Kriti Mehrotra
If there’s one thing absolutely nobody can deny, it’s that the tale of Hargobind “Harvey” Punjabi Tahilramani can only be described as complex, exasperating, haunting, and a little sympathetic. That’s because although he very well may be a career criminal with no bounds, he has also had a tough life full of bullying, sexual identification issues, plus severe mental health struggles. But alas, as explored in ‘Hollywood Con Queen,’ his writing a fake suicide note at 21 and blaming peers Jennifer Lahoda as well as John Parsi for ruining him was just one of his unforgivable actions.
Jennifer Lahoda is a Hardworking Family Woman
Since Jennifer considered her fellow National Debate-Speech Club member Harvey a true friend, she was broken upon being told he’d died by suicide and had also written her name in his letter. The truth is he’d been disqualified from a tournament a month prior for plagiarism – for using someone else’s old work as his own — yet he still condemned those to come forth with this information. He thus faked his suicide, only to then apparently send her bomb threats from his homeland of Indonesia in the time leading up to next year’s nationals, which is how she learned he was alive.
Jennifer hence decided enough was enough and chose to simply move on from the paranoia she’d been living in, just to graduate from Arizona State University with a communications degree in 2002. She then kickstarted her career as the proud owner-operator of RedDesign Ventures in Scottsdale, a company she ran until she knew it was time to move on to bigger and better things. In fact, in late 2005, she moved to Los Angeles, California, for good, where she quickly established her second company, Maven Design House, as a full-service event management plus production firm.
Jennifer actually followed this up with a stint as a Development Associate at CoachArt (09-10) and Development Director at The Pablove Foundation (10-12) before she ultimately found her calling. She evolved into the Director of Human Resources plus Community Relations at Ellis Paint Company, where she served for over six years prior to becoming an executive at Pacific Resource Recovery. In fact, this happily married mother of two went from General Manager to Vice president to President, and now she’s the Chief Executive Officer — a position she embarked upon in November 2023.
John Parsi is a Very Well-Educated Professor
It was actually John who’d realized Harvey’s serious transgression during his performance back in 2000 before letting one of his coaches and the tournament officials know too. He candidly revealed in the documentary series, “We’re in the final round, I’m watching his speech, and I – – said, ‘Well, what? This is Marianne [LeGreco’s] speech.’ … it was verbatim the same.” Therefore, when the suicide note came, it reportedly specifically stated, “Jennifer and John Parsi were responsible for my suicide,” prior to going on to assert they were terrible people with no sense of community or loyalty.
However, just like Jennifer, John was also able to move on once he realized Harvey was alive, well, and back in his homeland of Indonesia, owing to some financial troubles in the US. He thus graduated cum laude with a Bachelor’s in Political Science plus Bachelor’s in Sociology from the Arizona State University in 2002, just to then pursue a Master’s in the former from the same institution (04-06). Then came his decision to earn a Juris Doctorate from the University of Michigan Law School (07-10) before he again returned to Arizona State University for a PhD in Political Science-Government.
It hence comes as no surprise that John has had a rather storied career too, starting with his serving as an attorney at the Federal Public Defender’s office in Alaska before becoming a Judicial Law Clerk. Then there were his stints as the Special Assistant to the Attorney General and as a lawyer at the offices of Kenneth J. Goldman PC, K&L Gates, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, plus Stinson LLP. This was followed by him evolving into the President of the Kids at Hope organization in Tempe, Arizona, in 2019, prior to returning to Arizona State University, but this time as a Professor. Though now, this Scared Scriptless Improv co-owner, former Last Frontier of Comedy Executive Director, foodie, as well as travel enthusiast serves as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska College of Law in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Read More: Where is Scott Johnson Now?
