This ranking is based on an algorithm that combines various factors, including the votes of our users and search trends on the internet.
Elizabeth Holmes is a former businesswoman who is credited with founding the now-defunct health technology company Theranos . It was later revealed that Elizabeth Holmes had deceived her investors with false claims. The rise and fall of her company inspired a book titled Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup.
Frank Abagnale’s life story inspired the film Catch Me If You Can. He was a con man, imposter and did check forgery from the age 15 to 21. He assumed the identities of an airline pilot, a physician and a lawyer, among others. He was eventually arrested and after spending few years in prison started working for the federal government.
Entrepreneur and former stock broker Daniel Mark Porush, better known as Danny Porush, was convicted of fraud and money laundering at Stratton Oakmont, a brokerage house. Following his 39-month prison sentence, he began working with Med-Care. He inspired the character Donnie Azoff in The Wolf of Wall Street.
Mark Thatcher is the son of former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher. For the major part of his career as a businessman, Thatcher was accused of using his mother's position to gain an upper hand, especially in the Al-Yamamah arms deal. In 2005, he was convicted for funding the 2004 Wonga Coup in South Africa.
Arnold Rothstein, or the Brain, was a racketeer, gambler, and businessman who later became a leader of New York’s Jewish crime circuit. He had reportedly fixed the 1919 World Series. He inspired several fictional characters, including Meyer Wolfsheim in The Great Gatsby. He was murdered for declining a poker-related payment.
Charles Ponzi was an Italian con artist and swindler who operated in Canada and the USA. He is best remembered for his money-making scheme in which he paid his earlier investors using the money given to him by later investors. Although this type of swindling investment scheme existed before Ponzi's time, it came to be known as a Ponzi scheme.
Virginia Hill was an American woman best remembered for her association with the Chicago Outfit crime organization. She served as the outfit's courier, passing important messages between mobsters, during the mid-1930s. She became the subject of a 1974 TV film. Her relationship with mobster Bugsy Siegel was dramatized in the 1991 movie Bugsy, where she was portrayed by Annette Bening.
Lou Pearlman was a record producer and creator of successful boy bands like NSYNC and Backstreet Boys. In 2006, Pearlman was accused of running a Ponzi scheme. After pleading guilty to money laundering, conspiracy, and making false statements, Lou Pearlman was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Pearlman was the subject of the 2019 documentary, The Boy Band Con.
Paul Manafort is an American former lobbyist, lawyer, political consultant, and convicted bank fraudster. As a political consultant, he served as an adviser to the presidential campaigns of Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, and George H. W. Bush. He is also credited with co-founding a lobbying firm called Black, Manafort & Stone.
Peter Popoff is a German-born American faith healer, debunked clairvoyant, and televangelist. Popoff used a concealed earpiece to receive information about people suffering from ailments during his religious services and claimed that God divulged the information to him. The scam was exposed in 1986 and led to the creation of several works of art, including the film Leap of Faith.
Charles Albright was an American criminal and serial killer who was suspected of killing three women. In 1991, he was convicted of murdering a woman named Shirley Williams and imprisoned in the John Montford Psychiatric Unit in Texas. His story was covered by the media and many TV networks like HBO aired episodes related to Charles Albright.
Starting as a freelance writer, Lee Israel later penned bestselling biographies of personalities such as Tallulah Bankhead and Estée Lauder. She made headlines when she admitted to forging works of deceased authors and actors to make money. Her memoir, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, was later turned into a film.
Born in the UK, Alan Bond moved to Australia with his family at 12. The business tycoon had started out as a signwriter in Perth and later emerged as the CEO of Bond Corporation. The first non-American to earn the sailing trophy America's Cup, he was later imprisoned for corporate fraud.
Vaishnava guru and New Vrindaban co-founder Kirtanananda Swami, better known as Bhaktipada, was born into a Baptist family. In spite of receiving a fellowship to study at Columbia University, he quit academics and joined ISKCON instead. He was later expelled from ISKCON after he was found guilty of child molestation.
