We live in a society filled with dreams and aspirations of wealth, a society that likes to believe that money will bring with it happiness and success. The will to succeed is overpowering for some, and the pressure can be all-consuming. Mental pressure can take many forms; stress can enter our lives at any time, regardless of timing or situation. The following men were all successful businessmen who committed suicide. The millions in their bank accounts did nothing to ease their suffering…

10. Jonathan Wraith

Thirty-five-year-old Jonathan Wraith — a young British millionaire by virtue of selling his and his father’s portable cabin business for £30 million ($46 million) — was by all accounts a happy and well-adjusted young man. However, in 2009 he picked up his shotgun and shot himself, leaving no suicide note. No clear reason could be found for Wraith’s action, but there has been some speculation that he was extremely worried about his father David’s recent stroke. It seems that this may have proven too much for the young man to take.

9. Eli M. Black

Eli M. Black, whose death was immortalized on screen in the Coen Brothers comedy The Hudsucker Proxy, was a Jewish-American businessman and millionaire controller of the United Brands Company. An astute and forward thinking capitalist, Black’s career included stints with Lehman Brothers and then the American Seal-Kap Company, which he renamed AMK. The early ’70s saw AMK merge with United Fruit Company. With that, Black’s fate was sealed. His downfall was rooted in the discovery of his $2.5 million bribe offered to the President of Honduras, to reduce export taxes on bananas. Taking matters into his own hands before the scandal broke, Black climbed the 44 floors of his office building and leapt out onto crowded Park Avenue to the horror of onlookers below.

8. Huibert Boumeester

At 49, father-of-two Huibert Boumeester took his own life after becoming seriously depressed in the fallout of the £50 billion ($77 billion) takeover of ABN Amro by the Royal Bank of Scotland. The Dutch millionaire banker’s body was discovered in a woodland area several miles away from his home in London. A suicide note to his wife Frederique that was found on his body read that he could not “go on.” The coroner confirmed that Mr. Boumeester had ended his life while depressed, explaining: “He drove to a very isolated location in woodland, sat down and used the shotgun to end his own life.”

7. Christopher Foster

In August 2008, Christopher Foster, a 50-year-old British businessman, murdered his wife and daughter before burning down his house and killing himself. The businessman shot his wife Jillian and daughter Kirstie, prior to succumbing to smoke inhalation. Foster, wealthy by virtue of his company’s work creating oil rig insulation technology, was nevertheless beset by financial concerns. Despite being a millionaire residing in a five-bedroom country mansion, he was living beyond his means, with debts of £4 million ($6.2 million). It seems that, tragically, these financial worries may well have pushed him over the edge.

6. John Lawrenson

John Lawrenson was a successful businessman who lived in a £1.2 million ($1.8 million) mansion (the Old Rectory, above). He was healthy and seemingly happy, and had earned the right to enjoy the profits from a lucrative life in the publishing world. This all would have been fine, except for one thing: his beloved wife Caroline was dying of cancer. The devoted couple, married for 47 years, poisoned themselves with a substance bought via mail order from Mexico. A suicide note found near their bodies confirms the truth: Mr. Lawrenson could not bear the thought of living alone and decided to take the matter into his own hands.

5. Wayne Pai

Wayne Pai was a successful Taiwanese businessman, and founder and chairman of the securities broker the Polaris Group. In the wake of rumors of insider trading, the nevertheless well respected Pai was found dead in July 2008. His wife and members of Polaris’ staff flew to the outlying island of Penghu to assist police with their inquiries. Pai’s suicide came at a time when allegations were being made that a former president of National Chiao Tung University had been receiving regular payments from Polaris. Pai’s body was found floating in waters surrounding the outlying island.

4. Paul Castle

Paul Castle — a self-styled businessman and property tycoon who had met the Queen of England and played polo with Prince Charles — killed himself in 2010. The 54-year-old threw himself in front of a London Underground train, leaving no chance of survival. The businessman, described as a “workaholic,” had seen several property deals go awry over the last year of his life and had also lost capital in a gas and oil surveying company. Castle, who suffered from chronic heart problems and tumors, had been married three times and was due to be wedded for a fourth time, to his girlfriend Natalie Theo.

3. Peter Smedley

Peter Smedley was an enormously successful millionaire hotelier and businessman with a tinned food empire that provided him with a sizable income. He and his wife Christine — who had been married for 33 years — enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle befitting of their riches. However, Mr. Smedley was also an extremely ill man, suffering from motor neurone disease. He ended his life by his own volition, at an assisted dying organization, the Dignitas clinic, in Switzerland. In a further twist to the story, Mr. Smedley’s death was filmed by the BBC, with segments televised as part of documentary about assisted suicides.

2. Howard Worthington

In an alarming case of destructive emotion, self-proclaimed “lord of the manor” millionaire Howard Worthington shot himself with one of his prized shotguns just moments after shooting his lover Julie Rees. The 52-year-old English former businessman, who made his fortune in the steel industry, had been ordered to stay away from his £1.3 million ($2 million) country home after threatening her with a gun a few weeks prior. While Rees recovered, Worthington did not. Verdict: suicide.

1. ReiJane Huai

Long Island resident and computer software high flyer ReiJane Huai killed himself with a single shot in September 2011. The former president and CEO of FalconStor, a data storage company, had resigned suddenly in 2010 following a lawsuit filed against him. The millionaire committed suicide on the front lawn of the $2.5 million home he shared with his wife, ShuWen. The Taiwanese-born Huai — who had traveled to the USA to study in 1984 — had several adult children living in the US and was described as a “visionary and leader” by a FalconStor spokesman.

They say that being in the top job of any organization is stressful, but that the pay is worth it. It seems the same is true when it comes to the government — as these super-rich heads of state show. Who says working in the public sector has to pay badly?

10. Sebastián Piñera ($2.4 billion)

The incredibly rich but strangely robotic-looking Sebastián Piñera is the lowest in our set of billionaires, with a “mere” $2.4 billion in his pocket. The head of state was originally involved in managing a number of major companies, such as Apple Chile, broadcaster Chilevisión (which he owned 100%) and Chilean airline LAN — with investment in the latter greatly contributing to his personal fortune. In 2010 he graduated to become the “CEO” of his entire nation after being elected President, and in the same year the country’s economy grew by 5.2% — proof that his money-making abilities carry over into the political arena, as well? The Chilean numero uno also currently ranks at number 488 in Forbes’ list of the world’s billionaires. Now, if only all his money could do something to make him look less like the Terminator.

9. Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani ($2.4 billion)

Sheikh Hamad originally came to the throne after deposing his father in a bloodless palace coup in 1995. The Emir of Qatar represents his country on state visits and is responsible for leading its development of oil and natural gas resources. The results can be seen in his $2.4 billion bank balance. The military-focused emir, who was educated at England’s Sandhurst Military Academy, has also served as his county’s Minister of Defense, and previously brought in an extensive program of modernization to Qatar’s armed forces. He also has three wives and twenty-four children. A good thing he has plenty of money to pay for babysitters!

8. Mohammed VI ($2.5 billion)

The King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, made his billions through inheritance of his family’s vast fortune and his country’s massive reserves of phosphates. As the ruler of his country, he wields vast executive powers, which he has used to undercut the sacredness of the monarchy and increase the power of the prime minister. He has also introduced reforms to make the more corrupt sections of his government more accountable to the public — although some people think these pro-democratic measures have not gone far enough. Mohammed also has a pretty hefty bank balance: he’s reputed to be worth $2.5 billion dollars, and has the sharp suits to prove it. Some people must just be born lucky.

7. Hans-Adam II ($4 billion)

Despite being the head of state of the tiny European country of Liechtenstein, Hans-Adam II is one of the wealthiest rulers in the world and easily the richest in Europe. He beats more famous monarchs like Britain’s Elizabeth II and Beatrix I of the Netherlands hands down, which has got to be pretty embarrassing for them. Despite being royalty with vast inherited wealth, Adam worked hard for his money: not only does he own the LGT banking group; he was put in charge of the family’s finances at the age of just 27, and did such a good job that today their total wealth amounts to over seven billion dollars. As of 2004 he has formally turned over many of his powers to his son, Prince Alois. Let’s hope the kid makes as good a job of it as the old man.

6. Silvio Berlusconi ($9 billion)

There’s a joke that the official unit for measuring political corruption is called a “Berlusconi.” Shady dealings (Berlusconi has been accused of embezzlement, tax fraud and bribery of judges amongst other things) have certainly helped the Italian leader and entrepreneur get ahead in the world: he’s not only officially the fifth richest head of state but the longest-serving leader of a G8 country, the owner of Italian football giants A.C. Milan — not to mention an investment company that controls Italy’s largest private TV stations — and is constantly seen on the arm of women decades younger than him, to boot. If that’s bad behavior, we’re not sure we want to be good. Mind you, with a list of gaffes that includes passing laws solely to slow down prosecutions against him, referring to Obama as “tanned” and comparing a German MEP to a concentration camp guard, maybe being in his shoes wouldn’t be worth the $9 billion.

5. Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum ($12 billion)

Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum is perhaps surprisingly low on our list at number five. In 2009 Forbes put his fortune at $12bn, but the ruler of billionaire playground Dubai used to be even wealthier, with a fortune in excess of $18 billion. When the late-2000s recession struck, however, the Sheikh lost a lot of money and was even forced to ask neighboring Abu Dhabi for a handout when the markets tumbled. Through investment firm Dubai World, Al Maktoum has control of companies such as port operator DP World Ltd and real estate developer Nakheel Properties, and through the latter has helped to craft the landscape of Dubai, including the distinctive fake archipelago, The Palm Jumeirah. His official website summarizes him as a “Leader,” “Equestrian” and “Poet.” We’d add “staggeringly wealthy Sheikh” to that, as well.

4. Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan ($15 billion)

The President of the United Arab Emirates and Emir of Abu Dhabi acquired his considerable wealth from a combination of real estate investment, inheritance and oil. Due to his father’s ill health, he had been forced to be acting president before assuming the post proper in 2004. He is widely regarded as a pro-Western modernizer by the US, although he is also seen as “distant and uncharismatic” (according to communications published on Wikileaks). Mind you, the head of state is also the third wealthiest monarch in the world, with assets totaling over $15 billion. Who needs charisma if you have that?

3. Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud ($18 billion)

The current King of Saudi Arabia isn’t quite the King of this rich list, coming in at number three. Still, with a massive family fortune of $18 billion behind him — built on the back of his country’s unprecedented oil reserves — he isn’t exactly short of a penny either. The former Saudi Arabian National Guard commander has always had a close relationship with the US, making frequent state visits to its presidents and expressing support for George Bush, Jr. on the second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. He’s also apparently a big fan of America’s current president, saying “Thank God for bringing Obama to the presidency,” according to private communications revealed by Wikileaks.

2. Hassanal Bolkiah ($20 billion)

The Sultan of Brunei comes in second on our list with a personal fortune estimated at $20 billion. With wealth gained from his country’s vast reserves of oil and natural gas, he has a dynasty behind him believed to be one of the oldest still in existence. The absolute monarch has also used his riches to ensure that citizens of his country have no personal income taxes, free education and universal healthcare — making him pretty much a one-man national healthcare service. Imagine if Obama were able to do this in the US.

1. Bhumibol Adulyadej ($30 billion)

With a fortune estimated at $30 billion in 2009, King Bhumibol Adulyadej is the richest head of state on the planet. The King of Thailand is revered as a demigod in his own country — where he is deemed legally “inviolable” and any criticism aimed his way can lead to a lengthy stretch in prison. The king’s personal fortune is massive: he owns large stakes is several private companies — including Sammakorn, SCG and Thai Insurance PLC — and also has vast land holdings (although government suits stress that the latter do not form part of his personal wealth). In 2008, Forbes estimated that Adulyadej was worth $35 billion, but declines in real estate and stocks meant the figure had dipped $5 billion by the following year. Evidence that the king does return some of the love he receives from his people comes in the form of the various donations he has made to Thai development projects, in areas ranging from agriculture and public health to water resources and public welfare. See, it’s not all take.

Bonus: Vladimir Putin ($40 billion)

Former President (and very probably President-to-be) Vladimir Putin claims his net worth is a relatively modest $150,000, but the Russian head of government is strongly suspected of being far richer. Whistleblowers like former fellow government member Ivan Rybkin and political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky have claimed that the President controls secret assets in oil and natural gas companies like Gazprom and Gunvor… to the tune of more than $40 billion. These allegations have not been proven, but if they are true he would be richest by far of the guys on this list and certainly deserving of a place at the top — even if he has acquired his fortune by means fouler than they are fair.

Anyone who says crime doesn’t pay should take a look at these men and women. This collection of bank robbers, drug dealers, crime lords and general scumbags shows that if you want to get ahead, sometimes it helps to chop off a few heads… (Note: white collar criminals like Bernard Madoff weren’t considered for this list; our focus was criminals of a more hardcore caste.)

10. Joseph Kennedy ($200-400 million, a billionaire figuring in today’s inflation)

Joseph Kennedy was the harmless-looking patriarch of one of the most powerful families in America, a corporate big shot… and strongly connected to the bootleggers who made millions selling alcohol during the Prohibition Era — if not a bootlegger himself. He is widely thought to have had dealings with Frank Costello, the head of the Luciano crime family, to facilitate smuggling alcohol into the country for easy distribution during the post-WWI period. Not only did Kennedy make a profit on his river of illicit booze, but he was also credibly accused of framing one of his rivals for rape in order to acquire his business (not to mention of being a gross anti-Semite and a major supporter of Hitler). Still, with his fortune measuring in the billions in today’s money (in 1957 he was named one of America’s richest people by Fortune magazine) it probably wouldn’t have been wise for the rest of the Kennedys to have disowned him completely…

9. Meyer Lansky ($300-400 million)

The suave, well-dressed “Mob’s Accountant,” Meyer Lansky had a formidable illegal gambling empire in America from the 1930s onwards, with branches stretching from Florida to Las Vegas. Much of the rest of his fortune was generated through his ultra-close links with the Mafia, particularly Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel. He was such a compelling criminal that several movie gangsters were allegedly based on him, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather series and Max Bercovicz from the epic Once Upon a Time in America. Even after his retirement, Lansky still made Forbes’ list of the 400 richest people in America, and at the time of his death in 1983, the FBI reckoned he had hundreds of millions in concealed back accounts.  Now that’s good investing…

8. Griselda Blanco, “The Godmother” ($500 million)

The Miami-based “Godmother,” Griselda Blanco was arguably the most ruthless gangster working in the drug trade in the ’70s and ’80s. She was known equally for her good business sense as she was for her sociopathic tendencies (at the age of 11 she took a fellow child hostage, demanded a ransom and eventually killed him with a bullet to the head). Nothing like learning your job skills early in life… Blanco was also suspected of murdering her three husbands, ordering more than 200 hits during her time as a mob boss, and forcing men to have sex with her at gunpoint. She went into hiding in the mid-2000s and was last seen in 2007. If she is still alive, she is believed to be one of the wealthiest self-made women on the planet… If the glass ceiling was going to crack, why did it have to be here?

7. Anthony Salerno ($600 million)

The real life “Fat Tony” wasn’t nearly as cuddly as his Simpsons counterpart. Easily distinguishable by his trademark cigar and fedora, Anthony Salerno worked his way up to Consigliere of the Genovese family in the 1970s, having spent the previous few decades practicing his skills in illegal gambling, loan sharking and protection rackets. In the ’60s, his New York numbers empire was generating $50 million annually. Salerno was also notable for sending his close personal friends Christmas cards with pictures of himself in pyjamas on the front. Come to think of it, that is pretty cuddly… Nevertheless, he died at the age of 80, having spent the fading years of his life in jail.

6. Joaquín Loera ($1 billion)

Mexican criminal Joaquín Loera is a dark horse compared to more flamboyant drug dealers like Pablo Escobar, but that doesn’t make him any less influential. On the contrary. Loera, who made most of his billion dollars selling drugs from Mexico — and goes by a number of nicknames, including El Chapo and Crystal King — is currently a fugitive in his own country but is believed to be the most powerful drug dealer on Earth — meaning that the reported figure for his wealth could be a big under-estimate (he might be worth closer to $5 billion). The man who was listed as the the 937th richest man in the world by Forbes in 2010 was last heard from leaving a taunting message for the police near the bullet-riddled corpses of two military officers: “You’ll never get ‘El Chapo’, not the priests, not the government.” Well, he’s gotten away with it so far.

5. Al Capone (nearly $1.3 billion per year in income, allowing for inflation)

Iconic gangster Al Capone was practically the Bill Gates of the criminal world in his heyday. Capone supplied America with a river of bootleged alcohol in the 1920s and 1930s, and was frankly the real “untouchable” in Chicago. His iron-fisted (although certainly not iron-chinned!) rule over his city netted him a substantial income. Although there are no exact figures, it is estimated that in 1929 his criminal activities brought in more than $100,000,000 per year, over a billion dollars in today’s money. The cigar-chomping one even found the time to be a noted philanthropist and public figure… All that before he was brought down on tax evasion charges and syphilis. What a way to go for Chicago’s Godfather.

4. Susumu Ishii ($1.5 billion)

Scary tattooed Yakuza Godfather Susumu Ishii was a member of a manned suicide torpedo unit during World War II. However, after making it through the war alive, he fought his way into a new position as a gangster (sadly, one of the only jobs with long-term prospects as bad as his previous one) and worked his way up the career ladder in the Inagawa-kai gang. He made his estimated billion-and-a-half dollars primarily through loans, banking deals and real estate scams, but lost most of it when Japan’s bubble economy burst at the end of the 1980s. The gangster was so popular that when he died in 1991, his funeral was attended by over 5,000 people. How many bosses, mob or not, can say that?

3. Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas ($2.7 billion)

Carlos Lehder was one of the co-founders of the infamous Medellín cartel, the group of South America-based drug barons who at their peak were responsible for shipping $60 million of illegal substances per day (and another of whose leaders, José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha, made Forbes‘ annual list of billionaires, in 1988). Described as a megalomaniac, this criminal spared no expense on the transportation of his precious cocaine, even buying a private plane and a Bahamian island to help him smuggle the substance into the US. How many legitimate businessmen could afford that? After amassing a fortune that would make ‘Scarface’ blush, he was eventually imprisoned in the 1980s and is still in jail in the US to this day. Hmm, on second thought, maybe crime doesn’t pay after all…

2. Pablo Escobar ($9-25 billion)

From being born in a village in Columbia with no electricity, Pablo Escobar worked his way up to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the world. Now that’s a self-made man. At the peak of their operations, he and his associates in the Medellín cartel smuggled around 15 tons of cocaine every day, and protected their shipments by offering snooping officials “lead or silver” — lead for bullets or silver for a bribe. In 1989, Forbes magazine estimated that he was the world’s seventh richest man, with assets of close to $25 billion, and control of 80 percent of the global cocaine market. Despite being a ruthless, murderous drug lord, Escobar was also a compassionate family man (he once reportedly burned $1 million in cash to keep his daughter warm while on the run) but that doesn’t make his illegal exploits any less ominous.

1. Amado Carrillo Fuentes (around $25 billion)

Hans Gruber lookalike and cocaine baron Amado Fuentes was practically a real life James Bond villain. He had the whole package: a vast, drug-based Mexican empire; incredible hardware (including a fleet of 727 jets to transport his product); he even had plastic surgery to alter his appearance. And he was rich. At the time of his death from medical complications, his net worth was estimated to be around $25 billion, which would make him the richest criminal of all time on record. That may be quite an accomplishment, but it’s not exactly a career that is going to earn you much respect… except amongst other drug barons, of course.

Good parents always want the best for their children, and for them to play as safely and happily as possible. In times gone by, however, this was was often easier said than done, as many popular toys and games contained harmful elements which presented real risks to kids. These days, what can and can’t be put on sale in stores is vigorously scrutinized, and consumer watchdogs are vigilant in documenting potential dangers. Even so, it’s incredible what toys have slipped through the net… Here, then, are ten toxic toys that children actually played — and in some cases still do play — with.

10. Bindeez

Bindeez, also known as Aqua Dots, Beados and Pixos, are a craft-based toy that allow children to design multi-dimensional geometrical patterns with brightly colored beads in a small tray. When the beads are sprayed with water they stick together; when dry, the entire design can be lifted out. Bindeez, Australian toy of the year in 2007, were the subject of a massive product recall following several cases of children suffering seizure-like symptoms and being hospitalized after swallowing the beads. Manufactured in China for an Australian games designer, the adhesive element of the toys was found to include a chemical which, when processed by the body, made the date rape drug GHB.

9. Thomas and Friends

In 2007, the Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled millions of toys — mostly originating from China — believed to contain dangerous levels of lead in their paint. The biggest offenders were these wooden Thomas and Friends railway toys. Thankfully, the miniature vehicles, buildings and railway set parts were soon withdrawn from sale.

8. Halloween Pumpkin Pin

This cheerful pumpkin face looks friendly enough, but the pin, made by The Christmas Tree Shop, contains worryingly high levels of the most toxic chemicals. Under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which was passed in the US in 2008, harmful toxins were capped at certain limits. Lead was capped at 600 parts per million (ppm), cadmium at 75 ppm, arsenic at 25 ppm and mercury at 60 ppm. This scary product went way beyond that, with levels of arsenic at 4,765 ppm, cadmium at 3,847 and lead at a massive 190,943 ppm.

7. Creepy Crawlers

Creepy Crawlers were a familiar name to families in the 1960s. Sometimes known as the “Thingmaker,” the Fright Factory was the best known of the Creepy Crawlers sets produced by Mattel from 1964. Allowing children to create plastic molds with a substance known as “Plasti-Goop” and an alarmingly powerful hot plate — which could reach temperatures of 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit — Fright Factory was an extremely dangerous bit of kit to have around the house. Toxic fumes and extremely hot metal — what more could a child want?

6. Road Racers with Play Mat

These fun-looking cars and accompanying play mat look like an ideal gift for the typical kid with a love of bright colors and fast wheels. However, be warned: the play mat contains 30,831 ppm of Bromine, 30 times the amount considered safe. These cars would be better off on the road than in your children’s hands!

5. Hannah Montana’s 2 Hearts and HM graphic Necklace

Considering the fact that they contain an incredible 406,510 ppm of lead, we’re pretty sure the star singer Hannah Montana won’t be wearing these necklaces any time soon. Surprisingly, the manufacturers are a subsidiary of Disney, a brand that most children and parents trust. Consumers would be to advised stay away from this product, however.

4. Shrinky Dinks

Created in 1973 by Betty Morris of Brookfield, Wisconsin, Shrinky Dinks were an enormously popular plaything back in the 1970s. Comprising plastic sheets that could be shrunk down to hard plate designs after being baked in the oven, the set was notorious for the fact that the molten plastic gave off highly toxic fumes. Hardly something that parents would allow their children to play with today, Shrinky Dinks went through many different designs and rebrands throughout the 70s and 80s. Most over-25s today will still remember playing with them.

3. Totally Me! Dressy Rainbow Jewelry

More potentially harmful kids’ jewelry here, with this offering from Geoffrey Inc. The set includes beads, bracelets and other items, and — more worryingly — dangerously high levels of cadmium and arsenic. With a cadmium ppm of 3,269 and arsenic ppm of 1,202, this product is among the worst offenders ever seen for harmful toxins. Amazingly, it is still widely available at major stores. Unless you want to dress your children in poisonous substances, Dressy Rainbow Jewelry is probably best avoided…

2. Reebok Bracelets

In a shocking and tragic case, a 4-year-old died from lead poisoning after swallowing a piece of this jewelry. The bracelets, given free in 2004 with purchases of children’s Reebok shoes, were manufactured in China and were found to contain high levels of lead. Following the tragedy, the bracelets were immediately withdrawn from stores.

1. Atomic Energy Lab

Perhaps one of the most notorious toys to ever go on sale in the United States, A.C. Gilbert’s U-238 Atomic Energy Lab brought the Atomic Age into the living rooms of 1950s America — giving a whole new meaning to the term “nuclear family.” First appearing in 1951, the lab included, amongst other nuclear playthings, a Geiger counter, four samples of Uranium-bearing ore and, unbelievably, three “very low-level” radiation sources. The kit was only available for one year, which may have had something to do with the $50 price — the equivalent of over $350 today — but, more likely, parents not being overly keen on inviting radiation into their homes!

Everyone loves a rags to riches story, confirming as it does the belief that human ingenuity and hard work can overcome any barriers. Going from a life on the streets to having millions of dollars in the bank is a reversal of fortune that can scarcely be believed — it’s the American Dream in the extreme — but these ten millionaires all spent time without a roof over their heads before they made it.

10. Halle Berry

The Oscar-winning actress has played a wide variety of roles in her time — everything from the wife of a convicted murderer to Catwoman – but before becoming a household name she was a struggling actress, down on her luck and without a place to rest her head. When she was 21 and embarking upon an acting career in New York City, she spent time in a homeless shelter after her mother refused to give her any more money. The two didn’t speak for a year-and-a-half, although Berry claims the experience made her stronger: “I’m actually grateful she did that, because it taught me how to take care of myself and that I could live through any situation, even if it meant going to a shelter for a small stint.” Now she spends her days on Hollywood sets with a cool $70m to her name.

9. “Colonel” Harland Sanders

A man so determined in his campaign against the chicken that he was given a “military” title, Harland Sanders was also homeless not once, but twice. As a child he ran away from home after altercations with his stepfather. But he put that experience to good use when he perfected his famous chicken recipe. He slept in the back of his car as he traveled around North America with his delicious recipe (and wife Claudia) trying to persuade restaurants to pay a franchise fee. The brand that he built netted him $2m (almost $15m in today’s money) when he sold it in 1964 — a feat that can be put down both to his impressive tactics in the war against poultry and the fact that his chicken is just so finger-lickin’ good.

8. “Dr. Phil” McGraw

Dr Phil is American’s most well-known psychologist, with millions tuning in to his TV show and buying his best-selling books, but his success was built on a childhood spent in poverty. Aged 12, McGraw was homeless and living in a car with his father in Kansas City while McGraw senior interned as a psychologist. They eventually scraped up the money for a $5 room at the YMCA, and though it was tough, McGraw says, “I cherish those memories. That was my time to learn how to deal with stress and adversity — lessons I’d never have learned any other way at that age. I learned what it meant to work hard, to stay focused, and to set goals.” Dr Phil is now rich in fame and cash with a net worth estimated at $200m.

7. Christopher Gardner

As detailed in his memoir The Pursuit of Happyness (and as portrayed by Will Smith in the film of the same name), natural talent and a whole lot of hard work brought Christopher Gardner from the streets to the big time. He sold his stake in his stockbrokerage company for millions in 2006, but had a hard road to get there, suffering through the breakdown of his marriage, jail time for unpaid parking tickets, and the struggle to provide a safe life for himself and his young son. Throughout his time sleeping in his office, at a railway station, in homeless shelters and in parks around San Francisco, he kept up an impeccable record at his workplace and cared for his son. He is now CEO and founder of Christopher Gardner International Holdings and has a net worth of over $165m.

6. Jerry Winkler

Jerry Winkler had a hard 28 years of life, with his childhood peppered with trauma. His mother was ill with a brain tumor, and the man he thought was his father took him in — but their relationship was strained and he spent five years in the care system. He became involved in drugs and petty crime before finding out that the man he believed to be his father was not and that in fact he was the only heir of deceased multimillionaire businessman Alfred Winkler. A DNA test confirmed the paternity, and Jerry went from the streets to a palatial house in the center of Amsterdam. He did not forget his life on the streets, however, and used his newfound wealth to set up a foundation to help homeless young people.

5. Richard Leroy Walters

You should never judge a book by its cover, and the case of Richard Walters is one of the best examples of why. In a surprise twist, it turned out that Richard Walters had been a marine, had a master’s degree and made his millions as a jet propulsion engineer for Allied Signal Aerospace before becoming homeless. It seems that he chose to be homeless after being forced into early retirement, as he certainly didn’t end up on the streets due to a lack of funds: upon his death he left $4m to charities including the Mission of Mercy in Phoenix and National Public Radio. While on the streets, he slept on the grounds of a senior center, ate at a hospital and continued investing his wealth, increasing his worth such that he could leave such substantial bequests when he died in 2007. The American Dream in reverse.

4. Michael Parness

Micheal Parness was once a high school dropout who slept rough on the streets. From those less than auspicious beginnings, he set up a sports memorabilia company in New York before branching out into brokerage when bad advice from a broker friend lost him his life savings. He turned $33,000 into $7m within two years and is now a best-selling author on investment and finance who runs an investment advice business.

3. Stuart Sharp

Stuart Sharp spent ten years living rough on the streets after the death of his infant son contributed to the breakdown of his marriage. A “vision” of soothing music took hold of him, and despite an inability to read or write music he composed a 40-minute symphony in memory of his child, described by experts as “genius,” that has been recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. After ten years on the streets, jazz musician Anthony Wade found Sharp sleeping rough outside the BBC Television Center and gave him a place to stay. Sharp turned his life around, making millions in sales and property development, finally allowing him to buy a recording studio and fulfill the dream he had held since his son’s tragic death.

2. Bob Williamson

Bob Williamson sold his company for $75m in 2008, but as a teenager he was an alcoholic, attended 19 different schools, was an intravenous meth and heroin user, carried a .357 magnum and committed armed robberies. However, a head-on car collision and a hospital stay at the age of 22 led him to discover his faith, convert to Christianity and meet his future wife of 40 years. This shock to the system put him back on the straight and narrow, and he set himself up in the art supply business before founding Horizon Software International in 1993. The company monitors and facilitates meals in schools, hospitals, corporations and the military, allowing online payments and meal monitoring, and as of 2008 had sales of $26m.

1. John Paul Jones DeJoria

John Paul Jones DeJoria began working from an early age, selling Christmas cards and newspapers at the age of nine. When he was taken into foster care he was involved with gangs in Los Angeles until a high school math teacher told him he would “never, ever succeed at anything in life.” DeJoria set out to prove him wrong. In his early twenties, following a divorce, he was homeless and living on the streets with his son, but that didn’t stop him from going from a hair care employee to co-founder, with hairdresser Paul Mitchell, of John Paul Mitchell Systems. The hair products company now rakes in a very impressive $900m annually and Forbes rates DeJoria’s net worth as $4bn.

Cyber-attacks aren’t just fuel for poorly made movies or something teenagers do for fun. They are a serious issue with real-world consequences for companies, consumers and nations (and while good web hosting is a undoubtedly a good protective measure, it’s far from an impenetrable defense). A recent survey by the Ponemon Institute found that 59% of those surveyed had suffered a slew of attacks in the last year, with the average cost to businesses exceeding $500,000 when they added up expenditure, overheads, labor, revenue losses, business disruption and other costs. Of course, that’s just the average outlay… Here are the most costly cyberattacks ever carried out. These victims wish it had only cost them a paltry half a million dollars.

10. Citigroup

Tremendous amounts of wealth, from thousands of parties, flow through financial giants such as Citigroup on a daily basis. Earlier this year, in 2011, the aforementioned stacks of money and hoards of sensitive customer information provided ample incentive for cyber-hacks to organize an attack. Over 200,000 customers’ names, contact details, account numbers and other information were compromised in the attack, as the thieves made off with $2.7m from credit card accounts. That’s a bad day at the office.

9. Titan Rain

The public face of international relations between non-warring states is usually one of diplomatic politeness, yet the 2004 discovery by Shawn Carpenter, a Sandia National Laboratories employee, of hacking into US military files brought to light the shadier underbelly of global affairs. “Titan Rain” is the FBI code-name for an extensive series of infiltrations into US military security, companies such as Lockheed and even NASA. It is believed to have been perpetrated by cells of operatives on behalf of the Chinese government, although it is unknown whether this is actually the case or whether these were simply the actions of rogue hackers. While very difficult to quantify in objective terms, the potential to access and exploit the US government’s most secret information makes this a pretty costly attack in our book, and it is certainly one of the biggest of all time.

8. Heartland Payment Systems

Trusted payments processor Heartland Payment Systems fell victim to a 2008 plot to steal credit and debit card numbers. By secretly infesting the company’s computer network with spyware, the criminal gang responsible were able to steal over 100 million individual card numbers. However, for one of the key masterminds behind the job, Albert Gonzalez, it was a case of his number being up when a federal jury found him guilty of his crimes and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. As for Heartland, the episode ended up costing them around $140m. So much for their motto, “The highest standards — The most trusted transactions.”

7. Hannaford Bros

Grocery retailer Hannaford Bros suffered a four-month long breach of their security from the winter of 2007 to the spring of 2008. During this period, over 4.2 million credit and debit card numbers were exposed, along with other sensitive information. This feat of cyber-criminality was achieved through the installation of malware on store servers, which stands in contrast to the more common tactic of hacking company databases. Experts table the costs incurred at an estimated $252m — more than the value of an average grocery list, to say the least. One of the principal hackers involved was Albert Gonzalez, who had also hacked Heartland Payment Systems as well as taking part in the TJX cyber-attack…

6. TJX

Massachusetts-based retailing company TJX, owner of such well-known chains as TJ Maxx and Marshalls, was taken for a ride by a group of cyber fiends with a fetish for electronics. The gang were able to get their hands on over 45 million credit and debit card numbers, a selection of which they then used to fund a multi-million dollar spending spree from Wal-Mart’s stock of electronics equipment. Initially estimated at around $25m, the damage from the data-breach ended up costing over $250m in total. Perhaps the zero button on the estimators’ calculator was sticky…

5. Sven Jaschan

We’ve all heard the classic example of “chaos theory”: a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil can set off a tornado in Texas. Well, for one German teen, a computer made an apt chrysalis for his butterfly. In 2004, Sven Jaschan unleashed a virus which infected millions of computers around the world, reaching its highest degree of destruction when it comprehensively disabled the Delta Air Lines computer system, causing the cancellation of several transatlantic flights. Jaschan was eventually arrested after a three-month hunt, during which Mircosoft placed a $250,000 bounty on the hacker’s head. An estimated $500 million worth of damage was generated (although other sources have put the total cost much higher, in the billions of dollars), all starting in the computer of a German college student.

4. Michael Calce

Michael Calce was not the most well-known 15-year-old; “MafiaBoy,” however, was a cyber-superstar. Widely considered approaching genius levels of computer expertise, Calce, aka MafiaBoy, conducted notorious attacks against huge companies with high levels of security. Amongst those attacked were computer manufacturer Dell, media giant CNN, and shopping sites Amazon and Ebay. Prosecution for the estimated $1.2bn worth of damage caused went pretty smoothly, from Calce’s perspective. He ended up with a sentence of eight months open custody. Wow, tough justice.

3. Sony

In a still unravelling saga, this year’s exposure of over 100 million PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment accounts is forging a new chapter in the history of cyber-attacks. The personal information — including credit and debit card data — of tens of millions of users was stolen by an as yet unknown group of assailants. Experts predict that the damage may range from $1 to $2bn, making it possibly the costliest cyber-hack ever to have been pulled off. Even worse, dedicated gamers were unable to log on while Sony attempted to deal with the breach, causing some serious tantrums.

2. Epsilon

Estimated at having a potential cost that ranges from $225m to $4bn, the March 2011 hack of e-mail handler Epsilon is another as of yet undetermined candidate for the costliest cyber-heist of all time. The Dallas-based firm provides marketing and email-handling services to organizations as large as Best Buy and JP Morgan Chase. However, as the stolen information was mostly email addresses, the various possible criminal applications of this information mean that the estimated cost is extremely variable.

1. The Original Logic Bomb

In 1982, with the Cold War still far from thawing, the expansion of computer technology was increasingly finding its way to becoming a major tactical vehicle for the CIA. Without using a missile, bomb or other traditional explosive device, the US managed to blow up a Siberian gas pipeline, creating a monumental and historically unprecedented method of explosion. The method used, known as a “logic bomb,” involved the insertion of a portion of code into the computer system overseeing the pipeline, causing computational chaos. Other than the obvious material cost to the Russians, this moment in history showed the world a further dimension to the costs that can be unleashed and incurred through the power of cyber-hacking.

People say business is a cutthroat world, but some executives have been known to take this a bit too literally. Capitalism is a tough game, and to be a truly successful executive, you have to have a ruthless personality, often straddling the dividing line between genius and madness. What’s more, CEOs and high-level businessmen have a great deal of power, of course, and everyone knows what they say about what too much power will do to a person. Here, we look at some of the top businessmen who have taken the slash and burn approach to their personal — as well as their professional — lives…

10. Harald Espenhahn

The German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp already had an image problem after being found guilty of price fixing in 2006, but negligently allowing a fatal inferno to break out at the company’s Turin plant in December 2007 was really the icing on the cake. The understaffed branch was hit by not one but two fires in the space of a week, the second of which caused the deaths of seven steelworkers. Worse still, after the disaster a technician working for the company was ordered to fill up all the extinguishers in the factory to cover up the fact that 3/5ths of them had been empty during the actual fire. Presumably taking time away from their busy schedule of clubbing baby seals and punching kittens in the face, senior staff at the company also planned legal action against the lone survivor of the fire on the grounds that he was making them look bad in front of the media. CEO of the Italian branch Harald Espenhahn was eventually jailed for 16 ½ years for “voluntary multiple murder with eventual malice,” and probably, “being a money-grubbing, back-stabbing douche.”

9. Muzzammil “Mo” Hassan

Muzzammil Hassan “Mo” Hassan: CEO of a successful American cable station, family man, and killer convicted of repeatedly stabbing and then decapitating his wife, Aasiya Zubair, whose body was found in their TV station headquarters in upstate New York shortly after she filed for divorce in February 2009. The Hassans claimed that their channel, Bridges TV, aimed to dispel popular stereotypes in the American media about Muslims, which makes it even sadder that Aasiya Hassan’s murder was initially suspected by some of being a religiously-motivated honor-killing. Hassan was tried for second-degree murder, and, as the saying goes, had an idiot for a client since he decided to represent himself. He eventually received a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

8. Indra Setiawan

You’d think a political activist would be safer under a republic than a dictatorship. Munir Said Thalib, an activist who survived being a very vocal critic of Indonesia’s government whilst it was a repressive autocracy called the “New Order,” was allegedly poisoned by an airline pilot while on a flight to Amsterdam in 2004. Many suspected that Indra Setiawan, the chief executive of Indonesia’s national airline, Garuda, had worked with the Indonesian Republic’s intelligence agency BIN to get a arsenic administered to Thalib. He was eventually sentenced to one year in jail by an Indonesian court for his role as an accessory, which perhaps just proves that big business still loses out to Big Brother. Of course, it was a complete coincidence that independent investigators’ findings about the BIN’s involvement were left out of the trial…

7. Erik Prince

Erik Prince, CEO of the mercenary organization Blackwater Worldwide (he already sounds like a Bond villain just from that description) was sensationally accused of killing unarmed Iraq civilians who co-operated with federal investigations into his activities in 2007. Blackwater provided security for US State Department employees in Iraq during the 2003 invasion, but were accused of a number of crimes against civilians, including the massacre of 17 Iraqis in September 2007. As well as murder, the plaintiffs made a number of truly eye-popping accusations against Prince, including running a wife-swapping sex ring, hiring child prostitutes to give Blackwater employees oral sex, gun-running and being “a Christian Crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the earth.” The suit was thrown out in 2009 because crucial evidence was inadmissible — and none of these allegations were substantiated. Blackwater changed their name to Xe in the same year, presumably to avoid unpleasant associations from their previous title and to sound less like the bad guys out of GI Joe.

6. William Fowler

We all know that the company charity collection can be stressful, but this is ridiculous. William Fowler, the head of the small Adams County, Colorado company Fowler Software Design, shot his former employee Thomas Ciancio three times in the head in December 2009 then attempted suicide using the same gun, possibly because Ciancio confronted him about large amounts of money he had funneled from the company into a church or charity. Fowler was also a high-level Scientologist who at the time of his arrest had paid around $1m for courses in the “religion.” Half-baked claims by his defense lawyer that Ciancio had “interrupted his suicide” were not taken seriously in court, and Fowler was found guilty of first degree murder in 2011 and sentenced to life in jail without parole.

5. Patrick Evans

Patrick Evans, the high-flying vice president of business development in Asia Pacific for electronics manufacturer Jabil Circuit, was on a six-figure salary until he was accused of murdering his estranged third wife Elizabeth Evans and a friend of hers at a Sea Ketch Condo in Florida in December 2008. Elizabeth was in the process of trying to get a divorce from her husband. Bizarrely, Patrick Evans pleaded not guilty at his trial despite being caught on a 911 call in the process of carrying out the shootings. His lawyer also argued that allowing the public, and jury, to hear some of the contents of the tape, which included his wife identifying him by name, would prevent him from getting a fair trial. We’re not sure he quite understood the concept of evidence there…

4. Ben Holding

Ben Holding was a business executive for STV, a Scottish television channel, who had an argument with his elderly father, whom he said saw him as “a waste of space.” To prove his dad wrong, he banged his father’s head repeatedly against the floor, hid his body in a garbage bin under a sack of cement which he then locked in a shed, and spent the next few weeks on a £30,000 ($48,000) spending spree with the man’s money — his father having been a retired oil executive. Holding, who was referred to as “spoiled” by his relatives, ran up a chunky expenses bill that included a £17,000 ($27,000) BMW, a trip to London and expensive sportswear. All of this despite being an executive who worked for a successful company. Talk about ungrateful. He was sentenced to 15 years in jail in August 2008.

3. “Olaf H”

Not much is known about this executive criminal except that he was a 45-year-old married father who stands accused of murdering a ten-year-old after enticing him into his car — because he’d had a stressful day at the office and had been browbeaten by his boss at Deutsche Telekom in Bonn. Olaf H, who cannot be named because of German privacy laws, was arrested by police after allegedly raping and murdering the small boy. According to German police, the man quickly confessed, saying: “I drove around aimlessly looking for a random victim, a child, because I wanted to have power over somebody. A girl, a boy, it didn’t matter, I needed someone so I could relieve my frustration.” We’ve all had a bad day at work, but this…

2. Jonathan Nyce

The ironically-named Jonathan Nyce, the former CEO of the start-up New Jersey firm EpiGenesis Pharmaceuticals, was convicted of manslaughter (after an initial charge of murder) in 2004 after smashing his wife’s head against the floor of their garage. His wife, Michelle Riviera, was having an affair with the couple’s landscape gardener which started shortly after Nyce lost his job. The former research professor tried to conceal the crime by putting her body behind the wheel of their SUV and sending it careering down the embankment of the nearby Jacobs Creek, hoping to pass her death off as a car accident. The executive, who was released in December 2010, has at various times insisted that the death was an accident or that someone else killed his wife. Whatever the truth may be, couldn’t he have found a “nycer” way to settle things?

1. Alberto Izaga

Alberot Izaga was a millionaire South London executive at insurance giant Swiss Re with a lot to live for. However, one night he suffered a tragic mental collapse and attacked his two-year-old daughter, beating her brains out against the floor of his house. His insanity was said to be bound up with a combination of the Jesuit religion, stress and an obsession with the horror movie Bug, which features listening devices being planted under the protagonist’s skin. He also claimed that the Jesuits were part of a conspiracy to dominate the business world by recruiting people like him into their organization. Izaga was found not guilty “by reason of insanity” and incarcerated in a mental asylum rather than a prison.

Bonus Entry: Vincent Scarabino

This was an unusual criminal case in that the suspect was both a former executive of a US agency and a 60-year-old diabetic. A man named Stanley Leibman was arrested on federal bank fraud charges in 1999, and he subsequently asked for help from his old friend Vincent Scarabino, an ex-deputy director for the United States Small Business Administration. His friend lent him a sympathetic ear and some sound business advice: hire a couple of his assassin associates to take care of the witness. Scarabino was caught on tape saying his friends would “make it look real good, like a robbery” and that it was “best for you, Leibman.” When asked to comment, Scarabino claimed to be too feeble to hatch a murder plot, saying: “I am legally blind. God bless my wife, she does everything for me.” Now there’s an excuse…

Strikes are renowned as the bane of governments and anybody who wants their garbage collected on time, and yet often are the only resort left to workers. They remain a divisive topic on both the left and the right, with their consequences having far-reaching implications. Nobody, however, can doubt that strikes can be devastating, bringing the smooth machinery of the state and industry to a crashing halt. The ten most devastating strikes of the 20th century have inspired songs, derision and labor laws. Let’s take a look at them.

10. The Seattle General Strike

Emerging from the damaging aftermath of the First World War, the US economy featured widespread use of wage controls on industrial salaries, and in many areas pressure was rising to increase workers’ wages. This was no more the case than in Seattle, WA, where in February 1919 a week-long strike by over 65,000 union workers hit services hard across the board. This strike was intensely divisive and was a primary factor in the subsequent ‘Red Scare’ of 1919-20.

9. The 1926 General Strike in the United Kingdom

May 1926 saw the largest general strike in British history to this day, and still one of the largest that the world has ever seen. Its roots lay in an ongoing conflict between the national organization of unions, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), and the British government. The specific trigger for this action, however, came when the government attempted to reduce the wages and benefits of UK coal miners. What followed was an ultimately unsuccessful strike by over 1.5 million workers from many industries that lasted for nine days.

8. 1912 Brisbane General Strike

After squabbling between union representatives and the management of the Brisbane tramways, members of the Australian Tramway Employees Association wore union badges to work and were swiftly dismissed. The reaction from the workers to what they deemed as unfair and repressive action was to strike and form a 25,000-strong, two-mile procession through Brisbane. The political consequences of this action came when police, armed with bayonets, were ordered to intervene, leading to bitter fighting. Many historians have pinned the subsequent electoral victory of the (left-wing) Labor Party primarily on these events of January, 1912.

7. The 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike

The 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike lasted for 83 days, culminating in four days of general strike action in San Francisco. Its ideological background largely centered around syndicalist and communist tendencies amongst West Coast dock workers. The strike began on May 9th with thousands of dock workers and sailors walking out, but tensions ran high when strikebreakers, housed offshore, were brought in to keep the docks in operation. Violence between picketers and police began on July 5th, culminating in the shooting and killing of two striking dock workers later that day and inspiring the subsequent general strike. This strike’s legacy has remained ambiguous: many workers were dissatisfied at the lack of improvement in conditions despite the rise in prominence and power of the unions.

6. May 1968, France

May 1968 is remembered for the intellectual legacy of revolutionary continental philosophy, marking it out as one of the most significant periods in the history of Western political thought. Interwoven within this iconic time was the first wildcat general strike ever. Intensely wrapped up in anti-de Gaulle and anti-consumerism sentiments, the general strikes saw millions of workers strike and many more take part in huge marches as well as violent protests across Paris.

5. The Uprising of 1953 in East Germany

The strike by Berlin’s construction workers in June 1953 proved to be extremely destabilizing in the tense political climate of East Germany. This dissent provided a political spark to other groups, causing an uprising against the Stalinist regime right across Berlin. In addition to this, demonstrations took place in over 500 towns in the German Democratic Republic. The strikes and protests were violently suppressed by Soviet forces until the dissent was brought under relative control.

4. The 1952 Steel Strike

A huge victory for the United Steelworkers of America was won against 10 major steelmakers, including US Steel, in July 1952 after 53 days of strike action was resolved on the terms that had initially been demanded by the union at the beginning of the strike. This strike is also significant insofar as President Truman had attempted to avert the crippling strike action by nationalizing the steel industry, only to have his decision overturned by the Supreme Court.

3. The Steel Strike of 1959

After seven years had passed since the successful steel strikes of 1952, half a million members of the United Steelworkers of America took to the picket-lines once more. This time, however, the level of success from the union’s perspective was dubious. Although the steelworkers ended up winning a marginal wage increase, the union-restricting powers of the Taft-Hartley Act were brought to bear on a new generation of workers nationwide. Furthermore, the lack of operation during the strike meant that unprecedented levels of steel imports had taken place, devastating the industry in the long-run.

2. The Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement

Formed in May 1968, the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM) was an African-American workers’ movement organized in Chrysler’s Detroit plant. It sought to overturn what it saw as fundamental, race-based inequalities in the distribution of opportunities within the Chrysler organization. Although the original strike led by this group only comprised 4,000 workers for around three days, it proved significant as a catalyst for black unionization in the mostly black automobile industry workforce of Detroit.

1. The “Winter of Discontent”

In the exceptionally cold British winter of 1978-9, the inflation-controlling pay freezes imposed by the Labour government of James Callaghan had begun to bite hard. Widespread strikes ensued as unions demanded better wages for their members, notably including the refuse collector unions which lead to waste piling up in the streets — infamously filling London’s Leicester Square with garbage bags. Public splintering over the merits of union power and striking workers fractured the country, and these strikes are widely cited as the tipping point for the ascension of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Party to power in the subsequent general election.

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Making money is an essential part of the world in which we live, but some canny customers have decided to bypass the backbreaking toil and take the phrase ‘making money’ literally. It seems that as soon as a civilization invents a currency someone will figure out how to fake it.

Unsurprisingly, governments tend to look unfavorably upon such crimes. In the 1600s the standard punishment was hanging, drawing and quartering for men and burning to death for women. We have become more enlightened in times since then, but people are still doing their best to fake money.

10. Alves dos Reis – 1920s

Alves Dos Reis thought big. Instead of counterfeiting bills, he forged a contract from the Banco de Portugal so that he could acquire banknotes from official printers – meaning his counterfeit notes were real, though still not legitimate. By 1925 he had pumped banknotes worth £1,007,963 ($1.7 million) into the economy, which was equivalent to just under 1% of Portugal’s entire GDP at the time.

The discovery of this crime led to the devaluing of the currency, a government crisis, and contributed to the nationalist military installing a dictator – a good counterpoint to the idea that white collar crime can’t hurt people.

9. Edward Mueller – 1930s and 1940s

The subject of the movie Mister 880, Edward Mueller (whose was real name was Emerich Juettner) was world-renowned as the man who, probably, remained uncaught for his counterfeiting for the greatest length of time. Mueller’s success lay in his moderation. Rather than trying to counterfeit larger bills for an instant high-cash payout, he stuck with counterfeiting and spending lowly $1 bills locally in New York. He was eventually caught after more than 10 years of getting away with it.

8. Bernhard Krüger – 1940s

A vital part of the Nazi war machine was their currency counterfeiting operation, which was intended to destabilize Allied governments and provide much needed cash for their war effort. SS man Bernhard Krüger headed this operation, in which Jewish concentration camp prisoners were made to forge ₤600 million worth of British pounds sterling – worth a staggering $6 billion in today’s money.

When the counterfeiting of British currency came to an end, Krüger persuaded his superiors to authorize forging of US dollars, which actually resulted in his inmates surviving the war. While some prisoners spoke of his brutality, others testified on his behalf at his denazification trial.

7. Mike DeBardeleben – 1980s

Mike DeBardeleben’s downfall came from his attempts to launder his fake $20 bills and so gain access to real currency. He would make several purchases in various stores in a mall, paying for each with a separate $20 bill – and, hey presto, he now had genuine currency in his pocket. When he was identified, a nationwide search began that resulted in his arrest, at which point law enforcement officials found not only the proof of his counterfeiting, but also evidence for numerous unsolved sex crimes. His total sentence for all these offenses was 375 years.

6. Stephen Jory – 1990s

Known as Great Britain’s most infamous counterfeiter, Stephen Jory started his fakery by decanting bargain-basement perfume into designer bottles and selling it as the real thing. He admitted to counterfeiting £50 million ($82 million) worth of bills, but authorities suspect that the real number was far higher. According to the UK’s Independent newspaper, his fake currency made up two thirds of the total number of counterfeit bills in circulation between 1993 and 1998 and even tricked UV counterfeit detectors.

After he and the rest of the so-called ‘Lavender Hill Mob’ were caught, the Bank of England held up its hands and brought out a completely redesigned £20 note with beefed up security measures.

5. Arthur Williams – 1990s and 2000s

Arthur Williams began his counterfeiting career in Chicago, at the tender age of 16, when his mother’s boyfriend showed him the ropes. Over 10 years he printed more than $10 million worth of counterfeit bills, adapting his methods at every turn to match the security measures of legitimate bills. He used automotive paint to sidestep color-changing ink, used leftover newsprint paper as a substitute for the government’s secret paper recipe, and even drew his own watermarks by hand. By 2002 he had been caught, tried, convicted and sentenced to 3 years prison time.

4. Wesley Weber – 1990s and 2000s

Wesley Weber’s actions caused stores across Canada to refuse the $100 bill. His forgeries were so close to the real thing that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police considered them the best computer-produced fakes they had ever seen. In fact, the Canadian authorities redesigned the bill in part because of Weber’s success.

Weber was self-taught, honing his skills until he was ready to make his mark. He was caught in 2000 when he tried to use one of his fake bills to buy auto parts and sentenced to 5 years in prison in 2001.

3. Anatasios Arnaouti – 2000s

This British counterfeiter ran an operation that could have destabilized the economies of not one, but two nations. When arrested, the police seized fake £10 notes worth more than £2.5 million ($4.1 million) and forged US $100 bills worth over $3.5 million. The scary thing is, this was simply the cash that he had on hand; his operation had been working for years by the time he was arrested and was capable of producing thousands of bills a day!

Authorities still have no idea how many bills were produced and what proportion of that number are still in circulation. In 2005 he was convicted and sentenced to 8 years in prison.

2. Albert Talton – 2000s

While many of the counterfeiting operations outlined so far have been extraordinary by virtue of the elaborate lengths that the perpetrators have gone to so as to perfectly mimic legitimate currency, what makes Talton’s case a cause for wonder is its simple methods and lack of expensive equipment.

In May 2009 he was convicted for the production of over $7 million worth of US currency – using a normal inkjet printer. Those who went to so much more trouble must be kicking themselves; a quick trip down to a computer supply store would have been much easier!

1. The Pakistani Government – 2000s

Considering the strained relations in the region, it’s perhaps unsurprising that counterfeit Indian currency is being produced in Pakistan and smuggled over the border. Pakistan is a country which is home to a number of terrorist groups, many of whom have grievances with India. Indeed, the Mumbai bombings are thought to have been financed by organizations involved in exactly this sort of crime. However, what makes the counterfeiting unique is the fact that, according to The Times of India, operations run through 2009 were being managed not by common criminals or terrorists, but by the Pakistani government itself – not very neighborly behavior at all. Indian intelligence agents were reported last year to have arrested seven men who had been planning to offload Rs1 crore ($225,000) into India. However, there were suspicions that the gang may have been handling currency worth up to forty times that amount – quite a considerable sum.