Hey there, millionaire!
It is unusual for a person who has attained the status of a billionaire to lose it - but
it is not unheard of.
Most people who have the business skills to amass billions of dollars also understand
how to keep their fortune.
However, every now and then, someone who was once worth billions sees their net worth plummet
to near zero.
This video will go over 14 stories of once high-net-worth individuals who managed to
lose absolutely everything.
This video is full of lessons that you truly want to avoid when the time comes and you
amass your big fortune.
So, take notes, and let's dive in.
14.
Bernie Ebbers In the late 1990s, WorldCom appeared to be
a thriving telecom company, and its CEO, Bernie Ebbers, was worth up to $1.4 billion - but
much of that success had been a total farce.
WorldCom's profits were improperly recorded, and billions of dollars in expenses were classified
as investments, inflating its profits significantly, therefore, increasing its value.
WorldCom's books were off by $11 billion in total.
That's something you can't just attribute to fat-fingers.
Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the company's downfall but
was released in late 2019 after his lawyers stated that his health was deteriorating.
I guess they weren't lying about that, since he passed away a few months later, in February
2020.
13.
Jocelyn Wildenstein Jocelyn Wildenstein became a billionaire after
receiving an estimated $2.5 billion in a divorce settlement from her art dealer husband, Alec
Wildenstein, in 1999.
Wildenstein has frequently been featured in tabloids for her legendary spending habits
and extensive cosmetic surgeries, earning her the moniker "Catwoman."
She told reporters that her net worth had plummeted after several works of art in her
trust were discovered to be forged or worth far less than expected.
Not only that, but she has also been the target of several lawsuits and foreclosures.
Wildenstein declared bankruptcy in 2018, claiming that she had absolutely no money in her bank
account.
Burning through $2.5 Billion sounds like a major achievement, but it is pretty small
compared to other people on our list, so keep watching!
12.
Bj rg lfur Gudmundsson Bj rg lfur Gudmundsson was the chairman and
primary owner of Iceland's second-largest bank in 2008.
However, that year's global financial crisis took its toll on banking systems, and Gudmundsson's
bank eventually folded.
The Icelandic government took over the company, wiping off all of Gudmundsson's fortune.
He declared bankruptcy, acknowledging he was in debt to the tune of hundreds of millions
of pounds.
In London, Gudmundsson was forced to sell his Premier League soccer franchise, West
Ham United Football Club, to pay off his debts.
Later in 2008 his net-worth was reported to be $0.
11.
Adolf Merckle Adolf Merckle expanded his small family firm
in Germany into a massive corporate empire with over 100 companies and 100,000 employees.
His net worth increased to more than $9 billion in the process.
However, his investment firm went completely bankrupt.
Merckle personally lost hundreds of millions of euros by shorting Volkswagen shares, that
and a global recession in 2008 forced Merckle to consider bankruptcy.
Merckle committed suicide in 2009.
At the moment, his investment firm, VEM, owed banks billions of euro.
Which of course weren't paid back.
We have seen some pretty crazy stories so far, but this next one is a special one.
And although he can't be called a Dumb Billionaire like the rest, he's on this list as a contrast
to all the other billionaires that are showing us EXACTLY what not to do.
So, let's keep going!
10.
Chuck Feeney Chuck Feeney is exceptional among billionaires
who lost their fortunes since his large net worth loss was completely planned.
Feeney started Duty-Free Shoppers, an airport retailer, which you have probably seen, before
launching his private equity firm General Atlantic and amassing an estimated net worth
of $8 billion.
Over his last 40 years or more, he opted to give away nearly ALL of his money to various
domestic and international charities and humanitarian activities.
Feeney closed down his philanthropic company in September 2020, having given away all his
fortune, minus retirement funds for him and his wife.
That's a true example of philanthropy.
Now, back to the dumb ones.
9.
Bill Hwang Bill Hwang appears to be one of the latest
billionaires to lose everything in March 2021, when his overleveraged market bets crashed.
Hwang's private investment firm, Archegos Capital Management, had used loans to bet
on the stock values of various media companies, including ViacomCBS and Discovery Inc., which
had inflated their perceived worth 2021 before falling recently.
When the brokers made margin calls, Archegos defaulted and was forced to liquidate several
of its positions approaching $30 billion in value, causing the stock prices to fall even
more.
Brokers such as Credit Suisse and Nomura are reportedly bracing for billions of dollars
in losses due to Hwang's erratic decisions.
It has been impossible to determine the magnitude of the losses experienced by Hwang, who pled
guilty to insider trading charges in 2012, paying a $44 Million settlement to the SEC.
Hwang's loss amounts to one of the single largest losses of personal fortune in history.
Before these margin calls, some estimates put Hwang's personal worth at roughly $10
billion and the firm's positions at around $100 billion.
Money that eventually, vanished into thin air.
8.
Vijay Mallya At the age of 28, Indian billionaire Vijay
Mallya took over his father's liquor business and grew it into a giant corporation, amassing
a net worth of $1.5 billion.
Later, he took over Kingfisher Airlines, but he racked up large debts to keep the company
afloat.
In 2012, he was accused of $1.3 billion in money laundering and fraud.
Mallya fled India for the United Kingdom in 2016 after being pursued by creditors.
He has been fighting extradition in British courts since 2018, and in October 2020, the
UK Ministry of External Affairs informed the Indian authorities that Mallya would NOT be
returned to India until a "confidential legal matter" was resolved.
Only Vijay and the government know exactly how much dirty business he has been involved
in.
7.
Bernie Madoff Bernie Madoff will be remembered as one of
the most infamous con artists in history.
Madoff led the world's largest Ponzi scheme, defrauding investors out of an estimated $17.5
billion.
Trustees are said to have recovered $13 billion of the stolen funds.
However, Madoff is currently serving a federal prison sentence of 150 years.
He requested a compassionate release in early 2020, alleging he had fewer than two years
to live due to kidney failure.
His request was turned down, making him pay for his crimes and spend the rest of his life
behind bars.
We have gone through the Dumb and Dumber, but we just got to our top 6 so keep watching
because these are the DUMBEST of them all.
6.
Elizabeth Holmes Elizabeth Holmes, an American inventor and
entrepreneur became the world's youngest self-made female billionaire in 2015 after her healthcare
technology business, Theranos, was valued at $9 billion and profited greatly.
Holmes became an overnight superstar with her name on time's 2015 list of the 100 Most
Influential People.
However, her time as a billionaire was cut short as federal investigations loomed over
her company, following charges that it misled investors about a new, breakthrough blood-testing
technique.
Her credibility and personal riches were severely harmed due to these charges.
Forbes declared Holmes' personal riches to be worthless, while Fortune named her one
of the "world's most disappointing leaders."
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also barred her from holding any position
in her company for two years.
Just recently, after months of trial, Holmes was found guilty and will be sentenced on
September 26th, 2022.
She faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
And her net-worth now longer gives her the millionaire status.
5.
Allen Stanford Though Allen Stanford is not as well-known
as Bernie Madoff, he also made and lost his money running a Ponzi scheme.
He scammed around 18,000 people, many of whom were retirees, robbing them of their savings.
According to reports, his scam netted more than $7 billion.
Stanford's net worth was obviously reduced to zero after his scam was discovered by authorities.
He was then sentenced to 110 years in prison for his role in the scheme.
And unlike Madoff's case, just a few of Stanford's victims have seen their money back.
4.
Patricia Kluge Patricia Kluge was formerly married to the
world's richest man, John Kluge, who had a personal fortune of $5 billion in 1990.
When they divorced, she was left with only $1 million in alimony, but she also acquired
the opulent Albemarle estate in Virginia's countryside.
She took a risk and founded the Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard, which did really well
in the short term.
However, Kluge also got into real estate by taking out a $65 million loan to develop more
than a dozen luxury mansions, which turned out to be her biggest blunder.
Kluge defaulted on her payments due to the 2008 financial and housing crisis.
And as a result, she was forced to sell her Albemarle estate and all of her costly possessions.
Donald Trump purchased her estate, winery, and vineyard for $6 million, just a small
fraction of its original value.
3.
Aubrey McClendon Aubrey McClendon, the co-founder of large
oil and gas business Chesapeake Energy, was allegedly worth $1.2 billion.
However, he may not have gained his riches honestly.
In 2016, he was charged with federal conspiracy.
The government accused McClendon of unlawfully manipulating bidding for drilling licenses.
McClendon died in a car accident the day after being indicted, which some have suspected
was a no accident and more of a suicide attempt that was successful.
Despite appearing wealthy before his death, creditors claimed McClendon borrowed $465
million for business projects in 2013 and sought payment from his estate.
McClendon's net worth may have been close to zero when he died due to outstanding debts.
2.
Eike Batista Over the course of two decades, Brazilian
billionaire Eike Batista amassed and then lost a multibillion-dollar fortune in the
mining and oil exploration industries.
In 2011, Batista became the seventh richest person on the planet and the richest in Brazil,
with a personal fortune of $30 billion.
His decline as a billionaire began with a rapid slump in the mining business and the
failure of one of his largest firms, OGX, due to investors withdrawing their money after
production commitments were not met.
Forbes stated two years later, in 2013, that Batista had lost over $20 billion in just
one year.
A year later, because of his vast debt and constantly decreasing company stock, his personal
worth plummeted from $200 million to negative value, prompting Batista to declare bankruptcy.
In January 2017, Brazilian police arrested Batista in a high-profile, $100 million money
laundering case known as Operation Car Wash.
In this case, he brought down many of Brazil's most prominent politicians while being charged
with money laundering.
He was sentenced to 30 years in jail for corruption and money laundering and an extra eight years
for market manipulation in 2019.
And finally...
1.
Sean Quinn The 2008 crisis drove numerous companies out
of business and many people into bankruptcy, including Se n Quinn, who was previously Ireland's
richest person, with a net worth of almost $6 billion in 2005.
Through his holding firm Quinn Group, he acquired stakes in several global corporations, notably
Bupa Ireland and Anglo Irish Bank.
Quinn lost practically all of his family wealth shortly after the Irish banking industry was
rocked by the financial crisis, the majority of which may be linked to the Anglo Irish
bank's massive losses.
Quinn Insurance, one of his companies, was fined 3.25 million, or $3.6 million USD, by
Ireland's Financial Regulator in 2008 for making insider loans.
Quinn filed for personal bankruptcy in 2011 after being involved in many incidents of
liquidation litigation, business fines, and fraud.