12 Famous Millionaires Who Went Broke!

The overnight success can’t be digested by all. While some work hard to reach a certain level, others just find shortcuts to reach quick success. This does not always end up in favour of those people who chose the wrong means to earn money, sometimes it backstabs too.

Just like the list of the richest people in the world, every year the list of bankrupts is also circulated around the net. In this article, we have shared the names of popular personalities who were once billionaires and then went broke.

Find out what’s the story behind these Broke Millionaires.

Also, read 12+ Most Famous Black Business Owners With Incredible Stories!

Broke Millionaires

After collecting all the data about these major business tycoons, here is the list of broke millionaires and their stories from earning billions to going broke.

1. Mike Tyson

Occupation	Professional Fighter
Reason for Bankruptcy	Debt

Mike Tyson is a famous fighter who earned $22 per fight. He is a billionaire turned into a broke person because of his debt to the bank. At present, he is under $38.4 in debt.

2. Elizabeth Holmes

Occupation	Founder and CEO, of Theranos
Reason for Bankruptcy	Fraud

Elizabeth Holmes is a multi-billionaire who started her own privately held company named, Theranos. She made $9 billion through this startup which made her land on the Forbes cover page.

She went broke as she was held responsible for fraud within her own company and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

3. Aubrey McClendon

Occupation	Co-founder, Chesapeake Energy
Reason for Bankruptcy	Fraud

The co-founder of the once largest gas and oil company Chesapeake Energy, Aubrey McClendon held a net worth of around $1.2 billion. he was accused of fraud and of federal conspiracy. but he died in a car accident a day after all these accusations were filed against him.

4. Jocelyn Wildenstein

Occupation	Socialite
Reason for Bankruptcy	Debt

Remember the Catwoman? Jocelyn Wildenstein, the former wife of the late Alec Wildenstein, went broke from being a billionaire. The reason for her bankruptcy is said to be her socialite behaviour. She used to spend millions on shopping and another spending. Later it was revealed that in 2018, she was broke with 0 bank balance in her bank account.

5. Sean Quinn

Occupation	Founder, Quinn Group
Reason for Bankruptcy	Debts

Sean Quinn used to be the richest person in Ireland once upon a time. he was in limelight and even flashed on Forbes’s cover page a lot of times, but one decision took him towards downfall.

Sean Quinn entered the hospitality industry, after which he suffered losses. In 2012, the Irish government declared him bankrupt for the lack of loan repayment time that he took from the bank. He owed 2.8 billion British pounds to Anglo-Irish Bank at that time.

This debt was due to his misuse of the loan amount into building a lavish lifestyle instead of returning the loan to the bank.

Also, read Mark Cuban Success Story Of Becoming America’s Richest Person

6. Allen Stanford

Occupation	Former Chairman and CEO, of Stanford Financial Group
Reason for Bankruptcy	Fraud

Sentenced for about 110 years, Allen Standford messed up into a massive fraud case which all began with his Ponzi scheme. This scheme collected money from people in the name of Stanford Financial groups, which is non-functional at present.

He was charged with a fraud case of 7 billion dollars along with life imprisonment.

7. Vijay Mallya

Occupation	Former Owner, Kingfisher Airlines
Reason for Bankruptcy	Fraud

The airline and liquor tycoon of India who was once a multi-billionaire was charged with money laundering and a bank fraud case of Rs 90 billion. This led to the fall of his net worth immediately.

8. Sam Bankman-Friedover

Occupation	Founder, FTX
Reason for Bankruptcy	Liquidity crunch

The once-called Crypto King went bankrupt from billions to zero because of a liquidity crunch. Sam Bankman started earning by trading and FTX exchange. In 2022, the FTX exchange crashed which impacted his trading business too.

As people were doubtful about their trading, they withdrew their money making him go broke.

9. Bernie Madoff

Occupation	Founder, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities
Reason for Bankruptcy	Fraud

Bernie Madoff was held responsible for fraud and was sentenced to 150 years. The fraud was revealed by his sons to the FBI after which the FBI took instant action and charged him with forfeiture of 170 billion dollars and lifetime imprisonment.

The fraud was made through Ponzi Scheme through which Bernie collaborated with over 17 major companies and collected over $65 million as an investment.

Also, read Alfredo Yao Success Story – The Juice king Of Phillippines!!

10. Björgólfur Guðmundsson

Occupation	Chairman, Landsbanki
Reason for Bankruptcy	Debts

Björgólfur Guðmundsson was the second richest person in Ireland and the chairperson of Landsbanki bank, and this is how he entered into misusing his power for selfish motives. He was charged 500 million Euros, in the year 2008.

11. Eike Batista

Occupation	Former CEO, EBX Group
Reason for Bankruptcy	Adverse economic scenario

Eike Batista was on the list of the 20 richest people in the world who went bankrupt because of adverse economic scenarios and a lack of proper management of the business he held.

Before Eike was accused of corruption or went bankrupt, his net worth was around $30 billion.

12. Adolf Merckle

Occupation	Businessman
Reason for Bankruptcy	liquidity crises

From being Germany’s richest person to being broke, Adolf Merckle did have a long history. His net worth was $12.8 billion. after failing in multiple businesses like credit crises, and liquidity crises, he kept getting into debt and finally decided to take his own.

Also, read How Much Is Wrexham AFC Worth?

To Sum Up

This article was all about billionaires who went broke for reasons like fraud, debt, and even economic scenarios. Some were forced to file for bankruptcy while some were the genuine culprits. Some of the above-mentioned names tried hard to escape bankruptcy but failed and ended up in jail.

if you know any other name that can be added to the list, then do share it with us in the comments below. also, check out other success stories of self-made billionaires on our website.