Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr.

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Your favorite friend group is back. FX's Adults follows five roommates living in New York, leaning on each other to navigate love, work, friendship and family. While tackling pressing questions of your 20s like, what if the person who inherited your fake ID is cooler than you ever were? Why does being around your family make you regress into your worst self? And how do you tell your roommates that you have other friends?

FX's Adults, all episodes now streaming on Hulu.

Theo Von (0:30)

He was one of the most prolific counterfeiters in America, printing over $10 million in fake currency. He spent 12 years in prison for his crimes, but now he's out and he's telling his story. And what a story it is, man. We're going to hear about it all and we're going to hear about where he's at today. We really got into it. Today's guest is Mr. Art Williams.

Yeah, dude, my friends were texting me the full moon about the full moon yesterday.

Arthur Williams Jr. (1:18)

Yeah, it's a partial lunar today. Yeah.

Theo Von (1:20)

Well, they're like, go look at the moon, you know?

Arthur Williams Jr. (1:22)

Yeah.

Theo Von (1:23)

And I feel like it's, I wonder if the moon feels embarrassed because everybody's looking at it at the same time. That's what I start to think, you know? Like if everybody was looking at me at the same time, like I would just feel so embarrassed, I feel like.

Arthur Williams Jr. (1:33)

Yeah, well, sometimes it feels like that.

Theo Von (1:34)

Yeah.

Arthur Williams Jr. (1:35)

But I look at the moon like a mirror.

Theo Von (1:36)

Yeah.

Arthur Williams Jr. (1:37)

Yeah, a reflection, right? Even last night in the room that you got me, hey, that room is dope. I got the dopest city view. Oh, nice. I woke up at like two in the morning and the moon was just looking at me.

Theo Von (1:46)

I was like, wow. Oh, that's a peeping tom, man.

Arthur Williams Jr. (1:49)

Yeah, it was peeping on me. The moon was a peeping tom this night.

Because the curtains were open, right? It was just sitting right there looking down. I'm like, whoa.

Theo Von (1:56)

I don't blame it, man. Art Williams, dude, we met in Chicago at the Gibson's restaurant.

Arthur Williams Jr. (2:04)

Yeah, we met at the Viagra Triangle.

Theo Von (2:07)

Yeah, dude.

Arthur Williams Jr. (2:08)

But there we are. Yeah, there we are.

Theo Von (2:10)

But dude, yeah, thanks so much for coming in. So just for our listeners who don't know, so in a past life, you were a counterfeiter.

Arthur Williams Jr. (2:17)

Yeah, printing money.

Theo Von (2:18)

Printed money.

Arthur Williams Jr. (2:19)

Not for the feds either.

Theo Von (2:20)

No.

Arthur Williams Jr. (2:21)

Yeah.

Theo Von (2:21)

For yourself.

Arthur Williams Jr. (2:22)

For myself. Yeah, that's what I like, bro. Hey, we need more of that. For sure now, right?

Theo Von (2:27)

Oh, dude, I think especially, look, if the government is just going to print it for themselves.

Arthur Williams Jr. (2:30)

Yeah, well, now they're going digital. They're going to print it through the digital coin, which is going to be even more trippy. Right.

Theo Von (2:36)

And I think, yeah, and we're going to get into some of that, dude. I want to talk about some of those things.

Arthur Williams Jr. (2:40)

Yeah, no, I printed money, man. When the 1996 hundred dollar bill came out, they said that it was impossible to replicate. And I was about, I don't know, it was probably like 24, 25

And so I said, man, I'm going to replicate it. I think I could. And my story goes back a little further because I grew up in the south side of Chicago.

Theo Von (3:00)

Yeah, take me there. Like looking back, are you able to see any things that made you think, OK, I'm going to head in this direction kind of?

Arthur Williams Jr. (3:05)

Oh, yeah.

Theo Von (3:05)

Like was you doing early crime or whatever?

Arthur Williams Jr. (3:07)

I was doing a lot of crimes. Yeah, early, you know, so when my dad.

Theo Von (3:10)

Early bird gets the wallet.

Arthur Williams Jr. (3:12)

And that's true, though. Well, we get the coins because I'd hit the meters.

Yeah, the meters on the side of the Halston Street. So that that was like my first crime. When we when my dad left us, my mom was she dealt with mental illness. She was diagnosed bipolar.

So she you know, she had to take lithium, you know, and she didn't take it. You know, well, once a year she would go into the hospital, right? And they'd have to get the levels back up and they put us in foster home. Right. So my youth growing. So when my dad took off and we ended up homeless and then ended up in the projects on the south side right by White Sox Park, you know, it was, I remember because we, you know, you're on welfare. My mom was on welfare. She wasn't working. For us, it was, I came home from school. It was cold. I come into the house and my mom's in the kitchen smoking and.