These infamous tricksters pulled the wool over everyone's eyes. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the times people hid their true, darker sides from everyone.
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00:00He is the mass murderer, and you asked me before what I felt about Jim Jones, I think he's a monster.
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the times people hid their true,
00:08darker sides from everyone.
00:10Bernie Madoff's fraud was not a complex fraud.
00:13It involved simply taking people's money, telling them he was going to invest their money,
00:18and he never did.
00:20Lou Perlman.
00:21He was the man behind some of the biggest boy bands ever,
00:24including two of the biggest juggernauts of all time.
00:28From running a blimp company to creating and managing a series of bands,
00:32including the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC,
00:34Perlman seemed like a figurehead for breaking entry barriers into the music industry.
00:38However, that turned out to be far from the whole story.
00:41Perlman was soon issued lawsuits by most of the talent under him.
00:45The Backstreet Boys struggled financially and had to split $300,000 between them,
00:50while their sixth member, Perlman, took millions.
00:53They said they began to feel like indentured servants.
00:55It was then discovered that his Transcontinental company,
00:58which claimed to own an airline, restaurants, and more,
01:01was nothing but a Ponzi scheme that stole hundreds of millions.
01:04I think he became aware of his ability to have people trust him sort of in a haphazard way.
01:10Once he became aware of that, he wasn't afraid to use it further.
01:13In 2008, Perlman was sentenced to 25 years in jail and passed away in 2016.
01:20Jimmy Savile.
01:21Many people in Britain are questioning how his behaviour went unchecked for so long,
01:25and the scandal is infecting his main employer, the BBC.
01:29For decades, he was one of the most famous presenters in the UK.
01:32Due to hosting Jim'll Fix It, which had children getting their wishes answered,
01:36and his passionate charity work, Savile was highly respected by fans,
01:40celebrities, politicians, and even royalty.
01:43This trust gave him access to schools and facilities where vulnerable people were.
01:47Instead of helping them in their time of need, Savile did the opposite.
01:50As he forged a reputation as a tireless fundraiser,
01:54as he was knighted by the Queen and the Pope,
01:57he was, it now seems, leading an appalling double life.
02:00In 2012, a year after his passing, allegations about Savile abusing many,
02:05many people came out, as well as an apparent cover-up by authority figures.
02:10This seemingly open secret was now exposed to the public.
02:13Operation Yewtree was launched by the police,
02:15which discovered hundreds of victims of the disgraced presenter.
02:18We've now had 161 calls to our helpline.
02:22The police are now pursuing 340 separate lines of inquiry.
02:26Elizabeth Holmes.
02:27In 2015, she was named by Forbes as the youngest and wealthiest
02:31self-made billionaire woman in the US.
02:33Holmes had created the company Theranos,
02:35which claimed to have pioneered a less invasive method of testing blood.
02:39You founded this company 12 years ago, right?
02:42Tell them how old you were.
02:43I was 19.
02:44The college dropout was everywhere,
02:46and her passionate support of getting women into STEM occupations
02:50boosted her positive profile further.
02:52Shortly after the Forbes announcement,
02:54allegations about Theranos' methods were exposed.
02:57The biggest problem was going live with blood tests that didn't work,
03:01or that worked only part of the time.
03:03The group was accused of employing devices used by other companies for testing,
03:07as the accuracy of their Edison machine was questioned.
03:10Theranos had raised millions on the misinformation that their device was revolutionary.
03:14In 2023, Holmes was sentenced to more than 11 years in jail,
03:18and was fined $452 million for fraud.
03:22Today, she entered the Minimum Security Federal Women's Prison Camp
03:26located in Bryan, Texas, leaving behind two children,
03:29the youngest just three months.
03:31Pablo Picasso.
03:32He was a genius, and I rarely use that term,
03:34but he was also a total bastard.
03:36When an artist becomes as legendary as Picasso,
03:39many assume that they were a good person.
03:41On the surface, the Cubist movement co-founder seemed to fit the bill.
03:45Some who knew Picasso described him as a saint.
03:47However, others have far less complimentary descriptions.
03:51An artistic genius who revolutionized modern art,
03:54Picasso has also been described as violent, jealous, perverse, and destructive.
03:59Even his granddaughter, Marina Picasso,
04:01said that once he'd got what he wanted from women, he'd throw them away.
04:04Many partners and muses in Picasso's life
04:07have spoken about the abuse they sustained at his hands.
04:12François Gillot wrote a book in 64,
04:17which described him really like a monster.
04:20This included burning a cigarette on an ex's face in a jealous rage,
04:24having a relationship with a minor, and having affairs.
04:27His legacy now includes causing several partners and family members
04:31to suffer from mental health issues.
04:33Thomas Edison.
04:35With his name attached to over 1,000 patents in the U.S.,
04:38Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors
04:41and someone who helped modernize the world.
04:43He even started the first industrial research laboratory.
04:46But Edison seemingly took credit for work
04:48that may rightfully have been done by others.
04:50I'm Thomas Edison. I invented the light bulb. What to do?
04:53He also unsuccessfully sued black inventor Granville Woods
04:57for developing the induction telegraph, which Edison claimed he'd made.
05:01During the War of the Currents, Edison, who supported direct current,
05:04supported tests to electrocute animals with alternating current to show its dangers.
05:09This evil fascination led to his film studio
05:12recording the electrocution of Topsy the Elephant in 1903
05:16so Edison could show the clip on his kinetoscopes.
05:18In addition to executing animals, Edison promoted the idea of an AC-powered electric chair
05:24to provoke fear about the dangers of Tesla's AC current.
05:28Bill Cosby.
05:29After playing Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show,
05:31he was labeled America's dad and everyone respected him.
05:34Dad, I have something to tell you.
05:36Is it important?
05:38Yes, Dad.
05:38How important is it?
05:40An eight.
05:41Is it a child's eight or an adult's eight?
05:43This, on top of his other comedy work,
05:45secured Cosby's place as one of the greatest comedians in the US.
05:49Then, 2014 happened.
05:51After years of rumours and allegations,
05:53Hannibal Buress publicly called Cosby out for assault during a stand-up set.
05:57This led to a domino effect, as many women began coming out with
06:01allegations of abuse they'd sustained from Cosby, destroying his wholesome persona.
06:05In 2018, he was found guilty and sentenced to three to ten years.
06:10In 2021, Cosby's conviction was overturned and he was released.
06:14Just hours after the court's ruling, Cosby coming before cameras outside of his home,
06:18celebrating his release after serving more than two years of a three to ten year prison sentence.
06:23Regardless, his reputation isn't tatters as he continues fighting further legal battles.
06:28I was really shocked.
06:30I was really shocked.
06:32Disappointed.
06:33What does it say about the American justice system?
06:36That it's flawed?
06:37P.T. Barnum.
06:51Back in the day, Barnum was admired by many.
06:53Beyond his entertainment work, he was a key figure in Connecticut politics,
06:57helping to transform the city of Bridgeport during his stint as mayor.
07:00While on the board of trustees at Tufts University, Barnum gave the facility a lot of money,
07:05resulting in the creation of the Barnum Museum of Natural History.
07:08When he passed in 1891, obituaries heavily focused on his philanthropic endeavors.
07:14While his entertainment empire did give work to those dismissed by society,
07:18he's also been accused of exploiting them, especially if they were black and mistreating animals.
07:22Barnum would often present people from non-white ethnic backgrounds as living curiosities,
07:26promoting racial othering in his museum.
07:28In a similar vein, he presented a black man named William Henry Johnson
07:32as a creature known as the What-Is-It.
07:34After his wife passed away, Barnum controversially married Nancy Fish,
07:38the daughter of his close friend, who was 40 years younger.
07:41Looking back now through a modern day lens, the magic and spectacle that P.T. Barnum created
07:46would rather be seen as xenophobic, cruel to animals, racist, and hateful.
07:50Harold Shipman.
07:51Harold Shipman killed more people than anyone else in British peacetime history.
07:56He was convicted of 15 murders, but those were just the tip of the iceberg.
08:00This doctor was so respected that, in the early 80s, World in Action interviewed him
08:05on his thoughts about how the mentally ill should be treated in society.
08:08For nearly three decades, the general practitioner was well-liked in his communities,
08:12so much so that many of Shipman's patients included him in their wills,
08:16even removing their family members for him.
08:18However, the authorities got suspicious due to the large number of patients dying in his care.
08:23In 2000, after finding evidence of will forgery,
08:26and that he'd been administering fatal doses of diamorphine, Dr. Death was sentenced to life.
08:31This is not a man who's hiding in the woodshed with an axe in his hand.
08:35This is a man who is pretending to be helpful and consoling and compassionate.
08:41He took his own life in 2004.
08:43The Shipman inquiry investigation concluded in 2005 that the doctor killed 284 people.
08:50Remember that Dr. Shipman has always denied committing any murder whatsoever.
08:54Always vehemently denied that.
08:55However, for everybody, he dies a convicted person.
08:59Bernie Madoff
09:00Bernie Madoff's fraud was not a complex fraud.
09:04It involved simply taking people's money, telling them he was going to invest their money,
09:08and he never did.
09:09Many billionaires dabble in philanthropy, but Madoff took it to another level.
09:14After making his fortune from his own stock brokerage company and an asset management firm,
09:18he began working on the boards of several non-profits and Yeshiva University.
09:22Madoff also donated cash to hospitals, foundations,
09:26theatres, and around $6 million to lymphoma research.
09:29He seemed like a good person.
09:31Then, in 2008, he was arrested after he confessed to his sons
09:34that his company was the largest Ponzi scheme in history, estimated at $65 billion.
09:40Not only did people lose their money due to Madoff, but so did charities.
09:53In 2009, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in jail.
09:58He passed away in jail in 2021.
10:01It was another big lie.
10:02People believed it.
10:03They lost their futures as a result of it.
10:05Enormous impact.
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10:23Jim Jones
10:24Growing up in poverty and experiencing kindness from neighbors,
10:28Jones seemingly wanted to emulate that in his adulthood.
10:36In 1955, he founded his own new religious movement, which would become the People's Temple,
10:41promoting racial equality and incorporating Christian and left-wing ideologies.
10:46After moving to San Francisco, California, the group worked with activists and charities.
10:51Yet, when accusations of abuse in the temple began to emerge,
10:54Jones relocated his movement to Guyana and created Jonestown.
10:58In 1978, while investigating dark claims about the commune,
11:02U.S. politician Leo Ryan and four others were fatally shot.
11:05Seeing his temple about to come crashing down,
11:08Jones ordered mass ingestion of a cyanide-laced drink among his followers,
11:12causing 918 people to perish.
11:15He is the mass murderer.
11:16And you asked me before what I felt about Jim Jones.
11:18I think he's a monster.
11:19What other infamous people who hid their darker selves did we miss?
11:23Let us know below.
11:24He was like a conjurer.
11:27He mesmerized people.