He's Pretending to be a Teen // The Artur Samarin Scandal

Ray William Johnson· Host0:00

So this adult man is gonna pretend to be in high school, and he's gonna, like, date one of the students. So the story starts with this guy, Artur. And he's 19 when all this begins, and he's living in Ukraine. And Artur, he's a college student. But here's the thing about him: he has dreams of working for NASA one day, become an aerospace engineer, and he's willing to do almost anything to make sure he achieves that. And so one day in 2012, he finds out about an exchange program with the United States that allows foreign exchange students to get a temporary visa to work summer jobs in the US for about three months. And Artur's like, "Sweet," because he knows this could be a step towards his dream of becoming a NASA engineer. So he comes up with a plan. He's gonna get the visa, work all through those three months, save money, and use it to enroll in a university in the US. So he applies to the program, and boom, he gets accepted. A few months later, Artur flies to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he's assigned to stay. And there he gets a job at a local restaurant, and he starts saving as much money as he can. He also starts researching American universities to see where he can eventually study. But here's the thing about American universities: is expensive. Like, really expensive. Way more than Artur could ever afford by just working a restaurant job for a few months. And this realization is devastating for him. And to make