Co-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, he invested $20 million to help Mario Lemieux save the team from bankruptcy.
Raffaello Follieri plead guilty in September 2008 to misappropriating $50 million of Burkle's and other investors' money in a Ponzi scheme involving properties owned by the Catholic Church. The FBI says that Follieri may have defrauded investors of as much as $100 million.
Longtime Democratic Party supporter, his company employs Bill Clinton to help identify investment opportunities.