COMPANIES
74 companies, exchanges and platforms that were the vehicle for a fraud in our case files. Every one gets its own page: what it said it was, what it really was, who ran it, who was hurt, how it ended. Ranked by the biggest figure.
Enron Corporation▸~$74B · company
Houston energy trader and 'most innovative company in America', seventh-largest US company by revenue in 2000.
RUN BY: Jeffrey Skilling
Terraform Labs▸~$40B · company
Singapore blockchain company behind the Terra network, the TerraUSD (UST) algorithmic 'stablecoin' and its companion token LUNA.
RUN BY: Do Kwon
Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC▸~$17B · company
A respected Wall Street market maker whose founder had chaired Nasdaq, with a discreet investment-advisory arm for wealthy clients and feeder funds.
RUN BY: Bernard Madoff
Prince Holding Group▸~$15B · company
One of Cambodia's largest conglomerates: real estate, banking, hotels, casinos and an airline, chaired by a 'neak oknha' with a Cambodian passport and close government ties.
RUN BY: Chen Zhi
WorldCom (MCI WorldCom)▸~$11B · company
America's second-largest long-distance carrier, built by acquisition from a Mississippi reseller (LDDS) and worth about $180B at its 1999 peak.
RUN BY: Bernard Ebbers
Archegos Capital Management▸~$10B · fund
A New York family office managing only Bill Hwang's own money, formed in 2013 from the remains of his hedge fund Tiger Asia.
RUN BY: Bill Hwang
Ezubao (Anhui Yucheng Holding Group)▸¥59.8B · platform
China's biggest peer-to-peer lending platform, promising ordinary savers 9–14.6% a year for lending to listed projects; heavily advertised on state TV.
RUN BY: Ding Ning
FTX▸~$8B · exchange
A Bahamas-based crypto exchange valued at $32B, sold as the safe, regulated face of crypto.
RUN BY: Sam Bankman-Fried
Alameda Research▸~$8B · trading firm
A crypto trading firm Sam Bankman-Fried started first, in 2017. Caroline Ellison ran it from 2021.
RUN BY: Caroline Ellison · Sam Bankman-Fried
Société Générale▸€4.9B · bank
One of France's three largest banks, founded 1864; its Delta One desk in Paris was the vehicle for Jérôme Kerviel's trades.
RUN BY: Jérôme Kerviel
SIStanford International Bank / Stanford Financial Group▸
$7.2B · bank
An Antigua-licensed offshore bank selling certificates of deposit with above-market returns, marketed through Stanford Financial Group's brokerages in the US and Latin America.
RUN BY: Allen Stanford
Lazarus Group▸~$6.75B · group/malware
Not a company: the name security researchers gave in 2016 to hacking units the US, UN and others say work for North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau (with sub-units BlueNoroff/APT38, Andariel, TraderTraitor).
RUN BY: Lazarus Group · Park Jin Hyok · Kim Il · Rim Jong Hyok
TLTianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology▸
£4.6B · mlm scheme
A Tianjin company promising returns of up to 300% a year from health-technology products and crypto mining, sold to mostly elderly Chinese investors.
RUN BY: Qian Zhimin
BMBre-X Minerals▸
~C$6B · company
Small Calgary company that said it had found one of the biggest gold deposits ever, at Busang in Indonesia. Its shares reached a market value of about C$6B.
RUN BY: Bre-X Minerals
HMHydra Market▸
~$5.2B · darknet market
The Russian-language successor to Silk Road: a Tor marketplace for drugs (via dead drops), stolen card data, forged documents and money-laundering services.
RUN BY: Stanislav Moiseyev
Celsius Network▸~$4.7B · platform
A crypto lender promising up to ~18% a year on deposits, 'safer than a bank': 'Unbank Yourself'.
RUN BY: Alex Mashinsky
1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad)▸$4.5B · fund
A Malaysian state investment fund set up by Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009 to drive development through energy and property deals.
RUN BY: Jho Low
Binance▸$4.3B · exchange
The world's largest crypto exchange by volume, founded in Shanghai in 2017 and famously without a headquarters.
RUN BY: Changpeng Zhao (CZ)
BFBai family syndicate▸
~$4B · group/malware
One of the 'four families' that ruled Kokang, the Chinese-speaking enclave on Myanmar's border; Bai Suocheng headed the Kokang Self-Administered Zone 2011–2016 and its militia.
RUN BY: Bai Suocheng
BBTC-e▸
$4B+ · exchange
One of the earliest and largest crypto exchanges (2011–2017), popular for cheap trading and asking customers for nothing but a username, password and email.
RUN BY: Alexander Vinnik
Huione Group▸~$4B · payments group
A Phnom Penh financial conglomerate: Huione Pay (payments), Huione Guarantee / Haowang Guarantee (a Telegram escrow marketplace) and Huione Crypto, with reported ties to Cambodia's ruling family.
RUN BY: Huione Group
OneCoin▸~$4B · mlm scheme
A 'cryptocurrency' sold through a multi-level-marketing network (OneLife) as the 'Bitcoin killer', with educational packages and mining certificates.
RUN BY: Ruja Ignatova · Karl Sebastian Greenwood
PGPetters Group Worldwide / Petters Company, Inc.▸
$3.65B · company
A Minnesota conglomerate that owned Polaroid, Sun Country Airlines and Fingerhut, funded by Petters Company, Inc., which financed bulk electronics deals for big-box retailers.
RUN BY: Tom Petters
ASAMG Services (Scott Tucker's payday lenders)▸
$3.5B · company
Kansas-based group of online payday lenders (Ameriloan, OneClickCash, United Cash Loans, US FastCash, 500 FastCash) run by racing driver Scott Tucker.
RUN BY: Scott Tucker
FIN7 (Carbanak Group) / Combi Security▸~$3B · group/malware
A hacking crew that posed as a legitimate penetration-testing company, Combi Security, with 'offices' in Russia and Israel, recruiting programmers who thought they had real jobs.
RUN BY: Fedir Hladyr
Tyco International▸$2.975B · company
A Bermuda-registered conglomerate (security systems, valves, electronics, healthcare) built by acquisition into a $100B+ company under Dennis Kozlowski.
RUN BY: Dennis Kozlowski
Adelphia Communications▸~$2.3B · company
The fifth-largest US cable operator, run from Coudersport, Pennsylvania, by John Rigas and his sons.
RUN BY: John Rigas
UBS▸~$2.3B · bank
Switzerland's largest bank; its Delta One / ETF desk in London was the vehicle for Kweku Adoboli's trades.
RUN BY: Kweku Adoboli
Wirecard AG▸€1.9B · payments group
Germany's fintech champion: a payments processor that joined the DAX in September 2018 and was valued at over €24B.
RUN BY: Markus Braun
HHHyperFund (HyperTech / HyperVerse / HyperNation)▸
~$1.89B · mlm scheme
An online 'membership' platform promising 0.5–1% a day from a large crypto-mining operation and ties to a Fortune 500 company, rebranded as it went.
RUN BY: Sam Lee
MTMirror Trading International (MTI)▸
~$1.73B · mlm scheme
A Stellenbosch company that told members a proprietary bot traded forex with their bitcoin and paid 10% a month, recruited through a multi-level network.
RUN BY: Johann Steynberg
MFMing family syndicate▸
~$1.4B · group/malware
One of Kokang's 'four families', from Laukkai, with its own militia and business empire in casinos and property.
RUN BY: Ming family syndicate
Barings Bank (Barings Futures Singapore)▸£827M · bank
Britain's oldest merchant bank, founded 1762, banker to the Queen and financier of the Louisiana Purchase; its Singapore futures subsidiary was Leeson's vehicle.
RUN BY: Nick Leeson
ENEsformes nursing-home network▸
~$1.3B · company
About 20 skilled-nursing and assisted-living facilities in Miami-Dade owned through Philip Esformes's operating companies (Eden Gardens, Fair Havens, Oceanside Extended Care, Harmony Health, North Dade and others).
RUN BY: Philip Esformes
RRRothstein Rosenfeldt Adler (RRA)▸
~$1.2B · company
A 70-lawyer Fort Lauderdale law firm with a flamboyant managing partner who gave to charities and politicians and drove a fleet of exotic cars.
RUN BY: Scott Rothstein
Silk Road▸~$1.2B · darknet market
The first modern darknet market: a Tor hidden service with eBay-style listings, escrow and bitcoin payments, run by 'Dread Pirate Roberts' under a libertarian banner.
RUN BY: Ross Ulbricht · James Zhong
AlphaBay▸~$1B · darknet market
The largest darknet market ever: ~200,000 users, 40,000 vendors, 250,000 listings for drugs, stolen data, malware and weapons.
RUN BY: Alexandre Cazes
Theranos▸$945M · company
A Silicon Valley health-tech company claiming its 'Edison' device could run hundreds of tests from a finger-prick of blood, valued at ~$9B in 2014.
RUN BY: Elizabeth Holmes · Sunny Balwani
CICapitol Investments USA▸
~$930M · company
Miami-area company that told investors it bought wholesale groceries in bulk and resold them for a profit.
RUN BY: Nevin Shapiro
Odebrecht S.A. (now Novonor)▸~$788M · company
Latin America's largest construction and engineering group, a Brazilian family conglomerate with petrochemicals arm Braskem.
RUN BY: Marcelo Odebrecht
BBitzlato▸
$700M+ · exchange
A Hong Kong-registered, Russia-facing crypto exchange and P2P platform.
RUN BY: Anatoly Legkodymov
Nikola Corporation▸~$680M · company
A Phoenix start-up promising hydrogen and battery-electric trucks, briefly worth ~$30B after a 2020 SPAC listing.
RUN BY: Trevor Milton
Drexel Burnham Lambert▸$650M · bank
The Wall Street investment bank whose Beverly Hills high-yield desk under Michael Milken created the junk-bond market and financed the 1980s takeover boom.
RUN BY: Michael Milken
LockBit▸~$500M · group/malware
A ransomware-as-a-service platform: developers rented the malware and leak site to affiliates who broke into victims and split the ransoms.
RUN BY: Dmitry Khoroshev · Mikhail Matveev
EEmpowerHMS▸
~$400M · company
A Miami hospital-management company that took over struggling rural hospitals in eight states, promising to save them.
RUN BY: Jorge Perez
FForsage▸
~$340M · platform
Smart contracts on Ethereum, Tron and Binance Smart Chain marketed as a 'decentralised' matrix marketing programme beyond any regulator's reach.
RUN BY: Forsage (Vladimir Okhotnikov)
TCTrans Continental Airlines (Lou Pearlman)▸
~$300M · company
Orlando company behind a fake 'Employee Investment Savings Account' that Lou Pearlman sold to investors, using the fame of the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.
RUN BY: Lou Pearlman
BGBayou Group (Bayou Management)▸
~$300M · fund
Connecticut hedge fund group started in 1996 by Samuel Israel III. It raised more than $450M from investors.
RUN BY: Sam Israel III
Yatai International Holding Group / Shwe Kokko (Yatai New City)▸~$298M · company
A Hong Kong-registered developer building 'Yatai New City' at Shwe Kokko on the Myanmar–Thai border: a $15B smart city of hotels, casinos and villas, in partnership with the Karen Border Guard Force.
RUN BY: She Zhijiang · Saw Chit Thu
REvil (Sodinokibi)▸$200M+ · group/malware
A Russian-speaking ransomware-as-a-service operation that succeeded GandCrab in 2019, with a 'Happy Blog' leak site and affiliates who kept 70–80% of ransoms.
RUN BY: Yaroslav Vasinskyi
Stratton Oakmont▸$200M · company
A Long Island over-the-counter brokerage with a thousand brokers, selling small-cap IPOs to retail clients.
RUN BY: Jordan Belfort
LLLabSolutions LLC▸
~$187M · company
An Atlanta clinical laboratory enrolled with Medicare to run sophisticated cancer-genetic (CGx) tests.
RUN BY: Minal Patel
QCQuanta Computer (Latvian impersonation shell)▸
~$122M · other
A company registered in Latvia with the same name as Quanta Computer, the Taiwanese server maker that supplied Google and Facebook.
RUN BY: Evaldas Rimasauskas
IMIncognito Market▸
$105M+ · darknet market
A darknet drug marketplace run by 'Pharaoh' from October 2020, with a 5% cut on every sale.
RUN BY: Rui-Siang Lin
ECEvil Corp▸
~$100M+ · group/malware
A Moscow cybercrime group behind the Bugat/Dridex banking trojan, later the WastedLocker, Hades and Phoenix ransomware strains, with reported ties to Russian intelligence.
RUN BY: Maksim Yakubets
GameOver Zeus botnet / CryptoLocker▸~$100M+ · group/malware
A peer-to-peer botnet of up to a million infected Windows computers built on the Zeus banking trojan, and the ransomware it delivered.
RUN BY: Evgeniy Bogachev
Hive ransomware▸$100M+ · group/malware
A ransomware-as-a-service operation active from June 2021, renting its malware to affiliates and running a leak site.
RUN BY: Mikhail Matveev
ER'The Enterprise' (Ghana romance-scam and BEC ring)▸
~$100M+ · group/malware
The name prosecutors give a Ghana-based criminal organisation with 'chairmen' at the top and networks of scammers and money mules below.
RUN BY: Isaac Oduro Boateng
ZBZZZZ Best▸
$100M · company
Los Angeles carpet-cleaning company that went public in 1986 and was worth about $300M on the stock market by 1987. Its founder was a teenager.
RUN BY: Barry Minkow
CEChosun Expo Joint Venture (Korea Expo Joint Venture)▸
$81M · company
A North Korean IT company with an office in Dalian, China, selling programming, gaming and gambling software to foreign clients.
RUN BY: Park Jin Hyok
Galleon Group▸~$63.8M · fund
One of the largest US hedge funds, managing over $7B at its peak with a reputation for deep research on technology stocks.
RUN BY: Raj Rajaratnam
IiSpoof▸
£43M · platform
A subscription website letting users make calls that displayed any caller ID they chose — most often the victim's own bank — and intercept one-time passcodes.
RUN BY: Tejay Fletcher
BSBitcoin Savings and Trust (BTCST)▸
$40.7M · platform
An online 'bank' run on the BitcoinTalk forum by 'pirateat40', paying 7% a week on bitcoin deposits from a supposed arbitrage strategy.
RUN BY: Trendon Shavers
SCSunCruz Casinos▸
$21.7M · company
Florida fleet of floating casino boats that ran day trips out to international waters. Founded by Gus Boulis in 1994.
RUN BY: Jack Abramoff
SESecurities Exchange Company▸
$20M · company
Charles Ponzi's Boston firm at 27 School Street, promising 50% in 45 days (later 90 days) from arbitrage in international postal reply coupons.
RUN BY: Charles Ponzi
SSScattered Spider (UNC3944 / Octo Tempest)▸
$13M · group/malware
Not a company: a loose crew of mostly young English-speaking hackers from 'the Com' online community, known for SIM swaps, SMS phishing and help-desk social engineering.
RUN BY: Noah Urban
MCMSMB Capital Management and Retrophin▸
$10.4M · fund
Martin Shkreli's New York hedge fund MSMB Capital (with a second fund, MSMB Healthcare), and Retrophin, the drug company he founded in 2011. Retrophin is now called Travere Therapeutics.
RUN BY: Martin Shkreli
E.F. Hutton & Co.▸$8M · company
One of America's biggest stockbrokers, with more than 400 branches.
RUN BY: E.F. Hutton & Co.
NSNXIVM (Executive Success Programs)▸
~$3.46M · other
Self-improvement company near Albany, New York. It sold 'Executive Success Programs' courses, with about 700 members at its peak.
RUN BY: Keith Raniere
SShadowCrew▸
1.5M cards · darknet market
An early carding forum (2002–2004) with ~4,000 members trading stolen card numbers, bank logins and fake IDs.
RUN BY: Albert Gonzalez
AOAndariel (APT45 / Onyx Sleet)▸
No figure · group/malware
A unit the DOJ and Treasury attribute to North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau (3rd Bureau), focused on espionage against defence and aerospace targets.
RUN BY: Rim Jong Hyok
Karen National Army (formerly Karen Border Guard Force)▸No figure · militia
An armed group of several thousand fighters that holds the Myawaddy border strip in Karen State, formerly a Border Guard Force under Myanmar's military.
RUN BY: Saw Chit Thu
KFKokang 'four families' scam compounds▸
¥39B+ · other
The compound economy of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone on Myanmar's border with China: casinos and walled 'industrial parks' at Laukkai run under the Bai, Ming, Wei and Liu families.
RUN BY: Bai Suocheng · Ming family syndicate
PC Cyborg Corporation (AIDS Trojan)▸$189 · group/malware
The 'licensor' named on the ransom demand of the AIDS Information Introductory Diskette, with a post-office box in Panama.
RUN BY: Joseph Popp