Sunday, April 3, 2011

Biggest Liars in History


Did you know that April 4 is National Tell-a-Lie Day? Don’t try this at home.

Biggest Liars in History
 No matter what the people on this list really meant, they’ll be known as big fibbers.
Milli Vanilli
Milli Vanilli won a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1990, but it turned out they lied about doing the vocals.
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold started the American Revolutionary War as a patriot and ended it on the British side after plotting to get control of the fort at West Point (find out more about the military school) and surrender it to the enemy. See what he looked like.
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon told a roomful of reporters that he never obstructed justice. (Watch Nixon declare his innocence.) He resigned from the office of president less than nine months later to avoid impeachment for lying and obstructing justice in the Watergate affair.

Janet Cooke
Janet Cooke won a prestigious prize for her 1980 report on an 8-year-old heroin addict. He never existed.

What famous reporter submitted her story for the prize?
Frank Abagnale
Frank Abagnale was probably one of the most famous con men ever. He passed over $2.5 million in bad checks in the 1960s, had at least eight identities and escaped from police custody twice before he was 21.
Bill Clinton
It’s a sad state of affairs when a nation obsesses over a president’s sex life. Clinton was impeached, but the vote to remove him from office fell short.
Baron Munchausen
Baron Munchausen was a German nobleman who had a penchant for telling tall tales. He claimed to have ridden cannonballs, traveled to the moon and escaped from a swamp by pulling himself up by his own hair.
George W. Bush
President George W. Bush told the United Nations that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. It was the basis for a pre-emptive war that continues today.
Victor Lustig
Victor Lustig was known as one of the world’s greatest con artists. (See photos of him.) His “money-printing machine” was another of his classic scams. He did time in Alcatraz for his misdeeds. See images of the con man.
Han van Meegeren
One of the most ingenious art forgers of the 20th century, he forged a Vermeer so realistic that this infamous Nazi bought it.

Charles Ponzi
Charles Ponzi was one of the original pyramid scheme guys.
Rosie Ruiz
She achieved the third best women’s time in the Boston Marathon and wasn’t even tired! That was a sign. It’s unknown if they found subway tokens in her pockets, but she did take the subway when she cheated in the New York Marathon.
James Frey
James Frey lied about events in his personal life and published them as a memoir (shop for it & see what he said). He lied to newspapers and to Larry King, but Oprah held his feet to the fire and got an interesting title from a newspaper columnist.


Bernie Madoff
Bernie Madoff’s sons tipped off federal authorities to his fraud, which amounted to this much. It was the largest investor fraud committed by an individual. His actions have rocked a certain baseball team.

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