Big Wealth, Small Crimes: Arrested Billionaires

When you hear about billionaires being arrested or investigated, the charges are usually serious and fit for their area of expertise: fraud, money laundering, insider trading, and their likes. Not all billionaires engage in criminal activities of this magnitude. There are times when the charges for which they are arrested are petty compared to the average. The filthy rich are not all like Jeffrey Epstein or Bernie Madoff – some of them are caught for crimes that could happen to any of us. Well, not quite… but still.

Jaime Botín

Have you ever accidentally taken something with you that you shouldn’t have? Like the office phone when going on a vacation or the lighter of your friend? Jaime Botín, former chair of the Santander Bank, billionaire, banker, and art collector could also say that something similar happened to him earlier this year. His case, in turn, involved not a lighter or business phone but a $30-million Picasso painting.

Jaime Botín was arrested this January and charged with smuggling the painting out of the country (defying a court order to not do so), going down in history as the Picasso-smuggling Spanish billionaire.

The billionaire received a hefty fine, 18 months of jail time, and the state confiscated the painting, too, exposing it in the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.

Alki David

Alkiviades David, a shareholder of the Leventis-David group, a company with ventures like bottling Coca-Cola in a large part of Europe, supposedly wanted to develop a legal cannabis business in the Caribbean. Apparently, though, he forgot that cannabis is illegal in St. Kitts and Nevis – but the authorities didn’t.

Last May, Alki David was caught with more than 5,000 cannabis plants and seeds on his private plane. While his intentions may have been honest, this didn’t stop him from getting into trouble: he was arrested for the possession and importation of a controlled drug, and possession with the intention of distribution. He seemingly cleared up the situation, though, continuing to promote his “Swissx” brand of CBD-based products.

Tilman Fertitta

Finally, let us mention a case that led to the arrest of Tilman Fertitta – not the billionaire, though, but the woman who stole his identity.

A 28-year-old Stephanie Hunter from Spring, Texas, and confiscated her computers, credit cards, and other items. The charges? Stealing the identity of Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta. Hunter reportedly bought the billionaire’s social security number on the dark web, and proceeded to open credit cards in his name at various banks.

The woman, a mother of two, initially claimed that she worked for Apple’s tech support and that the four desktop computers, three laptops, and the iPad found in her home were for work. Later, she admitted to stealing the identity of the billionaire, admitting that it was “a dumb mistake” – she didn’t even know whose identity she assumed.