I Stole $472,000 to Fund My Addiction — Then the FBI Came | Richard Mcdonald

Locked In with Ian Bick

Ian Bick

Society & Culture

4.9 • 606 Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2025

⏱️ 110 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Richard McDonald was a Mormon kid from Southern California with a bright future—until a car accident left him hooked on painkillers. What started as a prescription spiraled into a 16-year addiction, a hidden gambling problem, and a $472,000 embezzlement scheme to fund it all. Indicted by the FBI for wire fraud and sentenced to 24 months in federal prison, Richard shares the shocking truth behind his downfall and how he’s rebuilding his life. #AddictionRecovery #PrisonStory #TrueCrimePodcast #WireFraud #FBIInvestigation #RedemptionJourney #PainkillerAddiction #Embezzlement Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Get 50% off the Magic Mind offer here: https://www.magicmind.com/IANB50. #magicmind #mentalwealth #mentalperformance Presented by Tyson 2.0 & Wooooo Energy: https://tyson20.com/ https://woooooenergy.com/ Buy Merch: http://www.ianbick.com/shop Timestamps: 00:00:00 The Downfall of Richard McDonald 00:06:49 Choosing a Mission Over College 00:13:30 Navigating Life's Challenges with Parental Support 00:21:04 Navigating the 2008 Recession as a Car Salesman 00:27:29 Discovering Online Sources 00:34:49 The Life-Changing Fold at the World Series of Poker 00:40:03 Overcoming Addiction 00:47:29 Navigating Federal Wire Fraud Charges 00:53:53 Navigating the Sentencing Process for White Collar Crimes 01:01:50 Betrayal and Manipulation by James Catlage 01:07:18 Meeting Greg Lindberg: A Life-Changing Connection 01:14:19 The Unheard Injustice in American Business 01:21:02 Tragedy in the Prison Cafeteria 01:26:50 Billy McFarland's Financial Struggles 01:33:04 Greg's Business Takeover and Mismanagement 01:40:01 Innovative Clean Energy from Magma Powered by: Just Media House : https://www.justmediahouse.com/ Creative direction, design, assets, support by FWRD: https://www.fwrd.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	There are some things you should always check, like the hygiene rating on your local takeaway,
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0:30.0	You took $472,000. How does that work? Pretty simple. You take 30 pills a day at 20 bucks a pop.
0:36.4	That's $600 a day. That's a $4,200 a week habit, which is a $17,000 a month habit.
0:42.6	Well, over a three-year period, that adds up really, really quickly.
0:45.6	Richard McDonald was a clean-cut Mormon from Southern California until a car accident changed everything.
0:51.5	What started as painkillers spiraled into a 16-year addiction, a secret gambling
0:56.4	habit, and a $472,000 embezzlement scheme that landed him in federal prison. This is a shocking
1:02.7	downfall of a man who once had it all and the painful road to redemption. Richard, welcome to Lockton, man. Thanks so much for coming today.
1:13.6	Hey, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Yeah, where'd you come from today? New York City. Yeah, I live in New York City and work there out of my home. And yeah, just not too bad. Just pretty up up the up the train there the mta north
1:30.3	oh you took the train in yeah i just took the train up yeah oh where to brewster um actually you
1:34.7	know i went to danbury so oh danbury because you have to get you have to make a um a pit stop or
1:40.6	whatever yeah yeah yeah but but i think i probably could have stopped at a different place and probably gotten
1:45.9	sooner, but you could have done the direct line to Brewster. Brewster, yeah. And then it's just that's an Uber here. Brewster to Grand Central is direct. Yeah. They should make a direct one from Danbury. They really should, yeah. They really should, yeah. Did you grow up in New York City? No, I grew up in Southern California.
1:42.8	Yeah, so we grew up in Southern California.
1:45.9	Um, uh, They really should, yeah. Did you grow up in New York City? No, I grew up in Southern California.
2:03.0	Yeah, so we grew up in Southern California.
2:16.4	And I'm 51, so just had a really beautiful childhood, great parents.
	...

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