Infamous Scams: Hollywood Celebrities Who Were Scammed By Their Family And Friends

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When you are a loaded Hollywood celebrity, you are pretty susceptible to people with not-so-good intentions, including family and friends. These days, scammers are getting intricately sophisticated with their attempts to get someone's money and personal details. It is much better to be cautious at all times, be alert and protect yourself from scammers. No matter how many good people surround you when you have money, bad people will eventually make their way to your circle.

There is always this danger of being scammed, especially by those who you trust dearly. If you have million of dollars of cash, you are pretty much subject to scammers, fraudsters, and conmen. It's one thing to be scammed, but to be scammed by your own family is another story. The celebrities listed below are tricked and scammed by their own family.

Anne Hathaway

The Golden Globe Award winner Anne Hathaway was once scammed by one of the people she loved dearly, her then-boyfriend Raffaello Follieri. The American actress was scammed by her former partner in 2008. According to the reports, Follieri pleads guilty to scamming the actress for at least $2.4 million. The said amount was directly taken from the bank account of the Hollywood actress.

Kiefer Sutherland

The actor who played agent Jack Bauer on the phenomenal series 24 was among the several victims of fraudster Michael Wayne Carr. Carr was known to be a steer roping promoter and a cattle manager as well. He was once accused of bilking the investors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Though Sutherland never met Carr in his life, he was invited to invest by a dear friend he met while working on a movie where he plays a cattle roping cowboy. He lost around $900,000 in the Ponzi scheme, which happened in 2006.

Sting

Acclaimed musician and actor Sting was scammed by his trusted financial adviser. It was reported that his financial adviser stole millions from him. According to the reports, he was scammed a total of $9.4 million by Keith Moore, his trusted financial adviser. The musician was totally oblivious to the fraudulent activity of Moore, who had been scamming him for years.

Gerard Butler

The Scottish actor and film producer, Gerard Butler, was scammed by people whom he considered friends. In 2021, he claimed that he was scammed for about $10 million by the producers of the movie Olympus Has Fallen, where he starred in 2013. The said movie has grossed about $170 million, but Butler said that he did not receive any amount from the proceeds. He has already filed a lawsuit because the producers refused to pay him a dime.

Courtney Love

The famous musician and wife of Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love, was also scammed by a trusted friend when she was swindled out of her rightful inheritance. When her husband Kurt Cobain died in 1994, Love was supposed to inherit his estate since she was the wife of the Nirvana frontman. Considering that Nirvana was one of the biggest acts during their reign, Love has inherited the publishing rights to Nirvana's music as well. However, their trusted financial managers had scammed the inheritance and swindled Love. There was an estimated $30 million cash looted by the fraudsters as well as a $500 million real estate inheritance.

Rihanna

The famous artist, Rihanna, was scammed by her trusted accountants, who scammed millions from her. The nine-time Grammy Award-winning singer has amassed her millions of networks by working her ass off; unfortunately for her, she trusted the wrong people. Her accountants reportedly raked in millions from her with the use of a financial scam. The incident that happened in 2014 made Rihanna's financial status turn into financial ruin. The total amount scammed from the singer was about $9 million.

Dane Cook

The popular comedian, Dane Cook, was scammed by his own brother for a whopping $12 million. Cook's half-brother and sister-in-law scammed him for years and was only found out in 2010. Darryl McCauley and his wife, Erika, were secretly transferring money from Cook's account into their own account. McCauley gained his brother's trust and stole millions of dollars for his own gain. McCauley was hired as a financial adviser of Cook; little did he know that he was up to no good.

Wesley Snipes

The Blade star was scammed by his trusted financial advisers. The actor was screwed over by the people he trusted when they did not file his tax return which eventually gave the actor three years jail time and a penalty of $23.5 million to be paid to the IRS. The actor argues that it was not his fault and his advisers scammed him. He claims that his financial managers told him that he could legally skip paying taxes. He was paying his taxes religiously until 2000, which was probably the year he met his advisors.

Sylvester Stallone

The action star treated his Hollywood financial adviser Kenneth Starr as his family; unfortunately for him, he thinks that they defrauded him. Sylvester Stallone might look tough on-screen, but he was duped more than once. He was scammed by Starr for about $10 million, according to the reports of VanityFair. Starr was purposely giving him bad financial advice, which led him to lose money. Eventually, Starr was sentenced to seven and a half years of jail time when it was proven that he indeed scammed Stallone.

Nicolas Cage

Iconic actor, Nicolas Cage, was scammed by his own manager. The Oscar winner Cage is well known for some of his financial woes, but he argues that his former business manager, Samuel Levin, was the one to blame for all his financial mishap. He allegedly defrauded Cage million through the years. Cage believes that Levin scammed him a total of $20 million, which is the amount he was seeking in recompense.

Sources: MSN, Nicki Swift, Olean Times Herald