Sweet Bobby

Introducing...Elon's Spies

Elon Musk is one of the most powerful men in the world. He's a billionaire, the founder of SpaceX, Tesla and more. To his followers, he's a hero; to his critics, a far-right rabble rouser. 

But for someone so public, there’s one part of his life that’s less well known.

Elon’s Spies investigates how this free-speech champion uses private investigators and surveillance to target everyone from whistleblowers at his companies, to online critics and people in his own life. 

This is episode one of three. You can binge the entire series today by subscribing to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or by downloading the Tortoise app. To listen, search for Elon's Spies wherever you get your podcasts.

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Three years ago, we released our chart-topping investigative podcast Sweet Bobby. And now, Netflix are releasing the documentary Sweet Bobby on 16th October. Catch up with the original story across all 6 episodes by searching for Sweet Bobby wherever you get your podcasts.

To listen to the exclusive ad-free and bonus episode with Kirat, the woman at the heart of this catfishing story, subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or become a Tortoise member.

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Introducing...What's Wrong With Democracy?

By the end of this year, countries making up half the world’s population will have held elections. But not all of them will have been free and fair. In ‘What’s Wrong with Democracy?’ Professor Ben Ansell of Oxford University will, with the help of academics, journalists, activists and writers, figure out whether democracy is working and how best to preserve democratic freedoms, equality and rights. 

Introducing...The Gas Man

It starts with a tip-off. 

It’s the late 1980s and US Special Agent Dennis Bass is warned about a shipment of suspicious chemicals headed to a secret destination. So he follows the lead – and ends up stumbling into a global plot helping fuel a war. The main suspect? The Gas Man. 

In the decades since, Special Agent Bass has been locked in an international game of cat and mouse with the man who supplied a dangerous regime with the chemicals to make weapons. Every time Bass thinks he’s got his hands on him… The Gas Man somehow manages to slip the net. And he’s still on the run today.

But after more than 30 years, could his past finally be catching up with The Gas Man?