Top 10 Times Controversial Figures Faced JUSTICE

Retirees going on food stamps, charities losing their donations, people losing their homes, and even taking their own lives. These were only some of the consequences of the world’s largest Ponzi scheme, perpetrated by financier Bernie Madoff. No one knows exactly when Madoff’s $65 billion scheme began, but some estimates have it going on for 33 years before it finally ended in 2008. Despite numerous whistleblower complaints, the SEC had never once investigated or disciplined Madoff. In fact, he was only caught when his sons blew the whistle, one day after Madoff came clean, proving that blood maybe isn’t thicker than water. Madoff pled guilty to fraud and money laundering and was sentenced to 150 years in prison, where he died of disease in 2021.

Cryptocurrency has been around since 2009, but for most people, it's still just what their odd uncle tries to get them to invest in at every family Christmas party. One of Crypto’s “poster boys” was FTX co-founder and current incarcerated felon Sam Bankman-Fried. The MIT alum founded cryptocurrency exchange firm Alameda Research with Tara Mac Auley in 2017. Two years later, he diversified his portfolio by co-founding his own crypto exchange FTX. When Alameda Research experienced financial difficulties in 2022, Bankman-Fried illegally dipped into his own cookie jar and used FTX client funds to help keep it afloat. This triggered a mass exodus of customers from FTX which eventually went bankrupt. Bankman-Fried was arrested for fraud and conspiracy and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

In May 2023, a jury of his peers found actor Danny Masterson guilty of two counts of sexual assault. This was the culmination of a long and difficult road to get justice for his victims. The women, who were attacked in the early 2000s, came forward in 2017. Masterson’s first trial in 2022 had a hung jury and was declared a mistrial. The Church of Scientology, of which Masterson was a member, reportedly worked heavily to derail his conviction. The church reportedly offered financial incentives to victims to not come forward, harassed or threatened them, and targeted police officers and attorneys investigating the charges. The Church has denied these allegations. Twenty years after the attacks, Masterson was sentenced to thirty years to life in prison.

Financier Jeffrey Epstein amassed his fortune in the 1980s, counting as friends many of society’s elite including billionaires, heads of state, royalty, and celebrities. The first allegations of abuse against him emerged in the late 90s.Subsequent investigations uncovered dozens of other victims, mostly minors, who had been abused by Epstein or his associates for years. In 2008, he received a controversial but “sweetheart” deal that saw him plead guilty to solicitation and spend only 13 months in jail. The MeToo Movement brought renewed attention to the case and Epstein was re-arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges following another extensive investigation. He was found dead in his cell one month later in an apparent suicide, although many claim foul play was involved.

Sporting her signature Steve Jobs turtlenecks and baritone voice, Elizabeth Holmes appeared to be the perfect role model for aspiring female entrepeuners. The Stanford dropout founded her company Theranos in 2003. It’s signature creation: a revolutionary blood testing device ‘Edison’ that only needed a few drops of blood. At its peak the company was worth $9 billion, landing Holmes on the “Time 100 Most Influential People” list. A 2015 “Wall Street Journal” Investigation, however, exposed that ‘Edison’ was a failure and Theranos built on lies. The SEC charged Holmes, along with her former COO/ boyfriend Ramesh ‘Sunny’ Balwani, with defrauding investors of $700 million. She was relegated to Fortune’s “19 Most Disappointing Leaders” list, and sentenced to over 11 years in prison for wire fraud.

For decades, he was “America’s Dad,” one of its top comedians, and an inspiration to many in the field. That all came to a grinding halt when Hannibal Buress accused Cosby of sexual assault during a 2014 comedy routine. Up until this point accusations of assault and abuse against Cosby had not been taken very seriously. However, Buress’s remarks combined with the failed “Meme Me” marketing stunt from the Cosby team opened the floodgates. Multiple women came forward accusing Cosby of drugging and abusing them. Cosby denied these allegations but admitted to occasionally drugging women while in “consensual” relationships. He was tried and found guilty of aggravated assault in 2018. The verdict was overturned in 2021, but Cosby’s career and legacy have been irreparably tarnished.

In December 2012, twenty-six people, including twenty students, tragically lost their lives during the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, sparking renewed gun control talks in the US. Meanwhile, like an angry Chihuahua barking from its owner’s purse, Alex Jones called the incident a ‘false flag’ and a ‘hoax,’ claimed the victims and survivors were all crisis actors,and tormented their families for years. He then proceeded to sell supplements and other largely bizarre or useless products to his millions of listeners. After defamation lawsuits in Texas and Connecticut, Jones was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion to victims’ families. Jones filed for bankruptcy in 2022 and is now forced to sell or surrender most of his assets in order to pay these massive settlements.

Reality TV star and self-made-ish businessman Donald Trump has become one of the most polarizing figures of our time. For years, he bulldozed through life mercilessly doing and saying whatever was on his mind, regardless of the consequences. As President of the United States, his inappropriate behavior, witch hunting, and spouting of utter nonsense made him both worshiped and reviled. The “Home Alone 2” actor faces multiple election fraud charges and has been hit with over $400 million of civil litigation penalties. In May 2024, he was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records. He has appealed this verdict, deflecting blame and desperately trying to make himself great again. Recent Supreme Court decisions may have an impact on some of the charges against him.

The so-called “Pied Piper of R&B” is no stranger to sexual abuse allegations. They had followed him since he first started to Bump N Grind in the 90s. In late 1994, Kelly illegally wed singer Aaliyah while she was still a minor. The wedding was annulled just a few weeks later at the request of her family. An infamous 2002 video that showed Kelly abusing a minor led to an investigation and trial where he was eventually acquitted.The 2019 Lifetime documentary “Surviving R. Kelly” renewed the investigations against him and he was arrested for multiple federal charges of racketeering and sexual abuse. Kelly believed he could fly, but in the end he just crash landed into a 31-year prison sentence.

Famous movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was first accused of sexual assault and abuse in a 2017 New York Times/New Yorker expose. Eventually, over 80 women would come forward with abuse accusations going back thirty years. Weinstein was dismissed from his company and had many of his titles and honors revoked. He was found guilty of sexual assault and misconduct in separate trials in New York and California and sentenced to a combined 39 years in prison. His New York verdict was reversed on appeal due to legal technicalities in April 2024 though he remains in prison. Despite a legendary five-decade career, Weinstein will now be remembered for his reputation as a bully, for his assault convictions, and for helping launch the #MeToo Movement.


Which of these controversial people do you think deserved justice the most? Who out there still needs to be held accountable? Let us know in the comments below.