He was actually convicted of raping a three-year-old and he got off with eight years of probation and he had to register as a sex offender. The judge's reasoning behind allowing Richards to remain free is that he didn't think Richards would "fare well behind bars."
Defense attorney Scott Brown praised Boyd’s decision: “She fashioned a sentence that could have him under the thumb of the justice system for the next 10 years,” he said. Eric Boyles, who lost his wife and daughter Holly and Shelby in the crash said it was Couch’s wealth that kept him from a harsher sentence.
In a lot of cases, it is brought up that many of these people employ hundreds to thousands of people, and sending a rich employer off to jail would have a rippling effect that could essentially punish the innocent people in their employ.
In these shoplifting situations, the wealthy only get in a lot of heat if they are chronic shoplifters. This is interesting because according to the book The Steal by Rachel Shteir, a study was done that showed individuals with an income greater than $70,000 a year are 30% more likely to steal than those with an income of less than $20,000 a year.
He also has the distinction of owning the world’s largest yacht – not too shabby for someone who grew up in poverty in a remote part of Russia. 1. George Soros. Soros is probably one of the most well known rags-to-riches stories in the business world – and for good reason; his success story is hugely inspirational.
Laliberté didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth – he knew early on that he was a creative , so he started his career in the entertainment industry by playing the accordion, eating fire, and stilt-walking on the streets for whatever change people would give him. In 1987, he invested the little money he had by bringing a Quebec entertainment troupe to the Los Angeles Arts Festival. At the time, Laliberté didn’t even have enough money to buy them a return fare home. However, he believed in them, and saw something in them – and his instincts were right. That unknown Quebec troupe? Cirque du Soleil. Yeah, the hugely successful troupe that tours internationally and brings in the big bucks. Now, Laliberté isn’t performing on the streets for quarters – he’s the CEO of Cirque, and also makes some money as a professional poker player in his spare time. His gamble certainly paid off!
While he undoubtedly worked hard academically, he also needed to work hard in order to earn some money to support himself – so he made a measly $1.20 an hour as a dishwasher. It’s certainly not a glamorous job, but Khan was willing to do whatever it took to ensure his survival in the country. He continued with his never quit mentality, and is now the owner of Flex-N-Gate, and also an owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL and a Premier League soccer club. Many owners of huge, multi-million dollar companies and owners of professional sports teams are individuals who inherited masses of wealth through their families, and simply found something to spend it on. The fact that Khan’s money was all self-made makes him a huge success story.
Wealth can help individuals obtain even more wealth, and allow them to add to the family fortune. However, that doesn’t mean that all successful individuals come from affluent backgrounds. There are many, many examples of entrepreneurs and businessmen who started without two pennies to rub together, and through hard work ...
Nowadays Oprah Winfre y is an absolute legend, someone who managed to take a daytime talk show and transform it into a hugely profitable brand including a magazine, a television network, and countless other business ventures.
Ursula Burns is a super inspirational woman who was facing a whole lot of odds — and overcame them all. She grew up in a housing project in New York, raised by a single mother. There was virtually no extra money kicking around, yet Burns’ mother was determined, always trying to ensure Ursula was attending good schools. Burns started at Xerox as an intern, and after hustling her way into a Master’s degree in mechanical engineering, eventually began moving her way up the ranks at Xerox. After over two decades with the company, Burns now has a very different title — CEO. That’s right — this powerful woman managed to work her way from an intern position to the very top of the corporate ladder. It just proves that not all CEOs come from wealthy families and get dropped right into the position — sometimes, it’s possible to pay your dues and work your way to the top.
When Do Won Chang and his wife immigrated to America from Korea in 1981, he certainly didn’t have tons of cash in the bank to fund his new American lifestyle. No, Chang actually had to work three less than glamorous jobs (as a janitor, gas station attendant, and barista) to try to support himself and his wife in their new home. He put in long hours and worked endless shifts, and by 1984, the couple had enough saved to open up a small clothing store. Admirable, but certainly nothing that will propel you into millionaire status, right? Well, except that one tiny store ended up growing into the Forever 21 retail empire, which has hundreds of stores around the world and is worth billions. Chang’s daughters help with the company their father built, and the entrepreneurial immigrant couldn’t be more proud of his success story. As he told the LA Times, “Forever 21 gives hope to people who come here with almost nothing, and that is a reward that humbles me.”
Although he was disbarred in 2009 for his involvement in a kickback scheme, William Lerach had a lucrative career as a corporate lawyer with a specialty in private securities class action lawsuits for more than 30 years, which is how he amassed his considerable fortune. Nicknamed the “King of Pain” and often referred to as the most feared lawyer in American during his heyday, Lerach, a University of Pittsburg School of Law graduate, holds the record for the largest sum ever recovered in a group of securities class action lawsuits for the $7.12 billion judgement he received against Enron.
A 1992 graduate of Loyola Law School, Mark Geragos is a criminal defense attorney who has also been involved in a number of landmark civil litigation class action cases. He has represented everyone from Chris Brown, Michael Jackson, and Winona Ryder to Scott Peterson and Susan McDougal. Named “One of the 100 Most Influential Attorneys in California,” he also holds a record for one of the top 10 verdicts in California history for a 2008 case in which he obtained a jury verdict awarding more than $38 against a pharmaceutical company. He currently serves as a managing partner at Geragos and Geragos.
David Boies: $20 million. Currently serving as the chairman of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, David Boies previously served as Chief Counsel for the US Senate. He graduated from Yale University in 1966 and almost immediately made a name for himself.
Best known for being a no-nonsense TV judge, Judge Judy earns $47 million a year. A 1965 graduate of New York Law School, Judge Sheindlin was originally a corporate attorney, though she quickly grew tired of it and choose to become a family court prosecutor. In 1982, she was appointed as a criminal court judge, where she earned a reputation as a “tough” judge and presided over more than 20,000 cases. This, along with several books she wrote, caught the eye of TV executives and eventually led to her TV show. In addition, she is the author of seven books and has served as legal analyst on various TV shows.
Willie E. Gary: $100 million. Nicknamed “The Giant Killer,” Willie Gary has taken on several of the nation’s biggest corporations, including Anheuser-Busch and Disney. He has won some of the largest settlements and jury awards in the U.S., including several cases valued at more than $30 billion.
A 1976 graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Law and a prominent trial lawyer, Richard Scruggs is best known for his love of tobacco and asbestos cases and the fact he won more than $1 billion in judgements against various companies. He was also highly involved in 2000’s Ritalin class action lawsuits, as well as the 2003 case against Lehman Brothers for which he won a $51 million verdict. However, in 2007, he was accused of judicial bribery. In 2008, he pled guilty and eventually served six years in federal prison. Today, at the age of 70, he has completed his sentence and has retained his massive fortune.
After serving as the first African-American prosecutor in Memphis, TN, he opened his own practice before serving as a criminal court judge in Shelby County, TN. While presiding over James Earl Ray’s appeal for the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., he caught the attention of TV producers.
We're going to start off light and let your anger slowly boil as the list progresses. Kate Meckler , a rather well-off New York real estate agent with the firm Warburg Realty, stole over $1,500 worth of items from Saks Fifth Avenue when she was more than able to afford her purchases. When Meckler was caught and brought in front of a judge, she was only given 5 days of community service in a soup kitchen. Most people would have gotten probation and fines in addition to community service for this kind of crime.
Warner hid as much as $106 million in offshore Swiss accounts, effectively avoiding taxes for twelve years to the tune of at least $5.5 million.
One of the reasons Erzinger was let off the hook was because he manages $1 billion in assets for Morgan Stanley, but the best reason has to be what he used as a defense - the new car made him ill. You did indeed read that correctly. Erzinger claimed the new car smell triggered his sleep apnea.
When Meckler was caught and brought in front of a judge, she was only given 5 days of community service in a soup kitchen. Most people would have gotten probation and fines in addition to community service for this kind of crime.
After he made a splash at the Olympics and gained the nickname "The Blade Runner" due to the appearance of his prosthetic limbs, Pistorius made it in the news once again after he shot and killed his wife. Pistorius claims he thought his wife was an intruder, but many doubt this version of events since his wife was behind a closed bathroom door.
The case of Ethan Couch, a 16-year-old that killed four while driving drunk, made national attention and justifiably angered a lot of people. Couch was found guilty of killing the four other motorists but he got off with simple probation.
The incident that sent Goodman to the slammer was a high speed chase with police due to a blood alcohol level of .16 - twice the legal limit. Goodman had a passenger in the vehicle he had just met, and refused to allow the passenger to leave.
For many of us, this usually signals that he is done talking and is entering sulk-mode. If this was the end-goal of the conversation, congrats! You won! If it wasn’t (and it usually isn’t), then essentially the conversation has struck a nerve, and it has been put on hold while he processes. Best get some ice cream out; this could take awhile.
This is a sneaky cop-out. He really doesn’t want to talk about it, now or later or ever. He is basically shelving the conversation and hoping that we forget all about it. This will backfire on him because he won’t forget and will most definitely bring it up again “later.” Relationship Rules says,
If the relationship is long distance or pretty established, he probably genuinely misses us. But, as Bolde points out, “Depending on where you are in your relationship, he may very well miss you, but what is it that he misses?” Translation: He misses us in one way in particular, simple as that.
This often has two meanings behind it. One, as Her Interest says, is: “A simple, yet very quick response that is used to get you to stop asking how you look in that dress.
Bolde says, “He means this one, but he actually means so much more. If he is using this word, then he really finds you beautiful.” This is especially true in established relationships. If we have just met, then he is definitely trying to butter us up and get some.
This could be true, but if the steak or whatever it is he is eating is burnt like a sacrificial offering or underdone, he is just saying it to make us feel better about our bad cooking skills. With these kinds of compliments, he wants us to know he appreciates our efforts even if the end result was awful.
The easy answer to what this means is that he simply wasn’t listening to the question in the first place. In this instance, we can either ignore it and do whatever we want (which he might regret later but he should have been paying better attention), or we can get in his face and repeat the question when we have his attention.