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Top Billionaires Who Lost Their Fortune And Went Completely Bankrupt

Though things might look hunky-dory from the outside, reality might be otherwise. You may have always envied the billionaires and have dreamt of leading the same lifestyle. But what you don’t know is that some of the most famous billionaires have gone broke at one point in their lives, either on the personal front or on their companies.

Others have declared bankruptcy. Although these people have been quite enterprising and worked hard to get to their position, several factors such as bad investments, economic downturns, and fraud cases have contributed to their massive loss.

Although some of them have sailed above troubled waters and gained back what they lost, others have miserably failed to do get back the status they once enjoyed. Below is a list of those billionaires who lost their fortune and became bankrupt.

Patricia Kluge

Patricia received a massive sum as alimony after she went through a divorce in her marriage to John W. Kluge, one of the richest men in the United States. According to sources, she used that settlement sum and invested a good part in her vineyard. But as luck would have it, the housing market went through a downfall, and as a result, she lost whatever she had in her kitty.

Additionally, she had to part ways with her jewelry and art objects sold at an auction. Her Albemarle winery was bought by the current US president, Donald Trump, in 2011 for a fraction of its worth after the Bank of America took its control. In June of that year, Patricia filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 7. This is one of the many unfortunate events.

Sean Quinn

Once the wealthiest man in Ireland, Sean Quinn seemed to lack farsightedness as he made some faulty investments in an Irish bank. Quinn made billions via his investments in glass, plastic, and hotel industries. Aside from that, he also had a 25% stake in the popular Anglo Irish bank.

This bank was in deep trouble during the financial crisis that struck in 2008, and its authority went into the hands of the government. From here onwards, a chain of legal troubles started between the bank and the Quinn family.

Quinn lost a major share of his net worth down the line that was estimated to be something around $2.8 billion.  The Irish Banking Resolution Corporation later took over the Anglo Irish Bank. It claimed that Quinn had a debt of over 2 billion euros. The former billionaire faced contempt of court as he tried to conceal his property assets. In 2011, Quinn’s net worth was below 50,000 pounds, which eventually led him to file for bankruptcy.

Elizabeth Holmes

Once famous as a Silicon Valley star, Elizabeth Holmes made a huge name for herself. Her net fortune was calculated to be in the ballpark of $5 billion. Theranos, the blood-testing company she owned, was worth $9 billion.

The entity looked promising as it promised to revolutionize the way patients go through testing and treatment. By the time 2004 ended, the company had raised around $6 million from the investors.

However, along with its ascent, rose certain speculations concerning the practices and regulations of the company. Investigations, later on, revealed a massive fraud done by Holmes. While Theranos was shut down in 2018, Holmes and her partner, Sunny Balwani, will be tried in 2020.

Eike Batista

Once hailed as the most affluent man in entire Brazil, Eike Batista lost a major chunk of his $30 billion net fortune when OGC, his oil company, faced bankruptcy in 2013. With a dream of making it to the first position in the list of the richest people on this planet, Batista is serving a 30-year-imprisonment sentence.

He has been proved guilty of bribing Sergio Cabral, the governor of Rio de Janeiro. Being the seventh richest man in the world at one point in life, this was indeed unprecedented.

All these people were at one point at the zenith of success and were basking in their glory. However, time and luck both change from time to time. So, make sure you give your best to your dreams and achieve it. And enjoy the glory of your success while it still lasts. As they say, nothing in this world is permanent and in this constantly changing world, planning and securing your future is paramount. If these billionaires could go bankrupt because of bad financial planning, think aboutthe financial risk s you have been taking!

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