Confidence tricksters

Bernard "Bernie" Cornfeld (17 August 1927 – 27 February 1995) was a prominent businessman and international financier who sold investments in US mutual funds, and who was tried and acquitted for mismanagement of the Investors Overseas Services (IOS).

Elizabeth Anne Holmes (born February 3, 1984) is an American biotechnology entrepreneur who was convicted of fraud in connection to her blood-testing company, Theranos. The company's valuation soared after it claimed to have revolutionized blood testing by developing methods that needed only very small volumes of blood, such as from a fingerprick. In 2015, Forbes had named Holmes the youngest and wealthiest self-made female billionaire in the United States on the basis of a $9-billion valuation of her company. In the following year, as revelations of fraud about Theranos's claims began to surface, Forbes revised its estimate of Holmes's net worth to zero, and Fortune named her in its feature article on "The World's 19 Most Disappointing Leaders".

Low Taek Jho (Chinese: 劉特佐; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lâu Te̍k-chó͘, born 4 November 1981), often called Jho Low, is a Malaysian fugitive businessman, wanted by authorities internationally in connection with the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal (1MDB scandal). He has been named the mastermind of the massive fraud, which prosecutors allege was a scheme to siphon US$4.5 billion from 1MDB into Low's personal accounts. He is the beneficiary of numerous discretionary trust assets said by the US government to originate from payments out of the Malaysian 1MDB fund. Low has stated that he "will not submit to any jurisdiction where guilt has been predetermined by politics and where there is no independent legal process", maintaining his innocence throughout the 1MDB scandal. He contends that Malaysian authorities are engaging in a campaign of harassment and political persecution due to his prior support of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose part in the 1MDB scandal had led to Najib being convicted on seven counts of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust.

Peter Clarence Foster (born 26 September 1962) is an Australian who has been convicted and jailed on three continents for offences involving weight loss products and property transactions.

Sante Kimes (born Sante Singhrs; July 24, 1934 – May 19, 2014) was an American criminal who was convicted of two murders, as well as robbery, forgery, violation of anti-slavery laws, and numerous other crimes. Many of these crimes were committed with the assistance of her son, Kenny Kimes. They were tried and convicted together for the murder of Irene Silverman, along with 117 other charges.

Kevin Mark Trudeau (born February 6, 1963) is an American fraudster, author, and salesman, known for promotion of his books and resulting legal cases involving the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). His ubiquitous late-night infomercials, which promoted unsubstantiated health, diet, and financial advice, earned him a fortune but eventually resulted in civil and criminal penalties for fraud, larceny, and contempt of court.

Ronald Pellar (born February 5, 1930 in Chicago) is an American hypnotist and fraudster who performed under the stage names Ronald Dante and Dr. Dante and who was briefly married to actress Lana Turner. He has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to several criminal offenses, including mail fraud in connection with his operation of the diploma mill Columbia State University and attempted murder for trying to contract for the murder of another hypnotist and entertainer. As of 2006, he had been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for 20 years for having been paid the highest-ever lecture fee. He has been known by as many as 40 aliases, including Phil Harris, Earl Clevenger, and Bonnie Ritchie.

Bernard Lawrence Madoff (April 29, 1938 – April 14, 2021) was an American market maker, investment advisor, financier, and convicted fraudster who served a federal prison sentence for offenses related to a massive Ponzi scheme. He was at one time non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, before being revealed as and later confessing to having been the operator of the largest Ponzi scheme in world history, and the largest financial fraud in U.S. history. Prosecutors estimated the fraud to be worth $64.8 billion based on the amounts in the accounts of Madoff's 4,800 clients as of November 30, 2008.

Esther Elizabeth Reed (born March 8, 1978) is an American woman convicted of fraud and identity theft charges. She is best known for gaining entry to the open-admission Harvard Extension School and Columbia University School of General Studies using stolen identities, including that of missing person Brooke Henson.

Dawood Ibrahim (Konkani: ???? ????????, born Sheikh Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar; December 26, 1955), is an Indian underworld leader and crime boss. Dawood's D-Company has been identified as a criminal-terrorism syndicate by the US Congress. Dawood is currently on the Interpol wanted list for organised crime and counterfeiting, besides association with Al-Qaeda as identified in UN Security Council resolutions 1822 (2008) and 1267 (1999). He was No. 4 on the Forbes 2008 list of The World's 10 Most Wanted criminals, and no. 50 on the Forbes 2009 list of The World's Most Powerful People.