A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity,naïveté,compassion,vanity,confidence,irresponsibility,and greed. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial",as they "benefit con operators at the expense of their victims ".
Barry Jay Minkow is a former American businessman,pastor,and convicted felon. While still in high school,Minkow founded ZZZZ Best,which appeared to be an immensely successful carpet-cleaning and restoration company. However,it was actually a front to attract investment for a massive Ponzi scheme. ZZZZ Best collapsed in 1987,costing investors and lenders $100 million in one of the largest investment frauds ever perpetrated by a single person,as well as one of the largest accounting frauds in history. The scheme is often used as a case study of accounting fraud.
Richard Martino is a member of the New York Gambino crime family who was involved in Internet and phone scams that cost consumers $750 million. Martino introduced the Cosa Nostra into this area of crime.
Michael Eugene Kelly was a dual citizen of the U.S. and Mexico who operated a number of fraudulent resort enterprises and the Avanti Motor Corporation. In 2007,with 23 others,he was accused by the FBI and the United States Attorney's Office of operating an enormous Ponzi scheme that defrauded over a thousand elderly and senior citizens of their retirement money. It was later disclosed that 7,000 victims from throughout the U.S. lost more than $342 million.
The Reebok insider trading case was an insider trading scheme that took place in 2004 and 2005 and involved tips from a Merrill Lynch investment banker,confidential information from Business Week and a grand juror,and trades by individuals in both the United States and Europe. The trades were largely orchestrated by David Pajčin,an ex-Goldman Sachs trader who was subsequently ordered to pay nearly $28 million in fines and judgments by the SEC.
Marc Stuart Dreier is an American former lawyer who was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in 2009 for committing investment fraud using a Ponzi scheme. He is scheduled to be released from FCI Sandstone on June 30,2025. On May 11,2009,he pleaded guilty in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to eight charges of fraud,which included one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud,one count of money laundering,one count of securities fraud,and five counts of wire fraud in a scheme to sell more than $950 million in fictitious promissory notes. Civil charges,filed in December 2008 by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,are pending. The 2011 documentary Unraveled states that "Drier stole over $740 million from 4 clients,4 individuals,and 13 hedge funds".
William H. "Tank" Black Jr. is a former sports agent. Black was an assistant coach for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks before starting his Columbia,South Carolina-based sports agency,Professional Management Incorporated (PMI) in 1988. His first client was former Gamecocks wide receiver Sterling Sharpe,a first-round draft pick by the Green Bay Packers in 1988.
Steven Jude Hoffenberg was an American businessman and fraudster. He was the founder,CEO,president,and chairman of Towers Financial Corporation,a debt collection agency,which was later discovered to be a Ponzi scheme. In 1993,he rescued the New York Post from bankruptcy,and briefly owned the paper. Towers Financial collapsed in 1993,and in 1995 Hoffenberg pleaded guilty to bilking investors out of $475 million. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison,plus a $1 million fine and $463 million in restitution. The U.S. SEC considered his financial crimes to be "one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history".
International Investment Group (IIG) is an American financial institution that specializes in short-term trade finance and commercial finance with a focus on emerging markets. Through its affiliate IIG Capital it provides financing to small and medium-sized merchants,traders and processors with a need for supply chain financing.
Joseph Michel Medawar is a Lebanese American financial strategist and investment-banking counselor specializing in media,entertainment and related industries,film producer,and ex-convict. In 2006,he was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and was ordered to pay $2.6 million in restitution to the defrauded investors.
Brian Kim is an American former hedge fund manager. He founded the now-defunct Liquid Capital Management LLC,which focused on futures trading.
John Ruffo is an American former business executive,white-collar criminal and confidence man,who in 1998 was convicted in a scheme to defraud many US and foreign banking institutions of over 350 million US dollars. The swindle is considered one of the most significant cases of bank fraud in US history. He has been a fugitive from justice ever since,and is on the U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted Fugitives list.
In 2019,a scandal arose over a criminal conspiracy to influence undergraduate admissions decisions at several top American universities. The investigation into the conspiracy was code named Operation Varsity Blues. The investigation and related charges were made public on March 12,2019,by United States federal prosecutors. At least 53 people have been charged as part of the conspiracy,a number of whom pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty. Thirty-three parents of college applicants were accused of paying more than $25 million between 2011 and 2018 to William Rick Singer,organizer of the scheme,who used part of the money to fraudulently inflate entrance exam test scores and bribe college officials. Of the 32 parents named in a Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston,more than half had apparently paid bribes to have their children enrolled at the University of Southern California (USC).
Obinwanne Okeke also known as Invictus Obi is a Nigerian entrepreneur and convicted fraudster who is currently serving a ten-year prison sentence in the United States for internet fraud that caused $11M losses to his victims. After initially pleading guilty,on February 16,2021,Okeke was sentenced to ten years in prison. Until his arrest by the Federal Bureau of Investigation following a 13-month investigation,Okeke was a globally-renowned businessman who had investments in oil and gas,agriculture,private equity,alternative energy,telecom and real estate. He operated his holdings under the 'Invictus Group'. Invictus Group operated in three African countries including Nigeria,South Africa,and Zambia. He holds a master's degree in International business and Counter-terrorism from Monash University,Australia.
Anthony Enrique Gignac is a convicted American (Colombian-born) fraudster and con artist. In a career spanning 30 years,Gignac used wealthy,high-ranking personas,most notably that of Saudi prince Khalid bin Al Saud,to fraudulently secure investment in a series of schemes that he presented as being backed by a large personal fortune. After defrauding funds of $8.1 million from investors,Gignac was arrested in 2017 after billionaire Jeffery Soffer,the owner of the Fontainebleau Hotel,became suspicious of the supposed Muslim prince ordering pork at a restaurant. He was jailed for over 18 years in 2019.
David Adler Staveley is an American fraudster who was the first person to be charged with fraud in relation to the Paycheck Protection Program. Staveley,along with David A. Butziger,attempted to steal over $543,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program in forgivable loans for four businesses he either did not own or were no longer in business. After he was caught in May 2020,he attempted to fake his own suicide by drowning on June 3.
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