'Manhattan Medium' Thomas John has celeb clientele — and shady past as scammer and drag queen
New York Daily News/July 25, 2015
By Denis Slattery
A psychic to the stars with a shady past as a scammer — and as a drag queen — swears he’s a changed mystic.
Thomas John, the self-proclaimed Manhattan Medium, was once a well-known Chicago drag queen busted in 2009 for posting bogus apartment ads on Craigslist and stealing security deposits from unsuspecting renters.
The 31-year-old now works as a traveling spiritualist who has written two books and claims to receive messages from the dead. His celebrity clientele includes Jennifer Lopez and Courteney Cox and he has appeared on “Entertainment Tonight,” according to his website.
But John’s metaphysical talents weren’t always so strong.
He spent years performing in drag around Chicago under the name Lady Vera Parker — and got busted for keeping security deposits from two prospective renters who never moved in to a promised apartment.
John, whose full name is Thomas John Flanagan, dropped his last name and rebranded himself as a psychic after pleading guilty to theft and computer fraud.
“It was basically something I did out of necessity,” John told the Daily News. “I’ve turned my life around since then.”
Others charge the clairvoyant had other rackets going.
The Massachusetts-born mystic’s cell phone number appears on a website where dozens of furious posters accuse him of pulling his bait-and-switch scam in several states.
“Same thing happened to me! $600!! I reported it to the police who stated that they already had many reports,” one poster wrote.
But John denied claims he’s a con man.
“I did for a fleeting moment think it was a way to make money, but I never followed through with that,” John said. “There were never more victims. It wasn’t some sort of big elaborate thing.”
John credits his brush with the law for helping him harness an ability to reach out to those in the afterlife.
“I never really had them honed in enough so they would be useful,” John said of his mystic powers. “Once this whole thing in Chicago happened and I moved home and got my life in order, I noticed that my abilities got stronger.”
But Flanagan’s psychic powers have also been called into question.
A number of online reviews claim the medium’s clairvoyance comes from his use of Paypal — which gives him the not-so-miraculous ability to research people’s full names before doing a reading.
“I think that my reputation speaks for itself,” John said. “I have hundreds of clients that speak volumes about my readings.”
John said several of his clients are fully aware of his past and he said his checkered past hasn’t affected his prospects as a fortuneteller.
“It’s one of those things, but I don’t think it has anything to do with my psychic work and I don’t really feel that they are connected at all,” he said.
To see more documents/articles regarding this group/organization/subject click here.
