Matthew Cox: How I Survived Prison

Matthew Cox turned a fine arts degree into a multimillion dollar mortgage fraud empire — creating fake identities real estate scams and synthetic people to steal from the system on a massive scale. When the FBI came for him the first time he bonded out and ran — ending up on the Secret Service's most wanted list with a wanted poster and a new identity while continuing to run scams on the run. In this episode of Locked In with Ian Bick, Matt breaks down exactly how mortgage fraud works the straw man scam the shotgunning scam and how he created entirely fake people to pull off real estate deals. He shares what getting caught going on the run facing 32 years and ultimately cooperating with law enforcement to reduce his sentence really looked like — and what prison life was like for a white collar criminal surrounded by violent offenders. #IanBick #MatthewCox #lockedin #FederalPrison #Snitching #PrisonPolitics #TrueCrime #PrisonStories Follow Ian Bick on Instagram: @ian_bick & Snapchat: ianbick Connect with Matthew Cox: @insidetruecrime instagram.com/insidetruecrime Connect with Ian Bick: https://www.ianbick.com Chapters: 00:00 Mortgage Fraud Millions Secret Service Most Wanted and 32 Years — Matt's Full Story 04:52 Childhood and the Early Education That Nobody Would Have Predicted This From 10:07 The Friends and Aspirations That Shaped His Path 15:19 How a Fine Arts Degree Led Him to the Biggest Financial Scam of His Life 20:25 The First Time He Committed Fraud and What That Felt Like 25:21 The Real Risks of Mortgage Fraud Nobody Talks About 30:22 The Straw Man Scam and the Day the FBI First Came for Him 35:24 The Ethical Dilemma and the Legal Consequences That Followed 40:40 How He Created Entirely Fake People for Real Estate Scams 46:30 The Full Scale of the Mortgage Fraud Operation He Built 51:42 Getting Arrested by the FBI for the First Time 56:50 The Arrest Bonding Out and the Decision That Changed Everything 01:01:32 Going on the Run — Why He Left and Where He Went 01:06:35 Running Scams While Being Actively Hunted by the Secret Service 01:11:43 The Fraudulent Check That Almost Got Him Caught 01:17:03 The Shotgunning Scam Explained and How It Worked 01:22:02 Ending Up on the Secret Service Most Wanted List — The Wanted Poster 01:27:05 The Narrow Escape and the New Identity He Built While on the Run 01:32:25 Life While Wanted — Renting a Townhouse Under a Fake Name 01:38:04 Finally Getting Caught Facing 32 Years and a Prosecutor Who Despised Him 01:43:31 Facing All the Charges and the Decision to Cooperate 01:49:01 What Prison Life Really Looks Like for a White Collar Criminal 01:54:07 The Exclusion He Faced in the Prison Yard and Why 01:59:15 How Frank Amadeo Helped Him Get His Sentence Reduced 02:05:09 The Suspicion That Led to His Decision to Cooperate 02:09:57 Cooperating With Law Enforcement — What That Process Really Looked Like 02:15:23 The Consequences of Cooperation Inside Prison 02:20:53 A Letter From Wilson and an Unexpected Warning From Ric Flair 02:25:56 Reflections on Life Fraud and What Redemption Actually Means 02:31:03 The Personal Growth That Only Comes From Losing Everything 02:35:57 His Inside True Crime Platform and What He's Building Now