Fresh & Fit - Ian Bick Meets Fresh&Fit

00:00:00.000 Thank you.

00:02:40.000 And we are live.

00:02:41.000 What's up, guys?

00:02:42.000 Welcome to the Freshman Podcast, man.

00:02:43.000 We're here with special guest, Ian Bick.

00:02:44.000 Let's get into it, guys.

00:02:45.000 Let's go.

00:03:36.000 And we are live.

00:03:37.000 What's up, guys?

00:03:37.000 Welcome to the Freshly Fit Podcast, man.

00:03:39.000 We're live on all the platforms, Twitch, YouTube, X, Castle Club, Rumble.

00:03:43.000 We're back.

00:03:43.000 We're even live on February X right now, guys.

00:03:45.000 So welcome to the show.

00:03:46.000 We got a special guest in the house.

00:03:47.000 We got Ian Bick in the house, man.

00:03:49.000 And for those of you guys that aren't familiar, I did an interview with him a couple of weeks back while I was home in Connecticut.

00:03:55.000 And we went in detail as to my background with, you know, what I used to do with Homeland Security Investigations.

00:04:01.000 We had a very deep talk on federal investigations, how they work.

00:04:03.000 But we're going to give you guys another perspective on the other side where Ian actually was arrested by the feds and had to go ahead and deal from the other perspective.

00:04:10.000 So this is going to be a really interesting interview.

00:04:12.000 So, Ian, I know who you are, man.

00:04:14.000 Welcome to the show.

00:04:15.000 Can you please introduce yourself to the people?

00:04:17.000 Thank you guys for having me, man.

00:04:18.000 It's an honor.

00:04:18.000 And that's the interview we did on his channel, guys.

00:04:20.000 Go check it out.

00:04:20.000 Dude, I said this a couple weeks ago, but no big YouTubers or whoever come to Connecticut.

00:04:25.000 So it was cool to connect when you said, oh, I literally am from there.

00:04:28.000 So it was awesome.

00:04:29.000 And when I started out, I watched your guys' stuff, your clips, and you guys were someone to look up to.

00:04:35.000 So I appreciate you guys having me on.

00:04:36.000 So back in the day, you guys were enemies, basically.

00:04:39.000 Pretty much, I guess you could say that.

00:04:42.000 The type of crime that he investigated, I guess, yeah, because we investigate wire fraud too, but...

00:04:46.000 Maybe he was one of the agents.

00:04:48.000 No, he was in Connecticut.

00:04:50.000 Well, it's funny because I did a little stint in Connecticut for the New Haven office when I was working for Homeland Security.

00:04:57.000 But I think I left because you didn't get picked up until like what, 2018 or something?

00:05:02.000 2015 I got indicted.

00:05:04.000 I went to prison in 2016.

00:05:06.000 I was in Texas by then.

00:05:06.000 Yeah, it was the New Haven office that was investigating me with the postal inspectors out of Hartford and the New Haven field office, FBI, which I found out was their field office.

00:05:15.000 My first reverse proffer was with the U.S. Attorney's office in that FBI building. 0.99

00:05:20.000 Shit, whoa. 0.99

00:05:20.000 And we'll get into all that. 0.99

00:05:22.000 We need the full story.

00:05:23.000 That's a lot.

00:05:24.000 You guys are probably like, what the hell's going on here?

00:05:26.000 We're going to explain some of this jargon, because I know some of you guys might not be familiar with the criminal justice system from the federal perspective, so we'll go ahead and define some of these jargon-type terms.

00:05:35.000 But Ian, can you kind of give us an insight into your background, where you grew up, how that was, that type of thing?

00:05:39.000 Your intro.

00:05:40.000 So I grew up in Danbury, Connecticut.

00:05:42.000 I was born in New York City, grew up in Danbury, you know, good family.

00:05:45.000 Dad was a public schools teacher in New York in Spanish Harlem, and he went on to become a caterer.

00:05:52.000 So I grew up around, you know, going to like Harry Potter premieres.

00:05:56.000 He did stuff for 50 Cent, Bill Clinton, like really successful in the catering world.

00:06:01.000 And then my mom was a massage therapist after doing, like, clinical social work.

00:06:06.000 So I was raised kind of like in that entrepreneurial family.

00:06:09.000 And, you know, good schools.

00:06:10.000 Went to private school for a little bit because I was bullied a lot.

00:06:13.000 Very overweight.

00:06:14.000 Everyone called me Twinkie and Chubster.

00:06:17.000 Really?

00:06:18.000 Yeah, I was teased.

00:06:19.000 Always last picked.

00:06:20.000 I didn't even play sports in high school.

00:06:22.000 I did musical theater.

00:06:24.000 And, you know, family vacations.

00:06:25.000 Had a younger brother growing up.

00:06:27.000 Always had, like, the family dog.

00:06:28.000 You know, family pizza nights.

00:06:29.000 And we grew up in a Jewish community.

00:06:31.000 It was called Lake Wabika.

00:06:32.000 And there was literally, like, 200 houses.

00:06:35.000 Everyone was Jewish.

00:06:36.000 There was a synagogue across the street from my house that we would actually break into. 0.99

00:06:40.000 Not break in.

00:06:41.000 Whatever.

00:06:42.000 Because the door was unlocked, but we would walk in and get the liquor for our house parties.

00:06:47.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:06:47.000 What the heck?

00:06:48.000 I'll tell you this, if a synagogue is near your real estate property, it was going up in value, man. 0.98

00:06:52.000 Wow.

00:06:52.000 And we lived on the lake.

00:06:53.000 No motorboats, but we had paddleboards, rowboats, canoes, everything like that.

00:06:58.000 And in high school, I started out throwing house parties, and that...

00:07:04.000 I eventually went from, you know, 200, 400 people house parties to then going to renting out a local nightclub called Tuxedo Junction, which was a famous rock club where I did shows and made like 15 grand a night in high school.

00:07:17.000 I was 15. 0.99

00:07:18.000 Damn. 0.99

00:07:18.000 And then from there... 0.99

00:07:19.000 How old are you now?

00:07:20.000 I'm 29.

00:07:21.000 29, okay.

00:07:21.000 And then from there I went on to big concerts.

00:07:24.000 I've worked with everyone from like the Chainsmokers, 21 Savage, Steve Aoki, Zedd's Dead.

00:07:29.000 EDM was huge back then.

00:07:31.000 Yeah.

00:07:31.000 I mean, it still is popular, but like...

00:07:33.000 2010 to 2016, it was huge.

00:07:36.000 It had exploded at URI and Massachusetts and Boston and that area.

00:07:41.000 And it translated to Connecticut because it was only a couple hours away.

00:07:43.000 And I kind of ran with it doing these giant acts.

00:07:46.000 My first show ever was Big Sean.

00:07:48.000 I paid him $40,000, did a whole college concert at the campus.

00:07:52.000 And you did all this at this club called Tuxedos, you said?

00:07:56.000 No, at that point I grew out of Tuxedos and went into the concert promotion business.

00:08:00.000 I would later come to own tuxedos later on while I was on trial with the feds, which was another crazy thing.

00:08:07.000 And how old were you when you started this business where you were doing kind of like event planning?

00:08:10.000 I was 15.

00:08:11.000 15?

00:08:12.000 I was making like 10 grand a night cash.

00:08:14.000 Start up from the bottom, now we're there.

00:08:15.000 Teen party promoting.

00:08:16.000 And that's essentially what I do now.

00:08:18.000 This world is concert promoting just virtually.

00:08:22.000 Yeah, you're promoting people to come watch your stuff.

00:08:25.000 Exactly.

00:08:26.000 That's an interesting way of looking at it.

00:08:27.000 So you get your feet wet doing this.

00:08:29.000 You're in high school.

00:08:30.000 You graduate.

00:08:32.000 And then at that point, you're kind of at a crossroads.

00:08:34.000 What happened there?

00:08:35.000 Yeah.

00:08:35.000 So once I moved on from these club nights, I got very ambitious, and I started raising money from friends and family to book concerts.

00:08:44.000 My first concert I wanted to do was, this was after Big Sean, because my partners kind of took the Big Sean show, and I didn't get to invest money into it.

00:08:50.000 So I raised money to do a Wiz Khalifa show, was my first thing, and I raised $120,000.

00:08:57.000 Black and yellow?

00:08:57.000 Yeah, that was when it was.

00:08:59.000 It was 2012 was supposed to be the concert.

00:09:02.000 Okay, let's go.

00:09:03.000 Yeah, end of 2012.

00:09:05.000 And we were going to book Wiz Khalifa, and my business partner at the time said he could book him because we had just booked Asher Roth, who was signed to Scooter Braun at the time, you know, Bieber's manager.

00:09:14.000 And we believed him.

00:09:16.000 He got us Asher Roth, you get us Wiz Khalifa.

00:09:18.000 He just said you needed 120,000 in a bank account to show proof of funds.

00:09:22.000 So I get the money.

00:09:24.000 I raise it from friends and family, but I guarantee them the money back.

00:09:27.000 I say, listen, I'll give you your money back even if the show loses because I was so confident Wiz Khalifa is going to sell out.

00:09:34.000 Gotcha.

00:09:37.000 So I go back to these investors and I say, listen, you know, we can put it into a string of shows, multiple shows in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and some of them, like, leave their money in, some take out, and we do these shows, and that first show tanks, and in that moment, I decide to lie and say it made money because I didn't want them to not like me.

00:09:58.000 I didn't want to be seen as a failure because I was already so successful before, and I was about 17 years old when this happened.

00:10:05.000 Okay, so you basically lost Wiz Khalifa.

00:10:09.000 You promised you would get the money back through a string of shows.

00:10:11.000 It didn't end up panning out the way you wanted.

00:10:13.000 But I told them it made money.

00:10:14.000 Yeah, but you told them it was profitable.

00:10:15.000 So instead, like...

00:10:16.000 So they're expecting their money back then.

00:10:17.000 Exactly.

00:10:18.000 And that one lie was like a domino effect.

00:10:21.000 Because, say a show, you put 20 grand into a show.

00:10:24.000 Yeah.

00:10:25.000 So if I told them it made, say, 30, but really I only got back 5, so I'm down now the 15 plus the 10 that is profit.

00:10:32.000 So that's a 25 grand deficit.

00:10:34.000 Also, when it comes to concerts and having artists, you have to pay the artists up front and hope bottles sell, people buy drinks to make about your money.

00:10:42.000 Because up front, you gotta pay them their fee, no matter what happens.

00:10:45.000 Front end and back end.

00:10:46.000 For rap, it's 50% when you sign on and announce it, 50% cash.

00:10:51.000 Right when they show up like an hour or two before doors when they're doing soundcheck.

00:10:54.000 EDM is 50% up front.

00:10:56.000 And then the rest day of or you build enough relationships like I owed the chain smokers 25 grand for like four months after the show because we had those relationships.

00:11:07.000 And it was just it was crazy.

00:11:08.000 And I was gambling to kind of like make them their money back.

00:11:11.000 Gotcha. 1.00

00:11:12.000 Shit. 1.00

00:11:13.000 And obviously, you know, doing this as a young guy, just for the audience to understand, by the way, because you mentioned a bunch of states, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York. 0.99

00:11:19.000 Guys, like, for all of you guys that might live in Texas and these big rural areas, New England, think of it as like one big ass, one state, because whether you're in Connecticut, Massachusetts, you can get anywhere you need to in New England within two hours.

00:11:30.000 Hype Train Level 4, let's go!

00:11:32.000 Shout out to Y'all Ninjas, man.

00:11:33.000 Shout out to Twitch, man.

00:11:34.000 Take the mullet. 0.94

00:11:35.000 So keep that in mind, guys, that New England, everything is close, dude.

00:11:38.000 Literally, within two hours, you could be in another state in another major city.

00:11:42.000 So, okay.

00:11:43.000 It's funny, that one lie. 0.98

00:11:45.000 So Wiz Khalifa fucked you up, basically. 0.97

00:11:46.000 Well, not him, it's the person that promised to. 0.94

00:11:49.000 But if that show happened, we wouldn't be here today.

00:11:52.000 Because if it lost, yeah, it's that one thing, you know?

00:11:55.000 I just need that one show to happen.

00:11:57.000 But you know what's crazy?

00:11:57.000 Usually it's the person in the middle between you and the artist.

00:12:00.000 I was gonna ask him that next.

00:12:01.000 Who fucked it up?

00:12:02.000 Was it Wiz or was it the middleman? 0.76

00:12:04.000 The middleman, because in the concert business, the rap game, when you're first starting out, there's so many middleman.

00:12:08.000 Like, it's not like now a podcast, you deal directly with the guest.

00:12:11.000 Yeah.

00:12:12.000 Back then, when you have no connections when you're a teenager, I dealt with six different people who I would send money to, to money to, to money to.

00:12:19.000 That's how, like, a scenario like Chief Keef is one of the guys I booked.

00:12:22.000 He never showed up.

00:12:23.000 He never paid me the money back.

00:12:25.000 And when you go to try to sue him, it's just middle, middle, middle, middle.

00:12:29.000 There's no options.

00:12:30.000 Sometimes the ropers don't even know who took the money on their behalf.

00:12:33.000 Exactly.

00:12:33.000 They don't know.

00:12:36.000 Oh, you mean Vitaly?

00:12:37.000 Sorry, Vitaly, yeah.

00:12:38.000 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:12:39.000 Because they had booked Quavo to come on this Catch a Predator episode.

00:12:42.000 Quavo didn't show up.

00:12:43.000 I was there.

00:12:44.000 But luckily, they used a middleman, some kind of escrow service, I think, and they got the money back.

00:12:50.000 Usually, what works with getting artists, because I have a friend that does this for a living, he will have the manager connect with him and then do a FaceTime call with the artist.

00:12:59.000 That's smart.

00:12:59.000 So it's confirmed.

00:13:00.000 At least we did a FaceTime call and he records it.

00:13:02.000 Oh, okay.

00:13:03.000 So that's documented.

00:13:04.000 But here's the thing.

00:13:04.000 He was doing this in 2012.

00:13:06.000 Before social media.

00:13:07.000 And he was a kid, too.

00:13:08.000 He was a kid.

00:13:08.000 I had no event insurance.

00:13:10.000 Like, I never had event insurance.

00:13:11.000 I didn't know any of this stuff, you know?

00:13:13.000 The contracts.

00:13:14.000 Yeah, and I was just signing contracts with management companies.

00:13:17.000 Imagine, bro.

00:13:17.000 That's hard, bro.

00:13:18.000 No Instagram.

00:13:19.000 Because, like, Instagram was kind of...

00:13:20.000 Like, people didn't use it like that.

00:13:22.000 Oh, you're using Facebook to do all this?

00:13:24.000 We did event pages.

00:13:25.000 Facebook event pages.

00:13:26.000 Back then, if a thousand people said they were coming to your event, you knew a thousand people were showing up.

00:13:30.000 Now it's just spam, you know?

00:13:32.000 It's not the same.

00:13:33.000 Instagram was just beginning.

00:13:35.000 Snapchat was just beginning.

00:13:36.000 No TikTok.

00:13:38.000 Vine I used for like a couple months before I went to prison.

00:13:41.000 But that was it.

00:13:41.000 TikTok was new to me when I got out of prison.

00:13:43.000 That and smart TVs. 1.00

00:13:45.000 Shit, okay. 1.00

00:13:46.000 So imagine now you got Jack Doherty paying Lil Baby 200k to show up to a party. 1.00

00:13:51.000 And because he has the fame and the notoriety, it's like, I'm paying the money up front, come through.

00:13:56.000 He's coming through.

00:13:57.000 Yeah.

00:13:57.000 No, I mean, that's interesting.

00:13:59.000 Because there was a video clip of him bringing a bag of money to him.

00:14:02.000 I don't know if that was for sure or what.

00:14:04.000 Because you said that they need to give at least 50% up front.

00:14:07.000 Up front.

00:14:08.000 Maybe it was the second half.

00:14:09.000 Because you know what happens, bro?

00:14:10.000 A lot of times they get, like, scammed themselves.

00:14:12.000 It's like a two-way street.

00:14:13.000 Either the rappers are getting scammed because the person doesn't pay them at the end of the night, and then they obviously want to get paid, or the promoters are getting scammed because they never show up.

00:14:20.000 I was going to say, promoters probably get scammed way more.

00:14:21.000 Yeah, because they say, oh, he's going to be here at this date and time.

00:14:24.000 Never shows up.

00:14:25.000 Dude, if you search Chief Keef on Google, he scams so many promoters.

00:14:29.000 Yo! 1.00

00:14:30.000 Or his manager, someone has.

00:14:31.000 I know he scammed me.

00:14:32.000 Or his promotion team did.

00:14:34.000 Because I never got the show.

00:14:35.000 We literally sold 2,000 tickets.

00:14:38.000 And we got a phone call from management saying he missed his first flight.

00:14:42.000 He'll be there later.

00:14:43.000 That too.

00:14:44.000 You know what rappers do most of the time?

00:14:47.000 They'll say they missed their flight on purpose so that they can't make it.

00:14:51.000 And then you'd pay them half the money up front so it's like, oh bro, you know, I missed my flight.

00:14:56.000 I can't help myself.

00:14:58.000 And this is 2012.

00:14:59.000 This is when Chief Keeble was blowing up everywhere.

00:15:01.000 Yeah, he was a 25 grand guarantee.

00:15:03.000 I paid him 15 up front and then I would have 10 cash.

00:15:05.000 But also you got to realize like some of these deals, like I remember little Yachty, little Uzi, like we were getting offered them for like 25 grand.

00:15:12.000 If they sign on for that and then they blow up the next day and they're getting 100 or 200, they still have to perform for that 25.

00:15:18.000 So in their eyes, they don't really want to do it.

00:15:21.000 They don't care about a kid.

00:15:22.000 Oh, did you book him before I Don't Like Blow Up?

00:15:24.000 He was like blowing up right at the same time, so that could have been a reason too. 0.99

00:15:27.000 But they're like, fuck this white dude in Connecticut that has money that's paying, you know? 0.99

00:15:31.000 They don't care about that. 0.99

00:15:32.000 So it's funny, because I was actually shocked when you said you got him for 25k.

00:15:36.000 Like 2012, Kanye had just like kind of done the I Don't Like remix.

00:15:39.000 So he was starting to blow up.

00:15:41.000 So you probably got him like right before.

00:15:42.000 I paid 40 for Tyga.

00:15:44.000 This was right before I started dating Kylie Jenner.

00:15:47.000 Shout out to him, man.

00:15:48.000 Legendary.

00:15:48.000 No, but did he show at least?

00:15:49.000 Yeah, he did, buddy.

00:15:51.000 He wouldn't take pictures.

00:15:52.000 Very short in person. 0.96

00:15:53.000 You pay the guy that much money, and his rider was ridiculous.

00:15:56.000 I booked him in YG. Rider was ridiculous. 0.97

00:15:59.000 Like, you know those champagne bottles that are like $1,500 or whatever? 0.72

00:16:02.000 You had to get like five of those and sort the Skittles out. 1.00

00:16:06.000 It's nuts.

00:16:07.000 Was his security there, Jerome, the big guy?

00:16:09.000 I don't remember. 0.90

00:16:10.000 There was a bunch of black guys guarding him.

00:16:12.000 It foreshadowed prison, I'll tell you that. 0.93

00:16:15.000 He's that guy.

00:16:16.000 My boy Jerome does.

00:16:18.000 We went in Vegas.

00:16:19.000 He's cool.

00:16:20.000 Okay, so Wiz Khalifa.

00:16:23.000 Sorry, you were telling that story.

00:16:24.000 Yeah, so the Wiz Khalifa show doesn't happen.

00:16:27.000 Half the investors stay in.

00:16:29.000 I have like 60 grand to play with.

00:16:30.000 Book a string of shows.

00:16:32.000 Like Rusko, Grizzly, Mike Studd, a bunch of lower-name people, Huey Mac, and they all tank.

00:16:40.000 Not enough promotion, everyone.

00:16:43.000 Did they at least all show?

00:16:44.000 They all showed.

00:16:45.000 One concert got canceled because of a snowstorm, but they all showed.

00:16:49.000 By that point, my reputation was better in the concert industry.

00:16:53.000 So once you do your first couple shows and you get a rep, they're not going to burn you.

00:16:57.000 That's like if an artist burned Live Nation.

00:16:59.000 And obviously that's a way different scenario, but it's that similar concept.

00:17:03.000 I wasn't the new kid on the block anymore.

00:17:05.000 Gotcha.

00:17:06.000 And obviously, were you holding any shows in Southern Connecticut like Danbury?

00:17:10.000 New Haven, Toad's Place.

00:17:12.000 You know Toad's Place, yeah.

00:17:14.000 And then University of Rhode Island's College Arena.

00:17:16.000 We would rent out a lot for shows.

00:17:19.000 For the audience, Toad's Place is a big bar in New Haven.

00:17:21.000 Huge Yale hangout.

00:17:23.000 Yeah.

00:17:23.000 Who goes to Connecticut anyway?

00:17:26.000 A lot of people.

00:17:27.000 Well, see, it's weird.

00:17:28.000 So Danbury worked out perfect because you get a guy playing Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun or Boston and then Madison Square Garden the next night.

00:17:36.000 So Steve Aoki would play Boston, then go to Connecticut's Shrine Nightclub, and then he would come to me on an off night, you know, get an extra 50 grand, and then he would go to Madison Square Garden and get his full date.

00:17:46.000 It's like a circuit, basically.

00:17:47.000 That's why.

00:17:47.000 Exactly.

00:17:48.000 They fly into Rhode Island.

00:17:49.000 Boston's here.

00:17:50.000 Boston's up here.

00:17:51.000 And then you go down into Connecticut because you have to go through Connecticut to get to New York.

00:17:55.000 So Boston then drives south into the Mohegan, the casinos.

00:17:59.000 Then he drives west towards Danbury, hit Danbury.

00:18:02.000 And then the New York border is right there.

00:18:04.000 Drives into New York and then down south into New York City.

00:18:06.000 Because for a rapper, imagine your lifespan as a rapper can be short or quick, but tours and, for example, shows are everlasting.

00:18:14.000 And remember, New England, like I said before, you can be anywhere in New England within two to three hours.

00:18:17.000 You could literally be in any other state.

00:18:20.000 That's where they make their money, too, from the touring.

00:18:22.000 Yeah, of course.

00:18:23.000 It's not music, it's the touring.

00:18:24.000 You saw that TIA doesn't want to do any more shows anymore? 1.00

00:18:26.000 I saw that, yeah.

00:18:27.000 And I'm like, bro, he must have won that lawsuit because, bro, I mean, that's free money.

00:18:31.000 Yeah, then he don't care.

00:18:32.000 Well, he's not popular like that musically anymore anyway. 0.99

00:18:35.000 You know what I mean?

00:18:36.000 He isn't, but he gets booked for Eleven all the time, bro. 0.99

00:18:38.000 Yeah, but bro, that's fucking... 0.99

00:18:39.000 Come on, man. 1.00

00:18:40.000 Eleven sucks. 0.93

00:18:41.000 You know, I've never been to Eleven. 0.99

00:18:42.000 What?

00:18:43.000 Never, yeah.

00:18:44.000 Let's go.

00:18:44.000 Or Fountain Blue, none of those places.

00:18:46.000 No, you go.

00:18:47.000 You take him.

00:18:48.000 I can't go.

00:18:49.000 You're bad from 11?

00:18:50.000 Bro, I'm bad everywhere, bro.

00:18:51.000 What?

00:18:52.000 I tried to intervene? 0.98

00:18:55.000 Bro, this nigga, bro. 1.00

00:18:56.000 Just got bad off Instagram today. 0.97

00:18:58.000 Like, bro, I'm bad everywhere, man.

00:18:59.000 Holy cow, man. 1.00

00:19:01.000 Damn, man. 1.00

00:19:02.000 That's funny. 1.00

00:19:04.000 It's what it is, bro.

00:19:05.000 It's funny.

00:19:06.000 You get banned on the internet, but real life is crazy.

00:19:09.000 That's crazy, man.

00:19:11.000 So Wiz does a show, but you get all these other people.

00:19:17.000 So how much are you in the hole now at this point after that string of shows and the Wiz Khalifa?

00:19:21.000 I was about give or take, because you don't lose everything on a concert.

00:19:24.000 You get some money back.

00:19:25.000 So give or take, I was like 50 grand in the hole after everything, which was a lot for a 17 year old kid, you know, who's I was also working a job.

00:19:34.000 I've always been a hustler.

00:19:35.000 I was working at a corporate center, booking proms and stuff.

00:19:38.000 And I was 50 grand in debt.

00:19:41.000 So my business partner at the time, this would later be my co-defendant that would testify at trial.

00:19:45.000 He comes to me and says, hey, do you want to make a bunch of money quick?

00:19:50.000 And he brings me Beats by Dre.

00:19:51.000 And he said he was selling these.

00:19:54.000 He was getting them for $50 and selling them for $400.

00:19:57.000 And at the time, I didn't know they were fake.

00:19:59.000 We would later find out they're fake.

00:20:00.000 But these things are brand new in the box.

00:20:02.000 They look legit.

00:20:03.000 But later on, if you registered it on beatsbydre.com, it would say this barcode doesn't exist or serial number.

00:20:08.000 But he said they were off the truck, like stolen or damaged or whatever.

00:20:12.000 So as a kid, I'm thinking, okay, you get them for $50.

00:20:16.000 You're selling them for $400, maybe a little cheaper on Amazon or eBay.

00:20:20.000 That's...

00:20:21.000 100, 200, 300, 400% return.

00:20:23.000 Let me take loans from people and promise them a 50% rate of return.

00:20:28.000 So say I went to you and I said, hey, you want to invest in my Beats by Dre business?

00:20:31.000 Give me five grand.

00:20:32.000 I'm going to give you $7,500 back in 30 days.

00:20:35.000 In my mind, I'm thinking that's a fair return because we're making quadruple that.

00:20:40.000 But we took those money, that investment in, and found out the product was fake.

00:20:45.000 So now you're sitting on all this fake product and you owe 50% rate of return in 30 days.

00:20:51.000 So he tells you about this thing, and I remember Beats by Dre had just come out, so it wasn't regulated yet like that.

00:20:58.000 When did you find out that they were counterfeit?

00:21:00.000 Like three months later and after we raised $600,000 in investment money.

00:21:04.000 Oh.

00:21:06.000 How'd you find out?

00:21:08.000 People coming to me about the serial numbers.

00:21:09.000 Okay, that's how you found out originally?

00:21:11.000 One guy came.

00:21:11.000 I guess there was a way to tell, like, there was a click in one of the ears, but these things were bulletproof.

00:21:15.000 Like, they looked legit.

00:21:17.000 They were sealed.

00:21:18.000 Did anyone sue you?

00:21:19.000 I guess I could have, but I never made it that far.

00:21:21.000 I'd heard of guys, like, with Bose headphones and stuff, but we never got that far.

00:21:25.000 You know, this was like a couple month thing.

00:21:27.000 But what the real trigger was all the Amazon accounts kept getting shut down for fraud. 0.98

00:21:31.000 And this is when Amazon was like first allowing you to sell shit and like the seller account. 0.92

00:21:36.000 So we would have like 20 iPhones with a new Amazon account and everyone's reporting fraud that the items are fraud. 0.93

00:21:42.000 So they all got blocked and shut down.

00:21:44.000 So, just so I understand this thing here.

00:21:48.000 So, you're 50K in the debt with the event planning and the concerts.

00:21:54.000 Then this Beats by Dre thing comes along.

00:21:56.000 You're able to raise, within three months, 600K of investor money.

00:22:01.000 Had you already started paying back dividends at that point after the first and second month?

00:22:04.000 Yeah, so basically what I was doing was I was looking at...

00:22:07.000 I went to a lawyer and I said, hey, this is my plan.

00:22:09.000 I want to take loans from people, not investments.

00:22:11.000 I want to take loans because I was 18 now and I didn't have any credit.

00:22:14.000 So I'm like, well, if you can borrow from one, say, bank to pay off another bank, can I do that with people?

00:22:20.000 And he said, yes.

00:22:21.000 So I would borrow from one person, put it into this pot.

00:22:23.000 No accounting.

00:22:24.000 Nothing would be our business bank account.

00:22:26.000 And we called ourselves an investment company.

00:22:28.000 And I was paying off old people's returns until we could generate some money. 0.91

00:22:32.000 I'm thinking that's a business, and legit, little do I know it's a Ponzi scheme when you're taking...

00:22:37.000 Money made up in the house.

00:22:39.000 Yeah, well, that's what they call it. 0.92

00:22:40.000 Network marketing.

00:22:41.000 Network marketing.

00:22:41.000 101.

00:22:42.000 Wait, hold on, hold on.

00:22:43.000 Are you borrowing from, like, your people?

00:22:46.000 What do you mean, my people?

00:22:48.000 You know, like...

00:22:49.000 Like Jewish? 0.98

00:22:50.000 Yeah.

00:22:50.000 Well, I'm happy.

00:22:51.000 Yeah, my dad's had the family Jewish. 0.96

00:22:52.000 See, it's a face card, because, nigga, I'm in the hood. 1.00

00:22:54.000 I can't do that shit. 1.00

00:22:55.000 Let me get some money, nigga. 1.00

00:22:56.000 Nigga, I'm broke. 1.00

00:22:57.000 What the fuck? 1.00

00:22:58.000 He's saying that people are so... 1.00

00:22:59.000 Like, are you borrowing from your investors that invested with you?

00:23:01.000 I'm borrowing from everyone, yeah.

00:23:03.000 I raised $600,000 at 18, you know?

00:23:05.000 That's crazy, though, bro.

00:23:06.000 Yeah.

00:23:07.000 Because look at it from his point of view.

00:23:08.000 He's young, has business ideas, but no actual...

00:23:11.000 These are friends and family, I'm assuming, right?

00:23:13.000 Friends and family, people in sororities would tell their parents, because you've got to remember, the basis of this is I was so successful in high school, and I start this new business, electronics, everyone gets paid back from the concerts, no one knows they lost, they're successful on paper.

00:23:25.000 You're eating all the deficits.

00:23:27.000 They're thinking I'm like the next, you know, like Mark Zuckerberg in that town, you know, like that they want to invest in it, and they're eating into it.

00:23:34.000 I didn't know parents were technically taking advantage of giving, say, 50k to a kid, and give me 75k back in 30 days.

00:23:41.000 Also, your status is up there where they trust you off of your face.

00:23:44.000 Yeah, I mean I have like a likable personality and people like me.

00:23:47.000 You're a nice guy.

00:23:47.000 Yeah, I was like, I was just a good, like a good person, but I never set out to defraud from anyone, you know?

00:23:53.000 And that's what, that's why I went to trial ultimately because that wasn't my attention.

00:23:57.000 Gotcha.

00:23:57.000 So, alright, so now you got the Beats by Dre thing going on.

00:24:01.000 You find out three months later, they're counterfeit after a bunch of Amazon accounts get shut down and complaints from people saying, hey, I can't register my product.

00:24:10.000 At that point you had taken about 600k worth of investment money to buy these beads, procure them, and then give them a return.

00:24:16.000 And I'm assuming within this three months you had been paying people back and people continue to give you money.

00:24:21.000 What do you do at that point?

00:24:22.000 So what happens is out of that 600k, you know, like 10 or 15k went into product before we found out it was fake.

00:24:28.000 But the issue became I kept borrowing on...

00:24:31.000 Borrowing more money on the pretense of the electronics, and then people thought they were making money from the electronics.

00:24:36.000 But the other money, I think I spent like a hundred grand between dinners, trips, clothing, and jet skis were like the biggest thing.

00:24:42.000 Because we're thinking like, okay, we need to pay ourselves a salary.

00:24:45.000 That's our salary.

00:24:46.000 But then the rest of the money went into I bought my first nightclub when I was 18.

00:24:49.000 I put a hundred grand into that.

00:24:51.000 Bunch of contractors.

00:24:52.000 Tuxedos, right?

00:24:53.000 Yeah, there was a front room with tuxedos.

00:24:55.000 We called it Sky Bar.

00:24:56.000 I actually got sued by Sky Vodka because I did SKYY, and they sued me for copyright infringement.

00:25:03.000 Really?

00:25:04.000 Yeah, I got sued.

00:25:05.000 I got plastered, and my lawyer didn't respond.

00:25:07.000 They were going to pay me to change the branding.

00:25:09.000 They were going to give me like 20 racks. 0.97

00:25:10.000 And my lawyer responded like two days late, so they're like, fuck it, we're going to trial, and I got no money. 0.97

00:25:17.000 So that was one thing. 0.98

00:25:18.000 Every contractor, I'd have contractors walking off the street saying, hey, you know, you want us to paint the place for five grand?

00:25:23.000 I would do it.

00:25:24.000 Little did I know that was like five times the price of what it should have cost.

00:25:27.000 So I'm getting scam left and right with that.

00:25:30.000 I invest in like a shoe business, a website, and then I put like 300 grand into concerts.

00:25:34.000 Those are the ones with Chief Keef, Tyga, Ace Hood, Kid Ink, a bunch of shows for, you know, that fall of 2013.

00:25:44.000 Let me ask you this.

00:25:46.000 So when it comes to like business and being that young, do you regret not knowing the business itself before getting into it?

00:25:52.000 Because I feel like some people find a mentor first, then they get into it, but you just put into it head first strong and you made hella mistakes.

00:25:59.000 Was that like a learning curve for you as well?

00:26:01.000 Yeah, I mean, here's the thing.

00:26:01.000 I was a great marketer.

00:26:03.000 Like, I can hit the ground running.

00:26:04.000 I can market.

00:26:05.000 That's what makes me good at what I do now.

00:26:06.000 I wasn't a businessman.

00:26:07.000 I don't like the business aspect, you know?

00:26:10.000 That's why I'm not in real estate or anything.

00:26:11.000 Like, I would rather, what I should have done is given that money to someone that was into business, invested it, right?

00:26:17.000 I mean, imagine if I spent $600,000 on properties.

00:26:19.000 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:26:19.000 Or even someone said, buy Bitcoin at the time.

00:26:21.000 Oh, yeah.

00:26:22.000 You know?

00:26:22.000 Like, there was, Bitcoin was like a couple hundred bucks at the time, you know?

00:26:25.000 Yeah, I did, yeah.

00:26:25.000 There were so many things I could have done or leverage that money with a bank and get a line of credit or something.

00:26:30.000 I didn't do any of that.

00:26:31.000 But you felt, I guess, a duty to your investors because you're 50k in the hole with the Wiz Khalifa thing and you borrowed all this money for the Beats stuff.

00:26:37.000 I'm assuming at this point you probably paid back all your Wiz Khalifa investors and now you're paying back your Beats people at this three months.

00:26:42.000 So you find out that they're fake after the Amazon stuff.

00:26:46.000 What was your reaction?

00:26:47.000 Did you yell at your partner for bringing you into this because you went off of him?

00:26:52.000 What'd you do?

00:26:53.000 I was pissed, but I think I would have fixed the situation if I didn't have the concerts.

00:26:57.000 But in my mind, okay, you have all of these concerts booked with the biggest people in the world.

00:27:02.000 They're going to make the money back before anyone finds out.

00:27:05.000 Okay, so you're still doing the concert stuff on top of the beat stuff still.

00:27:08.000 Yeah, I put about 300 grand into concerts for the fall.

00:27:10.000 This is the second string of concerts.

00:27:13.000 Now I'm 18, this is the fall of 2013.

00:27:16.000 This is like my last hurrah.

00:27:18.000 Because if all these concerts on a 300 grand concert investment, you're grossing maybe like close to 2 million.

00:27:24.000 So, you know, then you have your other money that you kind of leveraged out with the back end of artists.

00:27:28.000 So say after a 2 million dollar gross, if everything sells out, you're making like 1.4 million profit.

00:27:34.000 Minus 50% to the investors.

00:27:35.000 You can pay that 300k back, no problem.

00:27:37.000 Plus another 300 for your post announcement expenses, like paying the artists a day of, things like that.

00:27:44.000 See, I was going to say, so what was making you more money at this point?

00:27:49.000 Was it the concerts or was it the beat stuff?

00:27:52.000 It seems like you were doing both at the same time.

00:27:53.000 None of it was making money.

00:27:54.000 All of our accounts got shut down.

00:27:55.000 We bought 10 or 15 grand of product with that first investment, and Amazon shut down everything.

00:28:00.000 That's like you getting banned on YouTube.

00:28:03.000 We're demonetized on that.

00:28:06.000 Amazon. 0.99

00:28:06.000 Look at your mindset at that point, because you're still young, doing all this bullshit of failures, money not coming in. 0.99

00:28:13.000 What do you do at that point? 0.96

00:28:13.000 How do you feel? 0.96

00:28:15.000 I'm one of those people that never gives up.

00:28:17.000 I'm going to find a way, figure it out.

00:28:19.000 I just do whatever.

00:28:21.000 Even starting the podcast, I drove Uber and did OnlyFans before I made money on the podcast.

00:28:27.000 Yeah, I did OnlyFans.

00:28:28.000 You did what?

00:28:28.000 I did OnlyFans, yeah.

00:28:29.000 Wait, what did you do on there? 0.72

00:28:30.000 Dude, I fucking sling pictures out there to men, to make money, you know? 0.97

00:28:34.000 I did what I had to do. 0.98

00:28:35.000 I made 10 grand.

00:28:36.000 Bro, you are definitely Jewish, bro. 0.97

00:28:38.000 I made 10 grand, bro.

00:28:40.000 You are definitely Jewish. 0.96

00:28:41.000 Yeah, bro.

00:28:42.000 That's crazy, yeah. 0.56

00:28:43.000 I'm a hustler, man.

00:28:44.000 I'll do what I gotta do, bro.

00:28:46.000 You don't ever give up.

00:28:47.000 Never, bro.

00:28:47.000 I'm gonna find a way.

00:28:48.000 And I remember those first few months of doing the podcast, making no money.

00:28:53.000 TikTok was still under the old creator program, and I was hustling.

00:28:56.000 You did everything.

00:28:57.000 I did everything.

00:28:57.000 When I got out of prison, I worked at Whole Foods from 6 a.m.

00:29:01.000 to 2.30, and then worked a pizza restaurant from 2.30 to 10 p.m., and then I did it all again.

00:29:07.000 See, I'll do what I gotta do.

00:29:09.000 Never give up.

00:29:11.000 Dude, if I was doing OnlyFans right now, I still have men in my DMs from last year that will say, hey, are you still selling pictures or this and that?

00:29:18.000 And I don't respond to them, obviously.

00:29:20.000 In another life, I would do it too, but I just feel like...

00:29:23.000 You make a lot of money.

00:29:24.000 It's already for BBC Gang.

00:29:26.000 They're not ready.

00:29:28.000 This is actually pretty common with P-stars that are dudes.

00:29:31.000 They make a lot of money off of dudes. 0.94

00:29:34.000 G for P. But the problem is the guys want you to go hook up with other men and stuff, and I'm not gay, so I'm not doing that. 1.00

00:29:40.000 It was hard enough to sex them on the fucking messenger, because that's where you make your money. 1.00

00:29:44.000 You make your money messaging it. 1.00

00:29:45.000 It's so funny, because people think you make money off the videos per se.

00:29:49.000 Yes, but what you make money off is texting back and forth, because they want that connection to the person they're paying to.

00:29:54.000 That's why girls do free memberships. 1.00

00:29:56.000 Or they'll do 50% off.

00:29:58.000 I made all of my money really from the two things.

00:30:02.000 One, if you're famous, you can kind of make money from the intrigue, people want to subscribe.

00:30:06.000 But that's short-term money.

00:30:07.000 The next main money is, you know, interacting, people asking for certain things.

00:30:13.000 This is probably the gayest question you ever got, bro. 0.99

00:30:17.000 Probably one of the gayest, but what's the gayest thing that you did? 0.98

00:30:20.000 The gayest thing that you ever did? 1.00

00:30:22.000 I mean, I didn't even think about it like that because you're doing the content like off camera, you know? 0.99

00:30:28.000 So like if you're jerking off or like doing whatever, like you got to imagine it's a girl. 0.85

00:30:33.000 Like you're sexting like your girlfriend or like I would never do that to a man. 0.99

00:30:37.000 I can't do that, you know?

00:30:38.000 Like if I'm sitting there with a girl, I'm thinking like sometimes I would text a girl or if someone I was hooking up with or whoever, you're just getting that conversation going or you watch porn or whatever you got to do.

00:30:48.000 So there's a means to an end.

00:30:49.000 That's it.

00:30:49.000 Dude, I was trying to put food on the table.

00:30:51.000 I was literally trying to pay by rent, okay?

00:30:54.000 Okay.

00:30:54.000 I wouldn't do it today.

00:30:56.000 But it's part of the grind.

00:30:58.000 You made it work, bro.

00:30:58.000 You made it work.

00:30:58.000 Yeah, I think it's part of the story, you know?

00:31:01.000 But this was after you got out of jail, right?

00:31:02.000 This was after.

00:31:03.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:31:03.000 This was last year.

00:31:04.000 Come on, freshman, fast forward to it.

00:31:06.000 Come on, you're so excited.

00:31:07.000 You're my OnlyFans. 0.98

00:31:08.000 Goddammit! 0.95

00:31:09.000 It just didn't make sense! 1.00

00:31:09.000 I'm trying to cover the criminal shit! 1.00

00:31:10.000 It just didn't make sense! 1.00

00:31:11.000 Come on, man!

00:31:12.000 All right, all right.

00:31:13.000 This guy.

00:31:13.000 Go ahead.

00:31:14.000 All right.

00:31:18.000 I'm getting lit up right now in the comments.

00:31:22.000 It's funny, though.

00:31:23.000 It is funny.

00:31:24.000 It is funny.

00:31:25.000 Stereotypes.

00:31:27.000 That's what I'm saying.

00:31:27.000 It's too much.

00:31:29.000 Okay, sorry, sorry.

00:31:30.000 I'll tell you this, bro.

00:31:32.000 Me being black, bro, you know what I like?

00:31:34.000 What? 0.82

00:31:34.000 Fried chicken. 0.82

00:31:35.000 I don't know how many male creators are comfortable saying that online.

00:31:39.000 Hey, bro.

00:31:41.000 Hey, bro.

00:31:41.000 Hey, hey.

00:31:41.000 Be honest, bro.

00:31:43.000 I gave you guys something right there.

00:31:45.000 I didn't even know that.

00:31:46.000 I was like, wait, what do you know?

00:31:47.000 I know.

00:31:48.000 Thanks to you.

00:31:49.000 Everyone knows.

00:31:49.000 Yeah.

00:31:51.000 I just gave you guys.

00:31:52.000 Look at your streams just went way up after that conversation.

00:31:55.000 There you go.

00:31:56.000 So, okay.

00:31:57.000 So, going back to the scheme.

00:31:59.000 Yeah.

00:31:59.000 Because I actually am interested in the scheme and how you did it.

00:32:02.000 Federal agent right here.

00:32:03.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:32:04.000 It's like, tell me how you did it.

00:32:05.000 Did we change you for wires?

00:32:06.000 He's asking about the OnlyFans.

00:32:07.000 I'm trying to figure out the scheme.

00:32:08.000 He's having to do this crime, brother.

00:32:09.000 Yeah, like, uh...

00:32:10.000 He's like, did you pay taxes on that OnlyFans money?

00:32:12.000 And yes, I did.

00:32:13.000 I claimed it on my taxes for last year. 0.99

00:32:15.000 Oh, shit. 0.99

00:32:16.000 So, well, that was a good lie. 1.00

00:32:18.000 So you're there, you got the concert money, the beats money, but at this point you're in the hole, and then you find out that it's fake.

00:32:30.000 And you're like, okay, well, we're still making money.

00:32:32.000 I'm gonna pay back the investors from both, but you're not profitable at this point, right?

00:32:36.000 I never made any money.

00:32:37.000 Nothing.

00:32:38.000 The only time I made money was high school Ian promoting club nights and then podcast Ian, aside from my normal job.

00:32:45.000 Oh, so you were in the red the whole time.

00:32:47.000 Never made money, bro.

00:32:48.000 Never. 0.99

00:32:48.000 You were doing this beats and concert shit. 0.99

00:32:51.000 Yeah. 1.00

00:32:52.000 Damn. 1.00

00:32:52.000 Okay. 1.00

00:32:55.000 So you're doing this scheme for how long before the feds catch on?

00:32:57.000 Dude, it was only like six months.

00:32:59.000 I raised all the money in July 2013.

00:33:02.000 I got 600k in the bank.

00:33:04.000 December 2013, all the concerts are done.

00:33:06.000 And they were all going to make money on paper.

00:33:09.000 All of these things.

00:33:10.000 But then you have Chief Keef.

00:33:11.000 In the rap game, I'm sure you know, people will pay to open.

00:33:15.000 So I have like 20 grand in opener money for Kid Ink.

00:33:18.000 The guy that was supposed to collect the money never collected the money from the rappers.

00:33:22.000 So they all performed.

00:33:24.000 Kid Ink is back in the day.

00:33:25.000 Yeah, we did three shows with him.

00:33:26.000 But the problem with Kid Ink is like he's huge musically, but no one knows the name for touring.

00:33:30.000 Exactly.

00:33:31.000 Yeah, it's one of those guys where like huge, but they don't know it.

00:33:35.000 Almost like an underground fan base that's huge.

00:33:37.000 Big in Europe.

00:33:37.000 But you say in public is like, who?

00:33:39.000 Yeah.

00:33:40.000 So that was very interesting.

00:33:41.000 But then, so everything gets lost and one of the investors, it was never the adults that went to the police, it was the kids.

00:33:47.000 Because from a kid's perspective, if you invested five grand, in your mind you're like, okay, I kept rolling it over, he owes me 50 grand.

00:33:55.000 A lot of that's imaginary money because you keep flipping it.

00:33:57.000 So they go to the police.

00:33:58.000 They think they lost their life savings.

00:34:00.000 They're set for life.

00:34:01.000 The police are like, wow, all these people are owed all this money.

00:34:03.000 Is this the Beat stuff or is it the- Everything.

00:34:05.000 The concert stuff.

00:34:06.000 Yeah, it's just the whole company.

00:34:07.000 So both parties are going to the cops now complaining.

00:34:08.000 Exactly, because they all got mushed together.

00:34:10.000 So they're going to the cops.

00:34:11.000 They bring it to the state's attorney's office.

00:34:13.000 Because you've got discovery, so you see all this.

00:34:15.000 Yeah, they said- This is a nerdy question.

00:34:17.000 Who opened the investigation first?

00:34:18.000 Danbury PD? Danbury PD. They thought it was the biggest case of their life because you got to remember at the news, local news is teen nightclub owner, super successful.

00:34:26.000 They named me top 10 most fascinating people in Connecticut.

00:34:29.000 This and that.

00:34:30.000 They did all of these things.

00:34:32.000 Sensational.

00:34:33.000 Yeah, they thought I was the Jordan Belfort kind of that town.

00:34:36.000 They're thinking, you know?

00:34:37.000 The Wolf of Danbury.

00:34:39.000 They call me the Wolf of Ives Street because that was where the club was.

00:34:42.000 So I found out later on the state's attorney declined to prosecute.

00:34:46.000 And had it been a state case, I never went to prison.

00:34:49.000 I would have ordered restitution, you know, got the case expunged after because it was my first time offense, this and that.

00:34:55.000 Instead, someone has connections.

00:34:56.000 They push it all the way up.

00:34:58.000 And I think it was packaged to the feds as being bigger than it was.

00:35:01.000 I think they thought it was in the millions.

00:35:03.000 See, you messed with the wrong people.

00:35:05.000 Yeah, I did.

00:35:06.000 Your people.

00:35:07.000 So these complaints come in.

00:35:12.000 Danbury PD opens the case.

00:35:14.000 State prosecutor declines it.

00:35:15.000 Which is actually interesting that the state prosecutor declines it and then the feds take it and stormy the other way around.

00:35:20.000 So what made the feds take the case?

00:35:22.000 I don't know, man.

00:35:23.000 To this day, my lawyer says they thought it was more money than what it was.

00:35:26.000 And they also thought they would plead me out.

00:35:29.000 Behind closed doors.

00:35:30.000 They never expected to indict.

00:35:32.000 They just expected to plea deal, boom, boom, prison, that's it.

00:35:36.000 But they wanted prison, and I wasn't signing on for that.

00:35:39.000 So, state declines, feds take it.

00:35:43.000 Can you explain to the audience who the lead agency was and who else was involved?

00:35:47.000 So what happens is, after I'm going through, I'm meeting with the state, I have a lawyer and everything.

00:35:52.000 My lawyer ends up dropping me because he sends me...

00:35:54.000 What month is this right now?

00:35:55.000 This is beginning of 2014.

00:35:57.000 I'm not even 19, I'm 18.

00:36:00.000 Wow.

00:36:01.000 State's investigating.

00:36:02.000 We're just thinking it's not going anywhere.

00:36:05.000 How did you get your first police interaction?

00:36:06.000 Did a detective show up at your house?

00:36:08.000 They called my attorney, who was a personal injury attorney, which is where I went wrong, too.

00:36:12.000 I should have got a criminal defense attorney. 0.97

00:36:13.000 And he would end up dropping me because he sent me a bill.

00:36:16.000 He was billing me $400 an hour, but he was my dad's friend.

00:36:19.000 And I didn't know.

00:36:20.000 I had no money.

00:36:21.000 So I get a subpoena to the Department of Banking, and I didn't know what that was.

00:36:26.000 But I'm thinking in my mind, this is my way to clear my name.

00:36:29.000 So I go, I bring all the documents, I lay out everything, I do the books for the company for the first time, every name, number, address, transaction, and I go to them and I testify for like five hours.

00:36:39.000 Okay, who's there?

00:36:40.000 You're sitting there.

00:36:41.000 You're with your attorney.

00:36:42.000 Who's there?

00:36:43.000 Obviously, the prosecutor's there.

00:36:45.000 Was it detectives from Danbury PD, state police?

00:36:47.000 Who was there?

00:36:47.000 No, it was just two Department of Banking people, which aren't technically agents.

00:36:51.000 They're like civilians, and a court reporter.

00:36:53.000 So I'm thinking, this is a great time to clear my name.

00:36:56.000 After, like, the five hours, they say, hey, there's two people that want to see you.

00:37:00.000 They put me in another room, I'm twiddling my thumbs there for a half hour, and in walk two classic movie theater-type people, movie theater, or movie-type guys, you know, the old suits.

00:37:10.000 They come in, flash their badges, and they say they're postal inspectors. 0.99

00:37:14.000 And I almost laughed out loud because I'm like, who the fuck is a postal inspector? 0.99

00:37:18.000 I'm like, these guys are fake agents. 0.99

00:37:19.000 They sit down and then they asked me very targeted questions.

00:37:23.000 I had no idea at the time they listened to everything I said during that interview.

00:37:26.000 They were listening in.

00:37:27.000 So he was back against you.

00:37:28.000 Exactly.

00:37:29.000 So they asked me questions so they could charge me with lying to investigators and I ended up winning that at trial because they didn't give me the target letter until after the interview.

00:37:38.000 So just for the audience, let me explain it to them real quick.

00:37:40.000 So guys, there's an agency called the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, right?

00:37:42.000 They have something called Postal Inspectors.

00:37:44.000 Same thing as a special agent.

00:37:46.000 They're typically...

00:37:46.000 I think they're 1811s as well.

00:37:49.000 They investigate any type of crime that has to do with the mail or using the mailing system.

00:37:53.000 So obviously, anything that touches...

00:37:57.000 The U.S. Federal Mail, they get Nexus.

00:37:59.000 So, since I'm assuming, were you like sending letters out or using, oh no, you were sending wires, right?

00:38:04.000 They didn't know.

00:38:05.000 They thought it was mail fraud.

00:38:06.000 Like on my initial target letter, it says mail fraud.

00:38:08.000 Okay.

00:38:08.000 But they stayed on because they were the lead case agent at the time.

00:38:11.000 So, they transferred to wire fraud.

00:38:13.000 But typically, they wouldn't do a wire fraud case.

00:38:14.000 Yeah, they normally wouldn't.

00:38:15.000 So, unless it hits Nexus with the mail.

00:38:17.000 So, okay.

00:38:19.000 So, now it's making sense to me.

00:38:22.000 What was it called again?

00:38:23.000 Department of Banking.

00:38:24.000 So this is what they did.

00:38:25.000 They used them, administrative subpoena power, bring him in, ask him questions under oath.

00:38:30.000 We can listen in as investigators.

00:38:32.000 We don't have to give him his Miranda rights.

00:38:34.000 Let him say everything.

00:38:35.000 We can use that.

00:38:37.000 Now we bring him and we ask him the harder questions.

00:38:39.000 Did they Mirandaize you?

00:38:40.000 No, nothing.

00:38:40.000 That's another reason.

00:38:42.000 And the jury is very sympathetic to people that are not giving their Miranda rights or target letters or no. 0.99

00:38:47.000 Fucking amateurs. 0.99

00:38:48.000 Was the door open? 1.00

00:38:49.000 Did they tell you you could leave?

00:38:50.000 No, the door was closed.

00:38:50.000 Nothing.

00:38:51.000 They literally just sat down and literally just said, hey, we have some questions.

00:38:55.000 And I didn't know what a postal agent was.

00:38:56.000 You know, I didn't know anything.

00:38:57.000 I didn't have an attorney.

00:38:58.000 They didn't say, hey, you should have an attorney here.

00:39:00.000 And they acted like my friends.

00:39:02.000 They gave me their business card.

00:39:03.000 They were texting me.

00:39:04.000 And as soon as I got out of that meeting- Did you see their guns?

00:39:06.000 No, nothing.

00:39:06.000 I didn't know.

00:39:07.000 I didn't know what I was- You didn't know they were law enforcement.

00:39:09.000 Yeah, you had no idea they were law enforcement.

00:39:10.000 I just was there to clear my name.

00:39:12.000 Yeah.

00:39:12.000 I built their case for them.

00:39:14.000 Like, I literally gave them everything.

00:39:16.000 So, let's say you're in his position.

00:39:18.000 What do you do?

00:39:18.000 What should you do?

00:39:19.000 Well, I'm glad that they basically threw out that interview that they did with you, right?

00:39:24.000 They didn't throw it out.

00:39:24.000 I went to trial.

00:39:25.000 I won.

00:39:26.000 Okay, that makes sense, because that charge didn't stick.

00:39:30.000 Because the thing is, that's amateur hour by these guys.

00:39:32.000 If you're going to bring someone in for questions, and you're going to question about a crime, and the door's closed, and they don't feel like they can leave, you have to read them their rights. 0.96

00:39:40.000 So that's why they fucked up, is they didn't read them his rights. 0.93

00:39:42.000 Miranda rights. 0.99

00:39:43.000 Yeah.

00:39:44.000 I like those rights.

00:39:45.000 Yeah, I know you do.

00:39:47.000 So, okay, so they bring you in, you testify, then on top of that, they do an interview with you.

00:39:53.000 At this point, and you don't know their law enforcement.

00:39:55.000 So you're thinking, oh yeah, everything's great.

00:39:57.000 I'm clear, right?

00:39:58.000 They acted like they were going to help me.

00:40:00.000 They said, listen, you're not going to get arrested.

00:40:02.000 Nothing like this.

00:40:03.000 You know, we're just here to help.

00:40:04.000 You know, let's get everyone their money back.

00:40:06.000 Yada, yada.

00:40:07.000 And then when I contacted a criminal defense attorney, he said, block their numbers.

00:40:10.000 Don't talk to them.

00:40:11.000 And that's when the game was on.

00:40:13.000 And he dealt, I never talked to them again until the day they arrested me in the car.

00:40:17.000 And then we were having like a casual conversation, like what me and you were talking about.

00:40:19.000 Yeah.

00:40:20.000 A lot of these agents, you know, after the job's done, they're very chill, you know?

00:40:23.000 They're not like the enemy, you know?

00:40:25.000 They're cool guys.

00:40:26.000 So, this happens beginning of 2014.

00:40:29.000 They bring you in, you do this interview, etc.

00:40:33.000 Was it taped?

00:40:34.000 No, it wasn't taped.

00:40:35.000 It might have been recorded.

00:40:36.000 I don't know.

00:40:37.000 They had a transcript, but that was like the agent notes, you know?

00:40:39.000 I don't know what the situation was.

00:40:41.000 Well, back then, feds didn't have to record interviews, so that could...

00:40:45.000 Because I remember 2015, a lot of United States Attorney's offices passed a thing where, hey, you need to record all your interviews, but this is 2014.

00:40:52.000 At your prior job, would you ever cross paths with him at all for this type of crime?

00:40:56.000 Yeah, wire fraud, yeah.

00:40:57.000 Yeah, something like this, yeah.

00:40:59.000 Take us back to the day of your arrest.

00:41:01.000 What were you doing?

00:41:02.000 Were you thinking, like, oh, I'm just going to go to the store and get some food or whatever?

00:41:04.000 And were you nervous? 1.00

00:41:05.000 Were you freaking out because you're like, oh, shit. 0.99

00:41:08.000 He's going to the store and get some food. 1.00

00:41:09.000 He's watching too much TV. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:41:12.000 I'm assuming at this point, since you contacted the defense attorney, you're probably nervous now. 0.99

00:41:15.000 You're like, oh shit, these guys are not my friends. 0.97

00:41:18.000 Well, I realized that, and also I was running the club at the time. 0.99

00:41:20.000 I now own Tuxedos, opened it back up, so while the case is going on, I'm booking these big acts and doing these things.

00:41:26.000 Were you still doing the Beats scheme?

00:41:27.000 No, that's long gone.

00:41:28.000 Okay.

00:41:30.000 And what happens is I was getting back from the casino because in Connecticut, you had to be 21 to gamble.

00:41:35.000 So I was going out of state to Yonkers Raceway and Yonkers to gamble.

00:41:41.000 I would play Baccarat and pay 500 bucks and turn it into 20 grand.

00:41:45.000 Right over the border from Danbury.

00:41:46.000 It's not far.

00:41:47.000 It's like 40 minutes.

00:41:48.000 It's like he goes into New York, then he drives south.

00:41:49.000 How much did you lose versus how much you won gambling?

00:41:52.000 I won more than I lost.

00:41:53.000 Yeah.

00:41:54.000 But it's luck, man.

00:41:56.000 There's no thing.

00:41:56.000 I'm not going to say I'm a professional gambler or there's a trick.

00:42:00.000 I was playing on a machine.

00:42:01.000 Got it.

00:42:02.000 You know, and I was just looking at the pattern.

00:42:03.000 So if it was always player, I would just kept doubling down.

00:42:06.000 So I come back.

00:42:07.000 I had lost that particular night.

00:42:08.000 I get back at like 4 a.m.

00:42:10.000 I go to sleep.

00:42:11.000 I'm in just like my boxers.

00:42:13.000 And keep in mind, I'm very like chunky.

00:42:15.000 You know, I got like blonde highlights in my hair.

00:42:17.000 I look like a chipmunk a little bit. 0.88

00:42:18.000 I got my...

00:42:18.000 My cartilage pierced or whatever, the industrial piercings.

00:42:22.000 What day and month was this?

00:42:22.000 This is like January 9th.

00:42:23.000 It's cold out, it's snowing.

00:42:25.000 Okay.

00:42:25.000 And I wake up to like a loud banging at the door.

00:42:28.000 And this is my parents' house.

00:42:29.000 And I'm in the front room.

00:42:30.000 Real quick, before you go into this, how long was it between you being interviewed by postal inspectors to you getting arrested?

00:42:36.000 April 2014 was the meeting.

00:42:40.000 January 2015 was the indictment.

00:42:42.000 Okay.

00:42:42.000 So what is that, like eight months or whatever.

00:42:44.000 Okay.

00:42:44.000 So, I'm sitting there, and I look out my window, and I see it's snowing, and the lights are on in the front porch, and there's cars lined up and down the street with the flashing lights.

00:42:56.000 You have state troopers, you have FBI agents that are marked, or, like, the cars.

00:43:01.000 You have local police, and then you have, like, the Escalades, the typical, like, you know...

00:43:05.000 FBI type car.

00:43:06.000 And it's five in the morning now you see this?

00:43:07.000 It's like five or six, you know, it's very early.

00:43:09.000 And I'm looking out the windows and there's guys armed like in tactical vests outside.

00:43:14.000 My mom, the staircase is right above my room.

00:43:16.000 So my mom runs down, she's opening the door and they barge in as soon as she opens it and they're like step Step back.

00:43:21.000 Step back.

00:43:22.000 Hold the dog. 0.99

00:43:23.000 Where is he?

00:43:24.000 And I, like, freeze.

00:43:25.000 I'm sitting on my bed in literally just boxers, and they barge into my room, and I'm thinking I had been getting arrested for selling alcohol illegally at the club because we didn't have a liquor license.

00:43:36.000 And I'm thinking it's another one of those because my lawyer had said, hey, the feds will let you turn yourself in when it comes down to an indictment because we were in communication with them.

00:43:45.000 We were cooperating to that extent.

00:43:46.000 Oh, so you knew you were going to get indicted now at this point.

00:43:48.000 Yeah, we knew when the grand jury hearings were happening.

00:43:50.000 No one doesn't know when they're going to get indicted by the feds.

00:43:53.000 It's not a surprise.

00:43:54.000 Well, a lot of times it is.

00:43:55.000 So you knew after that interview with Postal Inspection, you lawyer up.

00:43:59.000 And your lawyer stayed in contact with them?

00:44:01.000 We went to a meeting with the prosecutor, the AUSA, a reverse proffer, where they sit down, tell you everything they have against you.

00:44:08.000 Now, a proffer...

00:44:09.000 When was this?

00:44:09.000 This was July, 2014.

00:44:11.000 Okay, so April of the age of stock to you, just so I get a timeline here.

00:44:14.000 2013.

00:44:15.000 April of the age of stock to you, and you do that testimony.

00:44:17.000 Yep.

00:44:18.000 July, you come in to the United States Attorney's Office, you speak, there's FBI agents there, the prosecutor, and they tell you what they have, and they give you a target letter like, hey, you're the subject of a criminal investigation. 0.99

00:44:28.000 Fast forward to January, you're getting indicted, and you're like, what the fuck? 0.98

00:44:31.000 Like, I had been talking with you guys. 0.98

00:44:32.000 We thought we were going to self-surrender, because the grand jury proceedings were in October.

00:44:36.000 Prosecutor emails my lawyer and says, hey, we're not going to indict until next year.

00:44:40.000 Have a good holiday season, because they go away.

00:44:42.000 Yeah, we knew.

00:44:43.000 We were in the know.

00:44:44.000 So I thought I'm getting charged on another state case.

00:44:47.000 Wasn't true.

00:44:48.000 They didn't want to give you an information?

00:44:49.000 Nothing.

00:44:50.000 Feds come in.

00:44:51.000 They arrest me.

00:44:52.000 They ask for my password on my phone.

00:44:54.000 I gave it to them.

00:44:55.000 I didn't realize that I didn't have to give it to them. 1.00

00:44:57.000 Damn. 0.99

00:44:57.000 I give them the passcode, and they haul me out of the house in handcuffs. 0.99

00:45:01.000 They make me wear these cowboy boots and baggy jeans.

00:45:03.000 The cowboy boots were from the musicals that I was in in high school, and they had no laces on them.

00:45:08.000 Oh.

00:45:08.000 They don't let me brush my teeth.

00:45:10.000 They let me take a piss with my hands cuffed by my back and they drag me out of the house.

00:45:14.000 And they keep me outside in the snow and the cold waiting for the lead detective that started the whole case just to come and say, hey, do you remember me?

00:45:21.000 Like one of those I gotcha, Wolf of Wall Street type moments.

00:45:25.000 The Postal Inspector?

00:45:25.000 No, their original detective from Danbury, the lead case agent from the beginning who started the whole thing.

00:45:31.000 And he retired like a year or two after.

00:45:34.000 So then they bring me to the federal courthouse.

00:45:36.000 Okay, he must have been assigned to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service then.

00:45:38.000 Yeah, they brought him on, but they had him benched during trial.

00:45:43.000 Didn't get to testify.

00:45:44.000 He wasn't a part of it.

00:45:45.000 The only one sitting at the prosecutor's desk was the lead FBI agent, lead postal inspector, and lead IRS agent.

00:45:51.000 Oh, really?

00:45:53.000 Yeah, because we had CID, Criminal Investigative Division of the IRS that was involved in the case, too.

00:45:57.000 So there was those three, and then the main AUSA, and then his assistant, AUSA. There's two prosecutors, court reporters.

00:46:05.000 It was a huge ordeal.

00:46:07.000 Wow.

00:46:07.000 That's wild, bro.

00:46:08.000 So that's quite a... 1.00

00:46:11.000 From my professional experiences listening to that, that's a lot of resources on a fucking kid. 0.98

00:46:15.000 Two AUSAs, one case agent from three different agencies. 0.99

00:46:19.000 Wow.

00:46:20.000 You should write a book, bro.

00:46:21.000 We're working on it.

00:46:22.000 I actually just got paired up with Who's the Blonde from iCarly? 0.99

00:46:28.000 Oh, shit. 0.99

00:46:29.000 What's her name? 1.00

00:46:30.000 Jeanette McCurdy.

00:46:31.000 Her agent listens to my podcast and we're working together.

00:46:34.000 We're hoping to have a deal in the early next year.

00:46:37.000 And I've been on HBO Max.

00:46:39.000 They took the documentary down because they merged with Discover.

00:46:41.000 But I just filmed something for Discovery Channel for HBO Max.

00:46:45.000 And we're doing cool things.

00:46:46.000 Vice did something on YouTube that has a bunch of views.

00:46:49.000 So there's something there.

00:46:51.000 But my focus has just been the podcast.

00:46:53.000 Of course, of course.

00:46:54.000 And I didn't want to be one of those people that just chased my story.

00:46:57.000 So I find it interesting.

00:46:59.000 You do the testimony with the banking people.

00:47:02.000 Then the postal inspectors ask you questions.

00:47:04.000 Then they bring you in to tell you that they got information you're the subject of a criminal investigation.

00:47:08.000 Then they assure you that they're not going to indict you until 2015.

00:47:13.000 December, this is December, right?

00:47:15.000 No, no, no.

00:47:15.000 January, 2015.

00:47:16.000 Oh, so they did indict you in the new year.

00:47:18.000 Yeah.

00:47:18.000 Okay, but...

00:47:19.000 But I didn't get to turn myself in.

00:47:21.000 Yeah, because you thought that you were going to just turn...

00:47:23.000 Why did they let you do an information?

00:47:25.000 I don't know.

00:47:25.000 I think they just wanted the optics, because the news articles came out seconds after they slapped the cuffs on me.

00:47:31.000 It was all staged, arranged.

00:47:32.000 They had it all figured out.

00:47:34.000 It's a sexy case.

00:47:35.000 Yeah, it was sensational.

00:47:36.000 Just so you guys know, you can be indicted, or you can get hit with something called an information.

00:47:41.000 Typically, if they bring you in and give you a reverse profit like they did with him, which isn't common, and they tell you, hey, you're the subject of investigation, they have you fucking, you know, come in and cooperate, they give you an information which means, like, you could turn yourself in.

00:47:53.000 Like, it's not a formal indictment of the Gringer, it's like, hey, you're being charged by the AUSA directly, and then you get arrested, and then, or you turn yourself in.

00:48:00.000 And that's it.

00:48:01.000 But that's interesting that they still decided to indict you and come in.

00:48:04.000 I just think they thought I was going to plead out.

00:48:06.000 Like, when we were deliberating a trial, they thought the jury would, you know, instantly return a verdict, and they didn't.

00:48:12.000 And we were negotiating with the head head, USA, of Connecticut, trying to make a backdoor deal saying, hey, You know, this isn't looking good for you guys.

00:48:23.000 Do you want to, you know, we'll plead guilty, no jail time.

00:48:26.000 How long were you in jail for?

00:48:27.000 I did 27 months out of a three-year sentence.

00:48:31.000 But that's after he got convicted.

00:48:33.000 So, alright, so you get arrested by the feds that first night in January.

00:48:37.000 I go to trial in November.

00:48:38.000 I'm on bond.

00:48:39.000 I go to trial in November.

00:48:40.000 I was going to ask you, were you out on bond the whole time?

00:48:42.000 $250,000 bond.

00:48:44.000 A lot of people, a misconception is you don't actually put up money in the feds.

00:48:47.000 You're just signing for something.

00:48:48.000 So my parents signed their house.

00:48:49.000 I got out.

00:48:51.000 I ran the club doing the shows and whatnot.

00:48:54.000 And then I went to trial on November 1st.

00:48:56.000 And it was like a month long.

00:48:57.000 How long were you locked up before your parents posted bond?

00:48:59.000 It was like four hours.

00:49:00.000 Oh, okay.

00:49:01.000 Wow.

00:49:01.000 Same day.

00:49:02.000 They got me on like a Monday or Tuesday and I got out very quick.

00:49:05.000 My lawyer was there.

00:49:05.000 My mom called.

00:49:06.000 Saw the judge same day?

00:49:07.000 Saw the magistrate judge same day.

00:49:09.000 Everything was in and out, but they banned me from social media.

00:49:12.000 Which court did you go to?

00:49:13.000 The one in New Haven?

00:49:14.000 I was supposed to go to Bridgeport, but then the judge was sick that day, so they transferred me to New Haven.

00:49:19.000 So I had the magistrate in New Haven, and then I had a federal judge assigned to me in New Haven.

00:49:23.000 That's where the trial was.

00:49:24.000 When you arrest the guys, you got to be brought in front of a judge within 72 hours, mostly 24 hours.

00:49:28.000 So, you're in front of the judge.

00:49:30.000 He sets a bond right then and there for you.

00:49:32.000 $250k.

00:49:33.000 Family signs the house where you're able to go ahead and get out.

00:49:35.000 So then you're out on bond and you're waiting like eight months.

00:49:38.000 And like, throughout this process, did it ever come to you and you're like, I'm gonna plead guilty? 1.00

00:49:42.000 Or were like you the whole time like, fuck these guys. 0.99

00:49:43.000 They arrested me after I said I would turn myself in. 1.00

00:49:46.000 I'm gonna go to trial.

00:49:46.000 No, I was going to trial.

00:49:47.000 They even threatened my dad like to arrest my dad for taxes or whatever.

00:49:51.000 And my dad was like, Don't worry about me.

00:49:53.000 You're going to trial.

00:49:54.000 Okay.

00:49:55.000 I was going through it no matter what because they wouldn't give me a deal for no jail time.

00:49:59.000 I mean, the government spent hundreds of thousands of dollars investigating this over $400,000 in losses. 0.99

00:50:07.000 Damn. 0.99

00:50:07.000 And all they had to do was give me a plea deal. 0.99

00:50:09.000 They still would have got the conviction, but there's no jail time.

00:50:11.000 Yeah.

00:50:12.000 And they wouldn't give me that.

00:50:16.000 You go through this.

00:50:18.000 Obviously, it's kind of like you and your business partner that are in this.

00:50:20.000 Can you tell us about that?

00:50:22.000 Because obviously his name probably came up during interviews, etc.

00:50:25.000 People are going to say, like, oh, did you snitch you and blah, blah, blah.

00:50:27.000 So can you tell that side?

00:50:28.000 I never rat it.

00:50:29.000 I mean, his name was John Roble.

00:50:30.000 He's on my whole case.

00:50:31.000 The cool thing about going to trial is everything's documented.

00:50:33.000 That's the best part. 1.00

00:50:35.000 Like, no one could ever call out my shit for being bullshit because it's all right there. 1.00

00:50:38.000 If you read the transcripts, everything that happened is right there. 1.00

00:50:41.000 From artist names to dollar amounts to everything.

00:50:44.000 And he testified for like two days and I testified in my own trial.

00:50:47.000 Oh, you testified?

00:50:48.000 I testified for like three days. 1.00

00:50:49.000 Holy shit. 0.99

00:50:50.000 Yeah, the attorney literally said to the judge, objection, this sounds like a cocktail party. 0.99

00:50:56.000 It was like a high school reunion.

00:50:57.000 You got all these high schoolers coming in and testifying.

00:51:00.000 It was crazy.

00:51:01.000 It was the madhouse for a month.

00:51:03.000 And when we were talking before, he didn't decide to testify until like the day before or something, right?

00:51:08.000 They gave him like a midnight.

00:51:09.000 It was literally like in the movies, one of those midnight deals where, hey, no jail time, probation in the state, misdemeanor, you're testifying.

00:51:17.000 Because his case was state.

00:51:18.000 Yep, immunity, and that's what he got.

00:51:20.000 Why'd they go after you federally, but he got a state case?

00:51:23.000 I was a guy in the limelight.

00:51:24.000 When you're out there, when you're in their face, when you're the headlines, that's what they do.

00:51:30.000 It's a very, very sexy case because he is Ian Bick.

00:51:34.000 Yeah, I mean, I was young, you know, I owned the club and they're hyping me up to be this huge, you know, nightclub owner, 18 year old nightclub owner arrested by FBI and IRS. Yeah.

00:51:45.000 They loved it.

00:51:45.000 Yeah.

00:51:46.000 So, okay.

00:51:47.000 So they didn't give you a deal, gave him a deal.

00:51:49.000 He testifies.

00:51:50.000 What was it like when he took the stand and you're just sitting there?

00:51:53.000 Dude, it was annoying, man.

00:51:55.000 Throughout the whole trial.

00:51:56.000 Because you had no clue, right?

00:51:57.000 Yeah, and you have people that you knew going into it.

00:52:00.000 You're past the note, hey, this person's testifying. 0.97

00:52:03.000 But, dude, seeing your best friend testify against you and everyone talks about snitches and shit and this and that, that is what burns the most. 0.96

00:52:11.000 When you're right there and you're fighting for your life and someone does that. 0.96

00:52:17.000 I guess he didn't look you in that one time, right?

00:52:19.000 No, never.

00:52:19.000 Not one person that testified looked me in the eye.

00:52:22.000 They never do.

00:52:22.000 Yeah, my lawyer said just look at them, you know, look at them, try to say hello, interact with them, you know, make it seem like they're the bad people.

00:52:29.000 Yeah.

00:52:30.000 So he takes a stand and testifies against you.

00:52:33.000 Now, that's unique.

00:52:34.000 You actually took the stand in your own defense.

00:52:37.000 Not typically done unless I've seen like self-defense cases.

00:52:40.000 Why did you and your lawyer decide to take the stand?

00:52:42.000 He just thought I can handle it, and he just said the biggest thing is you can't get agitated.

00:52:47.000 If you get agitated on the stand when the prosecutors...

00:52:51.000 Cross-examining you.

00:52:51.000 The problem is not him interviewing you, your lawyer, it's when they do the, you know, the cross.

00:52:57.000 And that's where everyone fails.

00:52:59.000 It's uncomfortable.

00:52:59.000 I've been cross-examined before.

00:53:00.000 Fucking sucks, man. 1.00

00:53:01.000 Because they literally make you look like a piece of crap. 1.00

00:53:03.000 And that was me as an agent. 1.00

00:53:04.000 I could only imagine as the suspect.

00:53:05.000 This is why I'm most...

00:53:06.000 Defendants never take the stand.

00:53:08.000 So what was like the strategy behind it?

00:53:10.000 Was it like to show that you have good character, you're a good kid, let the jury kind of hear your side?

00:53:15.000 Like what was the strategy there?

00:53:17.000 It was to tell the whole story.

00:53:18.000 Like that's why I testified for so long.

00:53:20.000 I pieced everything together in my mind, what my mindset is, everything like that, which is why there's a lot of objections because basically I'm telling a story rather than actually giving like testimony and the judge allowed it and it was definitely important for the jury to hear.

00:53:34.000 Yeah.

00:53:35.000 And you think that made like a big factor in like the amount of time that you got?

00:53:39.000 I think going to trial definitely helps because if I took a plea deal for say the three or four years, the judge, he doesn't know me.

00:53:45.000 He's going whatever the recommendation, whatever the plea is, you know?

00:53:49.000 So it just worked out that it, you know...

00:53:52.000 So your testimony humanized you in your opinion?

00:53:54.000 I agree.

00:53:54.000 And I think that if my business partner didn't testify, I would have won.

00:53:59.000 And I did win most of the charges, but the feds will overcharge you. 0.60

00:54:02.000 They hit me with 15 counts.

00:54:03.000 I was going to say, so what were you indicted for versus what did they convict you of?

00:54:06.000 Nine counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, and then lying to postal inspectors.

00:54:13.000 Did each of those counts come from, I'm assuming, a combination of your Beats business and your promotion business?

00:54:20.000 Yeah, and it's based off of transactions.

00:54:22.000 So they'll be like, count one, you know, $50,000 wire on this date is wire fraud.

00:54:27.000 Yep.

00:54:27.000 And the verdict was very messed up because some of them were not guilty.

00:54:31.000 And in order to prove wire fraud, one of the counts or one of the aspects of wire fraud is you have to have criminal intent.

00:54:36.000 So how could I have no criminal intent in one transaction for the same time period but then criminal intent in another?

00:54:42.000 But you can appeal an unorganized or doesn't make sense type of verdict.

00:54:50.000 There's no appeal basis for that.

00:54:52.000 So you get convicted, you lose.

00:54:53.000 When did you actually go to, obviously at that point, did they remand you right there or did you get a little bit of time to turn yourself into Bureau of Prisons?

00:54:59.000 How'd that work?

00:54:59.000 It's not like the state.

00:55:00.000 That's like one of the biggest differences.

00:55:02.000 In the state, if you lose a trial nine times out of ten, you're getting remanded right then and there.

00:55:05.000 Right then and there, yep.

00:55:06.000 Feds, if you have no issues, you're allowed back on bond.

00:55:09.000 I was on bond for almost a year because sentencing keeps getting pushed.

00:55:12.000 I mean, you look at Donald Trump's case, sentencing gets pushed.

00:55:15.000 It's never the date they set it for.

00:55:17.000 Yeah.

00:55:17.000 You know, so it got pushed.

00:55:18.000 We strung it out a year and my bond actually ended up getting revoked a month before sentencing because my friends that worked with me at the club reported that I was going out of state to gamble.

00:55:28.000 So I wasn't allowed to go out of state as one of my conditions are released.

00:55:32.000 They reported it because they wanted to take the club.

00:55:34.000 Judge got pissed, took away my bond, and now I'm sent to a detention center in Rhode Island.

00:55:39.000 And I didn't see the light of day for almost three years later. 0.99

00:55:42.000 Holy shit. 0.99

00:55:42.000 So... 0.99

00:55:43.000 So they gave you like kind of a year.

00:55:44.000 Well, it didn't mean to be a year, but you got a grace period to kind of get your affairs in order.

00:55:49.000 And then you ended up, okay.

00:55:50.000 So you go in.

00:55:51.000 What was that first night of prison like?

00:55:53.000 Dude, it was scary.

00:55:54.000 They stuck me with like a heroin addict that was just off the streets. 1.00

00:55:59.000 Damn! 1.00

00:56:00.000 And he was like spazzing out like... 1.00

00:56:02.000 Tearing up his arms.

00:56:04.000 I'm on the top bunk because he was there before and you're waiting for like 72 hours for your TB shot and they give you the bag lunch and he's like, are you going to eat that while scratching all over, skins flying everywhere?

00:56:15.000 I'm like, dude, I'm not hungry, man. 0.99

00:56:16.000 I got a bigger shit to worry about. 0.99

00:56:18.000 Like, have a sandwich. 1.00

00:56:19.000 And he's trying to say, you can't do this, you can't do that.

00:56:22.000 This, that, and I remember, like, that first shower, you know, like, and holding detention center, you have the group showers, and I'm not showering in front of a group of men, so I would, like, wait awkwardly, and I would have, like, my boxers on.

00:56:33.000 And you're an 18-year-old kid at this point?

00:56:34.000 At this point, I'm 21.

00:56:35.000 Okay.

00:56:36.000 I just turned 21.

00:56:37.000 Oh, yeah, because time had elapsed.

00:56:38.000 Yeah, because time had elapsed, and it was just, it was a surreal experience, and I didn't know what I was going up against.

00:56:43.000 So there was a guy we saw yesterday in jail. 1.00

00:56:48.000 He mentioned, fuck food, fuck air. 1.00

00:56:52.000 All he wanted was ass. 1.00

00:56:53.000 Did you encounter a booty warrior in jail? 1.00

00:56:56.000 Like someone that wanted my ass? 1.00

00:56:57.000 Yeah, a prison guard, man. 1.00

00:56:59.000 He tried to get my muffins.

00:57:00.000 A prison guard? 1.00

00:57:01.000 Yeah, a prison guard literally tried to fuck me. 1.00

00:57:03.000 A male prison guard tried to fuck me. 1.00

00:57:05.000 You want to tell that story? 1.00

00:57:06.000 Yeah, so it was at the camp.

00:57:07.000 I know me and you talked about it, but for the audience.

00:57:09.000 Yeah, I don't care.

00:57:09.000 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:57:10.000 So it was at a prison camp.

00:57:12.000 This was like the last few months of my sentence, and I'm working in the bakery.

00:57:15.000 And everyone called me McLovin in prison.

00:57:19.000 I got McLovin tatted on me.

00:57:21.000 I love it, man.

00:57:22.000 And I got like a portrait of McLovin on my thigh the other day.

00:57:27.000 That's cute.

00:57:27.000 That's funny.

00:57:28.000 So anyways, everyone's calling me McLovin and I'm McLovin the baker.

00:57:31.000 And me and my bunkmate worked the bakery, ran the bakery.

00:57:35.000 And that morning he got, he didn't get woken up, but I got woken up.

00:57:39.000 Which show were you at at this point?

00:57:39.000 Because they moved you around.

00:57:40.000 Oxford Federal Prison Camp in Wisconsin.

00:57:43.000 This is just a camp.

00:57:44.000 And... 0.99

00:57:46.000 Were you able to, like, walk around and shit like that? 0.98

00:57:48.000 It was like a campus? 0.98

00:57:48.000 Dude, I was the guy that ran through the woods to bring back McDonald's, sushi, pizza. 0.98

00:57:53.000 Like, I would run through.

00:57:55.000 I would escape.

00:57:55.000 There's no fence.

00:57:57.000 So I was the runner, and I would run through, bring back a knapsack.

00:58:01.000 Guys would leave to go hook up with their girlfriends or their wives.

00:58:04.000 Dude, everyone has a phone.

00:58:06.000 That's why Boost Mobile's in business.

00:58:07.000 It's because of federal prison.

00:58:08.000 Everyone has a Boost Mobile untraceable phone plan.

00:58:11.000 There's no iPhones.

00:58:13.000 You're on a Samsung.

00:58:14.000 There would be nights I'd be on my bunk watching Orange is the New Black.

00:58:17.000 Oh, wow.

00:58:18.000 While wearing orange.

00:58:19.000 Yeah.

00:58:20.000 While wearing orange. 1.00

00:58:21.000 Damn! 1.00

00:58:22.000 Power is like the biggest TV show in federal prison. 1.00

00:58:25.000 Power.

00:58:25.000 Yeah, you're familiar with Power?

00:58:27.000 Yeah, that's how I've been able to have some of the guests on my show because they're so fascinated that everyone watches Power. 0.98

00:58:35.000 We'd smuggle in hard drives, like people would put hard drives up their ass to watch Power.

00:58:39.000 And let me, for the audience real quick, some of you guys are probably shocked at what he's saying. 0.70

00:58:42.000 So guys, there's different levels of security in the federal prison system.

00:58:45.000 There are ones that are low, especially when you're about to get out.

00:58:47.000 You said you had a few months to go, right?

00:58:48.000 This is a camp.

00:58:49.000 So typically if you're well behaved and you only got a few months to go, they'll put you in a low-security prison where it's damn near a college campus.

00:58:53.000 People are walking around, no one's handcuffed, it's open campus. 0.99

00:58:57.000 I didn't know dudes were running around to get food, but fuck it, the yellow, I guess. 0.98

00:59:00.000 But they have one, and I know this, they have one in Pensacola that's low like that. 1.00

00:59:03.000 I remember once I go interview a guy for a case, and he was like walking around, I was like, what the fuck is this? 0.97

00:59:09.000 Did he meet anyone famous in jail? 0.87

00:59:11.000 I met a couple people I was with.

00:59:12.000 It was either Big Meach or one of the other guys that was on the west side at Fort Dix when I was at the low there.

00:59:18.000 Fort Dix?

00:59:19.000 Yeah.

00:59:19.000 Wait, wait, wait.

00:59:20.000 It's called Fort Dix.

00:59:22.000 This is too coincidental, bro.

00:59:24.000 So let me get it straight.

00:59:27.000 You almost got graped by a booty warrior. 1.00

00:59:30.000 And you gotta hear that story.

00:59:31.000 Sorry, finish it.

00:59:33.000 Well, so I was with him, and then I was with Joe Giudice from Desperate Housewives, Teresa or whatever, and then I was with George Papadopoulos from Trump's whole thing.

00:59:42.000 So anyways, I'm at this camp now, and he calls me to the kitchen that morning at like 4 a.m.

00:59:47.000 and not my bunkmate, and the guard tells me, hey, your bunkmate wasn't feeling good, so you didn't come.

00:59:53.000 And normally we would get called at different times, like they stagger it by an hour or whatever.

00:59:57.000 So I'm in the bakery.

00:59:59.000 There's no cameras. 0.99

01:00:01.000 Standing next to this guy, he's like penis-pencil-shaped, wears like pants all the way up to his chest. 0.99

01:00:08.000 Smells kind of bad, very skinny, and just weird-looking dude, you know? 0.97

01:00:13.000 And he's standing next to me, and I'm scooping the muffin mix into the muffin container, his pre-made muffin mix.

01:00:19.000 Yeah.

01:00:19.000 And I'm standing there and then all of a sudden I feel like a touch on my elbow while I'm scooping the muffin mix.

01:00:25.000 And I look to the right and he quickly pulls his hand back.

01:00:28.000 So I'm like, maybe I have like a bug on me or some muffin mix or whatever.

01:00:31.000 No big deal.

01:00:32.000 I'm gonna get back to doing my job.

01:00:34.000 Yeah.

01:00:34.000 I go back to scooping the muffin mix and then all of a sudden he does it again.

01:00:37.000 But this time he's like massaging it.

01:00:39.000 He's like McLovin.

01:00:40.000 Rubbing it.

01:00:41.000 McMuffin.

01:00:41.000 Not saying anything.

01:00:42.000 He's just breathing heavily.

01:00:43.000 Rubbing it.

01:00:44.000 Yeah.

01:00:45.000 Breathing heavily.

01:00:45.000 And that hand goes to my thigh.

01:00:47.000 What the fuck? 1.00

01:00:49.000 Hey, yo, pause, nigga! 1.00

01:00:51.000 Yo, that's crazy! 0.99

01:00:52.000 The thigh goes to my ass, and that's when I'm like, I turn around like that, and he pulls his hand back, and I'm like, I gotta go. 1.00

01:01:00.000 I'm like, I'm done with this shit. 1.00

01:01:01.000 This is a couple hours in. 0.99

01:01:03.000 I go back to my cell, and I tell people what happened.

01:01:05.000 And they're like, well, you know, maybe it was a one-time thing.

01:01:08.000 Like, maybe we can utilize them to get product in or, you know...

01:01:11.000 More cell phones or something.

01:01:13.000 Yeah, maybe we could do something.

01:01:14.000 And everyone was like, well, did you hit them?

01:01:16.000 And I was like, no, because there's no cameras.

01:01:18.000 Like, it's always their word over mine.

01:01:20.000 So that happens.

01:01:21.000 Two weeks later, I go into the walk-in freezer.

01:01:24.000 That's where they keep, like, the eggs in the fridge.

01:01:26.000 And in the freezer, they have the cookies, like, the good stuff.

01:01:28.000 And the cream cheese.

01:01:30.000 And...

01:01:31.000 Normally, these are locked, so the guard would unlock it, stand outside, and maybe go to his office.

01:01:35.000 This guy unlocks it, lets me in, and shuts the door behind me.

01:01:38.000 Yo! 1.00

01:01:39.000 Yo! 1.00

01:01:40.000 Freeze! 0.97

01:01:41.000 Ayo, pause!

01:01:43.000 No, for real though, freeze, pause.

01:01:44.000 Get over here! 1.00

01:01:46.000 So you're in a freezer.

01:01:49.000 What do you do at that point?

01:01:50.000 Yo, Myron, what do you do?

01:01:50.000 No, I think he locked you in by yourself, right?

01:01:53.000 No, we're both in. 1.00

01:01:54.000 Oh, shit. 1.00

01:01:55.000 Hold on, Myron. 1.00

01:01:56.000 All right.

01:01:57.000 If that was you, what would you do?

01:01:58.000 I was hoping it was just hit by himself.

01:02:00.000 Listen, if you and a booty warrior in a freezer, what do you do?

01:02:03.000 I bet you won't do it.

01:02:04.000 I put my hands up when we fightin', man.

01:02:05.000 Side of the box, buddy.

01:02:07.000 Yo! 1.00

01:02:08.000 It's literally, bro, it's literally gonna...

01:02:09.000 Do or die!

01:02:10.000 They're gonna turn into Guile. 0.99

01:02:13.000 What's up, man? 1.00

01:02:14.000 What the fuck? 1.00

01:02:15.000 Damn, dude! 1.00

01:02:16.000 Okay, cool. 0.99

01:02:17.000 So me and him are in this, and I go and grab the tray of frozen cookies, and I'm holding this tray as she can.

01:02:22.000 So you're playing it off trying to be, like, polite, I guess.

01:02:25.000 Yeah, I'm just like, I don't know what's gonna happen.

01:02:27.000 So I grab the tray, and I'm trying to walk, like, first I'm standing, like, head-on with this tray.

01:02:31.000 And he's, like, standing there, arms crossed like this in front of the door.

01:02:35.000 So I'm like, alright.

01:02:35.000 And then he goes to open the door, but his body is blocking half of the door.

01:02:39.000 So his butt is up against the side of the door. 1.00

01:02:43.000 So basically, long story short, he forces me to walk out with this tray with my butt rubbing against his dick going out of this thing. 1.00

01:02:51.000 And that was the final straw. 1.00

01:02:52.000 That's when I reported him.

01:02:54.000 He got removed from the compound and they launched an investigation.

01:02:58.000 Did you get arrested?

01:02:59.000 No, never got arrested.

01:03:00.000 I tried to sue.

01:03:01.000 They covered it up.

01:03:02.000 But I have the DMs like three, four years later when I started the podcast and I told that story and it went viral.

01:03:09.000 A guard from that prison reached out and he said, hey, was this guard so-and-so?

01:03:12.000 And I said, yeah, how'd you know?

01:03:13.000 And he said, that guy's been accused of doing that multiple times.

01:03:17.000 So I don't know where he is now.

01:03:19.000 He doesn't work for the system anymore.

01:03:21.000 This might sound weird, bro.

01:03:22.000 You could answer or don't answer.

01:03:24.000 When you were walking past him in the freezer and you were trying to get out the door.

01:03:33.000 Was there any feeling or indication of, like, hardness?

01:03:38.000 No, bro, I'm not gay.

01:03:39.000 No, no, no.

01:03:41.000 He's asking if the guy had...

01:03:42.000 Oh, it was like kind of quick, you know?

01:03:44.000 You're rubbing against, like, I don't know, man.

01:03:46.000 It was just a weird situation, you know?

01:03:50.000 Yeah, very weird.

01:03:51.000 And I think, like, any other inmate would have, like, hit him.

01:03:53.000 But I was, like, young, white McLovin, you know?

01:03:56.000 Yeah.

01:03:56.000 Yeah, that's obviously an awful experience, but hitting a prison guard is not the way to go.

01:04:01.000 So obviously you reported it.

01:04:03.000 The guy liked kids though.

01:04:04.000 That's what we were getting at.

01:04:06.000 There's 200 other men.

01:04:08.000 I'm the one that looks the youngest.

01:04:10.000 So he didn't harass nobody else.

01:04:11.000 This wasn't like a gay thing. 0.71

01:04:13.000 This was he likes kids.

01:04:14.000 I'm a young kid.

01:04:16.000 I look young now, so imagine what I look like at 21.

01:04:18.000 He was a Pete.

01:04:19.000 Yeah, I look like I was 16. 1.00

01:04:21.000 Fucking weirdo. 1.00

01:04:22.000 Fucking scumbag. 1.00

01:04:24.000 So, you get out. 1.00

01:04:26.000 And we've got a few minutes here because it's 8.47.

01:04:28.000 Guys, he's got to go get some food.

01:04:30.000 Yes.

01:04:32.000 So you get out, right?

01:04:34.000 Obviously, you had that terrible ordeal. 1.00

01:04:36.000 Fuck that guy. 1.00

01:04:36.000 You get out. 1.00

01:04:37.000 What's the first thing you did when you got out?

01:04:39.000 I thought I was going to go back in the nightclub business.

01:04:43.000 Realized I couldn't do that because I had no money.

01:04:46.000 When was the day you got released?

01:04:47.000 This was January 2019.

01:04:50.000 I'm like 24 or 23.

01:04:52.000 I got five guys.

01:04:54.000 Burgers and fries is my first meal.

01:04:57.000 And I was at the halfway house.

01:04:59.000 Were you in Wisconsin at this point when you got released?

01:05:01.000 Yeah, they flew me back home to New Haven and I went to the Waterbury, Connecticut halfway house.

01:05:05.000 Okay.

01:05:05.000 And I was under there for a few months and then I went on home confinement, the ankle monitor for a year on probation.

01:05:12.000 That was like one of the conditions.

01:05:13.000 And I got a job at Whole Foods and I worked there.

01:05:16.000 I went from $15 an hour as a hot bar cook to by the time I left three years later, I was going to make over $100K that year.

01:05:22.000 At Trader Joe's?

01:05:23.000 Whole Foods.

01:05:24.000 Oh, Whole Foods.

01:05:24.000 I'm sorry.

01:05:25.000 That's the ops.

01:05:27.000 Trader Joe's is the ops.

01:05:28.000 No, and I was a prepared foods team leader.

01:05:31.000 I was making like 33 an hour and crushing it in overtime.

01:05:33.000 I got an apartment.

01:05:34.000 You know, I had a girlfriend at the time.

01:05:35.000 I had a dog, a car.

01:05:37.000 Where are you living at this point?

01:05:38.000 Danbury, Connecticut.

01:05:39.000 Yeah, never left Danbury.

01:05:41.000 And I rebuilt my life from that.

01:05:43.000 But then eventually it's like, you know, when you're an entrepreneur, you get burnt out.

01:05:49.000 And in corporate, you can only do so much without them not holding you back.

01:05:54.000 Of course.

01:05:55.000 So my friend convinced me to start sharing prison stories on TikTok because COVID exploded this whole prison talk and prison YouTube thing.

01:06:03.000 YouTube in general exploded, yeah.

01:06:05.000 Exactly.

01:06:05.000 I missed the ball on that.

01:06:06.000 This is a couple years later.

01:06:07.000 This is 2022.

01:06:09.000 And he convinces me to tell stories about the club and stuff.

01:06:13.000 So imagine that, you get locked up, sorry, you get out, and then like a year later, the world shuts down.

01:06:17.000 Yeah, and it was kind of cool because half of it was, I was on home confinement, and the whole world was on home confinement.

01:06:23.000 Yeah, yeah, with you.

01:06:24.000 Yeah. 1.00

01:06:24.000 Like, feel how I feel now, motherfuckers. 1.00

01:06:26.000 But had I started telling these prison stories during then, I'd, you know, I would have blown up. 0.99

01:06:30.000 Did you ever do a collab with 1090 Jake?

01:06:32.000 Yeah, I did a show with him.

01:06:34.000 He's been on my podcast.

01:06:35.000 Shout out to 1099.

01:06:36.000 Shout out to him, bro.

01:06:37.000 He's a good dude, man.

01:06:38.000 Very good dude.

01:06:38.000 Yeah, he's a very good dude.

01:06:39.000 He came to my studio.

01:06:40.000 I flew him out, not first class.

01:06:42.000 He's like, hey, you know, if it was anyone else, they're flying me first class.

01:06:46.000 And he came on.

01:06:47.000 We formed a relationship.

01:06:48.000 I picked him up at the airport, and we were just, like, talking.

01:06:50.000 Because he went through the state system.

01:06:51.000 You went through the federal.

01:06:52.000 Yeah, and I get in the door with a lot of these hard guys because they know I went to trial and my paperwork's clean.

01:06:57.000 Yeah, you never told.

01:06:58.000 Never told.

01:06:59.000 You never told.

01:07:00.000 And then my fifth TikTok talking about solitary because I was in the shoe for six months went viral.

01:07:07.000 1.5 million views in like a few hours.

01:07:09.000 And then ever since then, two years ago, I've been posting content every day, turned it into a podcast.

01:07:15.000 Tell us your, because we don't have much more time, tell us your favorite prison story and then we'll close out.

01:07:20.000 And then from me, just tell us what you've learned and what they can learn from not to do to end up in your position.

01:07:24.000 Oh, you want to get motivational?

01:07:26.000 Yeah, something for them.

01:07:28.000 Whichever one you want to do first, the motivational thing or the story.

01:07:30.000 So favorite story, and this is what really blew up the podcast because No Jumper, Worldstar, all these people took up the story.

01:07:37.000 When I was at Fort Dix, this is my first designated spot, the lowest security prison.

01:07:41.000 And it's ironic they call it Fort Dix because there's all sex offenders there.

01:07:45.000 Everyone thought I was a sex offender.

01:07:47.000 So the way it works is when you get to a yard, they're supposed to check your paperwork, you run with the crew.

01:07:53.000 Everyone thought I was a sex offender and no one came up to me.

01:07:56.000 So I'm hustling, I'm moving around, I'm trying to sell cell phones.

01:07:59.000 Isn't everyone else a sex offender there too?

01:08:01.000 Yeah, and then there's some good guys. 0.99

01:08:02.000 But all the white guys are really sex offenders. 0.99

01:08:05.000 And if you say you're there for fraud at 21, no one believes you. 0.98

01:08:09.000 Because the feds don't really pick up 21-year-old fraud cases. 0.82

01:08:12.000 That's all white dudes. 0.94

01:08:13.000 Exactly. 0.99

01:08:13.000 And a lot of those guys are chomos, sex offenders, that's what they call them. 0.99

01:08:17.000 So I'm hustling, I'm doing dice, I'm doing all these things, and these guys from Baltimore, because Obama had lowered a bunch of drug sentences, so they were able to come down from a medium or a penitentiary to a low. 0.56

01:08:30.000 So they see a white kid who looks like a sex offender making moves, hustling, not running with anyone.

01:08:35.000 They come up to me one day.

01:08:37.000 I mean, prisons typically race.

01:08:40.000 It's by cars and the feds.

01:08:43.000 Cars, it's like your state.

01:08:45.000 Are you in Connecticut?

01:08:46.000 Are you in New York?

01:08:46.000 Are you in New England?

01:08:48.000 They come up to me and they said, hey, we'll be your protection.

01:08:53.000 I'm like, oh, I'm good.

01:08:53.000 I don't need protection.

01:08:54.000 Like, everything's good.

01:08:55.000 I haven't been an issue.

01:08:56.000 And then they were like, let me holler at you real quick. 0.95

01:08:59.000 And it's these two jacked, you know, black guys from D.C. And they pull me in the bathroom. 0.99

01:09:03.000 And there's only one guard for 400 inmates, no cameras, three stories.

01:09:06.000 It's an old army barracks.

01:09:07.000 It's a low security prison.

01:09:08.000 Yeah.

01:09:09.000 And they bring me into the bathroom and they're like, listen, this is what you're going to do.

01:09:11.000 They give me a number, have your people put, you know, 1,200 bucks a month or whatever, and we'll protect your phone because they knew I had a phone.

01:09:19.000 And these are guys that have been down 15, 20 years.

01:09:21.000 They don't have a phone.

01:09:22.000 They're like, we'll hold it for you, this and that.

01:09:24.000 I'm like, guys, no, I'm good.

01:09:26.000 Like, we're straight.

01:09:27.000 Everything's good.

01:09:27.000 And right then and there, one of the guys slaps my glasses right off my face.

01:09:31.000 They go over.

01:09:32.000 They break.

01:09:33.000 They fly across the bathroom.

01:09:35.000 And the other guy, like, picks me up and puts me up against the wall.

01:09:38.000 And he's like, listen, you don't have a choice here.

01:09:40.000 And the other guy then pulls out a steel rod and, like, puts it up against my neck.

01:09:45.000 And he's like, listen, you're going to pay us or you're going to get hurt.

01:09:49.000 And kind of right after that, you know, I strategized a little bit, and I went up to the biggest dude that, like, ran the New York card, and I said, how much do I have to put on your books to be protected in here, to be good? 0.98

01:10:03.000 And I paid him, like, 50, 100 bucks a week, and I became, like, his bitch, kinda. 1.00

01:10:07.000 Like, people were looking at it as, we can't fuck with that dude's hustle he's taken care of. 0.97

01:10:12.000 And the guys backed off on me, and those guys ended up getting set up Because they were doing too much movement and trying to extort and no one wants heat brought to the building. 0.84

01:10:21.000 So someone put a phone in their boot under the bed.

01:10:23.000 They got taken out to the shoe and brought back to another prison.

01:10:26.000 But that whole paying for protection story when I told it, because everyone would say in the comments, my cheeks are still red from that slap from that day, which was pretty funny.

01:10:35.000 So you had to go and get, were these, the guys that slapped you from Maryland, were they gang affiliated?

01:10:39.000 Were they Bloods, Crips, or any of that? 1.00

01:10:41.000 I don't know any of that because it didn't really operate gangs.

01:10:43.000 It was just like cars.

01:10:44.000 Like the D.C. guys run together.

01:10:45.000 Those are like the booty bandits of the prison. 1.00

01:10:48.000 Oh, shit. 1.00

01:10:49.000 D.C. and Maryland has that booty bandit. 1.00

01:10:50.000 Did they try you like that too and you're like, no?

01:10:52.000 Not at first.

01:10:52.000 Okay, they just wanted money.

01:10:53.000 Not at first.

01:10:54.000 They just wanted money.

01:10:55.000 They knew I was a white kid that had money and whose dad took care of him.

01:10:57.000 And I had a phone.

01:10:58.000 They didn't like that.

01:10:59.000 So they set me up. 1.00

01:11:00.000 Shit. 1.00

01:11:01.000 So this New York guy, you just paid him, what, $1,500 a week, you said? 1.00

01:11:07.000 No, I paid him like 50 to 100 bucks a week in commissary.

01:11:10.000 Yeah, the other guys won like 1500 bucks. 0.99

01:11:12.000 And why was this guy like so respected where the Maryland guys didn't want to fuck with you? 0.99

01:11:16.000 He was big? 0.99

01:11:17.000 He was with the New York car.

01:11:18.000 So the New York car runs that prison.

01:11:20.000 Yeah, they're not gonna interfere with that.

01:11:22.000 New York outnumbers Maryland and Baltimore 10 to 1 in a prison like that.

01:11:26.000 So they couldn't do anything and those guys ended up getting run up out of there.

01:11:30.000 Okay, so when you ate lunch, breakfast, dinner, did you sit with them?

01:11:33.000 No, I was kind of just like, whatever.

01:11:36.000 I sat with my bunkmate and stuff.

01:11:38.000 But when I first got there, they made me sit at the sex offender table because I thought I was a sex offender.

01:11:42.000 So I was used and abused a lot in prison because of my looks.

01:11:45.000 Yeah, because there's not many guys that look like you that are young.

01:11:48.000 So, dude, that must have been terrifying being there as a 21-year-old kid. 0.96

01:11:50.000 It sucked, man.

01:11:51.000 It was a bad experience, but it turned out to be the best thing that could ever happen to me. 0.88

01:11:55.000 So my advice to people would be, sometimes you have to use your most embarrassing, most failure moment in life to your advantage.

01:12:03.000 I ran with that.

01:12:05.000 I used it.

01:12:05.000 I embraced it.

01:12:06.000 And my life changed and I became successful the day I started talking about something that the world looks at as your most embarrassing moment.

01:12:12.000 No one talks about prison.

01:12:14.000 A lot of celebrities that go to prison don't talk about prison.

01:12:16.000 And I'm very open and honest and real about it, and that's what I think brought me to a new level in my life, and I have found success from that.

01:12:23.000 Good job, bro.

01:12:24.000 No, man, I mean, yo, thanks for telling your story, bro.

01:12:26.000 And, like, you know, obviously that's not difficult.

01:12:28.000 I mean, sorry, that's not easy to share, and I really appreciate it.

01:12:30.000 I know you've got to get going.

01:12:32.000 Yeah.

01:12:32.000 I'll give you the last word, bro, and then we'll close out here.

01:12:34.000 And then where can they find you?

01:12:35.000 Where can they find you?

01:12:35.000 Just ianbick.com.

01:12:37.000 You know, Ian Bick on any platform.

01:12:39.000 I'm probably one of the only Ian Bick, so it's easy to, like, search and stuff.

01:12:42.000 And, you know, we're growing.

01:12:43.000 We got a bunch of listeners.

01:12:45.000 You know, Mike Tyson sponsors the show now his weed company.

01:12:47.000 W! Sweet.

01:12:48.000 Yeah, so we're doing cool things.

01:12:50.000 Ric Flair's, you know, energy company.

01:12:52.000 Woo! 0.99

01:12:53.000 Yeah, woo! 1.00

01:12:54.000 Oh, we need Ric Flair on here. 0.99

01:12:55.000 We do, actually.

01:12:56.000 Yeah, Ric Flair would be good.

01:12:56.000 He lives in Florida.

01:12:58.000 Alright, we'll talk offline.

01:12:59.000 Yeah, he lives in Tampa.

01:13:00.000 I think I'm interviewing him next month.

01:13:02.000 Okay, let's do it.

01:13:03.000 And then you guys are welcome to use my studio whenever he saw it.

01:13:06.000 It's really cool.

01:13:07.000 Yeah, he has a studio up in Connecticut.

01:13:08.000 We'll do a part two when I go back and visit my parents.

01:13:11.000 Definitely.

01:13:11.000 Every time I go up there, I'll do a pod with you.

01:13:13.000 Yeah, whatever you guys need, man.

01:13:15.000 It's all about helping each other and building in the community and stuff.

01:13:18.000 Thank you for coming, bro.

01:13:19.000 No, thank you for coming, Ian.

01:13:19.000 I really enjoyed it, man.

01:13:20.000 Guys, he is Ian Bick.

01:13:21.000 Please go check out his YouTube channel, man.

01:13:23.000 Check him out everywhere.

01:13:24.000 He's on TikTok, he's on YouTube, etc.

01:13:26.000 Check out the interview that me and him did if you guys want to get a different perspective.

01:13:29.000 I shared some stories I've never shared before on his podcast.

01:13:31.000 Thank you so much for coming, guys.

01:13:33.000 He's got dinner to catch, so we'll catch you guys back here with some lovely ladies in a bit. 1.00

01:13:35.000 Peace!

01:13:36.000 I ran, I ran so far away I just ran.

Fresh & Fit - October 18, 2024

Ian Bick Meets Fresh&Fit

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