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Pablo Escobar, worth an estimated $3 billion in 1989, had his own prison built, with a waterfall and a football pitch. in 1993 police traced a phone call that ran past two minutes, and he died in a shootout on a rooftop in Medellín.
Forbes first listed him among the world’s billionaires in 1987, and in 1989 estimated his wealth at about $3 billion. one estimate put the Medellín cartel’s income at around $420 million a week.
his brother Roberto, who kept the books, said the cartel spent about $2,500 a month on rubber bands and wrote off roughly 10% of the cash every year to rats and water damage. his son Sebastián said Pablo once burned about $2 million to keep his daughter Manuela warm while the family hid in the mountains.
in 1991 he surrendered under a deal of five years at most and no extradition to the United States. the prison, La Catedral, was built to his own specifications. it had a football pitch, a jacuzzi, a bar, a waterfall and a telescope pointed at his family’s home in Medellín.
in July 1992, after reports that he had four of his own men killed inside, the government ordered him moved to an ordinary prison. he refused and walked out through a section of wall built to be kicked open. then came about 16 months on the run, hunted by a 600 man unit called the Search Bloc. by the end he reportedly had no men and no money.
he kept in touch with his family by phone, pretending to be a journalist and keeping every call under two minutes. on December 2, 1993, a day after his 44th birthday, one call ran longer. police traced it to a house in Medellín and tried to arrest him. a gunfight broke out, and he died on the roof. how exactly he died is still disputed, and his family says he shot himself.
five years in a prison built to his own design: a deal or a joke?
Saddam Hussein was valued by Forbes at $7 billion in 2000. his 270 foot yacht had gold taps, 27 bedrooms, surface-to-air missiles and an operating theatre. in 2003 he was found hiding in a hole near Tikrit, and in 2006 he was hanged.
Forbes put his wealth at about $7 billion in 2000 and about $2 billion by 2003. other investigators gave estimates from $2 billion to $40 billion, because much of the money was hidden. Forbes said a large part of it went into palaces.
a 1999 State Department study reported about $2.2 billion spent on roughly 48 palaces after the 1991 Gulf War. some estimates put the total at 70 to 80. a Harvard art librarian described gold fixtures, imitation Louis XIV furniture and marble everywhere. reports from inside listed gold-plated faucets and bidets, man-made waterfalls, dolphin pools and, in one complex, an amusement park.
the yacht was called Ocean Breeze. it was 270 feet long, with gold leaf, gold taps, bulletproof windows, 27 bedrooms, several swimming pools and an operating theatre. it also carried surface-to-air missiles. the US General Accounting Office estimated that Iraq earned $6.6 billion from oil smuggling and surcharges between 1997 and 2001.
after the 2003 invasion the United States seized $1.62 billion in Iraqi assets that were already frozen on American soil. on December 13, 2003 US troops found Saddam in a narrow hole under a mud shack on a sheep farm near Tikrit. it was six to eight feet deep, closed with a Styrofoam plug and covered with dirt. he had a pistol. troops recovered $750,000 in $100 bills at the site.
his trial began in Baghdad on October 19, 2005. on November 5, 2006 he was sentenced to death by hanging for the torture and murder of Iraqi citizens in Dujail in 1982. the appeal court upheld the sentence on December 26. he was hanged on December 30, 2006.
the yacht ended up in a court fight over ownership. the Iraqi government won, and in November 2008 it was offered for sale at 20 million pounds.
about 48 palaces and he was found in a hole: pride or paranoia?
Martin Shkreli was worth over $27 million and reportedly paid $2 million for a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album. the IRS said he owed over $4.6 million in taxes for 2014, and New York seized his Enigma machine. in 2018 he got 7 years in prison.
in 2015 Turing Pharmaceuticals, the company Shkreli ran, got the rights to a drug called Daraprim and raised the price from $13.50 to $750 a pill. that is a jump of more than 5,000%.
that same year he reportedly paid about $2 million for Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, an album Wu-Tang Clan made in a single copy. in December 2015 he was arrested. the case was about lying to investors in two hedge funds he ran and hiding his ownership of stock in a company called Retrophin. the drug price was not part of it.
the tax offices came next. New York said he owed more than $450,000 in state taxes. the IRS said he owed over $4.6 million for 2014 alone. in May 2017 state officials seized his Enigma cipher machine and sold it through Sotheby’s for $65,000. together with three historical documents, everything they took sold for $134,500.
he was convicted that year on two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy. on March 9, 2018 he was sentenced to seven years. court filings put his net worth at over $27 million at that point. the judge ordered about $7.4 million forfeited, including the album, a Picasso and roughly $5 million left in his brokerage account.
in 2021 the government sold the album to PleasrDAO, a crypto collective, for $4 million. that is about double what he reportedly paid.
in January 2022 a judge ordered him to return $64.6 million in profits from the price hike and banned him from the pharmaceutical industry for life. in May 2022 he walked out of Allenwood prison to a halfway house.
$64.6 million back to the court and a lifetime ban from pharma: fair price or too light?
Krynex retweeted
Al Capone reportedly earned about $105 million a year, roughly $2 billion today. in 1928 he paid $40,000 ($700,000 today) for a Miami Beach mansion. in 1931 he went to prison for something other than racketeering or murder.
it was unpaid taxes. in 1929 seven of his rivals were killed in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, and the case that put him away had nothing to do with it.
the mansion stood on Palm Island and covered about 6,000 square feet. it sold in 2021 for $15.5 million and was torn down in 2023.
prosecutors later listed how he spent. $8,000 on diamond belt buckles. $116,000 lost on horse races. $6,500 on meat for guests at a poker party.
a Treasury team led by agent Frank Wilson spent more than two years going through about 2 million documents. they found three ledgers recording cash, marked only with first initials, and traced cash through cashier's checks.
prosecutors said he owed $215,080 in taxes on about $1 million of income from 1924 to 1929. reports say the jury was replaced at the last minute after bribery claims.
on October 17, 1931 the jury found him guilty on 5 of 23 counts. he got 11 years, a $50,000 fine and about $7,700 in court costs.
in 1934 he was moved to Alcatraz. in 1936 another inmate stabbed him. in 1938 he was diagnosed with syphilis. he was released in November 1939 because of failing health and died on January 25, 1947 at 48, at his Palm Island home.
$215,080 in unpaid taxes put him away: justice or a loophole?
Al Capone reportedly earned about $105 million a year, roughly $2 billion today. in 1928 he paid $40,000 ($700,000 today) for a Miami Beach mansion. in 1931 he went to prison for something other than racketeering or murder.
it was unpaid taxes. in 1929 seven of his rivals were killed in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, and the case that put him away had nothing to do with it.
the mansion stood on Palm Island and covered about 6,000 square feet. it sold in 2021 for $15.5 million and was torn down in 2023.
prosecutors later listed how he spent. $8,000 on diamond belt buckles. $116,000 lost on horse races. $6,500 on meat for guests at a poker party.
a Treasury team led by agent Frank Wilson spent more than two years going through about 2 million documents. they found three ledgers recording cash, marked only with first initials, and traced cash through cashier's checks.
prosecutors said he owed $215,080 in taxes on about $1 million of income from 1924 to 1929. reports say the jury was replaced at the last minute after bribery claims.
on October 17, 1931 the jury found him guilty on 5 of 23 counts. he got 11 years, a $50,000 fine and about $7,700 in court costs.
in 1934 he was moved to Alcatraz. in 1936 another inmate stabbed him. in 1938 he was diagnosed with syphilis. he was released in November 1939 because of failing health and died on January 25, 1947 at 48, at his Palm Island home.
$215,080 in unpaid taxes put him away: justice or a loophole?
Krynex retweeted
Elizabeth Holmes became the youngest self-made woman billionaire at 30 with a $4.5 billion fortune. Walgreens opened 40 Theranos centers. in 2022 she was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
she dropped out of Stanford in 2004 after two years and started Theranos. the company raised more than $700 million from investors, Oracle founder Larry Ellison among them, and reached a valuation of more than $9 billion.
the pitch was one device. she told investors it could detect conditions like cancer from a single drop of blood and that the company offered more than 200 tests. the company was later found to be running tests on other companies' machines.
the partners signed anyway. Walgreens put in a $40 million convertible note and paid a $100 million innovation fee. Safeway agreed to a $350 million deal. Walgreens later closed its 40 centers.
Forbes had counted her fortune at $4.5 billion. later it put the number at zero. she owned about half of the company's stock, and the investors had to be repaid first.
in January 2022 a jury convicted her on four counts: one of conspiracy and three of wire fraud. she was found not guilty on the patient-related charges. in November 2022 the judge sentenced her to 11 years and 3 months, plus three years of supervised release.
she and Ramesh Balwani, her former business partner, were also ordered to pay about $452 million in restitution. nearly $398 million of it was attributed to 12 investors.
on May 30, 2023 she began serving the sentence at a minimum security women's prison camp in Texas.
a $4.5 billion fortune at 30: genius or just the right story?
Elizabeth Holmes became the youngest self-made woman billionaire at 30 with a $4.5 billion fortune. Walgreens opened 40 Theranos centers. in 2022 she was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
she dropped out of Stanford in 2004 after two years and started Theranos. the company raised more than $700 million from investors, Oracle founder Larry Ellison among them, and reached a valuation of more than $9 billion.
the pitch was one device. she told investors it could detect conditions like cancer from a single drop of blood and that the company offered more than 200 tests. the company was later found to be running tests on other companies' machines.
the partners signed anyway. Walgreens put in a $40 million convertible note and paid a $100 million innovation fee. Safeway agreed to a $350 million deal. Walgreens later closed its 40 centers.
Forbes had counted her fortune at $4.5 billion. later it put the number at zero. she owned about half of the company's stock, and the investors had to be repaid first.
in January 2022 a jury convicted her on four counts: one of conspiracy and three of wire fraud. she was found not guilty on the patient-related charges. in November 2022 the judge sentenced her to 11 years and 3 months, plus three years of supervised release.
she and Ramesh Balwani, her former business partner, were also ordered to pay about $452 million in restitution. nearly $398 million of it was attributed to 12 investors.
on May 30, 2023 she began serving the sentence at a minimum security women's prison camp in Texas.
a $4.5 billion fortune at 30: genius or just the right story?
Krynex retweeted
Allen Iverson earned about $154 million from the NBA, lost over $1 million in a single night in Atlantic City and traveled with up to 50 people. in 2012 a judge ordered his bank accounts seized over an unpaid jewelry bill.
he also made an estimated $60 million from endorsements. in 2001, after he won MVP, Reebok replaced his 1996 contract with a new one. it paid $5 million to $10 million a year while he played, $800,000 a year for life, and set aside a $32 million trust fund payable on his 55th birthday in 2030.
he gave friends and family houses, cars, boats and vacations. reports say he spent about $10,000 a month each on clothes, restaurants and groceries.
in December 2012 he told a court his income was $62,500 a month. his expenses were $360,000 a month, and about $125,000 of that went to mortgages and creditors.
the jewelry bill began with Aydin & Company, a Georgia jeweler that sued him in 2010 over $375,000. he never answered the lawsuit. with interest and fees the default judgment reached about $860,000.
during his divorce his wife asked for half of the lifetime payments and half of the trust fund.
in 2015 he went on CBS This Morning and called the rumors that he was broke a myth.
in 2017 his Atlanta-area mansion went into foreclosure after he defaulted on a $1.2 million mortgage. it was listed at $4.5 million. in 2019 it sold for $725,000.
$62,500 a month in and $360,000 out: bad advisors or bad habits?
Allen Iverson earned about $154 million from the NBA, lost over $1 million in a single night in Atlantic City and traveled with up to 50 people. in 2012 a judge ordered his bank accounts seized over an unpaid jewelry bill.
he also made an estimated $60 million from endorsements. in 2001, after he won MVP, Reebok replaced his 1996 contract with a new one. it paid $5 million to $10 million a year while he played, $800,000 a year for life, and set aside a $32 million trust fund payable on his 55th birthday in 2030.
he gave friends and family houses, cars, boats and vacations. reports say he spent about $10,000 a month each on clothes, restaurants and groceries.
in December 2012 he told a court his income was $62,500 a month. his expenses were $360,000 a month, and about $125,000 of that went to mortgages and creditors.
the jewelry bill began with Aydin & Company, a Georgia jeweler that sued him in 2010 over $375,000. he never answered the lawsuit. with interest and fees the default judgment reached about $860,000.
during his divorce his wife asked for half of the lifetime payments and half of the trust fund.
in 2015 he went on CBS This Morning and called the rumors that he was broke a myth.
in 2017 his Atlanta-area mansion went into foreclosure after he defaulted on a $1.2 million mortgage. it was listed at $4.5 million. in 2019 it sold for $725,000.
$62,500 a month in and $360,000 out: bad advisors or bad habits?
MC Hammer earned about $33 million in 1991 and spent it on a bowling alley at home, 17 cars and 21 racehorses. five years later he filed for bankruptcy owing almost $14 million.
his 1990 album Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em sold more than 10 million copies in the US and spent 21 weeks at number one on the Billboard 200. his fortune was once estimated at around $70 million.
the house sat on 12.55 acres in Fremont. it had a recording studio, a movie theater, tennis and basketball courts and a guardhouse. estimates of what it cost him run from $12 million to over $30 million. some of the horses were reportedly valued at almost $1 million each.
the staff cost even more. reports put it at around 200 people at once, between $500,000 and $1 million a month. after the peak the income fell, but the payroll stayed the same.
on April 1, 1996 he and his wife Stephanie filed for Chapter 11 in federal court in Oakland. assets of about $9.6 million, debts of almost $14 million, more than 200 creditors. nearly $800,000 was owed to the IRS and more than $500,000 to California.
the house was listed at $6.8 million. in August 1997 it sold for $5.3 million.
$33 million in one year and bankrupt in five: bad spending or bad luck?
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, estimated by Forbes at $1 billion, escaped a maximum security prison in 2015 through a 1.5 km tunnel that opened in his cell shower. four years later he was sentenced to life plus 30 years and ordered to forfeit $12.6 billion.
Forbes put him on its billionaires list in 2009 and kept him there through 2012. in 2013 it dropped him, saying it was no longer confident enough to call him a billionaire. the $12.6 billion order is more than 12 times that estimate.
a former lieutenant, Miguel Angel Martinez, testified at the trial that Guzman kept a private zoo with lions, panthers and tigers, plus a small train for visitors. he also described a $10 million beach house in Acapulco and up to $10 million a month arriving by private jet. the defense said Martinez was unreliable because of his own substance use.
Guzman had escaped before. in 2001 he got out of a Mexican prison in a laundry cart. in July 2015 he stepped into the shower of his cell at the Altiplano prison, out of view of the cameras, and went down a hole about 10 meters deep. the tunnel had lights and ventilation. officials found a motorcycle on rails inside it, which they believe was used to move tools and dirt. 18 prison employees were taken in for questioning.
six months later Mexican marines found him in Los Mochis. he was extradited to the United States in 2017. in February 2019 a New York jury convicted him on all 10 counts after a three month trial. prosecutors said he was a principal leader of the Sinaloa cartel, with evidence covering 25 years.
on July 17, 2019 the judge gave him life plus 30 years. he serves it at the Supermax prison in Colorado, where inmates spend 23 hours a day in a cell 7 by 12 feet.
a private zoo and a train for guests, then a 7 by 12 foot cell: was it worth it?
Krynex retweeted
Mickey Rooney said his own stepson kept food and medicine from him and took his ID so he couldn't travel. In 2013 the stepson and his wife agreed to a $2.8 million judgment in his lawsuit over 10 years of abuse.
At 90 he told the U.S. Senate that when he asked about his own money, he was told it was none of his business.
He had been the No. 1 box-office star in America from 1939 to 1941. He made more than 300 films over almost 90 years. Late in life he trusted his finances to his stepson, Christopher Aber, the son of his eighth wife.
In February 2011 Rooney got a restraining order against him. Aber denied everything. Two weeks later Rooney sat in front of a Senate committee. "My money was taken, misused," he said. "I was told it was none of my business." "I was eventually and completely stripped of the ability to make even the most basic decisions."
In April 2014 Rooney died, owing medical bills and back taxes. His estate was valued at $18,000, and the public was asked to chip in.
No. 1 at the box office in 1939. $18,000 when he died.
Was it a family looking after an old man, or a family that simply helped itself?
Krynex retweeted
Leona Helmsley, a New York hotel owner with a fortune of more than $5 billion, left $12 million to her dog and cut two of her grandchildren out of her will.
her empire included more than 30 hotels, among them the Helmsley Palace on Madison Avenue, 51 floors and over 1,100 rooms. her husband Harry died in 1997 and she inherited a fortune of more than $5 billion.
in 1983 the couple bought Dunnellen Hall, an $11 million mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. part of an $8 million remodel was billed to the hotel companies as a business expense. federal agents later found more than $4 million of personal spending charged to the companies.
at her trial a former housekeeper, Elizabeth Baum, testified that Leona told her “we don’t pay taxes. only the little people pay taxes.” in 1989 she was convicted of tax fraud and related counts, fined more than $7 million, and in April 1992 she began 18 months in federal prison.
she died in 2007 at 87. her will left her dog Trouble $12 million. a Manhattan judge cut that to $2 million and reportedly gave the two grandchildren about $6 million. the dog’s care was reported to cost around $190,000 a year, $100,000 of it for security. Trouble died in 2011 at 12.
most of the estate went to a trust for dogs, estimated at $5 to $8 billion. its 2003 mission statement listed two goals, helping poor people and caring for dogs. unnamed sources later said she deleted the first one about a year later.
$12 million for a dog and nothing for her grandchildren: spite or a joke?
Leona Helmsley, a New York hotel owner with a fortune of more than $5 billion, left $12 million to her dog and cut two of her grandchildren out of her will.
her empire included more than 30 hotels, among them the Helmsley Palace on Madison Avenue, 51 floors and over 1,100 rooms. her husband Harry died in 1997 and she inherited a fortune of more than $5 billion.
in 1983 the couple bought Dunnellen Hall, an $11 million mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. part of an $8 million remodel was billed to the hotel companies as a business expense. federal agents later found more than $4 million of personal spending charged to the companies.
at her trial a former housekeeper, Elizabeth Baum, testified that Leona told her “we don’t pay taxes. only the little people pay taxes.” in 1989 she was convicted of tax fraud and related counts, fined more than $7 million, and in April 1992 she began 18 months in federal prison.
she died in 2007 at 87. her will left her dog Trouble $12 million. a Manhattan judge cut that to $2 million and reportedly gave the two grandchildren about $6 million. the dog’s care was reported to cost around $190,000 a year, $100,000 of it for security. Trouble died in 2011 at 12.
most of the estate went to a trust for dogs, estimated at $5 to $8 billion. its 2003 mission statement listed two goals, helping poor people and caring for dogs. unnamed sources later said she deleted the first one about a year later.
$12 million for a dog and nothing for her grandchildren: spite or a joke?
Krynex retweeted
An AP news tape dated February 3, 1998, the day Texas was set to execute her, shows a 38-year-old woman on death row, calm, sometimes smiling. Fourteen years earlier she had killed two people with a pickaxe.
The woman was Karla Faye Tucker. On June 13, 1983, high on drugs, she and a friend broke into a Houston apartment and killed Jerry Dean and Deborah Thornton. The next morning, according to the Texas attorney general's office, she told people she had felt sexual gratification with every swing. Years later she took it back.
In jail she became a Christian. Pope John Paul II and Pat Robertson asked Texas to spare her. The parole board voted unanimously against it.
In the video below, you see her talking about her own execution date, her voice even.
"If I go home February 3rd," she says, "don't take that as God not answering our prayers."
Asked if there is a place for mercy the way Texas law is written today, she says, "I don't think so."
At the end, she says, she will be thinking about heaven and her family, and wishing she could give everybody a hug.
Deborah's brother, Ron Carlson, was raised by his sister after their mother died. He wanted revenge for years, then forgave Tucker. "If there's only going to be one person in heaven," he says, "it'll be her." He watched the execution as one of her invited witnesses.
Doug Wead, a Bush family friend, says Governor George W. Bush told him, "You're not going to like my decision," and, when Wead hoped he was sleeping, answered: "I never have a problem sleeping." Bush refused a 30-day stay.
At 6:45 p.m. on February 3 she became the first woman executed in Texas since 1863. Her last words included an apology to both families.
That night Deborah's husband, Richard Thornton, told reporters that justice was complete, that his wife would deal with Tucker on the other side, and "I promise you, it won't be pretty."
Years later Carlson told a rally he had prayed for closure at that execution, and found out there is no such thing.
Deborah's husband and her brother watched the same woman die, so who got it right: the man who called it justice, or the man who forgave her?
Krynex retweeted
Nickelodeon offered Jennette McCurdy $300,000 to stay quiet about a man she calls the Creator. She says he rubbed her shoulders while she was too scared to say stop.
Her mother, she says, gave her "exams" of her private parts in the shower until she was 17.
She says he also encouraged her to drink when she was underage. About her mother, she told ABC: "I absolutely felt violated."
Acting was her mother's dream, not hers. She went to her first audition at 6, and by 11 she was paying the family's bills. Her mother, she says, "conditioned my anorexia."
Her mother died of cancer in 2013, and the anorexia turned into bulimia.
When Sam & Cat was canceled, Nickelodeon called the $300,000 a "thank you gift." The condition was that she never talk publicly about her time there. She wrote that it felt like hush money. Nickelodeon told ABC it had no comment.
She said no, quit acting, and wrote a book called I'm Glad My Mom Died. It went to No. 1 on the New York Times list.
$300,000 to stay quiet. A No. 1 bestseller for talking.
"I think I've chosen a path of integrity," she said. "And it hasn't always been easy."
Would you have turned down $300,000 to tell the truth?
Krynex retweeted
Pablo Escobar, worth an estimated $3 billion in 1989, had his own prison built, with a waterfall and a football pitch. in 1993 police traced a phone call that ran past two minutes, and he died in a shootout on a rooftop in Medellín.
Forbes first listed him among the world’s billionaires in 1987, and in 1989 estimated his wealth at about $3 billion. one estimate put the Medellín cartel’s income at around $420 million a week.
his brother Roberto, who kept the books, said the cartel spent about $2,500 a month on rubber bands and wrote off roughly 10% of the cash every year to rats and water damage. his son Sebastián said Pablo once burned about $2 million to keep his daughter Manuela warm while the family hid in the mountains.
in 1991 he surrendered under a deal of five years at most and no extradition to the United States. the prison, La Catedral, was built to his own specifications. it had a football pitch, a jacuzzi, a bar, a waterfall and a telescope pointed at his family’s home in Medellín.
in July 1992, after reports that he had four of his own men killed inside, the government ordered him moved to an ordinary prison. he refused and walked out through a section of wall built to be kicked open. then came about 16 months on the run, hunted by a 600 man unit called the Search Bloc. by the end he reportedly had no men and no money.
he kept in touch with his family by phone, pretending to be a journalist and keeping every call under two minutes. on December 2, 1993, a day after his 44th birthday, one call ran longer. police traced it to a house in Medellín and tried to arrest him. a gunfight broke out, and he died on the roof. how exactly he died is still disputed, and his family says he shot himself.
five years in a prison built to his own design: a deal or a joke?
Krynex retweeted
In May 2025, Warren Buffett ended 60 years at the top of Berkshire Hathaway in front of 40,000 people. Not even his own successor knew it was coming.
In the video below, he announces it live, and the room gives him a standing ovation.
He said only two of his 11 directors knew, his children Howie and Susie. Greg Abel heard it for the first time sitting on the stage next to him.
Abel became CEO on January 1, 2026. Buffett stayed on as chairman, but said the final word now belongs to Greg.
Buffett took over a failing textile mill in 1965. He turned it into a company worth over $1 trillion.
Now Berkshire is sitting on about $335 billion in cash, and for the first time it’s someone else’s job to spend it.
Can anyone really replace Buffett, or is Berkshire’s best era over?
Save the video, this is a moment people will look back on, and follow for more money lessons.
“Sir” Allen Stanford offered a $20 million prize for one cricket match in 2008. less than four years later he was sentenced to 110 years in prison for a $7 billion fraud.
the match was played in Antigua on November 1, 2008. England faced the Stanford Superstars, a team led by Chris Gayle, with $20 million going to the winners. the Superstars won and England were all out for 99. it was part of a $100 million, five year cricket deal, and that June he had landed a helicopter at Lord’s with fake dollar notes on board.
Antigua and Barbuda had knighted him in 2006, and he went by Sir Allen. Forbes put his wealth at about $2 billion in 2008. according to the Justice Department he owned six private planes and a 112 foot yacht with support vessels.
the money came from depositors. his bank in Antigua sold certificates of deposit at premium rates, and prosecutors said only 10 to 15% of the assets were invested as promised. the rest went to his own businesses through undisclosed loans, while new deposits paid the people who wanted out. by 2008 depositors were owed more than $8 billion.
a jury convicted him on 13 of 14 counts in March 2012. on June 14 the judge sentenced him to 110 years and a $5.9 billion money judgment. Antigua had already taken the knighthood back.
after the collapse a receiver sold the contents of his Miami offices, about 25 truckloads valued at around $2 million. one buyer paid $1,500 for a leather chair, a cherry wood desk and a credenza.
in the video below, CNBC asks Sir Allen how his firm avoided the subprime crisis. he says they never understood the risk, so they did not take it. then he is asked if it is fun being a billionaire. he says yes three times.
who was really carrying the risk: Stanford or his depositors?
Apple co-founder Ronald Wayne sold his 10% stake for $800 in 1976. today it would be worth more than $400 billion. he is 91, and says he has no regrets.
the $400 billion is on paper, at Apple’s value of about $4 trillion. going from $800 to $400 billion is a gain of 500 million times.
he was one of three founders. in April 1976 he signed the contract that created Apple Computer Company with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, and he got his 10% after persuading Wozniak to join. he drafted the incorporation papers, drew the first logo, a picture of Isaac Newton under a tree, and wrote the manual for the Apple I.
about 12 days later he sold out. he was the only founder with assets creditors could seize, and he feared losing his house and car if the company failed. he got $800, then another $1,500 to formally give up every future claim, $2,300 in total.
“I am a much better engineer than businessman,” he has said.
he parted with the contract just as cheaply. Wayne reportedly sold the original in the 1990s for $500. in December 2011 it went to auction at Sotheby’s with an estimate of $150,000 and a starting bid of $70,000, and sold for $1,594,500.
would you sell 10% of the next Apple for $800 if it meant keeping your house?