Replying to @davidshulman0 “why did you go to federal prison and how long did you serve? #federalprison #sentencinghearing #whitecollarcrime #justinpaperny

December 15th, 2004, I was 29. I was not a lunch date at Houston's in Century City, and my branch manager called and said, "Get back to the office immediately." I could hear about the tone in his voice. It was severe. I didn't think prison severe. I didn't know anyone that had ever been to prison. So as I made this walk from Houston's back to my office, I began to reflect on some of the decisions, bad decisions I had made over the prior three years. And those bad decisions really started when I was 26, and I left Bear Stearns to go to UBS, because of this big bonus they gave me. I didn't need the money. I didn't need the bonus, but they put the money in front of me. I thought it was all the money in the world. I couldn't say no. But when you get a bonus like that, there's pressure to produce to perform. And about six months into my time at UBS, I wasn't producing, at least not to the extent they wanted. And I began to see friends of mine getting fired at UBS. They say for ethical violations, nonsense. They weren't producing. Then I see brokers who produce, regardless of how they produce, ethically or not getting treated differently, making more money. I'm like, I want to be in that camp, I want to keep my job. My opportunity to grow my book of business hit one year after to the day that I was at UBS, when an executive named Keith called and asked if he could transfer his six million dollar hedge fund to UBS, I said yes. He transferred in the six million, and just like that, he's doing $50,000 to $100,000 a month every month in production, sometimes $200,000 a month. But the six million he raised, he ultimately lost. Then he raised another six million, and guess what? He lost that too. So our suspicions, of course, told us, he's only raising money because he's lying to people. No rational investor would give money to a hedge fund manager if they knew that hedge fund manager lost every penny. I felt loyal to this client. Someone'd be holding to him because of how much he produced. I was appreciative. And when you're dealing with someone who's dishonest and they need your help, they're going to call in that favor. I needed his help. He needed my help. So he asked me to attend a meeting in Century City. It was Keith, the hedge fund manager, my partner, Kenny, who never went to prison me, and an executive named John, who was going to sell his $5 million book of business to Keith. And during this meeting, my partner Kenny said, "John, why are you selling this book of business to Keith?" And John said, "I've seen the rate of return on the hedge fund performance sells itself 27% a year." Well, we knew that he lost every penny. This executive thought that he achieved 27% a year to clearly ally. And rather than tell him not to invest or run, I kept my mouth shut. I turned the other way. I didn't want the gravy train of commissions to stop. Instead, I skimmed with my colleagues to try to protect ourselves from any fallout. And the fallout happened in the 15th of December 2004 when investors began calling my branch manager. A government investigation followed. And I was sentenced to 25th of February 2007 in front of Judge Wilson, who said, "You had privilege. You were entitled. You were a USC athlete who knew right from wrong. You broke the law. I'm going to hold you accountable." And sentenced you to a minimum security camp for 18 months after I played guilty to securities fraud. And it wasn't until I went to federal prison until I recognized how far I had fallen. I made short-term decisions without considering the long-term implications for victims, for my family, for me, for my unborn children. I didn't recognize what's the point of making big money today if it's going to cost you everything. And the end and now at 45, 49 home from prison 15 years, I see things differently. I served 388 days in prison, and I remain on this mission to make amends for bad decisions I made more than 20 years ago.