The 10 Biggest Financial Fraudsters in History

Financial fraud remains prevalent worldwide, with scandals involving billions, even trillions, of dollars. According to Yahoo Finance, here are ten of history's biggest financial fraudsters:

1. Walter Forbes & Kirk Shelton – US$19 billion
2. Robert Allen Stanford – US$7 billion
3. Tom Petters – US$3.65 billion
4. Lou Pearlman – US$3 billion
5. Nicholas Cosmo – US$195 million
6. Bernard Ebbers – US$180 million
7. J. David Dominelli – US$80 million
8. James Paul Lewis Jr. – US$50 million
9. Bernard Madoff – US$50 million
10. Charles Ponzi – US$20 million

Walter Forbes and Kirk Shelton hold the record for the world's largest financial fraud, causing losses of US$19 billion (approximately Rp272.45 trillion).

In the 1990s, Forbes served as CEO and Shelton as president of CUC International, a marketing company that merged with a highly successful travel/accommodation company.

However, CUC International's profits were not as claimed. Following the merger, it was discovered that Forbes and Shelton had falsified profit claims of approximately $500 million over a three-year period. The company lost $14 billion in market value in a single day, resulting in US$19 billion in investor losses. A federal court sentenced Forbes and Shelton to over a decade in prison, along with financial restitution.

(Read More: This is the Biggest Cryptocurrency Fraud with Trillions of Rupiah in Losses)