FAMILY COURT FRAUD EXPOSED: Michael "Thunder" Phillips, Volpe & Luthmann Tear It Down

In this explosive episode of The Unknown Podcast (Ep. 44), co-hosts Richard Luthmann and Michael Volpe sit down with fellow journalist and family court warrior Michael “Thunder” Phillips for a no-holds-barred discussion about the deep corruption and systemic abuse in family courts across America.

Phillips opens up about his own six-year battle to see his son, exposing how judges weaponize discretion, attorneys manipulate procedure, and narratives get flipped—turning loving parents into “monsters” overnight. He draws parallels to Jeff Riker’s case, a Maryland attorney caught in a decade-long custody war fueled by false protective orders, judicial bias, and behind-the-scenes political power plays.

Volpe calls it what it is: “an epidemic of contact denial.” He rejects the vague and misused term “parental alienation” in favor of more precise, evidence-based descriptions—and the conversation gets heated as the three debate the merits and dangers of this controversial term.

From Maryland to California, from Kanye West to Elon Musk, the panel dives into celebrity custody cases that show even billionaires and superstars are not immune to family court injustice—though the rich have tools to seal records and shield themselves in ways average parents never could.

Luthmann pulls no punches, linking the entire mess to the 1980s boom of the “divorce industrial complex,” the Title IV-D money trail, and the 1990 Judicial Improvement Act. He argues that judges and court appointees have created an industry around family pain and profit—and it’s time to tear it down.

The episode ends with a call to unite the fragmented parental rights movement, educate self-represented litigants, and cut off the feeding trough that keeps corrupt courts alive.

Don’t miss this searing takedown of a system rigged against parents, children, and justice itself.

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