Hoaxer Clifford Irving

A hoaxer who was in it for the cash was Clifford Irving, author of a bogus autobiography of reclusive billionaire businessman/engineer/movie producer Howard Hughes.

Hughes' long-standing status as a recluse was what made this 1971 hoax possible. Irving and his co-hoaxer, Richard Suskind, bet that Hughes' desire to avoid contact with the world would keep him from exposing the hoax. They bet wrong.

Publisher McGraw-Hill, after handwriting "experts" authenticated Irving's bogus Hughes letters, coughed up a large advance. Life magazine paid additional money to publish excerpts from the book. Irving claimed that he and Hughes had met many times in the Bahamas and Mexico to discuss the book.

In 1972, Hughes came out of seclusion by holding a phone conference call with a number of journalists, telling them that the "autobiography" was a fraud.

Irving and his wife Edith, who had participated in the hoax, eventually confessed. Found guilty, they were required to return the advance royalties. Irving was sentenced to 17 months, Suskind to six months, Edith to two months. Since his release from prison, Irving has made his living as a writer.