No sooner had the sexts between the reporter Olivia Nuzzi and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. been revealed than the editors at Forbes must have been cursing their luck, yet again. In 2018, Nuzzi had appeared on Forbes’s 30 Under 30 list, the magazine’s annual catalogue of “bright young entrepreneurs, leaders, and stars.”
Few things are as reliable in prophesying a fall from grace as 30 Under 30. Whether it’s down to the hubris that such a list confers upon its members, or simply the low barrier to entry—participants can nominate themselves, and the check system seems largely based on hype instead of substance—there’s little doubt that appearing on it is a double-edged sword.
It’s been 13 years since the first list appeared. Forbes’s editors now select 30 winners in 20 categories—from Finance to Healthcare to Art & Style—each year. (More appear in the magazine’s Europe, Africa, and Asia editions.) And each year more members of the club are accused of fraud, theft, or sexual abuse and are jailed, canceled, or mocked. Last year, Forbes acknowledged its role as a jinx by unveiling a “Hall of Shame” featuring 10 choices “it would like to walk back.” But the number of those afflicted by the curse of 30 Under 30 is many, many more. Herewith, a selection …
| Person | Passion | 30 Under 30 Class | Crime | Punishment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olivia Nuzzi | Star reporter, New York magazine. | 2018, Media. | Sexting with a presidential candidate in defiance of journalistic ethics. | Placed on work leave. Pilloried. |
| Steph Korey | Co-founder of Away, a travel-and-lifestyle brand. | 2016, Retail & E-Commerce. | Toxic-workplace allegations. | Resigned as C.E.O. |
| Amar Singh | Indian prince, art collector, and activist for L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ rights in India. | 2019, Europe, Art & Culture. | Fabulist, liar, scoundrel. | An AIR MAIL exposé. |
| Sam Bankman-Fried | Creator of hugely popular crypto-currency exchange FTX. Alleged ex-boyfriend of Caroline Ellison. | 2021, Finance. | Fraud and conspiracy. | Twenty-five years in prison, ordered to forfeit $11 billion. |
| Caroline Ellison | Former C.E.O. of FTX-affiliated Alameda Research. Alleged ex-girlfriend of Sam Bankman-Fried. | 2022, Finance. | Fraud, money-laundering, conspiracy. | Two years in prison (was a key government witness in the case against Bankman-Fried). |
| Eleni Antoniadou | Co-founded Transplants Without Donors, a tissue-engineering start-up. Had a Barbie doll made of her. | 2015, Healthcare. | Lying about her credentials, such as working for NASA, being involved in a groundbreaking transplant operation, etc. | Militantly fact-checked, disappeared from public view. |
| Phadria Prendergast | Launched Women of the City, a female-focused magazine. | 2023, Europe, Media & Marketing. | Accepted money for coverage and often reneged on the deal, funneled money into a controversial church/cult. | Lambasted by the same publication (Forbes) that fawned over her. |
| Martin Shkreli | Former C.E.O. of Turing Pharmaceuticals. | 2013, Finance. | Securities fraud and conspiracy, related to raising price of life-saving medication by more than 5,000 percent. | Six and a half years in prison. |
| Lucas Duplan | Raised tens of millions to found Clinkle, a mobile-payments company for college students. | 2014, Finance. | Delayed launch, nonfunctional product, company collapsed. | Became a Silicon Valley cautionary tale. |
| Lil Uzi Vert | Chart-topping, Grammy-nominated rapper. | 2018, Music. | Multiple arrests, felony assault charge. | Three years’ probation, 52 weeks of domestic violence counseling. |
| Kylie Jenner | Member of Kardashian royal family, founder of Kylie Cosmetics. | 2017, Retail & E-Commerce. | Marketed herself as a “self-made” billionaire; was not self-made or a billionaire. Allegedly underpaid factory workers. | Lost billionaire status. Ridiculed. |
| Obinwanne Okeke | Entrepreneur, creator of Nigerian investment fund Invictus Group. | 2016, Africa. | Computer fraud, wire fraud. | 10 years in prison. |
| Charlie Javice | Founded Frank, a financial-aid-application-assistance company. | 2019, Finance. | Securities fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy. | Awaiting trial. |
| Ezra Miller | Went from indie darling to blockbuster movie star who appeared in the Harry Potter franchise and headlined in The Flash. | 2020, Hollywood & Entertainment. | Erratic behavior, multiple abuse and grooming allegations. Multiple arrests. | Probation for unlawful trespass. Blacklisted. |
| Nate Paul | Founded World Class Capital Group, a real-estate firm. | 2016, Finance. | Lying to lenders, fraud. | Awaiting trial. |
| Antonio Brown | Top wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers. | 2016, Sports. | Erratic behavior, allegations of sexual assault, domestic violence, and burglary. Arrested on multiple occasions for nonpayment of child support. | Probation, community service, anger-management counseling, bankruptcy. |
| Nader Al-Naji | Founded BitClout, a crypto-currency social-media platform. | 2019, Finance. | Wire fraud. | Awaiting trial. |
| James Charles | YouTube beauty guru with more than 23 million subscribers. | 2017, Art & Style. | Admitted to sexting multiple under-age boys, after originally denying the accusations. | Lost business deal with Morphe Cosmetics; ruined reputation. |
| Cody Wilson | Founder of Defense Distributed, which publishes blueprints for 3D-printable guns. | 2014, Law & Policy. | Sexual assault. | U.S. passport revoked, seven years of probation. |
| Matt Rife | Stand-up comic, top-performing Netflix special, sold-out shows globally. | 2024, Hollywood & Entertainment. | Made offensive joke about a woman’s role in causing domestic abuse; responded with a mock apology. | Alienated a majority of his audience (women); rebranded as an “anti-woke” comic. |
| James O’Keefe | Far-right activist, founder of Project Veritas, a pressure group. | 2011, Media. | Alleged financial malfeasance. | Fired from his own company. |
| DaBaby | Grammy-nominated, quintuple-platinum-certified rapper. | 2020, Music. | Shot and killed a man at a Walmart, slapped a woman in the face at a concert, assaulted a man at a bowling alley, went on a homophobic spiel onstage at a music festival. | Charged with battery on multiple occasions; accused of homophobia by, among others, Elton John. |
| MrBeast | YouTube’s most subscribed personality for his elaborate challenges and giveaways. | 2021, Social Media. | Filmed an upcoming game show for Amazon in which participants were allegedly “underfed” and “endangered.” | Facing a lawsuit from five of the show’s contestants. |
| Alexander Wang | Created his eponymous fashion brand. | 2013, Art & Style. | Faced a lawsuit alleging the use of sweatshops at his company; accused of sexual assault. | Reportedly settled the lawsuit; posted an Instagram apology for his alleged abuse. |
| Ansel Elgort | Movie star (The Fault in Our Stars, Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story). | 2015, Hollywood & Entertainment. | Accused by multiple women of sexual assault. | Has yet to be cast in a film since the allegations. |
| Brooks Buffington and Tyler Droll | Founded YikYak, a social-media app for college students, reportedly valued at $400 million in 2014. | 2015, Consumer Technology. | Their app became a hub for bullying, sexism, racism, anti-Semitism. | In 2017, the YikYak app was shut down. The company’s assets were sold for $1 million. |
George Pendle is an Editor at Large at AIR MAIL. Jack Sullivan is an Associate Editor at AIR MAIL
