Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast - The Pablo Escobar of Steroids | Richard Rodriguez

Episode Date: August 31, 2024

The Pablo Escobar of Steroids | Richard Rodriguez

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money where my mouth is. I'll buy a thousand dollars worth of your stuff. Having that strategy enabled us to skyrocket. Within six months, I went from a couple of hundred dollars, a day in sales to over $4,000 in sales a day. Hey, this is Matt Cox, and I'm here with Richard Rodriguez. Richard went to prison for, I want to say, you got what, seven years? You did like five? Seven and a half years. For distribution of control substances, like A, Steroids, and did five and a half.

Okay. So, and he actually just got out. and we're going to do a quick podcast, quick pod, we're going to do a podcast with him. I appreciate it, so check this out. So you just got out of prison. How long ago? June 8th, I got out with contingencies of home confinement and unable to live on my own. So from June 8th till September 29th, I unfortunately had to live with my mother.

Right. I had a Pensacola, but September 28th. 29th. But I used that time just to, I used that time for, for good. It's like I launched, you know, it's like I launched my clinic throughout that time. I got my supplement line trademarked throughout that small time frame, you know, to the standpoint where it's September 29th, 9 a.m. They took that ankle monitor off of me. I was at Tallahassee two hours later and I'm back in Miami. Okay. Um, and, uh, like you got your own place, like you're all set up again. I'm all set up. It's like, uh, I was, I could have been set up.

I could have been set up when they originally were going to release me in 2020. The situation was COVID not just affected people on the outside financially. It also affected people that were incarcerated that were doing programs like the drug program or tutoring programs with the Department of Labor to get time taken away. It's like all that stopped. Right. So people that were going to get released, how to stay an extra year, an extra two years. Yeah, because they couldn't take like the ARDAP program and get the year off.

Yeah. And which screwed me, which screwed me because. Because here I am, like, you know, October 15th, 2020, talking to like my business partner, talking to like my girlfriend at that time, talking to like my ex-wife, hey, you know what? I'm coming out. And I'm going to start helping you guys out.

I got my apartment and so-and-so place. And six months passed by, they think I'm full of shit and lying. And I'm telling them, I was like, no, they just shut this place down because of COVID. Right. Then I get my 50% time, you know, accrued. I had a, because I had three different dates.

Then I had a December, 23rd date, literally two days before, before Christmas. My business partner, oh, and was happy as a, hey, you're going to be with your family and Christmas and all that stuff, take it away again because of the whole COVID and the changing changes of policies. After that, I gave up, waited until February 4th of the following year, which is 2021. And situation happened in the camp. So a lot of people that don't understand how.

Right. Well, wait a minute. Well, let's let's start over. Like, you're already getting into, okay. Let's start over and go back to, you know, like, you were in prison to begin with. Like, where, let's start at the beginning. Like, where did you grow up? Brooklyn, right? Yeah, I was born, I was born and raised in Brooklyn in the, in a very bad area in Utica Avenue and in Beth Stuyveson around that area. And I remember I was about seven years old and violence everywhere. My mom was like, hey, I don't want to raise you here. I think as you grow up, so let's move somewhere else.

So she had the brilliant idea of moving me to the Bronx, the projects, which is even worse. So I went there, stood out of trouble, but she kept me into sports. That's when I started experimenting with martial arts, started experimenting with football, started experimenting with a lot of sports that opened up the door to what my indictment was about, steroids because it's like you know at the age of 13 12 when you're when you're highly competitive like I am it's like you want to be the best in everything that you do you don't want if you're going to be in in kickboxing you want to be the best best fucking kickboxer if you're going to be a football and your position is as a running back you want to be the best fucking running back

you don't want to be the third option right so at the age of 13 um I was in the Pan Am Taekwendo Federation and man I was I was I was I was I was was like training everything possible, but I was just getting my ass kicked. And that's when I first started getting exposed to steroids under the assumptions and false pretenses that it was vitamins. Because I told my Shihon, I was like, hey man, I'm training just as hard as these people. Why don't how am I getting my ass up? And he's like, oh, they're taking vitamins. I'm like, great, give me those vitamins. So at the age of 13, I was trying DeAnnevore. I was trying an anavar, all these hardcore drugs. But guess what? Now I'm doing an ass kick.

So I accrued an under, like an undefeated record really, really quick, evolved out of that to kickboxing from kickboxing, got it to high school. High school, I stopped fighting, you know, just to attend Greco-Roman wrestling and football. So I was always heavily involved in sports up until the point in which, um, the age 17, my mom co-signed from my first apartment in Washington Heights. Washington Heights, which is like the upper upper, upper Manhattan side, like right, right before you hit you, right before you hit the ball. Bronx, New York. And that's where I met my ex-wife and graduated from NYU with an MBA from it. So I stood there all up to the point in which I had my bachelor's. My wife was studying at that time to... How old were you at this point? Gosh, it's probably like in my early 20s, early 20s. Once we got, once I graduated with my, with my bachelor's, she graduated where her bachelor's

They're two years with a public accounting firm, BDO Seedman, packed our stuff, moved to Central Park, bought a place up in 87th Street in Central Park North. What are you doing for a living at this point? Well, I launched right now. I have a trademark for my supplement lines called fake 90 subs. It's very interesting how I... At that point? Oh, no, at that point?

Oh, no. I thought you're saying what you're doing at this point. No, no. At that point, at that point, I was a junior director for a publicly traded company as a management consulting called McKenzie and Company. If anyone knows the management consulting world, the top two management consulting companies in the world is Booz Allen Hamilton and McKenzie and Company.

So I worked there for about six and a half years. On my fourth year, I ended up getting my MBA, and that's when I started pursuing the world of entrepreneurship. And my first company I launched, I was an avid gamer. I used to compete in Madden Football, the Madden Football game. So during that time, eBay was huge, and EA Sports came up with a trading platform for what's called Madden Ultimate Teams. Well, you have digital cards that will enable you to create like these phenomenal historical fucking teams, like the Jerry Wright, like a Jerry Rice with like a Rod Woodson and some crazy shit, but they didn't have a platform that can enter. that could communicate with other different platforms.

So if somebody has an Xbox digital card that wants to trade with someone in the PS3, at that point in time, there was no platform. So what I did was, and the videos are on YouTube, I created an eBay-like type of platform online called Game Media Empire. And it enabled individuals and cross-platforms to trade these cards for actual currency.

Okay. So you could buy them? Yeah, you could buy digital cards. So let's say you are so-and-so person in the PS3, so-and-so username, interested in the limited edition, digital edition, Jerry Rice card. I would sell it to you for 150 bucks.

We would coordinate a time when you would be online, when I would be online, that you would post it, and I would buy it. Okay. So it's kind of like what they do now with like, you know, with these Roblox games and all that other stuff where they time individuals, digital currency at that point in time was infancy.

The company was growing like crazy the first three months. But it's funny because, Because within three months, EA Sports started realizing that somebody was circumventing the system. So I started getting emails from executives at EA Sports and saying, it's like, hey, we're, you know, we're considering and shutting down your profile on your PS3 because we see that you're, you know, illegally exchanging digital currency. I like their cards and all stuff. when I was like, this, no, I'm not. You know, it's like everybody, everybody technically does that.

You're just butt hurt because I have a platform. I'm timing it correctly. Yeah, you don't sound like you're breaking. Yeah, I'm not breaking a rule at all. From that conversation, it progressed to threats to the standpoint where two months from those conversations, I actually had a phone call from a senior executive after they canceled my account. And I went from in here, here I am.

making $100 to $160,000 on average a year as a junior executive for McKenzie, and I have a digital trading platform as my first business making me an extra $2,500, $3,000 a month. Nothing dramatic, but for something that... Yeah, yeah, but they don't want it to take off either. They don't want... Exactly. And for me, it's like I've always had a mindset that my mentor has always taught me best guy by the name Peter Jan over in McKenzie. He's like, no habit is a bad habit if you make money in it. So I used to love playing madden it full. for seven, eight fucking hours a day, every now and then.

So I was like, hey, if this video game experience can figure out a way to monetize it and make money, I'm pretty sure my wife would get off my ass every time she sees me on TV playing, you know, playing this video game. Right. So this game was making us an extra $3,000 to $4,000 a month. She was happy as fucking hell. Yeah. So once that took, you know, it was like once that situation with EA Sports, you know, took a turn for the wrong, took a turn to the, you know, in the wrong lane,

I ended up just graduating with my MBA, now I became a senior director at McKenzie, took time off from entrepreneurship. After about month, after about year five at McKenzie, I realized that my mentor, Peter General, was going to rot in his fucking position. So there was no upward mobility whatsoever. By then, I already had some really strong connections in the pharmaceutical industry with GSK, Pfizer, and a couple of other companies, more on the digital marketing, strategic growth side, specifically. in America. So I said, hey, you know what? Let me figure out a way to launch my own entity, i.e. advertising agency that doesn't, you know, that can provide services that McKenzie cannot provide now that Booz Allen Hamilton is providing. So what I did was I launched my own ad agency called America's Media Group with an office in Miami, an office in New York, left

them. And my main client was McKenzie, specifically that office. Okay. So, launched, you know, had, you know, we were the agency of record for Viagra and Land America. Helped GSK at that point in time with the very famous HIV drug combivir. We helped it actually, that's where I started getting exposed as to what's huge now, which is called influencer marketing. I helped negotiate the contract with Magic Johnson as the spokesperson for the drug commivir. If people understand the magnitude of that contract.

Right. It was pretty fucking complex to the point where Magic Johnson today has probably made hundreds of millions of dollars in just that drug and then the sponsorship of just that drug. And it went great till I realized my grandmother got rest of her soul. During that time, I was living full time into Miami and she was getting really sick with State Street cancer. So I had to move immediately to New York to care for her

because my mom wasn't there mentally. And for those six months, I couldn't really focus in taking care of the business. So unbeknownst to me, here I am every week reading advertising aids, the magazine for people in the ad agencies saying so-and-so account has been lost by America's media, and has now been acquired by another ad agency. So I'm here.

Here I am at that point in time when I moved to New York, the company being a $7.9 million company, and I'm seeing every single other month, another account that I've worked hard in getting, being lost to this other agency. I didn't have time to do my due diligence to figure out what fucking agency this is. Somebody else within your company,

hits her another agency. My partner that fled, that piece of shit motherfucker, part of my French, he ended up I mean don't hold back how do you feel about him oh trust me I can tell you a fucking story about this prick

he was actually he launched his own separate company and was basically stealing the fucking accounts to the standpoint where when my grandmother passed away and I decided that I had to come back to I had to stay in New York to care for my mom I decided to sell the equity stake of my company

at that point of time selling your company, you know, selling your company share when you're at a $7 million company versus selling your company shares when you're a $1.5 million company, it's a huge fucking difference of what you're going to be getting paid. So I sold my shares when we were like about a $1.2 million company. It was not until six months after I sold my company and during that time I was working for Quest Diagnostics. As one of the senior directors for Quest Diagnostic. I was launching their company called Laboratorio Bueno Saloo, their diagnostic service entity in Latin America.

I met one of my friends, and he was like, he was like, oh, you know about Edward, right? And I was like, who? My former business partner at that agency, he's like, yeah, man, his agency is fucking thriving. They, you know, they're doing work with Pfizer. They're doing work with all these fuckers. I'm like, fucking doing work with Pfizer. What the fuck they like this is my company? So when I started, when I started like, you know, like analyzing everything, I'm like, oh,

this fucker, like, you know, like he fucked me over. Right. So what did I do to get them back? What I started doing is I realized every single place where he was registered, his company was registered, and I ended up getting someone to actually re-register a very similar company. So if it was America's Media Group LLC, I would register in New York, America's Media Group, LLP.

Right. Almost a spinning mirror image. I would call the ad agencies and tell him, hey, your next payment is not, you know, we have a new address for your next payment. And so they would send payments to now my bank account. I never deposited it until I accrued over $1.3 million and payables from all these places. And then I gave the guy a call.

And I'm a lucky piece of shit. Now, now I have leverage. You screwed me off of this deal. No, that's a lie. I was like, look, I sent them an email, showed them all the paperwork substantiating. I was like, look, you can do serious amount of time. time if you actually, he was like, if I actually, you know, it was like, you know, exposed you for what you did. But I got an option for you. I got an offer for you. He's like, what? I was like, I have $1.3 million

in checks that I can easily cash, but I'm being a nice man and letting you know that I'm capable of cashed it. I'm going to cash it. I'm going to deposit. However, if you come after me, we're going to have a very good battle. He realized that he fucked up. He realized he had no freaking leverage. I cashed it. He was like, I cashed those checks. Did very well quit Quest Diagnostics because now I have money to start, you know, to start up. Right. That's when my wife after three and a half years trying for us to have a child, I told me it's like, babe, I'm pregnant, you know, and I was, it's, that was one of the, I was one of the biggest moments in my life, man. you know, trying for three and a half years to have a kid being abandoned, her being abandoned.

Like, you, I don't know about anyone, but you just want to be a father. You just want to have somebody that you could love and show them the things in which you never had. Yeah. So after. Stop. Do you know how fast you were going? I'm going to have to write you a ticket to my new movie, The Naked Gun. Liam Nissan. Buy your tickets now.

I get a free Tilly dog. Chili dog, not included. The naked guard, tickets on sale now, August 1st. Three years trying artificial insemination, everything, you name it. I'm thinking to myself, it's like, fuck, nothing's working. So let's just give up, let's just have a fucking puppy. So we go on a trip to Paris and she starts vomiting, you know, it's like, and I was like, baby, we eat fucking French food all the time.

We go to Paris at least two or three times a year. The fuck is wrong. So I take it out of hospital. And they say that she's two months pregnant. Nice. Man, it's like, when that shit happened, it's like I had a mother got arrested so. I called her up as like, look, you're retiring. You're going to take care of her.

I don't even want her to wipe her own ass just a case of a possible miscarriage. And that's when, you know, it's like that's when we decided to move out of New York. You know, because during that time, she was working for a private equity firm, cause her brother's investment. She was their controller. So she was working remotely. During that time, I wasn't working because I had to. that money that came in from, you know, from America's media's groups.

Right. I didn't need to work because I had, I had a good amount of money. So I was like, look, there's no reason for us to stay here. We have a place in, you know, we have a place in Miami that's just move over there. And that's where shit started going downhill. I moved to Miami. The money that I acquired from that negotiation from the previous douchebag that screwed me at the ad agency started to dwindle.

Because let's face it, Miami's not a cheap fucking place. Just because you think that's like, It's a big difference in New York. So I started saying, hey, what kind of business can I launch that I know that I could differentiate myself in? I have contacts and connections in and eventually make this a formal way to supplement my income. So I'm driving all around Collins. I'm driving around all around fucking Miami. I'm seeing these fucking pain clinics.

I'm seeing these fucking steroid anti-aging ads everywhere. I'm like, there's fucking anti-aging clinics around here. in every fucking corner like grocery stores in the hood. This must be fucking legal. Right. So during that time, I was like, how can I do it in the most efficient way without incurring the costs of a brick and mortar

and being budget positive as soon as I possibly fucking can? So what I did was I started what was known as WFN Pharmaceuticals, otherwise known as Wellness Fitness Nutrition. Originally, just so people can understand, my intentions for wellness, fitness, nutrition was not to be referred to as the largest steroid ring operation in U.S. history. It was really as a form to just supplement my income. So I started off at Facebook groups.

I started off in forums. And then when I started realizing, and it's funny because what I would do, right, is I would see, let's say you were one of the people that were selling your products, right? I would go and slander you. I'd be like, hey, your product is trash. And I'll put my money where my mouth is. I'll buy $1,000 worth of your stuff. And because I used to have a connection in California that had multimillion-dollar HPOC machines.

So if I was, if your company, if your product was trash, you were going to have a very difficult time to improving the people that is not when a medical report that, you know, that tests the validity of your product confirms that indeed it is. So having that strategy enabled us to skyrocket, to the standpoint where within two weeks I had an outsource via outsourcing platforms like Upworks.com about five people in India. So I have five people in India with templates, anywhere from $1 to $3 an hour, just replicating those, you know, just replicating those responses, replicating those posts in every fucking forum you can think of, and every Facebook group you can think of. of and in reddits and it's like and like to the standpoint where it's like I was replicating 15 of me right so you're smashing your competition and and redirecting

them to your site exactly and I within six months I went from a couple of hundred dollars a day in sales to over four thousand dollars in sales a day right just with that strategy and our operation at that point at time at four to five thousand dollars sales a day this is a show you how crazy was. It was a one-bedroom apartment where I had two people packaging. We were distributors at that time. We weren't even, we didn't even have our own product line. I was distributing it for an individual that I tested his product. His product was great, consistently great. So he would give it to me anywhere between $20 to $35 a bottle depending on the complexity of the

compound and I would resell it for $70 to $110. He's been known to cure insecurity, Just with his laugh. His organ donation card lists his charisma. His smile is so contagious. Vaccines have been created for it. He is the most interesting man in the world. I don't typically commit crime, but when I do, it's bank fraud. Stay greedy, my friends.

Support the channel. Join Matthew Cox's Patreon. Right. Did you eventually open up your own lab? Oh, yeah, of course. because what I did was when I started seeing the growth projections and it kept going, you know, it kept going up and up and up, I was still drive at $15,000 in sales a day,

I was still driving a $99 a month beetle, convertible. I barely used to wash it. So at that point, at that price point, when I'm making all that amount of money, you see the people that are distributing my product and selling my products in Bentley's, Lamborghinis. I remember my first business partner out of Egypt, guy by the name I met Daward.

This is a kid that I took him out of Ohio. He was a nurse assistant. He was making, I was paying him $200 a week. I was paying him $200 a week to move to Miami. And he, when I made him a partner, this is how crazy money changes some people. At $200 a week, he was sending his parents in Egypt, $100 a week like clockwork. Because they were poor, right? second i make him 20% partner in his um in the company and i give him a $60,000 check what do you think

he sent money to his parents uh-uh the first words out of his mouth i want a Lamborghini not with $60,000 but yeah this is a kid doesn't have a license doesn't have um does it like like he's never fucking driven in his life um now all of a sudden doesn't give a shit about his fucking parents and i'm like yo dude send $30,000 to your parents you'll start have enough money to deposit to a Lamborghini and you just make some monthly payments. He's like, there's no, no, I want a Lamborghini. Fine. So I work with one of my friends that, you know, that has a dealership license. Like, yo, what, you know, during that time, the Gallardo was the popular one. So I got him a black fucking Lamborghini girlado, helped

him out and all that stuff. I've helped him, like, you know, get his license and all that's an expedited fashion. Guess how long that Lamborghini Golado lasted him? Two fucking weeks. What, he wrecked it? He fucking wrecked it. But this is, this is what's crazy about certain people. I remember when he got it the second day, he gets out of that car. I'm talking about like a fucking, like Don the Bishop Don Juan. I'm talking about like red shirt, red pants, red gator shoes, red top hat. He comes to work like with this fucking swag. And he's like, he's like, rich, I think I could secure any fucking girl.

I can steal any fucking girl from you. And me, being in the industry of fitness, because I also used to do coaching. so I used to train some of the hottest fucking fitness chicks and just that alone can be a whole different podcast of some crazy stories. Selling shit in the porn industry and being exposed to porn stories is because of the products I used to sell I could tell you some crazy fucking stories.

I knew how shallow women are and I know how with the right verbiage and with the right game, how easy it is to procure these type of women. So I put them up on an offer. I said, I was like, oh, so you think you could steal women for me, right? And he's like, yeah. I was like, okay, this is what we're going to do. we're going to go to the Clevelander

tonight and if I win you're not going to get paid your partnership check next month and he's like bad because he's like so fucking positive this dude's just fucking jack 273 about 5% body fat and I'm like out of shape but I know how to do things

so I go to the Clevelander you see his Lamborghini nice washed and all that stuff I go I drive to the same valet with my fucking beetle but I have a $90,000 fucking watch I have my black Amex I have my black Amex And I'm dressed up conservatively

With an iron addict shirt You know from my gym in Miami Nothing extravagant But my fucking Versace loafers Right so there's just subtle touches Just subtle touches So I get out of the car I'm about to park in valet

The guy's like hey hey you can't park the car there I was like there's no here's $300 I want this car to be parked right next to this Lamborghini And the guy's like you fucking crazy And I was like there's a reason for this I give the valet 300 bucks he parks my fucking dirty-ass fucking beetle right next to this Lamborghini. I see him talking to two girls.

And I just, I walked over there, just started hanging out. And I was just, like, I just let him talk to the girls. Kept on letting him talk to the girls. Kept on letting him talk to the girls. After like about 15 minutes, I told the guy, I told the bartender, I was like, look, here's my card. I want to buy rounds of drinks for all the girls that are in this area right here. And he's like, are you serious?

I's like, yeah. But I also want you to make an announcement that I'm the one that's buying the rounds of drinks for all these other type of girls. So he was like, all right, cool. So I gave him the card. He makes the announcement within seconds. Those girls were like, oh, hey, what do you do? And I was like, oh, nothing for gyms and all stuff.

Dude was fucking crying. Because now I was like, no, none of those girls and not everyone had to pay attention to him. So I didn't take those girls home. I didn't have sex with any of those girls. The following day, he comes back. He comes into the office. He's like, man, I'm sorry.

I should have been humble and all this. I'm like, yo, dude, I'm going to still give you your check next month. This is just to show you that, you know, it's like, be humble. And it's like, there's a reason why, even though I'm making all this money in capacity to what you're doing, you don't see me flaunting it. You don't see me on social media, you know, like, you know, flicking my wrist with all these, you know, with all these watches. Because I like to be the individual to know that I have the capabilities of buying that

yacht, but not being the fucking idiot that goes ahead and purchases it. Right. And that's when he started learning and I'm mentoring him and we continue to grow. and I started transitioning over to influencer marketing, same strategy that I did at McKenzie with GSK and Acquiry Magic Johnson. I started working the angle with the bodybuilders. Started working the angle with power lifters.

And, dude, we fucking skyrocketed. We went from as soon as like a person like Kevin LaRone with a million followers, flex wheeler with a million followers, Stan Effordid, gosh, it's like all the top powerlifters during that time, you could have, imagine, we went from like, we went to like 30, 35,000. And it got to the point in sales a day, to the point where a close friend of mine now, where I'm a regular at RX muscle, Dave Palumbo, at that point in time, he was indirectly promoting someone else. He would bash me. And it's

so funny because, and when he and I talk about this all the time, is that at that point in time, we were making $30, $40, $50,000 in sales a day like that, very, very easy. And, and, and, and our gyms were gaining popularity but were as obviously profitable as the drug business. Let's face it, right? So what he started, his first video, he launched, slandering my company, saying, oh, well, this is an illegal operation. This stuff is trash, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I remember my sales reps calling me from everywhere, from Australia to, you know,

to California, to South Africa, because I was distributing, you know, several areas in the U.S., And they're like, yo, man, you got this person with like a half a million subscribers in YouTube talking trash about my company. I was like, hey, log in into our sales platform. They're like, yeah. I was like, look, it's 11 o'clock in the afternoon. We've made more than what we normally do in a day. And it's not even half the day.

Let them talk shit. Because I know what the average conversion ratios are. If I convert 3% of his fucking followers, guess what? Curiosity kills the cap. And satisfaction brings them back, right? So that day, I made $67,000 in one fucking day. So what do I do? I didn't go send them an email talking trash to him,

say, why the fuck you're talking bad to me? I go to a Mercedes-Benz Coconut Creek. I added some more money of my own cash. I bought a Mayback. In cash, I had two hookers with me, took a picture, took a picture, took a picture in the car with the two hookers laying back, and send them a receipt paying the car in cash,

and I simply wrote an email to him saying, thank you. He wrote back cursing me out, fuck you, you arrogant piece of shit, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. About four days from that email does another YouTube video trashing my company. That day, I made $94,300. What do I do at that point in time? I went with my colleague to a Mannheim dealership auction. That's when I bought my McLaren 650s cash, $230,000,000 cash.

What do I do? same thing got two good looking girls laid out you know like laid next to it you know laid next to it show him the receipt thanks again think he ever did a third video but we became the best of friends and you know um when i got out june 8th he was the first person that i gave him the opportunity to interview me um june 9th and june 10th i was a regular in rx and he and i are like the best fucking buddies so okay so what happened like i mean eventually So you're, you have this, you have, you're selling through a website, you're, you're generating leads through Facebook through, but these, you can't like run ads, you're not running ads,

but actually you could. You can. During that time, it's not as stringent as it is now. Like you see right now, my clinic, circadian rejuvenation has to have a certification from a company called legit scripts that, you know, that analyzes your compounding pharmacy and analyzes your company in the language to Sunday. It's a six-week process. During that time, in 2013, 2012, 2011, there were so many ways to easily circumvent the Google AdWords system.

Granted, you had to change your Google AdWords accounts every three to four months. When the algorithms would pick up, that is like you're just not, you're not a licensed PCA compound facility. But it was so simple. I would just stay there, just awaiting for that time in which I would receive that email saying that my Google Ads account was, you know, it was closed. and I just launched another one in a couple of minutes. So, okay, so, but so you're, but, so you're making money. You're doing great. I mean, at what point did, do you feel like things started going wrong?

Like, I mean, when do the, when do the authorities get involved? When did they? Very good question. The, are you still driving the Beatle? Uh, no, I'm driving, I'm driving, right now, right now, right now, since, yeah, right now, right now I have, right now I have a Chevy Equinox. No, no, I don't mean. I mean at this point in the story. Oh, no, at that point in time, at that point in time, shit, right?

At that point in time. Still living in a one bedroom or? No, at that point in time, I had three different apartments. I had about nine cars at that point in time. My gym in Miami was already open. Again, making me close to about 40 to 16,000 net a month. Everything was up and running. That's when I started hearing about a potential case.

And I'll tell you exactly how, you know, it's like when I realized something was going wrong. Steroids The cops don't really give a shit about it It's stupid fucking It has to be extremely blatant And everybody's face And people have to start complaining for them to go Or not even complaining

Or not even complaining to it is just sheer size You see with me People were always getting popped My distributors were always getting popped Maybe with a hundred bottles Because they saw a transaction in the parking lot Right And a cop would stop and they'd see them

Yeah, so they would grab them. Like, I had the best fucking attorneys at that point in time, you know, on retainers. Those people charges dismissed in and out of prison within a couple of hours. So fast forward to, because I got arrested February 2017, fast forward to November 2016. Similar process. One of my distributors gets caught in a parking lot. One day passes by. My lawyer is like, hey, I don't know what the fuck is going on with this guy.

He's like, I can't call him, I can't reach him. I don't know where he's at, blah, blah, blah, blah and all that stuff. Two weeks passed by, same situation. He's still in jail? He didn't get out on bond? Didn't get out on bond. He doesn't get out on bond. Third week comes up, I finally get a phone call from my lawyer.

He's like, hey, I finally spoke with Eric, he's out, blah, blah, blah, and all that stuff. So my typical process, when people whose cases used to be, used to get dismissed, I would do the typical thing that I would do. I would go meet you. Hey, man, what's going on? Anything weird? No, no, no. Just asked me a few questions.

I was like, hey, great. here's a month's salary go hang out don't worry your job is guaranteed just take some time off because I used to deliberately take that month to research on whether or not

this guy's cooperating whether this guy's clean you know doing your due diligence to cover your ass so knowing that it already passed three weeks couldn't get in contact

with this fucking guy I'm thinking what the fuck is going on so I go meet him I sit down with him he's like hey man so walk we do what's happened he's like oh

they were asking about this guy named Dr. Rodriguez They were asking about this clinic, this distribution centers, you know. Does it have anything to do with you? Has nothing to. Fuck, yeah. Thought it maybe it was somebody else. But the thing about it is, is like nobody knew my alias.

Nobody knew my distribution channels. Nobody knew anything. It's like for all they knew, they were just distributing fucking supplements. Supplements, not animal like steroids. So you're Dr. Rodriguez. That was my alias because I'm not, because I'm not an actual doctor. So. So what ended up happening was he started asking all these questions.

I'm like, fuck. All this shit is running through my head. It's like, fuck, there's an investigation. There's an investigation. There's an investigation. I had one of the reasons why I was so successful in the steroid industry is because I had a plug with a federal agency called Usada, the United States Anti-Doping Agency. So I used to be able to develop compounds to mask testing for some of my athletes.

But the reasons why that's a good connection to have is because typically where people don't understand with steroid cases, typically large steroid cases are eventually going to be align with a company, you know, with a federal agency like Usada because Usada, if it involves athletes, they're going to get involved in that investigation. So I called my connection in Usada. I was like, hey, man, I've heard some small talk in the gyms about this fucking clinic and company and stuff like that out of Miami. So I gave him the name of my company. Yeah. And he's like, he's like, who told you about this? Do you know anything about this company? I was like, there's not, no, no, it's just small talk. I was like, well,

there's been an opening investigation in the Eastern District of New York with this company. I'm thinking of myself, I'm like, holy fuck. And he's like, it's only a matter of time in which they'll start, you know, having, you know, like start arresting people and ourselves. And this is like fucking December. So I'm thinking, like, I can't think straight and fucking Christmas, knowing that eventually, soon, some handcuffs are going to be. So you can only imagine that Christmas. I'm, like, and how stressed I was. And never told anything to my wife, had a phenomenal Christmas, January 12th.

They raided one of my places in Little Haiti. What do you mean one of your places? One of my stash spot for, the stash spot slash fulfillment centers in Haiti. When that happened, I'm thinking to myself, I was like, fuck, let me just lay low for like, you know, for like a little while. And this just probably would be like some, you know,

some nonsense and a blow over. So I stopped my operations for like about three weeks, relaunched a fulfillment center in another location, but much further away, like Hyaliyah. Law enforcement often questions him, not because he's suspected of a crime, but because they find him fascinating. He is the most interesting man in the world. I don't typically commit crime, but when I do, it's bank fraud. Stay greedy, my friends. Support the channel. Join Matthew Cox's Patreon. So that place got raided within weeks, but the only time, the only situation is from the day in which that got raided the following day, that's when the whole shit went

down. Fast forward to February 16th, 2017. They caught me where they caught me. I interviewed actually the U.S. Marshal that orchestrated the whole thing on my YouTube channel. That one, by the way, was a client. It was a gym member for my gym. and they caught I was on my way to the airport because once you know a smart person would know if you know that your time is ticking what you're going to do you're trying to get your affairs in order right you know so I was literally flying into to LA that day to dissolve some of my companies out of Los Angeles to sell it off to someone so I could have some some more assets but it's funny because I'm right there at the airport I go go, I sit down. I sit down to the plane and I'm about to take off. But what a lot of people don't understand is that while I'm awaiting the board, while I'm waiting to be sitting down to be sat down in first class, I'm getting text messages from my assistant at that point in time saying they just arrested so-and-so. Dude, the marshals and the DEA are at the gym.

Like they, not like, you know, and I'm really not really caring about any of this stuff because I was like, I knew that it was just going to happen. Yeah, you're just waiting. Exactly. Up until the point in which I received the text message, your wife is outside in bra and panties. They have her handcuffed. She's crying up a storm,

and the babysitter is with your son. I was like, why the fuck do they have my wife, like fucking naked outside and all that shit? So. Leverage. That's when I was like, because they didn't know where the fuck I was. Because my wife wasn't telling it was like I was in the airport

about to fucking flee and all that other shit. So that's when I was just, like, devastated, dude. It's like I started asking the bartender for drinks and all that stuff. And then from the time in which I asked the bartender for drinks, I overheard a message saying, we're experiencing technical difficulty, so we're not going to be able to depart. You know, it's like, we'll let you know when that happens. Bullshit, there wasn't no fucking technical difficulties.

Within a few minutes from that message, you see the electric stairs coming to the plane, and you see, like, U.S. Marshals, fucking ARs and all that shit coming to the fucking plane. And they're like, hey, is there Richard Rodriguez here? And that's when I was like, I had to give up. I was, I'm not going to, where the fucking am I going to run in that fucking play? I raised my hand.

The guy, Mani, phenomenal guy, man, very humble, rested me. And he's like, it took me to my, took me to my place, back to my place. However, en route to the, you know, en route to the, to the, you know, back to my place, that's when I told them, I was like, look, can you guys do me a favor? Specifically you, Manny, because it's like, you saw that I didn't restrate. and I was very respectful. He's like, what? I was like, why the fuck do you have my wife outside fucking naked?

And he's like, let me find out. Find out. That's the reason why I even interviewed her because he did a phenomenal job in handling the situation. He was like, look, I wasn't aware of this. That was never supposed to happen. I reprimanded the guy. He's going to get suspended for doing what he did

and got my wife back upstairs, took care of the whole situation. And that's when I, you know, I sat down, you know, that's when the DA, off task officer that was charged of the case, you know, sits me down. And he's like, you know what, you know, like, you know what we arrested you for. And I was like, yeah, I have an idea. And he's like, so you can say anything?

I was like, you know, fuck you. I want an attorney. So he's like, he's like, you're making it difficult for you, making it difficult for your wife. You're making it difficult for your kid. Do you want your kid to be in child protective services? I'm like, look, don't think that for one second I didn't do my due diligence. There's such a thing is called non-stack sentencing. So there's no way in fucking hell that my son is ever going to go child.

Texas services. And even then, if you want to be a prick and arrest my wife and myself at the same time, guess what? There's such a thing that's called next to kin. So who's going to take care of my son? My mother. So this is not going to happen. So don't try to threaten me or force me to collaborate with you in hopes of me losing my kid. Because you know how much that means to me. And he's like, oh, so you did do your research. But they're always going to do, you know, they're trying to get, you know, they're trying to get leverage over you. Like, you know, or at least give you, at least give you a reason to cooperate, you know, so that you can justify it to yourself. they always hit women with that too you know we'll do this we'll do that we'll do that and people

panic and you know they they don't realize like they're not they're not understanding like you know your sister will take the the child your your mother your your aunt your uncle your brother but most people a lot of people just get scared immediately you mean you know what they're doing of course dude don't get me wrong for one second and you don't get I'm not going to lie here and say I wasn't fucking scared all right but the poker face I had motherfucker I'll tell you right now I was like the second I show these people that I'm scared I'm fucked yeah you know because they're gonna fuck me so it's like I played the game just with them and I remember that a week in I still having I was still wasn't able to get bond so so a week in they released my wife and you're

still in L.A. No this is when no because I never made it to L.A. remember they arrested me you're in Miami so I'm in the Miami you're in Miami and you haven't got Bonn have you had first appearance yet like I had first appearance they denied me they said you were trying he was like we've caught him in the airport, I'm trying to flee, blah, all that stuff they know is bullshit. Which is just knows bullshit. Like, I'm flying to, like, it's a federal jurisdiction, Your Honor. He was flying to California. Yeah, if I'm, if I'm a fucking flee, I had businesses in Dominican Republic.

I had businesses in Australia. I had businesses like, you know, in fucking Thailand and fucking India. They, you know, distributing, like, if I'm a fucking flee, I'm going to flee to one of those fucking countries. Yeah, yeah. You know, so anyway, I was there for like about a week. And the first attorney that I happened to fire came to me and told me and said, hey, man, your exposure. Because you see, people that have never done, that are not criminals, won't know what the difference is of exposure and the actual time that you would be looking at when you get sentenced.

So that attorney of mine, Mr. Jared de Kovna, that I fired, he told me, he said, hey, man, you're looking at possibly 25 years. And that's because, you know, he was assessing all the seven charges. It was importation, distribution, marketing, manufacturing of a control substance, money laundering, bank fraud, wirefront. So the money laundering at the value of 27 million, yeah, it was looking fucking steep. So when I, so all I'm thinking of myself, I'm not thinking exposure because I didn't know the fucking definition because I'm not a career criminal. I'm thinking, holy shit, I'm going to do 25 fucking years. My son's three years old. I'm going to see him when he's damn near 30.

I went through a deep fucking stage of depression, dude. I went back into my room and it's like I was contemplating suicide I was contemplating everything you could possibly name and that's when um guy my name with thomas brown guy rest of soul phenomenal fucking friend man I actually reconnected with him in yazu city um he was there for a case too and so he's like rich let me educate you man this is my third time you know um you know in the feds it's like you're never going to do your you're never going to do your exposure unless you're fucking idiot and you go to trial and they throw everything at you and I'm like okay so it's like what are you're guilty

You can't go to trial. You're guilty. Exactly. So he's like, he's like, let me analyze the case. So that's when smoking weed, trying to relax.

He's like, it's so funny because I never smoked weed. And I do, it's like the only drug I ever did was, was anabolic since I was age of 13. And like,

yeah, I used to occasionally drink. So my first experience with weed was in prison. Trying to freaking calm myself down. So here we are smoking and relax and calm, no longer depressed.

And when he educated me on the, you know, on everything saying, he's like, hey, Rich, college educated, U.S. citizen, you know, it's like a big influence in society and all that stuff. Worst case scenario, you're looking at 10. I'm like, cool, I could do 10. He's like, but realistically, you could probably cop a deal

and maybe make anywhere between five to, you know, it was like three to six years. So that's when I called Jared. Jared, fuck you, you're fired for scaring this shit out of me. And I hired the guy that, till these days, become like a close friend of mine, a guy by the name Richard Cooper out of Miami. And first step for him was to negotiate a plea deal to get the money laundering off, the pleadio. That's the harshest. That's the harshest.

That's up to 30 years. Yeah, of course. And they're saying 20, they're saying 27 million. So their calculation is based on 27 million of money laundering is 25 years. You go to 30. So that's why he was saying 25. But yeah, you're not facing anything like that once you got rid of the money. Oh, of course. Once you got rid of the money laundering, I was looking at zero to 10.

I think they hit everybody with money. They hit me with money laundering. It's like, people sent me money. I took the money out of the bank. Money laundering. It's like, well, how else? Like, to me, that's not money laundering. You know what I'm saying? Money laundering to me is taking dirty money, getting it into the bank, cleaning it so it looks like it's legitimate money. You know, running it through a business or whatever, which actually probably worked for you. But for me, it was like, I'm borrowing money from the bank and I'm pulling the money out of the bank. they went money laundering like that's not to me that's not money laundering but so yeah i see what they they hit i think they can hit everybody with it technically yeah of course because by that time

when they were their explanation for the money laundering and and it took a couple of months to actually get charges dropped to that charge drop is because they were saying it's like oh there was no possible way legally he could substantiate the lifestyle of 12 cars three of different apartments and all that stuff and i was like technically you're wrong because prior to engaging in criminal activity specific in steroids, I was averaging a household income of over $275,000 a year. That's just my income and my wife's income. You've had several businesses. You have several businesses since then.

Exactly. And that's not including my gyms. At that at that time, I was making about $30,000 to $45,000 net. So there's no, there is a way that I could substantiate that. So for you to go to the courts and say, hey, you know what, it was money laundering. It's like, it's because I never, because people need to understand the, when you're making $20,000 to $40,000 net a day, look at the, it really realized what the purchasing power is.

I could literally go to Aventura Mall. And I did that for about two months. This is just to get the feeling of it. You could buy a fucking Rolex every fucking day. You can buy a car or two every fucking month. Right. That's the reasons why I had a pretty hefty prostitute, you know, prostitute budget of like $4 to $5,000 a week because what's $4,000 to $5,000?

That's a one hour of sales. When I'm buying all these cars every other month, what's another $100,000 car when I'm making $3 million a month in sales? This is nothing. You know, so when you understand that, yeah, I could kind of see where the feds were going with respects to saying that this extravagant lifestyle. But one, I was never posting anything on social media. I was never like because it's funny because prior to his podcast,

he was talking about like the rappers and all that. stuff. Like, yeah, yeah. I was never like that, dude. I was, I was the type of person. I would work my 16 hours or my, my 18 hours, go home, hug my kid, just hang out with him, play with him, and just fucking sleep. Just sleep and go back to the next day. And yeah, I had all these fucking cars. But I didn't, the only reasons where I had all those cars is because it goes back to what my mentor told me. No bad, no habit is a bad habit if it teaches you how to make money. So when I first bought my first car, my first car, when I started making all that money, I always wanted an SLS AMD with the goal wings.

That fucking shit fascinated me. Right. So that was the first car I brought the Black Edition AMG was about 475 at that time. So I ended up buying it at a finance. I deposited 60K and purchased it. That was my car. I was happy with that car for the rest of my fucking, for the rest of my fucking career.

I wasn't going to buy any other car. However, I started, it was like, I started getting fondness. I bought a second car. So as soon as I started getting the second car, I started seeing my finance charges that, you know, it was like, I'm paying fucking $4,000. for like a month for two fucking cars, that's when I automatically started thinking

of what my mentor told me. I said, how can I make money off of this? So that's when I aligned myself with my friend that had the license with the dealerships and had friends of prestige imports and a couple other luxury rentals, I started saying, it's like, hey, now I'm going to go to these luxury rental companies

and telling them, it's like, hey, you can rent my car as much as you fucking want over the span of the month. However, I want to guarantee every month. So I don't give a shit if you rent this car 30 days out of the month, make 50, 60,000 dollars, as long as you cover my nut, which is the, which is the finance and the insurance, I'm happy as a picking shit. So yeah, I had 12 fucking cars. Yeah, I was spending

$36,000 a month and finance car payments. But they're being rented out. But I was making, I was, I was breaking even. So I was breaking even so I was making it a habit. It's the same thing with, like, you know, it's like, it's the same thing with like fish tanks. I started getting addicted to fucking fish tanks, saltwater fish, stingrays, you fucking name it. Once I realized that after two fucking fish tanks. I was spending an upwards of almost like $2,000 a month, just some upkeeps. I went in New Jersey. There was a distribution company that used to import fish from Fiji and used to import fish from Hawaii that I used to buy a lot of the like the rare exotic fish from. I saw that their financials wasn't that strong. So I was like, hey, let's negotiate some type

of strategic alliance, i.e. partnership where you give me an equity piece of your business and I'll manage your online business. I'll promote you. I'll grow you. In exchange, I want all my ship for free. And I want a percentage. So now I'm making money off of a habit. And that's what has enabled me. And that's why my wife didn't divorce me at that point in time because she started realizing that every single thing I was like buying in excess. Right. It was, it was, it was a you're turning them into business opportunities. Exactly. It's not like these people that try to keep up with the Joneses. And let's face it, let's face it, dude, like in Miami, you got a lot of those type of people that are driving fucking McLaren's living with their mother.

You know, and I was never like that, you know, so like I never, I never wanted to spend money on something extravagantly, even though I knew I had the, you know, the cash flow for that without knowing that it was either going to make me money or it was for, or it was for a reason, you know, or it was for a valid reason. Because like I said, I had that beetle convertible, you know, up until the point I was making about $7,000 and $8,000 of sales a day. anybody that tells you that they make it $70,000 to $8,000 in sales a day and it's driving a fucking beetle. Either you're a Jew. I'm sorry, no offense, that you're extremely

fucking frugal or you're like extremely fucking chiefsgate. What's something wrong with you neurologically or psychologically? Because how could you fucking fathom? You're not even wanting to wash a $99 a month fucking car and driving around low-key. Why? Because I was low-key. I never wanted any attempts to be brought against me. So you're saying the Fed's, so basically the feds would have a difficult time getting in front of a jury showing showing that hey this guy's living like he's a baller he's spending money he's making tons of money there's tons of photographs there's basically they'd have to be able to just kind of say look he purchased a vehicle for this but then he was also renting it out for this so like these are all business these are all profitable businesses as opposed to

be able to go in front of a bunch of people that work at walmart and can barely barely pay their bills saying look, he's in Venice, look, he's on vacation here. He's on vacation here. He's in, you know, so instead of making them be able to hate you, you don't have any photographic evidence online to help them with that. The only thing they have, essentially, to harm you is hearsay and some receipts, but receipts that basically you can easily justify by saying that's a business. Exactly.

That's the reasons why it was easy to eventually, after all the bullshit, was uncovered to easily cop out to only one charge of the seven, which was marketing of a control substance because all the buildings that I, you know, all the buildings weren't under my name. All those cars weren't under my name. All these things in which they took over, took over like the stash houses weren't under my name. The manufacturing and the importation of products and the equipment weren't under my name. So you can't say that it's like, hey, you know what, that operation in Arizona was mine. Right. You could have substantiated. It was like like these sales were mine, the website, you know, like was mine. You couldn't. However,

they hacked into my accounts, my Instagram accounts and all that stuff. So during that time, I was getting a huge popularity in the, in the coaching business, you know, having coach Mark Wahlberg for the movie Pain and Gain, helping him gain all these muscle, over 30-something pounds of muscle for, you know, for that, you know, for that film and getting all this negative publicity from TMZ and all these other individuals, I started gaining popularity working with celebrities, working with all these coaches. And as soon as they hacked my account, that's when they started seeing all these messages, hey, so-and-so product is going to arrive and so-and-so time.

This is your protocol. This is how you need to do it. I will go to your, I would go to this film shoot. I'll show you exactly how to inject it. This is the type of nutrition you need to take. They had me debt to rights. So marketing of a controlled substance, there was fucking irrefutable evidence. Right.

So that was what I eventually copped out to. So, okay, so the, well, the Mark Wahlberg thing, it's funny. You mentioned him? I just saw that movie Like I mean like a month ago Who was it that I think it was a Boziac was said to me He's like bro you gotta watch this movie

Have you ever seen this movie? It's good It's got Mark Wahlberg And it had the rock in it well Dwayne Johnson So it had him in it And I watched that movie And I remember thinking He like he looked like way more muscle

Way bulkier in that movie than typically than I'd ever seen him before. And so you're saying that that was a part of... That's where I started. Yeah, that's where I started. Because one of the things in which people have to understand in business is that if you do not have existing relationships in an industry, you have to pay to play.

So the reasons why the steroid industry for me grew very, very quickly is because I knew all the who's who's in bodybuilding. I know all the who's who's, I knew all the who's who's who's in powerlifting. You name it, I've either coached them, worked with them, or given them some form of protocol from Ronnie Coleman to Dorian Yates to Dexter Jackson to Kevin Lerone. You name it, I've worked with them. So when I started realizing that my market in the bodybuilding, powerlifting community was saturated, I wanted to expand into other industries.

So that's when I went to Vegas. I met with Ron Jeremy, Dan Bizarian, started actually promoting a dick injection and a couple of products into the porn industry. Bro, what's wrong with this guy? So in order for me to pay to play, I started connecting myself with individuals in the porn industry. That's when I got to meet Ron Jeremy. That's when I got to meet Dan Brizarian at that point in time. Went to the adult film festival conference that's done twice a year, one in Australia, one in Vegas.

Met with them, told them, was like, hey, these are some products that I created. They work phenomenal in the, you know, in film shoots. And they're like, how so? I was like, I know about the industry. You guys have what's called fluffers, you know, people that actually literally keep the person thing hard because so people don't know what lovers. A chick that's there that basically. So I thought it was like, you won't need that with these products.

And they're like, what? And I was like, look, let me go to a photo shoot. Let me show you how this is done. So like with my injection at that point in time, it's like you inject your penis within one second. It's erected for like three fucking hours. Isn't that dangerous? To a degree.

Yes, but you got to understand that it's like an injection site is just like an injection site in, you know, for steroids. you know, for steroids. It's like it's what's called you develop scar tissue. So if you, it's just like somebody that takes insulin. If they keep inject themselves in the same location, same location, same location, you're eventually going to develop scar tissue. Right.

So what I used to tell them is like, hey, you know what? If this person is injecting himself frequently, rotate the areas. It's just like when I had all those prostitutes and I'm injecting myself with the dick injection three times a fucking week, just to keep up with three or four women in the hotel room, I would rotate, you know, my dick injection. But it's funny because, um, And you got a divorce. Yeah, I got a divorce.

That's crazy that that would have happened when... Yeah, but you know what, though? Based on these stories. No, but you know, it's... You know what it is, though? It's like that prostitution thing ended up happening. That addiction started, end up happening about a year before the indictment. A year before the indictment, my ex-wife went through a very difficult pregnancy.

She went through her mom slowly dying of State Street cancer. So for like a whole year, we didn't have sex. Okay. So we had, but so I practically felt like a roommate. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So here I am having a gym franchise striving. Here I am making $50,000 a day. In Miami, women practically throwing themselves at you.

We went through marriage counseling and we went through everything because I'm, that's how I am. It's like I'm just not going to fuck around without you actually knowing that I'm fucking around. Because I'm just not, like, I'll give you time. I took a year. Right. A year of counseling and still not having any marital relationship, extra marital relationship with her. That's when I was just like, okay, fuck it.

I've had enough. Yeah, yeah. You can't expect more than, like, it's not like you're, you've got to, she's physically got an, a physical issue. She's just mentally, she's just not there and it's not happening. Yeah, and I respect her. And I respect her to this day. I mean, we have phenomenal co-parenting relationship.

I help her out in any way she, possibly needs and, you know, financially and all that stuff, I still love her to this day. She's like, you know, she's a mentor, a muse, everything you could possibly name. Out of like the top four people I trust in my life now, she's still in the, and she's still in those four. If God blesses me with her and I getting back together in the near future, it's like I would take her back in a fucking heartbeat. But during that time, I realized it's like, look, I had enough.

It's been a year. Yeah, yeah. You know, so, yeah, she eventually found out after like about six months, she eventually when she eventually found out, she never realized how many. But she realized because, unfortunately, my idiotic ass, we lived in 57-57 Collins. I ended up getting my side chick, literally the next building. I bought her an apartment. So, like, when I had issues, we were like, my wife would just, not even get into the fucking car.

Just go outside, walk to the next apartment, hang out with like my sidechick. My goal, it was so funny because it's like my business partner at that time. He's like, yeah, Rich, what are you trying to do? You're trying to have, like, a chick in every single building from, like, the 50s to, like, the 60s? I'm like, it's not a bad goal to have, you know. So what happened? So they dropped the money laundering charge. They come back at you.

They eventually come to a point where they're like, they're saying, you know, they're going 10 years, then they're going eight years. And they're, you know, you go back and forth, back and forth. What do you end up with the U.S. attorney? Actually, I ended up with a PSI of 36 months. but I'll tell you the reasons why it went up to seven and a half years. While I was negotiated, and that's the reason is why, like I told you, prior to the podcast, it took me about two and a half years to stay in a temporary holding facility, which is MTC Brooklyn because of that.

The PSI is a pre-sentence investigative report that a probation officer prepares to kind of to give a judge basically a, it's like, it's telling the judge, Your Honor, these are the things that he's done. This is what we, based on the sentencing, federal sentencing guidelines, believe that he, this is the range he falls within because he distributed a controlled substance. He had more than five employees or 20 or 30. He had more than 50, you know, whatever. In my case, it would be victims.

In your case, it would be, you know, he was distributing to more than, you know, 250 people. He was, you know, that kind of thing. He made this much money. So they break it all down based on points. And eventually they come up with a score that says, this guy should be between, you know, 36 months and 42 months, and if he takes a plea, then the government agrees, we'll suggest to the judge he should get the low end of the guidelines, which would be 36 months. Exactly. Did you say so? Yeah, 36 months. 36 months. So that was the low end of the guidelines. That's what you thought you were going to get. Exactly. But to my surprise, you can never, you can never assume that everything is going to go according to plan. So here I am, February 15th, a day after February 15th,

15th, 2019, a day after Valentine's Day. I'm there, sitting down, being sentenced. And okay, cool, I've been here for two and a half years. I'm probably gonna get time served because if people know about the 80% of your time and all, I was like, 85% of your time. I had my mother, my ex-wife, my cousin. I had two close friends, they're at court.

I'm most likely gonna get time serve. hang out with my family that I miss so much and everything is going to be great. Shit started to go quickly downhill within 15 minutes of the sentencing. When as soon as I started hearing the judge saying, well, we were lenient to everyone else, but we're not going to be lenient with you. So as soon as those words came out of her mouth, I'm like, oh, fuck. So she started saying, I was like, well, your wife was originally going to be looking at five years

for the money laundering because she was an accountant. So they thought that she was the main person of the, the whole situation. However, because we now consider her a victim, we're now going to make her a victim on your case. So I, and this is like all like, had she already been sentenced? No, she, yeah, she was already sentenced and, and like, you know, and, and only given her like one year probation. Because every, because I negotiated for the, for, for all the 15 co-defendants that didn't cooperate out of the 17. That's the reason why I was there for two and a half years because I was negotiating three plea deals. I was negotiating mine, my wife.

and a plea deal for the other 15 co-defendants, excluding the two that I knew that were the corroborators of the case. Right. So all the 15 co-defendants, all of them had one-year probation, not one day in fucking prison. Okay. That's what I negotiated because they gave them money

and that they weren't unable to collect because the feds, they're very simple. You either cooperate, you give them names or you give them more assets. Yeah. To reduce time. I wasn't going to fucking talk. and just for people to understand what to what level of destruction I could have caused if I would have talked.

If you guys followed the Baco scandal, that created some big time suspensions in baseball. Victor Conti wasn't even making about $4,000 to $5,000 in sales a day in antibiotics. After him, you have Tony Bosch that read it out Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez. Tony Bosch wasn't even making about $6,000 to $7,000 in sales a day. By the time the feds got me, I was, like I said, about $40,000 to $50,000 in sales a day with over 43,000 clients in my database. So it would have made Tony Bosch and the Bocco scandal that looked like fucking Disney News, everybody would have read it names out. So a bunch of those people that are clients are in sports, they're in, you know, what, obviously bodybuilders, just sports in general. A lot of these are big-time guys, actors like anybody who's trying to make themselves look good.

Yes, in your roster. 100%. But you see the feds, when you have other federal agencies like Water, the World Anti-Doping Agency that monitors all the athletes in the Olympics. And you have USAID, the United States, anti-doping agency that monitors the UFC, WWE, baseball, NFL, tennis, the boxing commission. So just to kind of give you guys an idea, within two days from me being incarcerated, it wasn't the federal prosecutor that came to visit me. It was Usada, an agent from Usada, and it was an agent from Wada. They literally sat me down within weeks while I was awaiting bond, and they said right then and there in that reverse proverb, we'll throw away your case. We'll throw away everybody's

case. However, we would like sworn statements for people that we do know that you have worked with, that we do have proof, but the only way for this to be able to stick is to have sworn statements from the person that provided it. As soon as I saw that list, I was like, no, fuck you, man. I'm not, I'm not going to write out the people that help me get to the point that I am in because I'm in a difficult situation now. So that's not going to happen. So that's just to come to show you that the feds just want a big story. Yeah, yeah, no.

They're big on publicity. And having a big case, like you think about it, like the stuff that you gave, like it's not like there's deaths, sorry, not murders. There's not like there's deaths associated with it. It's just steroids. So this is prescribed medication. you're not going to overdose and kill yourself. Like there's no deaths associated with.

Zero people die. Zero people die annually of steroids. So for you to get, you know, anybody to get five or six years because you're simply distributing narcotics without a prescription seems ridiculous. But the fact is, there's newspaper reports, there's articles, like they have to slam somebody. And if you want to be that face, then they're going to slam you. And 36 months, the judge decided, I can really? don't 36 months this guy might walk out of prison or jail or the marshal's holdover at that point

you know because if you take 36 months you divide it by um by 85 percent at the very least you're going very within weeks you're probably going to a halfway house for a few for a month or two so if she gave you 36 months you're basically within a couple of weeks you're walking out of out of that holdover it doesn't look good it doesn't look good at all so as soon as i started hearing that and her started saying that she now wants to make my wife a victim in my charge that's what kills me How is your wife, how is your wife a participant in a conspiracy and a victim? Like that's, I didn't understand it, dude. I did not understand it at that point in time.

And then after she said that about my wife and then she started going down the list of each every single person that I've negotiated a plea deal for for them to get probation and I gave the feds money for them not to see a day in jail. When she started going down the names of each and every single person, I was like, fuck this bitch. Workday knows there are two kinds of people in business, backward thinkers and forward thinkers. And when you're a forward thinker,

you need an AI platform that thinks like you do. Built to evolve with your organization, Workday reimagines how you manage your people, money, and agents for long-term success, bringing all your most valuable resources onto one powerful platform so you can add value even faster. Workday, moving business forever forward. enhance me. Yeah. You know, it's like, there's going to be some shit. So after about 10 minutes of

her ranting out all those names, she started saying, it's like, well, I'm going to give you a one point enhancement for this person. I'm going to give you a two point enhancement for that person. I did see your PSI shows 36 months. The federal prosecutors on PSI showed 48 months, but with these enhancements, I'm sentencing you to 90 months. So at the high end, it was 48 months. Yeah. Low in 36, high end 48. That's the range. She's saying, no, no, no. I'm going above that. She went above that. But this is where I got fucked.

My plea deal was zero to 10 with waiving my appeal rights if she sentences me over 95 months. So for people that don't understand that is that even though she sentenced me to 90 months, she still sentenced me below what my appeal rights was, which is 95. Look, here's the whole thing. Even that doesn't matter because the truth is it moves so soon. slowly that even if you had the right to appeal, you would have still, they could have dragged it out for two or three years. 100%.

You still would have fucking served all that time. 100%. I got a guy right now. I got a guy right now that was a sell of mine. Dude never did any of his crime. This is a guy that had a successful produce business in the Hunts Point market, right? Making about $20 to $30 million a sales a year, selling fucking produce. What he used to do is he used to have his brother

handle his business affairs while he was actually gone on vacation with his family, right? So what his brother used to do is that he used to go to Colombia, he would go to like Mexico, and tell the people that he's buying the trailer loads of lettuce or tomatoes from saying, hey, you know what? These narcs, you know, the cartels are going to be putting in so-and-so stuff in this trailer load

because I'm the one that's going to be handling the distribution. After a couple of years of his brother doing that, he's, you know, it's like he goes to his normal annual vacation with his family. They grab him. They grab his two kids out of Princeton University and his wife and sat him down and all over reverse proffer and said, hey, you know what? We know you did not do this. It's your brother that was the whole mastermind in this operation. However, if you do not cooperate against your brother, we'll make sure that you're running a fucking jail and we'll make sure that everybody points the finger at you. So what does a person with money do?

Fuck you. You ain't got no case. I'm going to end up going to trial. Give him 25 years. That's a mistake. That's a mistake. gave him 25 years. Till this day, right now, he's still, he's still fighting his appeal. Yeah. Listen, my buddy Pete's been fighting his case for 20-some-odd years and keeps winning. He'll win and he's been resentenced three times. They'll bring him back to be resentenced.

They'll knock off two years. Out of 34 years, oh, no, I'm sorry, out about 30, no, he got 40 years. They'll bring him back, resentence him. They'll knock off one year, two years, one year. Two years. He's down to 34 years. He's been fighting for 20 years. Like, they will drag you and drag you. Because their whole thing is like the, in his case, the district court said, this is bullshit. He got too much time. You got to re-sentence him. They're like, oh, okay. They knock off one year. Starts the process over. They goes back in front of the district court and they say, that's not enough. Oh, okay. Five more years later, he gets back and they go two years off. Like, it's a game And all the rules are in their favor And they've been dragging this guy

For about 20, 25 years now at this point And it's scary because that's one of Like, it's crazy you say those things Because I'm glad that I can relate to somebody That understands how the system is Because I tell some people what I went through I tell some people of what some of my cellmates have gone through And they're like, that's bullshit

And it's like, that can't possibly have happened And I'm like, look, what you don't understand Is that these feds are giving out years Like, fucking, we give out candy and Halloween. It's like, oh, you're going to go to trial 30 years. Some shit that could be a fucking... No, a prosecutor will give you 10 years or 20 years when probably you deserved a year or two at most,

maybe even probation, and sleep like a baby at night and tell himself that he did something good for society. And they justify it and they completely, oh, he's a criminal. The way they look at it is, well, he's a criminal. He gets whatever he deserves.

And there are people to say that all the time. Well, you're a criminal. You get what you deserve. Well, wait a minute now. If someone steals a $10 shirt out of a, you know, from a Walmart and you chop their hand off, is that reasonable? Like, oh, well, I mean, it's always reasonable. Yeah, fuck them. It is until it's your, until it's your 19 year old daughter, your 18 year old son, or your mother who forgot and left something in her bag or did something wrong.

Then suddenly it becomes you had a couple drinks too many and you got pulled over and you got a DUI. And then you get in front of the judge and you're like, well, wait a minute. I'm an insurance salesman. I have two kids. I have a wife. I'm a good person. I vote. I teach Little League.

You get in front of a judge. And the prosecutor is saying he put everybody's life in danger on the road. He was falling down. This is a consistent thing with him. We got four guys that will stand up and testify that they told him not to drive. He could have killed somebody. And you're going, they'll make you out like a murderer. And you get five years and you're like, oh, my God.

Dude, it's like, I'll tell you. What test happened? tell you when I was fucking shocked. You see, when Miami Times did an article on me, two months in, and I saw the words, quote unquote, the Pablo Escobar of steroids. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You're done. I was like, I was like, I do this fucking interview with this guy in hopes of being portrayed as this great person. And it's like, and he writes that there? Don't get me wrong all the people in prison like my friends and all that shit they thought that super cool i was like oh shit you're the man bro you did that much man it's like and and i was like to it

and every now and then it's like i was kind of smart because i'm like fuck it's like i was that big um but didn't necessarily work in my favor uh it didn't necessarily worked on my favor to the standpoint where um when i saw that i was like i was like shit it's like here i am because a lot of people says like man you worked with all these celebrities you worked with all these um athletes and all that stuff. It's like, you must have been happy, you know, like working with them. I'm like, there's not. It's like, I generally was in the business, not for them. Yeah, they paid the bills. Yeah, they helped me get my nice cars. But what woke me up at night, being proud of what I was doing is the person that didn't have a functioning sexual life with his wife for years.

And I was able to have him have a healthy marriage. A person that was fat and obese and depressed and numerous times contemplating suicide, now he has a fucking phenomenal body. running around a 5 or 6% body fat, happy with his life. Someone that had epilepsy seizures 24 fucking 7, 3 or 4 a day, and I would provide him a medication that would completely eliminate that. Those were the people that I was getting three or four emails a day that inspired me to continue on. It wasn't the Mark Wahlbergs, it wasn't the Roman Raines, it wasn't the Josh Dumels, it wasn't all these athletes that people obviously know that have followed my case.

It was those individuals. Right. Right. Yeah, I was going to say the, it's funny too because like even in, you know, doing this podcast and just doing the podcast in general, like just telling my story in general, which I don't think, I don't particularly think is inspiring at all, but I tell my story and I get emails from guys who are just like, bro, your, your story is inspiring and what you're doing now and you're amazing. And, you know, I, and it's like, to me, it's like, I'm just waking up fucking, I'm just trying to live my life, bro. Like, I'm not trying to be in. So I'm not trying to really even help anybody. I'm just trying to create content. And hopefully my podcast takes off and I can make some money at it at some point in the future, because I'm certainly not making much now. But, you know, I'm just trying to kind of live my life.

But people see that and they get inspired. And it's like to you, you know, you're going through the motions running a business. It's not your intention. Right. Wasn't your intentions. And then people, like, the first time my first few emails I got, I was just like, inspiring. Like, and we both know Ryan Root. Yeah.

And he was the same thing. He's like, I would get guys that would send me these emails like, I, bro, you don't understand. Like, I'm able to have sex with my wife. I, the stuff you're giving me has changed my life. Like, and he was like, and I never thought of it like that until you start getting those emails. And you start going, wow, this is, this is a great feeling. Like, this makes my life feel like I've got purpose. which is more than the money of course because the money because the money because the truth is when you

were laying in bed at night in prison you didn't once miss one of those cars did you no you probably missed all your family your friends like that right my son and it's funny you segueed into this because the three times I contemplated suicide at um while I was incarcerated um two of them was primarily because of my son um there was a reason why I used to, the only illegal thing that I used to do in prison is to have a cell phone because, you know, you've been in prison. You get that message every five seconds. This calls from a federal prison. I never wanted my son to ever hear those words because my son at three years old accrued more travel than his passport than probably someone in his lifetime because if I was

training a client in the UK, my son was there with me. If I was in China with a client, my son was with me. So here I, here my son goes from being with me every single day to like now years passing by and I keep giving him excused and I'm at work. And every single day when I'm video chatting with him and he's like, Daddy, please quit. Please quit. Like, he's like, I want you home. I miss you. Um, that shit hurts, bro. Yeah, that's the worst. That, that, that, that should hurt, especially if you, especially if you're a loving father and have gone through the stuff that I've gone through like for three and a half years to try to have them. And even losing hope of ever trying to be a father, it's like that was the most difficult part. That's the reasons why like September

29th when I got that ankle monitor off for me, man, it's like for a whole week. It's like today it was like the first official work day. And it's like I took him out like he wanted gold cards. We'd go in gold cards. You want rock climbing? We're going rock climbing. It's like I just wanted to spend time when from the standpoint where thank God for for the great relationship, co-parenting relationship had with my ex-wife because she realized how overwhelming it was. for him and she was like don't worry just stay and it's like i haven't even been in my apartment for like more than like a day because it's like he would want me to sleep with him he would mind me to stay next to him and all this of thinking that i'm going to abandon him right till there's

like even like yesterday he he still can't grasp his he still thinks at nine years old that i'm going to leave you know that he thinks that this is just a dream you know and that's and that's why i tell people i was like look it's um i was making all that money but I was fucking miserable. I was fucking miserable. The excessive amount of money I was spending on prostitutes and all that stuff, it's filling a void, bro.

That's why I tell people, like, look, there's one thing in life making money and there's one thing in life in knowing what your priorities are. What helps your mental sanity? What helps you spiritually? What helps you intellectually? See, now I have, you know,

a phenomenal rejuvenation claim. you know, that, you know, that I partnered up with that we're doing phenomenally well. I have secured now 10 franchises that are growing at a rate of two to three franchises a month. Doing very, very well. My supplement line got, you know, got trademark doing, you know, like, you haven't been promoting it yet, but at the rate in which it's going, it's going to be doing phenomenally well. But ask me if I'm working the amount of hours that I worked before, ask me if I have not learned my lesson, I'll tell you right now, my son comes first.

5.30, right now, 5.30 in the afternoon hits, I'm with him till 9 o'clock at night. Don't get me wrong. To justify that type of a lifestyle, I'm up at 4 in the morning. Right. I'm up at 4 in the morning talking to my resources from 4 to 6 and just working nonstop. So to justify that I can now spend time with myself, whereas like when you're making all that money, you have all those responsibilities, all these people garnering your attention, this constant travel. There's a reason why my wife, my ex-wife, has been through three infidelities with me, still stuck by my side. Two times I became a millionaire within the relationship, two times I filed her bankruptcy in the relationship, still stuck by my side. So people always say,

it's like, well, why a federal indictment was the cause of the divorce? I said, well, do you know that 96% of people that go to prison usually end up in divorce, 96%. I didn't know that was a percentage. 96% of people that go into prison, you know, with a marriage. So whenever you're in prison and you hear somebody saying, oh, I got a phenomenal relationship with my wife and all that stuff. How long you've been done? It's like six years.

I was like, you're fucking delusional. She probably has somebody else. But the fact, that's rare. No, it's super rare. The only people I know, by the way, that I've had. had this conversation on the podcast before. The only people I know where the marriage stays together is when the guy is like a multi, multi-millionaire, he still has money coming in. So he's still able to take care of his wife and he has a short enough sentence that she's willing to stick by

him. Like you have a 10-year sentence, you have no money and she now has to work a job or two jobs to pay the bills. Bro, and what are you doing? Hey, where were you last night? Hey, can you put money on my books? Because it's now a one-sided relationship. That shit goes south so quick. 100%.

That's the reasons why it's so funny you said that because that's the reasons why in the five and a half years that I was down, not once did I actually put money in my books. Don't get me wrong. When I assets was frozen and we didn't have any money coming in, I was pretty fucking creative

because when people heard about my case, they're like, oh shit, yeah, we knew about you. It's like, can you teach us how to work out? So it's funny because you talk about commissary and all that stuff. You know, I was making my commissary for the first two years. I was giving out workout protocols and diet protocols to people in prison. Yeah.

Because they knew about my kids. They knew about Markwell, they knew about all that stuff. So it's like I was actually coaching people. They're paying you in commissary. They're paying me in commissary. So up to the point where I even taught some individuals how to circumvent the system in BOP. Because we all know if anybody knows about anabolic and people know about Climbutyl.

Clombutyl is a very famous fat burner. So what people don't know is that asthma pumps that contain albutyl sulfate is a byproduct of clomuterol. So what I used to do is to get people ripped and shredded in prison. I used to tell them to say, hey, just go down and say you got asthma. But say that you're allergic to all pumps, but with the exception of one particular byproduct called albutal. So make sure you get an albidyl sulfate pump.

I'll teach you how to pump it. I'll teach you how to take it. You'll get on a ketogenic diet. You'll be on nothing on fucking macros or anything. just pure like pure fucking protein once you get ripped your shreds make a long story short i was having motherfuckers that four five six percent body fat working on on water bags like ripped to fucking shreds and all that stuff and they were paying my commissary it's like i was able to send money to my wife to help with the bills right because how many people did you ever do

any business plans i i mean i knew guys that were charging a couple two 300 bucks for to write a business plan that was three four pages long i became more of a jailhouse lawyer okay because one of the Because I was, I knew that my sentence was excessive. The only thing about it was, is just that I knew that anything that would have passed through my judge, she was going to reject. Right. So I started understanding the laws to the standpoint where I was helping my colleagues in getting reduction in sentence, making sure the FSA credits would get integrated. If they weren't getting integrated, reaching to Graham Perry, which is region. And I got to the point where I was so good. I'll tell you a story. It's so fucking funny. 20. People that have been incarcerated know that there's something that's called shots. You get shots. It's called severity. Serverity shots. You got high severity, moderate severity, low severity. Having a cell phone is a high severity shot. They take 41 days off a good time. I've had a cell phone my entire time, five and a half years. And what's crazy is that they've always suspected that I had a cell phone. But the fact that the matter is that people don't, like that's why I became.

at your house lawyer. What a lot of people to understand is that when you're going into your disciplinary hearing, where it's like where they hit the hammer to determine on whether or not you're going to get, you know, you're going to get sanctioned. Doesn't work like court. They have to have what's called exculpatory evidence. So I used to fuck with these people. That's the reasons why I was in four or five different destinations, you know, throughout my entire trial because I would always beat them on discrepancies. It's like, okay, well, this shot is written incorrectly. Yeah, you caught my cell phone in my proposed cell phone under the bed. But guess what?

That's a common area. Yeah. Anybody could have put it there. Whoever told you to search there, probably put it there. And they used to get so pissed off. So after winning one or two shots, they would do what's called diesel therapy. They would redesignate my ass and keep me in fucking transit for like three months and put me somewhere else. And what do I do?

Like I said, I want to be a father. There's no way in fucking hell you're going to deprive me of a fucking cell phone regardless of the price. I got another cell phone, a couple of people. And I'll tell everybody, it's like, no matter where you go, you're always going to have fucking rats. You're always going to have people that are fucking envious. So, and it gets the point where I kept getting redesignated, not because I was being sanctioned. It was just because it got to the point where it started in Miami because I speak Spanish, fluent Spanish. I had the Puerto Rican guys that didn't speak a speck of Spanish, me being their witness.

And me technically representing them. in the disciplinary hearings. And I remember when I was in Santa Rosa in the county jail, people coming out to me say, hey, I got a disciplinary hearing next week. Come, let's figure out what to write, blah, blah, all this. And I'm there writing, you know, how am I going to be presenting to my proposed client to this DHO guy, the disciplinary hearing officer.

And it got to the point where I helped seven people not get shots. My biggest success was a G-27 friend of mine. He ended up losing 141 days of good time because it was his third offense for a 100-series shot. Helped them win an appeal and region. Got his 141 days back. That was like the, and man, this dude wanted to like, like, buy me a fucking house.

Because how well off it was. was. But for me, it was great because what a lot of people don't realize is that I've seen with my own fucking eyes, officers even set people up. Yeah. Yeah, or they'll find the cell phone and then they'll say, I found it in his locker and his locker was locked. You really found my cell phone in a shoe that was under my bed because I know that's where I had it. But you know the officer's been around and he knows that you can beat that shot. So he'll say, he'll lie and say, it was here or he'll you know whatever if he gets enough drugs from you they get bonuses so they'll plant the drugs they'll steal it from somebody else take a little bit out and plant the drugs so that

they can i get $250 for this because i found it and then four days later i found some more dope on this guy and i got another $250 like they're literally just setting up the inmates to get to get money it's funny you said that because i'll tell you how crazy the fucking uh the fucking system is the number one person in the Miami camp that was bringing shit in, some lesbian, I'm not going to name her name, that was bringing shit in was also the number one most ruthless fucking person to catch you. This bitch was sometimes fucking rambo. It would be like at 11.30 a night, the lights off. She's crawling in the fucking floor, man.

Like, she's just waiting for the fucking glare of the screen. But this is a bitch that was getting $200 per 100 series shots. $200. In six months, she went from a regular, from a regular, it's called, what is it, S-I secret? S-I-S. S-I-S. She went from an S-I-S officer to a lieutenant for how many people she was cracking down. But little did they know is that this is the same bitch that's bringing it in.

Yeah. So there was like, so you guys, like you guys in Miami probably heard of like this huge indictment that happened with like about 12 different officers and shit like that. being like the top of the person. It was like because it was crazy. Yeah. Yeah. She was bringing in the fucking cell phones, the cigarettes.

She was even bringing the fucking hookers. Listen, in Miami, they bring in it, I mean, Miami in Coleman, they busted like eight or nine officers. They were bringing in like knives.

Like you're bringing in store bought knives. Like that's just stupid. They're bringing in cell phone. This is to the pen. Cell phones, knives, drugs. And eventually,

of course, they get busted. But yeah, it's, it's there. The cops are insane. When I was in Coleman, when this was before COVID,

there were very few cell phones, right? Maybe, I'll bet you there weren't 20 or 30 on the whole compound. My buddy Pete says now every three or four months when they do a, they'll go through and they'll do a massive search of all the, they'll come with 150 cell phones every three months. And he said, because the officers are bringing in the cell phones because all of the older officers, they forced them to retire because of COVID.

And they brought in new guys. He said the most senior officer on the compound has like two or three years experience. So they're not making a lot of money. They haven't been around long enough. And what they're doing to supplement is they're bringing in drugs and cell phones for the inmates. It's funny you said that. My first cell phone in NBC Brooklyn was a follower slash admirer slash former client. There was an officer in NBC Brooklyn that.

that came to my unit, realized who I was. And he was like, oh, my God, Kevin LeBron. He's like one of my favorite athletes of all times. I admire him, blah, blah, blah, and all that other stuff. And he was like, and he was like, what are you doing? I was like, man, I'm not doing really doing. He said, come downstairs and work in the kitchen for me. I was like, all that.

I was like, I worked in the kitchen with him and all that other stuff. He's like, man, it's like, I would do anything for a phone call, you know, with Kevin Lerone. I was like, so you would do anything for a phone call? And I was like, you sure about that. He's like, yeah, man, I would do anything. So I tested him.

I tested his office. And I was like, look, man, it's like, I'm having trouble, you know, buying people's minutes, you know, like, you know, trying to talk to my son and have to wait another hour, you know, to talk to him. It's like, it's just not convenient for me, man. He's like, well, let me see what I can do for you. Yeah, because of the inmates, see, I'm just saying for everybody, the inmate cell phones, you can make a 15-minute phone call, then it shuts off. You have to wait an hour before you make another phone call. Exactly. And that's assuming you get right back in line and you hit it at the right time.

Exactly. You may end up waiting another couple hours. Couple hours, especially when you're in a place that's overpopulated like MDC Brooklyn. The average line wait was two hours. Fuck. So if you were trying to phone sex, you're shit out of luck. But I'll tell you what transpired. He said, let me see what I can happen.

I'm like, oh, you know what? Since you've been really, you know, since you're really trying to work on and trying to figure something out for me, is like, I think I could probably get you in a call with like Kevin Obrone in a few days. He's like, really? You could do that? I was like, yeah. So two days later from that. that phone call he's like hey rich man you gotta go upstairs you're done with work and i was like

what are you talking about man i still got i worked to norman two three he's like you're done with work he gives me a star form uh a styrofo thing that he usually gives to like inmates that we're bringing leftover foods and all that stuff right right so he's like he's like hey i got you some food too and i was like i know it wasn't fucking food i'm thinking it's like it's like it's like it's all fucking suspicious and shit so i go upstairs i go to my room i open it up first android phone nice so i was like holy fucking shit i see him the next day i was like dude it's like he's like don't worry about it, man, I'm a father. And I was like, look, now I'm going to show up, you know, I'm going to be, I'm going to hold my part of the bargain. That day I gave him the number of the

Kevin of Rome, spoke with for like about an hour. He has said, since then, dude, he was like, he was so fucking overprotective of me to the standpoint where he would tell me when the shakedowns were going to happen. He was going to tell me, like, you know, like, you know, say, hey, if you have people in so-and-so unit, let them know. And they got to the point where I was helping the cribs, the bloods, you know, the Puerto Ricans. I was like, I would go to them because I was not only just making the food, I was taking them in the carts to each and every single unit. Oh, yeah, because COVID.

Exactly. So I had the access to those units. So if this officer would tell me, he's like, hey, there's going to be a shakedown and so-and-so you and in so-and-so time, I would go the day before. And I would tell the people in the kitchen, I'm like, yo, let everybody know. You know, there's going to be a shakedown tomorrow.

Put all the cell phones, put all your stuff in one of these pans, empty pans. I'll bring it back to you tomorrow. Nice. So you should you guys would not lose anything. So I was like the insider and all that stuff. And it worked really, really well to the standpoint where as soon as I got out, that officer was one of the first people to show me love.

He reached out to me in Messenger. He's like, hey, man, God's good. Man, I see you with your kid. Man, God bless you. I wish you the best, blah, blah, blah, and all that other stuff. You did way shittier time than I did because, like, I wasn't in there during COVID. COVID just made the federal prison system just suck. Like, I mean, everybody I know that's in prison now, they're like, bro,

is horrible like you don't you know when I was there you know it was it was pretty well regulated like you could go to the yard for three four five hours at a time you know you went to the chow hall you could go to other units you could you know what I'm saying like you could do all the like clockwork you had commissary you know there were it was really a much easier experience and you had a lot of diversity you know you could go to library you could go to Votech you could go to you could go do things you know I'm saying It was a little city now. It's like you never leave the fucking unit.

Dude, it was we were, we were, if one person would be contaminated in the unit, you're fucked. You're fucked for three, six months. Being woken up at five in the morning every single day to be, to have your temperature checked. Yeah. And getting that shit up your fucking nose every week until everybody is cleared for them to reopen the compound.

It was fucking insanity to the standpoint where when I was eight months. out from leaving from being released I'm seeing all these people in Yazoo City with fucking phones all these fucking people and I'm like this no this is the fifth shot for cell phone that I've won I'm not gonna get a cell phone I'm not gonna get a cell phone I'm not gonna get a cell phone but fuck this this this you know it's like this this this what you recall it this containment and this quarantine and it's like not having anything to do because I can't go because I'm at you know it's like I was active it's like I love sports I was always in sports so not

being able to do anything but play fucking spades and dominoes it's like you just you're going to get fucking tired of doing the safe shit for four or five hours a fucking day so i eventually gave in and dude i went from being the normal discipline person um being on the phone for like maybe like 30 minutes a day timing is strategically to just talk to my kid and handle my affairs to like being on the fucking cell phone like 17 fucking hours a day because that quarantine was really bad and that cell phone helped a lot of these individuals with their sanity because these places because the cops were We're scared of going into these areas because of this whole COVID thing and potentially contracting it.

It's like they weren't keeping up with the cleansiness. They weren't keeping up with making sure that other people are clean because you could be a clean, clean person. They'll keep your cube and keep yourself clean. But let's face it, there's a lot of fucking dirty people, man. First of all, let's assume that everybody's clean. Okay. Humans are not meant to have 175 guys. or 150 guys living in that small of a space.

Like, I mean, you know, it's like your body, you're filthy. As soon as you take a shower, you're automatically shedding. You're already becoming dirty. You're already, you know, one guy, anything from using the bathroom to whatever, it spreads so quickly. If anybody gets sick at all, it spreads. How many guys, how many computers did you have for 150 guys using three computers, five? If you're lucky if all five worked, I mean, there would be five computers.

Three of them worked. You know what I'm saying? It's like, you know, there's so many cell phones. Everybody's on the cell phone. I mean, even if you're okay, well, I wiped it off with what? You know, like it's just, it's just not meant to have that many people living together. And so, you know, you're right. Like it doesn't take much for anybody to get a little sick or get some germs.

It spreads no matter how many times you're washing your hands and it falls apart, you know, very quickly. And then you're, it's just a fucking horrible, horrible situation to be in, you know, not even if it's just somebody should not that there aren't just filthy beasts in there there are but for the most part people can be really clean and you can still just spread it like it's horrible it's a horrible situation to be in especially in prison so i totally get them releasing like old people you know people with medical conditions you know like like like that like you get five years like and you're you're 60 years old, you get five years, and you have, and you have, you know, you have breathing problems.

Like, you can die in prison, you know what I mean? And I've seen people die. Yeah. I see, like, just like when I was in NBC Brooklyn during the polar vortex, um, there was one time that a transformer blew up in NBC Brooklyn. This is a huge lawsuit going on. And it's about to get settled pretty soon because it's been ongoing now for almost three years but the lights went off and it was negative fucking 20 degrees the no no people that

would require dialysis couldn't get dialysis no treatments we were probably being fed at one baloney sandwich a day and that adult and that was it dude there was riots people were like you know they were they were rioting people's families were outside rioting um and people were literally dying because first or foremost the conditions were already horrible so now they can't get treatment now they're not being fed The only reason is why my ass was saved is because I used to buy people's commissaries. Like I said, I also used to do protocols for people in exchange for commissary. So I had two fucking lockers stuffed and I had commissary under the bed.

So I had more than enough commissary. So Marcelli and I were saved because of that reason. Because, come on, one baloney sandwich for the rest of your fucking day. Yeah. Yeah, you didn't, you got, yeah, you got five, six years. You didn't get a death sentence. Like, I'm not supposed to die in here. You do understand, yeah, I'm a criminal, but I wasn't, I was meant to do a few years and leave.

I'm not supposed to die in here. You know what I'm saying? Because you guys have an issue. But, you know, but they don't really care. So regardless. So you have a YouTube channel? Yes, I have my YouTube channel. You guys can check Richard Rodriguez in YouTube.

I'm a regular on RX muscle with Dave Palumbo. You guys can check also my clinic's security. Rejuvenation.com. We're actually doing very well from a franchise model perspective. My supplement line, while it's trademarked, the company, the supplement line is called Fake Natty, fake Natty subs. I have the products, but I haven't launched it yet because we're trying to we're trying to hash out some marketing strategies first. But thank God, you know, it's like the love that I got. As soon as I got out, I'm telling you, man, June 8th, I got out at 4 a.m. in Jackson, Mississippi, Greyhound Bus Station. My business partner, Owen Nelson picked me up at 6.

8 a.m. 7 a.m. I had a cell phone. The following day, I was an RX muscle. I was getting interviews. I started getting the, you know, I started hitting the ground running. The love that I ended up getting was so freaking overwhelming that I was able to re, I was able to rebound pretty freaking quickly, dude. Within like three months time, I had my two companies, my two companies launched a couple of coaching clients. I'm now in Miami with my son. I can't ask for more, bro. I can't ask for more. God has blessed me. I'm grateful for, for, if you know, I'm grateful for you having me here on the podcast and and things are looking great i'm going to be at the um in vh1 i'm starting next week i'm starting next week i'm starting filming for the h1 true crime story

uh yeah um i got a couple of people that want to um work with me on the documentary slash film but you know how the film industry is man it'll take forever it could take forever one it takes forever two they want to give up fucking rights so they want to or they want to put or they want to write the story the way they want to write in their perspective yeah i tell you listen i'm to tell you right now the uh my true crime story bro i mean i went up there it was you know super cool that's like the first time i've had makeup put on me horrible horrible like i'm looking at myself i'm like this isn't normal this doesn't look natural they're like you're going to look great on camera i'm like i don't think so let me know but i'll feel like they caked in i felt like i look

like a fucking like a like a little china doll or something like yeah oh it's watch out for it but they do they dress you up they super super professional staff like they know all about your stuff like you'll it's a really cool setup nice they'll put you a nice hotel it's right across it's right catty corner from the place like you're you're going to end up doing the same thing it's funny because i just found out that you're doing it and i just did it like a few months ago so it'll it'll be cool but then you know you know like it was the first time i was ever went to new york city For the first time? Oh, yeah.

So, and my girlfriend, first time she was ever on a plane that wasn't conair, where the shades are closed, you know. Oh, wow. So she was on a plane, but she's like, yeah, but the shades were closed. Like, I didn't know what was going on. Like, I sat down and sat there. There was movement. There's, you know, this time she's looking, she sat in the window seat.

She's looking out the whole time. Like, then she got to New York. She grew up like on, you know, dairy farms. Like, to her, Tampa is a big city. So we went to New York. She's like, this is, I'm going, this is nuts. Well, yeah, because you've never been there. I've never been in New York.

Like, I've been to cities. Like, I've been to plenty of cities. No, nothing. Nothing compares to New York. And I kind of miss that of New York because I've been to New York girl all my life. But then once my wife was pregnant with Max, we changed, we changed paths and we went to, and we moved to Miami. But if it's one thing that I do miss about Miami, it's like, I'm going to tell people. I was like, look, if you can succeed.

If it was one thing I mean, I'm sorry, if it's one thing I missed from New York is that it's just that hustle and bustle, that fast-paced atmosphere, that survival of the fittest type of mindset, that if you succeed in New York, you will succeed anywhere. I've told people, I was like, hey, if my son tells me me right now, Daddy, I want to go to college in New York. I'm like, let's do this. You know, why? Because living a sheltered life like Florida where people are like, hey, Hey, how you doing? How's your life? How's your family? You're not going to get that small talk.

No, no, no, no. In New York, when I was closing multimillion-dollar deals, it's like, people were like, hey, what are you here for? What can I do for you? You got 10 minutes to prove yourself if not the fuck out. And these are like CEOs of fucking companies. Whereas, like, here, I'm closing $100,000 deals for like franchises. And they're like, hey, man, how you did?

And these are friends. It's like, let's have some coffee. Let's go off for some drinks. Let's go out for the party. It's very, very casual. That's why I tell people I was like, hey, you know what? It's like some of my best years and some of my best business experiences that have enabled me to transition successfully and quickly, I've learned while in New York. Yeah.

Well, I mean, I was, you know, like, I was thinking more like just the city itself because, you know, we were only there like a couple of days. We walked around for a couple days. But even then, after two days, I was like, okay, look, I already feel anxiety ridden. I'm ready to go home. I mean, this is cool. It's cool. It's flashy. You know, I'm ready.

And my girlfriend, of course, she was ready within an hour or two. She's like, I feel anxiety. I, like, this is overwhelming. It's crazy. It's so much. There's just so much going on at all times. And it's just, it is. It's overwhelming.

So for me, I mean, I grew up in, you know, I grew up in Tampa. I grew up, you know. So, yeah, it was. But yeah, anyway, anyway, same thing. It would be super cool. Like, uh, and, and, and, I grew up. If you've watched any of their storylines, the way they really focus on redemption. Yeah, I've watched one of them in particular because very similar situation is mine, Tyler Bowman from also Stereoid Bus.

They used to call him a.K. Musclehead, very popular YouTube personality. And he's doing 10 years instead of seven and a half that I did. But the reasons why they gave him more years is because he was falsifying in an already a legitimate OEM manufacturer. So let's say if I would have been doing $27 million in sales of Anabolics, but my Anabolic's name, my Anabolic's company name would have been Pfizer. I would have been fucked. Because that's forgery. That's trademark infringement.

Right, right. So it's just another massive enhancement. Exactly. So he ended up getting 10 plus years. So his ex-wife at that, his ex-wife was part of that two crime store and a couple of people that were associated with him. So I saw that one. I saw that one because it's intriguing me, obviously, because it's in the same industry.

history. But yeah, I've seen some of them. I'm really excited about it. And I'm just, right now, like, while I was out since June 8th, but because I was in home confinement and not really coming out and it's like, you know, and going out anywhere, it's like, what I really consider true freedom was September 29th when I grabbed my son at the airport and hugged them. So it's like, I'm still taking it all in, dude. I still think that it's a dream, you know, so like. Oh, I felt like that for a moment. six months, I remember telling people, they're like, how do you feel? I'm like, I keep waiting to get the phone call or have the marshal show up and say, yo, there was a mistake. Like, you got to go back. And you know what's crazy that you said that? There's one of my friends that was a crib member after doing 10 years, got his charge dropped. He, I remember him and I sitting down and he's waiting for them to say, hey, so-and-so, pack out. He finally goes downstairs. And this is an NBC Brooklyn. He goes downstairs, has his wife. and his two kids downstairs in the car he crosses the street hugs his wife hugs his two kids

kissed him within a minute right when he's about to get in the car hold on sir come over here for one second new fucking charge oh yeah okay we arrested him like and and and and brought him back up within an hour and a half from the time in which i said my goodbyes to him he comes back to the same fucking cell crying up a store fuck bro horrible crying up a store and i'm like dude what happened trig and he was like and he was like man it's like they couldn't at least let me have like dinner with my wife and my kids after 10 fucking years happy that his charge was dropped they caught him with a new fucking charge no that's never enough for him hey uh i appreciate you guys uh checking out the video 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 leave me a comment in the comment section listen i got books um also uh patreon and um i appreciate it appreciate you guys watching and see you