Arthur Williams Jr.

Williams says he now views his money-based artwork as historical preservation because paper currency will soon disappear.

“soon there won't be currency. Soon there won't be paper currency, you know? Right. And so for me, it's almost like I'm preserving history through my pieces”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 2:14:07

Williams says his regrets concern his family rather than the businesses he passed fake money to, since he felt no guilt about the money itself.

“the things that I regret are more family. I didn't sell drugs and I wasn't into all that other stuff”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 2:00:24

Williams says he donated counterfeit cash and goods to Salvation Army drop boxes and struggling families, and describes that as among the best periods of his life.

“I would just tell Natalie, listen, just get diapers, baby clothes, baby shoes, baby toys. Let's go drop them off”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 54:46

Williams says he deliberately spent counterfeit notes at large chains rather than small businesses so losses would fall on corporations.

“I don't want to go hit a mama pop with a bogus hunter, you know, because I don't want it to pop up on them in their bank and then they get it”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 58:50

Williams says his first successful bill frightened him because he felt he had replicated the government's source of power.

“I'm like, man, they'll kill us. They'll kill us. I actually told them, they'll kill us for this, man. Like, this is their power”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 51:49

Williams says he used the U.S. patent office to obtain schematics for bank counting machines and to identify the supplier of the government's color-shifting ink.

“I literally defeated the bill by using their own knowledge”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 50:47

Williams says roughly 78 percent of people released from prison return, and that his own trajectory is unusual.

“sadly, almost 78% of people go back. Small percentage of us that make it out”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 1:58:07

Williams says he and his son were housed in the same prison dorm and that the two and a half years there taught him to be a father.

“And that's where I learned to become a dad, man. The next two and a half years, man”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 1:54:56

Williams says his father died of a heart attack on the morning of the day he was released from his first federal sentence.

“the day I got out of prison, he died. No. Yeah, had a heart attack”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 1:35:34

Williams says his father's wife acted as the confidential informant who led the Secret Service to him, and that she received a longer sentence than he did after pleading insanity.

“And then she was the confidential informant. But when she went to court, she pleaded insanity”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 1:34:58

Williams argues a programmable digital dollar would let authorities restrict what and when people can buy, citing the frozen accounts of Canadian trucker protesters.

“It's all programmable, which means they can say, hey, you can't buy gas on Tuesdays. And guess what? Your card will not work on Tuesdays”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 2:03:35

Williams predicts the U.S. financial system cannot be repaired and that a reset in the form of a digital dollar is coming.

“There's going to have to be a reset. There's going to have to be some sort of, and that's what the digital dollar is going to be, right? It's going to be a reset”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 2:03:20

Williams says watching a cashier verify a bill with only a detection pen convinced him the whole system could be beaten by defeating the pen.

“I just got to beat the marker. Just got to beat the marker, right? That's the only thing on my mind. I just got to beat that because nobody's looking at it”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 33:07

Williams says he set out to replicate the 1996 $100 bill precisely because authorities declared it impossible to duplicate.

“When the $1,996 bill came out, they said that it was impossible to replicate. And I was about, I don't know, I was probably like 24, 25. And so I said, man, I'm gonna replicate it”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 2:12

Williams says he finds the shift to digital currency more alarming than artificial intelligence, which he thinks is overhyped.

“I get more nervous about that than AI. I think AI is kind of a little bit of hoaxy because the shit don't really work well”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 2:15:00

Williams argues that ornate 19th-century banknote designs were intended to persuade holders of gold to accept paper currency.

“them old timers didn't want to give up their gold. Right. So they had to make the paper look valuable”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 2:11:02

Williams characterizes counterfeiting as an addiction, saying he continued printing even while being paid to speak about his past crimes.

“Counterfeiter, as I'm counterfeiting. This is what was so bizarre about it. It's addiction, really”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 1:42:38

Williams says his first Chicago case was dismissed after his attorney proved the officers could not have seen the marijuana they cited as probable cause.

“Fucking judge dismissed it, and I walked right out”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 1:22:27

Williams argues that printing each security element separately, as the Treasury does, is what made his notes superior to other counterfeiters' work.

“the first thing I learned was they did every single image by itself. That's what made my money so good. That's what separated me from all the other counterfeiters before me”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 44:22

Williams recounts breaking into parking meters at about age 12 to buy groceries after finding his mother crying over an empty refrigerator.

“So I opened up the fridge and it was empty. I was about 12 at that time”

This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von: #681 - Ex-Counterfeiter Arthur Williams Jr. (Sep 8, 2026) · Listen from 3:48