S3 E1: “B*tch in Handcuffs”

Dirty Money Moves: Women in White Collar Crime

It’s early February, 2021 in Phoenix Arizona. Federal agents have been on the hunt for Tracii Hutsona, a woman wanted on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for stealing more than $1 million from her cancer-stricken, single mother of three employer. Tracii’s motive: she needed funding for her lavish lifestyle. Agents find Tracci at her restaurant “Breakfast Bitch.” She tried to run but the chase was short-lived. News cameras captured the aftermath of the arrest with Tracii locked in handcuffs as she stood outside of her company car. Tracii’s arrest shocked many of her friends and employees, who had no idea Tracii had spent much of the previous 30 years in and out of prison or on probation or parole for stealing and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to support a lavish lifestyle she’d been chasing her entire life. She’d racked up a slew of scams and schemes, leaving a trail of victims in her wake. Tracii has a magnetic personality and is easy to like, but hidden underneath her million dollar smile lies a remarkable ability to persuade those around her to believe anything she needs them to. Her own family, her friends, and her victims have all described Tracii as a pathological liar; a lifelong con artist who is exceptionally good at what she does. So what happened in the course of Tracii’s life to lead her to this one very public moment, handcuffed on the Phoenix evening news for all to see? How does someone become a refined con artist …an exemplary liar? Is it an innate ability …or something that’s learned throughout a lifetime? Or …maybe it’s a little bit of both?

Follow host, Jami Rice, @JamiOnAir on Instagram and TikTok to keep up with this case, and others.

Check out Jami’s other true crime podcast, MURDERISH.

Dirty Money Moves is a collaboration between MURDERISH and Cloud10 Media.

Executive Producers: Jami Rice and Sim Sarna

Research and Writing by: Gina Mazzolini

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Sources are available at MURDERISH.com

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