Cheaters who almost got away with it
Most cheating scandals involve a small-time scammer or someone stepping out on a spouse. But these folks? Their deceptions go above and beyond; many lied for years before finally being exposed.
Take this story, which, at first, seemed straight out of a fairy tale: Gorgeous young Brandi Weaver-Gates, 23, wins a Pennsylvania beauty pageant while fighting leukemia.
...Except that one of the things in that last sentence isn't true.
PA beauty queen: De-throned
In August 2014, Pennsylvania state police accused Weaver-Gates of faking her cancer so that she could raise thousands of dollars in sympathy money. Police say Weaver-Gates even shaved her head and made family members sit for ours in hospital waiting rooms while she pretended to have treatments.
She's been charged with two criminal counts, and been stripped of her beauty queen title.
Tiger Woods: Many mistresses
In the winter of 2009, Tiger Woods found himself at the epicenter of a scandal so big it dragged out for months. The reason: Girlfriends. Lots and lots of them.
One of those alleged lovers: New York night club hostess Rachel Uchitel. The National Enquirer published a story alleging that the married Woods had been seeing her, though she denied the story. Eventually, Uchitel agreed to a press conference telling her side of the story, but canceled at the last minute because of "unforeseen circumstances."
Tiger Woods: Catting around
Complicating things: Woods's Swedish ex-model wife, Elin Nordegren, whose intriguing use of a golf club spurred the entire media circus.
Tiger Woods: That fateful night
The scandal first broke after a report that Woods had been seriously injured in a car accident on his own property. According to the stories, Nordegren rescued her husband by using a golf club to break the back window of his Escalade.
Over the next several months, a new theory emerged about why Nordegren pummeled her husband's car with a golf club, as more than a dozen women came out claiming they had extramarital affairs with Woods.
Tiger Woods: And more mistresses
Porn star and escort Devon James said she had a two-and-a-half year affair with the golf great. According to the website of radio show Bubba the Love Sponge, Devon James phoned the Florida show in March of 2010 to spill the details.
Tiger Woods: "I cheated"
"I had affairs," Woods finally told the media in a tightly controlled press conference in 2010. "I cheated."
Nordegren was not at the press conference; she and Woods have since divorced.
Wal-Mart heiress: Now that's outsourcing
In 2004, Wal-Mart heiress Elizabeth Paige Laurie had it all, including a fresh degree in communications from the University of Southern California.
That is, until a fellow student came forward with a shocking allegation.
Wal-Mart heiress: School of lies
Another USC student, Elena Martinez, told ABC that she had written term papers and covered other assignments for Laurie for nearly all of the heiress's four-year college career. Martinez even allegedly corresponded with professors on Laurie's behalf.
The revelation would force her father, Bill, to go through a mortifying experience as well.
Wal-Mart heiress: Bye bye, Paige Arena
Laurie voluntarily surrendered her degree. But that wasn't all she had to give up. That year, Laurie's parents had paid $25 million to help build a sports arena in Missouri, naming it Paige Sports Arena in her honor.
After the scandal broke, though, the building's name was quickly changed to the Mizzou Arena.
Cancer doctor: Bad medicine
Dr. Farid Fata, a Detroit-area cancer specialist, told 550 of his patients that they had cancer.
Except they didn't.
He was sentenced to 45 years in prison for reportedly collecting millions of dollars from insurance companies for excessive, unnecessary chemotherapy. In doing so, he wrecked hundreds of people's health, leaving them with brittle bones and fried organs because of his own greed.
Ashley Madison: Famous fallout
The 2015 hacking of Ashley Madison, a website designed to facilitate extramarital affairs, would end up having huge consequences, particularly for a certain married man who had built a public brand around faith and fidelity.
Josh Duggar: Lies of biblical proportions
As a member of the ultra-religious, reality-TV-savvy Duggar family, Josh Duggar enjoyed a lot of fame. He also generated a deep level of respect among the Christian Right for his conservative, family-friendly brand of political activism.
With wife Anna by his side and two cute kids, Duggar seemed to have it all.
Josh Duggar: Double deception
In May 2015, InTouch magazine reported that Duggar had molested his sisters as a teen. Duggar's parents, Jim Bob and Michelle, later revealed that their oldest son had "improperly touched some of our daughters" at least three times.
Duggar eventually apologized for the "wrongdoing" and also resigned from his high-profile job with the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council in Washington.
But still more revelations about his personal life were about to break big.
Josh Duggar: 19 Lies and Counting
In August 2015, Duggar confessed to cheating on his wife after hackers exposed his personal account on Ashley Madison.
Calling himself "the biggest hypocrite ever," Duggar stated: "While espousing faith and family values, I have been unfaithful to my wife. I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him."
India's schools: What would you do?
In India, competition can be strong among students.
But one school in the state of Bihar took that spirit of competition to whole new lengths ...
India's schools: Cheating en masse
In March 2015, photographers caught dozens of adults climbing the walls of a school in the Indian state of Bihar, hoping to hand off year-end test answers to the 10th-graders there. At least 600 students were later expelled, and about 300 people were arrested in connection with the scandal.
Reporters even said they saw police posted outside test centers being bribed to look the other way.
Bill Clinton: Affair that rocked the nation
Back in 1995, 49-year-old Bill Clinton was president, and Monica Lewinsky, 22, was just another White House intern.
That unknown status didn't last long for her.
Bill Clinton: "That woman"
In January 1998, the Drudge Report broke big news: Clinton had carried on an affair with Lewinsky. The president first denied having "sexual relations with that woman," but in August changed his story, saying he and Lewinsky had "improper physical relationship."
Bill Clinton: Major fallout
The news may have ended there, if not for a complication: At the time, Clinton was the target of a sexual harassment lawsuit by former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones. In response to that suit, Clinton had stated that he'd never had sex with Lewinsky. In December, Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Two other impeachment articles failed in the House.
He was acquitted of both charges the following year.
Bill Clinton: Monica's side
Eventually, Lewinsky saw herself through the political and media storm. She has come out against cyberbullying, describing herself as "patient zero" of online harassment, and calling for a more compassionate Internet community.
Kristen Stewart: Affair in the glare
In the early 2010s, no couple was hotter than the co-stars of the Twilight film series, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, who had fallen in love while playing an on-screen couple.
Kristen Stewart: Affair with her director
In 2012, a paparazzo snapped Stewart kissing Rupert Sanders, the director of her latest film, Snow White and the Huntsman. The two were embracing in broad daylight, by the side of a road.
Kristen Stewart: "I love him, I love him"
The day the scandal broke, Stewart issued an emotional public apology: "This momentary indiscretion has jeopardized the most important thing in my life, the person I love and respect the most, Rob. I love him, I love him, I'm so sorry."
The couple eventually split.
Kristen Stewart: More ripples
Five months after news of the affair broke, Sanders's wife, Liberty Ross, filed for divorce. She had been married to Sanders for more than nine years.
Lance Armstrong: Not so strong
There's nothing quite so fulfilling for a cyclist than winning the Tour de France seven times in a row... unless you count the lucrative endorsements that star athlete Lance Armstrong got from entities like the U.S. Postal service along with those titles.
Skeptics thought their was something that rang somewhat less than true about his athletic performance. And as it turns out, there was.
Lance Armstrong: Doping revealed
For years, Armstrong denied using performance-enhancing drugs to boost his speed and endurance.
In 2012, the United States Anti-Doping Agency put out a damning report accusing Armstrong of using blood-boosters and steroids. Armstrong was stripped of all seven of his Tour de France wins.
Lance Armstrong: No more titles
Armstrong eventually came clean in a 2013 interview with Oprah Winfrey, admitting that performance-enhancing drugs aided in all of his Tour de France victories.
Lance Armstrong: Live strong, fall strong
Armstrong described himself as "a guy who expected to get whatever he wanted, and to control every outcome." He was stripped of all seven titles.
The size and scope of his deception was massive, but it almost seems small in comparison to an entire basketball team cheating...
Spanish basketball: Olympic-sized deception
The world cheered for the Spanish basketball team after it took home gold at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney.
All was well...until a team member revealed that he wasn't who he'd pretended to be.
Spanish basketball: Fool's gold
Turns out, 10 of the team's 12 members had none of the mental disabilities initially claimed by Spain's governing body for Paralympic athletes. And one of those 10 perfectly mentally fit men was also a journalist working undercover.
Fernando Martin Vicente, the vice president of Spain's Paralympic committee, eventually broke down and took responsibility for the deception. As a result, the team was stripped of all its intellectual disability basketball gold medals.
Bernie Madoff: Stealing from stars
You know you're doing something right as a celebrity money manager when you have clients such as Steven Spielberg, Kevin Bacon and John Malkovich.
That is, unless your name is Bernie Madoff, and you're actually doing something very, very wrong.
Bernie Madoff: Ponzi king
After the Madoff investment scandal broke in December 2008, clients learned they'd been roped into a $64.8 billion Ponzi scheme. One investment group, Fairfield Greenwich, lost $7.5 billion alone.
Bernie Madoff: Life savings lost
After the scandal broke, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and wife Marion said they lost their life savings.
Malkovich said Madoff owed him an estimated $2.2 million. But the trustee overseeing Madoff's bankruptcy said the actor would get back only the $670,000 that he initially invested.
Eventually Madoff admitted to the scheme, which has been called the largest in history. Madoff pled guilty to 11 federal crimes and was sentenced to 150 years in prison. Afterward, Madoff's son, who alerted the authorities to his father's scheme, committed suicide.