The swindlers of the rich and famous
The swindlers of the rich and famous
https://www.morningbrew.com/stories/2025/11/16/the-swindlers-of-the-rich-and-famous
ByMolly Liebergall
November 16, 2025
One wine scammer’s operation was convincing enough to fool a member of the Koch family.
Every once in a while, a wolf in sheep’s Gucci infiltrates the top tax bracket’s flock, and, eventually, somebody makes a true-crime documentary about it.
These are some of the scammers who managed to con a fortune out of the economic and cultural elite:
Bernie Madoff: The guy who’s synonymous with “Ponzi scheme” (besides Charles Ponzi) is responsible for the biggest one in history, having defrauded his wealthy clients of ~$65 billion over 17 years. Before the 2008 market crash unraveled his operation, Madoff was a highly respected financier—he even served as chairman of the Nasdaq in the 1990s. He died in prison in 2021.
Zach Horwitz: It’s a plot you couldn’t make up: The biggest Ponzi schemer of Hollywood was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022. Prosecutors claimed Horwitz robbed $650 million from film investors who thought he was buying and selling movie distribution rights to platforms like HBO and Netflix. To make his success seem authentic, he included a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label with his company’s 2015 annual report when he sent it to some investors.
Rudy Kurniawan: The California wine connoisseur was arrested in 2012 for putting counterfeit labels on homemade wine blends and passing them off as rare bottles costing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, prosecutors said. He sold $35 million worth of fraudulent wine, including 219 bottles for $2.1 million to Bill Koch, brother of Charles and David. Kurniawan got out of prison in 2020 and is reportedly making a comeback in Asia as an outlaw icon who gets paid to make his impostor blends.
Lawrence Salander: An art dealer whose clients entrusted him with Picassos, Monets, and other valuable works, Salander was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2010 after being convicted for secretly selling other people’s collections without their approval. He was accused of stealing 12 paintings and sculptures from artist Robert De Niro Sr., though his famous son, De Niro Jr., later recovered at least six of them.
Anna Sorokin: Sorokin, who went by the surname Delvey, was born in Russia and grew up middle-class but ingratiated herself with New York City socialites in the 2010s by posing as a German heiress. Her exploits were later chronicled in competing streaming series. She stole an estimated ~$275,000 from friends, hotels, and banks, served almost four years in prison…and then competed on Dancing with the Stars last year, wearing an ankle monitor.