Rich Gone Broke, Celebrities Who Went Bankrupt

Being bankrupt is not bad but how you handle yourself during that period is what matters, lots of celebrities, businessmen and politicians have filed for bankruptcy in time past.

Here are  celebrities who went bankrupt:

Aaron Carter

One-time teen heartthrob Aaron Carter apparently missed the message that you have to pay your taxes. When the singer filed for bankruptcy in 2013 he was $2 million in debt, mostly due to money owed to the IRS.

His publicist blamed those who were in charge of managing Carter’s finances when he was still a minor for his predicament.

Whatever the source of his financial woes, there was little doubt that Carter was broke by the time he resorted to bankruptcy. His paltry assets included a flat-screen TV, a Louis Vuitton backpack, and $917 in his checking account.

Joe Francis

Joe Francis made a fortune out of persuading drunk college girls to take their tops off and then selling the resulting videos on late-night TV.

The sleazy money-making scheme worked for a while, but the Girls Gone Wild empire eventually crumbled because of its founder’s financial and legal difficulties (which included a stint in prison for filming underage girls and millions of dollars owed to the IRS).

Amid all his other problems, Francis ran up a $2 million gambling debt at Steve Wynn’s Las Vegas casino, which he refused to pay. Girls Gone Wild declared bankruptcy in 2013, so Wynn couldn’t claim those assets to settle the bill.

But Francis’ financial problems didn’t stop there. In May 2015, a federal judge issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to turn over two luxury cars to his lawyers. Francis currently lives at his luxury estate in Mexico, which doubles as a posh getaway spot for celebrities, including Kim Kardashian.

Teresa Giudice

Teresa Giudice’s financial troubles weren’t just made for TV. The Real Housewives of New Jersey star and her husband first filed for bankruptcy in 2009, but that move set off a series of series of legal problems from which she’s still untangling herself.

After the initial filing, creditors alleged the couple were hiding some of their assets. That led to charges of bankruptcy fraud, along with charges of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud. Teresa ended up serving time in federal prison; her husband is still incarcerated.

In 2016, she finally settled her bankruptcy case and is reportedly paying back taxes to both the IRS and the New Jersey Department of Revenue.

JACK GLEESON

This young man was a big star in the early 90s. Jonathan Taylor Thomas was on the successful show Home Improvement and then lent his voice to the Lion King movie. He retired from acting, bar a handful of guest appearances throughout the years, to focus on his studies and even graduated from Harvard.

KARYN

Karyn played Hillary Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air but decided to leave the show and the 

Hollywood life for something more normal. She founded a company called Sweet Blackberry – 

a company that funds animated films about unsung Black heroes.

TIFFANY

The ’80s pop star Tiffany rode the wave of success with hits like her 1987 cover song, “I Think We’re Alone Now,” but after a long stretch of small-time music, television and film gigs, Tiffany returned to the simple life. But first, she posed nude in Playboy back in 2002 after her records failed to sell. Now she runs a vintage shop called “Tiffany’s Boutique” off of Highway 76 in White House, Tennessee.

ESSICA SIERRA

The fallen American Idol singer Jessica Sierra had to take a day job at Hooters when she realized singing wasn’t enough to pay the bills.

50 Cent

Back in May 2015, Forbes named 50 Cent one of the five wealthiest hip-hop artists, pegging his net worth at $155 million. But bad investments and a big lawsuit — he was ordered to pay $5 million to a woman who says he posted a sex tape of her online — put the rapper’s fortune in jeopardy.The man who once promised to “get rich or die tryin’” filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Connecticut court, a move that allowed him to reorganize his finances while developing a plan to repay his creditors.At the time, he estimated his debt at between $10 million and $50 million and his assets in roughly the same range. In July 2016, he emerged from bankruptcy with a plan to repay more than $23 million in debt over the next five years.

Toni Braxton

Toni Braxton rose to fame in the 1990s, but millions of dollars in album sales didn’t translate into fantastic wealth.In an interview with 20/20 in 2012, she said she received less than $2,000 in royalties from her first recording contract and was perpetually in debt to her record company.Compulsive shopping for fancy home decor strained her finances further, and she filed for bankruptcy in 1998. Eventually, the “Unbreak My Heart” singer mounted a comeback, but when health problems forced her to cancel a planned Las Vegas revue, she ended up bankrupt again. She settled that case in 2013.

Donald Trump

President Donald Trump touted his business experience as one reason why he was the right choice for commander in chief. But a string of business failures and bankruptcies had some questioning his financial acumen.While Trump has never personally declared bankruptcy, his companies have gone bankrupt six times, according to Politifact. The first was in 1991 when his Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City went bust. Several more of his casinos and hotels went bankrupt in 1992. Two more casino and resort bankruptcies happened in 2004 and 2009.After the last bankruptcy, Trump stepped down as chairman of Trump Entertainment Resorts and reduced his share in the business to 10%. Challenges in the casino industry were to blame for at least some of those business failures, rather than business missteps by Trump, Politifact concluded.For what it’s worth, the brash real estate mogul sees declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcies as a strategic business decision.“I’ve cut debt — by the way, this isn’t me personally, it’s a company,” Trump has said. “Basically I’ve used the laws of the country to my advantage … just as many, many others on top of the business world have.”