40. Sun Myung Moon Earnings Go Up To $9 Billion

Ardent anti-communist Korean magnate Sun Myung Moon founded the Unification Church and promoted a political and religious ideology. Moon’s theology combines biblical Christianity, Eastern philosophies, and his “divine revelations”, claiming that Jesus’ work was incomplete because he was crucified before he could marry and have children. Since Jesus failed to create a perfect family, that task fell to the “true parents of all humanity,” a title Moon claimed for himself and his second wife, Hak Ja Han. Moon has been criticized for speaking vehemently against homosexual relationships saying: “What is the meaning of lesbians and homosexuals? That is the place where all different kinds of dung collect. We have to end that behavior.” After his death in 2012 non-profit specialist Rick Cohen reported a lack of transparency concerning the relationships between Moon’s religious and secular activities and projects. According to the report, Moon appointed his own children and in-laws to leadership positions in the church and related businesses, misusing the church for personal gain at the expense of his own followers, and making millions by the selling of objects which were said to cause the liberation of customers’ ancestors from hell. Some of his business include the International News Media Corporation and Tongil Group, a South Korean business group (chaebol), as well as various affiliated organizations.