October 11, 2014
CNBC Interview – Painful Admissions of a White Collar Felon
I survived my interview with Andrew Sorkin yesterday. He was a gracious host and his presence made it easier to retell my painful story. I was honest, open and direct.
Once you have made a serious mistake, most people would simply like to accept responsibility for the mistake, suffer the consequences of the mistake, and try to put it in the past. For White Collar felons, this is easier said then done. As our mistakes are much more public in nature, everyone knows about the mistake and the mistake follows us around like our own personal rain cloud. Trying to hide from our mistake is futile. You can cover it up for a while but it pops right back up when you apply for a job or think about voting in an election. In addition, certain people (the haters) will repeatedly remind you and others of your mistake because they have deemed you unfit for the rest of your life because of your mistake.
With this knowledge, I am going to take a different approach. I am going to openly acknowledge and discuss my mistake and its severe consequences with people like Andrew Sorkin. I am going to write about my mistake and what drove me to make it. I figure if it is never going to go away, I need to make it part of my life and deal with it on an everyday basis. Perhaps someone will see that I have learned important lessons from my mistake and I am worthy of a second chance? Perhaps someone will read about my mistake and decide to avoid conduct similar to mine?
Repeating your story to the media is a very difficult thing to do. However, once you tell your story, you do not have to live in fear of someone finding out about your mistake because you have already exposed it!
Hiding your story is also a very difficult thing to do. You have to live in fear of someone discovering your mistake and incurring adverse consequences from such a discovery over and over again.
For everyone convicted of a white collar crime, You have to make the choice of how to deal with your mistake and your story.
Ken Flaska
