Celebs, conned: 5 stars who got swindled – but who lost US$2.4 million? (2024)

When you’ve got millions of dollars sitting in the bank, knowing how to manage it can be a bigger problem than not having it at all. So it’s no surprise that celebrities, from Hollywood A-listers to reality TV and K-pop stars, rely on other people to take care of their assets. However, wealthy musicians, actors and even businesspeople themselves are vulnerable to being scammed by people they trust. Here are just a few incidents over the years, and how much cash was lost …

Ben Stiller – US$250,000

Financial adviser Dana Giacchetto reportedly misappropriated up to US$10 million of his clients’ money, including US$250,000 from Zoolander actor Ben Stiller. Giacchetto was a stockbroker to stars such as Courteney Cox, Ben Affleck, Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio throughout the 1990s and at one point controlled US$100 million through his Cassandra Group. Some of his legitimate deals included brokering the sale of a Seattle record label to Warner Music Group for US$20 million, but his illegitimate dealings saw him sentenced to three years in prison.

He was released in 2003 and started a food business, but in 2016 was found dead at home at the age of 53.

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Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran – US$400,000 (a close call)

Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran wasn’t betrayed by someone she knew, but her book-keeper wired US$388,700 to a scammer who posed as Corcoran’s assistant in an email phishing scam. The real estate mogul’s team realised what had happened when they noticed the email had an extra “0” in it, but by then the money had already been transferred. Corcoran was able to halt the transfer of funds before it could get to the scammer as it wasn’t wired directly.

Uma Thurman – US$1 million (demanded back)

Kill Bill star Uma Thurman took things into her own hands when her financial planner Kenneth Starr stole US$1 million of her hard-earned cash that was intended to pay her taxes and other bills. After finding out he’d bought himself a Manhattan condo with a 1,500 sq ft garden and an indoor swimming pool using money siphoned off from clients to fund his lavish lifestyle, she reportedly stormed his office and managed to get her money back the next day after Starr used funds from a former talent agent client and his wife.

Film director Martin Scorsese got out of his deal with Starr early, but others weren’t so lucky. Before his scam was discovered, Starr testified at Wesley Snipes’ tax evasion trial that he’d warned the actor about dubious practices.

Sylvester Stallone sued Starr, claiming that he advised the actor to keep his investment in restaurant chain Planet Hollywood while advising others that it was on the path to bankruptcy. Al Pacino, Neil Simon and David Blaine were also among the victims. Collectively, his victims lost US$33 million. Starr was convicted and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, according to The New York Times.

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Robert De Niro – US$1 million

The Nobu restaurant co-owner and Tribeca Film Festival founder teamed up with Lawrence Salander to sell 50 artworks, including paintings by his late father. But Robert De Niro was disappointed when he learned Salander sold the works without letting him know and used the funds to pay off his own debts.

“He gave me the impression he liked my father’s art, he was enthusiastic,” De Niro testified. “That was good for me.”

But the Goodfellas actor revealed that when the pair met in Portugal and Salander had his own plane “it just didn’t seem to add up”.

De Niro lost over US$1 million but other victims in the US$88 million art investment scam included tennis champion John McEnroe and the Bank of America. Salander swindled US$120 million in total and received a six-to-18-year prison sentence in 2010, The New York Times reported.

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Anne Hathaway – US$2.4 million

Anne Hathaway dated Raffaello Follieri for four years but she fell victim to his scam in 2008. The Italian entrepreneur promised clients property owned by the Roman Catholic Church in exchange for their investment. He pleaded guilty to scamming the American actress for at least US$2.4 million by misappropriating funds taken directly from her bank account.

Follieri served four and a half years in prison and was deported from the US in 2012. Hathaway told Vogue in 2010 when asked what was a deal-breaker for her in relationships: “Uh … fraud?” She admitted that after that relationship she has learned “to be more wary”.

“It takes a minute for me to let my guard down, but once I do and I get to know someone, I’m very open, very trusting,” the Ocean’s 8 star said.