Convicts that couldn’t buy their freedom

Money is not the sole purpose of life and the following list of men can surely guarantee that.

Everyone says that with enough money, you can buy absolutely everything, but for some unlucky millionaires around the world, money could not buy the freedom they wanted.

According to therichest.com, here are some of the richest men ever convicted to prison.

Al Capone

Pretty much everybody is at least vaguely aware of the story of Al Capone. The Italian-American mobster was born in 1899 in Brooklyn and rose through the ranks of organized crime until he became the boss of the Chicago Outfit and was eventually arrested in 1931. But not everybody realizes just how prolific and successful Capone was. At its height, Capone’s empire has been estimated to have been worth about $1.3 billion in today’s dollars. That’s one heck of an empire. Capone’s main source of income was running bootlegged liquor during a time when prohibition was the law of the land. Despite Capone’s ruthlessness –he once had seven men killed in broad daylight on St. Valentine’s Day– Capone was finally nailed on tax evasion charges. He was released after serving eight of his eleven-year sentence and was exhibiting signs of syphilitic dementia. He died of cardiac arrest in 1947.

Robert Allen Stanford

There are three big numbers that sum up the life of Robert Allen Stanford. 2.2 billion, 7 billion, and 110. The first is an estimate of how much money he was worth, personally, at his height. The second is an estimate of how much money he defrauded his investors. The third is his prison sentence. 110 years. And he never even killed anybody and ate their face or anything. Stanford is an American former financier who ran the now defunct Stanford Financial Group. And by “ran”, I mean “used it to facilitate a great big Ponzi scheme”, just like Ebbers and Madoff before him. Actually, they were all running financial scams at the same time, just Stanford was the last to be convicted for it, in 2012.

Bernie Ecclestone

What is it with dudes named Bernie getting involved in white collar crime? Seems the only Bernie who isn’t, is the socialist Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Weird. Anyway, this entry doesn’t quite satisfy our lust for schadenfreude, with Ecclestone never having actually been sentenced for a crime. However, the details of his case are too fascinating to omit. Ecclestone is best known as the chief executive of Formula 1, a position he only resigned in January of this year (though he is still heavily involved with the organization). The Brit’s personal worth varies significantly with estimates, but it’s fair to say he’s worth north of $3 billion. In 2014, a German court began proceedings to charge Ecclestone with bribery. He was accused of bribing a former German bank official, who himself was under investigation, $44 million to give up his stake in Formula 1. Instead of going to trial, however, Ecclestone simply paid the court a £60 million settlement. Let that sink in. He paid his way out of a bribery charge.

Hosni Mubarak

Hosni Mubarak served as President of Egypt from 1981 to 2011, but was, in actuality, a dictator. During that time, Mubarak and his family amassed a mind-boggling fortune; as much as $70 billion, according to The Guardian. Mubarak scrounged up the obscene sum through corruption, bribery, and few legitimate business activities. Everything changed, though, with the Arab Spring, when Mubarak was forced to step down in March 2011 after weeks of protest. Mubarak was then detained and questioned about a litany of offenses but was eventually tried and convicted of negligence for failing to halt the killing of peaceful protesters during the revolution. He was initially sentenced to life in prison, but after years of appeals and commutations, Mubarak actually ended up being acquitted and released in March 2017. However, he had already spent years in prison and during that time suffered serious health crises (reported to be stomach cancer, heart problems, depression, and a broken leg) and the 88-year old is unlikely to ever fully recover.