The ORTEGA EMPIRE

As the clothing chain Zara proliferated around the world in the early 1990s, the company’s founder, Amancio Ortega, remained all but invisible. He had never been photographed or interviewed by any major media outlet, and some observers speculated that the mysterious-seeming Ortega might actually be in business with some less-than-savory characters

“They couldn’t understand how he could do it,” a personal adviser to Ortega told the in a 2012 interview. According to the Spanish newspaper the rumor made its way to then Catalan president Jordi Pujol, who reportedly summoned Ortega to his office for an explanation. Ortega, who is still extremely publicity-averse—he has never granted a formal interview in his life, according to his communications team, and did not respond to requests for comment on this article— didn’t become the second-richest man in the world, behind only Bill Gates, with any help from the criminal underground.