that s the bottom line. you re doing 200, 400. it s still going to be one guy that s going to break that million dollar mark. i want to go back to the very early days. sure. when was it you realized you had this ability to sell? the first time, it really started in the meat business. i went to dental school, i was there for a day and i dropped out, i realized the golden age of dentistry was over. i left, my mom wanted me to be a doctor. day one of dental school, you bailed? yeah. you couldn t get rich doing it? yeah, i always wanted to be rich, i did. i always i was a hardworking kid, from a paper route at the age of eight. and i hit it big for the first time when i was 16 selling ices on the beach. i made a lot of money, put myself through college that way,
some good things as well. i try daily to right the wrong. if i found a few of your victims, would you come see them? sure i would. you want me back on your show again, is that what you re saying? possibly. it would be a fascinating show. check the ratings first. i find it fascinating you have never met them. it s not that i would be against them at all. the one thing i said to my fiancee, she s an amazing lady, i said to her, some of this stuff, people lost their life savings which i know is not true. if someone really lost their life savings, because of me, i would like to meet that person. what about someone losing half their life savings? again, i he exists, he s an architect in connecticut. that s why all of this money is going into the fund. he lost half or all i think it makes a big difference. if you take an old person who
one little step at a time. are you surprised more people on wall street haven t gone to prison since the financial crash? yeah, i m a little bit surprised, but i understand why it happened. i think it s very difficult for the u.s. attorney s office to make these cases, and it s very, a lot of the props were arcane. and a lot of it is the relationship between wall street and the government. people that were in wall street and went to the government and they changed laws that allowed loopholes to exist for the people on wall street to jump through and make money. you were ordered to pay $110.4 million to a victim compensation fund. as of now you ve paid back how much? about 12. 12 million. do you have any expectation or hope you ll ever pay them all back? listen, i think this movie, for that is an amazing thing, i m giving 100% of all the profits from the movie, and both books, the books are really you are compelled to give, unless i m wrong, 50% of all your gross earni
i don t want to intrude on anyone s life. that s a copout. no, i don t think it s appropriate. it will be part of your self-redemption to track some of these people down, to know some of their names, know what they re saying about you, if you called them up and said, i actually would like to talk to you, i would like to apologize to you personally for what happened? i never considered it before. i think a better way for me is over the next 50 years, continue to go around the world and speak, all the money that flows in, i think actions speak louder than words, by what i m doing here, turning over 100% of the profits, is probably the most genuine thing i can do. in a way, what you re doing now i don t mean this to be too cynical. you re doing the right thing as best you can. what i would say if you re being critical, you re talking about it as a financial thing to be resolved. you can deal with this with money in the same way, at the time you could make money out of these
critical. you re talking about it as a financial thing to be resolved. you can deal with this with money in the same way, at the time you could make money out of these people, wasn t about human beings, when i read out these names, these are real people who have suffered personally, have you ever seen them as human beings? or is part of the issue with the kind of culture we see in the movie, you become dehumanized? i think that s a very good point. one of the ways i allowed myself to do that was to sort of take a step back and they become account numbers and names versus people. and i think that s a problem with what happens on wall street sometimes. not with everybody, but it s a possibility. if you think that s how i feel now, you re completely you don t know what is in my heart, honestly i feel terrible about what happened. yes, i had shame back then yes. now, no.