The Top 10 Fraudsters of All Time
| Fraud is a very broad term and constitutes many things. One constant, however, is that the fraudsters committing these acts are raking in a lot of cash, usually at the expense of a lot of innocent people. DoTellAll has compiled a list of the top 10 fraudsters, including some of the most notorious names that have ever been linked to white-collar crime. |  |
1. Kenneth Lay (2001) – Another one of the most infamous fraudsters of all time, Lay was largely responsible for the accounting fraud that brought down energy giant, Enron. Lay was convicted of 10 counts of fraud, but died of a heart attack before his sentence began.
2. Bernard Ebbers (2005) – This Bernie may not have run a Ponzi scheme, but through less-than-accurate financial reporting of his telecommunications company, WorldCom, he swindled investors out of $11 billion.
3. Alyn Waage and Michael Webb (2003) –These two Ponzi schemers created the biggest internet fraud of all time with a website coaxing people into investing in prime bank notes. Waage and Web brought in over $60 million through the site before being arrested in 2003.
4. Albert Gonzalez (2008) – A computer hacker that was assisting the Secret Service in catching cyber criminals, Gonzalez decided to use his skills to hack the websites of large retailers, such as TJ Maxx, Barnes & Noble and Sports Authority, stealing over 40 million credit card numbers in the process. Gonzalez’s fraudulent act was the largest case of identity theft in history.
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6. Frank Abignale Jr. (1960’s) – Not all fraud is necessarily swindling investors out of money. One of the biggest frauds of all time saw Abignale, a skilled impostor, forging $2.5 million in fake checks across 26 countries. Abignale’s story was depicted in the 2002 film, Catch Me If You Can.
7. Charles Ponzi (1920) – The most infamous form of investor fraud out there is named for the first man to do it, Charles Ponzi. Ponzi was able to con investors into investing money on postage stamps, promising unusually high returns. The investor’s money was never returned, instead just ‘reinvested’ into the stamps, which really meant it was sitting in Ponzi’s bank account.
8. Bernie Madoff (2009) – While Ponzi may have invented the scheme, Madoff perfected it. His investment scam ran from 1960-2009 and was the largest investment fraud ever executed by one person. He utilized fake bank statements, telling investors their returns were growing, when actually they were getting nothing at all.
9. Lou Pearlman (2006) – Pearlman, the talent manager for popular boy bands the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, was another notorious Ponzi schemer. He utilized a fake travel company to swindle $300 million dollars out of investors.
10. James Paul Lewis, Jr. (2004) – One of the longest-running Ponzi schemes in history, Lewis stole $311 million from investors in his company, Financial Advisory Consultants over the course of 20 years. He prayed on churches and church groups until his scheme collapsed and he was arrested in 2004.
