Can You Name These White-Collar Criminals from a Photo?

FINANCE

By: Khadija L.

7 Min Quiz

Image: Youtube via Peter David Documentaries

About This Quiz

First defined in 1939, white-collar crimes refer to crimes which are non-violent, financially motivated and usually committed by people who are business and government professionals. These people are said to come from very respectable occupations and are of high social standing.

There are different types of white-collar crimes including forgery, racketeering, insider trading, bribery, fraud, embezzlement, identity theft, money laundering and cyber crime. 

It can take the FBI years and in some cases decades, to gain enough evidence against these people, and by the time they do, most of the money has been spent on extravagant parties, homes and vehicles as well as to fund various politicians campaigns. 

Some of the most famous names include Charles Ponzi, a man who the "Ponzi scheme" was named after; Bernard Madoff, who scammed over $64 billion from his victims, Bernard Ebbers, a man who defrauded investors over $11 billion and Martha Stewart, a television personality who lied about her stock sale a day before the company turned belly up.

If you were images of these criminals, would you be able to identify them because 95% of the population can't. Take it to see how well you know some of the most notorious white-collar criminals of our time!

Which of these people committed investment fraud?

Martin Frankel is an American financial criminal who was known for conducting a string of investment frauds causing over $200 million in losses to insurance companies. In 2004, he was sentenced to 200 months in prison based on the amount of money lost.

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Which of these politicians was found guilty of racketeering?

Edwin Edwards is a former American politician and former governor of Louisiana who in 2001, was found guilty of racketeering charges for manipulating Louisiana riverboat casino licenses. He was released in 2011 after serving 8 years, and just 3 years later, ran in the 2014 election to represent the 6th congressional district, in which he lost.

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Which of these people was found guilty of fraud?

Samuel Israel III and Daniel Marino were the founders of the Bayou Hedge Fund Group back in 1996. They received over $300 million in investments and promised billions in return but the two misappropriated the funds for personal use. They both pleaded guilty, including conspiracy and fraud for which they each received a sentence of 20 years.

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Which of these men committed bank fraud?

John Rusnak is an American former currency trader who is best known for hiding almost $700 million in losses at Allfirst Bank, which at the time was a part of AIB Group. He was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for bank fraud in 2003 and since his release, he has become an advocate for second chances for men coming home from incarceration.

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Which of these former pastors committed tax evasion?

Barry Jay Minkow is an American former businessman and pastor who was the founder of ZZZZ Best, a carpet cleaning and restoration company. The company was the front for a “Ponzi scheme” which earned him $100 million. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for a number of financial crimes including tax evasion, investment fraud and racketeering.

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Which of these lobbyists was found guilty of defraudment?

Jack Abramoff is an American lobbyist, movie producer and businessman who pleaded guilty to defrauding several Indian and Native American tribes who were his lobbying clients. He was also guilty of corruption of public officials including White House officials. He served 43 months in prison before being released in December 2010.

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Which of these former traders was guilty of forging trading slips?

Toshihide Iguchi was an executive vice president and U.S. government bond trader who was best known for forging over 30,000 trading slips and for selling bonds totaling $1.1 billion for over 12 years at Daiwa Bank in New York. He also concealed these losses in order to protect his reputation and job.

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Which of these television personalities was found guilty of conspiracy?

Martha Stewart is an American television personality, author and business woman who gained worldwide fame and success after multiple business ventures. In 2004, she received a prison term for selling over $200,000 in Instock trading, a day before the company’s experimental cancer drug failed to gain FDA approval. She was convicted of obstruction of justice, lying about stock sale and conspiracy.

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Which of these former stock brokers pleaded guilty to fraud?

Jordan Ross Belfort is an American author, motivational speaker and former stockbroker who in 1999 plead guilty to fraud and other related crimes involving stock-market manipulation. He published his story in a book called “The Wolf of Wall Street” which was adapted into a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

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Which of these people was found guilty of unauthorized trading?

Nick Leeson is a former derivatives broker best known for causing the collapse of the Barings Bank in the United Kingdom. He made a series of unauthorized trades which earned his bosses huge bonuses. He fled the bank’s trading capital of Singapore leaving behind losses totaling $1.4 billion as well as a note of apology.

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Which of these people was guilty of tax evasion?

Randall Cunningham is a former United States Navy pilot and Republican political who represented California’s 50th Congressional District from 1991 to 2005. In 2005, he pleaded guilty to taking bribes exceeding $2 million as well as for fraud and tax evasion of over $1 million.

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Which of these people is guilty of wire fraud?

Kenneth Lay was an American businessman who was also the founder, CEO and the chairman of Enron Corporation. In 2004, after the company went bankrupt, Lay was indicted for his role in the company’s failure which included 11 counts of securities and wire fraud as well as making misleading statements.

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Which of these businessmen was found guilty of false financial reporting?

Bernard Ebbers is a Canadian businessman who co-founded WorldCom, a telecommunications company where he was the chief executive officer. In 2005, he was convicted of false financial reporting as well as defrauding investors of $11 billion for which he received a 25-year prison sentence.

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Which if these French bankers was found guilty of purposely creating losing trades?

Jérôme Kerviel is a French banker and trader who is best known for losing $7 billion in clients’ funds while making money for his employer Société Générale. He purposely created losing trades in order to hide his acts and in 2010 was sentenced to three years in prison.

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Which of these businessmen was found guilty of bribery?

Richard Scrushy is an American businessman and founder of the HealthSouth Corporation. He was found guilty of bribery and mail fraud and was charged with 36 (out of 85) counts but was later acquitted of all charges. Four months later, he was indicted for extortion, obstruction of justice and money laundering.

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Which of these people was found guilty of securities fraud?

Michael Robert Milken is an American former financier who is best known for developing “junk bonds." In 1989, he was indicted for racketeering, security fraud and insider trading. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, fined $600 million and he was also banned from the security industry by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Which of these people was found guilty of insider trading?

Jeffrey Skilling is a former American businessman and the former chief executive officer of Enron Corporation. In 2006, he was convicted on counts of insider trading, fraud and other crimes causing the collapse of the company. He sold over $50 million of his share in the company despite knowing that it would have gone bankrupt.

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Which of these people was found guilty of fraud?

Robert Allen Stanford is an American former financier who is currently serving a 110-year federal prison sentence for fraud. He once lived in different Caribbean islands where he contributed to the political campaigns of local politicians. He also has to pay a civil penalty exceeding $5 billion.

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Which of these investment advisors was found guilty of financial fraud?

Bernard Madoff is an American investment advisor and former stockbroker who after admitting to scamming thousands of investors out of billions of dollars, $64.8 to be exact, was sentenced to 150 years in prison. His operation was the largest Ponzi scheme in the world’s history and the largest financial fraud in the United States.

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Which of these former CEOs was found guilty of insider trading?

Joseph Nacchio is an American executive who was the chief executive officer and chairman on the board of Qwest Communication International. In 2007, he was convicted of 19 counts of insider trading and was ordered to forfeit of $52 million in stock, pay a $19 million fine and was sentenced to six years in federal prison.

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Which of these former accountants was charged with several counts of fraud?

Scott Sullivan is an American public accountant and former chief financial officer and board member of WorldCom. In 2002, he was arrested and charges on several counts related to fraud as part of the $3.8 billion accounting fraud of the company. He received a 25-year sentence but was released in 2009.

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Which of these women was found guilty of faking her identity?

Cassie Chadwick is a Canadian woman best known for defrauding several U.S. banks out of millions of dollars after she claimed to be the illegitimate daughter of Andrew Carnegie, an extremely wealthy industrialist and philanthropist. She faked her identity as well as forging signatures.

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Which of these former record producers was accused of money laundering?

Louis Jay Pearlman was an American record producer best known for being the manager of the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC. In 2006 he was accused of running a Ponzi scheme leaving over $300 million in debt. He later pleaded guilty to conspiracy, money laundering and for making false statements during a bankruptcy proceeding. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison where he died in 2016.

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Which of these father-son duos was found guilty of embezzling funds from investors?

John and Timothy Rigas are a father and son duo who were the founders of Adelphia Communications Corporation, which was one of the largest cable TV companies in the US. In 2005, the two were convicted of several charges, one of which was embezzling $2.3 billion in liabilities from investors.

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Which of these people pleaded guilty to fraud, money laundering and conspiracy?

Andrew Fastow is a businessman who was the chief financial officer of Enron Corporation. Shortly before the company declared bankruptcy, he was fired for concealing the company’s massive losses and later pleaded guilty to fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.

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Which of these people were both found guilty for stealing over $150 million?

Dennis Kozlowski is corporate manager and former chief executive officer of Tyco International. In 2005, he along with the former CFO, Mark Swartz, were convicted of stealing over $150 million from the company which was spent on many things including a $2 million party for his wife.

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Which of these former stock traders was arrested for insider trading?

Ivan Frederick Boesky is a former American stock trader best known for making millions in the 1970s and 1980s. He also helped investigators who were looking into insider trading and in return got a 3-year sentence for insider trading and fraud.

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Which of these people was found guilty of internal dealings of company funds?

Angelo Mozilo is the former chairman of the board as well as the chief executive officer of Countrywide Financial. In 2008, he resigned after misleading shareholders with regards to the internal dealings of the company and agreed to pay almost $70 million in fines.

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Which of these people was found guilty of faking his own death?

Marcus Schrenker is an American financial advisor who is best known for trying to fake his death after facing legal and financial troubles. He was sentenced to 51 months in prison and was also fined $905,000 for federal charges. A year later, he pleaded guilty to state charges which earned him 10 years in prison and an additional $630,000 in fines.

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Which of these disbarred lawyers was accused of spending over $1.2 million in company finds?

Scott Rothstein is an American disbarred lawyer, former managing shareholder and former CEO of the defunct Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm. He was accused of spending $1.2 billion in funding his extravagant lifestyle, political contributions and philanthropy.

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Which of these people set the golden standard for "Ponzi schemes"?

Charles Ponzi was an Italian con artist living in the United States and Canada who is best known for his money-making schemes. He made money by buying discounted postal coupons in foreign countries and cashing them in while in the United States. He also promised his clients 50% - 100% profit which later cost them over $20 million in losses.

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Which of these people was found guilty of security fraud?

Raj Rajaratnam is a Sri Lankan-American former hedge fund manager and founder of the management firm, Galleon Group. In 2009, he was arrested by the FBI for insider trading and in 2011 was found guilty of security fraud and conspiracy and was sentenced to 11 years in prison and to pay a penalty of $150 million.

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Which of these women was found guilty of money laundering and racketeering?

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, often called the “D. C. Madam” was the owner and operator of an escort agency in Washington D.C. In 2008, despite her company being legal, she was convicted of money laundering and racketeering. Two weeks after her conviction, she committed suicide by hanging.

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Which of these people was guilty of inflated reporting and committing security fraud?

Walter Forbes is an American corporate executive who was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit security fraud, making false statements and for inflating reported incomes for the Cendant Corporation while he was the CEO in the 1990s. In 2007, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay $3.28 billion in restitution.

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Which of these Italians was found guilty of misappropriation of funds?

Rafaello Follieri is an Italian real estate developer best known for dating actress Anne Hathaway. He was later involved in misappropriation of $50 million from Ronald Burkle and Bill Clinton which was meant to be used to buy Roman churches in the United States. He plead guilty and spent 4.5 years in prison and was deported to Italy once released in 2012.

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Which of these former lawyers was found guilty of wire fraud and investment fraud?

Marc Stuart Dreier is an American former lawyer who in 2009, he was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for committing investment fraud, security fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. He also sold $700 million worth of fake developer notes and fake pension plan notes between 2004 and 2008.

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Which of these businessmen was found guilty of money laundering?

Tom Petters is an American businessman and former chairman and CEO of Petters Group worldwide who is best known for committing several federal crimes, including wire fraud and money laundering while at the company. His Ponzi scheme totaled $3.65 billion which he received a 50-year sentence for.

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Which of these former security consultants was found guilty of faking their identity?

Frank Abagnale is an American security consultant who has been called one of the best imposters in U.S. history as he has assumed as many as 8 different identities, including a pilot and doctor, and escaped police custody twice. After serving time, he is now a consultant for the FBI and was the inspiration for the movie, "Catch Me If You Can."

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Which of these former bankers was found guilty of shortening national shares?

Albert H. Wiggin was an American banker who became the youngest vice president and president of Chase National Bank. After being investigated, he was found to have shorted over 40,000 of Chase’s national shares which made him a personal profit of $4 million, which at the time was not considered a crime.

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