Richard Rufus, Soccer Player – Failed Investment Scheme

During his short-lived career in the early 2000s, soccer player Richard Rufus became one of the highest-earning athletes in the sport while playing for the Charlton Athletic. Unfortunately, after suffering an injury in 2004, the star was forced into retirement. However, while this Hall of Famer stopped earning a celebrity salary, he didn’t stop spending like one!

By 2013, Rufus declared bankruptcy after a failed pyramid scheme. Then, in 2019, the now 46-years-old needed to appear in the Southwark Crown Court, for possessing 5.3 million euros of criminal property and fraud by false representation. There, prosecutors accused the former soccer player of spending a “large proportion of his personal expenses.”