Gina Champion-Cain is a former San Diego business executive who orchestrated what is considered one of the largest woman-led Ponzi schemes in U.S. history. Beginning around 2012, she raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors by promising to use their funds to make high-interest loans to individuals seeking California liquor licenses—funds she claimed would be held in escrow. In reality, she diverted the money to prop up her struggling businesses, to pay returns to earlier investors, and to sustain her lifestyle, while fabricating documents and attempting to conceal her fraud.

Mark Acklom is an English conman and fraudster who for decades used false identities and elaborate scams to swindle large sums from victims, often posing as a wealthy Swiss banker or even an MI6 agent.

James and Suzanne Agnew, a couple from Lakewood, Colorado, were arrested in July 2025 after authorities discovered the decomposed body of 64-year-old James O'Neill in their home. The Agnews allegedly kept O'Neill's body under a deflated air mattress for nearly 18 months following his death.

Mark Hofmann is a former document dealer and convicted murderer from Salt Lake City, Utah, known for perpetrating one of the most elaborate forgery schemes in American history. In the early 1980s, Hofmann created and sold numerous forged documents related to the history of the Latter-day Saint (LDS) movement

Michael Swango is a former American physician and convicted serial killer believed to have caused the deaths of up to 60 individuals across the United States and Zimbabwe.

Tilly Smith, a 10-year-old British schoolgirl, saved approximately 100 people from the Indian Ocean tsunami while vacationing with her family at Mai Khao Beach in Phuket, Thailand. Two weeks prior, she had learned about tsunamis in her geography class, including the warning signs such as the ocean frothing and receding. Recognizing these signs on the beach, she urgently alerted her parents, who then informed hotel staff. The staff evacuated the beachgoers just minutes before the tsunami struck, making it one of the few areas on the island with no reported fatalities.

Sture Bergwall, formerly known as Thomas Quick, was a Swedish man who, in the 1990s, confessed to over 30 murders across Scandinavia, leading to his conviction for eight of them. These confessions were obtained during therapy sessions at a psychiatric institution, where he was treated for personality disorders and heavily medicated.

Latarian Milton became an internet sensation at age 7 in 2008 after taking his grandmother’s Dodge Durango on a joyride through Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. During the escapade, he caused significant property damage, including hitting parked cars and mailboxes. When interviewed by local news, Milton infamously stated, “I want to do hood-rat stuff with my friend,” which quickly went viral. Despite the severity of his actions, he faced no formal charges due to his age. In the years that followed, Milton encountered further legal issues, including a 2017 arrest for armed robbery and carjacking. He was arrested again in 2023 in New Jersey on charges of simple assault and resisting arrest.

Arno Funke, known by his alias "Dagobert," was a German extortionist who gained notoriety in the late 1980s and early 1990s for his inventive and non-violent blackmail schemes. A failed cartoonist and sign painter, Funke turned to crime in 1988, planting bombs in luxury department stores in Berlin and demanding ransoms.

Lou Pearlman was a music producer and manager who rose to prominence in the 1990s by creating and managing successful boy bands such as the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. However, behind his musical empire lay one of the largest and longest-running Ponzi schemes in U.S. history.