In 2021, Joanna Smith-Griffin, founder of an education technology startup, appeared in Forbes “30 under 30” list..

Last month, she was charged with fraud. Prosecutors allege she lied to investors for years about her startup, AllHere Education, and the company received $10 million under false pretenses, according to the indictment.

Related: AI startup CEO on Forbes '30 under 30' list accused of defrauding investors of $10 million

Smith-Griffin has joined the infamous group of “30 Under 30” honorees praised by the public and the media for their early success — before authorities discovered the illegal shortcuts that got them there.

Since 2011, Forbes has used the annual list to celebrate and honor entrepreneurs who have excelled in their fields early in their careers. The company says it thoroughly vets each of its nearly 100,000 nominees each year. Like the Guardian's Betsy Reed endnoteS“The problem here isn't Forbes, the problem is the vision of success we've been sold and the fetishization of youth. 30 Under 30 isn't just a list, it's a mindset: a pressure to achieve great things before. Youth slips away from you. “

So the next time you're feeling discouraged about not reaching your goals by a certain age, remember these 30 under 30 recipients who were honored for their achievements in their youth — but had to borders and cross legal boundaries to get there.

Sam Bankman-Fried

Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was named to the list in 2021 for Finance.

Bankman-Fried started Alameda Research in 2017, and later founded FTX in 2019, which was valued at $32 billion in 2022. But in November of that year, FTX filed for bankruptcy after struggling to raise funds and facing a liquidity crisis, and US prosecutors accused him of fraud. He was arrested in the Bahamas in December 2022 and charged with defrauding investors in a scheme that led to the bankruptcy of his company.

In February, four additional charges were added to his record for conspiring to make more than 300 illegal political donations. Currently, Bankman-Fried is out on bail, living at his parents' house and awaiting trial (which is scheduled for October).

Related: Who is FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried? Everything you need to know about the disgraced crypto king

Elizabeth Holmes

Elizabeth Holmes founded Theranos in 2003, a company that promised revolutionary blood-testing technology and was once hailed as “the world's youngest female billionaire.” The company attracted the attention of investors and high-profile companies (many of whom had not even seen the technology before investing) and established partnerships with major brands such as Safeway and Walgreens.

Holmes was never officially on the 30 Under 30 list, however, she headlined the Under 30 Summit in 2015, where she also Received Under 30 Doers Award for her work in the healthcare industry and the potential impact of her company's technology.

However, just weeks after accepting her Doers Award, Holmes became the subject of an investigation by The Wall Street Journalraising questions about the legitimacy of its technology. What followed was nothing short of one disaster after another: botched lab inspections, a slew of lawsuits, and a memorable $4.5 billion net worth drop to $0 in 2016.

Finally, in 2018, it was discovered that the technology simply didn't work, the company collapsed, and Holmes was charged by the SEC with “mass fraud,” alleging that Holmes had knowingly misled investors and the public.

^{Elizabeth Holmes in 2015. David Paul Morris | Getty Images.}

After nearly a year's delay due to the pandemic, Holmes' trial began in 2021 and she was eventually convicted of four counts of fraud in 2022 and sentenced to 11 years in prison. After a request for a new trial was denied in November 2022, Holmes began her sentence in May 2023. Through it all, Holmes has maintained her innocence. She is currently serving time in prison in Bryan, Texas.

The story of Holmes' deception has been the subject of extensive media coverage, including a 2019 HBO documentary, inventor, and the 2022 Hulu miniseries, Abandonment (for which Amanda Seyfried won an Emmy for her portrayal of the disgraced founder).

Related: I worked side by side with Elizabeth Holmes. She seemed like a visionary, but we were all deceived – and it is a comfort to see justice served.

Charlie Javice

Charlie Javice, known for her college financial planning startup Frank, was indicted in May 2023 on wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy charges. of Javice the alleged crimes focus on exaggerating the value of her startup during its acquisition by JPMorgan Chase in 2021.

Javice was named to the list in 2019 in the Finance category after founding her company Frank, which aimed to help students apply for loans more efficiently.

Prosecutors allege she defrauded the bank by fabricating records and inflating the number of Frank's clients. Javice allegedly asked her director of engineering to create fake data, but when he refused, she hired a data scientist to generate a spreadsheet of millions of fake user accounts for $175. million purchasesand JPMorgan eventually won the application.

However, in November 2022, an internal investigation led to her termination, followed by her arrest in April. In January 2023, JP Morgan Javice sued for defrauding the company. Javice now faces charges of securities fraud, bank fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy. She is currently out on bail and has maintained her not guilty plea.

Martin Skrekli

Martin Shkreli was named to the list in 2012 for Finance. At the time, he was recognized for his work as a hedge fund manager and entrepreneur. Shkreli had gained attention for his success in the biotech industry, particularly his involvement with Retrophin, a pharmaceutical company he founded.

Shkreli went on to co-found several hedge funds and pharmaceutical companies, including Turing Pharmaceuticals, which infamously bought the life-saving antiparasitic and antimalarial drug Daraprim and then raised its price by 5,455% in 2015. The move won Shkreli, the then called “Pharma Bro”, another title: “the the most hated man in america.”

In December 2015, he was arrested on charges of securities fraud and conspiracy. The allegations stemmed from his involvement with two hedge funds, MSMB Capital Management and MSMB Healthcare, as well as Retrophin.

Shkreli was accused of mismanaging funds, using the assets of one of his companies to pay off debts from another, and defrauding investors. The charges involved a scheme in which he illegally used Retrophin's assets to repay investors who had lost money in his hedge funds.

^{Peter Foley | Getty Images}

In 2017, he was convicted of securities fraud and conspiracy, resulting in a seven-year prison sentence and substantial fines.

In 2022, Shkreli was released from prison (about four months early) and is now consulting for a law firm and living with his sister in Queens, New York, according to the US Probation Office.

Related: 'Most Hated Man in America' Where is Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli Now?

Shkreli also gained notoriety in 2015 when he bought the only copy of the Wu-Tang Clan album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, for $2 million at auction. Fans and music industry vets alike criticized the lack of access to such a culturally significant work, exacerbated by Shkreli's decision to keep it as a rare collection with no plans for release.

After his conviction, the album was seized by the government (along with his other possessions) and eventually sold in 2021 as part of the forfeiture process. The sale of the album ends Shkreli's forfeiture payment, and the buyer and price remain confidential.

Brother Okeke

Obinwanne Okeke, an entrepreneur of Nigerian origin, was honored for his achievements in construction, agriculture and real estate. But in 2021, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in a computer-based fraud scheme that caused an estimated $11 million in losses to his victims.

Okeke operated a range of companies – including the Invictus Group, which was the focus of Okeke's 2016 “30 Under 30” title – but ultimately ran various computer-based frauds from 2015 to 2019.

Okeke's scheme involved obtaining credentials from hundreds of victims and engaging in “email compromise.” Through fraudulent wire transfer requests and fake invoices, Okeke and his co-conspirators transferred about $11 million overseas. He also carried out other forms of cyber fraud, including phishing emails and creating fraudulent websites. Okeke is serving his sentence and will be released in 2028.

Nate Paul

In June 2023, Nate Paul, an investor once considered a “real estate mogul,” was unsuspecting on eight felony charges for allegedly making false statements on loan applications that ultimately led to banks lending the investor more than $170 million. According to INDICTMENTin one application, Paul claimed to have an account with $31.6 million in cash, when in reality the account in question had less than $500,000. Paul's alleged violations occurred between March 2017 and April 2018.

in 2016, Paul was appointed on the “30 under 30” list for founding his real estate investment firm.

In November, Paul served a Sentenced to 10 days in prison after being held in contempt of court following allegations of financial mismanagement.

Paul is still facing federal criminal charges of bank fraud.