A MASTER of manipulation, Candace Rivera styled herself as a #girlboss and anti-trafficking warrior.
In reality, she was syphoning cash to fund her own lavish lifestyle – and leaving numerous victims in her wake.
Sitting in her car, phone to her ear, Ora Argyle looked like any other mum waiting to pick up her child from school. But while other mums might have been chatting to a friend, Ora’s conversation was a matter of life and death.
It was August 2021, and she was on the phone to her boss, “global humanitarian” Candace Rivera, CEO of non-profit anti-trafficking organisation Exitus, who was calling from the Middle East.
Candace wanted Ora, her personal assistant, to organise 200 Green Cards immediately, so that a group of Afghans could be evacuated from a hotel in Kabul to America.
Otherwise, she said, the Taliban would massacre them.
Ora, 45, remembers: “Shaking and crying, I felt the burden of all these lives on me, the fear of children being killed.
“Candace said we couldn’t save them if I didn’t do what she was telling me. I was thousands of miles away from them in my car in Utah, collecting my son from school, imagining that the Taliban was in the hotel shooting people.”
But all was not what it seemed. Candace Rivera sold herself as a glossy, God-fearing “super-mum” who rescued sex-trafficking victims and orphans, and ran million-dollar charities.
In reality, she stole millions in donations, spending money raised for vulnerable women and children on jewellery, flights and hotels, and organised bungled rescue missions designed to make her look like a hero.
Today, Rivera is in jail after receiving sentences for unlawful conduct, communication fraud, theft by deception, theft of services and forgery.
This incredible story is the subject of hit Apple TV podcast Unicorn Girl, written and presented by journalist Charlie Webster.
“So often, I’m asked: ‘How did people fall for this?’ But this is somebody who very cleverly manipulated others. It is grooming, 100%,” says Charlie.
Rivera grew up in Colorado Springs, married her husband Patrick Laird when she was 19 and he was 25, and moved to Salt Lake City in Utah, where the pair had two sons.
Candace was really vibrant, everyone was drawn to her
Ora Argyle
In 2015, as she was approaching her 30th birthday, she joined a Facebook group called For The Love, going by the handle @UnicornGirl. The women in it became close, and Rivera overshared every aspect of her life, much of which was lies.
In late 2016, she claimed Patrick was having an affair, and said she’d miscarried twin daughters following a car accident.
Heavily involved in parents’ groups at her sons’ schools, she was vague to fellow mums about what she did for work, sometimes claiming she was a nurse or a doctor – it later emerged she was neither.
She also told her friends about getting divorced from Patrick, and dropped in that she’d helped rescue two sick Ukrainian orphans and brought them to their adoptive parents in the US.
This part was true, and in early 2020 she announced on Instagram that she was going to rescue another orphan, before claiming she couldn’t go as her passport had been stolen.
That August, Rivera set up her company Exitus and asked fellow school mum Ora, who had recently been laid off from her gym job, to work for her.
‘Perfect circumstances for grooming’
“We met when our sons joined the same soccer team,” Ora says.
“Candace was really vibrant, everyone was drawn to her. For the first two years we were close friends, and I had no idea of this other side of her life.
“At the same time, I was leaving the Mormon church and my life was uprooted. I didn’t have a friend who wasn’t in the church. Candace became that friend.”
In hindsight, Ora recognises it was the perfect circumstances for grooming.
She says: “Candace explained these different operations she had been a part of, and I was in shock. I couldn’t believe that my friend had been secretly doing this.”
Candace explained these different operations she had been a part of, and I was in shock. I couldn’t believe that my friend had been secretly doing this
Ora Argyle
Ora became Rivera’s full-time secretary and did volunteer work with girls that the organisation ”rescued” from dangerous situations, fed and clothed in safe houses and hotels, and sometimes sent to rehab.
But things didn’t add up – Rivera seemed to find trafficking victims everywhere.
And often, there was no record of where the girls went after they had been triaged by Exitus. Ora would often ask to see documentation, but Rivera would deflect and defer.
“I have no idea where many ended up,” Ora admits.
She suspects that, in some cases, Rivera was taking sex workers or drug addicts from the streets, claiming they were being trafficked, cleaning them up and giving them somewhere to stay, and then leaving them to go back to their lives on the streets again.
“I can’t say definitely, but that appears to be the case for several girls,” says Ora.
By August 2021, the charity was well-established in Utah. Rivera was winning awards for her work, but she had set her sights higher.
At that time, US forces had pulled out of Afghanistan and the Taliban was taking over.
Anyone who had worked with the previous US-backed administration was at risk. Rivera claimed the government had asked her to help rescue some of those at risk, and that former US First Lady Hillary Clinton had pledged $1million to Exitus to save individuals on the Taliban hit list.
None of it was true. But that didn’t stop Rivera, who hit social media with appeals for money, which came pouring in.
However, she did work with an Afghan organisation trying to get citizens to safety, while Ora organised flights for a team of mercenaries Rivera had put together – an ex-Navy-SEAL, a sniper, a helicopter shooter and former Special Forces officers.
Once assembled at HQ – Rivera’s house – the team went on a spending spree, buying helmets, radios, equipment and weapons. But as the preparations progressed, Rivera appeared increasingly clueless.
She claimed to have permission from the CIA to charter a plane to Afghanistan, but had no strategy for what to do once she’d evacuated the people.
This didn’t stop her telling her contact in Afghanistan to round up those in danger and get them to the airport in Kabul. They made it there, and anxiously waited for Rivera to arrive.
A week later, she eventually flew the whole extraction team to Dubai to stay at the five-star Marriott hotel, a three-hour flight from Kabul, telling them she’d work out the details on the way.
Meanwhile, back in Utah, Ora was left to act as a conduit between the contact in Afghanistan and her floundering boss in Dubai.
“Getting the Green Cards was an impossible ask,” says Ora. “Candace didn’t even have the details of the people the permits were for.”
It soon became apparent that Rivera – who had taken a huge bag of donor cash to go shopping for Rolex watches in Dubai – had no authorisation to fly into Afghanistan and no plan as to where to take anyone she rescued.
When the Green Cards weren’t forthcoming, she lobbied the South African government for permission to take evacuees there, but her requests were ignored.
Realising Rivera wasn’t coming to the rescue, the Afghan group got in touch with another organisation on the ground and managed to get a family of seven across the border to Pakistan.
Rivera returned to the US a week later, refusing to talk about what had happened, claiming she had PTSD. But on social media, she boasted of evacuating 1,000 people.
‘Increasingly erratic’
The organisation in Afghanistan cut ties with Exitus. It’s not known what happened to all the people Rivera was supposed to have saved there, but some have since posted on social media that they are alive and in education.
Candace promised all kinds of stuff – videography, a launch team, parties. And the big one was to get my book on Amazon
Author Charlene Paul
The debacle still haunts Ora, who says classic gaslighting and grooming techniques were used on her. Rivera would belittle, then love-bomb her, to get her to stay with Exitus.
The failed rescue mission did little to dent Rivera’s confidence – or bank balance.
She bought herself a new eight-seater Cadillac Escalade, telling people she needed the luxury vehicle for outreach work. She also bought herself a million-dollar house.
At the start of 2022, Rivera set up a branding company, CR House & Co, as well as an online financial-management course for women called Handle Your Money, Girl.
But her new business empire was briefly put on hold when Russia invaded Ukraine, and she decided to rescue Ukrainian orphans and bring them to adoptive American families.
Once more, she dipped into Exitus’ coffers, assembled a team and headed overseas with no strategy. She got to Moldova, but couldn’t get permission to cross the border.
Instead, she worked with officials and humanitarian agencies to establish a scheme to help refugees. It was useful work, but when she returned, she lied and claimed to have placed 300 orphans with host families.
In Salt Lake City that November, she took on her first branding client, author Charlene Paul.
Charlene tells Fabulous: “Candace promised all kinds of stuff – videography, a launch team, parties. And the big one was to get my book on Amazon.”
A launch date of February 15, 2023, was set. But by April that year, Charlene was getting increasingly frustrated, as the book still wasn’t on Amazon.
Instead, it was on the purchase platform Shopify, which Rivera controlled. Charlene was shipping orders, but receiving no money in return.
After consulting a lawyer, Charlene was advised her contract was worthless and she should file an intellectual property theft claim against Rivera. So, Charlene gave her 48 hours to take the Shopify store down, which she eventually did.
By this time, Rivera was becoming increasingly erratic, announcing she was entering into an anti-trafficking partnership with the Department of Homeland Security, and telling people she had stomach cancer.
She was also now being investigated for financial irregularities by private investigator Sam Brower, who had been tipped off about her claims and took his findings to the Attorney General’s office in Utah.
On September 15, 2023, Rivera was arrested and charged with more than 30 felonies, including fraud and embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In October 2024, the case went to court, where she entered into a no-contest plea deal, meaning she didn’t admit guilt to theft by deception, theft of services, forgery, unlawful conduct, and communications fraud, but stated she would not fight them. The rest of the charges were dismissed.
She received five sentences of between one and 15 years in prison for a pattern of unlawful activity, communication fraud, theft by deception and theft of services.
In addition, the judge sentenced her to four terms of up to five years for forgery, communication fraud and two counts of unlawful conduct The exact amount of time she will spend in jail will be decided later this year, but, for now, she remains behind bars.
The judge said Rivera had used Exitus to trick people out of money, and that millions of dollars and many victims were involved. She’d used some of the money to pay for homes, cars and trips, and she no longer appears to have cancer.
The harm she’s done to the non-profit sector is massive, as is the damage to victims who were victims before they got involved with her. She re-victimised them
Author Charlene Paul
Charlene explains: “The harm she’s done to the non-profit sector is massive, as is the damage to victims who were victims before they got involved with her. She re-victimised them. She just doesn’t care.”
For Ora, who gave evidence, the repercussions are ongoing. In January this year, she was hounded by a bank for $19,000 owed on a card that Rivera had set up in Ora’s name. Eventually, after intervention from a local TV station, the debt was cancelled.
She still thinks about the many girls she helped and wonders who they really were.
“Candace claimed everyone we helped was trafficked. Now, I don’t know if these were people she already knew and exploited,” says Ora, adding that she believes she has PTSD from the trauma of her encounter with “Unicorn Girl”.
Rivera’s web of deceit left a trail of stolen money and shattered lives – and proof that sometimes the most dangerous predators are the ones who promise to save you.
- All episodes of Unicorn Girl are available now on Apple Podcasts and wherever you get your podcasts.
