Hall of Shame: The Forbes 30 Under 30 Alumni Who Ended Up in Courtrooms Instead

[Shekinah Brama]

If a young founder comes knocking for startup capital, you may want to add one more step to your due diligence: check whether they’ve ever appeared on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. The celebrated ranking has a knack for spotlighting future business stars—along with a surprising number of future defendants.

Here are a few alumni whose rise was followed by a spectacular fall:

Scammer: Sam Bankman-Fried
Year honored: 2021
Company: FTX
Crime: Convicted on seven counts of fraud for stealing customer funds.
In prison? Yes — he received a 25-year sentence in March 2024.
Final note: Bankman-Fried has been lobbying President Trump for a pardon.

Scammer: Charlie Javice
Year honored: 2019
Company: Frank
Crime: Convicted on three counts of fraud and one count of conspiracy for inflating user numbers to persuade JPMorgan to buy her startup.
In prison? Not yet — she was sentenced to seven years and one month in September 2025 but remains free on bail pending appeal.
Final note: Thanks to a clause in her contract, JPMorgan is covering her legal fees—now over $100 million.

Scammer: Martin Shkreli
Year honored: 2013
Companies: MSMB Capital, MSMB Healthcare, Retrophin
Crime: Two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy tied to anticompetitive price-gouging on HIV medication.

In prison? No — he was sentenced to seven years in 2018 and released in May 2022.
Final note: Shkreli is permanently banned from the pharmaceutical industry, and a judge recently ruled he can be sued for allegedly copying and broadcasting the one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album he once bought.

Dishonorable Mention
Elizabeth Holmes received plenty of glowing coverage for Theranos but never actually landed on a Forbes 30 Under 30 list. That didn’t stop her from being convicted in 2022 on four counts of fraud—a verdict upheld in 2025.

To Forbes’s Credit
In November 2023, Forbes published its own “Hall of Shame” for the Under 30 picks it wishes it could take back, including the three offenders above. The outlet noted that after vetting more than 100,000 candidates, the vast majority of honorees turned out well—emphasizing that its process did weed out notorious names like Billy McFarland and even Elizabeth Holmes.

[Author]

Posts