Deep Cover Presents: Snowball – Episode 1: "The Girl With the Dragonfly Tattoo"

Podcast: Deep Cover (Pushkin Industries)
Episode Date: November 3, 2025
Host and Narrator: Ollie Wards

Main Theme and Purpose

In this first episode of Snowball, Ollie Wards embarks on a deeply personal investigation into how his family was drawn into the orbit of a charming yet mysterious Californian woman, Leslie Manookian, and ultimately lost everything. As Ollie and his family members recount their mesmerizing, confusing, and disastrous experiences, the episode lays out a web of intrigue and deception that spans continents, blending true crime with familial drama and Kiwi humor.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Wedding and First Impressions (02:59 – 05:30)

• Ollie recalls serving as MC at his brother Greg’s wedding to Leslie and feeling uneasy despite her charisma.
• Early warning signs and the sense that "some things just didn’t add up.”
• Phil (Friend): “This woman's a bit kind of like, you know, not what she claims to be.” (03:57)
• Julie (Mother): Notes Leslie’s vivacious, exotic appearance. (04:01)
• Greg (Brother): Reflects on feeling he truly knew Leslie when marrying her. (04:08)

2. Financial Ruin: The Snowball Strikes (04:38 – 06:33)

• The Wards’ suspicion coalesces when a man arrives at their New Zealand café to announce they are being liquidated.
• David (Father): “I almost fainted. I went blank. I could feel the draining of blood from my face.” (05:07)
• The shock of realizing they’d lost their life savings and their home. (06:00)
• Julie (Mother): “He’d stepped to one side and he came to me and he looked absolutely dreadful, utterly drained.” (05:32)

3. Ollie Decides to Investigate (06:33 – 07:58)

• Ollie, living abroad during the chaos, returns home feeling guilty and compelled to unpack how his family became victims.
• The bizarre and sometimes darkly humorous elements of Leslie’s con come to light.

4. Who Is Leslie Manookian? The Woman of a Thousand Stories (09:06 – 15:09)

• Greg: Kiwi, keen on America, meets Leslie at a party in London during his OE (overseas experience).
• Leslie captivates Greg and his friends with elaborate tales:
  • Claims of escaping dangerous enemies in Hawaii, being sent to Europe by her wealthy parents.
  • Describes herself as a trust-fund kid, daughter of an army tank dealer.
  • Stories become more convoluted, with details shifting over time.
• Greg: “There was a US passport, but there was other documentation with different birthdays.” (29:01)
• Ollie: Perplexed by how Leslie’s narrative kept shifting—“Every answer seems to sprout more bizarre limbs.” (28:12)

5. Leslie’s Allure and Influence (15:09 – 19:12)

• Phil (Bar Owner): “Vivacious, bubbly…she knew how to sort of work people.” (15:13)
• Leslie impresses everyone by treating friends to drinks and gifts, using bar tabs and a charm offensive.
• Greg: “I became, you know, the backpacker in one of the world’s financial capitals getting beer rained on me.” (16:05)
• Leslie and Greg’s relationship escalates quickly—from moving in together to a proposal at Disneyland Paris on Christmas Day.

6. The American Fantasy vs. Reality (22:09 – 24:28)

• Greg and Leslie visit her “middle class” family in Orange County—not the “Laguna Beach mansion” he expected.
• Awkward and strict family dynamics; even married, the couple must sleep in separate rooms due to her conservative parents.

7. Contradictions and Red Flags (26:24 – 30:17)

• Leslie’s background begins to unravel:
  • No tangible trust fund, father built water tanks for the army.
  • Adoption stories and a mysterious Armenian heritage.
  • Multiple birth dates, dual passports.
  • Increasingly “enigma”-like, with every question answered by more confusion.
• Greg: “Eventually you actually just kind of give up asking and accept some of it and live in the moment and move on.” (27:48)

8. Leslie's Impact on the Wards Family (33:09 – 35:49)

• Leslie wins over Greg’s friends with generosity—alcohol, gifts, and wild nights.
• Julie (Mother): “She was rather lovely…bubbly, very yah yah American.” (34:29)
• Mum describes being swept up in Leslie’s daily plans and relentless energy.

9. The Dragonfly Café: The Key to the Con (35:49 – 40:06)

• Leslie finds the Dragonfly Café—a “sign” because of her dragonfly tattoo—and persuades the family to back her in buying the business and house worth over a million dollars.
• The Wards guarantee the loan based on Leslie’s presented documents and her convincing persona.
• David (Father): “You stick your neck out and it'll pay off. So we guaranteed a loan, a 100% loan to purchase $1.5 million worth of property and business.” (39:36)

10. The Wedding (“The Event”) (44:40 – 47:47)

• The wedding in New Zealand is a massive affair—yet Leslie brings no friends or family beyond her parents.
• Family and guests find Betty and Andrew (Leslie’s parents) especially cold and detached, calling into question their authenticity.
• Simon (Brother): “To this day, I have no idea if that’s her parents. No idea. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s not.” (47:38)

11. Escalating Doubt and Early Signs of Fraud (48:00 – 50:45)

• Stories of Leslie doctoring documents (e.g., using “twink” to erase her DUIs off her US driving record).
• Issues at the café: unpaid suppliers, disappearing money, and Leslie’s sudden absence.
• Greg: “I couldn't ever get to the bottom of anything…The more it happens, the more angry she got at me, the more frustrated I got, and that became a real strain.” (50:45)
• David: “We weren't actually owners of the business, we weren't signatories to anything. Even Greg wasn't able to find out a lot of stuff.” (51:11)

12. The Disappearance (52:54 – 54:08)

• Suspecting he’ll never unlock the truth while Leslie is around, Greg encourages her to visit America—which she does, never to return.
• The parting words: Leslie to Greg: "Greg, the Snowball is about to hit you." (54:08)

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Ollie Wards: “It wasn’t just my brother’s marriage that fell apart. My whole family went down with it and none of us ever saw her again.” (03:49)
• Julie (Mother): “The sign was that she had a big dragonfly tattooed across her back.” (35:38)
• Phil (Friend): “She was very vivacious, bubbly, kind of effervescent personality, bubbly Californian type manner. You know, she was kind of quite engaging, very chatty…she knew how to sort of work people.” (15:13)
• Greg (Brother): “Look, Ollie, the whole thing is the entire time I was in Europe, I was on a bit of a cloud nine anyway, and it had been a great year, it was romantic, it was snowing, everything was cool and I thought this is the right thing to do.” (18:51)
• Simon (Brother): “Honestly, like to this day I have no idea if that’s her parents. No idea. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s not.” (47:38)
• Greg (Brother): “She would block us learning about what the reality was…I told her to go and see her parents and…that was the only way.” (52:17)
• Leslie Manookian (reported by Greg): “Greg, the Snowball is about to hit you.” (54:08)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:59 Ollie reflects on the wedding and early doubts about Leslie.
• 04:38 The devastating moment the Wards learn they’ve lost everything.
• 06:33 Ollie decides to investigate his family’s downfall.
• 11:13 Greg meets Leslie in London.
• 13:00 – 14:41 Leslie’s elaborate escape-from-Hawaii story.
• 15:13 First-hand impressions from London friends.
• 18:15 – 19:12 Proposal at Disneyland Paris.
• 22:09 Greg’s first trip to the US and meeting Leslie’s parents.
• 35:49 The Dragonfly Café “sign” and family investment.
• 39:36 The family guarantees the high-risk loan.
• 44:40 The wedding, aka “the Event,” and the oddness of Leslie’s “parents.”
• 48:00 Leslie caught doctoring documents.
• 50:45 The café’s financial disarray.
• 52:54 Greg’s plan to send Leslie away, and her menacing parting shot.
• 54:08 End of episode; the “Snowball” is set in motion.

Tone & Style

The episode is delivered with a blend of dry Kiwi wit, familial warmth, and sobering retrospection. Ollie’s narration carries both the incredulity and pain of someone piecing together a personal catastrophe, while family members contribute humor and candor, making the complex story relatable and vivid.

Summary

The first episode of Snowball introduces listeners to the Wards family’s ordeal with Leslie Manookian—a woman whose charisma and ever-shifting stories captivated and ultimately devastated them. Through intimate interviews and Ollie’s wry observations, the episode paints a picture of trust misplaced, red flags overlooked, and the slow, devastating "snowball" of consequences set rolling by a master manipulator. Ollie sets out to answer the burning questions: Who is Leslie, how did she execute such an audacious con, and where did she go?

Stay tuned for Episode 2, where Ollie begins to untangle the fallout and trace Leslie’s mysterious past.