A shocking Netflix documentary titled Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist recently revealed that NFL star Manti Te'o was the victim of a hoax in 2013 that cost him millions of dollars.
Unfortunately, Te'o isn't the only famous face to have fallen victim to a costly scam. From theft to Ponzi schemes, read on to find out some of the well-known names who could’ve lost it all. All dollar values in US dollars.
Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon were two of many multimillionaires who fell victim to one of the biggest Ponzi schemes of all time. Bernie Madoff’s scheme conned investors out of billions, and Sedgwick and Bacon were scammed out of an estimated $100 million (£60.6m) in 2009.
Many victims thought their fortunes were lost forever, but after Madoff’s high-profile trial the couple reclaimed some of their money, while Madoff was sentenced to 150 years behind bars.
The Dangerous Liaisons actor also fell for Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Things began to deteriorate for Madoff after clients requested a total on $7 billion (£4.2bn) back in returns, but he only had between $200 million (£121.2m) and $300 million (£181.8m) left to give back.
Malkovich said he was financially ruined by the scam, and in 2011 went to court to try and reclaim the $2.3 million (£1.4m) he lost. In November 2017 the US Department of Justice announced it would distribute $772.5 million (£602m) to victims, including Malkovich.
The late Nobel Peace Prize laureate was hit very hard by Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Mr Wiesel’s charity Survivor’s Foundation for Humanity lost $15.2 million (£9.2m), which was “substantially all” of its assets, and he and his wife Marion lost their life savings.
According to Mr Wiesel, spotting problems in the scheme wasn’t easy. He said there was a myth surrounding Madoff, that everything available to through the scheme was so unique and special it had to remain a secret.
They say the face is the money-maker, and in Hollywood you know it’s got to be true. La La Land starlets are often linked with skin experts to make sure they’re camera ready, and Liv Tyler was no exception.
Unfortunately, Maria Gabriela Hashemipour, “skin expert to the stars”, took Tyler for a financial ride. Hashemipour kept Tyler’s credit card numbers and made purchases on the cards. Tyler’s managers eventually noticed $214,000 (£130k) charges on her credit card accounts that were not her own.
Another victim of Bernie Madoff’s infamous Ponzi scheme. Hungarian-American actress and socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor and her husband Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt invested with Madoff and were reported to have lost upwards of $10 million (£6m) by 2009.
According to Gabor’s attorney Chris Fields, four of his clients were affected by the scheme with over $35 million (£21.2m) lost.
With a legendary career, Jack Nicholson is a big timer in Hollywood, but even the rich and famous can be duped. Tod Michael Volpe, a well-known Manhattan art dealer, built a reputation in the 90s advising Hollywood celebrities on how to build their art collections.
Nicholson provided $610,000 (£372.4k) to the investment fund, which would buy and sell artwork and split the profits. In 1998, Volpe received a 28-month prison for defrauding his clients of more than $1.9 million (£1.2m).
Baseball Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax took advice from his friend Fred Wilpon, the owner of the New York Mets, to invest with Bernie Madoff.
Similar to other celebrities on the 163-page list, Koufax lost out in the scam. Although Koufax’s investment remains unknown, it can’t have been a small investment.
Ben Stiller’s financial planner and manager Dana Giacchetto was sentenced to 57 months in prison in 2001 for looting $10 million (£6.9m) from the accounts of famous clients – including $250,000 (£173.4k) from Stiller, who thought he was a “hip, savvy investor”.
Even with good intentions, there’s still a possibility of losing millions. This was the case for Sting when he hired showbusiness accountant Keith Moore as his financial adviser. In a scam that lasted over 15 years, Moore manged to swindle $10 million (£6.5m) without Sting’s knowledge.
Hoping the singer wouldn’t notice, he opened over 100 bank accounts, stole money from Sting’s accounts and launched a series of investments, including a chain of Indian restaurants in Australia.
Tennis legend John McEnroe, along with Robert De Niro, plus Bank of America, investment firms and art owners were duped in a high-flying $88 million (£43.9m) art investment scam at the hands of Lawrence Salander.
The scheme lasted from 1994 to 2007, luring investors to pay for shares of ownership of works of art, and McEnroe lost $2 million (£1m) after investing in a half-share in two paintings.
King of the screen Robert De Niro also fell victim to Salander’s scam. Following the death of his painter father, De Niro was left with a large collection of art which he hoped to sell. And who better to enlist for help than Lawrence Salander?
Salander essentially stole the proceeds of 12 works by the actor's father to settle his debts. He was later charged on multiple counts of grand larceny and is currently imprisoned in Rikers Island for his scheme.
It’s often better to keep your finances and family separate, a lesson Billy Joel learned the hard way. Joel hired his former brother-in-law Frank Weber as his manager back in the 80s, which proved to be hellish.
Joel found Weber stole money, and made investments without Joel’s knowledge. The final spends made by Weber totalled $90 million (£57.5m). The subsequent court battle was expensive and lengthy, and Joel only got back $8 million (£5.1m) of his lost funds.
Even Hollywood’s favourite movie-maker wasn’t safe from Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Spielberg invested some of his personal wealth with Madoff, along funds from his charity, the Wunderkinder Foundation.
With most of the finances tied up in the scheme, the Foundation’s funds were totally drained, leaving Spielberg with no other option but to close the organisation.
Tiger Woods wasn’t short of cash as one of the highest-paid athletes in the world. He fell victim to credit card fraud at the hand of Anthony Lamar Taylor, who got hold of Woods’ real name, social security number and date of birth very easily.
Taylor applied for a driver’s licence in the golfer’s real name and opened up numerous lines of credit with the stolen identity. Then the shopping spree started, totalling $50,000 (£34.7k) of goods and services including a luxury car and 70-inch TV.
The actor lost almost a million dollars in a cattle investment scam.
Sutherland made an investment of $869,000 (£433.3k) in 2007 on cattle with steer-roping promoter and cattle manager Michael Wayne Carr, but it was nothing more than a load of bull.
Manti Te’o was Notre Dame college's hot shot linebacker and was tipped to be the next NFL superstar. However, it all came crashing down for Te’o in 2013 after he dedicated his senior football season to his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, who he believed had died of cancer. In a shocking turn of events, it turns out that Kekua never existed and Te’o was the victim of a 'catfishing' hoax by an acquaintance called Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, who had pretended to be the person Te’o was talking to online. Tuiasosopo, who has come out as a transgender woman since the scandal, now goes by the name Naya.
Though innocent, there was speculation that Te’o had faked the death of his girlfriend for attention. Te’o would go on to play in the NFL, but the catfishing controversy cost him a first-round draft pick for the NFL in 2013 and millions of dollars as a result. Netflix recently released a documentary on the bizarre situation titled Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist.
In 2005, British TV star Noel Edmonds, known most famously as the presenter of Deal or No Deal, was targeted by scammers, and his media company Unique Group collapsed in the process. He claimed his company was affected by a historic £245 million ($439.7m) loans scam by employees of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS).
Edmonds has since demanded £72 million ($129.3m) in compensation from the banks’ current owners Lloyds Banking Group for the destruction of his business, and damage to his reputation.
Now read about the real-life scammers who faked their way to fortunes