Morris committed fraud against an official 's nephew in the movie and in real life .
The end of the movie explains that the real-life Phillip Morris was released from prison in 2006 ; but Steven was given a life sentence and is in 23-hour lockup , only having one free hour a day to shower and exercise , which the film implies to be because an official involved in the sentencing had a nephew who was conned by Morris , in-universe and in the story it was based on .
I Love You Phillip Morris