Alessandro Cagliostro (real name Giuseppe Balsamo) who claimed to be a count. Billie Sol Estes, a famous Texas conman. Gustavus Katterfelto a Prussian conjurer who used a solar microscope which he claimed could detect disease.[5] Bernard Madoff, an American stockbroker who ran the world's largest Ponzi scheme, defrauding investors out of $18 billion.