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When the truth comes out, the consequences can be devastating... Join us as we examine the most shocking deceptions that captivated the world! From political cover-ups to athletic doping, these scandals prove that some lies are just too big to maintain. Who do you think pulled off the most outrageous deception before it all came crashing down?
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00:00It's impossible for you to go under, for a violation to go undetected.
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 10 scandals where
00:07the main drama was caused by someone deliberately lying or faking something important to mislead
00:12others. Enron is likely one of the largest corporate scandals in the U.S. history.
00:19Number 10, the explosive Richard Jewell Olympics accusation. In 1996, during the Atlanta Summer
00:25Olympics, security guard Richard Jewell spotted a strange bag containing pipe bombs.
00:28Before the bomb went off, Jewell was working as a security guard in Centennial Park, guarding
00:34the AT&T tower there, when he says that he noticed an olive green backpack under a bench.
00:40About this size? No, sir. Probably, yes, or two foot by three foot, probably.
00:45He quickly alerted the police and helped to evacuate people before the bomb exploded,
00:49saving many lives. Soon after, Jewell went from hero to prime suspect, thanks to a tip
00:53from his former boss.
00:54On Wednesday, dozens of FBI and ATF agents were in Jewell's residence and carried off
00:59box after box of materials, apparently searching for that key piece of evidence.
01:04The FBI named him a suspect, and the media wasted no time in portraying him as a would-be
01:08terrorist. For 88 days, Jewell lived under heavy public scrutiny, hounded by the FBI and
01:13treated as guilty without trial. Though eventually cleared of any suspicion, the damage done was
01:17heavy.
01:17For the past five years, Richard Jewell has been trying to put his life back together.
01:21Years later, in 2003, Eric Rudolph, the real bomber, was caught. It's a typical case of how
01:26fake narratives can destroy a life.
01:28Most people say you're the ex-suspect.
01:31Still?
01:32Yes, sir. Still.
01:34Number 9. Tiger Woods' Infidelity Denials
01:37Before 2009, Tiger Woods was golf's golden boy, a record-breaking champion with an enviously
01:42spotless public image. But late November that year changed everything. A mysterious crash outside
02:01his home sparked whispers about his private life, and soon it was revealed he'd been living a double
02:05life.
02:05It was Tiger Woods' life that appeared to be in jeopardy. No one knew it was merely his reputation
02:11that was in danger.
02:12However, when rumors of his affairs initially began, Woods tried to dismiss or downplay them
02:17as private matters. But that crash unraveled it all.
02:19As the media dug deeper into it, nightclub owner Rachel Yucatel and Jamie Grubbs as mistresses
02:29were exposed to the press. Soon, the messages Grubbs and Woods allegedly exchanged were leaked,
02:34and more women came forward with claims of affairs. Woods' reputation took a massive hit,
02:39and he eventually confessed to cheating.
02:52Number 8. Ryan Lochte Rio Olympics Robbery Lie
02:55How far would you go to cover up your bad behavior? For Ryan Lochte, the answer is flipping
02:59the tail and making yourself a victim.
03:00I was with a couple swimmers. We were coming back to the insurance house, and we got pulled
03:06over in our taxi.
03:09During the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil, Lochte and three fellow U.S. swimmers claimed they'd
03:14been robbed at gunpoint by men with police badges. The story gained massive attention, raising
03:19concerns about safety in Brazil until investigations revealed an entirely different story.
03:23Okay, there was no robbery. There was no pullover. There was nothing.
03:26Drunk, the swimmers had vandalized a gas station and were confronted by security guards. In the
03:31aftermath, Lochte's lie backfired spectacularly, costing him sponsorships and damaging his reputation.
03:36They care a lot about their brands. They're not going to tarnish their brands and allow an
03:42individual to do that. The story is just not a good story.
03:46It's a stunt just as twisted as Jussie Smollett's infamous hoax. Makes you wonder what goes through
03:50someone's mind when crafting such elaborate, self-destructive lies.
03:53Everyone there, they put on a great games, and my immature, intoxicated behavior tarnished
04:05that a little.
04:06Number seven, the Milli Vanilli lip-syncing scandal. In the late 80s and early 90s, Milli Vanilli
04:11topped charts with their catchy songs, even snagging a 1990 Grammy for Best New Artist.
04:15I'm in love with you, girl, cause you're on my mind. You're the one I think about most
04:20every time.
04:21Shockingly, the duo Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus didn't sing a note on their Smash album.
04:26They were just the faces, lip-syncing songs recorded by other vocalists.
04:29Girl, you know it's true.
04:31Oh, oh, oh, I love you.
04:36For a while, the truth remained hidden, but during a live performance, their backing track famously
04:40skipped, marking the beginning of the discovery.
04:46While the crowd didn't pay much attention to it then, the truth came to light when their
04:49manager, Frank Farian, exposed the deception. Their Grammy was revoked, and Milli Vanilli
04:54quickly became a cautionary tale about how even the biggest hits can be built on a lie.
04:58You have to lip-sync in front of a half billion people.
05:01Number six, the Elizabeth Holmes Theranos case.
05:04Elizabeth Holmes went from a self-made billionaire to one of the most disappointing leaders in
05:07business, all because of a lie.
05:09Every time you create something new, there should be questions.
05:13To sell an illusion, Holmes claimed that her blood testing startup could get accurate results
05:16with just a few drops of blood. Experts doubted it, but instead of admitting flaws, Holmes and
05:21team faked results altered demos and misled investors and patients.
05:25When I was there, we could not complete any test accurately on the devices that we were
05:31manufacturing.
05:32For years, Holmes convinced the media, investors, and high-end backers that her technology worked,
05:36keeping the money pouring in. At its peak, Theranos was valued at $9 billion.
05:41You're also lying to the public, you're lying to patients, you're lying to doctors, you're
05:44lying to regulators. Most people would call that fraud as well.
05:48All that came crashing down when the truth was exposed, proving that a lie can only take you
05:52so far. Holmes was later arrested and convicted for her fraudulent actions.
05:56She thought that she couldn't be held accountable, that she thought that she could tell investors
06:01anything, that she could tell institutions and financial agencies whatever she wanted
06:07to and not be held accountable, and that's just false.
06:10Number five, the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.
06:12For most of his cycling years, Lance Armstrong built his success on a lie.
06:16Has Lance Armstrong ever tested positive? No. Has Lance Armstrong been tested? A lot.
06:22The celebrated cancer survivor swore he never used performance-enhancing drugs, but behind
06:26the scenes, he was in fact doping. For over a decade, Armstrong kept up with this lie and
06:30anyone who spoke up, journalists, teammates, was attacked, sued, and discredited.
06:34People have to realize that the truth in all this is hard. Such a huge number of people wanted
06:40to believe so bad that they hated anyone who didn't believe and hated anyone who questioned it.
06:47Then in 2012, US anti-doping gathered damning evidence from former teammates, which was the
06:52beginning of Armstrong's downfall. The proof was so overwhelming, in 2013, Armstrong finally admitted
06:58to cheating in an interview with Oprah Winfrey. Stripped of his titles and banned for life,
07:08he instantly went from hero to fraud. There you have it, another so-called legend who had us all
07:13cheering for a carefully crafted illusion.
07:15People will forgive and forget and move on, or they won't. There'll be plenty of the latter.
07:21Number four, the Enron Accounting Fraud. Founded in 1985, Enron went from a regular natural pipeline
07:27gas company to a corporate giant by the 1990s. Ken Lay started Enron in 1985 as a regional pipeline
07:34operation. He turned it into a trading energy company, buying and selling electricity and natural
07:39gas. On paper, they were a huge Houston energy giant, making billions in dazzling Wall Street.
07:45In reality, they were drowning in debt with unprofitable projects dragging it down.
07:48Instead of coming clean, they cooked up clever accounting tricks. Using special purpose entities,
07:53they hid their debts and kept financial statements looking fantastic.
07:57Traders soon discovered that by shutting down power plants, they could create artificial shortages
08:03that would push prices even higher. In 2001, when scrutiny from analysts and whistleblowers exposed
08:09their deception, it all came crashing down. Enron stock today plummeted, dropping 85% after its last
08:17hope, its credit rating was cut. When the truth came out, stocks collapsed, investors lost huge amounts
08:22of money and employees lost their jobs. The scandal didn't spare those at the top either. Key executives
08:27were disgraced, tried and sent to prison.
08:30It started with a lot of people who thought they were changing the world. And over time,
08:35they became victims of their own hubris, victims of their own greed. And so it's like taking so much
08:40promise and possibility and looking at it in a mirror and seeing the flip side reflected back at you.
08:443. The Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky Affair
08:48In 1998, the White House was rocked by a scandal straight out of a political soap opera.
08:52In Washington this evening, supporters of the president are reeling and his enemies are readying
08:57to pounce. The then president of the United States was accused of having an affair with intern Monica
09:02Lewinsky. As the rumors caught fire, Bill Clinton didn't just deny them. He looked straight into the
09:06camera and said he never had any sexual relations with Lewinsky. I did not have sexual relations with
09:13that woman, Ms. Lewinsky. It might have ended there had investigators not gotten hold of Lewinsky's dress
09:19stained and containing traces of Clinton's DNA. At this point, the truth was undeniable. Clinton
09:24later admitted to the affair he'd so vehemently deny.
09:27Indeed, I did have a relationship with Ms. Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong.
09:33Congress moved to impeach him for perjury and obstruction of justice. Though he wasn't removed
09:37from office, the scandal left a lasting dent on his public image.
09:40I want the American people to know today that I am still committed
09:44to working with people of good faith and goodwill of both parties to do what's best for our country.
09:51Number two, the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. Bernie Madoff's name is forever linked to one of the
09:55largest Ponzi schemes. As we know that markets go up and down. And his only went up. He had very few
10:01down months. Only four percent of the months were down months. And that would be equivalent to a
10:06baseball player in the major leagues batting 960 for a year. Clearly impossible. You would suspect
10:12cheating immediately. Maybe he was just good. No one's that good. Before the scandal, Madoff
10:17was a respected stockbroker and even chaired Nasdaq in the 1990s. He attracted wealthy clients,
10:22big institutions, and charities with the promise of high returns even during market downturns.
10:28It seemed too good to be true, yet people trusted him. And I think probably the thing that tears me up
10:33more than anything is the fact that I recommended Madoff to a number of people. In reality,
10:40Madoff wasn't investing a dime. Rather, he was paying earlier investors with new investors funds,
10:45creating an illusion of success. When the 2008 financial crisis triggered massive withdrawals,
10:50he couldn't keep up exposing the fraud.
10:52You know, I knew absolutely nothing about this before my father shared the information with me,
10:59and it was the most shocking and terrible moment of my life.
11:02Madoff eventually confessed to his sons who turned him in. In 2009, he was sentenced to 150 years in prison,
11:08a lasting symbol of greed, deception, and shattered trust.
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11:271. The Watergate Scandal Back in 1972, when President
11:31Richard Nixon was running for re-election, five men were caught breaking into the Democratic
11:35Party's headquarters at Washington. You found the door taped once, and you took the tape off,
11:40and then you found it taped a second time. It was something that told me that you should check,
11:46not only check the door, but you should call the police. At first, it looked like a small-time
11:50robbery, but these guys were no ordinary burglars. They were there to install listening devices.
11:55Then reporters uncovered a shocking link. They were tied to Nixon's re-election committee.
12:00The $25,000 check linked contributions to President Nixon's re-election campaign
12:07to the slush fund used to pay the burglars who broke into the Watergate office complex.
12:12Nixon denied any Oval Office involvement, yet behind the scenes, he pressured the FBI to back
12:17off the case. The cover-up unraveled when it was revealed that he'd recorded his own conversation in
12:22the Oval Office. But it seems clear already that President Nixon's fight to avoid impeachment in
12:26the House is dead, and his chances to survive a Senate trial are increasingly uncertain.
12:32Caught red-handed, Nixon resigned before he could be impeached,
12:35becoming the first U.S. President to do so. Talk about a true political thriller.
12:40Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.
12:45Who is the biggest liar of them all? Let us know in the comments section.
12:48May God's grace be with you in all the days ahead.
12:56May God's grace be with you.
13:05I didn't email you.
13:17Do you know what I have done?
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