Image: Stock Pick Systems

15. Kathleen Corbit

Image: Time

Corbit ran Standard & Poor’s, one of the largest loan rating agencies, for over a decade. She was directly involved in providing excellent ratings to the riskiest loan pools, which would lure in investors to load on collateralized debt obligations that would eventually be unviable. The scam was eventually brought to light but, by that point, the damage was done and the 2008 financial crash already was in full swing.