The FBI & IRS Arrested My Teenage Son | Michael Bick
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My name is Ian Bick, and you are tuned in to Locked In with Ian Bick. On today's episode, I'm interviewing my father, Michael Bick, to get a parent's perspective of what it was like to have a child go through the American justice system. ♪

I owned one of the biggest music venues in Connecticut. I got out of prison in 2019, and since then I've been featured on HBO and Vice. I quit my job to start making content, and I've amassed over 70 million views. Incredibly crazy stuff happened. Reflection on what put you into prison in the first place. Responsibility for their own actions.

So basically, you know, my story starts with me throwing these parties at our house in high school. And I'm doing like these three or four hundred people parties at our lake house. And that would basically foreshadow and launch this domino effect of me getting into the concert business and owning a nightclub and then eventually going to federal prison. Why did you allow those parties?

It started out... First of all, I like parties. That's the first thing. So I spent my life making parties. So for you to start doing parties at the house was kind of exciting to me. Except that you lied. You always lied about them. And you would say 25, and I would say, who's on the guest list? And you would look at me and give me 25 names, and several hundred would show up. I...

wrote it off to myself saying, at least I know where you are. At least I could supervise that no one's getting hurt. So that was okay with me. And that's why I allowed it. When it got bigger, as you know, we wound up putting a tent on, which was kind of funny. So do you feel like you enabled it, so to say? I like to think that I probably did. I mean,

And then again, I like to think that as far as you went, you took it beyond the envelope that I thought you were going to take it. You know, I think that you were very good at what you were doing. You just weren't good with funds. Now, knowing what you know now, that those parties did ultimately land me in federal prison, would you go back if you had the opportunity to and stop those parties from happening at the House? Would you change your perspective?

No, I wouldn't change my perspective. I would have been more involved when you moved from the house to venues. I would have been, I would have taken more care in knowing what you were doing. I sort of stayed out of it, and that was my error.

I think you needed to be on some level supervised. Now, the average parent in America wants their kid to go to college, prepares for their kid to go to college. And when I told you and mom that I wasn't going to college, you guys didn't give me any crap about it, and you kind of let me go out to start my own business. Why was that? I felt that college wasn't the only path to success.

I mean, it just isn't. I mean, people who make tons of money are plumbers, electricians, entrepreneurs. I mean, I think an entrepreneurial spirit was what was really important. And the idea that you had some sort of a vision of what you wanted. I mean, it's not like we were comfortable with it. I mean, I have degrees. Your mother has degrees.

We even sent you down to Miami to Johnson & Wales for like a weekend to see if that's what you wanted to do for entertainment. And you came back and said, I already know that stuff and I don't want to polish it.

knives and forks after I graduate. Yeah, I remember going to Johnson Wales that weekend and they brought us on this tour to the Fountain Blue Hotel and they said, listen, if you come to the school, you could get an internship for like 12 or 13 bucks an hour at the time and it's polishing silverware. And at that point, I had already been doing that. I had a corporate job when I was 16 and I was already way beyond my years at that point. Yeah, I didn't...

You know, the only reason, I mean, that I went to college is when I graduated from high school, I wanted to go to culinary school to begin with. And my father said, you can do anything you want after you get your college degree. My college degree turned out to be not something remotely what I wanted to do. I mean, I certainly always wanted to cook, and that's what I do.

So after I get arrested by the FBI and the IRS, a lot of adults, and even now to this day, they make comments saying like, where were the parents? Why didn't the parents intervene in my situation before it even got to that level? At what point did you realize my situation was in a bad way? And by the time you realized it, was it too late to intervene and try to help me? I think the...

I realized you were in the shits, actually, when you walked into my kitchen and asked me for some money. And you were with your two partners at the time. You were very, you seemed very distraught. So I remember giving you money at that point. But then I became a little more involved because I wanted to know more. And you were sketchy in giving me information because you

The excuse that you gave to me was that I really don't want you to be in trouble with the things I'm doing. And we started to talk more about it. And I realized that I allowed you to be the person you are on your own. I don't think it was bad parenting. I think it was a style that I wanted. I wanted, I believed that

you had gone to school and you had skills to do business. I think what a lot of people also don't realize with our situation was that I was raised very independently. I mean, even by going to Montessori school, private school, that teaches you to be independent. And

And I was an independent person, so I was going out and doing these businesses at a very young age. And I never even inquired or asked you for help. I tried to shut you guys out as much as possible. So to me, I had never once put blame onto you guys because at the end of the day, my actions are my sole responsibility and not anyone else's. I never thought that I could actually stop you. I wasn't that kind of a parent.

I mean, I was pretty much on my own when I was growing up. I mean, I had a lot of leeway what I was doing, just where we were living. We didn't live under any kind of fear. We made decisions. I was always taught that you needed to make a decision and you need to stand by your decision. And you had to be as independent as you could. I mean, how you went on the path, if you did, I think it was just...

youthful inexperience. Now, once you realized the full extent of the shit I was in, did you ever, or did it ever occur in your mind that I may have intentionally set off to steal or scam from anyone or defraud anyone? I never thought that for a second. And why was that? Because basically, you were an honest kid trying to stay afloat in a business that was going downhill.

And I always thought that you wanted to pay back people money. I never thought you were trying to scam them. I mean, to this day, I don't. I mean, I know that you're working just as hard as ever trying to get money to pay them back. I mean, it's anybody who actually really knows you, knows you're not dishonest, knows that you're honorable. And when did you realize that I was involved with dangerous people and how did you prevent them from hurting me?

You asked me one night to meet somebody that it was important to meet them. And it was like we were going to meet them at 11 or 12 o'clock at night. And I said, okay, I have to take my own world experience and get my son out of this trouble. And so I met this particular person and we chatted for a very long time.

And he understood my perspective and he understood his. And I guess, I mean, he was a kid too. And at that point, he just sort of adopted me as a parent. He would call me pops and stuff like that. So I also let him know that, you know, if he attempted to hurt you, it's not going to speed up payment.

I said, he wants to pay you. He just doesn't have the money. I think that in those situations, you basically saved my life. And had it not been for you, situations would have gotten a whole lot worse. If it was any other parent, it would not have ended the same way. And I think a lot of these guys came to respect you. You're just very different. You're a lot older than most parents, too. So you have a different set of experience to shine in on it.

these guys that I was dealing with that you knew nothing about and when they're brought into your world, you know, they really took a liking and care for you. Now, at any point, did you put blame on yourself for the situation I created? Did you feel like responsible at all? I never did. I always, to this day, respect a person who assumes responsibility for their own actions. You assumed responsibility for your actions. I mean...

My only regret in the whole thing is that you didn't come to me sooner and maybe I could have helped you financially and guided you better to get out. But I totally understand that you wanted to do it your way. Now, eventually, because I did it my way, the FBI lands at your doorstep. They come to your kitchen where your catering company is. What's that conversation like and how do you go about it?

Well, they came in and they asked me if they could talk to me for a few minutes. A few minutes lasted over an hour and a half. I guess they were deciding whether they were going to subpoena me for a grand jury. And we just, we talked, we had a give and take. They asked me some questions about this burger place I had, who I sold it to.

why I sold it. Do you feel like they already knew the answers to the questions that they were asking you? I don't know. I think some of it was fishing and some of it, they wanted to know my frame of thought about it. And I said, they said, do you know how much money you gave your son? I said, I have no idea. I mean, and I guess there was a, an IRS agent said to me, she said, well, was it a loan? I said, do you loan your kids money?

Did you ever feel scared or anything, or were you nervous? What was your state of mind? My state of mind was, I was nervous for you, and what went through my mind is that they wanted to use me as a pawn for you to cop a plea. Now, did they ever officially make you a target, and did you ever go and get a lawyer? I was in the process of getting a lawyer. And what did the lawyer say to you? He said to me, I needed $5,000.

And did you pay the lawyer the $5,000? I sat back and waited a few minutes. And I never wound up giving him the money, but I met with him. Was it like a free consultation? It was a free consultation. And he said he recommended that I get a lawyer. And I thought, I said that, I guess, I don't know, I was 70 at the time. I said, you know what? I'm going to go back and tell Ian, under no circumstances take a plea.

And if they want to indict me, it's a pressure to let them indict me. Now, what was it like the day I get arrested by the FBI and the IRS? You know, when the Danbury Police Department, the state police, the banking division, the IRS, the FBI, they all come to our house. They line up the whole driveway up the road. It's this crazy scene like out of a movie.

I think you go down with mom to answer the door. What happens? What's in your mind? What's a parent's perspective? First of all, there's this banging on the front door. Okay. And what time is this? It's early in the morning. I don't know, 6.30, 7 o'clock. And mom starts yelling at me, get up, get up.

There's banging on the door. She looked out the window. She says, all these police cars. I go down in my shorts. I'm downstairs on the bottom of the stairs. She's at the top. These people barge in. They told me, step away. And there's a lot of screaming. Where's Ian? Where's this? I didn't even get a chance to look at their warrant. You know, they just barge in with all these things. It looks like a fucking drug bust. I mean, I'm surprised they didn't have their guns. They had all these cars in the yard.

And Valerie's yelling, he doesn't have any shoes. Put shoes on. You know, let him take them down. Now, did they say anything to you after I'm dragged out of the house? They didn't say anything. They just moved out. And I said. Did they search the house? Did you allow them to search the house? They didn't search the house. They just barged in. They were just looking to drag you out and make a scene. I called your lawyer. And I thought we had an agreement that if they were going to indict you, you were going to be brought in.

This was totally ridiculous. It was so fucked up, I couldn't believe it. You could swear on here, Dad. Don't worry. It was. It was beyond fucking believable. That's all. I mean, and then, of course, we have this network, this local network.

Was there a drug box at Bix house going all around? Your mother was very upset. Did any neighbors stop by after cars outside? What happened? People, there was lots of chatter. They're too frightened to approach anybody on purpose. They like being anonymous, but you can't be anonymous on that.

And then certain people who were friends of the family said, "No, that wasn't their house. It was the house up the street." Good neighbors. Yeah. They were saying various things like that and I started to laugh. But then, you know, what I had to do was get dressed and go down and follow you down where the court was so I could post bail. I get arrested by the FBI, the IRS. I'm dragged to the courthouse. By this point, it's like 7 or 8 in the morning. I remember it's snowing outside and they go to the wrong courthouse.

and you have to meet me at the courthouse for my first bond appearance. What was that like for you? What's the setting like? What does the courtroom look like to you with all these people? And how do you ultimately pay the $250,000 to get your son bailed out of prison? Well, I was not, courtrooms were not unfamiliar to me. So I looked around the courtroom. There were the usual FBI agents, IRS agents who were there, and they were

pretty happy with what they had done. The thought that went through my mind is that here are a whole group of assholes after my son. Now, do you think it was over the top, the courtroom setting at all? I don't think the courtroom setting itself was over the top. I think the arrest was over the top. That's what I thought. I thought that was such an overreach and so ridiculous. At best, this was a white-collar crime.

that you get picked up, they go in. They made it like they wanted to humiliate you, and I felt they wanted to humiliate our family. So I was angry. The thought that I had in that courtroom was, how the fuck am I going to get you out? How am I going to get the money? And I think it was your lawyer who said to me, Michael, we could put up the house.

You just have to sign that it's a bond. You won't lose anything. You won't do anything. Now, you didn't have to actually go and get like a paper from that mortgage or anything. I got nothing. It was my word. It was a quick signature, very easy, which is a lot different than like a state case. It was easier than I thought.

and I was relieved. Now, I had been arrested by that point on a couple state charges for liquor and vandalism or whatnot, and in those situations, you had to physically pay money for me to get out of prison post the bail. I think I paid 10%. Yeah, but in this situation, you didn't have to. No, because I was calculating what 10% of $250,000 was and how much I was going to have to get.

to do that. But they made it easy for me to do that. Now, after I get released that day, I remember you bring me to the AT&T phone store to get a new phone because the feds had taken my phone. And right away that same day, there's news articles coming out all over on Yahoo News, local news, NBC. And then for the coming years, there's just news article after news article, pretty much smearing my name and saying all these negative things.

How did that make you feel as a parent seeing your son's name getting brought through the mud? And also, do you think it affected your business at all? I don't think it had much of an effect on my business because a lot of my businesses at that particular point in time was in Manhattan. And it was outside of Connecticut. I only had a small amount of business in Connecticut. And that business was purely generated by my food business.

It wasn't generated by anything else. People have their children get into trouble, all kinds of things. I remember there would be mornings like because we'd get the local paper delivered and I'd be like the headlines of that paper and we would be sitting at the counter looking at it, kind of dissecting it, seeing what was true, what was false. What was that like having conversations with your wife, my mom about those articles? Your mom was very upset by those articles.

I guess my skin is thicker than hers. So I wasn't too upset about it. I mean, I was born and raised in Brooklyn. I've seen articles like that. My father was an attorney.

I mean, I've been around all kinds of crap like that. I mean, so you can't believe what's in the papers anyway. Now, I know we were briefly getting into it earlier, but my attorney pretty much tells me at one point they're considering indicting you as a part of my whole business thing. They didn't really have any evidence, but they're just throwing that out there. And he says to me that if I took a plea deal and didn't go to trial, now this is after I got indicted, then...

that they would not charge you. So I brought that information to you and I asked you what you thought I should do and you essentially told me not to plead guilty and to take it to trial. Why did you give me that advice? Because I thought what they were doing was bullshit. That's what I thought. I mean, I thought you were innocent. I thought you made a mistake as a young man not knowing business and you weren't doing malicious. I mean, why a fraud?

and money laundering, those are terms that didn't apply to you. Legally, maybe, but you were just trying to survive. And I didn't think that they really had that much of a case record.

I think. But, you know, I was wrong. FBI can make a case out about anything. Now, after this, like five or six months later, I end up going to trial. Trial lasts almost a month. You're there at every court appearance. You're there every day. You're driving me there every day. I remember one time we both got scolded by the judge because I showed up late to jury selection because we got stuck in traffic. And after that, you were like, oh, you got to we're leaving the house at 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. at that point.

Now, what was it like to go through this whole trial with me from an outsider's perspective, from a parent's perspective? And what was like the most shocking? What was the craziest thing you've learned about the court system and the justice system through this? It was painful. It was painful watching the trial. And it was almost surreal. It was, I felt, I felt terrible. I felt that

I wish that you had come to me sooner and maybe we could have prevented this. And I think you made mistakes as a person with an undeveloped mind. I think that you could, if you had been older, you wouldn't have made the same mistakes. And I think that was the case. Now, what was like the craziest aspect? The craziest aspect is that the whole thing hints on these facts.

Fucking jet skis. I mean, it was so stupid. What's your opinion on the jet skis? You didn't need them. And it was stupid. It was a stupid purchase. If you were an astute businessman, you would have taken that money and put it back in the business rather than jet skis. But you weren't. You were a kid.

You were a kid that wanted a toy. Now, throughout the trial, you had to see a lot of my friends that you used to cook for, have over to the house, drive to the mall, to the movies, give money to if they needed it, take care of them, whatever, let them drink at our house, whatever they wanted to do. And they got up on the stand and they said all these bad things about me. They testified against me. How did that make you feel knowing that you had a relationship with these individuals?

I was disappointed, but I don't hold malice towards any of them other than your partner. Now let's talk about my partner. So my business partner, who was my best friend and inseparable, was at our house pretty much every day. He worked for you at some point.

he ended up taking a plea deal with the government to save himself so he didn't get charged or indicted a couple days before trial. And in his plea deal, he would testify against me and he just got probation as a state charge. How did that make you feel seeing him testify on the stand? What's going through your mind? His testimony was almost two days long. What are your thoughts? I thought he was a coward. I thought he was equally responsible for

for the mistakes that you and he both made. And he just didn't have the balls to stick there. I mean, that's what it amounted to. He wasn't truly a friend and he was a coward. And that's all I can think about. I mean, I have no respect for that boy.

Now, throughout the trial, I'm putting on a lot of weight. I'm eating really bad. I'm still running the club, so I have the stress of the nightclub while I'm going to trial. I remember there'd be some nights that we'd go to trial all day and I'd race back to run a show. Were you ever worried about me getting an addiction to alcohol or drugs to kind of cope with what I was going through?

No, I never thought you were that kind of person who were into drugs or alcohol. There were no real signs. You were certainly depressed. You were certainly nervous. Your major addiction was food. You were stuffing your face with crap. A lot of McDonald's. I mean, that's what you stuffed your face with. But, you know, you were very upset that period of time. But I never thought you would turn to drugs. You were too focused on trying to get out of the trouble you were in.

Now, if I had came to you, speaking of getting out of the trouble, if I had came to you and I said, dad, I want to take a deal with the government. I want to rat on my business partner, flip it on him. I want to rat on all the shady people I was doing business with, whatever, to try to save myself and make a deal. What would your advice have been to me? And would you have allowed me to do that as a parent? Because a lot of parents...

in situations similar to mine, condone their child snitching to save themself. What's your opinion on that? First of all, you have to look at my thought process. I never thought you were guilty. I thought that you made mistakes and I never thought you were going to go to jail for those mistakes. I thought they were trying to pressure you to get information on other people.

And I felt that at the very least, the very most, you would have gotten probation or house arrest for a year. I mean, you were really a kid. But say even if I did, if I was guilty, wasn't whatever, that doesn't, that's irrelevant to it.

The question is, would you have condoned me telling and snitching and putting the blame on someone else? No, I think you need to assume responsibility for your own actions. I think you need to speak your own truth. You've done mistakes. You assume responsibility for those mistakes. That's the way I raised you. I didn't raise you to blame other people. I mean, that's like scapegoating. I don't believe in scapegoating.

After the trial, I start going out of state to gamble to raise money for my concerts because at this point I don't have any other investors to go through. You were tapped out. I couldn't go to you. There was no other options. You had known that I was going out of state to do this and you never tried to stop me. Do you think at the time that I felt in my mind that I was making the right decision to go to try to make this work?

because there would be situations where I would win the money to keep things afloat? Or do you think that it was the wrong decision and it just hurt me in the long run? It definitely hurt you in the long run, but I think you had no choice. I think this was the only option available to you. I didn't think that you could do something other than that because you needed to

Your only way of making money at that point was the club. You needed to keep the club going. You were starting to build some profit in it and pay back people through the proceeds from the club. So the major thing is trying to save money.

the club. Now, because of me going out of state, ultimately, the guys that worked with me at the club, they snitched on me to the FBI, and I get called into a bond hearing. You drive me to the bond hearing. I know me and you were both confident I would win that bond hearing because I had won the last six or seven before that because they were always trying to revoke my bond. But I end up losing...

at that bond hearing, the judge tells me the party's over and that I was remanded into custody. You then had to drive home alone and tell your wife, tell my mom that I wasn't coming home. What is that conversation like? What's her reaction to it? And how is that first night without me there like? The first night, first of all, I was in shock driving home. I think the car drove me home. I wasn't driving the car. And I thought about...

how I was going to explain to your mother what happened. And she didn't take it well. She blamed me. She said I had a character flaw. And she was very angry with me. And I think her anger with me, she blamed me for your reactions and your actions. And it was, I felt very bad about that. But the bottom line is, I still felt that, you know, sure, I've

acted a certain way and had certain attitudes, but you were still responsible for your own actions. You always were. I mean, it's still probably a sore spot between your mother and myself. Well, we've sort of buried that like adults and people who have been together for years. I mean, it wasn't good. It was sad. It was depressing.

I mean... Were there ever talks of divorce or anything because of the situation? Never crossed my mind. May have crushed your mother's mind, but she never verbalized that. I was with your mother for the long haul, and I was with you for the long haul. Well, you're still with me. Exactly. My kids are the most important thing.

Now, three weeks after I get my bond revoked, I ultimately get sentenced to 36 months in federal prison. What's it like hearing that sentence read out loud? And also, what's it like as a parent who got up on the stand to speak on behalf of their son? I think a lot of parents find themselves in this day and age...

you know, in that courtroom speaking on behalf of their kid, what's it like to you to do that? You stood there with my mom, with my brother, and you got up and you spoke. And then after the judge read that sentence, what's it like? What's going through your head? It was devastating. I mean, I was shocked that you got that. I mean, that was what they were offering you at the beginning. It was just, it was extremely upsetting. The whole thing was upsetting. I mean...

To know that you were going to be put away for three years and that we weren't going to see you, it was a parent's worst nightmare. What's that first night at home like with Mom and Skylar? Well, Skylar went to his room. You know, I wasn't sure how he was dealing with it. Your mom and I were still talking, and we weren't having good conversations with each other. I don't remember the conversations that we had.

But they were not pleasant. They were far from pleasant. She was still looking to blame me on certain levels. And I wasn't accepting blame. After I was sentenced, were there ever any times that you ran into people around town, because Danbury is a small town, that knew me or knew you or knew the both of us? And if so, did they ever say anything to you about my situation? Only one or two. I mean...

The farmer that I was dealing with, he and I had words one day, and I stopped using his farm, and I stopped buying food from him. He was just stupid. His wife apologized to me for the things he said, but I was done with them. I wasn't going to deal with that. And most other people would approach me. I mean, other people I dealt with said, we're sorry to hear what happened. They weren't negative. You know, your son goes to jail.

Do you feel like you relate to people now on TV or in the news that have their child go through prison and the justice system, and you see people heckling them or attacking them verbally? Do you feel like you are in that position and it's relatable and you understand what they're going through? I have empathy for those people. It's very painful for a parent to have anything

happened to their child. So I have empathy for that. I have total distrust for the justice system. I think they can lie to you, but you can't lie to them. They could say all kinds of stuff and they get away with it. Now, what's it like to visit me in prison, your son, for the first time in a federal prison? What's that like? And how are you feeling? The

The first time we went, I guess it was Rhode Island, was a private prison. The Wyatt Detention Center. Yeah, which is different from when you were in Jersey. So we drove up there and you wait in a big waiting area to be let in to talk to you. It was, I felt sorry for you. How did the guards treat you? The guards were fine. They were all fine. I mean, there was nothing. But to talk to you behind a big plexiglass thing...

With a phone? That was like a real out of a TV show type setting. It was crazy shit, man. And I felt bad and I said, how are you going to do this? How are you going to? You look at you and you were like this. You look like you were 15. I mean, this little boy, how are you going to do this?

Now, you end up visiting me at multiple federal prisons. I was in New Jersey. You came to New Jersey to see me. You came to Danbury when I was in our hometown. You even flew out to Wisconsin and spent the weekend there. What's the visiting process like across these prisons? And what's like the craziest thing you've seen on these visits or you didn't expect? Well, the first time I went to Jersey to see you, I didn't know there was a dress code.

So what happens? I get there. I park my car and let me in. I start walking into the van and they say, you can't come in. I said, what do you mean I can't come in? You can't come in with khaki pants on. I said, what do you mean? I drove all the way from Connecticut. You can't come in with khaki pants. So I said to him, I said, is there a... I didn't know where I was. I said, is there a...

market around here. I could go buy pants. So I got in a taxi rather than move my car and went into town and bought a pair of black pants so I could go visit you. That was pretty crazy. I mean, the whole experience, it was, every visit was surreal, Ian. I mean, it was certainly a better visit at Fort Dix than it was at the detention center. And then probably at the camp was the best one. That was the most laid back. The camp was...

It seemed definitely laid back. Did they even search you going into the camp? I don't recall. I don't recall them searching me there, but I had to take my shoes off. I had to take everything at Fort Dix. They searched you. You had to leave your keys and everything in a box and get them later in a locker. In Danbury, you left everything in a locker, and then you went into an area. Danbury was the...

Most restrictive in the fact that we could only see you one day a week. For a couple hours because I was in the shoe. For three hours. I always look forward, though, to you guys coming because you could go to the vending machine and get me the burgers or sandwich because that was better than what they were serving at the prison. Well, we enjoyed those visits. But, you know, I just think that...

I mean, there were so many instances of the trouble that you were getting into in prison with people harassing you. Now, let's talk about that. There would be times where I would call you and I'd say, hey, I need you to send X amount of money to so-and-so. What's going through your mind at the time? Do you think of getting into trouble? How is that as a parent to process that, to get those calls where you can't really ask me questions and you don't really have any other choice but to just go and take care of it?

I put it under that this has to be done. Something that had to be done to keep my son safe. I didn't care. Whatever had to be done, I was going to do. I knew that you were experiencing something that was horrendous for you. My life was easy. Your life was horrendous. I was free. I can still do things, make money, get on the phone, watch TV, do anything. Your life was restricted.

And I was going to do my best to make it better for you. And if I had to send some money, fire Western Union to some weirdo, I sent money. I mean, it just chalked it up to say the whole system is fucking corrupt.

Now, throughout this whole time I'm in prison, what's the craziest thing you've learned about prison or witnessed in prison through me, through my stories, through whatever? Just that they're corrupt. The whole prison's corrupt. You can do, depending upon where you are, you can make your life easy. Just like in the outside world, money is king. If you have money, you can get what you want. And that's what it amounts to. If I had more money, maybe you wouldn't even have to go to prison.

But we didn't have that kind of money. Just like the regular world, the prison is this criminal activity in prison that I was surprised at going on. I mean, what kind of criminal activity? Bribery, extortion. I mean, it's it's it's disgusting. I mean, I have no respect for the justice system in the United States, none whatsoever. And it's still better than most places.

Now, what's it like to have a child in general away in prison? I mean, mine was a shorter sentence compared to a lot of other families that have a child in prison. I was away for three years. What's that like as a parent? And also, what was it like the day I got out? I missed you. I missed you very much. I would go into your room sometime and look for you. Or I'd be watching something or cooking something and say, Ian likes this. And that's what I missed.

And when you told me you were going to be released, I guess my heart got lighter because you were going to be home.

And then the bullshit we went with, the fucking phone. When you were on house arrest, that made me crazy. And the fucking telephone companies, I had to change internet service and everything because everybody wanted to give me a phone. So what happened with the phone system when I got out? What did you need to do? I needed to disconnect it. I needed to disconnect the phone. I said, I don't want a phone.

I said, I just want one phone in the house with no call forwarding, no call waiting. This was so I could be on house arrest with the phone. Exactly. It was so touch and go till we got that done. And they came to check the phone multiple times. They just show up. Now, eventually, after I get out, I get a job. I rebuild my life. I move out.

Everything comes together and HBO reaches out to our family and you ultimately agree to do an interview. Why did you agree to do an interview? And what was that process like? What did you think about it? I agreed to do the interview because I think you were on, I thought, and I still believe you're on a path to redemption. You want to make right and you want to make people whole again that lost their money.

I mean, I looked at HBO as a vehicle to make some money to pay people back. It was a stepping stone. That's what it was. I feel like once the HBO documentary came out,

I kind of dropped the ball myself on at that point, I should have ran with it, gotten to social media at that time, or really owned my past and my story to blow it to another level. And I think I got lazy in that sense because I really enjoyed my job. I had goals with moving up in the company. And

I was not putting my story on the front burner, but eventually a couple years later, this year, I quit my job, which was a stable job. I was going to clear over six figures this year. I know you were really proud of me in that position, but I tell you I'm quitting. I remember we sat down one day and I said, listen, I'm going to quit and I'm going to own my story and I'm going to take it to whatever I can to make it big, essentially, pay everyone back.

and do what I need to do to build this new business. What are your thoughts on that? Do you think I made the right decision as a parent after knowing everything I've been through, that I made the right decision to go back into essentially taking risks, which got me into trouble, but these are different types of risks. The risk is all on me rather than involving other people. My conservative feelings with thoughts were like, you have a good job, why give it up?

You know, why give it up? You're making good money. You don't have to worry about money coming in. You got a nice car. You're living okay. You have a woman that you like. But you told me how miserable you were. And my belief is that you need to do what makes you happy. And that's what you have to do. I mean, I'm a professional chef. It makes me happy. I can't imagine...

working for somebody else. I mean, I had offers to work for other people. I can't do that because the ups and downs of my job make me happy. And I wanted you to feel happy in what you were doing. What you related to me was your misery. I watched a lot of videos. They always come up on my feed about, especially from like Mark Cuban and other entrepreneurs where they say they would rather work 100 hours a week

for themselves and make $50,000 a year than work 40 or 50 hours a week for someone else and make $700,000 a year. And I think seeing that, seeing you work for yourself and love your career, and just knowing how much I was putting into a company that could just replace me the next day, that really hit home for me and that

sparked that energy back in me that I had as that 17, 18-year-old kid. The only difference is now I know what to do and what not to do. And that kind of drives me forward. I also think that it took you three years to get ready. You were not ready to share your story. You wanted to bury your story. You wanted to bury your time in prison. I mean, I watched your TikToks. How do you feel about my TikToks?

I've learned so much about you through your TikToks and your experience. I think they're great. Now, do you think other people your age or as a parent that look at these TikToks get the same thing? What do you think the message is from that? I don't know what the message is. I think that the story is interesting, but I do know that there are peers of mine who are fascinated by it. And what do you think the hook is for them?

Certainly what comes through is your honesty about it. Certainly the hook is that it's foreign to people. People basically are voyeurs. They want to look into other people's lives and see what other people's lives are like. And yours is the most unusual story. I mean, look, you really started out in the entertainment business when you were 13 working for me. And when you came home

One night with $10,000 in cash after your first event selling sodas and stuff and the thing, I was amazed at your ability. I mean...

but I could also see how much you loved it. Now, something that really fascinates me right now is like, I'll see on the news, there's, you see all these criminal cases of these guys or women that commit these crazy crimes, not anywhere near like my crime was. But the thing that is in common with me and these individuals is that you have their parents, uh,

showing unconditional love, showing support, getting out there on TV saying they support their child no matter what they were accused for. What's it like as a parent to give that unconditional love? I don't have any choice, Ian. I mean, you're my flesh and blood. And I always think that, you know, you're my blood. You have my unconditional love. I'm like a dog. Dogs are very loyal. That's right.

And that's how I feel. I love you and your brother more than anything on this planet. Doesn't matter. I will always love you. I always stick by you. I may not always approve of your actions, but they're your actions. And as long as you assume responsibility for your actions, that's what counts. And I admire you for assuming responsibilities for your actions. I admire you looking back to your past.

And I also admire the way you're trying to take your past and turn it into a profitable venture so you can pay back people. That's admirable. If people don't understand that, they're fools. And they've never lived through something like your mom and I have.

Now, I brought you onto the show today because I wanted parents to get another parent's perspective of the criminal justice system, whether they've gone through it before, are going through it, or they don't know if they're going to go through it because this stuff just...

lands like a pile of shit on your doorstep one day when you're not least expecting it. Your life could be great one day and the next minute you get a phone call saying your child's in prison and that can just change your whole life. It changes your finances. It changes your family. What advice would you give to another parent about the criminal justice system and about navigating through it as a parent? First of all, I call it the criminal injustice system because

I believe that the more money you have, the lighter your sentence will be because it's skewed to help rich people and put poorer people in jail. That's what I believe. So as a parent, if your son or daughter gets arrested financially, you're going to be fucked. I mean, that's what it amounts to. You're going to have...

You don't even know how much money, aside from the lawyers and everything else, you don't know how much money you have to give to support your child once they're in jail. So the advice I have is just be prepared for the worst. It's not pleasant. I still feel sad about your whole experience. You know, it's like a parent wants to just grab their child and hug them and protect them and hold them. That's all I wanted to do, and I couldn't do it.

Well, dad, thank you for coming on to the show today. We appreciate it. And, um, you know, we're, we're really excited for what's next. And, uh, this is just the beginning, you know, of the Ian Bick story. Yeah. Big, big energy. Yeah. That's what I think.

From inmates to officers and white collar criminals to violent offenders,

Hear these crazy stories from all sides of the criminal mind. Learn how these individuals dealt with real danger, fear, depression, self-worth, and what they did to overcome it. Subscribe to my podcast coming out January 22nd, Locked In with Ian Bick.