Read the Forbes 30 Under 30 Hall of Shame, a list of dubious people Forbes honored before their wrongdoings were revealed.

After an estimated $8B in customer funds were lost through a cryptocurrency scheme likened to a Ponzi scheme, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Dissecting the legend of Sam Bankman-Fried

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange, rose to fame as a crypto visionary and was hailed as a genius. But he had a quick downfall in late 2022 when reports surfaced, implicating him in massive fraud.

Spellcaster: the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried

The rapid collapse of FTX, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, in late 2022 shocked the world. At the center of the fiasco was Sam Bankman-Fried, a 29-year-old wunderkind who had entranced politicians, journalists, financiers, and others with his melding of altruism and digital currency. The sordid details revealed as the empire fell captured public attention—venture into the death spiral with this in-depth podcast from Bloomberg.

Photos of Sam Bankman-Fried's $35M Bahamas home

Sam Bankman-Fried, the 31-year-old founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, traded his luxury Bahamian penthouse for a courtroom and jailhouse. As part of his trial, the prosecution looked into his multimillion-dollar home in the Bahamas he...

A look at the biography of Sam Bankman-Fried by author Michael Lewis

Michael Lewis released a book, "Going Infinite," on the day the subject of the book began his high-profile fraud trial. The book delves into the life of Sam Bankman-Fried, a young billionaire in the cryptocurrency world. Find out what the bestselling author discovered over two years and 100 interviews with Bankman-Fried.

FTX, one of the world's largest crypto exchanges, collapsed in 2022

As crypto markets declined during the post-pandemic slowdown, Sam Bankman-Fried propped up the markets with billions he'd earned leading FTX, one of the largest crypto exchanges. Then, in one of the most rapid financial implosions in modern history, the exchange collapsed as investors rushed to withdraw money.

Visualizing the financial troubles of FTX at the time of its bankruptcy

Just before Sam Bankman-Fried declared FTX bankrupt in November of 2022, he sought to raise funds quickly to try to save the cryptocurrency exchange. As part of that attempt, he sent around a glimpse of the exchange's current balance sheet, which showed the company had liabilities of $9 billion with only $900 million in liquid assets. Check out the visualization here.

Stephen Findeisen is the YouTuber taking on crypto scams

While many cryptocurrencies are focused on advanced technical projects or real-life uses, the proliferation of easy-to-create memecoins has led to a boom in scams. Stephen Findeisen, aka Coffeezilla, is regarded as one of the best independent investigative journalists exposing high-profile frauds, pump-and-dump schemes, rug-pulls, and more.

The Forbes Midas List is an annual ranking of the world's top 100 venture capitalists

To qualify, investors are ranked by portfolio companies that have gone public or been acquired for at least $200M in the past five years, or that have at least doubled their private valuation to $400M or more over the same period.

Theranos and Pets.com are among some of the biggest startup failures ever

You might have heard of Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes’s one-time blood testing company that landed the founder in prison for more than a decade after she was charged with fraud. The rest of the startups on a list of five of the biggest startup failures ever might not be as famous as Theranos, but they were met with similarly disastrous fates.

Why America is obsessed with the stories of scammers

A "grifter" is someone who exploits systems at a high level. Notable cases like fake heiress Anna Delvey, Fyre Festival creator Billy McFarland, and startup faker Elizabeth Holmes, who deceived their way to success, captivate our culture. These...

Many of the 2010s girlboss-era founders experienced a public fall from grace in 2020

In the 2010s, dozens of female founders were celebrated on the covers of business magazines like Inc. for their recent startup success, from Emily Weiss’s Glossier makeup brand to Steph Korey’s Away luggage company. But many of these companies were also the subject of large takedown articles around the year 2020.

Famous scammer Anna Delvey lied about having a $67M trust fund

Delvey conned New York City’s elite with her lies, saying that she was a German heiress and defrauding the city’s banks, restaurants, and more out of more than $275K in just 10 months. Her story was even turned into a Netflix series while she was in prison.

The story of a bitcoin loophole that gave one man millions

James Parker discovered a glitch in an Australian cryptocurrency exchange that would allow him to cash in credits worth over $20M and make big gifts to his friends. Like most loopholes, the authorities found out, but not before his life was transformed. The first in a six-part series.

Crypto history's is full of bizarre stories

Digital currencies based solely on misspellings of former President Joe Biden’s name have skyrocketed, and backers of a token based on a Shiba Inu wearing a hat raised $690K to get their logo on the Las Vegas Sphere.

Jimmy Zhong pulled off one of the biggest bitcoin heists in history

Jimmy Zhong performed a bitcoin heist—stealing more than 51,000 BTC from Silk Road in 2012. For years, he stayed under the radar, using crypto mixers to hide his tracks. But one small mistake in 2019 led investigators straight to him.

A landmark hedge fund court case once reshaped high finance

Hedge fund traders tied to insider trading by probing prosecutors are relatively rare. When billionaire hedge fund legend Steve Cohen, founder of SAC Capital, pleaded guilty to trading on inside information, Wall Street trembled. The outcome of the case remains a cautionary tale for traders today.

Worldwide cryptocurrency heists tracker

A look at the biggest cryptocurrency heists, be they from an exchange, smart contract, or a business, including amounts, methods, reparations, and consequences.

Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin was surprised by the emergence of NFTs

Scams have pervaded the NFT space and made critics question their legitimacy, but proponents believe their use cases could one day extend to real estate and credit scores.

Explore Ray Dalio's real-time wealth ranking and net worth

Dalio's profile in Forbes tracks his net worth, wealth history, and global wealth ranking. As of early 2026, Dalio is in the top 200 richest people in the world.

Prediction market Polymarket's CEO dropped out of New York University

Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan started building Polymarket when he was 21. Polymarket has been backed by billionaire investors such as Peter Thiel and Vitalik Buterin.

Ruby Franke is an influencer serving time in jail for child abuse

The story of this parenting influencer is perhaps one of the darkest stories to come out of the creator economy. Ruby Franke previously ran a YouTube channel with millions of followers where she made money by monetizing her controversial parenting advice. Now she’s serving jail time for child abuse.

Listen to a sit-down interview with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink to learn more about his background, the lessons he's learned throughout his career, and his outlook for the future.

Largely considered to be the inspiration for Gordon Gekko in the movie 'Wall Street,' Ivan Boesky was one of the most high-profile white-collar criminals and faced a $100M fine for insider trading in 1986.

The FBI once raided Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan's home

In 2024, after Polymarket markets favored what turned out to be the winning outcome of the US presidential election, agents raided Coplan's New York City apartment. Coplan, who was only 26 years old at the time, was home during the raid and turned over his devices to authorities.

Many startup founders pull out-of-the-box stunts to get their businesses off the ground.

The scam factories behind prolific scamming

Scammers are on the rise, and many of those behind them are trapped in so-called scam factories—shadowy organizations tricking honest workers into fraudulent employment.

A post-game interview with Sophia Amoruso directly after her 2016 Forbes cover

This article from 2016 is a time capsule of sorts. It includes an interview with the person who coined the term “girlboss,” Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso, that took place just after she appeared on the cover of Forbes magazine. We now know that her company would go on to file for bankruptcy the next year.

Three AI startup founders broke the record for the youngest self-made billionaire previously set by Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg became the youngest self-made billionaire in 2006 at 23 years old when Facebook held its initial public offering. In January of 2026, three AI startup founders—Brendan Foody, Adarsh Hiremath, and Surya Midha—broke Zuckerberg's record and became billionaires at 22 years old.

'The Fund' exposed culture problems and scandals at Bridgewater Associates

In 2023, Rob Copeland—who covered Bridgewater Associates for The Wall Street Journal for 10 years before moving to The New York Times—wrote a book that drew from interviews, company documents, and meeting recordings. "The Fund" highlighted sexual harassment scandals, a company contract to hire strippers, and a toxic company culture. Dalio has criticized the author for being sensational and a gossip.

This year's highest-paid dead celebrities

Forbes unveiled the list of 13 highest-paid dead celebrities. For the first time ever, the top five people in Forbes 2022 list of highest paid dead celebrities, have made more than $100 million each

One man lost roughly $100K to a con artist—then turned it into a business

The victim of the con now helps other victims of similar crimes. He's also written a book and hosts a podcast on the subject.

A deep dive into Enron, one of the largest accounting scandals in history

Investing comes with great opportunities for reward, but it also carries great risk. Investors learned that the hard way when Enron collapsed. Everyone lost money—from the largest institutions on Wall Street to mom-and-pop investors who bought S&P 500 index funds. This series from American Scandal starts with a close-up into an investment manager at Enron who started to unravel the accounting scandal happening behind the scenes. Listen here.

Time magazine named Ray Dalio one of the 100 most influential people in 2012

Dalio's profile, written by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, praised Dalio for his investment strategy and his deep understanding of economics, if unorthodox at times. Volcker particularly appreciated Dalio's support for the Federal Reserve's handling of the 2008 financial crisis. Dalio and Volcker were longtime friends—Dalio has referred to Volcker as "the most principled man" he knows.

Listen to a podcast episode about the time a 'Bored Ape' NFT—a valuable, unique digital asset stored on a blockchain—was kidnapped.

Watch a man who counterfeited over $1M explain how to counterfeit money—including information about the materials and processes required to make fake money and how to spot a fake banknote.

After Bernie Madoff's nearly $65B Ponzi scheme was exposed, the Securities and Exchange Commission was widely criticized for being inattentive and overly lax for not having caught the fraud earlier.

Caroline Calloway: The influencer who botched two six-figure book deals

The daughter of a real estate mogul, Caroline Calloway was an Instagram influencer who leveraged her "Cambridge captions"—young adult novel-esque descriptions of college parties—into a six-figure book deal in 2014. After having failed to produce...