My Story
Published on
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4 mins
Between 2016 and 2019, I made decisions that changed the trajectory of my life. I operated a luxury rental car scheme that crossed the line from creative arbitrage into federal fraud. I didn’t intend to hurt people, but I did. Leaseholders suffered significant financial harm. Victims were misled. The business collapsed. And in 2022, I pled guilty to felony wire fraud. That’s not spin. That’s the truth.
And from the moment I walked out of the federal courtroom, I knew two things:
I could never return to who I was.
I owed it to everyone I’d failed to become something far better.
A Legal Conviction, and a Personal One
This wasn’t a case of getting caught in a gray area or pleading out a misunderstanding. I committed fraud. That’s on me. I believed I could fix it before it imploded. I told myself I’d make everyone whole. That illusion cost me everything: my credibility, my business, my reputation. When your name shows up in a DOJ press release, you don't get to manage the narrative. Your record becomes a permanent headline. Every conversation, every opportunity, is shadowed by it.
But it also forces clarity. And from that clarity, I rebuilt - committed to making whole anyone who suffered as a result of my actions.
Redemption, Re-earned in the Classroom
People talk about perseverance like it's a mindset. But perseverance, in its purest form, is mechanical. It's what you do after the hope runs out. After my indictment, I didn't just lose opportunities. I lost access. Academic institutions, once open doors, now saw me as a liability. Still, I applied to return to the University of Southern California, where I had completed my undergraduate degree in Real Estate Development. I was honest in my application. I didn’t hide from what happened. I didn’t justify it. I owned it.
USC readmitted me.
That alone would’ve been a victory. But I didn’t stop there. I set my sights on one of the most competitive academic programs in the country: Columbia University’s Master of Science in Real Estate Development. If there’s a gatekeeping institution in American finance, it’s the Ivy League. They knew about my record. And still, Columbia admitted me. Not because they overlooked the crime, but because they recognized the capacity for growth, rigor, and accountability.
I showed up. I delivered. I graduated with pride. Not as a man defined by his past, but as someone reshaped by it.
Quiet Pressure: The Family Behind the Fight
None of this happened in a vacuum.
While rebuilding my life professionally and academically, I was also raising two young children. I had to show up as a father every single day. At the same time, I was navigating the isolation of pre-trial, the uncertainty of a federal case, the judgment of family, friends and former colleagues, and the internal war between shame and resolve.
Dinner still had to be made. School pickups still happened. There were birthdays, fevers, and late-night bedtime stories. My kids’ mother stood by me. Not because I was perfect, but because I became trustworthy again. There was no “win” that didn’t cost something. But I accepted the cost. Because rebuilding was the only option.
Back in the Arena: Standard Communities
The stigma of a felony is its own full-time obstacle.
Try re-entering high finance, especially real estate finance, after a federal conviction. Doors close. People go silent. Algorithms flag you. Yet somehow, I got hired by Standard Communities, one of the nation’s largest affordable housing developers. I didn’t get there by begging for a second chance. I got there by proving I was already holding myself to a higher standard than anyone else ever could. I wasn’t asking for redemption. I was executing on it.
That job wasn’t symbolic. It was earned. In one of the toughest labor markets in decades, with elite MBAs and analysts competing for fewer roles, I fought my way back in. And I delivered.
A Platform, Not Just a Project
Out of that season, Incorporated Partners was born.
It is the real estate investment firm I co-founded and the launchpad for a new category of residential real estate: transformative, service-driven, and status-aligned. Our first project will be called StateHouse. It is a forward-looking, luxury hospitality concept designed to serve high-performing students and emerging professionals. But make no mistake. This flagship development does not exist yet. We are preparing to raise capital for it now.
Why are we building it? Because I believe that the most powerful leverage in life isn’t money or pedigree. It is clarity. And StateHouse is designed to provide that clarity to people who are one step away from breakout success. The kind of people who just need one environment to shift everything. It is my story, made scalable.
The Real Value of Structure
The opposite of fraud is not compliance. It is structure. Real accountability. Daily rigor. High standards applied without excuse. That’s what saved me. And that’s what I want to build for others.
If You Take One Thing From This…
It’s this.
I’m not here to tell a sob story.
I’m here to build something that proves what’s possible when someone refuses to be defined by their lowest moment.
I re-entered academia.
I re-entered the industry.
I re-earned trust.
Now I’m building a platform designed for those with everything to gain and everything to prove.
This is not the end of my story.
It is the start of something far bigger.
