10 Once-Super-Rich Who Lost Everything

by Karl Utermohlen | September 24, 2013 2:26 pm

Having ridiculous amounts of money is not all it’s cracked up to be—especially if you spend as much as you make.

Celebrity Net Worth came up with a list[1] of 10 millionaires and billionaires that once had everything and lost it all. These once-super rich people either squandered every dime they ever made, lost everything due to their investment scams or simply had bad luck. Here are the 10 millionaires and billionaires who lost everything.

• M.C. Hammer – The ‘Can’t Touch This’ artist made over $30 million at one point in his career, but excessive spending on his friends, families and real estate investments proved to be his doom as he filed for bankruptcy before 2000.
• Jordan Belfort – The subject of the upcoming Leonardo DiCaprio Wolves of Wall Street film was once making $250 million a year. Nevertheless, everything came tumbling down for the stockbroker when an FBI investigation of his firm showed illegal practices and he was promptly arrested and forced to give every dime back.
• Allen Stanford – The investment mogul was making serious dough before his company was discovered as a Ponzi scheme. Stanford was eventually arrested and he is now serving a 110-year prison sentence.
• Sean Quinn – The Irish businessman was once worth $6 billion but a bad business decision of investing a large chunk of his money on the Anglo Irish Bank proved to be his undoing as the bank nearly collapsed in 2008.
• George Foreman – The former two-time Heavyweight Champion boxer was almost bankrupt in the 1980s, but he has bounced back with his George Foreman Grills and made over $200 million since.
• Willie Nelson – The country star owed over $15 million to the IRS and declared bankruptcy in 1990.
• Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson – The Icelandic former billionaire saw his fortune disappear when the credit crisis hit Iceland and made all their Landsbankin shares go under.
• Johnny Unitas – The former NFL quarterback attempted to diversify his assets by investing in several business. However, all the businesses he invested in failed and he had to file for bankruptcy in the early 1990s.
• Scott Eyre – Former MLB pitcher was one of Allen Stanford’s victims when he invested money with the Ponzi scheme investor and lost all his money.
• Kim Dotcom – The founder of Megaupload was charged with insider trading, embezzlement, and computer fraud in the 1990s.

You can check out the full article here[2].

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/09/10-once-super-rich-who-lost-everything/

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