8. Jean Fleury
Mentions – 1
Wealth – 5 ($31.5 million)
Total – 6 points
While Jean Fleury isn’t that well known of a name, his feat surely is. Back in the 1500s, when Cortes reached Mexico managing to decimate the Aztecs in the process by bringing smallpox on his ships, Fleury was at sea, looking for loot. Lo and behold, came Cortes’ ships full of Aztec gold, ready for the taking. Well, not that “ready” per se, since there were fights, but you get the point. Fleury managed to steal 2 out of 3 treasure ship from the fleet, making tens of millions of dollars in gold.
Along with the gold came heaps of jade, jewelry, emeralds, pearls, work of art and more, which were taken to King Francis I.
