The most arrogant swindlers in history

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

There are people who take deception to a whole new level and betray the trust of others with such ingenuity and insolence that it is hard to believe.

1. The lawyer accuses the President of Guatemala … of his own murder

Rodrigo Rosenberg was a successful Harvard-trained lawyer in Guatemala. In 2009, he was shot and killed while cycling. Unfortunately, such events are not uncommon in Guatemala - shooting here is almost as popular as cycling. But this was a special case. At the funeral of Rosenberg, a video was shown, recorded by the lawyer himself shortly before his death, which contained many accusations against the government and a statement that he knew about the impending assassination and should be blamed for it no less than the President of Guatemala.

The video hit the Internet and instantly spread across the network. Rosenberg was declared a martyr; numerous politicians, media representatives and thousands of ordinary citizens urged the president to leave on a good day. A serious crisis was brewing.

The government denied all accusations, but the public, of course, this only encouraged. Finally, a reputable newspaper published a caustic article in which the words were: "The only thing left for the government to do is to declare that Rodrigo … himself hired the killers who killed him."

It turned out - everything was exactly the same.

As absurd as it sounds, Rosenberg really hired a hitman for his own murder. We are not taking the side of the government here, and we are not trying to defend one of the versions. The evidence was so clear and eloquent that everyone, including his own son Rosenberg, was forced to admit that the lawyer committed suicide in order to implement a cunning conspiratorial plan to overthrow the government.

To everyone's amazement, the following facts surfaced, for example:

The killer used a cell phone that Rosenberg personally bought.

A few days before his murder, Rosenberg withdrew from his account exactly the same amount that was paid to the murderer.

Rosenberg threatened himself from his own home.

In the end, two relatives of the ex-wife confessed that they had helped the lawyer find the killer.

Why did he do it? The fact is that Rosenberg had a romantic relationship with the daughter of one of the clients. Shortly before the events described, the client (who was involved in some dark affairs) and his daughter were shot. The lawyer was heartbroken and decided to punish the entire government for his loss, having achieved its overthrow in such an exotic way.

He almost did it.

2. Truth-lover informs about his company, and he himself ends up behind bars

Mark Wintacre has held an important management position at Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). Many even considered him a worthy candidate for the presidency of the company. However, after Vintacru became aware of some illegal operations of the company, he decided to risk his career for the sake of truth and became an FBI informant. For three years he went to work, hung with bugs, keeping an eye on colleagues and bosses.

The evidence that was collected with the help of Vintacre, behind the eyes and ears, was enough to send the top managers of the international cartel to jail, including Vice President Michael Andreas and … Mark Vintacr himself.

It turned out that the valiant truth-lover Vintacre had been embezzling millions of dollars from the company for many years, the machinations of which he had helped to expose. When his role as an informant became known to the general public, the ADM management did what the powerful corporations that they try to threaten usually do in such cases: that is, they tried to dig up as much dirt as possible on their whistleblower.

In the case of Vintacr, he did not even have to dig very deeply - he turned out many frauds as a "brave" FBI informant, for which, by the way, he also demanded money. In total, he managed to steal something about nine million dollars. For this impudence, he was deprived of the immunity of a witness and went to prison for ten whole years. For comparison, those top managers whom Vintacr reported on received only three years.

But this story inspired director Steven Soderbergh to create the film "The Informant", where Matt Damon played the role of the informer.

3. London's savior turns out to be a villain

In the 18th century in England, detective work was still in its infancy. The government had practically nothing to oppose to the criminals who roamed the city and robbed the houses of respectable citizens.

Fortunately, Londoners had their own "Batman" - his name was Jonathan Wilde.

If someone's house was robbed, then the victim with a list of missing things went straight to Wilde, and he invariably returned the stolen property to the owner - for a reward, of course.

The criminals pointed out by the hero were sent to the gallows without much trial - such was the general confidence in the hero.

The problem is that virtually all of the thefts were orchestrated by Wilde himself.

He managed to put together the largest criminal group at that time. Thieves broke into the homes of citizens, robbed, and then Wilde practically sold their property to the owners. Moreover, the latter, in a fit of gratitude, often gave Wilde even more than he demanded for his “heroic work”.

Those criminals who refused to work under Wilde's command, or just people who somehow crossed his path, were handed over to the authorities, and they invariably ended up on the gallows - which also strengthened Wilde's image as an implacable crime fighter. On his tip, at least 120 people were executed.

In general, Wilde became the main crime boss in London, adored and revered by the people. In fact, he can be considered the father of both the modern police and organized crime.

Wilde got burned on nonsense. He was accused of stealing a skein of lace, but could not prove it. But they proved that he received an award for returning these same laces to the owner without notifying the police about it. In 1725, Wilde was hanged.

4. An FBI agent makes money by spying, killing a widow and kidnapping

1920s for America was the time of gangsters, bootleggers and other criminals. Fortunately, ordinary citizens had someone to rely on - the gallant guys from the Federal Bureau of Investigation were ready to help at any moment. One of those guys was Detective Gaston Means.

During the First World War, the nimble Means, while still an employee of a detective agency, managed to work on two fronts. In 1914, Britain invited his boss (future head of the FBI) William Burns to investigate the activities of the Germans in New York. After a while, the Germans turned to him with the opposite proposal. Burns called on Means, and the friends began to work on both sides, pouring information on each other to clients. Both were delighted and did not skimp on fees. Means received $ 100,000 a year from the German government alone. And in 1917, when the United States entered the war, Means prudently broke with the Germans and returned to his usual detective work.

Once Means was hired by a young rich widow, and for a long time he managed to pull money out of her without really doing anything. And when she suddenly got ready to get married and even seemed to start to suspect something, she "unexpectedly" died while hunting for hares. At the trial, Means lied so inspiredly, the judges believed that the woman somehow managed to accidentally shoot herself in the back.

After joining the FBI, Means began shaking money from underground alcohol producers. But then his luck changed, he was accused of corruption, arrested and sent to prison for two years. Once released, this energetic gentleman managed to pull off a few more shenanigans:

1) Co-authored a bestselling book claiming that his "friend" and President Warren Harding (whom he never actually met) was poisoned by his wife.

2) Threw away his co-author.

3) He found a way to make money on kidnapping: he convinced wealthy parents that he was in contact with the kidnappers, who demand a ransom in the amount of $ 100,000. Later it turned out that the child was killed immediately after the abduction, and Means only led everyone by the nose and pulled money. He was arrested and imprisoned again. No money was found.

In these stories, only one thing pleases - all the scammers in the end got what they deserved. It would always be like this.