Prison Professors

Today’s podcast episode features John Rubischko. He served time for convictions related to mortgage fraud and he learned many lessons along the way. Recently, John finished serving a lengthy period on Supervised Release and he’s now rebuilding his life.

 

John Rubischko went to prison for crimes related to mortgage fraud. After his arrest, he began cooperating with law enforcement. He cooperated for two years. With that extensive cooperation, he thought that a federal judge would spare him time in prison.

John was wrong.

A federal judge sentenced him to serve a 78 month sentence. A mistake in the paperwork resulted in John having to begin serving his sentence in a low-security federal prison rather than in a minimum-security federal prison camp--as he anticipated.

John describes his experience of going through prison and offers some takeaways for anyone who faces challenges with the federal judicial system. We learn why defendants should be very cautious about the lawyers they hire, and we learn that they should also educate themselves about how to prepare.

Roger Galvin shares his story of how he prepared before going to federal prison.

On today's Prison Professors podcast, we learn from Roger Galvin. He struggled with substance abuse and made some bad decisions. Roger learned of the synthetic drug market. Despite packaging labels that marked the products as being "Not fit for human consumption," Roger said that he knew people purchased the products to get high.

The mislabeling resulted in Roger becoming a target of the Food and Drug Administration. Then the DEA got involved. He pleaded guilty to crimes that would result in his imprisonment.

A grand jury indicted Roger back in 2014. Longer than three years passed before a federal judge sentenced Roger to serve a 14 month sentence. During an episode that we recorded on Christmas Eve, 2017, Roger described the steps he took to prepare. He found hope in the work that our team at Prison Professors offers.

Roger created his own compass to guide him through his term in federal prison. His compass includes goals that he will work to achieve, and it includes a "Do-not" list as well. Below we copy the guidelines that Roger created in anticipation of his surrender to a federal prison camp.

If you'd like to learn how our team can help you, please text PrisonPro to 44222.

Goal list

1-) Continue to improve my connection with Laura.

A- Write her a letter every day I am away.

B- Talk on the phone daily or as often as she is available. 270 minutes p/month

C- Email her everyday

2-) Stay connected with all of my family and other contacts on my list.

A- Write my family members and everyone else on my contact list one time per week this will be 3 to 4 letters per day

B- Call my family members using the other 30 minutes I have left. 5 people=6 minutes p/month each family member.

C- Email everyone on my contact list with group newsletter 2 times p/week

3-) Lose weight.

A- Goal weight is 178 lbs. Current weight is 227 lbs total 49 lbs

B- Diet will be the main path to my objective here. Avoiding sugar and processed snacks and supplementing meals with protein from the commissary whenever possible.

4-) Exercise daily for 90 minutes p/day

A- 1 hour walking/ running

B- 30 min of interval/plyometrics training. Lunges/Sit Ups/Squats/Push Ups/Bird dog/Dead bug/Planks

5-) Reading

A- 1 Book per week. 2 hours p/day Taking notes while I read. Prepare a report stating the lessons and value I find in each one and how it can be applied to my life. 90 min p/week. Share the report with my contact list.

6-) Writing

A- Journal every day- stream of consciousness style 20 min p/day

B- Write 4 letters p/day. 1 to Laura. 3 to other family and people on my contact list on a rotating schedule. Approx. 1.5 hours p/day

C- Write - 1 episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm p/ month 8-10 hours p/episode 30 min p/day

D- Write 1 Column/Blog p/week on prison life/politics/accountability/Inspiration/meditation This is where I will explore my ideas on consulting and my viewpoints on life and growth. 30-60 min p/day with revisions.

E- mail or email these columns to be posted

7-) Prayer and Meditation

A-) Pray every morning before getting out of bed and at night before I go to sleep and pretty much as needed all day long. Serenity prayer and Loving Kindness prayer (As I do now)

B-) Explore freedom through mindfulness and meditation while being confined. Quiet places, loud places, eating, sitting standing,walking,showering,etc. Recording my experience in my blogs. This is ongoing and can be done along with prayer throughout the day as I live my life of confinement.

8-) AA Meeting

Find a meeting at my facility or start one or have my own meeting out of the grapevine newsletter. Daily if possible. 45-60 min.

Do not list

• I will not expect my wife, family and friends in the outside world to stop their lives and cater to my needs.
• I will not expect them to send me letters and books but always be grateful if they do.
• I will not let my fear of offending people get me sucked into conversations and activities that waste my time and do not serve me.
• I will not let my instinct to please others let me get sucked into conversations and activities which waste my time and do not serve me.
• I will not interact with prison staff unless required to do so.
• I will not interact with other prisoners that interact with staff unnecessarily.
• I will not play group or team sports.
• I will not spend time in the TV areas.
• I will not sleep in past 5 am.
• I will not spend time in my bunk during the day.
• I will not complain to other inmates about the living conditions or the life we live while confined.
• I will not complain to my family and friends about my life in prison.
• I will not give unsolicited advice to other inmates ot staff.
• I will not question the behaviour of other inmates or staff.
• I will not question the adopted culture and processes of the inmate population and staff.
• I will not have a negative and defeatist attitude towards family, friends, other inmates or staff.

Federal authorities served Roger Galvin with a criminal indictment in 2014. Three years passed before he would conclude his judicial proceedings. Roger told his story on Christmas Eve, 2017. He spoke about the steps he took to prepare before he surrendered to federal prison. Roger reveals the goals he set and the activities he would avoid while in federal prison. Please subscribe to the podcast, and leave us a review.

Scott Tucker earned more than a $1 billion in profits from the payday loan industry he created. We heard his story through the past four episodes. He told us how prosecutors targeted him for prosecution. We heard about his experience on home confinement. In episode two, Scott told us that federal officials are asking a judge to sentence Scott to 180 years. Now the billionaire prepares for prison.

In today's episode, we learn about Scott's passion. He built Level Motorsports. His automobile racing club won victories in some of the world's most high-profile events. He traveled to Europe, to the Middle East, to Asia, and he raced his Ferraris all across the United States. Netflix filmed a movie that highlights Scott's career.

Those riches no longer matter. Government authorities have frozen all of Scott's assets. They have levied a judgment in excess of $1 billion against him. They took his jet, his automobile collection, and his real estate.

Now Scott awaits sentencing. What will he get? We'll find out in early January, 2018.

We can’t really be sure what will become of Scott Tucker. A jury convicted him of violating the Truth in Lending Act. A judge is scheduled to sentence him in early January. We spoke for several hours to record a series of episodes for the Prison Professors podcast. Listeners can learn many lessons from his story of success to the tragedy of a prosecution and conviction. After he is sentenced, I’ll film the final episode to reveal what I learned from our series of interviews.

Scott Tucker wanted to build a scalable business since he was young. This is the fourth episode in our series on Billionaire Preparing for Prison.

In the first episode, we learned why authorities chose to prosecute Scott Tucker. He build the payday loan industry. The business he built grew to employ thousands of people. He generated billions in financial revenues and taxes. He created enormous wealth.

But authorities didn't like the model. Some people felt that he was earning too much money from people who could not afford to pay.

Scott saw things differently. People in the marketplace were telling Scott that they needed liquidity. They just needed a bridge loan to help them get across the hump. They may have suffered from car trouble. They may have had an illness. They may need a short loan. Banks refused to lend to those people. Scott created a company that would fill the void.

There was a lot of risk for that business. Many people chose to borrow money but they would not repay the loan. Scott didn't sue them. Instead, he just wrote off the loan. He created a system that would scale, expecting to cover the losses by operating at a scale.

Scott's company launched the entire industry because he was innovative. He leveraged technology. With the Internet, he could provide people with short-term loans in a matter of minutes. Yet the interest rates he charged exposed him to problems.

All that is clear at this stage is that a jury convicted scott of violating the Truth in Lending Act. As a result of the conviction, he faces multiple decades in federal prison. We recorded this fourth episode just before Christmas, in 2017. He is scheduled for sentencing on January 6, 2018.

Scott Tucker continues his series with the Prison Professors Podcast. We learned a great deal in the first four episodes. He told us how he get involved in the payday lending industry and how he built a company that generated billions of dollars in revenues. Now we know that his business may result in his spending decades in federal prison. We all can learn from his story on the Prison Professors podcast. Please subscribe today.

Scott Tucker built a billion dollar business. He started with a single storefront. In this episode, the third episode in a multi-part series, we learn how.

Despite his not being a good student, Scott Tucker always had ambition. Like many young entrepreneurs, he started with lawn mowing businesses that he launched as a child. While in college, Scott found an opportunity to get involved in real estate. Scouring the classified ads, he secured an opportunity that netted him more than $100,000 for six months work. Then he invested those resources to build other businesses.

After a brief period in the car business, Scott discovered a new market. People were asking if they could provide him with a post dated check for a deposit. They needed a bit of liquidity until they received a paycheck.

Scott decided to start a company. People could write a post-dated check for $120. It would not be good until the person's payday. Scott would give the person $100 in exchange for that post dated check. That was how the payday loan business began.

Scott said that 1 out of 3 people who borrowed money for the first time chose not to repay the money. The business model had to build profits that would cover those anticipated losses. The strategy he deployed resulted in massive growth for the industry. It also resulted in massive amounts of revenues for his company, and employment for thousands of people.

Unfortunately, the government did not like the industry. Scott went through numerous trials. As described in the first episodes of this series, a jury convicted Scott of violating various federal laws. It's a white collar crime, but he faces decades in prison.

We all can learn from people who built industries that generate billions in revenues. Scott Tucker started without much in the way of resources. Through hard work, he built a business that generated billions. He employed thousands. But a jury convicted him of violating the Truth in Lending Act. For that crime, he faces decades in prison.