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Theodore Wheeler made his first million before his twenty-fifth birthday, buying and selling soybean futures. He made his second million in real estate, as well as his tenth and his hundredth. By the time he turned thirty-three, his e-commerce company, hedge fund portfolio, and cryptocurrency speculation had made him the seventeenth richest man in America.
During this extended boom, he managed to escape the insider trading accusation by accepting a paltry, off-the-record, no-liability-attached settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Whispers of fraudulent valuation and-off-the-books compensation schemes had never been proven, despite multiple IRS audits. No matter its rather exorbitant “overhead costs,” his charitable foundation was well-regarded. On paper, at l
