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John E. du Pont

Great-great grandson of E.I. du Pont, John E. du Pont possesses a net worth probably around $250M. A trained ornithologist, du Pont discovered and named two dozen new species of birds and wrote numerous articles of scholarship on the subject.

He is, however, insane. After the death of his mother (with whom he lived most of his first 50 years), Du Pont converted his 800 acre Foxcatcher into a wrestling "training compound", complete with 14,400 square foot training facility costing over half a million dollars. He became the primary benefactor to the sport of amateur wrestling in the entire United States.

A gun enthusiast, du Pont opened a firing range at Foxcatcher, which he named the J. Edgar Hoover Pistol Training Center.

Du Pont really, umm, liked young male athletes.

Evidence of gayness is circumstantial but compelling. Wrestling coach Richard Deschatelets: "Nobody would say out in the open that Du Pont's a homosexual, even though that's [what] just about everybody figured out just [by] the way he handled things." Ron Good, editor, Amateur Wrestling News: "I think that Du Pont was most likely a gay person, and he certainly would make attempts to do whatever he wanted to do with the wrestlers that he had in there."

Former employee Andy Metzger sued du Pont for $555k, claiming the millionaire had made homosexual advances at him, and then was subsequently fired. The suit was settled out of court, though it is not known if Metzger took up du Pont's offer of a wrestling match to determine the outcome.

Du Pont perfected an (illegal) wrestling move, the Foxcatcher Five, in which the opponent's testicles are cupped not-so-gently. He particularly enjoyed using the innovative move on the Foxcatcher newbies.

We don't know why, but Du Pont shot Olympic wrestler David Schultz as the wrestler was fixing his car radio. The exchange went something like this:

Schultz: "Hey Coach."
Du Pont: "You got a problem with me?"
Du Pont shoots Schultz in the arm.
Du Pont shoots Schultz in the chest. Schultz's wife peeks out the door.
Du Pont delivers the coup de grace with another shot to the chest.
A two day police standoff followed, SWAT teams biding their time under the assumption that madman du Pont possessed an arsenal. During trial, the defense claimed du Pont "fell into the abyss of insanity." A jury found him guilty of third degree murder, and the state of Delaware forced du Pont to pay $742,107 reimbursement for the trial.

Timeline

c. 1939 John Eleuthere du Pont born.
1965 B.S. Zoology, University of Miami.
1980 Buys the rarest stamp in the world, the British Guiana 1856 Penny Magenta, anonymously at auction for $935,000.
Sep 1983 Marries occupational therapist Gale Wenk. At one point he accused her of being a Soviet spy at gunpoint.
Feb 1984 Points a pistol at wife Gale, stating "You know what they do with Russian spies? They shoot them."
1985 Du Pont and Gale Wenk divorce.
1985 Estimated net worth, $45M.
1988 Andre Metzger files a complaint that du Pont made homosexual advances at him.
5 Aug 1988 Villanova University shuts its du Pont-funded wrestling program.
9 Aug 1988 Mother, Jean Liseter Austin du Pont, dies at age 91. Du Pont shows up at her funeral in a track suit, late.
Mar 1995 Dismisses three black wrestlers, telling them Foxcatcher was now a "KKK organization."
Oct 1995 Wrestler Dan Chaid contacts the police after he witnesses John du Pont intoxicated and rambling about with a machine gun on the Foxcatcher estate. Police did nothing.
26 Jan 1996 John du Pont kills Olympic wrestler David Schultz.
28 Jan 1996 John du Pont taken into custody after a two day standoff with SWAT teams.
26 Feb 1997 John du Pont, whom District Attorney Patrick Meehan described as "the wealthiest murder defendant in the history of the United States", convicted of third degree murder.
1999 Wrongful death suit settled with Schultz's wife, for $35M.


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