It’s become a running joke online that if you end up on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, your chances of running into trouble with the law just exponentially rose.
That’s because, in the past decade, a slew of people once featured prominently by Forbes have ended up in prison — mostly for financial crimes.
Check out which former honorees ended up behind bars, or might soon be there:
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, made the list in 2021 — but in March 2024 he was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted on seven counts of fraud. Bankman-Fried defrauded hundreds of thousands of customers, taking money from their accounts to bribe Chinese officials, finance his luxury Caribbean home, and make illegal political donations.
Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison made the list in 2022. In November, she began serving a two-year prison sentence for her role in the collapse of FTX. She got a truncated sentence because she cooperated with prosecutors to help put her ex-boyfriend and once colleague, Sam Bankman-Fried, behind bars.
Elizabeth Holmes made the Forbes 30 Under 30 List in 2015 for founding Theranos, a company she claimed would revolutionize blood testing but turned out to be a big lie. She is currently in prison after being sentenced to 11 years for defrauding her investors.
Martin Shkreli, also known as “Pharma Bro,” graced the pages of the Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2012. In 2017, he was sentenced to seven years in prison after being convicted of two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy. Prosecutors said he ran his company like a Ponzi scheme and defrauded investors. He was also fined more than $64 million in a civil suit.
Charlie Javice, the founder of the financial aid startup Frank (JPM), made the list in 2017. But in 2023, she was indicted on four counts of fraud and conspiracy for allegedly lying about her company to get JPMorgan Chase to buy it.
Cody Wilson, a self-described crypto-anarchist, made the 2014 list for creating the world’s first fully 3D-printed gun, but in 2019 took a plea deal related to allegations that he sexually assaulted a minor and was given seven years of probation.
Nate Paul graced the pages of Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in 2016 for founding a real estate investment firm. Since then, he’s been marred in a bevy of legal issues. Paul is facing federal criminal charges for bank fraud, and in November started serving a 10-day jail sentence after being held in contempt of court related to accusations of financial mismanagement.
Joanna Smith-Griffin made Forbes’ list in 2021 for her AI Education startup AllHere Education. She was arrested in November and charged with securities fraud, wire fraud, and identity theft. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams of the Southern District of New York claimed that “Smith-Griffin orchestrated a deliberate and calculated scheme to deceive investors in AllHere Education, Inc., inflating the company’s financials to secure millions of dollars under false pretenses. The law does not turn a blind eye to those who allegedly distort financial realities for personal gain.”
