TikTok: The Lifeline for Small Businesses in 2025 | Tiffany Cianci DSH #1138

Summary

Digital Social Hour: TikTok—The Lifeline for Small Businesses in 2025

Host: Sean Kelly
Guest: Tiffany Cianci
Episode: DSH #1138
Release Date: January 24, 2025

In this compelling episode of Digital Social Hour, host Sean Kelly engages in an in-depth conversation with Tiffany Cianci, a prominent advocate for small businesses and a vocal critic of corporate exploitation and regulatory capture. Together, they explore the pivotal role TikTok plays in sustaining small businesses in 2025, while delving into broader systemic issues affecting the American economy.

---

1. Introduction to Tiffany Cianci’s Advocacy

Tiffany Cianci opens the discussion by sharing her intense schedule leading up to her appearance in Washington, D.C., revealing the depth of her commitment to addressing critical issues faced by small businesses.

Tiffany Cianci [02:03]: "It's going to be an insane two days for me, but it's been an insane four days leading up to it too."

She highlights the volume of interviews she conducted in preparation, emphasizing her dedication to the cause.

---

2. The Crucial Role of TikTok for Small Businesses

A significant portion of the conversation centers on TikTok’s importance as a revenue generator and a platform for small businesses amidst challenges posed by larger corporations and restrictive algorithms on other social media platforms.

Tiffany Cianci [03:54]: "7.1 million small businesses in America generate all of their sales on TikTok. 700,000 employees in America rely on TikTok. So we are one of their largest money producers, but we're not the largest user base."

Cianci explains how TikTok serves as a lifeline for these businesses, enabling them to thrive despite the adversities imposed by platforms like Meta and Google, which often prioritize large corporations and require paid advertisements for visibility.

Tiffany Cianci [28:16]: "Blackstone is buying up as much as 44% of the houses in some markets right now. And it's really, really nefarious because what they're doing is they're buying up and holding them. They'll buy entire communities and they turn them into rental-only communities."

---

3. Data Privacy and TikTok’s Security Measures

Addressing concerns about national security and data privacy, Cianci defends TikTok’s commitment to protecting user data through initiatives like Project Texas.

Tiffany Cianci [02:15]: "Every single creator I know wanted an actual data privacy protection bill. Even TikTok advocated for a full data security protection bill because in Project Texas they've already secured our data."

She challenges misconceptions about TikTok’s security, noting the platform’s robust measures to prevent account hacking, contrasting it with vulnerabilities in other social media platforms.

Tiffany Cianci [31:17]: "Have you ever had a friend whose TikTok account was hacked? I have, I have a friend whose TikTok account was hacked."

---

4. Exposing Private Equity Exploitation

Cianci provides a scathing critique of private equity firms, outlining their predatory tactics that undermine small businesses and exploit both entrepreneurs and consumers.

Tiffany Cianci [12:17]: "Private equity firms are destroying small businesses in America. They manipulated all of their federal filing documents so people thought that their finances were better than they were and that their sales of new franchises were better than they were."

She shares personal experiences of facing legal battles instigated by these firms, emphasizing the systemic issues that allow such exploitation to persist.

Tiffany Cianci [47:36]: "They sent six letters to the New York Times saying I was running a drug trafficking ring at my baby gym. They sent those letters right before our article was supposed to come out to delay the publication and protect their interests."

---

5. The Dark Side of Arbitration Clauses

A recurring theme is the misuse of arbitration clauses by large corporations to evade accountability and limit the legal recourse available to affected individuals.

Tiffany Cianci [20:43]: "They included a forced arbitration clause where they can include a non-disparagement agreement or an NDA and a confidentiality agreement. So if kids are falling off trampoline parks... they're forced into a secret arbitration so there's no court documents anyone can find."

Cianci illustrates how these clauses are strategically embedded across various products and services, effectively silencing victims and preventing collective legal actions.

---

6. Regulatory Capture and Corporate Influence

The discussion delves into the pervasive influence of major financial institutions like BlackRock and State Street, highlighting their control over federal pensions and the resulting regulatory capture that hampers effective oversight.

Tiffany Cianci [41:14]: "81% of every single federal pension and 401k and investment in America... is invested with BlackRock. And the other 19% is invested with State Street."

She argues that this entanglement ensures that regulators cannot take necessary actions against these powerful entities, thereby perpetuating a cycle of exploitation and market manipulation.

---

7. Impact on the American Dream and Economy

Cianci passionately discusses how current economic practices have eroded the American Dream, making it increasingly difficult for individuals to achieve financial stability and for small businesses to survive without succumbing to corporate pressures.

Tiffany Cianci [30:08]: "They're the only ones still employing anybody and creating jobs. I'd rather they kept doing that instead of giving money to corporations that already have too much."

She emphasizes the vital role small businesses play in the economy and how platforms like TikTok empower them to maintain their livelihoods amidst an increasingly monopolistic market landscape.

---

8. Personal Struggles and Legal Battles

Tiffany candidly shares her personal ordeal with litigation initiated by adversarial private equity firms, shedding light on the personal costs of advocating against entrenched corporate interests.

Tiffany Cianci [49:16]: "The company that I'm fighting with has lost. And like, people ask me what a win looks like at this point because I'm still in Court with them every day."

Her narrative underscores the broader systemic challenges faced by whistleblowers and advocates working to expose corporate malpractices.

---

9. Call to Action: Voting and Public Awareness

In the concluding segments, Cianci urges listeners to engage actively in the democratic process by voting out corrupted incumbents and supporting candidates who prioritize transparency and accountability.

Tiffany Cianci [43:24]: "The only way to change this is to stop re-electing them. That's it. We have to take back our elections."

She highlights the importance of public participation in elections to dismantle the established structures that favor corporate over individual interests.

---

Notable Quotes

• Tiffany Cianci [03:54]: "7.1 million small businesses in America generate all of their sales on TikTok."
• Tiffany Cianci [12:17]: "Private equity firms are destroying small businesses in America."
• Tiffany Cianci [20:43]: "They're forced into a secret arbitration so there's no court documents anyone can find."
• Tiffany Cianci [41:14]: "81% of every single federal pension and 401k and investment in America... is invested with BlackRock."
• Tiffany Cianci [43:24]: "The only way to change this is to stop re-electing them."

---

Conclusion

This episode of Digital Social Hour offers a deep dive into the symbiotic relationship between social media platforms like TikTok and the survival of small businesses in the modern economy. Through Tiffany Cianci’s fervent advocacy and firsthand experiences, listeners gain a nuanced understanding of the challenges posed by private equity exploitation, regulatory capture, and the erosion of the American Dream. The conversation serves as both a wake-up call and a rallying cry for individuals to support small businesses and demand greater transparency and accountability from corporate and governmental institutions.

---

Listen to the full episode on Digital Social Hour.

Transcript

[NerdWallet Sponsor]

Nerds listeners as we go into a new year, we all have a lot on our plates. There are backpacking trips across Europe to plan, personal best to crush in the gym, and capsule wardrobes to create Good thing. Our sponsor, NerdWallet is here to take one thing off your plate. Finding the best financial products introducing NerdWallet's 2025 Best of Awards List your shortcut to the best credit cards, savings accounts and more. The nerds have done the work for you. Researching and reviewing over 1100 financial products bring you only the best of the best. Looking for a balance transfer credit card with 0% APR? They've got a winner for that. Or a bank account with a top rate to hit your savings goals? They've got a winner for that too. Know you're getting the best products for you without doing all the research yourself. So let NerdWallet do the heavy lifting for your finances this year and head over to their 2025 Best of Awards at NerdWallet.com awards to find the best financial products today at T Mobile, we'll.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Give you four free 5G phones and four lines for only $25 per line per month with eligible trade ins. And no, it's not a contest. It's every day. For a limited time, everyone's a winner on America's largest 5G network.

Minimum of 4 lines for $25 per line per month with autopay discount using debit or bank account. $5 more per line without autopay. Up to $830 off each phone via 24 monthly bill credits plus taxes, fees and $10 device connection charge. Well, qualified customers contact us before canceling entire account to continue build credits or credit stop and balance on required finance agreement to bill credits and if you pay UP devices early ct mobile.com TikTok.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Like I said, small businesses are growing and thriving there. People think that TikTok was shut down because of national security. Every single creator I know wanted an actual data privacy protection bill. Even TikTok advocated for a full data security protection bill because in Project Texas they've already secured our data. I challenge you to ask any friend, have you ever had a friend whose TikTok account was hacked?

[Podcast Host]

All right guys, Tiffany C onc here we are in DC, about to be a busy two days for you, right?

[Tiffany Cianci]

It's going to be an insane two days for me, but it's been an insane four days leading up to it too.

[Podcast Host]

You did like 50 interviews leading up to this.

[Tiffany Cianci]

I'm at I think 46 right now, and I. No, no, I just had the AP in the car on the ride over. So 47.

[Podcast Host]

You did one on the way over.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yep.

[Podcast Host]

That is savage. So what's. What's the story that everyone wants to hear about.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Everybody wants to hear about saving TikTok. What's going to happen to TikTok if Trump's going to negotiate the deal to keep TikTok in the long term? That's all I've been working on.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. And you're feeling we're filming this on Saturday, right? Or is it Sunday?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Today is Sunday.

[Podcast Host]

Sunday the 19th. So for people watching, this will be after whatever happens. But what are your predictions for TikTok?

[Tiffany Cianci]

So we already know that Trump's going to turn it back in on on Monday. He's asking the companies to turn it back on today. I don't think they'll be able to. I think Biden would have had to issue a statement. But we will be back on by tomorrow, I believe. And in addition to being back on by tomorrow, he made an announcement today that he wants to see a negotiating divestment where Americans hold 50%. I probably should tell him we already do. So we're there, guys. Awesome.

[Podcast Host]

Wait, Americans already own 50%? I didn't know that because you got guys like Mr. Beast and Kevin O'Leary trying to buy.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah, they're trying to buy it without the algorithm. They're trying to do, like, a full buy. And he's saying he only wants Americans to have to own 50%. He's not asking for a full divestment.

[Podcast Host]

Interesting.

[Tiffany Cianci]

In that case, I've always projected that we would probably end up with the Chinese owners giving up, like, 3 to 5% and, like, slightly larger ownership stake coming from Americans, and that we could save it there with a sufficient divestment team.

[Podcast Host]

Because the US has to be one of their largest user bases. Right?

[Tiffany Cianci]

We're actually not the largest users, but we generate a lot of the income. TikTok shop here generates a lot of sales. 7.1 million small businesses in America generate all of their sales on TikTok. 700,000 employees in America rely on TikTok. So we are one of their largest money producers, but we're not the largest user base.

[Podcast Host]

Got it. Who is?

[Tiffany Cianci]

It's actually like a amalgamation of a lot of Asian countries and some of Europe, but we represent like, 10 to 16%.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, that's it?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Wow. I assumed it was way higher than that.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah. No.

[Podcast Host]

Interesting.

[Tiffany Cianci]

That's why there's no reason for them to sell to Us.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. And why do you choose to use it? Because I know you get a ton of viewers on TikTok, right?

[Tiffany Cianci]

I do, I do. I don't have like a million followers. I have 250,000 followers, but my videos average, you know, 6 to 10 million views on my big videos, my educational videos and my live streams are 500,000, 700,000 people.

[Podcast Host]

That's insane.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Well, I focus on content that's all about exposing corporate capture of our government, corruption, monopolies, destroying small business businesses. It's not exciting. Like, it's not fun content, but it's really important content.

[Podcast Host]

It's needed. Right?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Someone like you, someone that can div. That information uncensored. Because if you did that on other platforms, let's be honest, a lot of that would get censored. Other than X, Ian Carroll does a.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Lot of content that early on was very similar to some of what I do. And he's suffered a lot of censorship on all of the other platforms. He and I are really good friends and, and when we talk about the censorship and other platforms, it's just off the charts. That's why we focus on. I know he likes X a lot. I do some on X, but really I focus on TikTok. And he loves TikTok.

[Podcast Host]

He just had the biggest ratio of all time.

[Tiffany Cianci]

He really did. I was in there, I was doing the work.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, what was it, 2 million likes on that one reply?

[Tiffany Cianci]

On that one reply to Elon. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

That's crazy. And Elon didn't address the reply, right?

[Tiffany Cianci]

No, but I really hope it opens a conversation that's really needed in our government right now.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, I mean, he, he seems very logical. So I'm sure if he actually dives into stuff still changed some of his stances.

[Tiffany Cianci]

And a lot of people assume that, that Ian is some kind of a. Just a know it all or conspiracy theorist. Ian's a history teacher.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, wow.

[Tiffany Cianci]

He's a US History teacher and he taught children history classes in a very nonpartisan way. I've seen his lesson planning. It was really amazing. He gave up teaching to do this because he said he needed to teach everyone. And he's, he's amazing.

[Podcast Host]

Do you get labeled that a lot like a conspiracy theorist?

[Tiffany Cianci]

No, no, I, I get told a lot that I'll never have any sponsors.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, because you go after the big companies.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Well, people offer me brand deals all the time and I send them over like a three page questionnaire on who their investors are, whether they've taken investments from private equity, whether they're still founder operated. If they have any offers out right now trying to seek more investment and very few ever send those back.

[Podcast Host]

I could. So from an entrepreneurial business point of view, I could see why. You know, that's a lot of information, it really is.

[Tiffany Cianci]

But I can't put my name to something that's destroying something. Small businesses in America are 99.9% of all businesses.

[NerdWallet Sponsor]

They also create 99 listeners as we go into a new year, we all have a lot on our plates. There are backpacking trips across Europe to plan, personal best to crush in the gym, and capsule wardrobes to create good thing. Our sponsor NerdWallet is here to take one thing off your plate. Finding the best financial products introducing NerdWallet's 2025 Best of Awards List your shortcut to the best credit cards, savings accounts and more. The nerds have done the work for you, researching and reviewing over 1100 financial products to bring you only the best of the best. Looking for a balance transfer credit card with 0% APR? They've got a winner for that. Or a bank account with a top rate to hit your savings goals? They've got a winner for that too. Know you're getting the best products for you without doing all the research yourself. So let NerdWallet do the heavy lifting for your finances this year and head over to their 2025 Best of Awards at NerdWallet.com awards to find the best financial products today.

[T-Mobile Representative]

If you have a locked AT&T phone, we're here with bolt cutters. T Mobile will help pay off your locked phone and give you a new 5G phone for free. All on America's largest 5G network. Visit t mobile.com carrierfreedom via virtual prepaid.

MasterCard in 15 days. Free phone up to 830 via 24 monthly bill credits plus tax and a $10 device connection charge. Qualifying port and trade in service on Go5G next and credit required. Contact us before canceling entire account to continue bill credits or credit stop and balance on required finance agreements Deal bill credits and if you pay off devices early.

[Podcast Host]

If starting the new year off with a fast feels a little daunting, you're not alone. Shout out to today's sponsor, Prolon. They're an entire community of individuals that want you to make meaningful differences in in health and it makes fasting so powerful because you have a group of people around you. I'm joining their January Fasting Challenge which is a coach led program to set you up for fasting Success. It's a five day program. It's filled with snacks, soups and beverages that are designed to keep your body in a fasting state with no guesswork or planning required. Got the boxes laid out right here so you guys can check it out. It's also great for so many things. It enhances your skin, it enhances fat loss, and it improves your energy. All their meals are prepackaged. Like I said, no guesswork. And it's perfect for after the holiday season where you stocked up on a lot of heavy meals. If you're Ready to make 2025 your healthiest year yet, you can order your Prolon 5 Day Kit at prolon.comDSH and join in on their fasting challenge today. New groups start every Sunday in January. Plus Prolon is offering digital social hour listeners 15% off their five day program. When you go to prolon.com dsh that's prolon.com/dsh.

[Tiffany Cianci]

The jobs in America.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Tiffany Cianci]

And nobody knows that. Nobody realizes that ratio.

[Podcast Host]

I did not know that.

[Tiffany Cianci]

It's because big corporations are really good at finding efficiency to make money and amazingly good at exploiting labor to do it with less and less people. And so over the last 20 years, big business has eliminated jobs and increased their profitability while small businesses have created all the jobs. Literally all of them. But they're the ones that get no play in Congress because they can't afford to fight there.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. You are not a fan of H1B visas?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Well, you know, honestly, if they're coming over to serve in small businesses and not just to go into the big corporate entities, I wouldn't be as opposed. But if they're just coming over to help monopolists not give jobs to Americans, then that would be a problem for me. It's a really nuanced conversation.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah, I'm all about small businesses. I mean, the pandemic was probably the biggest destruction of small businesses.

[Tiffany Cianci]

It destroyed millions. In the 505ish days of pandemic closures that happened in the United States, 551 new billionaires were created.

[Podcast Host]

Whoa.

[Tiffany Cianci]

551. While at the same time millions of small businesses went out of business permanently. And you know where most of those small businesses went to rebuild new businesses? TikTok.

[Podcast Host]

Really?

[Tiffany Cianci]

And now they're being closed down.

[Podcast Host]

That's a shame.

[Tiffany Cianci]

They're suffering twice.

[Podcast Host]

That's a shame. So 551 new billionaires. I wonder what industries a majority of them are.

[Tiffany Cianci]

So many of them were exploiting PPP Loans to grow user bases by offering products people didn't need, offering services to help people survive the pandemic. We saw tons of billionaires created for the pop up drive through clinics and testing facilities. We saw a lot of exploitative child care centers that weren't actually serving children but were getting lots of money. We saw so many different mechanisms that were created to just extract revenue, wealth and taxpayer dollars from our economy and none of it went where we needed it.

[Podcast Host]

Absolutely. Now, as someone who I'm getting pitched to like, like raise money now for the podcast. Can you expose some of these private equity firms, like their tactics, their predatory tactics that they use to small businesses?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah. I'll give you an example because a podcast kind of maybe more closely aligns with name, image, likeness in sports. So many young athletes that are like NCAA athletes are right now for the first time getting access to name, image, likeness, brand deals. And on day one, when they turn 18, because they're not allowed to be approached before that without a parent present, they're getting sent over offers for like a million dollars. They're like, and these are kids that come from the streets, kids that come from, from at risk neighborhoods that have fought, scrounged, fought to get out and build something for their families, to build something for their communities. And that looks like more money than they'll ever see in their life. But in those offers they're getting, they are so exploitative. It basically creates indentured servitude for the rest of their life because it basically says that they get to keep sometimes 60, 70% of every dollar they make for the rest of their careers. And they're handing those over on day one. Private equity firms are going in and buying up small businesses in mass. They did this especially during the pandemic when they were suffering. They'd offer them a cash infusion and say, we'll take a minority stake. And they would quietly, on the back end, also offer money to one other investor saying they were taking a minority stake that would accumulatively allow for like a hostile takeover and then they would force everyone out and exploit the small businesses.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, that is a fear of mine because I do want to do like what Rogan did kind of, and sell one day. But at the same time, like you said, gotta be the right person because there is a show called Hot Ones. Did you know that show?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And they sold to their saying, George Soros's group.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah. So it's really important that when you're negotiating, you consider your intellectual property and the value of what your name means for the rest of your life. When you're thinking about who's going to own it, you have to think about what their ultimate goals are. And when you negotiate for every podcaster out there that's looking to you to set an example for them, when you're negotiating to sell your name, you're not negotiating with the person sitting across from you. They could be your brother. They could be the person you feel like the most kindred spirit you've ever negotiated with in your life. And you better assume that the person you're actually negotiating with is the monster that's going to buy it from them. You need to picture the worst possible human that could own your podcast and decide if it's worth it.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Because somebody else is going to buy it in two to three years. If it's private equity, they turn all of their investments over every couple years so you're not with them for the long haul. They might convince you and get you in and butter you up, and things might be okay for a year or two, but when that fund closes out, they're going to hand you off to a different firm and you have no say.

[Podcast Host]

That's so good to know. Because people don't think about that when they sell a business. Right?

[Tiffany Cianci]

That's what's happening to all of the small business brands in America. Like all the franchises right now. There are, like, private equity firms that have done good. There was a private equity firm that saved Tropical Smoothie Cafe. People would think, oh, so they do good? Well, their fund had to close out and they just had to hand them off. And they handed them off to one of the darkest private equity firms in the United States. Their franchisees are terrified they're going to lose everything.

[Podcast Host]

When you say darkest, what qualifies that as darkest?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Blackstone Carlyle Group. These are dark private equity firms that will stop at nothing to exploit money. And these are small business owners whose lives are on the line right now. Roark Capital just bought Subway, right? They bought subway in an $8.9 billion deal, and all of their franchisees were immediately told they all had to renovate. Well, first of all, Subway franchisees were failing. They have the largest default rate of any sub chain in the United States on their loans to the sba. So they were already failing under bad leadership. Then Roark Capital came in. Well, first of all, they already own Jimmy John's, they already own three other sub chains and Arby's. So they have the competitors in house. So immediately they'll unify all the suppliers. And they say, you can't use that anymore. But, like, sign these new agreements. Then they'll raise the prices so the franchisees are paying more and Roark is taking a percentage. And they'll say, oh, we need to renovate. You'll do better if we renovate. So you guys need to take out loans for $120,000. We'll give you the loans at an X, like an inflated interest rate. As they do that, then they'll say, these are the people you have to buy all the renovations from. And they don't tell them they're getting a 13% kickback on the back end.

[Podcast Host]

Whoa.

[Tiffany Cianci]

They could have made that cost way lower for their franchisees. But for a lot of these private equity franchise owners, they have a saying, you're not doing it right if your hand is not in the pocket of your franchisee. 13 to 60 different ways. I've heard that at franchise conferences, in real time, standing on the stage, I've heard it.

[Podcast Host]

You said 13 to 16.

[Tiffany Cianci]

13 to 60.

[Podcast Host]

60.

[Tiffany Cianci]

13 to 60. And that's because there are certain franchises you can't squeeze as much, and certain franchises you can squeeze everywhere. But 60% after that, the FTC will come down on you.

[Podcast Host]

That is so scary because you think they just make money off the sale and you think it's like a fee or whatever, but you're saying, 13 ways they're making money off you.

[Tiffany Cianci]

So a lot of people don't know that. I started my TikTok channel because I owned a franchise and a private equity firm took us over, and I was the president of our union when it happened. And what's happened to that franchise since then is that they are currently in litigation with hundreds of their franchisees.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Tiffany Cianci]

They're being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission for exploiting and retaliating against their franchisees. The DOJ has subpoenaed documents in their dealings with their franchisees. They have bankrupted dozens of veterans that bought franchisees under them with fraudulent paperwork.

[Podcast Host]

Terrible.

[Tiffany Cianci]

They manipulated all of their federal filing documents so people thought that their finances were better than they were and that their sales of new franchises were better than they were. And these people took out loans from the government to buy those franchises. Private equity firms are destroying small businesses in America.

[Podcast Host]

Have you gone public with that company or no?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah, I. It's Unleashed Brands.

[Podcast Host]

Unleashed Brands.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Unleashed Brands. I am currently testifying against them in several cases across the United States. One of them is really horrifying. It's a case that is not even with a franchisee. It's with one of their customers, a seven year old girl named Mia who fell off of a zip line at their urban air trampoline parks in Ahwatuki, Arizona. She thought she was the only one, but she didn't know dozens of people were falling off their ziplines all across the United States. Well, during my case, a whistleblower came to me and he said, hey, I want you to know we fought to try to save you, but we failed. And he sent me all of these documents that were from a second legal case that had been sealed and they'd spent millions of dollars to seal it so no one see the documents from it. In those documents, there was a letter that said that the safety company for urban air franchises had gone to the CEO and said, you cannot pull the harness checkers on these zip lines because kids will get injured, they will die. And the CEO or their team at the CEO headquarters overruled them. And just weeks later, Mia fell. But it was happening in trampoline parks all over the United States. Right. And what happens is when you go to a trampoline park for a birthday party, you sign your kid in at the front, right? Yeah, you do the iPad. You don't realize there's 90 pages of legal documents under that. And they included a forced arbitration clause where they can include a non disparagement agreement or an NDA and a confidentiality agreement. So if kids are falling off trampoline parks all across the United States, one, they're not allowed to go public because they can get sued. Two, they are forced into a secret arbitration so there's no court documents anyone can find. Three, they can't work with each other, so they can't unify to sue these companies. And in arbitrations, their damages are kept. So a child's life is maybe worth $250,000, whereas in a courtroom it might be a hundred million. And all these kids are falling off trampoline, like falling off these zip lines. A mom was internally decapitated at her son's seventh birthday at one of these trampoline parks.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, my gosh.

[Tiffany Cianci]

And when they were producing documents in these cases, none of them produced the documents that showed that the CEO knew it was going to happen. But I got them and I turned them over to all the lawyers. Well, that's the difference between simple negligence and wanton disregard for human life. That's the difference between a bankrupt company and something. That's the cost of doing business.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Tiffany Cianci]

And so all of these tactics, these Private equity companies employ are designed to ensure the free market never sees the bad behavior. The public never responds. They can continue to exploit the American population and the small business owners. And so they're not just exploiting small business owners, they're also exploiting the customer base. They're also exploiting the American population that believes that there's safety in these institutions because they don't see anything on the news.

[Podcast Host]

That is so nuts. I am learning so much. I did not know secret arbitration was a thing so that a lot of big companies probably use that.

[Tiffany Cianci]

You have a phone that's an iPhone.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Tiffany Cianci]

How many apps would you say you have on your iPhone right now?

[Podcast Host]

Gotta be 100 because I have like five pages.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Do you have UberEats?

[Podcast Host]

I have Postmates. Yeah.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Postmates. Okay. So one of my biggest videos I've had on every platform was a video where a woman was in the back of an Uber with her family. And the Uber driver ran a red light, they got T boned, their livelihood was destroyed. Doctors, lawyers in the car, they gave up their jobs for years trying to recover, get their bones repaired. And they went and they tried to sue Uber because the driver wasn't properly vetted.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Uber argued in court that they weren't entitled to go to court with Uber because years earlier their 12 year old daughter had ordered a pizza on Uber Eats. A different company, a different app. And in the terms and conditions clicking Uber Eats, she had signed an arbitration agreement for Uber Eats and they argued that it should expand to Uber, which is a totally different risk mechanism. It's like ordering a pizza poses you very little risk. Getting in someone's car is very different.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Tiffany Cianci]

They want in court.

[Podcast Host]

No way.

[Tiffany Cianci]

They want in court and Uber does not have to go to court with those people. Now.

[Podcast Host]

Whoa, That's a really good thing to know because everyone takes Ubers and if people get. I've been in an Uber accident, actually, my car got hit when I was in it. So if I use Uber Eats, I couldn't sue them for that.

[Tiffany Cianci]

They could argue that and they would succeed. They just did. There was another case very recently that was very ugly in the press. A man and a woman went to Disneyland, Disney World, and they had marked on all of their information that she was very allergic to something anaphylactically. And it was in their magic bands, it was in all the restaurant reservations. It was confirmed multiple times. They did everything right. And she went to a restaurant and they served her what she was allergic to and she died. No, they went to sue Disney for failing to take the proper care that's necessary when they did all of the right things to protect her, including at the restaurant that day.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Tiffany Cianci]

And Disney argued in court that because two years prior, three years prior, they had signed up for a two week trial of Disney plus to watch a movie, that they weren't entitled to take them to court because they had an arbitration agreement in the Disney Plus. Now, first of all, one is going to a theme park and putting your life on a roller coaster.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Tiffany Cianci]

The other is literally watching a movie in your living room. Very different risks. And they argued in court that basically they weren't entitled to go to court because they watched a movie two years ago. Never even signed up for the service, just the trial.

[Podcast Host]

That is so scary because a lot of these big companies obviously have apps these days.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

All sorts of apps. So they could all be just bundling that in.

[Tiffany Cianci]

It's worse. You want to buy a washer and dryer?

[Podcast Host]

Buy a washer.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Buy washer and dryer.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, buy.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Just go to Best Buy a washer and dryer for your house. New. You don't see anything before you buy it. The boxes get delivered.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Tiffany Cianci]

When you take out the warranty paperwork and you plug it in, there's something in the warranty paperwork that will say you are now tied to an arbitration agreement. And then by plugging in this washer, you forfeited your rights to a trial. If we burned down your house White. I'm not kidding.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, my gosh. Even if you have insurance like home.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Insurance, your home insurance might try to sue them, but they're going to get forced into arbitration. Your home insurance shouldn't have to cover something. If there's a defect and a product like the defect should be responsible, then the liability insurance with that corporation should be responsible for that defect. But unfortunately, we just see over and over again that arbitration has taken over the court systems. The Supreme Court keeps upholding it and expanding what was a good law when it began into something that is nefarious and exploited by mega corporations.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Tiffany Cianci]

And that's why the American public keeps suffering and nobody knows the bad stuff is happening.

[Podcast Host]

No, this. I'm glad we're bringing light to this. This is so interesting to me because capitalism has its downfalls. Right?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Capitalism in a free market, capitalist society is probably the best mechanism we have on the planet. It doesn't exist here right now. We have a crony capitalist society that has been captured by private interests. Free market capitalism would require that all of this bad behavior was seen by the public. And we would wage boycotts and we would go and we would post bad reviews and we would tell everybody not to shop there. And they would change their mind. We would go to court and get a hundred million dollar verdict and they would change their behavior because that was not a cost of doing business. That was not worth the risk. And they would start spending the money to protect Americans. But when they don't have those risks, it is a cost of doing business. And the free market isn't responding. So we don't have a free market capitalist society right now. That's really a problem.

[Podcast Host]

That's why TikTok was so huge, right?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Well, it brought to light a lot of bad behavior. It brought to light the bad behavior that was happening with the companies I'm fighting. It brought to light the bad behavior that was happening at Uber Eats. It's where we saw the largest response to the Disney plus versus Disney arbitration. And we got them to withdraw it.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, really?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah. We put enough pressure on them that they withdraw the motion.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Tiffany Cianci]

And he got to go to court.

[Podcast Host]

Well done. That's impressive. Yeah, it's. It's like for the people. Because you get your so many views on TikTok. I mean, you get all these people standing up, signing. You saw the food petition banning Kellogg's.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yes.

[Podcast Host]

I got like 500, 000 signatures.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah, I was absolutely advocating for that. I think they did an amazing thing. But honestly, if people were able to sue in America and not get forced in arbitration with those companies, then we would already have done that. We would have accomplished that already. If our government weren't captured by those same lobbying dollars right now, we would have already achieved that.

[Podcast Host]

Interesting. So you can't directly sue these large companies.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Basically, it depends on the large company. But a lot of class actions are precluded by simply buying a product. And even if it's not the Fruit Loops, the same company that owned Fruit Loops might have owned the company you bought your washer and dryer from.

[Podcast Host]

They own everything. Yes, Kellogg's. They own everything.

[Tiffany Cianci]

So if you signed one arbitration agreement or one like class. Non class agreement, which means you can't fight with other people, then you're barred everywhere.

[Podcast Host]

Wow. Yeah. The ones that really get to me are the health ones. When people sacrifice consumer health for profits. I'm not a fan of that.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Our regulatory agencies, which. Bobby Kennedy talks about this a lot. He's been on my podcast a bunch of times. I've been on his podcast. He talks about this a lot right now at the fda. The same regulators that approve the drugs get royalties from the drugs.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Tiffany Cianci]

What. What possible reason would they have to deny anything?

[Podcast Host]

I did not know that. So the people at the FDA that are approving the drugs, they get royalties?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yep. And not just like, royalties this year. Royalties for life.

[Podcast Host]

That is nuts.

[Tiffany Cianci]

There's somebody that was involved with the, like the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, I don't remember which one. And they're guaranteed a hundred thousand dollars royalty every year for the rest of. As long as it's in use. Every booster, everything that follows, no matter what.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. They're on the fifth one now. Right. It's mind blowing at this point.

[Tiffany Cianci]

That's what I heard. I don't know personally.

[Podcast Host]

Think about how much they made off Ozempic.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah. When instead we could just remove poison from our food and maybe we could fix things.

[Podcast Host]

All right, well, we're on the right track. Food Red Food Diet just got banned. Right.

[Tiffany Cianci]

It's amazing how that happened. Right before his confirmation hearing.

[Podcast Host]

A lot of good stuff has been happening. Right.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Isn't that amazing?

[Podcast Host]

Crypto's been doing well.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Well, a lot of people are. A lot of people. A lot of lobbyists are fighting very hard to ban Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. From getting the HHS position.

[Podcast Host]

Really?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

I don't think they'll succeed.

[Tiffany Cianci]

I think that Trump's pretty committed. I think he's coming into office. First of all, I lobbied for Bobby to win because he helped bring to light what was happening to me and the other small business owners. It was really a personal decision why I voted for him, but I'm pretty open about that. I also was in Maryland where I had the luxury. Right. I could choose whoever I wanted, and I felt like he'd earned my trust and he'd earned my vote. But Trump's coming to office as a lame duck. He's coming in with no need to be reelected. He doesn't have to give anybody allegiance on anything. He can do everything he wants for the American people if he chooses to. Whether or not he chooses to stay the course, I do think he's going to try to build a legacy, and I think that's probably going to be part of it. So I think he'll probably go to the mat for Bobby, and I really hope he does. I hope he does it for Tulsi, too.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, I think he will. His word has been pretty solid lately.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

You know, you got to.

[Tiffany Cianci]

He's showing up for me right now.

[Podcast Host]

Showing up for you. He's repairing a lot of burned bridges I mean, if I were in his spot forgiving Zuck for banning him and losing the, pretty much losing the 20 election, you know, banning him, and he forgave him. So it takes a big person to do that.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Why does Mark Zuckerberg look like Dave Portnoy now?

[Podcast Host]

I think he had a really good PR team behind his rebrand, to be honest. Because he's going on these podcasts. He's looking like a normal person now.

[Tiffany Cianci]

He is one pizza review away from like, Portnoy. Sheen, Virginia.

[Podcast Host]

So you don't fully trust him, do you?

[Tiffany Cianci]

No, absolutely not. I don't trust Mark Zuckerberg as far as I could throw him. And I'm, you know, I'm not that strong. Yeah, I, I don't trust him because the way he exploits small businesses, dude.

[Podcast Host]

Facebook ads are so expensive now. I used to be able to run them and make money.

[Tiffany Cianci]

But I want you to think about what you just said, because that is why small businesses go to TikTok. Most people don't know that Facebook's algorithm is explicitly designed to, to not allow for organic growth. For any business profile you have to pay to play, you'll go in there and you'll think you've made the best, like, video you've ever made. And it goes there and you get a hundred views, 105 views. The same video that's getting 17 million views over on TikTok. The same thing happens when you go to Google and you go to YouTube and you're like, with a business portfolio or you're going under a business like organization as your header for your profile. And you'll make an amazing video and you know, people want to see it. You know, there's hunger for it, and it goes nowhere. And then they'll send you some emails and they'll say, it looks like you're struggling with your content. We can help you. And they get you to buy that first ad and Suddenly you get 80,000 views for that small business owner. And they say, I found my audience. And then you try to pull those ads and suddenly no one's watching again. You think people are going to follow you like it's the yellow Pages and they can find you, but can't. Right? When you look at how Google and Meta are designed, 99.9% of Meta's revenue, 98.7% of Google's revenue comes from adults.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Tiffany Cianci]

And so they're designed to exploit small businesses and they pit you bidding against monopolies that can afford whatever they want. But the monopolies get a 60% cut. That's an estimation. We don't know their exact negotiations. But you might be bidding $3.61 a like or a transfer to your website. That's, that's a common number. $3.61 for somebody alike. And Walmart might be paying 41 cents.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Okay. Because they're buying more of those likes, they're buying more of that access. And because the same investors that own Walmart also own Meta and they also own Google.

[Podcast Host]

Interesting.

[Tiffany Cianci]

BlackRock owns huge chunks of all of those. State street owns huge chunks of all of those. So small businesses cannot compete. They're up against monopolies and they have to pay for access to an audience. That's why when people talk to me about TikTok, they're like cat videos and I'm like the backbone of America's economy. Why did it take a foreign company inventing a product to bring the American dream back to America? It's because corporations destroyed it. American corporations captured our government and destroyed the American dream here. They made it so we can't afford housing. They made it so we can't afford to get a job. Because the jobs we get don't pay the bills. They made it so even if we try to get a job, there are ghost jobs online. Or you're going to get a job that's dead end that's not going to pay for what you need. And you can't pay your student loans back. Right. They took away the American dream. But TikTok has been giving it back. Or at least filling in some like stopgap as like a healing process for Americans that can't pay their bills. They might make $200 a month on TikTok. They might be in the affiliate program. They might be in the creator program. And they might get that extra $340 a month. And that might be the difference between choosing medicine and groceries this month.

[Podcast Host]

Yep. Yeah. Cause 62% of people are living paycheck to paycheck.

[Tiffany Cianci]

7.1 million small businesses rely on TikTok for most of their revenue.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Tiffany Cianci]

For most of their sales or most of their customer access. Because they can't get access on Meta or Google. They have denied them access to so that you have to pay for the accessor. And small businesses don't have the money. You don't have the resources.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Tiffany Cianci]

And they're the only ones still employing anybody and creating jobs. I'd rather they kept doing that instead of giving money to corporations that already have too much.

[Podcast Host]

Agreed. I got A buddy that does live shopping. He does sports cards. Have you seen those?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Oh, I love those, actually. I think they're really fun. My son likes the Pokemon cards ones.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, yeah, the Pokemon ones. But basically, like, he gets no views on Instagram or anywhere else, but on TikTok. He's doing $10 million a year off TikTok.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Like I said, small businesses are growing and thriving there. People think that TikTok was shut down because of national security. Every single creator I know wanted an actual data privacy protection bill. Even TikTok advocated for a full data security protection bill because in Project Texas, they've already secured our data. I challenge you to ask any friend, have you ever had A friend whose TikTok account was hacked?

[Podcast Host]

Hacked? Yes, stolen.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Hacked. A TikTok one. I've never met TikTok.

[Podcast Host]

No. Instagram.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Instagram, absolutely.

[Podcast Host]

Instagram. All the time.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Mine all the time. Have you ever met anyone whose TikTok account was hacked?

[Podcast Host]

No. Banned, but not hacked.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah, never hacked. That's because all of their data is secured at Oracle in Project Texas. They spent like $2.8 billion to put it there. And they did that because Trump said he was going to ban it if they didn't protect their data. So they did it. They responded. They did it. People are calling a flip flopper on this. But he's not a flip flopper. They just did what he asked. Yeah, but they secured the data, and when they did that, they said, yeah, go pass a data security bill, because we've already done it. Meta and Google, they lobbied against the data privacy and protection bill and they paid for the TikTok ban.

[Podcast Host]

Crazy.

[Tiffany Cianci]

So did I. Pack, but I'm not supposed to say that out loud.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, that's a controversial one.

[Tiffany Cianci]

You want to beat me on that one? You're welcome to. But they did, as a matter of fact. They've been tweeting constantly all week long that it's time for TikTok to go through all of their surrogates.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. You look at who funds out one and it's a whole rabbit hole, Right?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Have you looked into private equity and real estate? Because now houses are so expensive and you hear these rumors about, like, what is it? BlackRock buying up a ton of them.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah. So it's not blackrock, it's Blackstone.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, Blackstone.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Blackrock doesn't invest in real estate, but Blackstone has a huge portion of their portfolio in real estate. And Blackstone is a child of blackrock. It was spun off by blackrock.

[Podcast Host]

Got it.

[Tiffany Cianci]

And they Created Blackstone. Blackstone is buying up as much as 44% of the houses in some markets right now. And it's really, really nefarious because what they're doing is they're buying up and holding them. They'll buy entire communities and they turn them into rental only communities. And as they're doing it, they're intentionally working with other private equity owned entities that are rent price fixing companies. And so what happens is they go to some small market landlords, people that are like, you know, six units, eight units. I'll go to one of those guys, they'll be like, hey, you're not getting enough for your units. We'll help you out. So they go into this program and they'll go to like sign the terms and conditions. They don't read it? Yeah, they don't know that one. They've signed their arbitration agreement, their confidentiality agreement, but they've also signed an agreement that they agree that they will agree with whatever price they give them or they can be sued by the company they just signed up with. So if that landlord's giving people decent rent in Atlanta, that's one of the worst markets. Say he's charging, you know, the price it was three years ago, and people are paying $1300. And this company says, you could be getting 1950. And he says, whoa, I love my tenants. I can't do that. I just wanted to know what I was missing out on. I just wanted to know. They say, well, you will or we'll sue you. And suddenly all the small market landlords they've captured and they have whole teams that go out and recruit these people and bring them to like meetings and tell them to sign up. All of these people now are hiking their rent when they wouldn't have done it. This is a violation of the free market. They're not making the choice they're being forced to at this point. Right. But at the same time, all of the big private equity companies, they've pooled all of their data into these one, like this one data aggregator, and it's price fixing. All of the rents across the entire Atlanta area. One of them was just raided by the FBI and the doj.

[Podcast Host]

Oh my God.

[Tiffany Cianci]

For price fixing and engaging in collaborative behavior to price fix in multiple markets, the United States, to lock people out of housing.

[Podcast Host]

Really makes you wonder because when I was house shopping in Vegas last year, there was not much on the market. It was, it was really slim pickings.

[Tiffany Cianci]

I'm from Las Vegas and I have so many friends that can't find houses because they're getting bought up for cash the day they hit the market. We have so many friends that are struggling to even go into apartments right now because the pricing is so high in Vegas. And it's funny because I was talking on a, on a podcast the other day and I said, when I was in Vegas, I was 15 years old when I got my first job and I'm gonna out myself right now. Cause I'm probably the oldest person you've had on your podcast. That was 1996. I was 15 years old. I got my first job at MCI WorldCom. And to give you an idea about how employees are living today, how they're trying to pay and survive. I was 15 years old and my starting rate of pay was $14.40 an hour. Less commission as a 4, as a 15 year old girl, if I had worked full time hours, I would have been making $33,000 a year. That's the average starting rate for most teachers right now.

[Podcast Host]

Wow. And it's been 27 years since then.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yes.

[Podcast Host]

So inflation.

[Tiffany Cianci]

At that time, Vegas had the lowest cost of living in the western United States besides Phoenix. And my rent on my apartment. I had my own apartment when I was 16.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Tiffany Cianci]

I rented my own apartment and my rent on this really nice apartment. It was on Silverado Ranch.

[Podcast Host]

Silverado Ranch?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah, it was a Camden Homes apartment. They didn't notice. I wasn't 18 when I signed my paperwork. I signed for my apartment and my apartment was $740 a month.

[Podcast Host]

Damn.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Those same apartments. One of my friends just moved in there. She's paying $2,400 a month.

[Podcast Host]

So at like 3.5x.

[Tiffany Cianci]

But what's the minimum wage in Vegas right now?

[Podcast Host]

What is it? Is that 10?

[Tiffany Cianci]

I think it's at 10. I was making $14.40 an hour back then.

[Podcast Host]

So you were making more than the average minimum wage and paying three and a half times less, I think.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah. One third.

[Podcast Host]

That's nuts.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yep.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Tiffany Cianci]

But that's corporations and a lot of people don't understand this is how it's supposed to work. It's gross. If the free market were real and it were happening and we could see the bad conduct and our regulators were doing their job, then this would be good. Like capitalism as a process is a pretty decent mechanism for moving financial markets forward because it's fixed, you know how it's supposed to work. It is the regulator's job to make sure that human interests don't corrupt it. And because they've been allowed to be captured by it. What we're seeing over and over again is that the regulators are failing to keep it free.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Tiffany Cianci]

And so as a result, we have crony capitalism, we have just vulgar, corrupted capitalism that has captured the very thing that's designed to keep it in check. And so at this point, it's abusive because capitalism as an economic principle is designed to extract wealth from the market and to balance itself, to make sure that it gets out what it can to create more growth. Well, if you looked 20 years ago, every $1 in inflation, like literally 61 cents of that was reinvested into new plants, higher wages, more employees, and our market was doing that because we had higher corporate taxes and our regulators were requiring that it be reinvested for them to get tax breaks. But instead, right now, literally only like 3 cents of every dollar of inflation is going back into our market and the rest is going to the billionaires.

[Podcast Host]

That's nuts.

[Tiffany Cianci]

It's a massive shift. It's all just being like strip mined out of our economy from all of the middle class, all of the working class and all the small businesses because it's doing what it's supposed to do. It's just not being checked by the forces that are designed to check it. We've, we keep electing them and we watch as they insider trade, we watch as they take fat cat briefcases full of money and gold bars as we saw recently in New Jersey. Yeah, gold bars. And we keep re electing them. And honestly I think TikTok is the place that was going to change that and I think they're terrified of it.

[Podcast Host]

That is so nuts. These stats are mind blowing. 60. It used to be 61%. Now it's 3%.

[Tiffany Cianci]

3%.

[Podcast Host]

Is that partially because Trump lowered the corporate tax in his last term?

[Tiffany Cianci]

So Trump isn't the only one that lowered the corporate tax. I mean, Trump actually raised taxes on private equity, was the first one to do it since Carter.

[Podcast Host]

Oh wow.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Every single president since Carter has loosened restrictions on private equity. Back then you could only have 30 investors to be private equity and not have to report to the government. It was actually Clinton that took the rails off when he repealed Glass Steagall and then Obama made it so they could have unlimited investors and not have any government oversight. Trump didn't do much to help with private equity, but he was the only one that tightened the restrictions just a little bit by making them hold their investments a little longer to qualify for their tax breaks. Yeah, I hope he does more this time. A Lot more. But every single president has gone down that path. Every single president has loosened restrictions or made it easier for big corporations to succeed and for small businesses to fail.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, it's.

[Tiffany Cianci]

It's really hard to watch.

[Podcast Host]

Hopefully the times are changing, though. I mean, his crypto crushed it, so it's not like he needs any more money.

[Tiffany Cianci]

That is true. You know that is true.

[Podcast Host]

That was one of the best crypto launches I've ever seen.

[Tiffany Cianci]

You know, that was done, like, I was over at a house with a bunch of the crypto guys after the crypto ball the other night.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Tiffany Cianci]

And they looked each other and go, do you want to launch this? And I was sitting there on the couch, and they were all wearing gold slippers, like, Trump slippers, like the sneakers. These big, fluffy sneakers. And they were like, you want to launch this thing? They're having a conversation. And they texted Trump's tweet. They were like, let's do it.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, so it wasn't even, like, an elaborate.

[Tiffany Cianci]

When I tell you, I don't even think it was planned for that night. I was sitting on this couch, and I think they were all like. And I was just chilling with a whole bunch of the crypto guys hanging out, because I was. I was live streaming that night from their podcasting studio, and they were like, you want to do it? You want to do it? Yeah, let's do it. Text the team. And that was it.

[Podcast Host]

I thought they planned it out for, like, years, I got to be honest.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Maybe. I mean, sure, they. Maybe they want people to think that. That's not how I read it. I think they had everything set up so it would go off.

[Podcast Host]

Got it.

[Tiffany Cianci]

But they. They pulled the trigger. And it looked like they were like.

[Podcast Host]

That'S a true meme. Coin. I wish. I got some. I saw some people yesterday telling me how much they made. I'm like, wow, I got massive FOMO right now. Oh, my gosh. Some people made millions off that.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah, I believe it.

[Podcast Host]

Yes. That's the power of crypto, though, right?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

When the money's not in the power of the banks.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Decentralizing it would be one thing if the banks were serving like banks are supposed to serve, but the banks are all owned by the same companies that own the companies that also own our politicians. And so decentralizing our currency is probably the only way to take back control, if I'm being honest.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Tiffany Cianci]

And honestly, decentralizing other things, like putting. Putting our. Do you want to know the best thing we could do? We should put our government Budget. The entire government treasury budget on blockchain. If. If taxpayers could see what's actually being done with their tax dollars, everything would change.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, because then you could live, commentate on it on X, or you literally.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Could see everywhere that dollar was matriculating and how it was being wasted. They would see $400 hammers and they would see wasted trips to go and, like. Like have PR trips overseas with, like, posses of, like, 600 people.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Tiffany Cianci]

They would see us wasting money on things we don't need or that we've already spent. They would see pork products, and they would see, like, all of the stuff being crammed into bills we don't get to read before they pass, and everything would change. But, you know, I don't think they're gonna let us do that.

[Podcast Host]

Didn't Elon launch a site to kind of do that, like, track it a little more?

[Tiffany Cianci]

I believe he launched a site to track waste, where they're adding projects on there to track some things, but there's no way that we could see what taxpayer dollars are doing with what he's doing. I hope they do more. I really do.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Overseas money seems like it's an elaborate scheme, too. Whenever money goes overseas.

[Tiffany Cianci]

You know, if I told you something I've never said on a podcast right now, I hope you don't get throttled for this. There's a reason our government will never regulate blackrock. They will never regulate State Street. It's because most people don't know this. My husband's a federal attorney, so we know this because we have a federal pension. 81% of every single federal pension and 401k and investment in America, including the presidential golden parachute pensions, is invested with BlackRock.

[Podcast Host]

Whoa.

[Tiffany Cianci]

And the other 19% is invested with State Street.

[Podcast Host]

Holy crap.

[Tiffany Cianci]

The same people they're supposed to be regulating hold the future of all of their staff members, all of the congressional members, all of the presidents. All of their personal investments are controlled by blackrock and State Street.

[Podcast Host]

I mean, that right there explains everything, though.

[Tiffany Cianci]

It explains everything. They can't regulate what they depend on for their own future. They are so personally interested in its success that they can't act to save the American people from total annihilation.

[Podcast Host]

Because it would destroy them too.

[Tiffany Cianci]

It would.

[Podcast Host]

Wow. Yeah. So. Oh, my gosh.

[Tiffany Cianci]

I've never said that on a podcast before, but it's because you don't know it unless you have access to the back end. Look at where the federal pension is invested. And I do.

[Podcast Host]

That is nuts. So there's really no solution at this point, then I don't understand.

[Tiffany Cianci]

The only solution is to start voting out incumbents. We can't let Dianne Feinstein be wheeled in in her wheelchair days before she died and have aides telling her, vote I. I what, sweetheart? Vote I. I'd like to introduce no vote aye. And they held up her hand and they took her vote.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Right. We're watching as Nancy Pelosi just Diane Feinstein her way into Congress with her new hip on a, on a. What's it called? Walker. Yeah, right. Mitch McConnell glitches out three times a week. The only way to change this is to stop re electing them. That's it. We have to take back our elections. We have to show up for midterms too.

[Podcast Host]

What percentage of these politicians do you think are compromised in some sort of way? You think it's really high?

[Tiffany Cianci]

I mean, if you look at Massie and what he said, he's one of. So Massie, weeks before his wife suspiciously died. Weeks before, went on a podcast. I think it was Rogan. And he said, I don't know for sure, but I think it was Rogan. He said, I'm one of only maybe six people in Congress that don't have an IPAC handler.

[Podcast Host]

What?

[Tiffany Cianci]

I denied having one and I've paid for it every day since.

[Podcast Host]

That's like 91%.

[Tiffany Cianci]

But they also each have. I don't know if you know that there's a team of super users for our, for our treasury and for the Fed. It was exposed in leaks and I wish, I wish we were getting more stuff with Julian Assange. I really want him protected at all costs.

[Podcast Host]

Let's get him pardoned.

[Tiffany Cianci]

I want Eric, I want Snowden pardoned immediately. Edward Snowden needs to be pardoned now. I know Trump promised to free Russ Albrecht.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, that's.

[Tiffany Cianci]

I saw that he did that at the Libertarian Convention. He hasn't talked about it since, but he did make that promise. I'm not sure if that's going to happen or not, but I'd like to see Snowden pardoned. But we saw recently in leaked documents that during the 2008 crash and then during the COVID crashes, there were a team of super users from JP Morgan Chase, BlackRock, from the other three big bank branches that were getting early access to what the Fed and the treasury were going to do and the labor numbers so that they could see it. And that means they could make back end deals and do things before the rest of the public found out.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Tiffany Cianci]

They were called Super Users or Super Access Users. And so they got all of the briefings before the rest of us.

[Podcast Host]

Oh my gosh. I mean, it makes sense.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Pretty hard not to fix a system when you've got the fix and the fixes in.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. I mean, look at the stock tracker sites. You can't deny that.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Looking at, looking at the insider trading in Congress. Look at Michael McCall. Rep. Michael McCall drafted the TikTok ban.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Tiffany Cianci]

He. In the weeks before the TikTok ban. Not him. They say it wasn't him. It was his wife or his daughter. It was a surrogate. Invested $300,000 in Meta. He also took donations from Meta leading up to introducing the TikTok ban. He also is funded by IPAC who said that TikTok had to go just weeks before it was introduced. And they said that they. That leaked audio is famous, infamous at this point. Right. And then when he found out that it was going to get bundled in to the national security appropriations bill, he invested like 750,000 more in Meta before it was announced.

[Podcast Host]

Oh my gosh.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Over a million dollars.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Follow the money. It never fails.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Well, 98% of Americans support banning insider trading in Congress, but there's a 0% correlation between American support for something passing and it actually passing. But there's a 76% correlation between billionaires wanting something passed and it getting passed.

[Podcast Host]

Wow. The money talks, basically, is what you're saying.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Money's the only thing that talks.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. I wonder if there's any ways to stop insider trading.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Like, I mean, there's a bill in Congress right now that's bipartisan to do it.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, really?

[Tiffany Cianci]

We should be calling and telling them we demand it. But they're not going to.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Tiffany Cianci]

They're not going to act against their own interests.

[Podcast Host]

Scary stuff. Have you been seeing this open air stuff? Oh my gosh. Tucker just had on the mother of the person who was. Yeah, you know.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah, I am scary. I'm a whistleblower. Right. Like I gave documents, the FTC and the doj. And there was a point where I was so scared. I was so scared. People were like, oh, your private equity firm's a small one. Mine's Seidler Private Equity. They back unleash brands. They're the owners of the Padres they have bought up like Rawling Sports Gear, Quick Quack car washes, all kinds of companies. And I was scared. I was so scared. I was told that I needed to be careful. I was told that I needed to get security.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Tiffany Cianci]

They hired a felon with 88 felony convictions. And gave him my address and told him to bring me a message.

[Podcast Host]

What?

[Tiffany Cianci]

The man had 88 felony charges for counterfeiting, forgery, fraud. He was. He had been convicted of escaping police custody to go after a witness in his case, animal cruelty. They hired that man. In my case.

[Podcast Host]

What the heck?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Just to go to your house and send a message. And he actually went to your house.

[Tiffany Cianci]

I mean, he. We know that. They followed us.

[Podcast Host]

Whoa.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah. And then my. My lawyers filed a bunch of motions, so he never got there. But we know that they hired him.

[Podcast Host]

Holy.

[Tiffany Cianci]

They paid him money. He never actually, like, came. But once we knew that it happened, we were terrified.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Tiffany Cianci]

They hired a bunch of private investigators to follow my employees around, follow me around, to threaten them, tell my kids that we weren't gonna have a home anymore.

[Podcast Host]

That is terrible.

[Tiffany Cianci]

They sent six letters to the New York Times saying I was running a drug trafficking ring at my baby gym.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Because they're in bed with the media. Right. So they could paint any narrative they want.

[Tiffany Cianci]

I was lucky. The New York Times actually hired investigators to track where the letters came from, and it was their PR firm.

[Podcast Host]

Wow. They actually did that.

[Tiffany Cianci]

The New York Times suspended our article. Oh, that's what they wanted to do, though. My article was supposed to come out in December of. I think it was 2022. I think it might have been 2021. It's been a minute now. And they sent those letters, like, right before it was supposed to come out when they'd sent to them for comment. And they paused publishing the article while they could go do research to make sure I wasn't actually trafficking drugs.

[Podcast Host]

Well, shout out to them for actually like they did.

[Tiffany Cianci]

And I. They ended up putting us on the COVID when they ultimately published it, saying when private equity started. When private equity started playing in the baby in the toddler gyms, because that's the businesses we owned. But what it did was it worked. During that four weeks, they got a billion dollar investment from Seidler Equity. It held the case just long enough.

[Podcast Host]

That is nuts. That's why I respect people like you, people like James O'Keefe that are whistleblowing all these, you know, like your life's on the line when you're exposing this type of information. You know, you're losing these companies potentially billions of dollars. So they're going to do what they want to do.

[Tiffany Cianci]

The company that I'm fighting with has lost. And, like, people ask me what a win looks like at this point because I'm still in Court with them every day.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Like, we just filed three motions yesterday. I think we're on our, like, eighth or ninth case. They keep suing me.

[Podcast Host]

They're suing you?

[Tiffany Cianci]

They just keep suing me.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, for like defamation?

[Tiffany Cianci]

No, I won my defamation case against them for calling me a drug trafficker and saying that I abused. Like, they sent out letters to our whole union saying I, like, abused kids and stole money. Abused my employees. I won that defamation case. No, they keep suing me over and over again for a case that they brought in Arizona where they changed. They brought it in Arizona. I live in Maryland now.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Where they changed my address on all the documents so I wouldn't get served 41 times. They changed the address.

[Podcast Host]

What?

[Tiffany Cianci]

And then they got a default judgment against me for $2.3 million.

[Podcast Host]

Damn.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Because I never answered the claim.

[Podcast Host]

Because you never got it.

[Tiffany Cianci]

I never answered the claim. I was never served. Later we got the claim thrown out, but they got the judgment first.

[Podcast Host]

Oh.

[Tiffany Cianci]

And so then they immediately domesticated it into Maryland and they put a lien on my house, and I had to file for bankruptcy protection to save my house. Even though we had no debts, no creditors showed up to my bankruptcy. We had to do it just to save our house from what they had lied about in court. And then the judgment ended up getting thrown out and I never needed the bankruptcy.

[Podcast Host]

That is insane.

[Tiffany Cianci]

But they keep trying to reaffirm that judgment in different courts around that country.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Because if they want to drag it on, they can for as long as they want, right?

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah. Well, the bankruptcy court issued a stay saying they weren't allowed to do it anymore. They issued a federal stay and they haven't stopped.

[Podcast Host]

That is nuts.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Well, Tiffany, thanks for really exposing the stuff. Anything else you want to close off with here? Where can people support you?

[Tiffany Cianci]

I say in small business, we trust. Come back to me on TikTok because that's where I'm going to be. I'm Tiffany Cianci over on X. I'm the Vino mom because I used to be a sommelier a long time ago.

[Podcast Host]

Oh, yeah.

[Tiffany Cianci]

And I've kept my same account for all these years. So the Vino mom. But you can find me under Tiffany Cianci over there.

[Podcast Host]

Well, we'll link it all below. Thanks for coming on.

[Tiffany Cianci]

Thanks. Thanks for having me.

[Podcast Host]

Check her out, guys. See ya.

[T-Mobile Representative]

@ T Mobile. We'll give you four free 5G phones and four lines for only 25 per line per month with eligible trade ins. And no, it's not a contest. It's every day for a limited time. Everyone's a winner on America's largest 5G network.

Minimum of 4 lines for 25 per line per month with autopay discount using debit or bank account $5 more line without autopay up to $830 off each phone via 24 monthly bill credits plus taxes, fees and $10 device connection charge for well qualified customers. Contact us before canceling entire account to continue bill credits or credit stop and balance on required finance agreement to bill credits and if you pay off devices.

[Beautiful Anonymous Host]

Early ct mobile.com if you want to feel more connected to humanity and a little less alone, listen to Beautiful Anonymous. Each week I take a phone call from one random anonymous human being. There's over 400 episodes in our back catalog. You get to feel connected to all these different people all over the world. Recent episodes include one where a lady survived a murder attempt by her own son. But then the week before that, we just talked about Star Trek. It can be anything. It's unpredictable. It's raw. It's real. Get Beautiful Anonymous. Wherever you listen to podcasts.