The SEC Didn't Get Through to Me. Prison Did.

When I went to federal prison I got the severity of my conduct. Standing for count, the 2 a.m. fire drills, visiting with crying parents. You realize maybe you can do better. When I settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission, really a toothless agency, I didn't get it. I had to go inside. I think that's the case for a lot of people serving time for very small frauds, $10,000 to $50,000 in PPP fraud, and for the many who go to prison for obstruction with no financial loss at all. If you reward bad behavior, if you go to prison and get clemency you didn't earn, you come home and keep breaking the law, like George Santos did. He bet on Kalshi, the prediction market, got caught, they took $17,000, and he's banned from those markets. People go to prison for $17,000. There's no consequence for him, so he's going to continue. Prison worked for me because I understood the severity of it. Santos went to prison and got clemency, so he can keep breaking the law knowing he will never go back. It is indeed a two-tiered system of justice, them and us.