The Rich And Famous Swindlers Of Our Time

[Shekinah Brama]

The Swindlers of the Rich and Famous
One wine scammer’s operation was convincing enough to fool a member of the Koch family.

Every now and then, a wolf in sheep’s Gucci sneaks into the highest tax bracket’s pasture—and sooner or later, their story becomes the centerpiece of a true-crime documentary.

Here are some of the most infamous scammers who managed to siphon fortunes from the cultural and economic elite:

Bernie Madoff
The man who became the face of the modern Ponzi scheme pulled off the biggest one ever recorded, defrauding clients of roughly $65 billion over 17 years. Before the 2008 market crash exposed his web of lies, Madoff was a respected Wall Street figure and even chaired the Nasdaq in the 1990s. He died in prison in 2021.

Zach Horwitz
Hollywood’s largest Ponzi scheme could’ve been a movie script—except it was real. Horwitz was sentenced to 20 years in 2022 after prosecutors said he stole $650 million from investors who believed he was brokering film distribution deals with HBO and Netflix. To make his fake success look official, he once mailed out his company’s 2015 annual report with a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label.

Rudy Kurniawan
The California wine savant earned a cult following among collectors—until authorities discovered he was creating homemade blends with counterfeit labels. Prosecutors said he sold $35 million worth of fake wine, including 219 bottles bought for $2.1 million by billionaire Bill Koch. After his 2020 release from prison, Kurniawan reportedly resurfaced in Asia as an outlaw icon, paid to craft his signature impostor blends.

Lawrence Salander
An art-world heavyweight entrusted with Picassos, Monets, and more, Salander secretly sold works belonging to clients without permission. Convicted in 2010, he received an 18-year sentence. Among his victims was artist Robert De Niro Sr.—though his son, Robert De Niro Jr., later recovered several stolen pieces.

Anna Sorokin (Anna Delvey)
Born in Russia and raised middle-class, Sorokin slipped into New York’s elite circles by posing as a German heiress. Her glamorous façade hid a string of frauds totaling an estimated $275,000 stolen from friends, hotels, and banks. After serving nearly four years in prison, she reentered the spotlight last year—competing on Dancing with the Stars while wearing an ankle monitor.

[Author]

Posts