Billionaires Behind Bars: Part 1

Sloane | December 4, 2013

Ever heard of the term Schadenfreude? It’s a loanword from Germany meaning ‘Harm-Joy’. It is the feeling of joy or pleasure when one sees another suffer misfortune. The term can be applied to the feeling you get when you pull up to a gas station in your new car and see your old high-school bully working behind the cash register. It can also be applied to the feeling you have when millionaires and billionaires are found guilty of defrauding investors and lose all the money they made scamming innocent people. It’s a feeling we’re all guilty of having. And the following millionaires and billionaires are guilty of so much worse:

 

 Jordan Belfort

400920-jordan-belfort

 

Pictured: Jordan Belfort

Belfort was once a multi-millionaire stockbroker bringing in an estimated $250 million a year when he was only 25-years-old. His stock broking firm Stratton Oakmont dried up and soon Belfort was guilty of money laundering and fraud. He lost his multimillion-dollar fortune and spent two years in prison. As part of his punishment he was forced to pay back $100 million in ill-gotten gains. While Belfort was away, he spent his time writing a novel about his life, which was adapted into the film The Wolf of Wall Street.

 

Kim Dotcom

schmitz_2114833b

 

Pictured: Kim Dotcom

German-Finnish online entrepreneur Kim Dotcom was a pioneer in the file sharing business. His file-sharing service Megaupload is believed to have cost the entertainment industry hundreds of millions of dollars in pirated content. Dotcom has spent most of his life in trouble with the law. In 1994 he was found guilty of fraud and data espionage and in 2012 he was arrested for charges of online piracy and conspiring to commit copyright infringement. $17 million in assets have been seized from Dotcom and he is still awaiting trial.

 

Raj Rajaratnam

101609rajaratnam4sh

 

Pictured: Raj Rajaratnam

Sri Lankan billionaire Raj Rajaratnam made his billions as the head of the Galleon Group, a hedge fund management firm. The firm handled $7 billion in funds before abruptly closing its doors in 2009. In October of 2009 Rajaratnam was arrested on suspicion of insider trading. In 2011 he was found guilty and sentences to 11 years behind bars. On top of his prison sentence, the lengthiest in the history of insider trading, Rajaratnam was forced to pay a $92.8 million penalty. But don’t feel too bad; this billionaire is only being downgraded to millionaire status.

About the Author

Written by Sloane

Before joining PlentyofCheddar.com, Sloane worked as a freelance writer and illustrator for a variety of clients. She attended University of Missouri where she majored in English. Her work has been published in literary magazines, newspapers, and textbooks. She currently resides in Miami, Florida. You can learn more about me on Google +

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *