Financial Fraud Scandals
Displaying 24 Crimes
Sorted by When News Broke
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Kenneth HughbanksFmr. Sheriff [R-IN]
10/02/25Stole $120k from a family friend with dementia, pocketed $275k from a jail commissary fund and dodged paying taxes on $214k of his ill-gotten income
According to charging documents filed by local officials -
7/25/25Illegally claimed three different homes as his primary address which allowed him to save tens of thousands of dollars he otherwise would have had to pay had he not lied on his paperwork
According to filings in his divorce proceedings -
George SantosFmr. U.S. Representative


697k


697kMAGA Enthusiast
4/25/25Bought luxury clothing, erotic adult content online, luxury skin care products, meals and paid off personal debts with more than $50,000 in campaign contributions he told donors would be used to support his bid for Congress
According to charging documents filed by federal officials -
Nate PaulConservative Businessman
4/16/25Fraudulently inflated his assets by tens of millions of dollars and grossly underreported his liabilities by millions more to financial institutions on multiple loan applications which led to him being approved for loans totaling $172 million that otherwise wouldn't have been approved and then lied to authorities when they confronted him
According to charging documents filed by federal officials -
Michael CroninChief Counsel CT Sen. GOP
10/25/23Forged his ex-wife’s name on multiple home refinancing documents and a deed and also forged his colleague's signature on a financial statement he submitted to a court overseeing his divorce proceedings in an act so egregious the judge sentencing him called his actions "malfeasance that almost defies description"
According to charging documents filed by local officials -
Donald Trump47th U.S. President




162.3m
9/26/23Defrauded banks in New York by vastly overinflating the value of his assets by as much as $3.6 billion dollars in order to obtain more favorable loan terms in a scheme a judge overseeing his case described as "persistent and repeated fraud" and was ordered to pay a $464 million fine and prohibited from conducting business in New York state for three years
According to a final ruling issued by the judge overseeing the case -
David SchamensTrump PAC Exec
5/28/23Defrauded 25+ people out of $6.8 million through a Ponzi scheme they thought was being invested on their behalf but was used to fund his lavish lifestyle instead
According to charging documents filed by federal authorities -
George SantosFmr. U.S. Representative


697k


697kMAGA Enthusiast
5/10/23Illegally received over $24,000 in COVID unemployment benefits from New York while he was still employed making a $120,000 salary at his job in Florida and then later hypocritically signed on as a top cosigner of a House bill meant to recover these ill-gotten funds
5/10/23Violated federal law by asserting he had upwards of $5 million in assets that didn't actually exist and falsely reported he loaned his campaign $500,000 on financial disclosure forms he submitted during his 2022 run for Congress because it helped him qualify for financial help from the RNC
According to charging documents filed by federal officialsAllegedly paid an accomplice $100 per day to illegally tamper with ATM machines in order to sell customer credit and debit card data online
According to a sworn affidavit submitted to the FBI and Secret Service by alleged accomplice Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha -
Tricia DergesFmr. State Representative
2/28/23Fraudulently received $296,574 in taxpayer dollars to provide COVID-19 testing at three medical clinics she owned, but the clinics were closed and didn't conduct any tests
According to charging documents filed by federal officials -
Todd ChrisleyMedia Personalities [R]
11/21/22Illegally obtained over $30 million in loans by lying to numerous financial institutions about their assets and then failed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal taxes on the ill-gotten money
According to charging documents filed by federal officials -
John OxendineFmr. Commissioner [R-GA]
5/20/22Raked in over $600,000 in kickbacks from a health insurance fraud scheme that charged providers with over $2.5 million worth of unnecessary tests that were ordered from doctors and conducted by a pharmaceutical company who were all involved in the conspiracy
According to charging documents filed by federal prosecutors -
John NovelloFmr. County Commissioner
1/27/22Tricked a financial lender into giving him a $1 million loan to purchase and renovate a family home which he falsely represented as an investment property through a fake company
According to charging documents filed by local police -
Michael CappsFmr. State Representative
2021 09Illegally took $355,550 in state and federal COVID relief by falsely claiming the money would go to pay nonexistent employee's salaries
According to charging documents by federal prosecutors -
John LambertStudents for Trump Founder
5/11/21Swindled multiple unsuspecting victims out of at least $46,654 by posing as a lawyer and providing them legal advice he wasn't credentialed to give by falsely claiming he earned a law degree from NYU and a finance degree from UPenn and had 15 years of experience in corporate and patent law under his belt
According to charging documents filed by -
Tricia DergesFmr. State Representative
2/01/21Raked in $191,815 by selling fake stem-cell treatments to unsuspecting patients she told would help combat COVID-19, but in reality all she administered was amniotic fluid that had no known medical benefits
According to charging documents filed by federal officials -
Shirley SosebeeFmr. Tax Collector [R-GA]
3/17/20Forged her own brother's signature on a land deed in an attempt to transfer the title to her family without having to pay for the property
According to charging documents filed by state officials -
Paul ManafortFmr. Trump Campaign Chair
3/13/19Falsely inflated his income and hid debts in mortgage applications to secure millions in loans which he otherwise wouldn't have been eligible for
According to charging documents filed by state officials -
David HuskMayor [R-NJ]
11/03/16Modified his timecards so he could get paid for hours he didn't actually work on at least five separate occasions before he was caught by his employer and reported to the police
According to charging documents filed by local police -
8/01/15Convinced numerous people into investing $840,000 in a technology company that he secretly earned commissions on while giving the false impression he was actually an investor
According to charging documents filed by states attorneys -
Lisa Wilson-FoleyFmr. U.S. Rep Candidate
3/24/15Illegally paid convicted felon and former Governor John Rowland $35,000 under the table to work on her 2012 Republican congressional campaign instead of using campaign funds as required by law
According to charging documents filed by federal prosecutors -
John RowlandFmr. Governor [R-CT]
9/19/14Fraudulently concealed $35,000 he received working for the 2012 campaign of Republican congressional candidate Lisa Wilson-Foley by creating a fake third-party contract with her husband's business to disguise the fact that a convicted criminal was providing them campaign advice
According to charging documents filed by federal prosecutors -
Hassan AounMayor Candidate [R-MI]
10/18/12Masterminded an illegal counterfeit luxury goods trafficking ring that raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars selling knockoff items to unsuspecting customers
According to charging documents filed by local officials
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