10 Scandals That ENDED Prominent Careers

10-Scandals-That-Ended-Prominent-Careers

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re examining major scandals that ruined an individual’s reputation. We’ll be focusing on scandals outside of the entertainment industry, so celebrities like Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby won’t be included.

David Petraeus

A prominent Army official, David Petraeus was Commander of both United States Central Command and the International Security Assistance Force. And beginning in September 2011, Petraeus served as Director of the CIA, having earned the spot after a unanimous 94-0 vote by the U.S. Senate. However, his tenure only lasted one year, as the FBI discovered that he had been having an affair with his own biographer, Paula Broadwell. Petraeus resigned on November 9, 2012, having served just fourteen months as Director. But that wasn’t all. Charges were later brought against Petraeus for giving Broadwell classified information while serving as Director. He pled guilty to the mishandling of classified information and was given two years probation.

Anthony Weiner

Weiner served in the U.S. House of Representatives between 1999 and 2011, which is when he was brought down by a very nasty and very public sexting scandal. Weiner was caught sending sexually suggestive photos to multiple women and resigned from Congress in the wake of the scandal. But that was just the beginning of his problems. Weiner then ran for New York mayor in 2013, but more suggestive photos were leaked and he ultimately placed fifth. It gets worse. The FBI discovered that Weiner had been sexting a minor, resulting in both a 21-month prison sentence and a divorce from his wife.

John Stumpf

Beginning in 2016, Wells Fargo was caught in a massive banking scandal that sent enormous ripples through the financial world. The company enacted various fraudulent practices against their customers, like setting up extra checking accounts without their consent and hitting them with fees and charges. In this way, Wells Fargo made more money, their sales targets were reached, and their stock price continued to increase. That is, until the scheme was uncovered and the bank was hit with massive fines. Wells Fargo was overseen by chairman and CEO John Stumpf, who resigned in the wake of the scandal, paid millions in legal fees, and was ultimately banned from the banking industry.

Alexander Hamilton

A hugely important figure in the development of America, Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father and the country’s first Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton was paramount in figuring out the country’s complex economic system, but his professional reputation took a major blow in 1797 when he admitted to having an affair. Considered the first sex scandal in American history, Hamilton admitted to sleeping with a woman named Maria Reynolds and paying her husband blackmail money to keep it a secret. The scandal significantly tarnished Hamilton’s reputation, especially among his political enemies. And while it didn’t completely ruin his career, it significantly lessened his power and influence in government.

Sepp Blatter

A very famous name in soccer (or football for our international friends), Sepp Blatter joined FIFA in 1981 as the organization’s secretary general. He slowly but surely worked his way up the corporate ladder and was made President in 1998. But it was under Blatter’s leadership that FIFA was hit with a devastating corruption case. Said case is complex and multi-faceted, but includes FIFA accepting bribes in return for marketing rights, rigging the host bidding process, and embezzling funds. The FIFA Ethics Committee fired Blatter in the wake of the scandal and banned him from future FIFA activities. The highly controversial Qatar World Cup is thought to be the result of bribery enacted during his reign.

Elizabeth Holmes

To hear Elizabeth Holmes tell it, her company had revolutionized the business of blood testing. Holmes started a tech company called Theranos, which claimed to have made a blood testing machine that made the process infinitely easier, not to mention faster. The business made her rich, and Forbes named Holmes the youngest self-made female billionaire in American history. However, investigators soon began digging into Theranos and found a wide network of fraud and deceit. The machine didn’t work, and Holmes had knowingly misled investors while robbing them of millions. She was eventually convicted of fraud and sentenced to eleven years in prison.

Sam Bankman-Fried

Crypto is one of those hot new trends that everyone wants to try, and Sam Bankman-Fried was heading our charge into the future. He created FTX, which by the summer of 2021 was the world’s third largest cryptocurrency exchange company. But it all collapsed in November of 2022, when FTX was accused of conducting fraudulent banking practices. Many customers withdrew their money following the accusation and FTX quickly went bankrupt. Bankman-Fried was arrested on various fraud charges and eventually convicted of all seven counts. His sentencing is scheduled for March 2024.

Martin Shkreli

This businessman made headlines in September of 2015 when his company Turing Pharmaceuticals acquired the license for Daraprim, a drug used to prevent pneumonia and treat parasitic diseases. Turing increased the price of the drug by over 5000%, meaning its price per pill soared from $13.50 to $750. Later that year, Shkreli was arrested by the FBI and charged with securities fraud. While the charges were not related to the Daraprim hike, Shkreli believes that his newfound publicity made him a target of federal investigators. Shkreli engaged in fraudulent business practices at prior companies and was eventually found guilty of securities fraud, being sentenced to seven years in prison.

Bernie Madoff

The finance world is equally alluring and intimidating, and sitting at the top of it was Bernie Madoff. Madoff was as successful as Wall Street gets. Chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange and with a company worth billions, he was the man that everyone on Wall Street aspires to be. But there’s no accounting for family. Madoff’s own sons sold him out, confessing to authorities that their father’s company was nothing but a giant Ponzi scheme that had stolen billions from investors. Madoff was arrested by the FBI and pleaded guilty to eleven felonies, resulting in a prison sentence of 150 years. He died in prison in 2021.

Richard Nixon

Bernie Madoff was head of the financial industry, but Richard Nixon was head of the country. Careers don’t get much more prominent than that. Between 1969 and 1974, Nixon served as the 37th President of the United States, presiding over the Moon landing, pulling out of Vietnam, and establishing the Environmental Protection Agency. However, his tenure was significantly overshadowed by the infamous Watergate scandal, in which men related to Nixon’s re-election campaign broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. Their aim was to plant various listening devices, but they were caught and arrested. Investigators traced the break-in back to Nixon, who resigned before he could be impeached. This offense makes Nixon the only President in American history to resign from office.

What do you make of these scandals? Let us know in the comments below!