The Decade's 10 Biggest Financial Crimes (2024)

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#10 Samuel Israel

Amount: $450 million

Scheme: Israel was convicted of defrauding investors with partner Daniel Marino of more than $450 million using his Bayou Group hedge fund. Facing 20 years in prison, the Connecticut-based executive faked his own suicide in June 2008 but later turned himself in to police.

Punishment: 20 years

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#9 Marc Dreier

Amount: $700 million

Scheme: The hot-shot New York City lawyer sold fake promissory notes to the hedge funds and other investors to support an extravagant lifestyle.

Punishment: 20 years

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#8 Kenneth Lay

Amount: $1 billion

Scheme: In 2001, energy giant Enron and CEO Lay were busted for hiding the failing health of the company in conjunction with the company's accounting firm, Arthur Anderson. The company filed for bankruptcy in late 2001, then the largest corporate bankruptcy ever; shareholders lost more than $1 billion, as the Daily News notes.

Lay was found guilty in 2006 on six counts of fraud and conspiracy and four counts of bank fraud, but he died of a heart attack that same year while awaiting sentencing.

Punishment: A forever tarnished reputation.

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#7 Scott Rothstein

Amount: $1 billion (alleged)

Scheme: The well-connected south Florida lawyer "allegedly orchestrated a substantial misappropriation of funds from investor trust accounts" -- according to a lawsuit by his former legal partners -- related to the "sale of interests in structured settlements" that guaranteed 20% returns in as little as three months.

Punishment: To be determined. Rothstein is currently under arrest and has pled not guilty.

Image: page2live.com

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#6 Richard Scrushy

Amount: $2.87 billion

Scheme: Scrushy was the HealthSouth founder who was called the "CEO of fraud" and ordered to pay nearly $2.9 billion to shareholders because of a massive accounting deceit that nearly bankrupt the rehabilitation chain. That's after he was acquitted in a federal criminal case over related charges, found Jesus, became a televangelist -- and nearly got away with it all.

Punishment: Scrushy is serving six years and 10 months from a separate case for his bribing Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. His mansions, luxury cars and boats are being auctioned off to pay the civil fine.

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#5 Tom Petters

Amount: $3.65 billion

Scheme: According to the government, Petters attracted massive investments from hedge funds and other institutions, ostensibly to buy consumer electronic goods and re-sell them to national big-box stores like Costco and BJ's. But there was no such buying and selling.

Punishment: To be determined. Petters was convicted on all 20 counts he faced in December 2009; he faces 30 years to life in prison.

Image: AP/Star Tribune/Jerry Holt

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#4 R. Allen Stanford

Amount: $7 billion (alleged)

Scheme: Authorities say Stanford and his Antigua-based Stanford International Bank sold certificates of deposit that deceived investors about the nature of the investments and their oversight, while using money taken from later depositors to repay earlier ones, as Bloomberg summarizes.

Punishment: To be determined; Stanford's trial starts January 2011.

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#3 Jérôme Kerviel

Amount: $7.36 billion

Scheme: Kerviel, a Société Générale trader, falsified trades to conceal $73 billion in bets he made on risky futures markets, as Forbes summarizes. When the French bank, whose own market value isn’t worth $73 billion, discovered the rogue trader’s excessive positions in January 2008, the bank reportedly lost more than $7 billion.

Punishment: To be determined; Kerviel's trial is pending.

Image: Getty, via Daily Mail

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#2 Bernie Ebbers

Amount: $11 billion

Scheme: Worldcom CEO Bernard Ebbers built the telecom company quickly through debt-funded acquisitions. Eventually, it came out he and others used accounting fraud to trick investors, including nearly $4 billion worth of expenses and inflating the company's assets by some $11 billion. In 2002, Worldcom filed for bankruptcy, the largest company filing ever.

Punishment: 25 years

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#1 Bernie Madoff

Amount: $65 billion ($19.4 billion in estimated loses)

Scheme: For nearly two decades, the New York City money manager ran a classic Ponzi scheme, paying high monthly returns to clients with new investment in his firm for other unwitting clients.

Punishment: 150 years

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