The world's crooked billionaires

[Optimus Prime]

Wong Kwong Yu

Net worth: US$1.55 billion

Wong Kwong Yu is a Chinese electronics retailing businessman who in 2006 was the country’s richest man. Now, he’s in the fourth year of a 14-year prison sentence for insider trading and bribery. Wong’s rise was as meteoric as his fall: he left school and his impoverished family behind at 14 and by his mid-30s had already attained billionaire status after founding Gome, China’s largest electronics retailer.

Wong made US$230 million on Shenzhen-listed Beijing Centergate Technologies, in which he was the biggest shareholder, trading ahead of major announcements through dummy accounts, a Beijing court said. As he was trying to cultivate relationships inside the government, Wong and his associates reportedly bribed five police and tax officers for US$740,000 in exchange for so-called corporate favours. Wong and his wife Du Juan agreed to pay Gome US$54 million in compensation for their misconduct last week.

Photo by AP Mar 19, 2014

 

[Optimus Prime]

Chey Tae-won

Net worth: US$2.5 billion

Chey Tae-Won was serving a four-year prison sentence after his supposed belief in the supernatural led him to embezzle nearly US$50 million from the company he inherited, SK Group. Chey and his brother ran the country’s third largest industrial conglomerate, with major interests in the communications and energy sectors.

Using the company’s assets as if they were his own, Chey entrusted an asset manager rumoured to have been a shaman before, Kim Won-Hong, with running his personal finances. As Kim’s losses mounted in the midst of the global financial crisis in 2008, Chey and his brother funnelled cash from two of his companies, doubling down on the supposed fortune-teller who eventually fled to China, and then Taiwan, with a Belizean passport. Chey and his brother are behind bars, while Kim was extradited last September.

Photo by AP Mar 19, 2014

 

[Optimus Prime]

Silvio Berlusconi

Net worth: US$9 billion

Teflon politician no more, Berlusconi was expelled from the Senate last year, having been found guilty of both tax fraud and having sex with underage prostitute “Ruby the Heartstealer.”

Back to tax fraud: using his personal holding company, Fininvest, Berlusconi bought the rights to major U.S. movies and TV shows through the late 80s and early 90s. Mediaset, the country’s largest TV broadcaster which was founded by Berlusconi and remains under his control, then bought the rights at jacked up prices, creating “black funds” that netted Il Cavaliere €270 million personally at the expense of the taxman and other shareholders.

Given his age (77), Berlusconi won't be serving time in the joint. Instead, he'll be doing community service while he awaits the results of three other cases against him for defamation, leaking of confidential wiretaps, and more bribery.

Photo by AP Mar 19, 2014

 

[Optimus Prime]

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana

Net worth: US$1.65 billion each

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana appear as two of the most high-profile cases in Italy's crackdown on tax evasion. The fashion power duo was sentenced to 20 months behind bars last June for allegedly hiding profits from the taxman through an offshore corporation.

In what the judge called “sophisticated tax fraud,” the designers sold two of their brands to a holding company in Luxembourg named Gado, allowing them to avoid more than US$570 million in taxes. While the designers are appealing, if the conviction is upheld they will be forced to fork over US$470 million in fines.

Photo by Getty Images Mar 19, 2014

 

[Optimus Prime]

Bernie Ecclestone

Net worth: US$4.2 billion

Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone is also in trouble. A British citizen, Ecclestone faces legal challenges in the UK and in Germany, where he is accused of bribery and could face serious jail time.

Ecclestone, who directly owns 5.3% of the Formula One Group companies, and 8.5% through his family’s Bambino Trust, was involved in the sale of rights to private equity group CVC Capital Partners in 2006. He is accused of bribing German investment banker Gerhard Gribkowsky with US$45 million to guarantee his bank, BayernLB, would sell their stake to CVC while keeping Bernie running the show.

Gribkowsky is currently serving an eight-and-a-half year prison term for accepting the bribe, while Ecclestone claims he was blackmailed by the banker who threatened to release fake information tied to his family’s finances. He is set to go to trial in Munich later this year.

Photo by AP Mar 19, 2014

 

[Optimus Prime]

Jim Irsay

Net worth: US$1.6 billion

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay was released from jail Monday after being held overnight following a traffic stop in which police said he failed sobriety tests and had multiple prescription drugs inside his vehicle. Irsay was pulled over late Sunday after he was spotted driving slowly near his home in suburban Carmel, stopping in the roadway and failing to use a turn signal.

Photo by AP Mar 19, 2014

 

[Optimus Prime]

Thomas Kwok

Net worth: US$12.6 billion (together with brother Raymond)

Billionaire brothers Thomas and Raymond Kwok and three other people were charged in a graft case alleging that the prominent developers gave bribes in exchange for lucrative information on pending land sales. Also charged by Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption are former Chief Secretary Rafael Hui, a former senior officer of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, and an executive director of Sun Hung Kai Properties, which the Kwok brothers co-chair.

Photo by AP Mar 19, 2014

 

[Optimus Prime]

Raymond Kwok

Net worth: US$12.6 billion (together with brother Thomas)

Thomas and Raymond Kwok have been charged with bribing a former chief secretary and conspiring to conduct misconduct. Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption is going after the billionaire property tycoons for allegedly providing payments and unsecured loans worth more than US$4 million to Rafael Hui, Hong Kong’s number two public official, from 2000 to 2009. The trial is scheduled to start in May.

Photo by AP Mar 19, 2014

 

[Optimus Prime]

Joseph Lau

Net worth: US$8.4 billion

Another Hong Kong billionaire, Joseph Lau, was just found guilty of a similar offence. Lau was found guilty with the reported payment of HKUS$20 million, or US$2.6 million, to former Macau public works chief Ao Man-long in a money-for-land deal, as Forbes' Russell Flannery reported.

Lau was forced to step down as chairman and CEO of Chinese Real Estate Holdings of Hong Kong after being sentenced to prison for five years and three months. Replaced by his son Ming-wai as head of his company, Lau will probably appeal. Regardless, he probably won't be serving any time, as Hong Kong doesn't have an extradition treaty with Macau.

Photo by Reuters Mar 19, 2014

 

[Leongsam]

All these prosecutions are driven by the jealousy of those who failed to achieve the same degree of success in their lives.

 

[frenchbriefs]

All these prosecutions are driven by the jealousy of those who failed to achieve the same degree of success in their lives.

well considering these are billionaires,i suppose that mean 99.98% of the world population including u and the scumbag ministars and other crooked politicians?

 

[Leongsam]

well considering these are billionaires,i suppose that mean 99.98% of the world population including u and the scumbag ministars and other crooked politicians?

I am not jealous of those who are more successful than I am. On the contrary, I admire them immensely and view them as role models.

The guys listed above are simply doing what most of us wish we could do. I wish them well.

 

[frenchbriefs]

I am not jealous of those who are more successful than I am.

All these prosecutions are driven by the jealousy of those who failed to achieve the same degree of success in their lives.

but ur these two sentence contradict each other,looks like somebody is jealous.

 

[erection2015]

Don BosSam

Net worth 16.68 billion reputation points.

Don BosSam is of Persian Burmese parentage and is a rep points/power trader. You give him valuable cash and he gives you even more valuable points/power.

He is happy, you are happy and sbf is a fun fun place.

 

[Leongsam]

but ur these two sentence contradict each other,looks like somebody is jealous.

No they don't.

There are 3 ways of reacting to the success of others :

1. Jealousy and resentment.

2. Admiration and inspiration.

3. Neutral.

What I'm saying is that the prosecution of those successful billionaires has been initiated by those who fall under 1. They're probably even more crooked than the ones that they are prosecuting but because they did not succeed in being part of the gravy train, they're now seeking revenge.

 

[frenchbriefs]

No they don't.

There are 3 ways of reacting to the success of others :

1. Jealousy and resentment.

2. Admiration and inspiration.

3. Neutral.

What I'm saying is that the prosecution of those successful billionaires has been initiated by those who fall under 1. They're probably even more crooked than the ones that they are prosecuting but because they did not succeed in being part of the gravy train, they're now seeking revenge.

yes yes what u say is true,PAP has imprisoned and sued many of their opposition and dissidents,cause they are jealous of their success and attention they are getting hence the revenge seeking,i can see the jealousy in play here.PAP are crooked indeed.

 

[The_Hypocrite]

If they are not crooks than how to be billionaire? Look at old fart and gang...

 

[looneytan]

The guys listed above are simply doing what most of us wish we could do. I wish them well.

you may bring a package of chicken rice and kopi-o kosong and go visit them wherever they are

 

[Lordshiva]

somebody must go and ask the naive dummy pinky whether he knows that most and i say absolutely most of the billionaires in the world are not straight and law abiding types.....


then again maybe he doesnt care because they are allowed to do any fucking thing they want in stinkapore as long as they bring their money....

if that doesnt sound like a fucking prostitute I dont know what does......

 

[Leongsam]

somebody must go and ask the naive dummy pinky whether he knows that most and i say absolutely most of the billionaires in the world are not straight and law abiding types.....

The biggest crook in the world who has yet to face prosecution is that scammer Bill Gates.

He made 60 BILLION dollars selling crap code that has caused untold misery around the world and bred a whole generation of crooks who thrive thanks to the thousands of security holes in his operating system.