Former Stratton Oakmont partner who served prison time builds a job platform for ex-convicts
Richard Bronson, a former partner at Stratton Oakmont who spent a couple of years in federal prison, has launched Commissary Club, an AI-driven employment and social platform for people leaving prison. His co-founder, Roman Kissin, was chief technology officer of LexisNexis from 2022 to 2025. Users get ten free applications, then pay one hundred forty-nine dollars for ten, or fourteen dollars and ninety-nine cents each.
Richard Bronson says he built a one hundred million dollar business taking small-cap companies public, partly by breaking securities laws, and lost everything, his freedom above all. The bill did not end at release: no employer would hire him, and he still wakes each day regretting his choices. That remainder, never recorded on any balance sheet, is what he now turns into a for-profit mission.
Source: TechCrunch Startups · October 8, 2026