The Top 5 bad billionaires for the year 2009

Well, here we are at Think Billion$ at the end of 2009 and the end of the decade.

How do we close out the year with some sort of profound post? Well, once again we've been doing some thinking and serious research.

Last year The outcome of which is our First Annual "The Top 5 bad billionaires for the year 2008" list. How about that?

So here's the bad-boy list for this year, and let us know what you think:



Tiger Woods: while technically not a billionaire in net worth terms, everyone has been calling him that over the past couple of years because he has earned a billion from golf winnings and from personal endorsements. Why has Tiger been a bad billionaire for 2009? Come on, is this really a serious question???

Bernie Madoff: we found out about Bernie's badness in 2008, but was locked away in 2009.

Al Gore: we found out this year that Al is a "carbon Billionaire"

Allen Stanford: another convicted billionaire con.

Mark Cuban: for being Mark Cuban.

A Billionaire Family Shares its Rules

The 3 Investing Rules of a Billionaire Family

James Tisch, the current CEO, recently discussed the guiding principles on which Loews was built in a Motley Fool article.

No, the first rule isn't to avoid giving money to Bernie Madoff.

French L'Oreal billionaire Bettencourt takes a big financial hit from Madoff

The fortune of billionaire heiress Liliane Bettencourt, the world's richest woman, may have had significant investment exposure to Wall Street fraudster Bernard Madoff.

Liliane Bettencourt is the principal shareholder of L'Oreal, one of the world's leading cosmetics and beauty companies.

In an unrelated story, Bettencourt announced this month that: "... she would never see her daughter again as a family dispute over allegations that she had been abused by a photographer friend reached new depths."

A billion dollar Ponzi scheme

When friends and family are gathered together for the holidays this month, one of the little children may come up to you and ask the following probing question:

"What's a Ponzi scheme?"

Since you visited the Think Billion$ blog today, you'll have the answer. Not only a answer, the answer, since it is an SEC approved answer.

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission: "Ponzi schemes are a type of illegal pyramid scheme named for Charles Ponzi, who duped thousands of New England residents into investing in a postage stamp speculation scheme back in the 1920s."

So, that is the textbook definition of a Ponzi scheme. Not answered, of course, is why Bernard Madoff did it. Will we ever truly know?

Interestingly, billionaire bad boy Mark (Momma) Cuban, has repeatedly called the stock market a Ponzi scheme over the years.

Twice as interesting is the fact that both Bernie Madoff and Mark Cuban are now in trouble stock market-wise, SEC-wise and otherwise this year.