Following the success of Hulu’s Scamanda earlier this year, journalist and producer Charlie Webster is going back to her roots of podcasting to break down the story of a Utah mom named Candace Rivera who embezzled millions of dollars.
Fans of true crime can hear all about Rivera’s cons in Webster’s new podcast, “Unicorn Girl,” which is currently being released on Apple Podcasts.
Rivera manipulated her friends, Salt Lake City’s elite, international aid workers, the Department of Homeland Security and the elite Black Ops team by posing as a self-made entrepreneur with multiple businesses. She lied about many details of her life, including that she had cancer, that her now ex-husband was abusive and that she lost two twin girls in a car accident.
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She also lied about being a licensed nurse, and she performed procedures and administered drugs to hundreds of sick children in Ukraine and Uganda despite not having any type of medical license. Another one of Rivera’s other lies involved her allegedly rescuing orphans, refugees and sex trafficking victims from around the world.
After all of her lies caught up to her, Rivera was convicted on nine felony charges in October 2024 for fraud, forgery and theft of at least $2 million related to Exitus, her anti-human-trafficking org, according to KSL TV. She was later sentenced to serve 15 years, according to KUTV.
Webster, 42, recently spoke to Us Weekly about the new project, revealing that she wanted to find a new juicy story after her podcast “Scamanda” turned into a Hulu show.
“After Scamanda, I was so interested in messy, complex female friendships. I was really wanting to explore that, and then somebody told me about this woman,” Webster shared. “She was part of this book group, and she said ‘There’s a woman in our book group, and I don’t think she’s right. I think she’s misleading people. I think she’s lying.” Like [Scamanda subject Amanda Riley], Rivera tended to really, really overshare about her challenging personal life, and was using this book group like a personal diary.”
While reflecting on Rivera’s cons, Webster said “mental health wasn’t part of the case.” She continued, “Her uncle said she was a pathological liar, and there have been conversations around her pathology. She definitely lacks empathy, she’s definitely got narcissistic traits. There’s a disconnection. I think she believes her own lies very much.”
“Everything she did was because [of] a savior complex — that she was more important than anybody, she was special, she could do anything. She said she was untouchable, she could get in any door,” Webster added of the podcast’s subject.
Rivera may be behind bars, though Webster said she “has not taken accountability for what she’s done.” She continued, “She’s saying to some people that it’s a conspiracy theory. She’s still lying in prison … She’s that calculated and very clever.”
Apple TV+ subscribers can binge all nine episodes of “Unicorn Girl” now. Meanwhile, non-subscribers can listen to new episodes each Monday. The finale of “Unicorn Girl” will be released on October 7.
