October 27, 2025 • 6 mins
In 2006, Greg Wards was your average Kiwi backpacker on an overseas adventure in the UK, working hard, playing harder — and falling head-over-heels in love. After a whirlwind international romance, Greg married Lezlie Manukian in New Zealand. Their new life started out by setting up a small business north of Auckland. But a snowball had started to roll the day Greg met Lezlie Manukian. It wasn't long before this ball of chaos gathered pace and crushed Greg and his family.
Starting November 3, binge episodes of Deep Cover Presents: Snowball early and ad-free with a Pushkin+ subscription. Find Pushkin+ on the Deep Cover show page in Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Pushkin.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hey, it's Jake here. We're hard at work on the
next season of deep Cover, and trust me, it's a
story you won't want to miss. But in the meantime,
we wanted to bring you another show, this time by
the Unravel podcast team at ABC Australia, that explores a
story of outrageous deception. It's called Snowball, and for the
(00:42):
next few weeks we'll be sharing that podcast right here.
Snowball follows journalist Ali Wards as he unravels the wild
story of his own family was taken in and taken
down by a charming con woman from California, and he
tries to find out where she is. Now we're talking
(01:02):
financial ruin, shattered trust, and a mystery that stretches out
across continents and decades. It's got all the twists and
turns you'd expect from a high stakes crime thriller, only
it's all true. If you love deep Cover for the
detailed reporting, the unexpected characters, and the way that the
(01:23):
truth slowly unspools, Snowball will absolutely pull you in. Starting
November three, you can hear episodes of Snowball right here. Okay,
here's a preview.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
My brother married an American corn artist.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
I find myself in a murky world of corn artists
and swindlers. This isn't the kind of story you would
expect to happen to a pretty average Kiwi family like mine. Oh,
I was just gobsmaked as too, what's going on here?
Speaker 1 (01:59):
I just remember it being like, whoa.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
She had the dark, vivacious.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
And then whoa a surface skin and look to here,
and then it's like two or three woes. She's a sociopath.
It wasn't really a surprise. You're like, I wonder what
the next one is going to be?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
What happened cost us everything?
Speaker 4 (02:18):
I held it up to the light and everything merged.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
In the end, my parents lost more than a million dollars.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
We had been done.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Mum and Dad ended up homeless.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
We just were destroyed.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
It all started when my bro Greg was a backpacker
in London.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Yeah, she's very bubbly, affavescent personality. He met Leslie Minuchian.
She has a laugh that.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Could you know you hear it across the room.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
A confident, charismatic Californian.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Well, let's throw in there.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Kim Kardashian look alike, sophisticated female.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Operative she knew as at the work people ready to
woo me as well. Greg was wooed. I was an
American a file, so he brought his American dream girl
home to New Zealand. When you married someone, you feel
like you really know them.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
Within a few months, Leslie had taken off to the
US and none of us ever saw her again. I
was living overseas when all of this went down. I
normally work at an Australian radio station helping other people
tell stories. Now I'm going to investigate the story of
my own.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
It was. It was so weird, smuggled out of Armenia.
What well explain? That's weird?
Speaker 4 (03:43):
It is weird. And as I start digging through what happened,
weird doesn't even really cover it.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
You got on the wrong side of the local mafia,
she witnessed.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
She might have got beaten murder, or she got home
invaded at a house or something like that. They're going
to kill me tonight, Dad and the CRIMINALSS got on
this chartered airplane.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Parents had to pay for a private jet to come
get her before the mafia killed her.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Oh God, there's just so many questions. How did this happen?
Why did this American woman con my family.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Why did you do this?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
How did she just get away? Oh?
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Shit, she's done it again.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Who else does this happen to? Does the name Lislie
Minuchian mean.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Anything to you?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (04:25):
You bet.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Never forget her.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
This woman's a bit kind of like, you know, not
what she claims to.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Be, and that was her allure. You just followed her.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I don't think she ever thought she would actually get caught.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
It just started getting shadier and shadier. I got home.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
There was a bong load, a martini and a blow job,
and I just didn't think about it.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
I f a ask you, this is your karma?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
And who really is Lislei Minuchian? Like a part of
me believes that she's just like, oh, the scammer of
really broken person. You'll never really know what was real
or not.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
To find answers, I'll have to get past her big
shot lawyer to the stars.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Can you believe this jerk?
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Oh? My fucking god, as your lawyer, I am starting
to make threats.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Also, are you serious?
Speaker 4 (05:13):
And I'm going to travel across the world to track
Leslie down?
Speaker 1 (05:19):
What are we getting ourselves into?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Okay, I'm running stand by.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
I'm only wards and I want you to come with
me for the new season of Unravel.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
It's about to hit you.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
This time things really do get personal.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Join me for Snowball.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Okay, I see a subscribe to Unravel, the ABC's award
winning true crime podcast. She's getting in a car wherever
you're hearing this now getting or on the ABC listener.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
If you can't wait to find out what happens Binge
episodes of deep Cover presents Snowball early and ad free
with a Pushkin Plus subscription. Find Pushkin Plus on the
deep Cover show page in Apple Podcasts or at pushkin
f M, slash plus
Pushkin.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hey, it's Jake here. We're hard at work on the
next season of deep Cover, and trust me, it's a
story you won't want to miss. But in the meantime,
we wanted to bring you another show, this time by
the Unravel podcast team at ABC Australia, that explores a
story of outrageous deception. It's called Snowball, and for the
(00:42):
next few weeks we'll be sharing that podcast right here.
Snowball follows journalist Ali Wards as he unravels the wild
story of his own family was taken in and taken
down by a charming con woman from California, and he
tries to find out where she is. Now we're talking
(01:02):
financial ruin, shattered trust, and a mystery that stretches out
across continents and decades. It's got all the twists and
turns you'd expect from a high stakes crime thriller, only
it's all true. If you love deep Cover for the
detailed reporting, the unexpected characters, and the way that the
(01:23):
truth slowly unspools, Snowball will absolutely pull you in. Starting
November three, you can hear episodes of Snowball right here. Okay,
here's a preview.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
My brother married an American corn artist.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
I find myself in a murky world of corn artists
and swindlers. This isn't the kind of story you would
expect to happen to a pretty average Kiwi family like mine. Oh,
I was just gobsmaked as too, what's going on here?
Speaker 1 (01:59):
I just remember it being like, whoa.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
She had the dark, vivacious.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
And then whoa a surface skin and look to here,
and then it's like two or three woes. She's a sociopath.
It wasn't really a surprise. You're like, I wonder what
the next one is going to be?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
What happened cost us everything?
Speaker 4 (02:18):
I held it up to the light and everything merged.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
In the end, my parents lost more than a million dollars.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
We had been done.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Mum and Dad ended up homeless.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
We just were destroyed.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
It all started when my bro Greg was a backpacker
in London.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Yeah, she's very bubbly, affavescent personality. He met Leslie Minuchian.
She has a laugh that.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Could you know you hear it across the room.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
A confident, charismatic Californian.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Well, let's throw in there.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Kim Kardashian look alike, sophisticated female.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Operative she knew as at the work people ready to
woo me as well. Greg was wooed. I was an
American a file, so he brought his American dream girl
home to New Zealand. When you married someone, you feel
like you really know them.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
Within a few months, Leslie had taken off to the
US and none of us ever saw her again. I
was living overseas when all of this went down. I
normally work at an Australian radio station helping other people
tell stories. Now I'm going to investigate the story of
my own.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
It was. It was so weird, smuggled out of Armenia.
What well explain? That's weird?
Speaker 4 (03:43):
It is weird. And as I start digging through what happened,
weird doesn't even really cover it.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
You got on the wrong side of the local mafia,
she witnessed.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
She might have got beaten murder, or she got home
invaded at a house or something like that. They're going
to kill me tonight, Dad and the CRIMINALSS got on
this chartered airplane.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Parents had to pay for a private jet to come
get her before the mafia killed her.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Oh God, there's just so many questions. How did this happen?
Why did this American woman con my family.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Why did you do this?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
How did she just get away? Oh?
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Shit, she's done it again.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Who else does this happen to? Does the name Lislie
Minuchian mean.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Anything to you?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (04:25):
You bet.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Never forget her.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
This woman's a bit kind of like, you know, not
what she claims to.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Be, and that was her allure. You just followed her.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I don't think she ever thought she would actually get caught.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
It just started getting shadier and shadier. I got home.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
There was a bong load, a martini and a blow job,
and I just didn't think about it.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
I f a ask you, this is your karma?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
And who really is Lislei Minuchian? Like a part of
me believes that she's just like, oh, the scammer of
really broken person. You'll never really know what was real
or not.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
To find answers, I'll have to get past her big
shot lawyer to the stars.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Can you believe this jerk?
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Oh? My fucking god, as your lawyer, I am starting
to make threats.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Also, are you serious?
Speaker 4 (05:13):
And I'm going to travel across the world to track
Leslie down?
Speaker 1 (05:19):
What are we getting ourselves into?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Okay, I'm running stand by.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
I'm only wards and I want you to come with
me for the new season of Unravel.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
It's about to hit you.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
This time things really do get personal.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Join me for Snowball.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Okay, I see a subscribe to Unravel, the ABC's award
winning true crime podcast. She's getting in a car wherever
you're hearing this now getting or on the ABC listener.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
If you can't wait to find out what happens Binge
episodes of deep Cover presents Snowball early and ad free
with a Pushkin Plus subscription. Find Pushkin Plus on the
deep Cover show page in Apple Podcasts or at pushkin
f M, slash plus
Host
Jake Halpern
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.