When I'm not hosting this podcast, I am writing books, but it is really hard for me to write when I'm at home, so I like to find remote cabins in the middle of nowhere to just hang out and write. But I hate the idea of my house just sitting empty, doing nothing but collecting dust and definitely not collecting checks. And that's why I'm an Airbnb host. It's one of my all-time favorite side hustles. Other popular side hustles are awesome, too, don't get me wrong, but they often involve big startup costs. By hosting your space, you're monetizing what you already have access to. It It doesn't get easier than that. And if you're new to the side hustle game and you're anxious about getting started, don't worry, because you're not in this alone. Airbnb makes it super easy to host. I mean, if I could do it, you could do it. And your home might be worth a lot more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb. Com/host. I'm Nicole Lappin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehab. Today, we have a story that sounds like your next favorite true crime series on Netflix.

It's about Arthur Williams Jr. Arthur went from Living in the Project in Chicago to making money, literally making money. Arthur was one of the most prolific counterfeitters in US history. So prolific, in fact, that he lost count of just how much money he printed. Now, don't get me wrong, it's pretty fascinating to hear about how Arthur perfected what was then called the Un counterfittable Bill. But Arthur's story goes much deeper. After going to prison a handful of times, Arthur started using his gift for good. He is now a critically acclaimed artist, creating art inspired by money. It is so super cool and perfectly legal. I'm actually getting one of his pieces for the studio, and I am stoked. Arthur speaks extremely honestly about how difficult it was to transition from the prison system into the workforce. It's a reality I've talked about on the show before. It's an issue I have long been passionate about. Notably, we We've had Robert Rookes on the show, CEO of Reform Alliance, an organization dedicated to probation reform, started by Meek Mill. If this is an issue you're passionate about, too, you can find that conversation in the show notes.

Now, despite the systemic challenges that exist for people who go to prison for Nonviolent Crimes, Arthur is the picture of resilience, and he explains how he found that strength today. And while he doesn't have a show on Netflix just yet, there is a book about him. It's called The Art of Making Money: The Story of a Master counterfeiter. I've linked that in the show notes as well. And now, here's the master counterfeiter himself. Arthur Williams Jr. Welcome to Money Rehab.

Hey, thanks for having me.

So let's start at the beginning. In your early life, what was your relationship like with money? Can you paint the picture of what life was like in your household when you were growing up?

Well, I grew up on the south side of Chicago, on 31st Street Hallstatt. It's a borough called Bridgeport. Grew up in the projects, so we didn't have no money. My mom was bipolar, and she would be in and out of the hospital probably about once a year. During that time, I'd have to take care of my brother and sister. I learned at a young age that money was what you needed to survive. My first experience with it was breaking in the car meters so I could go buy groceries. Childhood was pretty tough, but my mom was still amazing. The time that I broke into the meter, the first time I did it, she actually me for it. Even though I brought groceries home, she would always tell me God would provide. I was like, Yeah, he provided. He showed me how to do this.

You were 13 at the time, right?

Yeah, it's like 12, 13 when we moved into the projects. It was pretty tough because we grew up in Shonberg, which was a suburb outside of Chicago, middle-class suburbia. Then to go from there to the south side of Chicago was a culture shock, to say the least. It was pretty intense.

When When you were 15, you ended up meeting someone who introduced you to counterfeiting. Is that right? Sounds like your life forever changed.

Yeah, it sure did. My mom worked at a restaurant, and so I used to go in there to get a shake or a cheeseburger. It was an interesting place because you'd have all these characters from the neighborhood, politicians going in there, police officers going in there, criminals going in there. One of them happened to be the person who eventually taught me how to print money. I ended up stealing a car, and my mom couldn't leave work, so he had to come get me. When he signed me out of the police station, as we were walking back to the restaurant, he was telling me that I'm smarter in this. I don't need to be doing the gangs and the stealing and all this stuff. He just slowly brought me into his world. I was just his assistant. I'd get him his stuff, I'd be there. Lasted for about nine months, and then something happened to him. South Side of Chicago, that's where it happens. People disappear. Then I went back to the streets for a little while, and then later on, reconnected with the counterfeiting.

Can you walk me through how counterfeiting was working? I have no idea what the process is. I'm picturing glue sticks, construction paper.

For me, it was an evolutionary process. When the 1996 $100 bill first came out, there was the press release that you couldn't defeat the watermarks and the strips and all the security features. And so that challenge, that's what started for me, where I said, Okay, I'm going to do this. I'm going to figure it out. It took years. For me, the first thing was figuring out the paper because everywhere you went, they would mark the money with the pen. I started ordering paper from everywhere. This is when they didn't have the Internet, really. I just used the yellow pages. I'd go through and I looked for paper companies and I'd order paper. Come to turn out, those yellow pages was the paper that I needed to print the money. It was bizarre. That happened with me and my girl. We were arguing about finding the paper, and she threw the yellow pages down and marked it. What the hell? It marked yellow, right? It marked legit. What was really nice about that is it also allowed me, because the paper was so thin, it allowed me to implement the strip and the watermark. I pressed them together.

By finding the paper, I was able defeat three of the security features just like that. Then the printing was really complicated. Back then, inkjets and lasers and Photoshop and stuff that was just starting to come around. I had learned how to print with the offset technology, making my plates and mixing my inks. They considered my build a hybrid build because I combined the two. I took the old technology to print certain aspects of the money, and then I took new technology to do the serial numbers, the seals. Then I got creative with the little shifting ink. You know how I got that pearl on a car where it changes colors? I went and looked it up, and it was called House of Color, was the name of the place. It was the very same company that provided the technology to the government. I couldn't believe it, but they sold it for the cars. I figured a way to turn that into the shifting color ink. It was a lot of steps. I think at the end of the day, there was 12 different steps for me to make the money. It was very hands-on, very handmade.

It's probably one of the reasons why I didn't print 100 million, because I I would have if it was easier. But for me, growing up, for in money being survival, even as years went on with the counterfeiting, I didn't ever look at it as a means to get rich. I looked at it as a means to take care of myself and my kids and people around me. I think the most I ever made at one sitting was like a half a million dollars, which still is a lot of money, right?

One sitting is like one day?

No, that would take weeks. I had to go through one step and the next. I burned a lot of money, too.

Because it wasn't good?

Well, there's sometimes things go wrong, something doesn't work There was one time I had a problem with the glue. When it would get real humid, the money would fall apart. So I had to figure that out. So I would always find ways of making it better. And by the time I got caught, the money was amazing. But that took years. The first time that I figured out how to make the papermark, I remember I got really scared. I'm figuring out something that the government has complete control over. I'm figuring out something that makes the world revolve, move. It's an instrument of power. Here I am, figuring out how to mass-produce it, taking very simplistic things to create this instrument of power. I remember getting really scared because I'm like, Man, I don't want to get killed. I don't want to take me out. Whether you believe in conspirations or not, you're still playing with something that is very protective. Then after the fear subsided, then I got excited. Then I was like, Okay, let's make some money.

But you sold to criminal networks, right? So it wasn't that scary?

If you look up Bridgeport, 26th Street, it's where the Chinatown crew is from. It's an Italian crew, Italian gangsters, whatever you want to call it. I grew up around this. I had outlets that other people probably couldn't have because of where I grew up at. The money, actually, even the way that I got rid of it was an evolution. At first, I would just hit the road and just spend it at malls. Me and my girl, we'd jump in the ride, we'd shoot out. She'd go through the mall, we'd see how many stores she could hit in one setting. Then that got old. You can only buy yourself so many things. I guess women could buy a million shoes, but it got old. Then we started buying things for people that we knew. Then that even hit a place to where it wasn't appreciated. People around us started to feel entitled to receive things from me. Then that's when we decided to start buying things for kids because I grew up poor. We just started buying clothes and toys and diapers and dropping it off at the Salvation Army box in every town we ran.

That was the best feeling I ever felt during my criminal run was when we were just out there free, helping children. We're still breaking the law, but it felt like I was helping kids that grew up the way I did with nothing. That gave me a sense of importance, I guess. It's when I got away from that, when I started selling the money, instead of doing that, is when things went downhill. I was making a lot more money, but there wasn't that sense of purpose anymore.

As As you said, in 1996, the US Treasury Department issued currency with a new design and security features aimed at curbing counterfeiting. This new series included this $100 bill, which took you years to figure out how to make so perfectly that it passed through casinos, it passed through banks. How much money do you think you counterfeited over your criminal career?

I didn't ever keep track, but I'm sure it was in the millions, maybe 10 million. $15 million? It may be more than that. Funny story, two weeks ago, one of my friends was giving me some money. He said he had something to give me. So I went over to his house and he said, Man, I got this, and I just felt like something was off on it. And it was one of my bills. It was one of my bills. Now, I ended up losing it an hour later because he gave it to me. I put it in my pocket when I pulled my phone out. It fell out of my pocket. I was so pissed. I was like, Man, I finally get one back. It still looked great. It looked worn out, but it still was together. I'm sure I made quite a bit.

Can you still spot a counterfeited bill?

Well, I can. I changed the time clock on the back of it. If you look at the back of the bill, there's a clock on it. I changed the time on it. That's how I could always know if it was mine.

Over the 15-year period that you were doing this, you were arrested three times?

Well, twice for this, yeah. One time I got arrested with my dad, and the second time was a situation with my son. It was real sad. My dad actually died on the day that I got out of prison with him. Then my son's mom, who was a Chicago police officer, the irony in that one, he wanted to be like me and was printing money at her house. She's like, No more. Then she gave me him Here I am just getting out of prison. Now I got this 15-year-old child who was just pretty intense, to say the least. He's doing great now. Just bought him a house. He just had a baby. I'm a granddad now. But they say counterfeiting is one of the hardest things to stop doing. It's easier to quit heroine than quit printing money.

Why is that?

It's addictive. When you see that money coming out and the smell of the inks and there's a romanticism with it. What I always loved about printing money is I could do it by myself. Like, even as an artist, I'm alone 80% of the time, and I'm fine with that. With counterfeiting, unlike any other crime, as long as I have my materials, I could go into a warehouse, lock the door, and I don't have to see anybody. I don't have to talk to anybody. I make my money. Then I don't even have to sell it if I don't want. I could spend it. It truly is a lone wolf cry, and I like that.

When you were buying things like diapers and clothes and donating to the Salvation Army, did you think of yourself like a Robin hood?

No. I just thought of myself as someone trying to help kids. Even now, I donate a lot of art to charities, and a lot of artists still want 50%. I don't do that. I just give them a piece of art. Take it, do whatever you can with it. Because I grew up really hard. By the time I was 18 years old, I had six friends murdered. I was shot myself. But I did never lose my sense of humanity. It didn't make me angry or mean or hateful. It did the opposite, actually. It gave me compassion and just the desire to help people.

Can you talk about the transition from life behind bars to life on the outside?

It was intense. I was just tired of being in jail. When I found painting in in prison, there was a piece that would come over me every time I would step to the canvas. It didn't matter that I was in prison. The world would disappear, and I would feel happy and content with what I was doing. I had to go back to that when I got out because I'm cleaning toilet bowls, I'm doing a job. I'm paying child support. I had to get a roommate in order to have a place to stay. There were a lot of difficulties that I had to overcome getting out of prison. And there were many times where I wanted to give up, where I wanted to say, Man, I can't do this. And two years after I got out, I almost did give up.

Hold on to your wallets. Money Rehab will be right back. Money Rehabbers, I got to tell you, I just got back from Industrius, and I am obsessed. Industrius is a company that provides co-working spaces and flexible office solutions for modern businesses, entrepreneurs, and remote employees who don't just want to work from the bedroom. I live in LA, as you know, and I travel a ton. And when I do, I always worry about finding a good place to work with a strong WiFi connection and a legit desk situation. Industrius has a ton of different locations in major cities, so it really gives me the peace of mind that I have a home away from home when it comes to getting stuff done. But when I am at home, I love the Westwood location's floor to ceiling windows. It just makes you feel like you're on top of the world, which is definitely the vibe you want when you're trying to take over the world. I also love the telephone booths they have that allow you to take private calls there. But also, if you have a Zoom, there's a ring light because Zooms are always better that way.

We know this. Go to industriusoffice. Com, click Join Now, and use the code MoneyRehab to redeem a whole free week of co-working when you take a tour. A whole free week. Free. It's my favorite price. Moneyrehabbers, you have money hidden in your house. Yeah, just hiding there in plain sight. Okay, so I don't mean you have gold bars hidden somewhere in walls, treasure map style, but you do have a money-making opportunity that you're just leaving on the table if you're not hosting on Airbnb. It's one of My all-time favorite side hustles. By hosting your space, you are monetizing what you already own. It doesn't get easier than that. For me, hosting on Airbnb has always been a no-brainer. When I first signed up, I remember thinking to myself, Self, you pay a lot of money for your house. It is time that house returns in the favor. And to get real with you for a sec, I felt so much guilt before treating myself on vacation because traveling can be so expensive. But since hosting on Airbnb, I feel zero stress for treating myself to a much-needed vacation because having Airbnb guests stay my house when I'm traveling helps offset the cost of my travel.

So it's such a win-win. I mean, if I could do it, you could do it. And your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb. Com/host. And now for some more money rehab.

This is what's so amazing about art, is it always brought me back to center into what was important. And what was important was my freedom. And art would always bring me back to that. To remind me that I could find happiness in being content with life with something that I love to do, which was painting. I went through a lot of tough things, but the way that I trained myself in prison allowed me to overcome those things, allowed me to see what was important. Because that's what happens to guys when they get out of prison. They feel like they missed out on something. They're trying to catch up on things. They want a new car. They want all these things. What they don't realize is you have to work really hard for them. You can't go sell drugs, you can't print money, you can't steal, because that's what most guys in prison were doing, to get those things. Now, You take that equation out of it, how are you going to get there? You better work your ass off to get there, and you better be disciplined. That's what my transition was about.

Did you have remorse when you got out?

No, I didn't. I felt bad that I left my family, but printing money didn't ever feel like a crime to me. I did look at it like other things, like someone who was I saw drugs. I looked at it as almost like a victim of this crime, and that it was the government that was eventually taking the hit. The way I feel about it today is that I try not to regret too much in life. I look at all the things that I went through, and it led me to who I am right now. If I didn't go to prison, I wouldn't have become painter. If I didn't learn how to print money when I was young, I wouldn't have been able to do a lot of the things that I did for other people. Everything that's happened to me is like training. Some people go to college to become a doctor, a lawyer, or a journalist. I ended up on the streets to become what I am right now. Do I regret what happened with my children? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I wish I would have not ever left them. Or my son coming to prison.

That was terrible. Those things were painful to me, but I try not to think too much in the past anymore.

If your kid came up to you now and said they wanted to be a counterfeiter, you would be okay with it?

No, not even close. For one, it is breaking the law, right? I don't want my children breaking the law. But fortunately, my children don't have to go through what I went through either. They don't have to break into parking meters to feed their brother and sister. They're not worried about their friends getting killed. When you grow up in that type of environment, you really do look at the world a lot differently than what most people do.

Yeah, it sounds like you operated from this philosophy of stealing food to feed your family, and that is understandable, and I have a ton of compassion for that. But now it sounds like you are giving back to the community through your gallery, bringing art, bringing culture into the community you grew up in.

Yeah, no, it's been awesome. My gallery is on Mortgage Street. It's a block away from where I grew up. When I moved in over there, eight years ago, it was pretty rough still. I just remember people were telling me, Why don't you go downtown? I'm like, No, I'm going to stay right here. It was awesome. I'd have kids come over, we'd paint on my gallery walls. I mean, I'd literally let the kids paint on the walls. The community, I could see, was very pleased the fact that I created something beautiful in the neighborhood. I did that a few times, and it wasn't just my neighborhood. I did it in Beverly Hills. I opened a gallery during the pandemic, and people used to drive up to see the art. One lady was coming back from the hospital, and she's crying. She's knocking on my window, and she says, Thank you so much for doing this for our community. That was awesome for me. That is my drive now to help the children and help those getting out of prison and hopefully give people some hope because that's what you really need in life. You need hope.

When you're growing up in such a harsh environment, it's hard to have hope. Because some people have told me, Aren't you glorifying your crime? I said, No, money is a tool. It's a matter of what we do with that tool. Are you going to do good with it or are you going to do bad with it? But it's a tool. You decide what your moral compasses expecting you to do. I used to do the wrong thing. I'd give stuff away. I was still breaking a law. I was still doing something that was going to put me in prison. Now, I'm still printing money, but I'm doing it legally, which is an irony, and it's nuts, but I'm using it for good now.

I've long said that money is a tool. It's like a hammer. You can use it to build a house or to tear it down. We end our episodes by asking guests for one tip that listeners can take straight to the bank. As somebody who used money as a tool for negative, to tear down that house, to continue the analogy, and now uses it for good and positive, what would one tip about resilience or money or finding your calling or telling your story be for our listeners today?

For me, just find a vision and then use that vision to create your financial wealth. That's what I've done. And it's been through being very conservative with my money. I used to have a real bad problem with spending it because I spent it. Now I hold on to it dearly, and I don't just waste it. So So have a vision and then use that tool, which is money, to build the vision. And that's what I've been doing with my art, my career.

Money Rehab is a production of Money News Network. I'm your host, Nicole lap in. Money Rehab's executive producer is Morgan LaVoy. Our researcher is Emily Holmes. Do you need some money rehab? And let's be honest, we all do. So email us your moneyquestions, moneyrehab@moneynewsnetwork. Com, to potentially have your questions answered on the or even have a one-on-one intervention with me. And follow us on Instagram @moneynews and TikTok @moneynewsnetwork for exclusive video content. And lastly, thank you. No, seriously, thank you. Thank you for listening and for investing in yourself, which is the most important investment you can make.