10 Most Corrupt People Who Got What They DESERVED

10 Corrupt People Who Got What They Deserved

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at 10 of the most corrupt individuals from history, who suffered the consequences for their greed.

Jabez Balfour

Our first entry was a British politician who was a member of the Liberal Party in the 19th century. His reputation was tarnished when, in 1892, he was revealed as the perpetrator of a major scandal. Balfour was essentially moving assets in a circle among all his companies. They all filed for bankruptcy in 1982, ruining the lives of many of their investors. Instead of facing justice for his crime, he decided to flee to Argentina. They managed to capture him in 1895, though, and he was sentenced to 14 years' penal servitude.

Slobodan Milošević

Milošević was a significant figure during the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s. He was the President of Serbia and later the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, also known as Serbia and Montenegro. He was overthrown in 2000, and his horrific actions got him charged with war crimes. It’s unclear exactly how much he embezzled as president, but some investigators claim it was about 4 billion dollars. After he was arrested, he was sent to The Hague, where he eventually died of a heart attack in 2006. His trial was never finished, so he never truly faced justice, but despite this, he still lost all his power, money, and status.

Najib Razak

Razak became the prime minister of Malaysia in 2009, then maintained that position for 9 years. They convicted him of corruption a couple of years later, as part of one of the most prolific corruption scandals ever. Razak denied any criminal activities, defending himself by claiming the money came from political donations, alongside pinning the blame on rogue financiers. In 2020, it was estimated that about 4.5 billion dollars were stolen from Razak’s schemes. He was sentenced to 15 years behind bars, alongside being forced to pay 3.3 billion dollars in fines. Currently, he’s trying to appeal the sentence, but only time will tell if he proves successful.

Nicolas Fouquet

Our next entry comes from the 17th century, when Louis XIV ruled France. Fouquet became the French Superintendent of Finances in 1653 and kept this role until 1661. Then, he was imprisoned until his death in 1680. This came after King accused him of embezzlement, saying he was pocketing state money. Historians question the motivation of the claims, though. What he was doing was relatively normal for the time, so some believe Louis XIV was simply jealous of Fouquet’s wealth and status. Many accusations stemmed from the fact that he let the crown borrow money for him. The crown would regularly arrest its moneylenders to make their debts vanish. Either way, he was a highly corrupt individual, even if it was normalized in his era.

Albert B. Fall

Between 1921 and 23, Albert Bacon Fall was America’s Secretary of the Interior. He’s most remembered now for the same thing as everyone else on this list: corruption. Fall was the central figure in the Teapot Dome scandal. This began in 1923, when it was revealed he’d accepted bribes to let private oil companies use Navy petrol reserves. Fall became the only person convicted in the scandal, landing himself a year in jail. Afterwards, Fall never managed to recover. He moved to Texas with his wife, where he lived in poverty until eventually dying in 1944.

Bernie Madoff

When it comes to Ponzi schemes, you might expect Charles Ponzi to be the master of them. Well, it was actually Bernie Madoff who created the largest Ponzi scheme of all time. It was worth an incredible 65 billion dollars. He did this all as the head of his own penny stock brokerage. Madoff founded the company in 1960, then lost his reputation in 2008 after his crimes were revealed. Before his death in 2021, Madoff was given a 150-year prison sentence, alongside an astounding 17 billion dollar fine.

Heshen

The Qing dynasty was the last imperial dynasty to rule China, controlling the nation from about 1644 until 1912. In the 18th century, one prolific Qing individual was Heshen, who earned a reputation as the most corrupt person in the nation’s history. He managed to earn approximately 270 billion dollars during his political career. He had a variety of methods to get rich, with one being extending military campaigns as long as possible, so he could siphon funds. When the Qianlong Emperor, who liked him, died in 1999, Heshen was finally tried. First, he was sentenced to death by a thousand cuts, but they thought this was too harsh, so they made him take his own life instead.

Ferdinand Marcos

For over 20 years, this man served as the 10th President of the Philippines. Despite his position, he was largely considered a dictator during the 70s and 80s. During his rule, it’s estimated that he stole between 5 and 10 billion dollars from his nation. While Marcos led one of the most extravagant lifestyles imaginable, the people of his nation suffered in extreme poverty. This all came crashing down after the People Power Revolution of 1986, which ousted him from power. Marcos fled to Hawaii, abandoning a lot of his wealth. Hundreds of cases were filed against him almost as soon as he arrived. They still had a pretty luxurious life, though, but Marcos never returned home, dying in Hawaii in 1989.

Mobutu Sese Seko

The Democratic Republic of the Congo used to be called Zaire when Seko was president. He ruled from 1965 all the way until 1997, when he was deposed by rebels and exiled. Following this, he moved to Morocco, where he died of cancer within a few months. During his lengthy rule, he amassed a massive personal treasury. The largest estimates claim he pilfered up to 5 billion from his country. The majority of this was never recovered. Seko had a bunch of assets hidden in Switzerland, which were controversially returned to his family in 2009. They were only worth a few million, so it’s only a fraction of what he looted.

William Boss Tweed

Our final entry is an American man who became a prominent politician in 19th-century New York. At one time, only two people owned more land than him in New York. 1871 was when things started going south for Tweed. He was the head of the “Tweed Ring,” which stole millions of dollars from New Yorkers. After his scams became public knowledge, many of his accomplices fled. Some messy legal proceedings ensued, which landed Tweed in Ludlow Street Jail. In 1875, he managed to escape prison and then made it all the way to Spain. America got its hands back on him a year later, then he died in jail in 1878 of pneumonia.

Were there any corrupt individuals we didn’t mention, and do you think they got what they deserved? Let us know in the comments below!