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New York Magazine

What can a billionaire get away with these days? A secret bat cave? A harem of women? An international spy operation? Stealing the soul of a small town in Montana? A Silicon Valley venture capitalist was accused of running a massive sex-trafficking operation by his best bro friend. And we unravel the truth about both of them - their business, their break-up, their lies, and their embarrassing text messages. The story of a billionaire with a hero complex, the ex-spy who turned his life inside out, and us, the reporters who got caught up in their macho drama.
Cover Story is an investigative podcast series featuring original reporting from New York Magazine. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. New episodes every Tuesday.

Cover Story

Mind. Body. Control. Uncover the dark truth in Power Trip, the first season of Cover Story, a new investigative series from New York Magazine. Hosted by iO Tillett Wright.
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Introducing Cover Story: Power Trip

After years of experimenting with drugs, Lily discovers the psychedelic underground. It’s a world of shamans and guides - people illegally practicing psychedelic therapy to treat trauma. Their secret mission is make this treatment more widely available in order to “promote the evolution of humankind.” But what will they overlook to get there?

Credits
Cover Story is a production of New York magazine.
Power Trip is co-created, produced, and reported by David Nickles and Lily Kay Ross.
Hosted and produced by iO Tillett Wright.
Senior producers are Marianne McCune and Whitney Jones. Also produced by Tarkor Zehn and Liza Yeager.
Executive producer and editor is Hanna Rosin.
Music by Lynx DeMuth and John Ellis.
Cover Story’s Theme music by Santigold.
Sound design and engineering by Mike Cruz and technical production by Sharif Youssef.
Fact-checking by Britina Cheng and Ted Hart.
Special thanks to legal minds Elissa Cohen and Samantha Mason. And also to Isabel Dahn, Paul Schneider, Crystal Finn, Harmony Stempel, and Karen Racanelli.
Power Trip is also produced with Psymposia, a non-profit watchdog group. For a deeper dive into some of these issues visit psymposia.com/powertrip.
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1. I See a Sh*tshow

Lily visits the Ecuadorian Amazon to work on a project when something terrible happens to her. She barely escapes and makes it home alive. But it’s what happens next that really sets the course of her life. Meanwhile, the psychedelic renaissance is really starting to take off.

Credits
Cover Story is a production of New York magazine.
Power Trip is co-created, produced and reported by David Nickles and Lily Kay Ross.
Hosted and produced by iO Tillett Wright.
Senior producers are Marianne McCune and Whitney Jones. Also produced by Tarkor Zehn and Liza Yeager.
Executive producer and editor is Hanna Rosin.
Music by Lynx DeMuth and John Ellis.
Cover Story’s Theme music by Santigold.
Sound design and engineering by Mike Cruz and technical production by Sharif Youssef.
Fact-checking by Britina Cheng and Ted Hart.
Special thanks to legal minds Elissa Cohen and Samantha Mason. And also to Isabel Dahn, Rachel Monroe, and Genevieve Smith.
Power Trip is also produced with Psymposia, a non-profit watchdog group. For a deeper dive into some of these issues visit psymposia.com/powertrip.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

2. That's an Old Story

We cross through the portal to the underground where “Susan” goes through the training to become a psychedelic therapist. Her mentor Eyal crosses way too many boundaries. (Is he the wolf?). And we finally meet Francoise Bourzat, honey-voiced trainer of trainers.

In an earlier version of episode 3, we misidentified Eyal Goren as a “licensed therapist.” He became a licensed therapist in the State of California in November of 2019. When "Susan" became his client, he was still registered as an Associate Marriage & Family Therapist. We’ve updated the episode to correct the mistake.

Credits
Cover Story is a production of New York magazine.
Power Trip is co-created, produced and reported by David Nickles and Lily Kay Ross.
Hosted and produced by iO Tillett Wright.
Senior producers are Marianne McCune and Whitney Jones. Also produced by Tarkor Zehn and Liza Yeager.
Executive producer and editor is Hanna Rosin.
Music by Lynx DeMuth and John Ellis.
Cover Story’s Theme music by Santigold.
Sound design and engineering by Mike Cruz and Sharif Youssef.
Fact-checking by Britina Cheng and Ted Hart.
Crystal Finn is the voice of Susan.
Special thanks to legal minds Elissa Cohen and Samantha Mason. And also to Isabel Dahn and James Kent.
Power Trip is also produced with Psymposia, a non-profit watchdog group. For a deeper dive into some of these issues visit psymposia.com/powertrip.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

3. I Am the Wolf

We go to the source - a Mexican psychotherapist named Salvador Roquet, who is known as a “master of bad trips.” It starts to dawn on “Susan” that the problem is not her one rogue mentor. What if boundary crossing is baked into the psychedelic guide training, and implicates Francoise Bourzat and her husband Aharon Grossbard?

Credits
Cover Story is a production of New York magazine.
Power Trip is co-created, produced and reported by David Nickles and Lily Kay Ross.
Hosted and produced by iO Tillett Wright.
Senior producers are Marianne McCune and Whitney Jones. Also produced by Tarkor Zehn and Liza Yeager.
Executive producer and editor is Hanna Rosin.
Sound design and scoring by Mike Cruz, Brandon McFarland, and Sharif Youssef, who also engineered the show.
Cover Story’s Theme music by Santigold.
More Music by Lynx DeMuth and John Ellis.
Fact-checking by Britina Cheng and Ted Hart.
Crystal Finn is the voice of Susan.
Special thanks to legal minds Elissa Cohen and Samantha Mason. Also to Gaby Grossman.
Power Trip is also produced with Psymposia, a non-profit watchdog group. For a deeper dive into some of these issues visit psymposia.com/powertrip.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

4. Bad Hug

Stories of transgressions multiply. Psychedelic therapists are meddling in marriages, dating their clients, and worse. Francoise Bourzat herself tells us what she thinks is going on, and how her psychedelic community has handled complaints in the past.

Credits
Cover Story is a production of New York magazine.
Power Trip is co-created, produced and reported by David Nickles and Lily Kay Ross.
Hosted and produced by iO Tillett Wright.
Senior producers are Marianne McCune and Whitney Jones. Also produced by Tarkor Zehn and Liza Yeager.
Executive producer and editor is Hanna Rosin.
Sound design and scoring by Mike Cruz, Brandon McFarland, and Sharif Youssef, who also engineered the show.
Cover Story’s Theme music by Santigold.
More Music by Lynx DeMuth and John Ellis.
Fact-checking by Britina Cheng and Ted Hart.
Crystal Finn is the voice of Susan, Harmony Stempel is the voice of Connie, and Karen Racanelli is the voice of Catherine.
Special thanks to legal minds Elissa Cohen and Samantha Mason. Also to Gaby Grossman, and to the band Night Lunch for use of their song “House Full of Shit”.
Power Trip is also produced with Psymposia, a non-profit watchdog group. For a deeper dive into some of these issues visit psymposia.com/powertrip.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

5. House Full of Sh*t

Cover Story is coming back March 1st! In Part II, we move from the psychedelic underground to the above ground—the world of labs and clinical trials and accredited institutions.
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Introducing Cover Story: Power Trip, Part II

We talk to participants in the most advanced clinical trials on MDMA as a treatment for trauma. On paper, they are success stories. In reality they are a mess. And one of them was put in a terrible bind by her trial therapists.

CREDITS:
Cover Story is a production of New York magazine.
Power trip is co-created, produced and reported by David Nickles and Lily Kay Ross.
Our senior producers are Marianne McCune and Whitney Jones. Also produced by Tarkor Zehn, Liza Yeager, Noor Bouzidi, and iO Tillett Wright.
Our executive producer and editor is Hanna Rosin.
With additional editing help by Nichole Hill.
Sound design and scoring by Brandon McFarland.
Additional sound design by Sharif Youssef, who also mixed the show.
Cover Story’s theme music by Santigold.
Additional music by Lynx DeMuth and John Ellis.
Fact-checking by Britina Cheng and Ted Hart.
Special thanks to legal minds Elissa Cohen, Jillian Robbins, and Samantha Mason. And also to Russell Hausfeld.
Power Trip is also produced with Psymposia, a non-profit watchdog group. For a deeper dive into some of these issues visit psymposia.com/powertrip.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

6. Open Heart Surgery

Meaghan gets a hold of the clinical trial data and she and Dave and Lily pull it apart. Why are the studies so small? What actually happens in the black box of therapy? Why can't the trial participants find their actual experience reflected anywhere in the published data? We look to MAPS for answers.

CREDITS
Cover Story is a production of New York magazine.
Power trip is co-created, produced and reported by David Nickles and Lily Kay Ross.
Our senior producers are Marianne McCune and Whitney Jones. Also produced by Tarkor Zehn, Liza Yeager, Noor Bouzidi, and iO Tillett Wright.
Our executive producer and editor is Hanna Rosin.
With additional editing help by Nichole Hill.
Sound design and scoring by Brandon McFarland.
Additional sound design by Sharif Youssef, who also mixed the show.
Cover Story’s Theme music by Santigold.
Additional music by Lynx DeMuth and John Ellis.
Fact-checking by Britina Cheng and Ted Hart.
Special thanks to legal minds Elissa Cohen, Jillian Robbins, and Samantha Mason. And also to Gaby Grossman and Nese Devenot.
Power Trip is also produced with Psymposia, a non-profit watchdog group. For a deeper dive into some of these issues visit psymposia.com/powertrip.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

7. Political Science

Since the publication of Michael Pollan’s bestseller, How to Change Your Mind, more people than ever have gotten comfortable trying psychedelics. And a few of them have died. We look into two cases and ask, who’s responsible for warning people about the dangers? And we explore one important motivation for keeping quiet about them: money.

CREDITS
Cover Story is a production of New York magazine.
Power trip is co-created, produced, and reported by David Nickles and Lily Kay Ross.
Our senior producers are Marianne McCune and Whitney Jones. Also produced by Tarkor Zehn, Liza Yeager, Noor Bouzidi, and iO Tillett Wright.
Our executive producer and editor is Hanna Rosin.
With additional editing help by Nichole Hill.
Sound design and scoring by Brandon McFarland.
Additional sound design by Sharif Youssef, who also mixed the show.
Cover Story’s Theme music by Santigold.
Additional music by Lynx DeMuth and John Ellis.
Fact-checking by Britina Cheng and Ted Hart.
Special thanks to legal minds Elissa Cohen, Jillian Robbins, and Samantha Mason. And also to Gaby Grossman.
Power Trip is also produced with Psymposia, a non-profit watchdog group. For a deeper dive into some of these issues visit psymposia.com/powertrip.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

8. Who Am I Fooling?

We dig into the billionaire and ex-spy’s bromance and business partnership – which means a detour into the world of spies for hire. The rich cozy up with former intelligence personnel and try to, for better or worse, carry out missions the government can’t seem to do on its own. We are guided by a powerful female ex-spy who was in Matt and Mike’s circle and who explains, “it’s all about the size of your freaking penis. It’s true!”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

3. Mission Creep

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