Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen · Sony Music Entertainment / Campside Media

Chapter 10.5: Epilogue

June 1, 2022·32 min·2 clips

In a 2011 email to his first victim, Gobind Tahil Rahmani wrote 'I am not an honest person as yet' and asked for trust.

The episode opens with a correction about corrupted audio files from the previous chapter, before Josh Dean announces that Hargobin Tahil Rahmani was arrested by British police in Manchester. The arrest occurred on November 26th, just two weeks after the podcast's final episode of the season. Dean and producer Vanessa Grigoriadis were on a Zoom call with Hollywood writers pitching a TV series adaptation when every phone in the call simultaneously received the news. Dean describes eight charges in the grand jury indictment, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Victims who were featured across the season react: Eddie, now working on the TV series Halo, notes the arrest date fell on his father's birthday; Heather, from chapter two, says she feels psychologically free; Tony, the semi-retired New Zealand mercenary, is glad but points out accomplices remain at large. A new source, an Indonesian woman named Sam, reached out via LinkedIn after the unmasking. She first met Gobind in early 2011 when she was a freelance talent manager and was hired to bring a client to perform at Chippenang Prison, where she discovered the supposed event promoter was actually an inmate. Gobind—calling himself Harvey Taheel—had been jailed for threatening the U.S. embassy with a bomb threat. After his release, Sam became his de facto funder, covering hotels, meals, and staff wages while he pitched inflated projects including an Indonesian adaptation of the TV show Dynasty and a Miss Teen Indonesia pageant. He forwarded Sam apparently legitimate emails and passports from representatives of Katy Perry, Tyra Banks, and Whitney Houston. The one tangible success was luring Korean boy band 2AM to Jakarta for a meet-and-greet, which descended into chaos when hundreds of fans showed up and the band refused to leave their bus; all blame and financial damage fell on Sam. Dean reads a 2011 email from Gobind to Sam in which he describes himself as his own worst enemy, admits to hiding in lies, and says he has no family or friends except Rudy Satopo. Sam describes Gobind's strange requests for company during short, fitful naps in hotel rooms and cars. The episode then turns to Rudy Satopo, the older Chippenang prisoner who allegedly helped Gobind after release. A Jakarta stringer named Bintang Lestada reached Rudy by phone two days after the arrest. Rudy claimed he was only Gobind's counselor, not his mentor or friend. He attributed Gobind's crimes to mental illness and hinted at an insanity defense strategy. When pressed about the names of two known accomplice drivers, Rudy first denied knowing them, then said he had read their names in news articles; Bintang confirmed no such articles exist online. Dean credits the actual arrest not to the podcast but to investigator Nicoleta Katsianis at K2, one FBI agent, and prosecutors in the Southern District of California. He closes by noting a second season of Chameleon is in development on an entirely different scam.

As heard by us

A tidy epilogue that lands the arrest, the damage, and the lingering aftertaste.

The episode does what a solid true-crime wrap-up should. It clears the remaining questions, works through the corrupted downloads, and lets the scale of the case settle in.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want the arrest, the fallout, and the loose ends tied off.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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