Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast - Inside One of the Biggest Healthcare Fraud Cases in U.S. History

Episode Date: May 6, 2026

United Healthcare CEO and Luigi Mangione have brought a lot of attention to how healthcare really works. Nelson Rodriguez shares his experience committing healthcare fraud & more.⁣ ⁣ Nelsons Links⁣ https://www.youtube.com/@UCU8SOOozDSNqteFb4i1K6Hg ⁣ https://link.me/montanamethodmindset⁣ ⁣ https://www.instagram.com/montanatheprophet?igsh=ZTZuemluMjFwbnY=⁣ ⁣ Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @shop.mando and get $5 off off your Starter Pack (that’s over 40% off) with promo code COX at https://Mandopodcast.com/COX #mandopod⁣ ⁣ Get 50% sitewide for a limited time. Just visit https://GhostBed.com/cox and use code COX at checkout.⁣ ⁣ Do you want to be a guest? Fill out the form https://forms.gle/5H7FnhvMHKtUnq7k7⁣ ⁣ Send me an email here: [e-mail]⁣ ⁣ Do you extra clips and behind the scenes content?⁣ Subscribe to my Patreon: https://patreon.com/InsideTrueCrime ⁣ ⁣ 📧Sign up to my newsletter to learn about Real Estate, Credit, and Growing a Youtube Channel: https://mattcoxcourses.com/news⁣ ⁣ 🏦Raising & Building Credit Course: https://mattcoxcourses.com/credit ⁣ 📸Growing a YouTube Channel Course: https://mattcoxcourses.com/yt⁣ 🏠Make money with Real Estate Course: https://mattcoxcourses.com/re⁣ ⁣ Follow me on all socials!⁣ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidetruecrime/⁣ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@matthewcoxtruecrime⁣ ⁣ ⁣ Do you want a custom painting done by me? Check out my Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/coxpopart⁣ ⁣ Listen to my True Crime Podcasts anywhere: https://anchor.fm/mattcox ⁣ ⁣ Check out my true crime books! ⁣ Shark in the Housing Pool: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0851KBYCF⁣ Bent: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BV4GC7TM⁣ It's Insanity: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFYXKK8⁣ Devil Exposed: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TH1WT5G⁣ Devil Exposed (The Abridgment): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1070682438⁣ The Program: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0858W4G3K⁣ Bailout: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bailout-matthew-cox/1142275402⁣ Dude, Where's My Hand-Grenade?: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXNFHBDF/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1678623676&sr=1-1⁣ ⁣ Checkout my disturbingly twisted satiric novel!⁣ Stranger Danger: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSWQP3WX⁣ ⁣ If you would like to support me directly, I accept donations here:⁣ Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/MattCox69⁣ Cashapp: $coxcon69 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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you know and love, past, present, and future. Subscribe now on your favorite podcasting platform or watch us on YouTube so you never miss a beat. Let's make sense of this industry together. The whole healthcare system is such a scam. You're talking to a guy that was on the inside of an insurance company. The FBI swarming a Miami house over health care and wire fraud. What United does is what every insurance company does.

You want to talk about a legal racket that's protected by the federal government? It's the biggest racketeering scam on the face of the planet. the official charge I was given was conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. And looking back at it, I didn't think it was a big deal, but now I understand kind of like the cost of what I call it crime.

So what I thought was happening was, we were taking the money from the insurance company and it was like, eat the loss, fuck you. Right. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what happens. They take, they don't take a loss. They report the fraud to the federal government

and the federal government reimburses them every dollar we've stolen. Okay. So now I didn't steal, from Blue Cross Blue Shield. Now I stole from the American taxpayer. Right. Now I'm on the hook for that money with the federal government.

So it's like, the whole healthcare system is such a scam. Like this whole thing with Luigi, first off, Luigi Mangione is a murderer. I'm not even going to try to defend that guy. But the conversation, it's a total scam. You're talking to a guy that was on the inside of an insurance company. What United does is what every insurance company does. They deny a bunch of claims. You know how many legit doctors I saw that were billing

or legit hospitals that were billing for illegal within compliance procedure they did that the insurance company was like, we don't feel like paying you $50,000? You know, we're going to deny your claim. Go appeal it. Go appeal it to who, to the same people who don't want to pay me? It's a scam. It's a total insurance is like,

you want to talk about a legal racket that's protected by the federal government? It's the biggest racketeering scam on the face of the planet. The difference is that what I do is illegal and what they do is legal, you know? So it's like the flip side to the coin. But yeah, I didn't realize the toll, like, how that system is kind of, like, really protected and how I'm really, like, what I did was,

it really hurt, like, everyday people because at the end of the day, that causes, like, all kinds of burdens on the economy and the average taxpayer. So, yeah, it's, it wasn't until I finished doing everything and I learned more about the legal system that I was like, fuck. So that's what happened.

that's how I affect other people. It's so I works for a Medicare HMO. Right. So we're dealing with low-income senior citizens, people who can't afford regular health insurance. And in Miami is such a scam. You have like Leon Medical Centers, simply health care plans, Sun Health, Humana.

I'm sure this means nothing to you guys, but all these insurance companies offer what's called Medicare Advantage. So basically, instead of having original Medicare through the government, where you're covered up to 80% of your medical bills, they get this Medicare Advantage plan where basically that company is getting a subsidy from the government and what they do is they go in and negotiate with doctors to pay them a lower rate and they get the difference in the subsidy.

Okay. Right? So it's a total scam. Like instead of you just having your regular Medicare that pays you, it's a company that basically goes in, takes over your Medicare, and like low balls, all these doctors, and hospitals to make money off of you.

Just to give you an idea of how lucrative it is, simply healthcare plans, the company I worked for before I quit, they made $3 billion in 2018 or 2017. $3 billion. They had actually just gotten acquired for a billion dollars by Anthem. Anthem is the same company that owns Blue Cross Blue Shield and a bunch of other giant companies.

They deny claims all the time. Even if you, and it was an HMO, so that means they had a network. You had to go in-network. You had to go to an in-network doctor, in-network facility, unless it's like an emergency, and emergency bills got denied all the time. They would deny people for going,

oh, because you didn't go, oh, you went to the right doctor, but you didn't file a, or you're one-digit off on the claim number. Oh, you did this, but, you know, you didn't do it at fucking five o'clock, which is the time when you're,

like, stupid shit. And they denied any little reason they had to deny medical claims, they did it. And again, you're talking about senior citizens. People who we should be looking out for, not trying to take advantage of. Right. You know, they talk about scammers.

Like what I did, oh yeah, you're a fraudster. Yet these Medicare HMO companies are taking advantage of old people. Like the most vulnerable class we have in society, which is elders and kids. So, yeah, man, like the whole thing that's going on with United, yeah, fuck Luigi. He's not cool. I mean, he murdered a guy in cold blood,

but it does bring up the same old conversation. And now how they're involving AI to like deny claims and stuff, that's a whole other ballgame. I haven't seen how that works, but the conversation definitely needs to be had. I mean, there's no reason they should be federally backed. If you get, if money gets stolen from, you got to deal with that. That's why the fuck is that coming from taxpayer money?

Why should that come from the federal government? That makes no sense. You know, these systems, they should definitely be updated or something, you know. It's a broken system. That's for sure. We had a TikTok about that same topic due to $2 million. Oh, that's fantastic. Yeah.

And the guy was talking about the AI. Basically, the healthcare, you know, they had the AI that was denying claims. And they knew it was faulty. But the CEO is just like, let it roll, let it ride. Yeah. So. No, no. The CEOs are completely complicit and aware of denying these claims.

Don't think that it's like, oh, yeah, it's some guy. No, no, no, no. They're making the decisions from like a high level. They are hyper aware of what's going on in their. companies and they're they're the ones making the decision to deny those claims to make the company more money it's it's completely illicit and it's disgusting it's pure greed it's just greed i've been using mando's whole body deodorant let me tell you you can use it anywhere pits balls thighs and even your feet mando's powered by mandelic acid so it stops odor before it even starts it blocks

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You'll get 40% off your starter pack if you used code Cox at shopmando.com. That's shop-m-a-n-do.com. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. Once again, that's shopmando.com and use the promo code Cox. So what do you want to do? Let's kind of start at the beginning. I actually have to start before I'm even born I have to start with like my parents

No I'm serious I'm serious and it don't make sense Okay so we had a guy do that It was four and a half hours and it never makes sense We'll do we'll go like it was 30 minutes of him talking about shit that happened before he was born And in the end it never tied it But that's why I look at Colby because Colby and I When we when he left Kobe and I looked at each other and went

Did that motherfucker start 30 minutes for 30 minutes before he was even born Yeah His Yeah, it was like... All right, well, I'm born and raised in Miami, Florida. Right. So a big... I'm a walking contradiction.

And I'm going to tell you why. I'm very... I was incredibly inspired by Scarface as a kid. Not for the drug dealing and not for... It's horrible. I know. I know, but follow me for a second. Not for the drug dealing and not for the murdering. I knew I wasn't going to do that. I knew that that guy was a moron for doing that.

What I admired about the guy is that... The guy showed up here... with fucking holes in his shoes. Mind you, he got here the same way my mother did. The same way, the Mario Boat Lift. You know how my mom, you know how they had the whole thing under the 10, I-95, and all that? My mom was one of those people. So it was a very real story for me.

Like, it was, this guy was just another one of the guys that showed up on the boat. And how he just said, I'm going to do X, Y, and Z, and he did it. It was like, it was inspiring to me because I didn't, at that time, I didn't know anybody's successful. I didn't know anybody that made money. so I was like man like if I could do that but with something else my life will turn out pretty good you know and it really

it just stuck with me and stuck in my brain like he was like this confident like ambitious guy right so that whole and that whole era to me is like I've told you that's my one of my favorite eras they're like 80s Miami all the fucking gangster drug lords

and shit it's just to me it's a never ending like exciting chain of stories Like, look at the guy. Look at how much money he's made off that franchise. He's made, like, one, two documentaries, a toacus series. And that's all, like, 80s, Miami, Cuban drug dealer guys, you know? So that all was very inspiring to me as a kid, you know.

I don't think of his name, Corbyn. Billy Corbyn. Yeah. Jewish guy down in Miami. So that's how my mom got here. She got here in 1980 and the boat lift with my grandfather. My grandfather, that's, I lived with him for many. years. My father got here in 1988. He actually got a fake Venezuelan passport and went to Panama.

And then in Panama, he took the bus to Mexico and then he crossed the border where my aunt was waiting for him to go get him. My parents met. And then, funny enough, right when I'm born in 1992, I don't know how this happened. But my dad decides to get involved in the drug trade. Don't ask me how he decided to do that after he had kids. You saw Scarface. right? This is the way you do it. Yeah.

So he starts making money, make a really good living. And that lasted, that was very short-lived because. What's short-lived? Like six months or a year, two years? What's the lifespan of it? Well, I didn't find any of this out until I was older. I was like a teenager when I started, oh, so that's why we went to Disneyland every weekend, you know? Did he go to jail?

No, no, no, no, no. he gained enough sense to where he stopped, but it was a good, I would have to say a good solid three years. Okay. Solid three years. You know, he'd tell me stories when I was older of like,

you remember that little, you know, bag that had Woody on it that I would take to like trips and that was like your bag and I'd put in lockers? Yeah, that had $100,000 in cash in it. I was like, okay, that's great. Or my uncle would be like, oh, one time I walked into your house when you were like at school

and I went to go see your daddy. He was like, hey, come here. And he went, he opened the mattress and you had like, you know, $250,000 under the mattress. I'd hear these stories when I was older and I was like, bro, what the fuck? But another thing you got to understand about Miami and Cubans in the 80s, like, everybody was doing it. Right.

That was just the way of life. I have an uncle. I grew up with all my extended family, so all my grandparents' siblings were like my aunts and uncles. I have an uncle. He's since passed away. My uncle, Artemio, it's Spanish. for Arthur. He was a huge trafficker. Like he did it for years. He did it for like 25 years,

never got caught. Like it was, it's pretty wild how it was just such a normal part of Miami in the 80s. It didn't make sense to me. And that's built the whole city. That's built the entire city downtown, the skyscrapers, and it's kind of spilled over. Like that was the basis for the boom in Miami. You had that whole gold rush you see in Miami now. It's like the second version of what happened in the 80s, you know, but now it's like fraud. Yeah, we talked about that yesterday. We were talking about how like that whole kind of from Miami up the, up the coast there, it's like there's tons of con men and all these guys get arrested in New York and go to prison for fraud. They all relocate back down.

The mobsters all relocate back down there. Yeah. And South Florida, funny enough, my judge sat in court and said, you know, if this were other areas of the country, would be. having a different conversation, but I specifically have a message from Washington that I need to send a message to you guys here in South Florida, because this is the capital, the fraud capital of the world. The fraud capital of world, bro, that's, that's fucking insane. That's, I didn't even know that. But yeah, I don't know what it is about Miami. I think maybe it's a lifestyle that, that attracts those kinds of people, snakes and the con men and all the weird shit that goes on. I've never really

understood it, but that's, that's a stigma that we carry, unfortunately, and it sucks because there's a lot of great people that have built the city. You know, my grandparents, my uncle's aunt, so they're just honest people. But yeah, like, that's just been the way of life down there. You know, everybody knows somebody. Everybody has that uncle, you know. It was, there's, so there's a funny joke that went on in the 80s. When you show up at, like, a mini mansion or a mansion, there was this big party.

And you'd meet the owner of the house, and you'd be like, what do you do for a living? And he's like, oh, I'm the marimberro. I play the marimba. The marimba is the silophone. It's like a wooden silophone. So that name caught on. So that's what we called drug traffickers. Like Cubans in Spanish, we call it Marimberos.

Okay. That's like a made up term that doesn't even exist in the rest of the country. It's funny when you think about it. And then we actually tell other people who speak Spanish about that term, and they're just like, they don't even know what that means. All right. So anyway, so I'm born in 1992. You know, that all happens.

I'm like in elementary school, a kid, you know, my parents are square people at this point. They make money. They're like doing my mom's a waitress. My dad's a truck driver. And then I have a fairly normal upbringing besides here and there, you know, again, the Miami culture had a cousin who was just like nuts, you know. He was a little thug on the street. He's actually the one that showed me Scarface for the first time as a kid. Makes sense, right?

So and in a weird way, in spite of him kind of like being wild and like doing all that wild shit on the streets, it was good for me to be around him because my parents were getting divorced at the time. So he was good like a good older brother figure kind of to have. I'll actually tell you the story of how he moved in. So my parents were fighting for years before they got divorced. And then for whatever reason, I don't remember why my sister wasn't home. But I was there that night and they got in a fist. It was bad. They got in a fist fight.

They beat the fuck out of each other. they threw shit out of each other like I was like hiding in my room because I would hear glass break and that kind of shit thank god my cousin my other cousin was there that night and broke him up and took him so i actually decided to leave with my dad that night to get him out of the house so he wouldn't hurt my mother so I left with my dad and they took my other cousin took us to my grandma's house and then my cousin louis who's the one that showed me scarface shows up at my grandma's house and picks us up or picks me up and my mom back to his house and i live with him we we live with him for like four years years or three or four years at that point. And I'm exposed to like, you know, uh, his, his dog friends and smoking drugs and all this crazy stuff that's what we shouldn't see, but to me it was kind of normal. You know, it's the kind of stuff I'd see in school and drugs to me at that point were like, okay, you know, I never did them like that at that point, but it, to me, drugs like just seeing drugs like that around, it didn't really affect me. It wasn't like, oh my God, what is that? I shouldn't be doing this.

It was like, okay, just another guy who sells drugs or those drugs, whatever. Right. It wasn't, I was desensitized to it, which thinking back is kind of weird. Because a 12-year-old kid or a 13-year-old kid would be like, the normal kid should be like, what's that? Right. And to me, it was more like, okay, whatever, you know. Well, and also you'd see movies and been exposed to it. That too.

That too, yeah. I started watching. Other kids probably wouldn't be watching at that age. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So he he watches Scarface every day. I'm not exaggerating. Every day. That's horrible.

Our parrot's name was Yeo. And we named him Yeo because his favorite line was Chi Chi Chi Chi, get the Yale. Like he said it every day. And like I said, in a weird way, I knew the things that were going on were wrong. Like the things he would do was wrong. The things Scarface did was wrong. but I didn't want to be like my environment, funny enough, even though I ended up in prison, which is I'll get to that.

I didn't want to sell drugs and I didn't want to like run around on the street. I wanted to be like just different, you know, I didn't want to, I saw that as like, almost like, oh, that's what like they do. I'm not them. I'm different, you know? So that's how I kind of started watching these gangster movies as a kid to get inspiration, you know. I kind of picked what I thought was good and kind of left what I didn't like.

So that was about middle school. I get to high school and then my mom ends up marrying my stepdad. Well, they don't get officially married, but they get together. And my stepfather is a notorious career criminal, notorious. Like he was, he had done six years, gotten caught a few times. The only reason he hadn't gotten deported is because Cubans are like a special. We have this weird thing because of like Cuba and it's a communist country. They don't have to send you back.

Yeah. If you're here illegally, you're allowed to stay, right? Exactly. Wet foot, dry foot. All that stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So my, that was like, I mean, he tried, he tried to sort of hide what he did from us, but it was too obvious, you know. He was a notorious gangster. Like, he, he would say. sit on houses full of drugs and wait for the right time and bust in there with three of his buddies beat the fuck out everybody steal everything sell all the shit he there was this one story this one time my mom told me that was it was pretty wild he sat and watched this guy who owned the jewelry shop for like four days and he would just follow him and follow him and follow him and follow him and

until like he got his his schedule down and then this one time he just sat waited for the guy that guy walked in for the jewelry shop he popped his trunk open because he had seen him put a bag in there took the bag and just took off and the bag had like 50 grand in it you know that's how he made he's living like robbing stealing selling like whatever he's in the building in fcii right now in uh downtown miami yeah it's crazy can't get right no no no no no he's done this is the third to his third fed case okay and every time he's gotten caught it's it's been worse like worse and worse so that's that was again in a strange way it was good for me because he was like an alpha male so i got some good qualities from him but again don't don't do that because you're going to end up like him right

he ends up getting caught because they set up this whole case against him where for months a CI was recording him on a call like the feds were recording him talking to a CI on a call for like months and then we're telling him yeah this house you know i know i know how much drugs it has We're going to break into. We're going to steal all this shit. And he did it for like six months or more. I remember, like, it was an old man. I remember him.

He used to drive this escalator. I remember it clear his day. He used to come to my house and shit. It was pretty wild. So the day they do it, my god fought, my, my, my stepfather leaves my house and he pulls into a gas station or something to get gas. And then as he's leaving the gas station, the feds is just, they scoop them up. I don't even know what the official charge was.

But yeah, that's that. He ended up getting an 18 year sentence for that. it was it was pretty crazy yeah and then my like my mom needless to say it was left alone we went through foreclosure my house actually burned down that's a whole other thing car repossessions we had to move into a fucking trailer I hated that trailer bro the trailer oh my god you can't pay me enough money to move back in their trailer park

I can't I have such a negative association with trailer parks that it's like it's disgusting um so we think everybody does there aren't there aren't and there's probably nice trailer parks. There probably is. There are. There are like retirement trailer parks where they actually have like an association. They keep it up. Yeah. Yeah. It's a planned trailer park. But in general. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Growing up in the 80s, 90s, you know, you had a really, they were just, because they were all, a lot of the ones that were built in this 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, like they're just horrific. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there are, I've seen them in Miami. There's a couple like real clean

ones that they, it's in a nicer part of town. Right. You still don't want to get by a hurricane in one. Yeah, definitely not. It's not a good idea. But yeah. So he goes away. He gets an 18-year sentence. Our life falls apart. I'm still in high school at this point.

I'm like 15, 16. And then at this point, my great-grandmother dies. So my great-grandmother is like the matriarch of my family. She raised me until I was about 15. Very good influence on me. Very good influence on, like, she brought everybody from Cuba. Like, she was like, she kind of like was like, yeah, like the leader of the family. Right.

So she dies. my stepfather goes to prison we lose her house so my mom is like mentally just like falling apart she's not doing well mentally and at that point i kind of just um had a decision to make because she wanted to move and i was about to graduate high school so what i did was i just ended up moving out of my own and i let her move to wherever she was going and i stayed in in miami and i kept going to school i was working you know like 10 hour days at a McDonald's and then I'd go to school from you know what was it 6.30 in the morning till like 2.30 so my life I fucking hated my life from my life was terrible it was so bad it was like

that real like work sleep go back to work sleep doing something you hate so there is the first time I get one of those big opportunities right leading up to to how I ended up getting arrested later. But so this, someone approaches me and it's actually a totally legit company. And I was like, I didn't understand the concept of selling something. Like I didn't know what selling was or entrepreneurship or any that shit. You know, I just kind of like, oh, rich people and poor people. So someone approaches me, a really good friend of mine.

He's like, hey, these guys are like offering us like sales job. And I was like, the fuck is sales. I don't even know what that is. So they explained the concept of like, oh, you know, you sell something and they pay your commission all that shit. Long story short, I get involved and I go like full throttle. What was it? It was a direct sales company selling like AT&T and Verizon and like home service like stuff you use in your home. Okay. And I ended up building a massive team like 600 agents, 4,000 customers. I did really well. And it taught me a lot. It taught me like how they go and are they,

is it like a call center or is you knocking door door? Yeah, yeah. It's kind of like you could do door door you could cold call. Now that I think about it, it wasn't, like, they didn't even supply leads. It was horrible. But I was just so hungry and I want. You go to a neighborhood. You go to a neighborhood. You just scour the neighborhood.

Yeah. Just knocking. Was it, is it dialing for dollars? It's you're knocking out of dollars. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it taught me a lot of good things.

It taught me like grit, be tough. You know, rejection. Rejection is a big one. People fucking hate rejection, bro. I realized, I read this book. It's called Over. overcoming rejection will make you rich. And after reading that book, I really understood, like, it's inevitable.

Like, you'll get what you want in life as long as you keep trying. Yeah, yeah. It is the whole, you know, you have to knock on whatever, 50 doors to get one sale. Yeah. So every time you knock on a door and someone says no, then you got to count that as, okay, well, that's one more towards my 50. Right, right, right. That doesn't matter what they said.

I'm now one down. You know, next door, oh, no, not interested. Absolutely not. They closed door. Great. Now do you down. Right. I just got to get to 50, you know.

And I'll have at least once statistically. I should have one sale. Right. If I knock on 150 doors today, I'll have it statistically should have three sales. Exactly. You still have to be good, but, you know, right? Right. You're just reading the script.

Funny enough, that company was actually endorsed by Donald Trump now that I think about it. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. I think that's the only, like, private business he's ever endorsed. Funny enough. But yeah, I actually got to see him at a conference. That was really cool. I got to see him and hear him talk and he told this cool story of like when he was broke.

And like he owed like 99. million dollars in debt and then he went to this one meeting this one meeting changed everything for him it was cool um he likes to tell the famous story about how he was walking with his daughter and they were walking down the street out of one of his buildings or something and some guy there was a homeless guy yeah and he pointed yeah yeah that guy that guy is worth more money than me or has 99 million dollars more than me yeah worth yeah i'm 99 million dollars in debt or something like that much in debt yeah And then he tells the story of like, I almost didn't go to the meeting because I felt like shit and like everything. But, you know, I forced myself to go to the meeting and then I met this banker who ended up like changing everything for me.

So that that's another good lesson. I've learned a lot of good lessons in that company. One of which is like most of the times when your life is like on the verge of falling apart, you're probably on the right track. Right. What's always darkest before the dawn. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That kind of stuff. Yeah.

I met Ross in prison. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I know. You told me when you interviewed me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, and we'll get there. So. Yeah, and for context, people watching Ross Mendel, who we previously interviewed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We did a video. We could actually link it at the end of this, you know, so you click on that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. So it goes great. Like, I'm not a millionaire, but I'm making a great living. I get great mentorship. I'm reading books. Like, I'm really developing myself as a person.

none of us knew that the leader of like that little team had a horrible pain habit horrible like it was really bad and then he ends up marrying another chick that has any of the way and he was our leader and he would teach us everything and we then he wouldn't show up and then he'd be late and then he was like all right you guys you guys got it from here and then everything kind of just fell apart you know once we found out everybody got a unmotivated and everybody kind of stopped doing that business it kind of fell apart so at that point

I have to do the one thing I don't want to do which is go back and get a regular job and it sucked it sucked a soul out of me you know when you work for yourself and you have to go back and get a job it's not it's not really all that good so I go into health insurance just because it was really the first job

I was kind of offered so I'm fucking miserable I stayed later than I needed you know I'd always get my my work more than done I do actually I'd ask for overtime. Like I did, I went above and beyond. And I moved up pretty fast within the first like six months in that company.

But then I start making people look bad. And that kind of whole negative like corporate America environment kicks in. And I start like resenting that company. Okay. You know, like in my heart, I'm just like, fuck these people, bro. Like I'm here working hard and I'm trying to make something of them. Not just for myself, but I'm trying to turn this into like more than it is. so like that that whole negative conversation that i never should have had i should have just quit the job

is what i should have done and then so this guy approaches me while you know unfortunately just the timing was bad like i already started resenting that company i worked for i had i was broke the brokest i'd been in years which i was not used to and this guy approaches me he's basically like what what health insurance do you guys have i'm like oh blue cross blue shield why he's like oh you guys get physical benefits and I was like fuck if I know I don't know so he's like well let's try something out

go to go to one of these clinics and sign some papers and then call me after and I was like why he's like well you know we can pay you there's some money here involved if it turns out well I was like right but like how much like he's like well you know this time around I'll give you a few hundred bucks I was like a few hundred bucks just go sign some papers okay okay

whatever so I mean okay um one can you speak up yeah yeah okay sure

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I just yeah I just no problem no problem okay so

one you didn't ask any other questions than that like no he just said you have to know that no he just said

it's a clinic and you're gonna go and say you need physical therapy and we're gonna bill you're he didn't even say

any that shit he was just like look show up and they're gonna give you a bunch of papers to fill out. And after that, give me a call.

You're not thinking this is fraud. This is a scam. Not at this point. Not yet. Okay. I'm already kind of like, like I have a feeling there's something. This episode is brought to you by FedEx.

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I want to help my kids, and I want to give back to the community. Ooh, then it's the vacation of a lifetime. I wonder if my head of office has a forever setting. An IG Private Wealth Advisor creates the clarity you need with plans that harmonize your business, your family, and your dreams. Get financial advice that puts you at the center. Find your advisor at IG Private Wealth.com. But you're also desperate for money and don't want to ask a lot of questions. Correct. Exactly.

You're more concerned about getting $200 than you are about. Definitely. 100%. Possibly something being wrong. 100%. You can always claim ignorance like, I didn't know what you just said. 100%. Okay.

And it really just looked like intake forms. It didn't look like anything crazy that I filled out when I was there. It's willful blindness. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's the way the U.S. attorney. Yeah. I said this out of my case, ignorance is not an excuse for breaking the law. Anyway, so I go, I fill out the papers, and then, you know, they get photocopying my insurance card, all that shit.

And then the guy that was there who's like, all right, man, you're all set. You know, the doctor's not here today, but we'll give you a call to reschedule your appointment. I'm like, okay, I'll probably have to come back at some point. All right. The guy actually ends up calling me and he's like, yo, did you go? Yeah, yeah, I went. All right. Look, come here.

I'm here. Come to my house. I go to his house and he gives me $800. And I was only expecting like $300. I was like, okay. All right, this is cool. And he goes, hey, all right. Well, does everybody get your job have that insurance?

I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, well, let me tell you. I'm willing to pay you a little more now because I know this is legitimate. I'll pay you $2,000 per person that you bring over here. And I was like, now I'm just like, what? So you're going to get $2,000 and he's going to get $800? The other person is going to get $800? No, he's going to get me $2,000 and it's up to me how much I pay the person.

Okay. Yeah. So at this point, I'm like, oh, shit, all right. Now we're talking, right? Right. And I never asked, but at this point I'm like, all right, there's something illegal here, but I don't think this is enough money to get in trouble, right? So I'm in my head, I'm like, it's a few thousand dollars.

Yeah, I get it. It's a couple thousand dollars. He's really the main guy. I'm not. All right, whatever. So. He's robbing the bank. You're just driving the getaway car.

I didn't do anything. Oh, okay. That excuse doesn't work well. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And my whole reasoning the whole time was like, I'm small fish. They're not going to, they're not going to want me. And then I refer one.

I refer two. I refer three. I refer four, 10, 20, 30, and it goes pretty well. Right. And the guy's like... What are you paying these guys when you approach them? Are you telling them like you do? A thousand bucks typically.

I'll give you half? Yeah. Right. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I don't even mention what I'm getting paid, right? Right. I'm just like, hey, it's a thousand bucks.

All you got to do is show up and sign some papers. I was basically a recruiter, right? So, I mean, almost no one at work said no. Right. And I worked in a company with like 500 employees. I didn't do everybody, obviously. I know who to approach and who not to approach. And then the guy, every time, you know, he thought we were going too much to one clinic.

He gave me another address and I'd send them to another place. And it was just this ongoing thing, you know. It was really easy. Like, I didn't have to do much. And then. So what is he doing? He just. What was actually happening here?

So what's actually happening here is all these clinics are completely fraudulent. every single one of them. Not one of them is like, you know, they're basically just like here and this guy knows all of them. And they have an arrangement with this guy. So somebody set up a clinic because you don't have to be a doctor to set up a clinic. Correct. I can go right now and set up a clinic. And then I can hire doctors to come to the clinic and meet patients.

And really the clinic owner is in charge of leasing the building, setting up everything, hiring the employees. Hiring the staff and keeping with compliance. Correct. typically it. The doctor comes in as an employee and he meets these people. Correct. And then I bill as the clinic owner, I'm billing their insurance company. Their insurance, correct. What is getting built? What are they getting billed for? Physical therapy sessions.

And the physical therapy sessions are he's billing out what, $1,500 for 10 sessions? And that's $15,000? On average. No, on average, they were doing, they were doing somewhere between 30 to my knowledge because they could have been more, 30 to 60 sessions. And how much is you session get, does the insurance company pay? I don't know each, but combined per person, it was like $15,000 to $30,000. Okay. They were pocketing.

So let's say 20 grand, they're giving you two. No, no, no, but here's the kicker. So he, this guy, that my plug, this guy, I don't know how the fuck and don't ask me, but he knows like 20 of these motherfuckers. Right. Right. And that guy works out his own deal because he's a fucking commenter and a scammer.

He works out his own deal with each one of these guys. So the clinics are kicking him back maybe five grand for or ten. Some of them are going 50-50. Okay, so 10 grand. He's paying you two. Right. He's getting eight. And then the clinic is billing for like 20.

Right. So they're just filling out of the paperwork saying this guy showed up on the third, on the fifth, and the whatever, yeah. night. Yep. You know, physical therapy was good. A little pain in his back.

Yep. 100%. So it's really just becomes just kind of like a mill at that point. They're just cranking out. Cranking out. Look paperwork that looks good so they can build. Mind you, this slime motherfucker, he's got other people that work. I don't know how he did this.

Probably just like every time I referred somebody, he'd probably talk to them and be like, yeah, send me people. Of course he lied to me because, you know, we're all fucking stealing money. So later I found out after I got arrested that he had like another guy. there sending him a bunch of people and he like he was like no no I swear to God you're the only guy there you know and me like an idiot believing a comment but anyway and then imagine he had me at my place right and then he had another guy that worked at another place and he had another guy that worked at another place and he had another guy that worked at another place he had like 10 of us

so imagine this guy's fucking yeah he's raking it in where this guy first approach you at like where did you how'd you come across them so um um I actually got referred to him like way before we started doing business. Like I was with a friend of mine and she was like, hey, you know, because I was really complaining about like injuries and like, she's like, well, if you need physical therapy,

call this guy. I know a guy. Yeah, and I was like, okay, cool. And I called him and he was like, no, you know, I guess. Come here. No, no, no, no. At first, I called him for the first time.

and he actually wasn't really like about it. He thought... Deceptive. He's like, oh, this guy's actually going to want physical therapy. Is that what you think we're doing? Right, right, right, exactly. That's just the name on the sign. No, and imagine, he's like a Miami Street guy.

He's like a Cuban guy, so he's, and he doesn't know me. So he's probably like, oh, fuck this guy. I don't know this guy. Like, almost a year later, the guy is when the guy calls me. He's like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, and he eggs me on. So it was through. like fucking sheer coincidence. It wasn't even,

it just made no sense how I ended up connecting with this guy. So yeah, and then again, the guy's involved in like 17 different scams. The guy's like doing some fucking bank scam. The guy's doing some fucking shit with like, like, uh,

he's diversified. He's an entrepreneur. Diversification is the, it's the key to continually making money. Total fucking car artist is what he is. I mean, I think you're just upset because he had other guys working for him.

No, at my office. I was upset because he lied to me about having other people in my office. Because that's supposed to be my territory, you know? My territory. That's supposed to be my fucking shot. Like, what are you doing?

What the fuck? You're all con men. We are. We are, we are. You know, he's a con man. You're a con man. I get it. These guys are all lying to each other.

Some I have to tell you, though, there's a scale. Like, you can't compare what I'm, I did with like fucking, I don't know with fucking, what's the guy's name? I didn't need more than that.

Bernie Madoff? Yes. Like, there's levels of it. No, I know, but I know, but there's levels of con. Oh yeah, yeah. No, what you're saying, like he wasn't bilking people out of their life savings. Like he wasn't saying, hey, fuck him. I was saying we were all conning people, but what he was like just on another level.

Like he was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like we were all. You were in your level. was wrong. What I did was wrong. I'm not saying, I'm not defending what I did. Yeah, yeah. But, like, I wouldn't do some of the shit he was doing, you know? Like, later I found out he was dealing with, like, a clinic that was billing for chemo and, like, what, it's, it's, yeah, yeah, he's, like, giving a bad, bad drugs, and you think you're getting chemo and you're actually

getting water. It's wild. It's wild. It's wild what the fucking guy did. He's, I mean, it was, and then the guy was always broke, legitimately, always broke. Right. Sometimes he'd be, like, uh, a gambler? I, it's so amazing how many gamblers I've met. That were scam artists.

Well, it's, they're scam artists, but they'll, they, if they weren't scam artists, then they're, they're making,

like they'll make a million dollars a year. They're just raking in money. But they're always broke. Huge. Their work ethic is insane. They're, they're extremely good, um,

you know, salesmen. They're, they're really raking in money. And yet they're always bouncing checks and they're, and they're broke it. And they're going, it's like you're just made $200,000.

You went to the casino, you walked out owed them 20. That's fucking, you see what I'm saying? No, they pay them back in a week. Yeah. They get another couple hundred thousand.

And they go back and they lose it again. Like, it's such a sickness that you can't understand it. That it's, I have no idea. So with him, I think it was more like money in, money out.

Like, it was easy money. You know what I was saying? Like, easy money comes and goes. Is he buying, is you buying Bugatti's? I mean, Is he buying?

Every time he goes out, he's buying like $2,000 dinners. So he's paying for everybody. He's a big shot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. That kind of shit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's living in like this apartment. He should have been living in like an hour away from town on the beach. Like he's renovating the apartment even though he's renting it.

Like he's doing stupid shit. Yeah. Yeah. You're just pissing money away. Yeah. He had this ducati. Like, bro, you don't even ride motorcycles. The fuck you buying a ducati for him.

You know, that kind of shit. It's just, and then he, his worst vice, honestly, in my opinion was women. Every time I was with him, he showed me a picture of a different chick. He was banging, and he had like 15 different chicks, and as you know, money is kind of goes down. It's extremely expensive if they're out of your league. Yeah, yeah. You're dating a 10 and you should be dating a 5 or a 4, and that 10 is costing a lot of money. It's over.

It's over. And then he would, there was legitimately sometimes where he would just be like, hey, you know, know, just give me like two more days. Because he'd spend the money he was supposed to give me, he'd spend. He'd just fucking blow it. Right. And then he'd do some other shit and come up with another 50 grand doing some scam, and then he'd pay me from some other shit, you know?

It was pretty crazy. Nothing worse than a con, man. It's just bad with money. Yeah. Do you know any of his other scams, like the specifics? Uh, yeah. One, which I don't know how he didn't go to prison for was, and I don't know how this flew.

this is what he told me and I don't know how it worked out he had supposedly he had a contact at Bank of America that like looked at accounts and he'd get a tip as to like accounts that were like heavy like 20 30

40 million right some stupid number and he'd hit him up and he'd be like all right go after this one so he'd make a check and they'd make it out for like 100 grand some amount where the person might not know notice and he'd look for people to cash these checks. Right. And he wouldn't cash him.

I don't know how the fuck he did this. He'd go to a casino and he'd take out like $100,000. He'd promised the person 10% of whatever they got, which is in shame because they're the ones taking all the risk, right? Yeah. And they're the ones who have the tax liability to. People, it's so funny people will do stuff. They'll be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, give me, I want 10%. And they take 10% and.

not realizing, you understand at the end of the year, you're going to get a 1099, you're going to pay $30,000 in taxes on this fucking money. Fucking wild. And they think they, they think, oh, man, I fucking got off. I made 10 grand for nothing. No, not what just happened. It's fucking wild is what it is. So, supposedly, yeah, he had the contact at the bank that knew that would overlook these accounts.

I had a lot of money. And he'd tell him, hey, go after this one. And he'd go, he'd find schmocks off the street that were like, oh, my God, $10,000, yeah, let's do it. and then he'd take him to a casino in the middle of night. They'd go to the casino in like one in the morning. And somehow they'd cash, like, I don't know how the fuck they did it, but they'd cash that check. And they'd get $100,000 in cash, pay the person,

and then that's it, they parted waste. And he was doing that for like years. I don't even think he went to prison for that. He went to prison. Well, I'll get to what he went to prison for. But yeah, the guy was just like, he was already on federal probation. He actually was on probation because he had stolen, he used to work for Budweiser

and he stole a bunch of beer and sold it and then he claimed like oh yeah I got robbed and they found that it wasn't he was already like had an open case so he was he was on FMA leave what's that called FMLA leave from Budweiser they were paying him because supposedly

he had a broken knee like the guy was like the scammer he was doing every scam possible right under the sun it was pretty wild so the guys like every time he tries to at this point I'm just like

bro just yeah keep that over there don't even don't even tell me about what else you're doing because I was like you know if I ever get in trouble if I get in trouble let me just get in trouble for this and let's leave it be I don't need like to spend the rest of my life in fucking prison with this fucking hit for just

doing business with someone I shouldn't even be associating with honestly right so what happens eventually I actually end up leaving the insurance company just because, and this is completely legitimate, this isn't illegal. I get approached by a buddy of mine

who wants to open a medical clinic in Florida. This is right when it goes legal. Right. This is like end of 2017. So right after Trump gets elected, we had it on the ballot in Florida to make it medical. So we voted yes.

And his idea was always like, you know how they have that saying of like, oh, picks and shovels? Like, yeah, people got rich in the gold rush, but the people who got really rich are the people who were selling the picks and the shovels. So that was his idea. Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive.

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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. of like the green rush. He was like, yeah, all right. I don't want to deal with, but what's the things, the ancillary services in that business where we could make money?

Right. And then he got the bright idea of owning the doctor's office. He's like, if we own the doctor's office, people are going to need their cards. There's no insurance involved. They have to pay cash.

It could be pretty lucrative. Everybody wants to get their card, right? How many people smoke Florida and they want to do it legally? You open up a clinic, you hire the doctor. That's it.

Every patient that comes in and pays about bucks, or $200, he gets $75 bucks for every person that he sees. There you go. Crank them out. Yep. 100%.

So he approached me because he already knew I had the sales background and all that stuff. And we had become a good friend. This is like another friend of mine. So we opened the doctor's office and I leave the insurance company. Like I just drop it. And we start doing that. And that starts going really well. And it's all legit money.

Right. So around the time I'm already going to tell this guy, hey, I'm done. Like, you know, I did way more than I was at this point. I'm like, you need to stop. Nelson, you need to stop. Right. You've made, at this point, I've probably made, like, in cash that's gone through my hands,

I've probably had more than, I can't even tell you, honestly. I, like. Was it more than or less than a half a million dollars? Close. Close. Yeah, close. Half a million dollars?

Yeah, half a million dollars can. Roughly. Roughly. Roughly. Roughly. Yeah. I mean, there's right off. There's gas.

All that kind of shit, yeah. depreciation of your of your office and your house but that's money that went through my hands like remember i had to pay these people so all i didn't keep all that money yeah yeah no so you had to like so you have to deal with them and there's management issues i understand i understand no no i'm just saying i didn't physically keep all that money because i gave like half of it to other people but it was hundreds of thousands of dollars i made within like 18 months right right and so that money was funneled into a legitimate No, no, no, no, I didn't use that money.

Oh, okay. I blew it. I traveled. I fucking... Did we just have a conversation about the way it was the idiot that was blowing all the money he made? I know. I know. I totally get it.

You're a jackass. I'm going on vacation for 20 grand. You don't know what you're doing. You're buying a Bugatti. That's insane. That's stupid money. I'm going to get a push. At the end of everything, so this is what happens.

When I'm just like, I have some money saved. Don't you understand the best way is to bet it all on black? See, I'm not. investing. You're an idiot. It's not what happened. I don't gamble. Anyway, I did go on some very nice

vacations. I'll tell you that. I went to Costa Rica, went to Colombia. It was nice. Anyway, so, we'll talk about Colombian women later. So, what happens is I have enough money stashed

to live for like a year, probably. We're doing nothing. Like, if I do nothing, I could live off this money for a year. Okay. And I'm like, all right, we're starting the cannabis business. I can live off of this.

Let's go legit enough. You haven't gotten caught until now. You're fucking lucky. Go tell this guy to fuck off. And we're done, right? I call the guy that guy doesn't answer the phone. That's never happened. The guy always answers my phone call.

I was like, something's wrong here. This is bad. Call, no answer. I get a call from one of his associates that I knew, this lady. that night she's like hey Nelson what's up we got to meet I was like oh here we go I was like all right yeah let's meet here I give her a center and address and she pulls up and she's like hey Felix got arrested by the FBI today oh for what so at that point I'm like all right but that's is that all you know like what's

going on he's like well you know he's he got arrested we don't really know anything else that's that, you know. And I was like, okay. All right, cool. You know, whatever. Of course, I'm like, all right, so take this as a sign. Stop. Right.

This is over. The guy went to prison. You know. We got arrested. He got arrested by the feds. No, no, no. Yeah. He got arrested by the feds.

Yeah, he's going to prison, but he just got arrested. At this point, you said he just got arrested. Right. But when you get arrested by the feds in Miami, you get sent, when you're, like, when you're, when you don't get bond, you get sent to, you get sent to. the building in downtown Miami. That's prison. That's like federal prison. You're not, even though

it's a transition point, but you're going to be there until you either get bond or you get assigned to a prison and get sentenced. So he's in prison. Mind you, they gave him a $15,000, Braun, and he didn't have the money. How about that? $15,000

and he didn't have the $15,000. That guy had made millions, millions. Easily, since I met him, he had made $3 or $4 million. easily in that year, year and a half. The guy didn't have the 15 grand. His fucking wife was like going around calling like his buddies to borrow money to get them out. It was fucking pathetic.

Anyway, she never called me because I don't know. I guess she didn't have my number. So what happens after that? I'm like, all right, I'm done. I'm going to leave this alone. Whatever happens happens. But I'm going to stop doing this, right? But he owed me money.

He went to jail and he never paid me about. 10 grand that he owed me. I'm sure that was foremost on his mind. Yeah, no, but I was, but it was on my mind. That's for sure, probably not his. So I was like, fuck, man, how do I get paid? So I call, since he's not in the picture, I have to deal with the owners directly now, right?

So I'm like, let me let them know that this guy got arrested and I'm out and to pay me my fucking money, right? So I go and I approach these guys. They had dealt with me a few times, so they knew I wasn't like trying to. So you weren't coming out of nowhere. Yeah, because they see who you. my face and Felix had explained to them, the guy Felix or whatever, had explained to them, this is my guy, right?

So I told him, hey, we got to meet up. We got to talk. And then I, okay? So I go to their place and we go in the back office and I'm like, listen, Felix got arrested. You guys know that? And they're like, they put these faces on. They're all free. Like, what?

And I'm like, oh, you guys are finding out for me? You guys are fucked. Okay, well, look, that's not my problem. I need to get fucking paid, bro. Where's my money? and the guys are like, well, we pay to him for some of it, this and that. And I was like, oh, here we go. They're not going to pay me.

They ended up paying me half because, I don't know, I guess I wanted to be nice guys. They could have told me to fly a kite. There's nothing I could have done about it. But they paid me. And out of courtesy, I gave him the warning. I was like, listen, this is what's going on. I'm out. You paid me my money.

I'm not doing this anymore. Of course, one of them calls me back and he's like, hey, come back. you know let's talk and for the life of me I just don't understand why I was like yo all right let's talk right at this point I'm telling myself like bro what the fuck are you doing you want to turn into this guy now you're going to have all these scams going so basically what ends up happening is one of the guys I end up cutting a deal with one of the guys and I end up getting like what he used to get paid okay so he was like look this is how much I I'm billing, I'll give you half.

I was like, okay, cool. So at this point, I'm getting paid $3,500 per person, right? And then I go off to the races again, because you can get physical therapy every six months. So what? Just go grab the old guys. I go back. And I make probably just as much money all over again, if not more, because I didn't get to everybody.

Right. I only got, because some people didn't want to do it or whatever. At that point, everybody knew the scam. Everybody knew the racket. And I go to town. But then what happens? that guy goes to prison. And again, I'm not in prison yet.

I'm not indicted. I'm not nothing. So I'm like, bro, should I count my blessings at this point? Yeah, aren't you concerned that any of these guys are going to turn over on you? I had never been arrested. Right. You know? And I was like, at this point, like, if he got arrested, now I'm doing what he was doing.

I'm not like a level below him. Now I was doing what he was doing, right? So it's like, like count your blessings at this point. So I left it alone. And at that point, I didn't really have a choice because the main guy who dealt with me went, that's it. I didn't have like other clinic owners I could approach. So I kind of left it at that. And then at that point, the medical clinic was kicking ass.

Like it was doing really well. So I said, all right. What? For real this time. Like, I'm not going to go out and look for a clinic owner or any of that shit. Which, of course, like, says. And so I hadn't dealt with the system. I knew, like, I didn't know they were going to rat on me.

I didn't know any of that shit. I just, I was like, all right, whatever. They got caught. There's nothing I can do about that. And I just walk away. And then the medical business starts booming, right, with my buddy. And I just started doing that. And the funny thing is people, when I got arrested, most people thought,

because obviously I never told anybody I was doing this, right? So, like, the pandemic happens or whatever. So this is like 2018. I don't get arrested until 2021. Four years later. I really stopped doing everything in 2018. And then after the pandemic is when I get arrested, which is wild.

We're thinking about it because it's like, fuck, man. Why'd they take so long? Apparently the FBI told me it was because of the shutdown. They didn't work for months. And they came after me just like when they reopened and everything was like kind of moving again. So in the meanwhile, I'm like this entrepreneur in the community.

I'm like breaking records in the medical company. We have like 4,000 clients in four years. Everything's going fantastic. Everything's going really well. One of the partners gets bought out. Like everything is going fantastic. Everything really, really well. So that month, the company

had actually made more money than it's ever made. So I was like, all right, I deserve a break. Let me go to Columbia. Which is funny. That whole thing about Thailand that you guys talk about here, it's the same thing in Colombia. the same exact thing like the women are like the most gorgeous women you've ever seen your life

they'll marry you for like a dollar you can have the most badass penthouse you've ever had in your life for like $700 a month a meal on the street is like a dollar it's it's an amazing place and then maybe eating like these women have these accents that just like bro they could ask me to eat a piece of dog shit and I do it with that accent that they have I swear

like I'd eat a mile long fucking turd just to eat out of where I came out of Of, like, Yeah. This is not, because they're bad examples. All right. I hear you.

Yeah. The most gorgeous women you've ever seen in your life. Anyway, so I go to Columbia and I have my, my three day, three, four,

five day debauchery binge. I'm like on top of the world. I have like a super fantastic business. I got away Scott free. I'm a legit guy now. I'm not breaking the law. So I get back on a Monday and I get off the plane.

and we're walking towards immigration and there's these four TSA officers mind you the one there's two of them are wearing regular clothes he's like hey you two step aside and I was like the fuck is going on here you know mind you

I'm coming back from Columbia so I didn't really like I had stopped doing it four years earlier right so at this point I really did think like you forgot all about this I got away with this yes this is done you know They're not going to wait four years.

Exactly. No, no, no, a thousand percent. So the TSA officers pull us aside. They let everybody pass. Where the last one's left, it was like this stuff. You just think it's a random stop? I have no idea at this point. I think it is weird, but again, it doesn't occur to me.

So they stopped me. They asked me, where are you coming from? Medellin, why'd you go for a vacation? Who you with him? Who is he? My friend, mind you, this is a buddy of mine that just went to Columbia with me. they do this like 30 minute interrogation there in the hallway

then they put me in a room to look through all my shit fucking pat me down after like an hour of being with them they let me go and I was like hmm that's fucking weird whatever I didn't think much of it I just left it it was random

that was Monday so Thursday I got to call at 5 in the morning to my call to my cell phone it's a phone number out I recognize so I just turned the ringing off and I go back to sleep. But then I get a knock at my door.

Was it a nice knock? Or was it a law enforcement knock? It was a concerned knock. Okay. So I, my aunt is my landlord. Okay. So she comes to knock on my door. And I open the door and I'm like,

I'm legitimately like waking up with a row. And she says, bro, I'll never forget this. La policea ta'o'o'o'a. The cops are outside. They're looking for you. I was like, the cops. what my phone rings again and it's the same phone number that just called me five minutes earlier i was like i should answer this hello Nelson Rodriguez yes this is agent such and such with the

fbi you have five minutes to come outside of your house click okay that that may very well be the nicest arrest i've ever heard so they couldn't come in my house right because my gates were locked that's the only reason they couldn't come inside and thank God that I lived so I live in they have these things in Miami called efficiencies I don't know if you ever heard of yeah yeah but you were yeah

so I lived in like half of a house thank God my aunt lived next door and she was able to come and knock on my door right because I don't if not who knows what would have happened they would have put you know whatever so I'd go outside there's four city of Miami cops blocking off this road

with like four city of Miami cruisers blocking off this side of the road with like eight cops another four city of Miami cruisers blocking off this side of the road with like another eight cops there's four FBI cars outside my house with like eight FBI agents and four of the FBI agents are fucking pointing air 15s at my house and I'm like

what am I a fucking terrorist? Yeah, this is fraud. This is ridiculous. It's a fraud case. Again, it's been for years, man. You don't understand. This is gone. It's still not like registering in my head.

I understand that. I'm saying in general. In general terms, what are you doing? It's a fraud case. No, I get it. Nobody got hurt. This is not, no, there were no guns. There were no, nobody's been murdered.

This is a fraud case. I don't know if there was like, I'm a big Second Amendment guy. I owned a ton of guns. So I don't know if maybe they were. Oh, they might have known that. Yeah. So maybe they're. Not that they keep lists.

Because they don't keep lists because that would be unconstitutional. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we heard from a guy, you may have some weapons. And the fact that you're constantly wearing a scar-based jump suit, doesn't, didn't help the situation. Definitely not. So, and this is a month after George Floyd, like a month. So I'm here like, I'm like, all right, these guys aren't going to kill me.

I take my cell phone out. I give it to my aunt. I tell her, call my parents. I put my hands up. I turn around and I start backing up towards their cars. I don't even give them a chance to, like, say anything, nothing. One of the FBI agents starts telling my aunt, look, this is my card. If you want any information, we're taking them.

They don't read me my Miranda Rice. They don't say shit. They pat me down. I can actually, I have the, where is the, fuck. I have the video of me getting arrested, Channel 7 News, who's out there. I back up. They arrest me and they take me. I'm sitting in the car and I'm still like,

all right, whatever. This is probably not for me. Though explain, shit, we'll clear this stuff later. I honestly thought that we're looking for my dad. Because me and him have the same name and shit like this has happened to me like four times in my life where people were looking for me. And they're actually looking for my father. So I was like, all right, we'll clear this stuff later. They take me all the way to the FBI headquarters in Miramar, Florida, which is like 30 minutes north, 30 to 40 minutes north of Miami.

I'm sitting there and I'm just, I'm calm. I'm like, we'll figure this out. You know, this isn't a big deal. They start bringing in other people that got arrested and I was like, you start recognizing people? Yep, instantly. Tommy. No, no, no, no.

Cheryl, what are you guys doing here? This is crazy. Hey. It was all the people I dealt with during the whole fucking clinic scam. And I was like, bro, these guys. And these are just the low-level guys that are bringing? Or are they bringing in the doctors? A mix.

No, the doctors were never brought in. At least not with me. I don't know if they were ever brought in, but not with me. They're bringing in the owners and some of the other recruiters. What about the main guy? He was already in prison.

He ratted everybody out. How much time did he get, though? The FBI told me at some point, whether I don't know if it's true or not, they were going to give him 14 years. And he cooperated so much and gave so much information that he only ended up doing two.

He said he had three years coming to him. Yeah. He can go right now and commit a crime. And they're like, oh, yeah, you've got three years coming. Yeah, it's wild. So he ended up doing two. So mind you, he gets arrested in 2018. He's rebuilt his whole life before you guys.

He got out in 2020. A couple years before you even get arrested. He got arrested in July of 2021. That guy's already out. Bump into you and them all and be like, you're still out? You're probably behind. You might want to put some money aside. It's wild.

Yeah. So that, I mean, it's pretty much game over at that point. I know what I'm getting indicted for, you know? Right. I call a lawyer. They let me go on bond. That same day, we have a virtual court hearing because, mind you, it's July of 2021. So it's still like pandemic, all that shit.

They take me from the FBI headquarters to the U.S. Marshal's office, and that's in the same building as the federal court in downtown Miami. And the whole time I'm sitting there in the fucking jail cell, they fingerprint me, do all that shit, the U.S. I'm like, man, like, this is nuts. Like, at this point, I feel like some sort of, I don't know, like drug dealer, like drug smuggler. I feel like fucking Osama bin Laden or something. Like, the amount of agents and shit that they come out with is pretty wild.

U.S. Marshals, like, I thought U.S. marshals, like, only went after, like, you know, these big time cases and shit. Anyway. So I'm there, and the whole time I'm sitting in the jail cell and I'm like, my life is fucking over. I am fucked. goodbye plans you know bye bye all those plans I had you know

because I was thinking of taking the company public and doing all these crazy things overnight I'm just like that's not happening and I have no I'm just like I'm terrified at this point I'm just like what the fuck is going to happen I don't know anything about federal prison

I'm probably going to get sent to a camp I don't know about any of that shit I'm just like here we go I'm gonna be in a fucking bunch of prison in a fucking with like you know a prison with a bunch of like thugs and fucking people I don't want to be around I'm having all these thoughts in my head.

The thought that pierced my head, though, was the piercing image of my mother crying. It was, to this day, it gives, like, my heart just, like, breaks. Like, it sucks because I just don't know why I couldn't get the image of my mother finding out and being so disappointed in me because I was supposed to be the one guy in the family who was never supposed to go to jail, never supposed to get in trouble. And I took it aside further.

I didn't just get in trouble. I got arrested by the feds. You took it a step further. All your fucking dumb-ass cousins and shit and your uncles, the state got them, but you got arrested by the feds. So, you know? It's, yeah, yeah.

It's a graduation. More, yeah, it's more serious than, yeah. So they let us do in there the whole day, and we have our court date at like four in the afternoon, like damn near the end of the day. I get out on a promissory note bond because I'd never been arrested.

or anything. You know, my mom and dad sign a paper. They're like, yeah, we got to pay $100,000 if he flees the country, which he's not going to. I surrender my passport the next day. I have to give up all my guns. So, you know, I sold all my guns to my mom. And then I go see a lawyer. And he's like, bro, you know, this is it.

They showed me the discovery. It's not really all that good. But, you know, we got to give this time. This is one thing I'll say. I was so naive. And this is how much I didn't understand the system. My lawyer is a federal lawyer, like federal defense attorney. He's done thousands of these cases.

And the guy edged me on the whole time, like, oh, you might not go to prison. You're going to get convicted for sure, but you might not go to prison. You might not. Obviously, hindsight is 2020. I didn't realize that fucking the feds have like a 98% conviction rate. And unless you're like, I don't know, some politician who can rat out like a president of a country, you're going to prison. Right. Period.

Yeah, by the time they've arrested you, their case is already done. Yeah. You know, unless you cooperate and get some time off. But even then, even if you cooperate and get time off, you're still going to prison. Yeah, yeah, you're going to do some time. You're typically not getting off free and clear. Correct. Correct.

So the guy just tells me there's a good possibility you won't go to prison. You're definitely getting convicted, but you might get like house arrest or probation. So the not knowing was what really bothered me. Like if from the beginning I would have known I was going to prison, I would have been okay. but I was out on bond for a year and a half while they were like doing whatever the fuck they wanted to do and putting some of the people

supposedly someone of co-defendants wanted to go to trial and they were like figuring all that shit out so I pled guilty right away and then I got I didn't get sentenced until when that I get sentenced so I get arrested July 20th

July of 2021 and I get sentenced in October of 2022 so I was out on bond that whole time and needless to say in a year and a half, like, I kind of want to, like, do, I want to figure out my life. I'm like, all right, what else am I going to do when I get out? You know, even though I have no clue how much time I'm going to get at that point or anything, I was like, you know what?

I'm going to write a book because at least, like, basically the way I saw it was overnight, all the proof that I ever had of, like, having lived a life got wiped away. So I was like, damn, if I died tomorrow, there was no proof I was here. Okay. So I decided to write a book. And I actually have a copy here. I'll give you one.

And then I write the book. So I start writing the book in August of 2021. And then I published the book in March of 2022. I ended up doing like this book, mind you, no one knows I'm out on bond. No one knows I got a rest. I'm just kind of like doing this and like people know me as this business guy. So they're like, oh, it's the next chapter of his life. I'm writing a book.

I do this book launch party. I make like five grand that night. What is the book? Is it just on your, Chris, a true crimes type story? Or is it about starting or is it just everything? Up until the point of I got arrested, but I didn't say anything about like all the fraud I did or any of that shit. It was just my life up until that point.

So, needless to say, I need to write another one. So it went really well. Like, I was like, okay. But how can I like do more of this? Like, I like storytelling. So what can I do? and fun fact me and Joe Rogan

actually have the same birthday August 11th so I was a big Joe Rogan fan I have a lot of time on my hands at this point so I started watching him and I'm like maybe I should start a podcast I was like all right let me look into it

and then in June of 2022 I decided to start doing it but I did it audio only I didn't get cameras I just did like me in a microphone I started doing it a few people listen to the episodes they say oh man this is good

later on Within a few months, I find a studio that kind of does studio time. I rent it. I start doing the episodes. And then right when I start doing the podcast in October of 2022 is when finally I get sentenced and I get sentenced to eight months in federal prison. So what happens is they let me self-surrender. So I picked January.

So between October and January, I started recording episodes and I was like, all right, eight months. I do an episode a week. I did the calculations. I recorded enough episodes. to schedule everything while I was away. Okay. So if you didn't know me, you thought I was still on the street. Right, right.

So, and it was... If you're a fan, if you subscribe, they have no idea you've disappeared. They have no idea, exactly. And the funny thing is, the day I got out from prison, my mom had me my cell phone, and it was like,

bro, you're a fucking dick. Where are you? What the fuck is going on? Like, people were trying to tell me congratulations on the podcast and all that shit, but obviously I didn't have my cell phone. Anyway, so I record enough, and I, the week before I went away,

I so this is like December between December 30th of 2022 and January 9th of 2003 I spent that whole week just like scheduling everything for all those months mind you January 9th is my sister's birthday which was yesterday happy birthday Janace on January 9th she has to drop off her baby baby brother at prison her 32nd birthday fucking hell of a birthday present with my niece my nephew my mom and my sister it was it was wild so I schedule everything and And then they dropped me off at Coleman at the Coleman camp. So. Nice.

Yeah. That's where Jess was. Yeah. It was a female camp. Yeah. During COVID, they swapped it. They changed it to male. Mm. It's pretty well.

Is that where you met Ross? Yeah. So I have a question. Was there a guy there named Donovan Davis? Yeah. He was in my same unit. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I wrote a story about him. Oh, that's cool. The gap. Oh, shit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Wasn't he on Forbes? Or something like that. Oh, yeah, you know, he was in Forbes. Yeah, yeah. Forbes.com wrote a couple articles about him.

Yeah. Yeah. He was doing all the repairs on all the equipment and, but yeah, Donovan. He's hilarious, right? He's funny. He's a funny guy. You met him at the medium? At the low.

At the low. I was there for, God, I was there with him for probably five years, six years. When did you get out? I got out in 2019. And when did he go in? You remember? Yeah, about 14 maybe. Fuck, he was in there a while.

But he's got like 17 years. Fuck. He's still in. Yeah, that's why. He's supposed to be getting out. Because I met him in 2023 when I went in. He's supposed to be getting out in like February or March of this year. Oh, good for him.

Yeah, good for him. Yeah, that's just because of the credits and everything. But yeah, he, Anyway, so I was just wondering, because everybody knew them, right? There's only, what, 300 people in the camp? How many people were there? By the time I left, just under 500. Oh, okay.

Yeah, yeah. They were shoving people in there by the time I was leaving. And you met, see, I didn't know you met Ross there. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I go in, strip church, all that shit. I'd never been strip church in my life, so I was like, oh, this is going to be great. So I changed clothes.

I walk in, they introduced me to the Cubans, which is weird because I would have thought that place was full of Cuban. Cubans because it's in Florida and it wasn't. There was like 10, 11 Cubans. Later, I found out that Cubans, the reason there were so little of them is because you can only go to a camp if you're a U.S. citizen. Right.

If you're a resident with a green card, they don't let you go below the low. Yeah. So most of them are in the... In the lows. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would assume Miami low is probably Chuck full of Cubans. Yeah.

Or maybe the Miami camp. So, that's like, that's it. I'm in prison. It's crazy. Like, I couldn't even, I still couldn't believe it. It was still hard for me to, like,

like, process. I mean, for you, obviously, it was different. But for me, it was like, how the fuck did I end up here? Like, I was supposed to be this kid who just did things differently and, like, was a decent kid.

And here I am at 30 years old. Like, right when I was in, fucking prison. It's fucking wild. That night, And then that night, I'll tell you the funny story about first night in the shower. So I'm taking a shower. First night of the shower.

I'm taking a shower. And there's, I don't know the whole thing about the, the, the, the, the slippers. Oh, I was going to say dropins. No, no, no, no. I don't, I didn't know the whole thing about the slippers. Right. So, I, shower slides. Yes, shower slides.

Yes. So the shower slides. I leave him at the end of the stall and I go in. Oh. So I hear someone yelling, Kuwa, Kuwa. That's what they used to call me in there in Cuba, whatever.

Because my prison was full Puerto Ricans. Like out of the 500 of us that were there, it was like 350 Puerto Ricans. It was crazy. I've never seen so many Puerto Ricans in one spot. The guy who's yelling my name, or my nickname is this guy named Mello. Mello has a scorpion tattoo on his fucking face.

So I'm thinking like, here we go. I turn around and he's like Ponte la chancletta He's like put your fucking slides on I put them on I finished taking a shower

I go outside And when I'm like drying off In my room He's like yo Bro you're gonna get fucking Fungus on your feet A tap or fungus or something Yeah yeah you'll get

That's how like Unfamiliar with the prison system I was You know I wonder how bad it really is You know what I mean I don't even want to Everybody wears it Like you don't

Yeah, no, it's disgusting. I mean, in our prison, I'll be honest, it was really clean. No, I was going to say, and the thing is they clean the, they're constantly cleaning. Constantly cleaning it. It's not, every morning. It isn't filthy or anything like that. But the fact is, is that you have to understand that if this guy gets a cold, everybody's getting cold. Even though they're wiping everything down constantly, you just, you have no idea how many people, everybody's using the same stuff.

And there's just. And not to get gross, but the shit that guy's doing the shower. Yeah, of course, I think that that's, to me, that's what my thought. Because I was like, there's so many chemicals in this place. I don't think that there's anything necessarily alive. Yeah, but even if you miss a spot or something, you know, everybody's taking a piss in there and fucking wagging off in there. It's gross.

So that night, so that happens in the shower. The Cubans are pretty cool with me. So everybody gets me like a pair of slides. Actually, two pairs of slides are nice enough. I meet these old poppy. He has cancer now. God. He's not doing well.

He got out after doing seven years. And then he got diagnosed with colon cancer. It's fucking horrible, man. The coolest old man you ever meet. He gets me what I need. He knows I like to write, so he got me like this notebook. All the Cubans kind of hooked me up. So that night I'm sitting in my bunk.

I'm just like laying down, you know, they did count or whatever. I'm laying down in my bunk. I'm looking at the roof and I'm just like, wow, bro. I'm in fucking prison. Like, I'm in shock. I'm in total shock at this point. I can't even, I can't cry. I can't laugh.

I'm so. I'd never been in shock in my life. I got, we're like, oh, he's in shock. Or when people freeze or whatever, I never understood what that was.

And then that happened to me that night. I was just like, you know, the fuck is going to happen now. But then funny enough, you know, life is strange. When you think you're at,

you're at your lowest, it's like, it's more like a, like a springboard or like a catapult to like another phase of your life, you know, it's pretty wild.

So. For some people. For some people. Yeah. Some people hit, they hit bottom, they just stay there. So, yeah. That brings up a question. Do you think that's a choice?

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Some people just let that define them and they don't, they tell them, so I'll never break, I'll never, I'll never, I'll never, amount to anything. Yeah, I'll never get out of this. I'll never bounce back. I agree. They just, that self-talk kind of just destroyed. They, they, you've heard the term, you know, you suffer more in your mind than you do in reality.

100,000 percent. And that's, that's true. It was like, you know, like when I went to the dentist, like, you know, I told you, listen, I was so overwhelmingly anxious and worried, and it was nowhere near as bad as what I had in my mind. It just never is. Every time it just never is anything that I worry about, it's like, this is going to happen, this is going to be horrible. And then it happens, and it's just not. Right.

So, but, yeah, it's the same thing. You get to prison. And just like what I got out of prison, I was told you the other day, like I thought, I'm going to be working at McDonald's. I'm never going to get a shot. Maybe someday I'll be able to sell used cars. I'm never going to bounce back. I'm never going to make any money. I'm never going to, you know, life's going to be,

my expectations of life had dropped so dramatically. I just didn't have any real expectations. I wanted to do some things that I thought if I busted my ass, maybe someday I can pull these things off and I'll work at it. But, you know, my expectations were very low. Yeah. For me, it was, and mind you, the podcast is already working. Right.

Meaning like it's it's functioning without me right but I'm so in shock and so in my brain that night that I couldn't even think about that like whatever but anyway so I wake up the next morning and that's kind of gone I don't know I don't know I guess it's a good night's sleep just kind of like calm me down if you sleep hot at night you know how disruptive that can be whether you're having trouble falling asleep you're waking up sweating in the middle of night or all of the above that's where ghost bed can help as the makers of the coolest beds in the world ghost bed is your go-to for cooling mattresses, cooling pillows, and cooling bedding. From their signature ghost ice fabric to patented technology that adjusts to your body's temperature,

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I get acclimated, you know, who's who, this and that. Unicorn is the factory that they have for inmates to work at. What do they make there? You start at like $0.10, 10 cents an hour. No, no, I mean, what do you fabricate? What do you make? Oh, we got like these long pieces of plastic. and some long pieces of metal.

So I'm assuming when you assembled it, it became furniture or something like that, or like shelving. Oh, okay. I was going to say, you know, because at the other one, they make the paneling

or dividers for cubicles. Mm. It could be that. Because we got these long things. Supposed me. You never asked what you were doing? I didn't give a fuck about that place. Fuck that place.

The fuck. So Unicorn. Yeah. So I get sent over to Unicorn. And this is interesting how life comes full circle. So being from Miami, Rick Ross is like, you know, a big deal down there. And Rick Ross would always mention this group of guys named the booby boys in the rap songs. And I didn't even know what that really was until I went to prison.

I'm going to tell you why. So I go to prison, my second day, third day, whatever, they sent me to unicorn. I go to unicorn. This old black dude is like teaching me what to do and stuff. they sent me back to the unit we're done working for the day and some guys like oh you know who that is

I was like bro I just got here yesterday I don't even know where the fuck I'm standing no I don't know who that is oh that's spoon like spoon the fuck does that make me fork is he supposed to be someone important I don't know he's like bro he got pardoned by Obama

he was a Miami guy so I end up looking him up and I was like oh shit I wrote a book report about this guy in like middle school and he's the booby boys was basically this big drug group that controlled like the the black neighborhood in Miami for years they did it for a while um and that's who it was weird me and him became really good friends like we took on this weird like mentor disciple thing right um the spoon knows i'm gonna write his book one day he said he got pardoned by what it Obama yeah

Yeah, because he was given out yet. Yeah. So you got a commutation. Commutation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Obama was. He wasn't allowed to go down and so that happened. They let him start working his way down from.

They commuted the sentence instead of you being like a pen and then they commuted the sentences where he was like, but they did it gradually. So you didn't just get let out because they realized like if you can't, somebody had been locked up 20 years, you let him hit the street with nothing, no halfway house. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not good. Come in another crime and go back to prison. So you have to grab. So these guys from the pin, we're going from like the pen. To the medium to the low.

To the low. To the camp. Yep. To a halfway house. Then to the street. Yeah. Pretty much. So I caught him.

He maybe only had six years left at that point. He'd been in jail for like 17 years, something stupid. He's in North Carolina now, I think. He's getting transferred to the Miami camp soon. But anyway, him and me become buddies, become good friends. So that was pretty wild. like again I'm like you know I like the gangster stories and all that stuff I ended up becoming friends with one of them in prison like one of those

gangster stories from when I was a kid it's like it's crazy how life kind of like you know does all that but yeah that was my second day in there by the time I'm a month in I'm used to it I got my routine you know I'm doing I'm exercising what bro you did 14 years I still I did it too but what's this Like, 13 years, 14 years. I'm sorry, 13 years. Browning up. You did that yesterday. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, 13 years.

What do you mean? That's actually from the state. It started in the state. And then it kind of came over. So in the state, I don't know which state. I don't know if this is all states or just in general. You're not allowed to eat. I mean, so you're not allowed to speak when you eat.

Like the inmates in Florida, this is my understanding at some prisons. And I don't even know if they still do this. they, the guards, like they give you five minutes to eat. So you come in, you sit down across from somebody else at a long table. So you sit down. You eat real quick. And they count down. So they start counting down.

And then as they count down, and you're not allowed to talk. So it's not like, hey, bro, you know, you're not allowed to take anything from off another person's plate or doing anything. So you basically just eat and you don't talk. And because you're not allowed to say, hey, man, I'm going. or see you guys or say hey I'm leaving you you knock on the door it's a way of saying like you know I'm leaving see you guys and everybody like looks up and nods and whatever I just started doing it because I saw everybody else doing it so everybody

yeah so it's funneled down from the state prisons to the interesting yeah okay so that's how it was explained to me you know you did you have hamburger day of course Wednesday so the way Wednesday was explained to me was the Cubans had been, I don't know if it was Jimmy Carter or Reagan, I forget who. All the Cubans were being deported. Really? Yeah.

It wouldn't, you know, keep on it on, after the Merrill boat lift. Oh, yeah, yeah. They were running rampant. Yeah, Cuban crime wave. They'd arrested, you know, thousands of them. They were filled up in Atlanta. And so Reagan was saying when- Was that, was that prison riot that happened?

Yeah. Reagan was saying, like, he was going to send them back. I want to say it was Reagan. I'm not positive. It sounds like Reagan. He's going to send them all back. And what they did was they had a riot and they took over the prison. And then they negotiated over the course of several days after they took it over.

And one, they wanted their sentences to be reviewed and not have to go back to Cuba. And two, they wanted, I forget what else they wanted. And something completely silly. and the other thing they wanted was they wanted hamburgers and French fries on Wednesday or at least once a week and so the BOP said fine we'll give you hamburger and French fry

we'll review they did everything they got the three things that they got one of them was hamburgers and French fries on Wednesday thanks to the Cubans thanks to the Cuban that's what I was told I was like that can't be true and everybody was like they were like I'm telling you that is absolutely true I'm like there's no fucking way they're like it's absolutely true you know what else I heard and I think it happened in 96 if I'm not

mistake in 1996 so it was under Clinton if that's true. What I also heard is that's why a certain amount of, I don't think this can be true because I'm sure there's prisons in Miami that have more than, they don't allow a certain amount, like more than a certain amount of Cubans in each prison because of that. That's probably possible. It's possible.

That seems perfectly reasonable. Yeah. I remember, but I remember one time I was like, I can't believe that every Wednesday they are giving us. When I first got there, like the hamburgers and French, fries were good. They gave us like cheeseburgers and for me it was good. Everything was good. They weren't bad but it was too small. They were tiny when I was yeah but this is when I got there.

Oh yeah. Yeah. You were on the new you were on the national menu when I got there we were just it was regular food like it was good. And I remember thinking man I can't believe that on Wednesdays they give us hamburgers and french fries. That's hilarious. And I remember one of the guys goes it may be prison or he said the he looked at me. He said this actually this was my cousin. He looked to me he goes It may be prison, but it's still fucking America, bro. And I just wrote that he said it with such conviction. I love it. He's got a point.

So, um, so I actually start getting like, by the way, the friend, if you go to prison and you have friends that, like, ask your mom about you, send you commissary, like, you need to cherish those friends for the rest of your fucking life, okay? If those people call you in the middle of you having sex with your dream girl, you need to stop for a second and talk to them and entertain whatever the fuck they want and I hang up the phone whenever they're done, then go back to fucking your dream girl because those people, they're invaluable, bro. They're worth their waiting gold.

Anyway. So my mom's telling me when my friends are selling me commissaries, she's keeping me updated. The podcast is actually getting some traction while I'm gone, which is cool, which was the plan. I mean, I couldn't control it, but. And then while I'm in there, they take out my celly, this Puerto Rican kid name, who we used to call I'm Jack Sparrow. This Puerto Rican kid, they take them out, and then they put some weird dude in my cell. And I'm like, all right, fuck that.

So I had already become friends with the head orderly in the other unit. So how that happened was the second day I got there when I was getting commissary, I hear a familiar voice. And I was like, there's no way on the planet. I know this guy. That is not Jose Batista over there. I look over, Jose Batista. Jose Batista was my coworker at the inshistor. insurance company.

Okay. He also caught a separate case from me, but for the same shit. Same exact thing. Got ratted on, everything. It was weird. Like, we even got, like, more or less the same amount of time. So I walk over to him, like, Jose, you remember me? Oh, shit, Nelson, what's up?

He greased me. He's like, yo, come to my unit tonight. I go to his unit, and who do I meet? Ross Mendel. Okay. Ross is sitting in his room with the heterordial G, who also I became really good friends with. this kid named Gio who was like the unit chef like he would whip up stuff for us and that's how I met Ross

okay which Ross looked very different in uh in prison he was like 60 pounds overweight he hadn't got his teeth done so he looks very different but yeah um so that night i've become friends with the head ordely so what happens is they shoved some weird guy in myself and i was like yeah i'm done let me leave to the other unit so i talked to that I had Orly G. I became friends with.

He moves me over there. When he moves me over there, basically, uh, I, me and him become really good friends. And that's when I build the routine. I start writing. I read,

I read a ton of books in those, I end up getting out in five months. Uh, I read like 31 books. I love, I love reading, man. It really, I hadn't read in a long time.

So you didn't do eight months? You did five months? I ended up doing five because. Would you a halfway house or just home? Cause of. Carey act. Okay. Yeah.

So, you know how they did the whole thing. 50% or whatever. Yeah. I ended up getting out in five months and they, I was supposed to go straight home. But what ended up happening was they didn't do the whole home inspection or whatever the fuck. So they actually helped me hostage there for like two months.

And then they sent me home. So the cool thing was when I got let out and I was at the halfway house, I had had a couple of YouTube shorts to like 150,000 views. That to me was like, oh my God. Yeah. That's good for a channel you had just started and weren't monitoring. Exactly. Exactly.

So I get let out. The podcast is going well. Mind you, I had like scheduled way out in advance. Right. So you have some time. Yeah, yeah. So I got plenty of time to figure out what I'm going to do. So while I'm at the halfway house, I actually tell, I get in contact with the owner that studio I used to record at.

And I managed to convince the halfway house to give me an internship at the podcast studio. I have a fucking ankle monitor at this point and everything. Right. So I get to go there at. night and record my episodes and then just come home. So that's how I kept it going. Like, I kept recording and eventually I got let off the ankle monitor, right? So now I'm like mobile on probation. I can go. Eventually some guy that I had on my show, he's like, do you know this guy? And I'm like, Ian Bick. I've never heard of this guy. I know. Who is he? And he's like, oh, he's,

he went to prison. He's a podcaster. You guys, you shouldn't hit him up. So I DM him thinking like, bro, this guy's a podcaster, legit podcaster. He's not going to respond, hey, man, I love what you're doing. I went to prison too. I would love to connect with that. At that point, he was just doing shorts, right? He wasn't, didn't start the channel yet, right? No, yeah, yeah.

This is October, September of 2023. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. About to start it because I think he started in January of 2024, or did he do? No, no, no, I think 23. Was it 23? 23, yeah, because he had some episodes out. Oh, okay. So.

Okay. Because when I heard about him, he didn't even have a channel yet. It was just TikTok. He was blowing up on TikTok. Yeah, yeah. He did start with the short form stuff. So I just leave it alone. And I also knew like, man, he's busy.

Like, you know how you did with your phone? How you're like, bro, this is the whole day. Like, you know, I have to get back to people like hours later because it's a, he's the same. His phone is just like cluttered. Yeah. It's horrible. But anyway, he gets back to me. And then I end up setting up something with him in March of 2023.

No, 224, I'm sorry. I go up there, I record his episode. And that was my first big little pop, like of getting my face out there and getting my story. I've become good friends with him since. I actually, last month, I went up to his studio and recorded a bunch of stuff because I'm in between studios in Miami. And here we are.

Now I'm on Matt's show. Have you ever seen the original guy that you were working with and got out? Have you ever seen him? Never seen him again. I would rather never see him for the rest of my life for obvious reasons. The restitution was half a million dollars. Okay. And they were obligating me to actually pay $122,000.

Okay. So they're splitting that among several people. Yes. Okay. And I'll get to that now. Right when I got, that's a great question. Because right after I got back from seeing Ian at his studio in March of 2024 and recording my episode with him, the week after my probation officer calls me, mind you,

you know what this is like in financial crimes like they're into your like I'm broke as shit I'm making no money on purpose because I'm like man if I make more money all this stuff like

it's just hard it's a difficult situation right because they're looking at you through with a fine tooth comb my my I don't know can we say the C word on on YouTube anyway whatever

this fucking bitch of a you can't yeah don't say that because it'll I didn't, I didn't, I didn't. You're difficult to deal with probation officer. My, my,

difficult fucking asshole of a probation officer that I was dealing with, basically like blackmailed me into like paying more than I should. Long story short. March, right after I get back from Ian Bigg, she calls me and she's like, hey,

Nelson, what's up? It's, you know, such and such a probation. Hi, ma'am. How are you doing?

Okay, so I don't know how this happened, but the restitution is paid off One of your co-defendants paid her all off. So you, as of today, you don't owe any more money. Well, dang. It was, uh, yeah. I, I wanted to ask.

And I was like, I can't ask, can I, right? I'm not going to. So I wish I knew who it was so I could thank them. But yeah, I got off. I'm very blessed because that never happens, ever. Hey, you guys, if you like the video, do me a favor. Hit the subscribe button, hit the bell so you get notified of videos just like this. also share the video. We're going to put all of Nelson's links for social media and for his

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