When you hear the term “white-collar crime,” rappers don’t generally come to mind.
Nonetheless, Ja Rule will be featured in an upcoming CNBC documentary on white-collar crime called “White Collar Convicts: Life On the Inside.”
The “one-hour documentary, reported by correspondent Andrew Ross Sorkin, goes behind prison walls to capture the raw experience of convicted CEOs and other corporate swindlers who are doing time,” according to a CNBC press release.
A segment of the documentary will feature Ja Rule talking about his experience being locked up in the same prison as Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski while the rapper served a two-year bid on a gun charge. Ja, born Jeffrey Atkins, says Kozlowski initially had no idea who he was.
“I don’t think he knew, but I guess people briefed him on who I was,” Ja says. “Me and Koz actually met, and he introduced himself to me and he said, ‘I hear you’re the rapper guy’ and I said, ‘Yeah, that’s me. I hear you’re the billionaire [laughs].’”
Rule goes on to tell CNBC that although Kozlowski was generally friendly, he wasn’t very social.
“Koz basically stuck to himself,” he adds. “I understand that because in prison, people befriend you for the wrong reasons sometimes. It’s such a thing, what we call in prison, we call it ‘friendly extortion.’ ”
“White Collar Convicts: Life On the Inside” will premiere on Wednesday, April 29 at 10 p.m. EST.
