Great frauds in history: John MacGregor’s dodgy loans
Great frauds in history: John MacGregor’s dodgy loans
When the Royal British Bank fell on hard times, founder John MacGregor started falsifying the accounts and paying dividends out of capital. The bank f…
22 Nov 2020
Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci : the boffins behind the Covid-19 vaccine
Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci : the boffins behind the Covid-19 vaccine
Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci are an unassuming Turkish-German couple who had already made their fortune as biotech entrepreneurs when a strange new vi…
21 Nov 2020
Great frauds in history… William Strahan’s stolen bonds 
Great frauds in history… William Strahan’s stolen bonds
Eton-educated William Snow, AKA William Strahan, inherited a huge fortune and joined the family bank. On the face of it he was a pillar of respectable…
18 Nov 2020
Lawrence Stroll: the petrolhead who saved Aston Martin
Lawrence Stroll: the petrolhead who saved Aston Martin
Lawrence Stroll made his fortune in fashion and has a passion for Ferraris and motorsport. When he saw the greatest luxury car brand in the world stru…
14 Nov 2020
Ronald Perelman: the billionaire who is downsizing
Ronald Perelman: the billionaire who is downsizing
Ronald Perelman acquired a fortune as a dealmaker during the 1980s takeover boom. Now he seems to be quietly selling up.
9 Nov 2020
Great frauds in history: Carlton Cushnie’s befuddling Ponzi scheme
Great frauds in history: Carlton Cushnie’s befuddling Ponzi scheme
Carlton Cushnie set up a finance company which was valued at an estimated £230m, but made only one trade finance loan in its existence, which actually…
28 Oct 2020
Craig Newmark: the nerd who shook up the media giants
Craig Newmark: the nerd who shook up the media giants
Twenty-five years ago, Craig Newmark lost his job at a brokerage and fired off an email to friends. That seeded a venture, Craigslist, that dominates …
26 Oct 2020
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Great frauds in history: the Independent West Middlesex Fire and Life Assurance Company's early Ponzi scheme
Great frauds in history: the Independent West Middlesex Fire and Life Assurance Company's early Ponzi scheme
The Independent West Middlesex Fire and Life Assurance Company (IWM) offered annuities and life insurance policies at rates that proved too good to be…
21 Oct 2020
Mukesh Ambani: the Indian billionaire eyeing global expansion
Mukesh Ambani: the Indian billionaire eyeing global expansion
Mukesh Ambani is already the richest man in India by a large margin, but his ambitions do not end there. He wants India to be at the front of the worl…
19 Oct 2020
Great frauds in history... John Factor’s penny-stock scams
Great frauds in history... John Factor’s penny-stock scams
John Factor sold worthless penny stocks through a boiler room operation, ramping the price via his financial newsletters. But he was never held to ac…
14 Oct 2020
Mohsin and Zuber Issa : garage tycoons who put Asda in their trolley
Mohsin and Zuber Issa : garage tycoons who put Asda in their trolley
The supermarket’s new owners are Mohsin and Zuber Issa, two brothers from Blackburn who started with a rundown petrol station 20 years ago. But their …
8 Oct 2020
Great frauds in history: Farrow’s Bank
Great frauds in history: Farrow’s Bank
Thomas Farrow set up his eponymous bank in 1901, offering high interest rates to small savers. After falsifying the accounts and collapsing the bank, …
7 Oct 2020
Reed Hastings: Netflix founder who looms over Hollywood
Reed Hastings: Netflix founder who looms over Hollywood
Reed Hastings turned Netflix – a DVD rental service rejected by Blockbuster – into a global streaming giant that has redefined the entertainment indus…
4 Oct 2020
Great frauds in history: Alan Bond’s debt-fuelled empire
Great frauds in history: Alan Bond’s debt-fuelled empire
Alan Bond built an empire that encompassed brewing, mining, television on unsustainable amounts of debt, which led to his downfall and imprisonment.
1 Oct 2020
Trevor Milton: big dreamer wakes to a hard reality
Trevor Milton: big dreamer wakes to a hard reality
Trevor Milton wanted to be the next Elon Musk, and planned to revolutionise transport with hydrogen-powered trucks. His dreams are unravelling amid al…
27 Sep 2020
Great frauds in history: the Pigeon King’s Ponzi scheme
Great frauds in history: the Pigeon King’s Ponzi scheme
Pigeon-fancier Arlan Galbraith claimed to have created a new breed of elite racing pigeon, but his Ponzi scheme defrauded investors of over £200m.
23 Sep 2020
Terence Conran: the man who banished the spam fritter
Terence Conran: the man who banished the spam fritter
Terence Conran, who has died aged 88, introduced a country of grey houses and colourless mackintoshes to the dolce vita. He instigated a revolution in…
22 Sep 2020
Daniel Loeb: fiery activist goes on a buying spree
Daniel Loeb: fiery activist goes on a buying spree
Daniel Loeb is known as a sharp-tongued investor who buys stakes in companies and then shakes them up. But the pandemic caught him flat-footed and he …
14 Sep 2020
Great frauds in history: how Joyti De-Laurey became “the Picasso of con artists”
Great frauds in history: how Joyti De-Laurey became “the Picasso of con artists”
Joyti De-Laurey forged the signatures of her bosses at Goldman Sachs and started writing cheques to herself. Over many years, she netted £4.3m.
10 Sep 2020
Forrest Li : “Singapore’s Steve Jobs” shoots for the stars
Forrest Li : “Singapore’s Steve Jobs” shoots for the stars
Forrest Li was there when Apple founder Steve Jobs delivered his famous Stanford graduation speech. The experience inspired him to aim for big things …
7 Sep 2020
Great frauds in history: the Butcher brothers' corrupt banking empire
Great frauds in history: the Butcher brothers' corrupt banking empire
Jacob and CH Butcher plundered their $3bn banking empire, leaving investors short of almost $400m.
2 Sep 2020
The downfall of Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s philosopher king
The downfall of Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s philosopher king
Steve Bannon, the American president’s combustible former chief strategist, has gone down in flames, accused of milking a political fund for personal …
31 Aug 2020