, with all the power that he had. And I mean, obviously substantially diminished now. But yeah, dealing with clients like that, especially shot callers. When you're a, when you're a high profile guy like yourself, who gets these big, heavy hitters, that's got to be an interesting dynamic between you.

Look at that picture right there. If you're watching this on YouTube, and there's Harvey and he's got Jacob Kaplan on his right and Mark Agnithlo on his left, both partners with my daughter Jenny, who just did last week the cross examination of the accuser for the, I guess that this is the

third trial involving this accuser. And it was quite a couple of day cross examination. To the point

where the woman when she, Jenny was finished cross examining her, I read a couple of stories. I wasn't in the courtroom. Harvey's mad at me for not being there. But I read a couple of stories where the woman who was being cross examined by Tenney actually, they're not at her gave her some kind of thank you afterwards, which is, which reminded me a year ago when Tenney had cross examined was the victim number two or were Jane Don number two in the Diddy case. Same thing there,

whether I told Tenney, I don't know how to take it when the after you've cross examined somebody for multiple days. They thank you. I don't say kind of a weird sensation. Nobody's

“thank you me after I cross examined. So what is, what is the status of the whole Weinstein saga?”

Bring us up to date on that like this. So as cases in LA, there's cases here. What, where is it right now? So he had, he was convicted in Los Angeles. It's up on appeal. It was just argued and everybody who watched the argument. In fact, the A.G. who argued, it was David Glassman who I went to law school. I don't know if you were running to David. He's probably the eminence grease of the attorney general's office. And I, I laughingly have told him not only is my law school classmate, but one of

the guys who actually handled an appeal of my father's case. And then argued an appeal of a case involving my daughter. So I mean, talk about bridging a couple of generations. But that case is up on appeal. There have been an issue in the opinion yet. The court watchers were telling me it didn't seem to go well for the defense. And in here in New York, where I'm sitting today,

that trial is, it's the third time around for him. The first trial, Harvey was convicted.

It was then reversed. I thought it would be reversed at the intermediate level. I watched those oral arguments, but no, it took the highest court here in New York to reverse it. Arthur Idala, our co-host MK True Crime alum retryed at the second time.

“convicted, I think, on one count, but on a third involving the woman. And they retryed it.”

The third time this time with Agnifolo, Kaplan, and Geregas retrying it. And that's pending right now, as we speak. That trial took on. As this drops. And when you're watching this today, I may be there to watch and to talk to Harvey. I feel bad that I've not talked to him since I would say. Yeah, they have an expression for our viewers that, I know Marks heard many times. Trying a case for a second time is like putting on a wet bathing suit. There's nothing

comfortable about it. Trying a criminal case, especially a rib case for a third time, is like putting on a wet sandy bathing suit. And I've had it. I've gone through that experience, I had it. Oh, this is interesting for the time, once. I've done three trials. Retryed, you know,

“trial on, I think three occasions. I can think of one in Riverside, one downtown, one in”

towards, I am in a minority. I think amongst defense lawyers. The common wisdom is as it gets

better for the prosecution. I have never had that experience. I know, I think it's much better

for the defense. It is much better for the defense. And nothing else, the jury knows that other juries either couldn't figure it out or there was no conviction because you're cross examining everybody. And also for the for the viewer for a prosecutor, it's a nightmare because they tend to be very emotional and people get, you know, and testifying is an intimidating thing. And, you know, even if it's the nice old lady down the street with nothing again,

forgets the second time and with a skilled trial lawyer, that's, you know, that can be

devastating for a prosecution's case. And it always gets weird. Weird is always bad for the DA.

So, I agree with you, Mark. And every got the judges and it's usually the prosecutor. I don't know why they do this. They want to kind of hide the fact that there's been a previous trial. So,

“they do these motions and eliminate to have the defense not say trial. But you have to say preceding”

or I'm just hearing. Previous hearing. Previous hearing. And it's so obvious. And I will admit that I'll sit there and go, at the previous time you testify. And jurors, look at you, they know what's going on. And they know that it's at the prosecutors' behest because I'm mocking them as I do it. And it never goes well because in a criminal case, generally you've only got one time to get out of witness if that because you're the master of doing hearsay prelimbs.

But if you've had the witness once at a prelimb, there's just one story and they can

refer to their recollection. Mind you, if it's the second or third trial and you've got four

previous tests, the transcripts under oath, Katy bar the door. Somebody said they didn't know what that expression meant yesterday when I used it. But it means that it's a defense lawyer's sailbox. Yeah, that's right. That's right. And a jury figures it out in 10 seconds. Right. That's not a big mystery. So yeah, so what do you think? What do you think? Play quietly. No money exchange, apparently. No money exchange,

no apologies, necessary. I think those attorneys' fees might be coming from her to him. And that's my guess. But I don't know. Yeah. And I think that you're going to have a

“insurance free for all. I think that's what's going on. I think insurance companies,”

subregation, reservation, rights, all this stuff that just makes your eyes

kind of roll into the backyard head is really what's going on. The two of them, the principles have settled the insurance companies. There's going to be a trail of insurance fights from here on out. I would rather get a root now than have anything to do with that. But that's why we do what we do. And that's why civil lawyers do what they do. Next, journalist and host of the Drop Dead Series podcast, Ashley Bandfield joins us. Please stay tuned.

Well, I'd like to extend a, I'm not reading from the teleprompter. I'm in the town, Ashley Bandfield story. I'm going to welcome her to this podcast, one of my favorite

“humans in the world. A little known fact is many years ago. 20 or 20, I don't know how many”

years ago she looks way too young to be this old. She was at a event at a law school that wrote my lawyer and it was a journalism and some rather event. And I was doing a panel with Bob Baker and Bob Baker for those who don't know had defended O.J. in the civil trial. And I did a stick and then Bob did a stick and Ashley was in the audience. And I, and I love Bob, but Ashley eviscerated him on a cross that I was actually jealous of. And so for those who

think she's just a pretty face or just a, a true crime, Maven, this, she's got shops. I'll leave it at that. I, I was there. I had a front row seat and I turned to Bob and I said, I feel your pain. That was awful. Jesus Christ. Yeah, you know, Mark, if I could add to that, if I were getting trouble and your representing me remind me that whatever I do, not to piss off Ashley Banfield because I've been, I've been getting into this case. And oh my god, it's, it is, it is,

like, it is so pointed. Her points are so freaking biting because she gets it. She gets it. She seems to, she's the, she's the embodiment. Ashley is the embodiment of seeing this movie before. So yeah, no. Nobody can be a lawyer, Ashley, because you would have, you would have killed us both. We were in a courtroom against you. No doubt. Um, no, I can't, I can't figure out what it happens. Yeah, but you're not alone there. Um, thank God. So why don't, why don't you take

us through this case if you could? Actually, this thing's fascinating. This is the, this is the hooker case out of out of the Bahamas. And this, this runs a lot of parallels to cases that Mark has done in the past, cases I've done in the past. Why don't you take us through, give us a, give us an overview and tell us what you think. So just the broad strokes, because I could go on for 20 hours

it since April 4th when Brian Hooker and Lynette Hooker spent the day on elbow key, their sailors.

They live aboard. They've lived aboard their sailboat for four years and they bomb all over the

“place. And they're in the Bahamas in the elbow key, March Harbor area. And they have a mooring ball”

and March Harbor, but they decided to get off the mooring ball and sail across to elbow key and spend a night and a day enjoying the beautiful beautiful waters over in your elbow key. And they threw down anchor and at Pat's Bay and they went over to Tahiti Beach and enjoyed that really shallow white blue water. And then they went all the way back in their little dingy, because of course when you anchor a big boat, that kill goes down deep and you can't get into the shallow. So you're

your dingy. They got in that dingy and they went all the way from Tahiti Beach up elbow key and in

to the Abaco Inn for some later afternoon drinks, 430 in the afternoon on April 4th. And they were seen there ordering two cubilebras each and enjoying the pool there and the bar there. And that's when things start to go fuzzy. I got a couple of pictures of Lynette taking selfies by the pool before 6 o'clock and Brian on his and Brian's at the pool too and Brian walking alone down to where the dingy is docked at 7 o'clock. But he tells the police the following. At 730 pm,

my wife and I get in the dingy from the Abaco Inn and we go out the white sound channel and we take a left and turn south down the shore of elbow key towards our sailing yacht that is sitting on anchor and at Pat's Bay. And we only get halfway there and the sea was angry my friend. That's a reference to Seinfeld. He says the sea was two to four foot waves, the wind is blowing 20 knots. She bounces off the back of the dingy. He's trying to row to her and the pin breaks and one or goes.

Now he's trying to row to her but he just keeps getting separated by the current and the tide and the waves remember those three things they're going to be important. He throws out this stupid thing that's like a swim floaty but there's two life jackets down in the bottom of the dingy as well as an anchor. And somehow says I can no longer see her for the waves and I'm being blown so far and that was the last I couldn't even hear her voice. So the real story is the wind

was blowing maybe 18 knots on the other side of elbow key but it was calm as glass on their side of elbow key hence safe harbor. Why you throw down an anchor and put your sailboat in the lovely calm leeward seven islands. So that's bullshit. Everything he just said about the wind and the angry sea, all bullshit. The next thing is that they're in about five, four, three feet of water. So get out and stand up. The next thing is Lynette's a strong swimmer. It was 150 yards to shore

and a thousand yards to the sailboat. To one person he says she's swimming to the sailboat to another

person he says I never saw her again and I just don't even know where it happened. I was so confused.

It was dark bullshit. They left the abacoin at 730 at the latest. Doesn't get dark till 8. I stood there. I boated there. I waited for the sunset. I waited to see what the darkness would look like. And so seven minutes out of the abacoin he'd be in the landing spot where he said all hell broke loose. It would have been about maybe 737 maybe 740 plenty of light. So his story is horseshit. And I can take you from there but I'll stop talking for now.

Oh, keep going. I can. By the way, you know, Ashley, if you ever talk to Matt about that this was his

“breakout case, by the way, back in the day, where was the Newport Beach? Newport Beach?”

Yeah, nobody, nobody in that case. Yeah, you know, just quick history. Yeah, quick, quick history and that actually, you know, Newport Beach when you're sign of the homicide unit you're a sign in Newport Beach. That's a, it's kind of similar, right? There's a lot of, a lot of boozing, a lot of, they call them duffies. These little electric boats that cruise around and Mark's Mark's been there probably out in the water. I have been there so many times. They, they cruise around

and yeah, every once in a while. You get a, you get a murder with a couple. One was, there's one before, right before I came to the homicide unit. There's a woman that was murdered by her boyfriend slash romantic partner and she, she was an, an arrest, she had a bunch of bunch of money and sent thing out on a dinghy. They're supposed to be water skiing and he claimed to have the action on the hit or with the boat and he was prosecuted and convicted of murder.

So, so keep telling us about this. So, so she's, I want to know Ashley, normally in these cases,

“you know better than anybody. Then there's always the other woman. So, has that come up?”

I don't think that's a thing and I'll only say this because they're live aborts. They're on a

on a sailboat and you sail around. That'll make you want to throw her over board. So,

“well, I'm glad you brought that up because this guy Brian Hooker has a bad history. He has”

multiple relations of choking her out. She has returned from the boat to her mother's many times saying I'm not going back again. She's photographed bruises on her back, texting them, temporarilyously, to her friend saying, I am going to photograph these bruises because this is what happened to me. The last time he pinned me back in the cockpit and was choking me out, he was charged with choking his 12-year-old daughter out, went to court and was acquitted by a jury.

And the story that many of the family members give me is that they were able to convince the jury

that many of the family members may have put memories into this 12-year-old. But I have spoken

to many of these family members and many of them, they were delighted to be related to the missing woman. No, that would be the husband is the one we're talking about Brian Hooker. It's his 12-year-old

“he remarried Lynette. And Lynette also has an only daughter now. So you got a history of domestic violence,”

you had a little bit of alcohol. So far we got some some of the common ingredients we see in this stew. What happens? Yeah, tell us what happens next. So the opposing falls off the dinghy. What is he doing, actually? Obviously, dials 911 right away. Oh, I'm sure. Good Justin Matt because he's got a phone. And you will all know this. Not everybody knows this. No matter whether your phone has a SIM card or not, there's a little thing at the top says emergency

calls only. Okay. Not everybody might know that. So I would give him that grace. If he weren't a former AT&T employee. So let's go there. He's a former AT&T telephone installer and repairman. He is a tech geek. He brags about his tech geekiness. She brags about geeking out the net working of that boat. And guess what? He was fired from AT&T for masking the location on his work van by jiggering with the GPS. So this guy knows the thing or two of electronics. And he knows

that phone will work without a SIM card. And by the way, it would work anyway. You just have to pay higher rates. You're American rates. Big deal. Your wife supposedly drowning in your desperately trying to reach her. So the next thing he says is that I tried and tried and tried and I just kept getting farther and farther away. And then she had gone out with the dry bag and the lanyard

“from the electric key. The spare key was in the dry bag along with our passports and other things”

and her phone. And I am left completely rudderless without any power. And I drift for nine hours in the wind. And I land on Marsh Harbor four miles away. Again, full horseshit. I've spoken to every marine expert, including the top marine experts in America who have done all of the mapping, all of the marine mapping, the tide mapping, the wave mapping, the wind mapping. He would not have ended up where he was. And it would not have taken nine hours. We actually did a demonstration

that I'm about to put on my podcast. Takes about five hours. If those conditions are replicated almost perfectly. So he doesn't know how to swim. He has got a background with the water. What else do we know besides 18? Oh, nice. X marine. So an X marine. And I usually don't say X marine

gentlemen. Because I say one submarine, always a marine. But this fella, even with his U.S. MC tattoo,

does not espouse the morals or the character of any of the United States Marine court that I've met. So he's an X marine to me, just based on the garbage that he's feeding everybody. And the fact that he bounced out of the Bahamas just as fast as he could after promising everyone, he would stay there until his wife was found. Not even ten hours out of jail. And he's got a fresh passport and he's on his way out. But so yeah. So tell us about that. So tell me about the

what stage are we at right now in the proceedings? So the Bahamian police arrested him on day five. Hang on, let me count. He goes out Saturday night, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, so day four and a half. They pull him in and they detain him, but they don't charge him. And they gather evidence. I'm just going to tell you right now, uh, not ready for prime time because this evidence gathering didn't even include photographing him or taking his clothes or taking his watch, which is a marine

watch that gathers all sorts of what's it with me? Location data. They don't take his phone either. And so they hold him for as long as they can based on their local laws. I guess they didn't have enough probable cause. I found it in about five minutes being a sailing captain and a swimmer and a dinghy driver and a boating captain. And I mean, I don't even live there. But I could see right away the story was a lie and they had to let him go when the 72 hour mark of the extension

getting emergency passports, but telling ABC CBS and NBC that he would never leave until he found his

wife and bam the next morning. He was on a plane back to America. And right now, he could be anywhere from Sacramento to Michigan because his mom and his sister Ern Sacramento and Michigan is where he used to hang his hat. Let me show Mark a couple of images. I want to get Mark to reaction to this.

“Okay. So this this I think is one of the interviews that you were talking about.”

And what do we see there on his left wrist? So this was. Yeah. So that watch is not on his wrist. And I was thinking at the time that this came out wholly free. Holy is that the missing watch, his extraordinary mariners watch that has a a zep app that downloads all of the stuff in real time. That thing would be full of data. And at the time, if you guys can, sorry, sorry, actually, if you guys could show that other photo

one that that shows the watch, this is always dangerous when I get online. Okay. So actually,

I couldn't I couldn't help myself. I think if I it's a little blurry, but I think this is what soon as a Garmin Quotix, Sailor's Watch. They're like a couple thousand bucks. And it has GPS information on it. So what he picked up from there. What what does that mean? Well, he had multiple watches. And I'm actually just looking at my notes to see the name of the the newer watch because I don't think that's even the particular watch. I just know that the watch he was wearing was one that connects

“to the Zep app. ZEPP, I believe it is. And that's the one he actually was walking out of jail,”

holding in his hands, meaning the game it to him as he was leaving. You know, you get your personal effects. I don't see it on TV. Holding it, not wearing. You got a fat back. That, that looked like consciousness of guilty you because got a, got the GPS on his watch. And then all of a sudden it

suddenly disappears. We've got that awesome timeline. Looks like he's never probably

expected to say the timeline is for those who can't see it. I could see it. And it was shocking. Just how the VPLs, but actually VWLs is for on his arm. Let me read it up. I mean, it looked like something changed with the watch. You know, early on in the reporting, we noticed, we noticed the big tan line. We noticed the missing watch. And we thought, is it possible that this guy got arrested wasn't expecting to because they went to his boat

“and they arrested him on his sailboat. And they put him in coughs and put him in the boat.”

And then they were transporting him to free report in Gran Bahama where they have better detention facilities. He fell out. He fell out into the sea of Avacau. As they were, I can't even. I cannot even. He's holding his stuff. And has a life jacket on. Thank God. But he's coughed and he goes out. And the baby and police have to dive out and rescue him. Don't even ask. I don't even know how to happen. But I'm not kidding you. But at the time, I'm thinking, hold it. Was this a

employee to wriggle out of the wife and let it sink to go? I thought he was just he was doing. I thought he was doing a demonstration. A demo. Yeah. Well, it's a little different being in the size boat they were in and the dinghy that, you know, they were driving on April 4th in glass water, you know, that had barely a ripple on it in the leeward side of Elbuquille. But I will tell you this. It was one of my theories when I saw that empty, you know, tanline. And then it was five days later,

they let him out of detention and he's holding the watch in his hands, which makes me even more angry because, well, I didn't read a lot of the watch. They had it. The police had it. Why can't you keep it? But they in their defense, you would expect they could have imaged it while they had it. And I've had that happen where I've even had it with computer desktops where they will image it and then give it right back to you on a, especially if you're

doing some kind of a quick motion or you're in there quick. Would they to house it? How soon did he lawyer up? Right away. He had a, he had a lawyer from Nassau who flew to grandma home right away and was, you know, giving comments to anybody who would listen, set him up with ABCCB, SNNBC for, you know, a try out of, uh, of bounce bounce, bounce interviews, which is like, dude, you are so out of touch. Nobody watches those networks for two crime. They watch us. They watch

podcasts now. This is where the millions of people are. If you're trying to get the message out. Do you guys remember that movie, uh, Paula 13 when they had all the, it was with Tom Hanks and they're

that rebellion where they took them all off and the, the, the, the flight doctor thought they were all

dying. We, we really live in a world now where we all kind of like I got one on now. I've got, uh, I got an apple watch. What about her, Ashley, did she have, did she have anything on her that could help them figure it out? Yeah, she sure did. And I've been looking for the name of, of his watch. I've got a hundred pages of notes, but I'll find it at some point and tell you, her watch. This is a really good part of the story, you guys. Her watch is an apple watch with a powder pink band

and she wore it all the time in social media. Carly her daughter was just there sailing with them sleeping in the v-birth, traveling along, having a great time doing excursions and said mama's

wearing her powder pink apple watch, but that the battery didn't work really well on it and it

was dead before dinner time usually so it would go on the charger. This is an important thing to remember. Um, she put the apple watch on the charger sometime around dinner dinners around six, seven a clock because it just wouldn't, it wouldn't stay, uh, you know, powered up. And we got a photo of Lynette taking selfies at the abico in. This is the last known time that anyone has seen her and

“she looks to have that powder pink apple watch on her wrist. But here's the thing. There's one”

thing that the behavior police did do right so far. And I can't tell you a lot of what I see as right because I haven't seen much forensic, uh, they haven't even asked for video of of all the homes that face the abicocy. I just drives me bananas to hear what hasn't been done, but I digress. So they did get an apple watch off the boat. Apparently it was there. The powder pink banded apple watch. I don't know if they got it off a charger. I don't know where they got it from. But Lynette originally

had complained that the watch wasn't working well. So Brian bought her a new one, but he didn't buy her an apple watch. He bought her a replica of his own. The that the name I can't remember with the Zep app that goes with it. And it was green. And so knowing that the behaviors have seized a powder pink apple watch off the boat gives me so much joy in terms of the possibilities of solving this because I personally believe there was no bouncing off the back of the dingy.

“Give me a break or not idiots. I think that dingy made it all the way back to soulmate. I think”

they got back up on soulmate. And I think that whatever happened on soulmate in the ensuing hour two or three caused the death of Lynette. Was it murder? I don't know. Maybe he's got some pretty ugly history. I will say that. So if allegedly there was this murder on board soulmate, well what happens when you come back into it contact with your home devices? Your watch connects and your apple, your apple devices connect and your watch connects. And I know that Lynette's watch

was connected to her apple phone because Carly heard daughter said she always used the find my phone

and I do it too because it drives me crazy. I can never find my phone. Oh there it is. I just found it. She did that all the time. And so I know that Lynette had her watch connected to her phone. So if they made it back to soulmate, ding ding ding ding ding. They've got sterling and they would have connected. Even if she did an email check Facebook she did lots of social media. Her habit was to get up on board and often they would spend the evening just being on their devices. So I think the digital

exhaust in this one is going to be a real problem for Brian because while he might be a whiz at racing himself going forward, it's next to impossible to erase yourself going back. So what is the has he formerly been charged under behemian law or is this what would be comparable to America law where it's a prosecutorial reject pending further investigation that we're working. It's complicated. Yeah, no it's complicated. So the behemians, it's their jurisdiction. Obviously

the Royal Bahamian police forces the lead the the Coast Guard. So there's the United States

“Coast Guard investigative services which I know you must be, you know, intimately familiar with”

Matt because of your cases but they are like the FBI of the water, you know. And so they have this case. They've opened a criminal investigation into this case. But it's a delicate dance. There's nothing that they can do without the imprimiter of the Royal Bahamian police force. And the Royal Bahamian police force, my opinion only here are not ready for prime time. They just haven't done the basic things that you and I would think to do and we're not even detectives, right? So I just believe that right

now there's a lot of paddling under the water where the duck looks very calm above. And I think that there's a lot of investigating going on in the United States. Maybe not so much in the Bahamas. Who knows what's going on in the Bahamas? I can't get them to return a call. Well, one thing that's interesting, Mark. Oh, both yeah. I did a little research on this too.

circumstances when two US nationals are involved in a murder case out of the country. And when

they assert that is often when one of them comes back to the United States. So, you know, I want to give the Bahamians a little, maybe a little leeway here. It's a small, I mean, I guess we had to look at it like a small town. It's a country, but they're not going to get a whole lot of missing body murder cases probably in their experience. So hopefully the feds can take a look at this. What do you think, Mark, this could be an interesting question. I ask Ashley, is there,

are they, is there a working theory? Is there insurance? Is there any, you've already debunked,

“at least my go-to or the police is going to another woman, but is there a financial motive of some kind?”

So two things, to Matt's point first, yes, there are all sorts of ways that the Americans can

get involved. The Bahamians should be asking for that help if they are a small town police force, which up in the Avocados? Sure, it's smaller, it's more remote. But the way I'm seeing things, there's not a lot of sharing going on. They have an even passed over the video from the Avocowin and on Saturday, May the 9th, it'll be five weeks. That's inexcusable. They should have shared that with the Americans on day one. And the reason I know that is because I was right there standing

beside a Seagus agent at the Avocowin, as we were both trying to get that video. And they were saying, absolutely not the Royal Bahamian police force will not allow us to release it to anyone. RBPF won't give it to me. RBPF presumably won't give it to the Coast Guard either because my understanding they don't have it yet either. So that's just shameful. So that's to your point, Matt. To your point, Garagos. So yes, this is another story. Lynette was the money maker. Lynette had

all the money. She had around $657,000 in a 401(k) from AT&T, where she also worked. I've spoken to several of Lynette and Brian's former co-workers. He was a union steward. And every single one I've spoken to said, he was the biggest asshole that ever met, conniving manipulative asshole. All he ever thought about all day long was how to stick it to the man. Even if it drove his own co-workers crazy, the people he was stewarding. He just wanted to

screw the company any which way but Sunday. He also spent a bucket of money defending himself against

three releases aka Fireings from AT&T. First one, he was able to fight it. Second one,

he was able to fight it. Third one, he didn't fight it but he lost a boatload of money. Not only that, he told others and Lynette told others that he had burned through his 401(k) and that he was basically

“living off her. So do I think that that's the motive? I'm not sure, but I'm just going on his past”

like 15, 20 years and it's all been right with allegations of horrendous, bousal abuse and child abuse. And so this is a guy according to family members who and not just Lynette's family members, I will say, who is just so incredibly volatile when he drinks. And the two of them had been drinking pretty much all day that day and what Lynette's mother says is they're terrible together when they drink and Lynette knows it and she again has left him multiple times because of physical

assaults and brutality during drinking episodes. She had actually bought a ticket on March 11th to leave him, which breaks my effort. Okay, that's, you know, if you're the defense, that's a bad fact. Yeah, there's a lot of bad facts. I mean, I'm just going to say from the reason I'm so passionate about this case is because I can, I can, I can smell it. I can breathe it. I kept in my own 34 foot CNC in the Witzhundey Islands in Australia for six days. I am a mariner. I have sailed multiple

sailing races. I live in a dinghy. I live on boats. I live on an island for Christ's sake. I can't get groceries unless I'm in a boat in the dark of night in lightning and thunderstorms. So I know pretty much everything there is to know about things that go sideways on boats, small and large. And everything he said from the minute I heard it was like, "Excuse me, is anybody hearing this

“jack-off?" Like, that's why I hate this guy with a passion because every, I was going to say,”

how do you really, how do you really feel? Actually, thank you Ashley. Where do our listeners

easy to find. Drop dead serious. It's my YouTube channel. It's my audio podcast. It's my website

“everywhere. And every day I'm going to tell you right now, I've been breaking a piece of news”

on this every day. And the next thing I'm going to put out is the actual demonstration. Someone in a dinghy, in those wind conditions, same tide, same waves, different location, but replicated almost exactly shows you just how far you actually would have floated of Brian's story where true. Which, okay, it ain't. We'll keep up, keep up the good work, Ashley. Keep the pressure on because if you shake the trees, you might just, you might just

shame somebody into taking some action on this. I would love to see it. Thanks, Ashley. Remiss you. You guys next time. Congratulations on your new podcast. I'm so excited for you. I'm going to watch every episode because you two, my favorite people in the whole world. Thank you, Ashley. Thank you. Next up, a tale from In The Well. You know, one of the old tales, one of my favorite stories with Matt Murphy,

involved a client of mine who will remain nameless who it took me a while to convince Matt

to not be his usual when he was a prosecutor. And the theme that finally got Matt,

it took me forever. I don't know how many appearances. This is back in the day when when you could continue a case forever, basically, in the '90s. And I finally just did that. Matt, just transport yourself back to a time far away in Romeo and Juliet. And just think, if you were a the local prosecutor during the time of Romeo and Juliet, you would have prosecuted Romeo for stocking. And to his credit, he laughed and said, okay, okay, okay, we won't mention the name because I

had forgotten the name when I was reminding Matt about the case he knew instantly. Who it was. But he ended up giving me a given the client a soft face to land on that case. And I was forever appreciative. So thank you, Matt. Yeah, no, it's true. Yesterday's romance is today's

“stocking. And that's what I charged her clung with. But it was it was a good point as usual.”

And for those of you who don't know, the reason why Mark is so famous is because he's so damn persuasive. Both of Duries and also it's a prosecutor. So he got me on now and he made good points. And yeah, we figured out a resolution. We figured out a resolution. By the way, I don't think he ever came back. So that was a good thing. It was good, which is good. Yes. So next week, I, you know, you know, Matt, I think next week, we could actually have 10-y do something on Weinstein,

Brian do something on lively and Ashley do a another. We could have like kind of a synopsis or greatest hits. But I would love to see it. Brian's interview was awesome. Mark, that was that was that was talk about the zeitgeist at the moment. And that that really got me thinking about that whole thing. And you know, one of the things that's interesting about that is that my impression of Brian is that he encountered a guy who isn't troubled. He saw a guy just about

Tony who's getting bulldozed by, you know, from Brian's point of view, bulldozed by some really

powerful people that were vindictive and going after his client. And he stepped into help.

“And at the end of the day, that's what the price of laws all about, right?”

Yes. When he, when that was settled, I sent him a text, which I won't reveal, but it chatted those sentiments. Yeah. I mean, that, good for him. And what, what a huge wind. And by the way, for him, he's watching. That was, that was Brian's wind. That was, yeah. It was a good wind. No matter how they try to spin it. Met Gala be damned. Mark's body, Brian, for even one that case for his client. Anyway, all right. So, thanks for the gift.

Ashley, bandfield. And thanks for all of you for tuning into in the well. New episodes. We'll drop every Friday. And I hope everybody has a wonderful weekend.