The Real-Life Person Ozark Fans Think Might Have Inspired Marty

In a post to the r/Ozark subreddit, one Redditor suggested that a convicted American criminal named Scott Tucker could be the real-life inspiration behind Marty Byrde. "I couldn't help but notice that Marty Byrde looks a bit like Tucker," u/roberb7 wrote. "Not only that, his way of speaking is similar, and he comes across as a straightforward person when, in fact, he's a slime." So, who is Scott Tucker? 

A loan shark, racketeer, and race car driver, Tucker was the mischievous mastermind behind a billion-dollar loan scheme. According to ConsumerFinance.gov, payday lending is when an individual or a business provides an expensive, short-term loan that is usually due by the loanee's next payday. The business is heavily regulated by state and federal governments (via National Conference of State Legislatures). Tucker's internet payday lending operation, which utilized illegally elevated interest rates, ran afoul of these laws for more than a decade. He subsequently received a 16-year prison sentence for his crimes (via United States Department of Justice).

Because of the skills of the criminals and the massive amount of money involved in both operations, it's certainly understandable that fans could see a resemblance. Like Tucker, if Marty were ever arrested, he would undoubtedly have been charged with breaking many federal and state laws, leading to a hefty prison sentence. However, the biggest divergence between the two is that they ultimately committed very different crimes. 

In fact, beyond the show's 2017 premiere date (only a year after Tucker's indictment), there are not any actual indications that the creators of "Ozark" were influenced by Tucker's crimes. Redditor u/eastcoastskier_ commented, "Payday lending was completely different from what Marty did so there [aren't] really similarities in that sense, I don't know about their personalities." While we'll leave that final estimation up for readers to decide, Tucker certainly appears to be similarly adept at financial operations (via Prison Professors Podcast).