Sanjay Kumar, Computer Associates
Sri Lankan–born Sanjay Kumar went to the U.S. as a teenager, his family fleeing ethnic strife back home, and worked his way to the top of the IT industry at a rapid clip. In 2002, Kumar became chairman and CEO of software tech company Computer Associates. For a brief spell, he lived a charmed life, even buying the New York Islanders hockey team alongside his mentor and company partner Charles Wang. But by 2004, Kumar's name was mud. Investigated for cooking the company's books to the tune of some $2.2 billion, he resigned his post. In 2006, he pleaded guilty to securities-fraud charges and was sentenced to 12 years in jail. But he hasn't remained silent — in 2008, he issued a 27-page affidavit claiming that a host of others encouraged or knew of the company's false accounting practices, including Wang and even former U.S. Senator Alphonse D'Amato. A spokesman for the GOP politician dismissed the accusation, saying Kumar "from jail continues to be a stranger from the truth."