Man Behind Decadeslong 'Psychic' Scam Learns His Fate

A fool and his money are soon parted.
More true today than ever.

His methods sound like organized religion to me.

Here’s the moral question of the day…

Would you be willing to do a job for 20 years, accumulate $175 million (some of which is paid to your employees), then pay a fine to the government - let’s just say $250k then get sentenced for 10 years in prison, hopefully getting paroled after 6 or 7 years?

Worth it?

Maybe not to this guy because he’s older now, but if you were 20 when this started and did the prison stint in your 40s?

I'd have to research exactly how much it would cost me to make my prison stint tolerable. If I was in Shawshank with Andy Dufrane, the answer is a resounding fuck no. If I was in the kind of place I envision Martha Stewart went to, I'd probably change my tune.

I feel like I'd probably cash out way before 20 years and vanish though. After I got to maybe 75-100 million, I'm quitting that racket and either traveling the world or settling down in some small town in a non-extradition country. I'm not gonna push my luck.

I knew of a few guys that did criminal acts, knowing that they would probably get caught but they figured the risk of a couple of years in jail was worth the reward, one of those guys was caught selling stolen securities and the profits were clawed back by a zealous prosecution, he got out of prison after 6 years pretty much broke, he didn't get much benefit for his criminal actions, the second pair of guys were believe it or not toll booth operators, working for a northeastern state, managed to divert several million dollars in revenues before they got caught, they got less than 2 years in prison, but they entered into an agreement with the prosecutors that they would not divulge the details of how they hid their deception, and were released on parole in a few months, and took their money and retired before the age of 40.

Myself I never was tempted I started my business when I was pretty young and by the time I was 40 had accumulated a pretty large amount of money and valuable assets.

I'm often impressed with the people who keep going after accumulating about 5 million dollars, whether legally or illegally. I remember a scene in that "Vice" movie (about Dick Cheney) where he says to his wife that his severance package from some corporation or other was in the millions but was "not enough." For me, I just don't understand wanting more than you can spend. I have accumulated less than most at my age, in terms of cash and liquid assets (the IRAs and 401ks and MMkt accts and so on) but have a few properties that are generating rent. They don't make a lot of money off rent, but they certainly do better than BREAK EVEN on taxes, repairs, management service costs, monthly lawn cutting, insurance, etc., which means they are land that I can ultimately sell for more liquid assets. I got to that point and then ... quit. I didn't "retire," I just abandoned all else. I can't understand the grief-for-no-reward assumptions of people who "have to" continue to be working. I'm hoping to get a small home near a full-service club, bring a zillion boxes of all my accumulated stuff and my parents' stuff there, pay someone to E-Bay most of it or donate the rest to some worthy cause, then just eat cheap veggie food, run on my elliptical, watch free internet movies, read books, and go every weekend to the full-service club. I'm thinking Inkster MI Flight Club or Pompano Beach FL Diamond Dolls. There are potentially others. And if I'm pared down enough, when a club changes I can change cities to a new crap-house in a crap neighborhood. I'm an old boring single male White guy, I'm willing to live next door to a factory. How can that possibly be a bad life? Why would anyone want more? I don't understand ...

10 years in prison, but how much of that is probation and deferred? For most non- violent offenses, you can get paroled after 40%-50% of the sentence is served