- Hey, you lookin' for a new home theater system?
Yeah?
No? Okay.
How about a Louis Vuitton handbag?
I got lots of--
You don't want that either.
Uh, how about pictures of bald guys?
You want one of--
No, you're not, you don't want that either.
How about a video?
Okay!
Well, clearly con artists are everywhere.
In fact, the work of a con man, or con woman,
is actually one of the oldest forms
of performance art in the world.
The term con is short for confidence,
and confidence is exactly what was needed
to pull off some of the biggest scams ever.
In fact, confidence is an understatement
because these cons were so unbelievable in size,
that you'll almost think that those
who perpetrated them were geniuses.
So get ready, because here are the
10 biggest con artists of all time.
Number one is the man who sold half of New York.
George Parker was a New Yorker who, in the 1920s,
attempted to sell some of New York's most iconic landmarks.
And succeeded!
Madison Square Gardens, the Statue of Liberty,
and the Metropolitan Museum of Art
were just a few locations that he would sell
to wealthy tourists.
Ah, but his favorite was the Brooklyn Bridge
which he sold twice a week for several years.
One time for as much as $50,000.
He made millions before the cops
finally caught up with his fraudulent schemes
and in 1928 they locked him away
for life in Sing Sing Prison.
Too bad that he couldn't convince anyone
that he also owned the prison because, you know,
at least he would've got a cell with a view.
Number two is the 40 year long hoax.
Back in the 19th century, sisters
Kate, Margaret, and Leah Fox had convinced the world
that they possessed the powers to speak with ghosts.
The girls would snap their fingers
and spirits would respond by making
rapping noises around them and answering their questions.
The three took their show on the road for 40 years,
becoming international stars, making huge money,
and married rich.
Later, the sisters revealed to the media
that they had been cracking their toes and ankle joints
to make the supernatural sounds.
For that news story, they received $1,500,
which they spent all on wine,
and the three sisters all died a few years later,
known as drunk fraudsters who went broke.
I got a ghost, listen.
(finger cracks) Ahh!
Number three is catch me if you can.
The Leonardo DiCaprio film was actually
based on a real-life con man, Frank Abagnale,
who, in 1964, at the age of 16,
posed as a pilot for Pan Am Airlines
in order to catch free flights all over the world.
But that wasn't it.
He later pretended to be a doctor,
then an attorney, and six other identities in total.
Throughout this time, he also became
a master forger of checks,
defrauding banks of millions of dollars.
He was finally arrested at the age of only 21
and served five years in an American prison
before he was released.
But, believe it or not, after that,
he actually started working for the FBI
as a security consultant.
Well, I guess if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Number four is the false prophet.
Since the 1980s, Benny Hinn has been
running miracle crusades in stadium venues
for 10s of 1,000s of people and sometimes
millions of miracle seekers,
hoping to be healed of an illness.
You've probably seen him perform these rituals
on TV or on YouTube, where
he heals the sick through throwing his jacket at them,
or, bopping them in the head.
His ministry brings in an average of
$100 million annually,
and Benny spends these church donations on himself,
including a $10 million mansion,
and a $36 million jet.
Benny's con of having miraculous healing powers
has since been proven to be a hoax,
but the fact that he has avoided jail time
or any real consequences for his dishonesty
is the real miracle at work.
Taking advantage of people that are sick for money.
Douche.
Number five is the holy thief.
In the 1990s, New York Rabbi Sholam Weiss of Brooklyn
was responsible for the biggest insurance company
collapse due to fraud in history.
Weiss assembled a con man dream-team
made up of several other business owners
and an army of lawyers.
Then, Weiss bought the National Heritage Insurance Company
and fleeced it for everything that it was worth,
totaling for, wait for it,
$450 million.
When the authorities finally took action in 2000,
Weiss fled the country.
Fortunately, he was caught and is now serving
845 years in prison, the longest sentence
ever given for a white-collar crime.
Number six is the wolf of Wall Street.
We have all seen the film, but, what you might not know,
is that Jordan Belfort was a real person
that was working on Wall Street
in the early 1980s, up to 1996.
Becoming a wealthy stock broker
wasn't happening fast enough for Jordan,
so he started up his own investment company
know as, you know it, Stratton Oakmont.
It was there that he implemented the infamous
pump and dump scheme by buying extremely low stocks
and selling them for at least double the price
to not-so-savvy investors.
At one time, he had over 1,000 stock brokers
working under him with over $1 billion in stock being sold,
until, well, you can only beat your chest
and hum for so long before reality comes a-knockin'.
(humming) (hand thuds against chest)
(cawing)
Jordan went to prison and is now responsible
for paying restitution of $110 million
to his defrauded clients.
And, to date, he's only paid back $11.6 million.
If you wanna learn more, watch the movie.
It's a good one!
Number seven is the man who sold the Eiffel Tower.
In 1925, con man Victor Lustig took a trip to France.
The First World War had left the country
in an economic crisis, and the upkeep
of the Eiffel Tower was an expense
that the city of Paris could no longer afford.
So, when Victor read about this in the paper,
he created fake government credentials
and invited six scrap metal dealers
to a secret meeting held in a hotel.
He explained that the city was getting rid of the tower
and was going to sell it as scrap metal to Andre Poisson,
a gullible bidder, for $70,000.
Surprisingly, Victor actually got away with this con
because Poisson was too humiliated to notify the police.
Then Victor tried selling it again and,
although the buyer went to the police this time,
Victor still evaded arrest.
This guy's like the criminal Batman.
Number eight is the Ponzi king.
In 1918 Charles Ponzi realized that there were coupons
that could be redeemed for stamps in other countries.
In his native Italy, these coupons cost way less
than the amount the stamps sold for in America,
so, he bought them overseas
and charged a 400% markup.
Once this con was running smoothly,
he started one of America's biggest Ponzi schemes
where he would take on investors,
and simply spend their money on himself.
In early 1920, he was earning $1/4 million a day.
For his hard work as a con man,
Charles Ponzi's name became synonymous
with the type of scheme, and he was arrested
August of 1920, and served only 14 years in prison.
I gotta be honest, that's not that bad
for all the money that he made.
(chuckles) Not that I'm getting
any ideas, you know, but,
I'm just sayin', if you, if you wanna buy some stamps,
you just (clears throat) hit me up.
Number nine is Enron.
In 2000, the Enron Corporation's stock
was considered to be a really good investment,
and CEO Jeffrey Skilling was raking in millions of dollars.
With stock prices at an all-time high,
the business was valued at $40 billion.
All of this was, of course, mainly due to
creative bookkeeping, money-laundering, and insider-trading.
As it turned out, Enron had been hemorrhaging money
for nearly a decade, they had just never bothered
to tell the investors.
One hour before the Enron scam went public,
Jeffrey Skilling made his wife
sell nearly $60 million worth of shares.
He is currently serving a 14 year prison sentence,
and the once successful Enron Corp.
is now known for being
the largest bankruptcy case in human history.
And number 10 is Bernard Madoff.
For 50 years, Bernie Madoff operated
one of the biggest and most elaborate
Ponzi schemes in history.
As well as the biggest case of accounting fraud
in U.S. history.
The former chairman of NASDAQ suckered investors
into forking over a total of
$65 billion.
But the worst part is that almost all of his victims
were charity funds and institutions.
Well, needless to say, Bernard isn't working
on Wall Street these days.
No, instead, at the age of 71,
he was sentenced to 150 years in prison.
He's set to be released in 2139.
He gon' be dead.
And now, you're just a little bit smarter,
so, don't do anything that any of these people did.
As always my friends, if you enjoyed this,
give it a like, and be sure to push the links
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which will subscribe you to this channel,
as well as my vlog channel, so that you never miss a video.
Thanks again for watching,
and I will see you guys soon.
Peace! (exclaims)