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Welcome to Unsolicited Perspectives 🎙️🔥💥

Bruce Anthony: Murder, mayhem and messiness with a few sprinkled in jokes. We gonna get into it. Let's get it.

Bruce Anthony: Welcome, first of all, welcome. This is Unsolicited Perspectives. I'm your host, Bruce Anthony. Here to lead the conversation in important events and topics that are shaping today's society. Join the conversation to follow us wherever you get your audio podcast. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for our video podcast and YouTube exclusive content rate review.

Like, comment, share, share with your friends, share with your family. Hell even share with your enemies. On today's episode, I'll be talking about the Karen Reed case Loan Sharking and a story from back in the day, but that's enough of the intro. Let's get to the show.

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Bruce Anthony: You know, I saw a funny meme and I, I want to, I'm gonna share this meme. I'm gonna share what the meme was, but I want to preface this by saying I respect cops. I, I truly, truly do. I respect cops, that it is a tough job. I remember talking to a firefighter and saying, Hey, I respect your jobs way more than I respect cops, because you know you're going into danger all the time.

And he corrected me. He was like, yeah, no fire is somewhat predictable. It's more predictable than human beings are. So you could do a routine simple traffic stop and it could end your life where we pretty much know what fires, like what we're walking into with fires, and I was like, oh, you know, that makes a very valid point.

So the meme was that nobody ever questions the fire department, meaning that, [00:02:00] you know, police are there to, uh, to serve and protect, and firefighters are there to put out fires and, and save lives. Nobody ever questions the fire department, never, but we're constantly questioning police. Why am I bringing all this up?

SHOCKING Murder Case: Was Karen Reed Framed? 🚨👮‍♀️⚖️

Bruce Anthony: Something came across my timeline and this was the Karen Reed case. Now, for most of you out there, you might already know about this Karen Reed case, 'cause it was a high profile case. I, on the other hand, was not paying attention to this high profile case, so I just became aware of it and I was watching it and it looked like something from Law and Order.

So for those people who don't know about the Karen Reed case, uh, the Karen Reed is a Massachusetts resident and a former financial analyst. She was at the center of a high profile criminal case, criminal case involving the 2022 death of a boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe. The case drew national attention due [00:03:00] to the dramatic allegations, conflicting narratives and criticisms.

The police investigation. So just as I give you this brief synopsis of what was going on, doesn't that sound like the plot from a Law and Order SVU Unit? Not even, maybe not even Law and Order, SVU, maybe the original Law and Order this looks like ripped from headlines. I wouldn't be surprised if, 'cause I haven't watched it in the last few years, if Law and Order SVU hasn't showcased this case on their show.

Because this was crazy. So what are the facts of the case? So John O'Keefe was 46. He was found fatally injured in the snow outside of the home of a retired police sergeant Brian Albert during a severe winter weather on January 29th, 2022. The medical examiner determined O'Keeffe died from blunt force trauma to the head with hypothermia as a contributing [00:04:00] factor.

The Case Against Karen: What Really Happened That Night? 🔍❄️💔

Bruce Anthony: What were the charges against Karen Reed? She was charged with second degree murder manslaughter, while operating under the influence of alcohol, leaving the scene of a accident resulting in death. What was the prosecution's case? The prosecutors alleged that Reed intoxicated and upset over the deterioration relationship with O'Keefe reversed her SOV.

V into him while dropping him off at at a party at Albert's house, then left in the D in snow. They argued that Reed's actions were intentional. Or reckless citing their troubled relationship and evidence since evidence such as broken taillight fragments and O'Keeffe's injuries. Okay, so what was the defense's case?

Plot Twist: Defense Claims Police Cover-Up! 😱🚔🤔

Bruce Anthony: I say defensive defense case. Reed's defense could, uh, contended that she was being framed as part of a coverup by members of law enforcement. To protect their colleagues. O'Keefe was assaulted inside the house and then placed outside rather than being struck by Reed's vehicle. The [00:05:00] investigation was flawed with alleged conflicts of interest, mishandling of evidence, and false and deceptive testimony from the police.

That's what the defense was saying. A retired forensic pathologist testified that O'Keefe's injuries were inconsistent with being hit by a heavy vehicle. She had two trials, okay, the first trial, and then in a mistrial after a hung jury. Then they tried her again a year later, which spanned over two months with extensive expert testimony, but no eyewitnesses or video evidence.

The Verdict That Shocked Everyone 🏛️⚖️💫

Bruce Anthony: Jury deliberations lasted four days. The verdict came back June 18th, 2025. Karen Re was acquitted of second degree murder, manslaughter, and all charges related to O'Keeffe's death. She, uh. She was convicted only of operating under the influence of alcohol and sentenced to one year probation. Probation, avoiding jail time.

So when I give you [00:06:00] all that information, and I said, this looks like a plot from Law and Order. It does. So you got a woman dating a police officer and they're saying the prosecution was saying that they were having some issues. She was so distraught and intoxicated that she dropped him off. She drove him to his friend's house, a retired police sergeant, so that they was going to party or whatever, probably gonna watch a game or something like that.

Right? Drove him to his, his partner's house, dropped him off, got mad, ran him over with the car, and then just dipped out. Right? And he died not only from. Force blunt trauma to the head, but also hypothermia, which means that he was out there for a while. That's what the prosecution said. The defense said, nah, homie.

The [00:07:00] evidence is not pointing to him being hit by a car. The evidence is pointing to the fact that they beat his ass up in the house and then dumped him outside to just tried to frame her. And then on top of that, they had some faulty evidence. Some faulty testimony, some bias as part of the investigation, and it looked like it was a police coverup.

Now, I'm not Matlock God, I'm dating myself. I'm not Matlock. I ain't no Perry Mason, but if one of my partners is coming over to my H house and he's supposed to be there at a certain time. He don't show up. I'm gonna call or text, right? If a man is hit by a car, so violently outside of your home, there should be a sound.

How is he going to fall? How is he going to [00:08:00] get hit? Lay out there? Not only die from blunt for force trauma to the head, but also hypothermia, which means that he was out there for a while. Didn't nobody hear him getting hit by a car? Didn't nobody pee out the window to see if his car was coming or something like that?

Nobody. Yeah, this sounded a little fishy to me, and the jury thought so too. So the defense and summative jurors highlighted inconsistencies in the police testimony and evidence handling, fueling public debate over the integrity of the investigation. I. Key points from the jurors, lack of direct evidence of a collision.

Jurors repeatedly stated that based on the evidence presented that they could not conclude a, a collision had taken place. One juror told a b, c news. I think with the evidence presented, a collision didn't occur, and that's all I'm letting myself consider another juror. Paul Lap. Pedro said we couldn't establish that there was a collision or that she was accountable for John's death.

The Commonwealth and the [00:09:00] investigators failed to fulfill their duties to demonstrate that to us. So sometimes people think cases are a slam dunk case, but here's the thing that I think a lot of people. Don't pay attention to when they hear reactions from juries or when they think that a person is, is just definitely guilty and a jury acquits.

It's gotta be beyond a reasonable doubt. That means it's up to the police and the prosecution that whatever holds the defense can poke in their case to be able to have an answer for that. Or else that leads reasonable doubt. If you tell me, Hey, look it, they didn't really prove that there was a collision.

They didn't really prove that he died from getting hit by the car. That's reasonable doubt. You got faulty testimony, you [00:10:00] got evidence. Problems with the evidence. What do I mean by that? So jurors scrutinized the prosecution's claim that damage to Reed's taillight matched O'Keeffe's injuries. Pedro explained we couldn't make the damage on the taillight, the original taillight, compatible with the injuries of his John O'Keeffe's body.

Another juror noted that the taillight was still visibly lit in the video. Footage after the alleged incident, which did not align with the persecution, with the prosecution's scenario, and then there was expert te testimony. The defense presented expert witnesses, including a former chief metal examiner and a biomechanic who testified that O'Keeffe's injuries were not consistent with being struck by a vehicle. The testimony cast further doubt on the prosecution's narrative. Then there was just the flawed and incomplete investigation. Jurors criticized the police investigation as sloppy and full of too many flaws. They cited gaps in the evidence, [00:11:00] ambiguous DNA findings and inconsistencies in investigation process as reasons that they could not convict. Pedro said. There were too many holes that we couldn't fill, and there is nothing that put her on the scene in our opinion, besides just her dropping John off.

And the burden of proof and reasonable doubt just weren't, just weren't. Convincing to the jury, the jury verdict was grounded in the principle of reasonable doubt. As one juror put it, the answers were not in the courtroom. They charged the wrong person with murder and that's why they lost The defense strategy emphasized that the per prosecution never proved a collision occurred, which jurors accepted as defense argument.

Then there was sloppy and unprofessional practices by the police department. Jurors and legal experts described the investigation as sloppy pointing to questionable evidence, collecting methods such as police using disposable cups to collect blood. Hold [00:12:00] on. I don't know if y'all heard me correctly. They said police used disposable cups to collect blood.

I've seen enough CSI Lord order SVU to know when you're collecting blood, there is a certain procedure and medical instruments use. To collect blood on the scene of a crime, not disposable cups. This was sloppy. That in and of itself would make me be like, look, I'm not convicting her. They collected blood samples from the disposable cups.

What they had, the red solo cups that they was using when they was drinking, watching the football game, and then they said, here, you can collect the blood with these cups. That's some of the dumbest ish I think I've ever heard in my entire life. Wow. And there was just the juror. Also, the jury also said there was just an unprofessional behavior by the investigators, including a lead [00:13:00] detective sending crude and biased messages about Karen Reed.

They eroded the trust and the integrity of the evidence. The credibility of the law enforcement team was undermined by these investigator flaws and by the lead investigators. Documented bias as one legal analyst noted the credibility of the law enforcement team faltered primarily due to the problematic investigation.

So I go back to my original point. Nobody ever questions the fire department, right? Like not really. Firefighters go and save lives and put out fires. It's pretty simple for us when it comes to the police. And once again, I have friends. Who are police. Okay. I've had family members that's been police or been in law enforcement.

I'm not anti-police. I'm anti-corruption police, [00:14:00] and it seems like from this investigation, and I and I, I've watched enough TV shows, watched enough verse 48 and read enough documents to realize the pressure that. These investigators and detectives are on to solve these crimes as quickly as possible and, and also there's hubris and ego associated with I'm Right.

It takes a hell of a person to come up with a conclusion, realiz that they're wrong at some point, or even acknowledge that they're wrong, and then change course. Most people don't want to admit what they're wrong, and so this happens with cops and they get a bug up their butt for one particular suspect, and they're going to make the case fit even when it doesn't fit.

And in this case, the facts of the case, they just didn't fit Karen [00:15:00] Reed and she got off. And why was it such a big deal? Because of the corruption in the police department. And this was the Boston Police, right? Boston Police. We know that the Boston BI has had some shaky stuff going all the way to white Whitey Bulger.

But uh, like if you want to get credibility backing what you do as far as law enforcement is concerned, this blue wall has to end. You have got to confront each other. Knowing that a few bad apples spoils the bunch and get those bad apples outta there, I'm getting tired of people saying It's a few bad apples, a few bad apples, spoils the bunch, and you don't have credibility.

How is this police department, I'm gonna go out there and be able to conduct investigations and solve crimes after a case like this where the theory from the [00:16:00] defense was. They beat him down in the house and dropped him outside and tried to pin the murder on Karen Reed. That's, that's what the defense case is.

And you know what? That makes way more sense than her driving him to his people's house. Who are cops? Okay. They're cops. They're all cops. So she's driving them to a cop's house. She gets so mad that she runs them over and injects.

That is ridiculous.

Shockwaves & Outrage: The Internet Reacts to the Verdict 🌊😱🔥

Bruce Anthony: Okay, so what's been the public reaction in the aftermath? Aftermath the case attracted significant public support for Reed and widespread criticism of the investigation with some believing that she was targeted to protect police colleagues. Hmm. Uh, Reed and her attorneys have maintained her innocence the call for further investigation and know Keith's actual cause of death.

The verdict has left some questions [00:17:00] unresolved, and the case remains a subject of public scrutiny and media coverage and. I can't help but stress it. Again, credibility.

Little known fact about me.

Confessions of a Would-Be Detective: My Real Talk on Cops & Credibility 🚔🕵️‍♂️💭

Bruce Anthony: I wanted to be a detective when I was a little kid. I wanted to be a cop. I knew as I got older that my anger was such, and I really don't like people getting picked on, and I really hate to see bad things happen to good people. That there was going to be only so much that I would be able to see before I turned vigilante or anti-hero or turn into the Punisher, right?

Like I, I know me and I knew this wouldn't be a good mix, but. I wanted to be a detective because I'd seen, you know, you grew up in the eighties and the nineties and cops were cool, like lethal weapon, right? Like I wanted to be lethal weapon, you know, [00:18:00] I wanted to be, uh, the, the equalizer. He wasn't a cop, but he solved crimes and helped people.

That's what I wanted to be. That's who I wanted to do. So I wanted to be a detective until I had personal. Experiences with the police, and not all of them have been bad. I'm not going to say that, but some of them have been really bad. Some of them have been very bad. Some of them have been situations where people were given a badge and that badge made them feel powerful and they've responded in a certain way, not maintaining command, which is what police officers are supposed to do.

Not that, but people that were probably picked on in school, now they got a little bit of power and now they're going to flaunt that power. And I've had those experiences a few times, a few bad apples, spoils the bunch. You can't say it's just [00:19:00] a few bad apples. Anytime you talk about integrity in the police department.

Because it puts it on the entire police department. So now Boston has some cleaning up to do. They do because from everything that I've learned about this case, they definitely didn't prove that she was the murderer. Now, could she have been? Sure. She definitely could have been, but you know. So more likely that they beat him down, killed him.

It's probably a fight in the house. Somebody hit him too hard, he fell, hit his head on something died. And so them being the, the man in the house, being a, a retired police sergeant, probably had done numerous investigations through the years, said, this is what we're going to do and we're going to put it on his, his old lady.[00:20:00]

Because that's probably what a retired police sergeant would say, you know, from Boston. And he would say his old lady, that that seems about right. You want credibility back. You want us to respect the badge because the badge doesn't automatically give you respect. Respect isn't given. Respect is earned, and respect can be lost, so you have to earn it back.

And congratulations Karen Reed for beating the case. You know I always like to see people beat cases where it looks like you know they're being railroaded. So shout out to Karen and get back out there and get in that financial world. I would su the police department. You got off sue the police department because how they gonna try and collect blood and disposable cups?

Yo, that is crazy to me. That is absolutely crazy. But I'm not done with talking about crime. I said murder and mayhem, [00:21:00] and we gonna talk about lone sharking next.

Bruce Anthony: You know, the government always persecutes certain establishments, certain actions, and then after a certain period of time, the government adopts those actions and make it legal.

From Underground to Mainstream: The Evolution of Gambling 🎲🕰️💵

Bruce Anthony: Lemme give you a history. The user be a thing called the Spanish lottery and running numbers. It was a big thing beginning of the 20th century and 19th century when it was essentially the lottery.

Right? Um, one of the examples were, is that horse races would end, this would be a certain grouping of numbers, three numbers. People in the neighborhoods would. Place a [00:22:00] penny, a nickel, dime, whatever, as a bet. Play the numbers. If their number hit, they got a payout lottery. It was illegal. It was people got rich.

Madame St. Clair from Harlem later got taken over by Bumpy Johnson. The Italians ran it. Jewish people ran it. Almo had Spanish people and Spanish Harlem and the Bronx. Uh, going to Chicago, like numbers have always, the numbers have always been a thing. You know the numbers as Mega Millions and Powerball, same thing.

What used to be illegal and still is if it isn't authorized by the government, is now absolutely legal and the government is making money off of it. Prohibition is another prime example. Now, alcohol was legal before prohibition. Prohibition made a lot of poor people, rich. Also put those liquor companies outta [00:23:00] business.

The liquor companies couldn't deal with this. Then prohibition was repealed. All those people that were making the money off of prohibition were pushed out. The liquor companies and beer comforters, beer companies took at control. Plain is simple, right? Said We're losing too much money. People love alcohol.

Alcohol people are not gonna stop drinking alcohol. We gonna go ahead and bring this back. You know where else you see it? Marijuana. Marijuana been illegal all my life until recently. It's still not technically legal. It's decriminalized, but you see it's a booming business for these dispensaries and grow farms and all types of stuff.

Mexicans were smuggling marijuana. Jamaicans were smuggling marijuana. Other people from Canada smuggling marijuana into the US [00:24:00] for decades. Decades. Now they realize after 70, 80, 90 years, they can't stop people from smoking marijuana. And there's also some health benefits, so there's some money in it for them.

So what did they do? Well, we're going to decriminalize it and people can get rich for who's getting rich. Not your man, not your plug from back in the day in the nineties that you had to go into, you know, sketchy area and go get you a dime bag. Or if you was really doing it a quarter of some weed, hope it was good.

Hope that you ain't get robbed. Nah, you can go into a store now 'cause it's all controlled by the government. Where am I going with all of this? Because I started off by saying loan sharking. Loan sharking is a thing. Predatory business practices is a thing, and there's something happening that you might [00:25:00] not be aware of that I'm gonna hip you to.

And you might come to the conclusion, that doesn't affect me. I don't care about it. Or These people are stupid for falling for this. But there's a bigger issue at hand. So, what am I talking about?

Financial Predators: How They Target the Vulnerable 🎯💸😔

Bruce Anthony: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the CFPB has dropped a significant number of enforcement actions, at least 18 lawsuits against financial firms previously accused of predatory abuse. Deceptive practices, these cases, targeted companies involved in subprime auto lending, student loan servicing, and other financial services.

The move was prompted strong criticism from consumer advocates who argue that it leads millions of Americans including vulnerable populations like students, military families, and working class borrowers exposed to financial exploitation. I. [00:26:00] What does this all mean? So like I said, the CFPB dismissed. 18 enforcement lawsuits, including major cases against some prime auto lenders like Credit Acceptance Corporation and Student Loan Services, such as the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistant Agency, PHAA.

Okay. These actions were part of a broader rollback with reports indicating that up to 38 enforcement actions were halted or abandoned. The Credit Acceptance Corporation was described as predatory, routinely suing borrowers for large sums and initiating hundreds of legal proceedings against individuals each month. The P-H-E-A-A was accused of illegally collecting debts from borrowers who had already discharged these debts in bankruptcy, targeting some of the poorest Americans.

Other drop cases involved companies like Capital One, rocket Homes and solo funds, [00:27:00] which were accused of cheating customers out of billions, misrepresenting loan costs and making false threats to collect money not owed. So I talked about loan sharking. I'll make the connection later, but I just want to frame these companies and frame what's happening here.

So there is an organization. Okay, and this organization is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Their job is to make sure that they go after companies who are purposely predatory in their financial actions. In other words, giving ridiculous loans. At ridiculous interest rates and in trying to collect an illegal matters or skating the law, if I've already declared in bankruptcy [00:28:00] this as part of my debt, you can't still try to collect on the money.

They're throwing threats out there. They're suing everybody to get this money back. And I know what people are gonna say. You borrowed the money, pay the money back. That's not what's going on here, right? Yes. You borrow money, you pay it back. I'm a big proponent of pay what you owe. However, if I borrow money from you and you set terms that are absolutely ridiculous because you know that I have no other means of getting money or.

Or I borrow money from you and then after I borrowed money from you, you change the terms of the agreement, which has happened with these companies. That's not right. That's not fair. And then when I come to you and say, hold up man, that wasn't what I agreed to when I borrowed this money, or that's the agreement now.

No, screw you. I ain't paying you back your money. Alright, well I tell you what, since you ain't gonna pay me back my money, I'm going to ruin your life. Every [00:29:00] possible. Well, that's all right. I'm just gonna file for bankruptcy because the reason why I borrowed this money was to get me outta some debt. But all you're trying to do is screw me over more, so I'm just gonna file for bankruptcy.

It don't matter if you file for bankruptcy, I'm still gonna collect that money. How you gonna collect the money? When I put it in my debt as part of my bankruptcy, you can't collect after that. I'm gonna do it anyway. I'm gonna take you to court and sue you. Well, I mean, I don't have no money in the first place, so I can't even go to court and hire a lawyer.

I'm gonna get my money. This is what they're doing. I'm gonna make the connection to loan sharking in a minute. So why is this a big deal? Critics argue that abandoning these cases removes critical safeguards for consumers allowing financial predators to operate with impunity and exposing working families.

Military members and older Americans to further harm, notice who they're targeting. They're targeting the most vulnerable. Some of y'all [00:30:00] out there got some bread. Congratulations. Not everybody is in your predicament. I know a, a acquaintance of mine once said, if I lose money, I can go out there and make more great for you.

That's not always the case for everybody when they lose money. They can't just make more, they can't just replace it. Like they didn't lose money. Sometimes people run into hard times. I could tell you personally, my divorce was extremely expensive and I got into debt. Wasn't something that I wanted. Just so happens that I paid for a wedding and a divorce within a full year.

So, I mean, that kind of is what did it. But yeah, no, I was in real debt. I got a loan. From my father to help me pay my taxes because I was paying taxes on a joint situation when I was no longer joint paying taxes, married, taxes when I was now [00:31:00] separated. 'cause I had to, because you know the tax situation, we ain't gonna get into my particular situation, but I had to, I had to borrow a little bit of bread.

I paid my dad back though. And I went into him saying, Hey, let's work out an agreement. Here's a contract, here's interest rate. He was like, I'm not gonna charge you interest, son. I said, dad, this, I'm a grown man. You know, interest on the loan that you're giving me because this was money that could've set in your savings account that you would've gained interest on.

Just because I'm in a situation doesn't mean that you need to miss out on it. He was like, okay, so now look, I respect you, but I'm saying you don't have to do it. I said, I want to do this. And we had a con. We drew up a con. I created a contract. It was agreeable to both of us, and I paid my dad back. Right Now what these companies are doing, that's not my father, it's somebody else.

It's a company. Because I can't go to my father, [00:32:00] right? I can't go to anybody else. I gotta go to these lenders and I need a loan. And they say, sure, we'll give you a loan 'cause I need it, right? I gotta, I gotta pay my taxes so I need it. They say, we're gonna charge you 35% interest. Woo, that's pretty steep, but I ain't got no choice 'cause I gotta take this loan.

Then they come back. Well, interest rates have changed. We gotta charge you 50% interest. What? That's not what we agreed to. Yeah, well things have changed now. So it's 50%. Well, no, I'm gonna pay the 35%. Well, if you only pay the 35%, your payments are gonna be short or lacking. That means they'll be late and there'll be more fees on attacked on top of that.

Predators in Pinstripes: The Dark Side of Lending Unmasked 🦈💸🚨

Bruce Anthony: And oh by the way, every payment that you make is only paying. The interest is not on a principle. There needs to be an organization, hence that there is to attack these companies. But the organization being directed, nah. Don't [00:33:00] even go after these companies. Let it ride. Let it ride. Let it ride. Attacking the most vulnerable, right?

Working families, military members, older Americans, that's who it's attacking. The CFPB enforcement actions historically returned nearly $20 billion to consumers. The these rollbacks, threaten those protections and financial recoveries. Why are they deciding to drop these cases? What could possibly be the benefit?

For this organization dropping the cases.

Major Leadership Changes Expose Shocking Truth 🔄💼💣

Bruce Anthony: Well, the mass dismissals of cases followed the appointment of Trump aligned leadership at the CFPB, including active director Russell Vault, who issued a stop work order on enforcement activity. The agency has also experienced mass firings, office [00:34:00] closures and significant contract cancellations, undermining its ability to function as a consumer.

Lemme repeat that As a consumer watchdog. Since the leadership changed the CFP B'S daily processing of consumer complaints has dropped by 80% with thousands of complaints about fraud and scams going unanswered. The agency's retreat from enforcement is seen as a violation of its congressional mandate to protect consumers from financial abuse.

Did you hear what I said? Their congressional mandate is to protect consumers from financial abuse. Trump appointed people are scaling back the enforcement. Why? Why would they do something like that? Why? Well, didn't Trump get sued for multiple scams like this? Didn't he have [00:35:00] Trump University? Right?

Weren't there other scams that he was found guilty of? He was found guilty on a lot of this stuff. So instead of doing the congressional mandate, they're going to slow roll everything and allow these companies to be predatory and go against the very people that voted for 'em. And most people don't have any idea this is going on because we're worried about the big stuff.

We're worried about tariffs. Trade wars, war in Ukraine, war in Gaza, now war Iran and is, and and between Iran and Israel. Big things that we should be worried about, but this affects the working man, the working woman families, the military members, older people, the most vulnerable in our society. [00:36:00] Okay, now I said something.

About loan sharking, right? And at the start, I said, the government typically looks at something that's illegal, says, oh, this is profitable, then makes it illegal, then makes it legal, and then runs with it. These companies are loan sharking. That's all it is. How, how are they paralleled? Both loan sharks and these financial firms in the dropped CFPB cases target individuals who are financially vulnerable, such as those with poor credit, low income, or urgent cash needs.

These groups often lack assets to mainstream credit, making them susceptible to abuse lending.

How a Free T-Shirt Cost Me $1,500: My College Credit Card Horror Story 👕💳😬

Bruce Anthony: Okay, so lemme give you [00:37:00] another story. I was in college. Freshman year, first year in college, one of the first weekends. Right. I'm working at the, at the University of Maryland, walking on the mall. They have all these different platforms out there for fraternities and different groups, and everybody's out there mingling.

I'm, I'm trying to figure out, catch the vibe, you know, am I gonna be a part of the social community? Well, I'm just gonna focus on grades. Of course, I was gonna be a part of the social community. I ain't joined no groups, but you know, I'm. Was in and outta some things. Anyway, this person walks up to me and says, do you want a free T-shirt?

Hell yeah, I want a free T-shirt. All you gotta do is fill out this application. I'm 18 years old, though. I did score pretty high on my SATs, and I do consider myself pretty intelligent. All I heard was free t-shirt. Fill out this application. Well, in about six weeks, checking my mail, what comes in the mail for me is a credit card.

[00:38:00] Had no idea. How I applied for a credit card Wasn't that much. It was only $500, but I had no credit experience, wasn't a class that I taught and I don't know that my parents knew that I had a credit card at this particular time, or else they would've pulled me aside and explained what a credit card is.

In my mind, free money, I'll pay it, but I don't gotta pay it right away. I maxed out that card within a month. I. One month, $500 in 1998 you think would go really far, but doesn't go that far. Didn't check the interest rate. It was one of those student credit cards that have high interest rates. Credit card companies were preying on college kids.

I eventually paid off That credit card balance was like $1,500, so that's what eventually took for me to pay off that credit card. So they gimme 500, they get an [00:39:00] extra thousand. That's, that's a winning combination. Preying on the financially vulnerable.

Loan Sharks vs. Legal Crooks: Who’s Really After Your Wallet? 🦈⚖️💰

Bruce Anthony: Another ways that these companies and loan sharking are similar.

Excessive high interest rates. Loan sharks are notorious for, for charging, exorbitant and often illegal interest rates. They're always illegal, sometimes hundreds of percentage points annually. Similarly, many of these predatory lenders and drop in these drop cases impose high interest rates. And hidden fees, making it nearly impossible for borrowers to escape the debt.

This is the American way to be in debt. You can't do nothing in this country without credit. And when you think about it, credit is the enemy you are going to let mean you're gonna lend me money or say I have access [00:40:00] to this type of money that I have to pay back. Per an interest rate, unless I pay off the balance each month, which means that even if I pay off the balance each month, there's gonna be a month where something happens and I'm gonna have to charge more than what I normally would charge, and I'm not gonna be able to pay it off.

Interest rates starting to kick in, and when it's a high interest rate, woo, it could be gruesome. Same thing with a loan shark. Loan sharks start off with the high interest rates. These predatory companies, high interest rates. These, this, these are the connections here. All right. Deceptive and abusive loan terms.

Loan sharks frequently mislead borrowers by the true cost of loans, high in terms or changing cons, conditions after the fact. These dropped enforcement cases involved firms accused of similar deceptive tactics, such as misrepresenting loan costs, packing loans with unnecessary [00:41:00] products, or failing to disclose crucial information.

Lemme tell you another story. I got a bunch of stories. The first computer I had at college was a computer that my parents gave me. Boom, no big deal. I needed a, a better computer. Second year in college, or I felt like I needed a better computer the second year in college. I wanted a fancier computer, so I went to Best Buy.

I'm not throwing Best Buy under the bus, but I went to Best Buy and Best Buy had these deals, whereas you would get these computers by signing up from, from for some little software. So you sign up for a little software. Typically they were like one of the internet companies or something like that. You sign up for one of the little softwares, you get a major discount on a computer, like half the price.

So instead of the computer being $800, you get $400. Here's the problem. The problem is when that software bill comes in the first couple of months. [00:42:00] It's a trial. Right, but it's not a trial because you agreed to pay this software for three years. That's, it's probably in the fine print. It was more than likely in the fine print, but you're not reading it all you're reading is half off.

I paid for a service that I never used, and the first three months was reasonable. Then the bad boy, full price kicked in and we're talking $60 a month. Now, multiply 60 by 30 months. Say, say this first six months was a trial, multiply 60 by 30 months. What is that? What is that? Ladies and gentlemen? What is that? That's $1,800 for an $800 computer. 1800 more dollars on top of the 400 already spent predatory. What's another example of loan sharking in these predatory companies? Aggressive and abusive collection practices. Traditional [00:43:00] loan sharks are infamous for using threats, intimidation, or violence to collect debts.

While most. Most regulated financial firms do not use physical violence. Many predatory lenders have been accused of relentless, aggressive, and sometimes unlawful collection tactics, such as repeated lawsuits, harassment or false threats to collect on debts not owed. There's also a lack of transparency.

Loan sharks operate outside of the law with no form of contracts or regulatory oversight. Predatory lenders who are often technically legal, frequently skirt the edges of regulation, exploiting loopholes or operation or operating in jurisdictions. In jurisdictions with weak enforcement. The drop of the F of the CFPB cases highlight how regulatory treatment can allow such practices to proliferate.

So by not going [00:44:00] after these companies. More companies are gonna be like, oh, they ain't coming after us. Let's get 'em. Which is gonna harm more people? So both loan sharking and predatory lending can trap borrowers and cycles of debt stripping them of assets, equity and financial stability. Borrowers may be forced to take out new loans to repay old ones, depending on their financial distress.

Look, it's the same thing. And now Trump and the administration are saying, don't even go after these companies. Leave 'em alone. Let's drop all these cases that we have. There are still ags attorney generals. The Attorney general for New York is still going after these companies. But guess what? The only helps the plaintiffs that are New York residents and who does this help?

It helps people. Like the grifter in chief and people like [00:45:00] him grift people outta billions of dollars. And I know you're saying, well, you don't have to borrow the money sometimes. You gotta borrow the money. Be thankful. If you can't identify with this scenario, that means that you are privileged in the fact that you don't.

You're never put in this type of situation where you need to borrow money. Be thankful. You might be lucky. That you never, ever, ever have to deal with something like this. You're privileged acknowledge that and just realize there are some people that are not in the same boat, and these people are being predators. They're companies that are looking to do this to hurt people, and the administration is saying, go ahead, do what you gotta do.

What do you think about that? Don't you think that that's wrong? Don't you think that that's mad shady. O [00:46:00] Yeah. I had to go back from 1970s. That's mad. Shady. OI don't know. I'm just giving you the information. Do what it that you will, but I could tell you that this organization has been put in place specifically.

And really helping a lot of service members because they're underpaid, taking out these loans just to function in life. There was a crackdown not too long ago where these lending companies couldn't do this, and this administration is saying that they can come back. Hey man, you gotta have credibility sometimes.

And when you do something like this. Shows me you have a real strong lack of credibility and accountability.

Bruce Anthony: Okay.

Epic Basketball Story: The Day My Eye Almost Fell Out! 🏀👁️😅

Bruce Anthony: Story [00:47:00] time. I don't really, I rarely get embarrassed all my life. Me getting embarrassed wasn't really a thing because I don't really take myself too seriously. But there was one time in a basketball game I was absolutely embarrassed, so I'm a sophomore. And we're playing a game that we really need to win because we need to make it to the playoffs.

And all I want to do is play in the playoffs. Uh, you know, I'm like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Not really, but I, I just wanna win and I want a chance at the championship. And one thing that I always regret from high school is, has never winning in a state championship. But, um, in this particular game, we're playing a, a rival team that's way, way, way out the way, like it's three, four hours away and they're not very good.

But then again, we're not very [00:48:00] good because half our team flunked off all, almost all of our upperclassmen and our main starting player flunked off the team. So we're not that good and we're battling to make it to the playoffs. I'm in the game and I've told a story. I've told you guys that, uh, I'm real particular by my eyes.

I have this weird, I must have seen something as a, a kid in a movie or a TV show. An unreasonable fear I have Is my eyes popping outta my head? I, I. Don't know why I have this fear. I have this fear. It probably comes from the torture video from the Jacksons in the Victory album where my man puts his hand in the eyeball.

I don't know, okay. But I have a thing where eyeballs, and I'm scared to death that one day my eyeballs gonna fall outta my head with dangling on the little string, and I gotta put it back. You know, I have nightmares about this. This is a real unrealistic fear. So I'm playing in this basketball game and the game is [00:49:00] tight.

The game is tight. I'm playing pretty, I'm playing pretty decently, not great, but you know, pretty decently, right? And I go in for a rebound and our center was a senior and he didn't flunk off. The team literally is the strongest person in the world now. He wasn't, but to me he was. He was one of the strongest people in the world.

And we both go for the rebound and his arms flail back, and his hand or arms hits me in the face. I fall to the ground. Why? He hit me directly in the eye. But not only do I fall to down to the ground, I grab my eye because to me, my eyeball's about to pop out my head, and I run all the way down to the other end of the court holding my eye.

Nothing's wrong with my eye, but in my mind, my eye is about to come outta the outta my head. So I run all the way down to the other end of the [00:50:00] court there. There's no play on the other end of the court. The play is still on the court that I ran from. I just run in pain all the way down to the other end of the court.

They subbed me out. I sit on the bench. The trainer's like, what's going on? I get hit in the eye. My eyes about to fall out. That's a, that's literally verbatim what I said. I got hit in the eye. My eyes about to fall out. He said, well, open your eyes. Let me see. I said, I can't because if I open my eyes. My eyes are gonna fall out my head.

He said, Bruce, your eyes are not gonna fall out your head, open your eyes. So they're sitting down on the Brent, on the bench, the assistant coach. 'cause my head coach is coaching the game and he's frustrated with me. He's like, Bruce, your eyeball's not gonna fall out your head. No, it's gonna fall out my head.

As soon as I open up my eye, it's gonna fall out and it's just gonna be dangling from the string. Are y'all gonna be able to put it back in? Because I don't know if y'all gonna be able to put it back in and let me tell you something, I can't live being one eye, Bruce. That's not going to be a thing that [00:51:00] I'm gonna be able to deal with.

I have a little bit of an ego, and I don't want to be one eye. Bruce, I, there was a guy that was in my high school, he had a glass eye. You think that we didn't joke on him about that glass eye? Now he whooped a couple of people's ass. And so we joked on him behind his back because we were afraid of him.

If I really, I, I knew how to box. I was just gonna get in his blind spots if I really had to fight him. But anyway, eventually after 10 to 15 minutes, the game is still going on. Right? 10 to 15 minutes. They, they finally get me to open my eyes and they're like, Bruce, can you see? I was like, yeah. You know, it's a little blurry.

It was like, because you got water and sweat in your eyes, let's flush your eyes out and see if your eye swells up. My eye doesn't swell up. This happened in the first half. Probably the second quarter, right? So it happened in the first half of the game. I'm sitting on the bench till really the fourth quarter.

'cause I'm nursing my eye. Mind you, it's a [00:52:00] game that we need to win. We need to win this game to make it to the playoffs. If we lose a game, I think we had one more game, but it's, it's not quite do or die, but it's do or die. If we win the game, we're guaranteed to be in the playoffs. If we lose the game, we have to win another game to get into the playoffs.

Okay. Fourth quarter comes around. I'm like, coach, I'm ready. He was like, I don't, I don't think you ready after the way you was acting, which I, I was like, look, coach, put me in the game. We need, we need to be in the game. We're down. We were down in the game. I was like, put me in the game, coach put me in the game.

He says, okay, Pany, get in there. Cut.

He says, okay, Bruce, get in there. So I get in there. We're down. I throw up a three pointer. I was a shooter, so I throw up a three pointer. It doesn't go in, but it feels good. Y'all out there who have never played basketball, there's a feeling that you [00:53:00] get when you're shooting the basketball. It feels good.

And although I missed it, it felt good and I was like, oh, I'm gonna hit the next one. So I come down next play of the game. They pass me the ball, I throw up a three, goes in, cut the lead down a little bit. Then, uh, there was a fast break and I pull up NBA range, get the pass on the fast break, pull up for a three, drill it.

This is all in the fourth quarter, and this is all with like under two minutes remaining. I hit three, three pointers in the last minute. It was in the newspaper. It was a big deal. One of the three pointers I hit, I grabbed a defensive rebound off a free throw. I dribbled the length of the court and pulled up Steph Curry.

Now y'all may think I'm exaggerating. I'm not. This is a true story. My eye almost fell outta my head, and in the fourth quarter, I'm knocking down three pointers to put this back in the game. Now we ended [00:54:00] up losing the game. So I was distraught. So not only is my eye about to pop out my head, we lose the game.

So I'm in the locker room, the coach is talking, I put my head in my shirt and I start bawling. 'cause I, I know the season's over with, like, I know the season's over. We got another game, but I know the season's over with. I know it is, and I didn't want the season to end like this. This is my sophomore year.

To me, I only got two more years to win a state championship and I wanted to win four straight state championships, and I'm down two years already, so I'm crying. My boy, my best friend at the time was like, Hey man, he played on JV team. He's like, Hey man. Did you have to run the length of the court? I was like, whatcha talking about when you got hit in the face?

I was like, Hey man, I don't know what you know, but my eye was about to [00:55:00] fall outta my head. I put my eye back in my head and made those three pointers, um, to bring us close. I mean, we still lost. So those three pointers don't mean nothing, but I still did it. We were riding the bus and he is like, Hey man, what's that white stuff on your chin and neck?

I was like, I don't know. I started brushing it off. It was dried snot. He said, not only did you run down the whole length of the court, but you got dried snot on your cheek and neck. How did that even happen? I was like, it must have happened when I was crying. You was crying. Why were you crying? I was crying.

'cause we lost the game. I. We done lost a bunch of games. You crying over this one, I was like, man, we not gonna make it to the playoffs. You still got a shot. That wouldn't mean that you need to cry and leave snot and, and at that dried snot all on your cheek in your neck. AO Bruce got dry snot on his cheek in his neck after running down the court.

Hey, I ran down the court to protect my eyeball. I don't know what running down the full length of the court to protect my eyeball did. But it, you know, for me in that moment, I needed to run the full length of the [00:56:00] court to protect my eyeball. Guess what? My eyeballs are still here now. I can't say anything about that dried snot, which is disgusting.

How did snot get on my cheek and neck? Like I don't even know how that was possible. I wasn't like I was wiping my nose and then putting it on my cheek and neck like it's cologne. How the hell did that happen? Well, my dad picks me up 'cause it's like a three hour ride from where we were playing. My dad picks me up.

It's like past midnight. He's like, how'd the game go? I said, we lost. And he is like, I'm sorry to hear that son drive home. As I go to bed, I get a knock on the door, next thing in the morning. And he was like, why didn't you tell me? Tell you what you told me. Y'all lost. We did lose. Yeah, but you didn't tell me what you did at the end of the game.

I was like, what? He was like, son, it's here in the newspaper. You hitting all these three pointers to bring the game close and y'all just didn't pull it out. But this [00:57:00] is incredible. I was like, I don't care, dad, we lost. He was like, all right, well you know you did well so you should be proud about that. And I was like, I'm not proud.

We lost. Then my dad saw the videotape 'cause he wanted to see the game. He wanted to see his son knocking down all his three pointers. But he couldn't get past the second quarter 'cause he said, no, that's not my son running the full length of the court. What happened, son? I said, my eyeball was about to pop outta my head.

And that's my story.

Oh my goodness.

Don't Leave Yet! Subscribe & Join the Family 🔔❤️🙌

Bruce Anthony: But on that note, ladies, gentlemen, I want to thank you for listening. I want to thank you for watching, and until next time, as always. I holler.

Woo. That was a hell of a show. Thank you for rocking with us here on Unsolicited Perspectives with Bruce Anthony. Now, before you go, don't forget to [00:58:00] follow, subscribe, like, comment, and share our podcast. Wherever you're listening or watching it to it, pass it along to your friends. If you enjoy it, that means the people that you rock, we'll enjoy it also.

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Audi 5,000 Peace.