German immigrant John Jacob Astor was the first multimillionaire in the United States, and his descendants would go on to play prominent roles in the country's history -- but how exactly did he get this enormous fortune? According to the official story, he started off in the fur trade and later expanded into real estate. Yet for more than a century people rumors about the real origin of Astor's wealth have been floating around the fringes of conversation -- what if he wasn't a legitimate businessman in the beginning, but instead engaged in less savory endeavors? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers