White collar criminals are not the same as blue collar criminals. Blue collar criminals might take a few dollars from the gas station cash box or let themselves into a house in which no one is home and take a few televisions. While collar criminals, however, are a bit more lucrative. They’re the ones you see stealing millions from consumers in the job market, and they’re some of the most famous criminals of all time.
Dennis Kozlowski
He’s the former CEO of Tyco International. He’s currently serving time for several reasons. The first is taking on illegal bonuses while defrauding his clients. He also used company funds to throw over-the-top parties for his friends and family, one time even throwing a party in which alcohol was served from the manly parts of nude statues.
Jack Abramoff
He’s famously serving several years in prison for being involved in one of the biggest fraud deals of all time. He was a lobbyist who spent many years defrauding Native Americans. He plead guilty upon the discovery of his crimes to charges such as tax evasion and conspiracy.
Kenneth Lay
His name is a famous one because the attention he garnered from his trial. Kenneth Lay is the former CEO of Enron. When he knew the company was about to file for bankruptcy he took it upon himself to sell off his stocks while encouraging his employees to buy stock in Enron. Unfortunately, he died before he could finish serving his term in jail.
Michael Milken
His crimes stem all the way back to the late 1980s when he created junk bonds. He would rob Wall Street clients of their money while taking it for himself. Charges for his crimes included tax violations, racketeering and insider trading. He served 2 of his 10 years in jail and went onto amass a fortune of more than $2 billion in the years that followed.
Bernie Madoff
He’s perhaps the most famous and most “successful” (if you will) white collar criminal in history. He had an investment firm in which he create a ponzi scheme that lasted decades upon estimation. He was able to take money from investors, pay additional investors with new investors’ money and eventually walk away with billions of dollars he stole from his clients. He’s currently in jail serving 150 years – or what he lives to serve.
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