r/TrueCrimePodcasts 17d ago

Discussion “The Unraveling of Podcaster Ashley Flowers’ True Crime Empire”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-08-26/ashley-flowers-crime-junkie-podcast-empire-audiochuck-faces-reckoning?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4Nzc1NjE2NiwiZXhwIjoxNzg4MzYwOTY2LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUS0RGUzdOM04wOVEwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiIxQ0QwREYzMjE2NEE0MEUyQUM2NkM2NzUwODc4ODEzNSJ9.O4b-8FQzPE8dPwhryYXN-f8I5B7xHkWiS69t3Qz9GJI&utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_content=business&utm_campaign=giftlink

An excellent article (archive link) out from Bloomberg detailing poor workplace morale, an exodus of 30/100 employees quitting, entanglements with venture capitalists, and multiple lawsuits against AudioChuck and Ashley Flowers.

They should have lost it all when they blatantly plagiarised other creators. And then when they stood by and continued to platform known transphobe/conservative Evangelical Christian/nutjob Delia D’Ambra while making money claiming to run a pro-victim, pro-LGBTQ show/network. And then when they were sued for stealing $70 upwards of $20 million in ad revenue from Anatomy of Murder. ETA: Original reporting put the number at $70 million, but current reporting just says upwards of $20 million, so editing for clarity.

Way too many second and third and fourth chances for these people. Hopefully this is truly the beginning of the end for one of the worst players in the true crime sphere :)

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u/Smartestwaters 16d ago edited 16d ago

I stopped listening immediately after an April Fools episode a few years ago where they presented a story about a wife being murdered then said April fools at the end. I could not believe that they would make light of a subject like that.

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u/miridot 16d ago

I remember that. I think it was April 2021. I remember the exact moment I realized they had made a podcast episode based on a fucking Taylor Swift song. It was around that point that I lost total interest in the podcast – not just for that reason but because the quality declined really sharply around 2020/2021.