From Sam Bankman Fried The fraud-ridden crypto empire handed over Elizabeth Holmes’ fake biotech company to the internet, whose retirement savings clouded grandmother for a while, and white-collar crime seemed to touch every corner of technology. For a business giant who may one day end up in custody and cannot expect the president to pardon, knowing someone will never hurt.
Wired talks with a self-described former “The Troubleshooter of the Mafia,” who was imprisoned for ten years in prison in the U.S. and found a new role outside: He became a prison counselor. Now, he works with a range of white-collar criminals. He condemned and cursed his clients’ ears, but it was part of a flawless approach he said he used to help them reduce and optimize internal time.
once In prison, we were walking out of the dining room, and I stopped and looked out the window. I said, “Did you see it?” The other prisoners were like, “What?” I left, “It’s right there.” They stopped and stared at the sky. Then more and more people come out of the dining room and start looking, and without you knowing it, so are correctional staff. Finally, I said, “Oh, see how easy it is to control stupid people?”
I have a prison psychiatrist saying I am just like my own personal amusement park to the prison system. I just spent some time there. I’ll call, call home or anyone, I’ll go, “Well, if the staff hate me right now, they’ll despise me this weekend. I have some special plans. I can’t really say. The staff listen on the phone.” So the weekend comes and they’re putting the extra staff on duty and wondering, “Well, what should guys do?” I’m lying on the fucking bunk bed of reading. I can’t do shit. But I fuckingly manipulated these people.
I also spend time helping people. I would help those who are oversented on the charges to enter the RDAP, the residential substance abuse program, or an additional midway home called the Second Chance Act program. I would go through their legal paperwork and say, “You know? Let’s file a lawsuit in court.” That makes me a folk hero. I thought, “Okay, I can turn it into a business.”
When I first got out of control, no one did it. My main clients are financially fraudulent people. Some drug addicts, but it is people who deprive people of them. Your white-collar criminal. It is a person who is afraid, angry and confused. If they contact me before going in, I can prepare them.
Between people outside and people inside, I might have 50 clients, maybe 100 clients. Sometimes my services are free, sometimes they are $3,500, $5,000, $10,000. I even had a guy pay me $50,000. It only depends on the people, their situation, what they can afford. I have four other people who work with me, two women and two men.
