Forbes magazine, one of the foremost business magazines, and decidedly into famous and rich people, has a number of annual glamour award labels. It has the annual list of biggest fortunes, and it is Forbes that has an annual award/recognition, called 30 Under 30 (30-U-30).
Now this is a wonderful thing, but the other day, I came across the article below, which asked, 30 under 30-year sentences: why so many of Forbes’ young heroes face jail? And that caught my attention.
The article lists such characters as Charlie Javice, ex-CEO of Frank and her defrauding of JP Morgan Chase, or Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX crypto exchange, facing a series of charges from bribery to money laundering and making illegal campaign contributions. Not to forget Caroline Ellison, co-CEO of Almeda research, who pleaded guilty to 7 charges, or Martin Shkreli, the «Pharma Boy», who was jailed for securities fraud. The article also has an honorable mention for Elizabeth Holmes, the noteworthy Theranos founder and fellow fraudster, jailed for over 11 years.
Now a note of caution, before going about and assuming that all Forbes’ 30-U-30 are crooks: there are many categories in Forbes’ list and the number of crooks is just a handful few. So I am not generalizing.
Before concluding, though, it is worthwhile mentioning a couple of figures that Chris Bakke, an entrepreneur, mentioned in one of his tweets: «The Forbes 30 Under 30 have collectively raised $5.8B in funding, but have also been arrested for $18.5B in fraud.» It goes without saying, of course, that most of those who have raised the funding, have not been arrested, but only a few of them. Those few, however, have managed to defraud the system for over 3 times the amount that all the 30-U-30 have raised in funding. And that is the problem.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/apr/06/forbes-30-under-30-tech-finance-prison
Paris, May 15, 2023
Zeejay