11 “Successful” People Who Were Actually Big Scammers
I have no problem with rich people as such. Some of my favorite people are rich! They are only annoyed by the fact that they walk around believing that their wealth is the result of virtue and not foolish luck. But I don’t even blame rich people too much—thinking, “I own this yacht because I’m substantially better than people in rowboats,” is an understandable and (maybe inevitable) consequence of privilege. How else can you sleep at night, right?
I have a problem with people who are not rich but perpetuate the idea that there is something virtuous about having money. So to provide counterexamples to this kind of thinking, I’ve compiled a list of 11 people who were considered role models and geniuses because of their worldly success, but were later exposed as boobies, scammers, or criminals. (Or all three!)