We all know and love Al Pacino for more than one reason. His career started in the mid-20th Century and has extended to these days, allowing us to see him play legendary roles in awarded movies such as “Scarface” and “The Godfather”.
Al’s title as one of the most influential actors of our days isn’t to be taken lightly, as he has one Academy Award and several other important recognitions to his name. Due to this, it’s only expected that he will have a bank account as impressive as his career, though this wasn’t exactly true for a long time, not even at the peak of his career.
So, how did Al Pacino go from starring in unforgettable movies to being broke? Did his convicted accountant play a big role in his financial demise, or was it Al’s overboard lifestyle which led him to this? Keep with us to find out!
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Did Al Pacino Lose His Fortune?
Al Pacino hasn’t lost all his fortune, but there’s a lot to untangle when it comes to the fall in his well-earned millions, including falling prey to a fraudulent financial advisor, and also making terrible financial decisions throughout his career.
Let’s start with how Al’s former accountant, a Bronx-born man named Kenneth Ira Starr, stole millions from him. The man worked for the actor as an accountant and financial advisor from the 1990s to the 2010s, and during this time, made millions from misappropriating big-pocket Hollywood people’s money to sustain shell companies and shady co-investors.
Not many people were suspicious of Kenneth’s fraudulent affairs, including Al Pacino. The actor was none the wiser about his falling fortune until the late 2010,s when he found it strange that after going on an international and highly luxurious trip with family and friends, his fortune didn’t show the aftermath.
As Al recalled in his 2024 memoir “Sonny Boy”, it was right at that moment that he suspected he was broke, confirming his theory once he found out that his net worth wasn’t $50 million as he believed, but much less. He owned properties but didn’t have much cash, which was terrible for a person who had to sustain a top lifestyle and so pay high bills.
What Did His Accountant Do?
The scheme in which Kenneth I. Starr took millions away from his once-wide repertoire of celebrities is complex, but fitting of a Hollywood tale. As Vanity Fair reported in depth in August 2010, Kenneth was a man who presented himself to be trustworthy and reliable, more often than not turning his friendships into business opportunities, with most of his clients being actors, writers, directors and socialités, as well as a wide range of people who were prone to not knowing how to manage their fortunes alone.
That opened a big window for him to take other people’s money, under the promise to double it in private funds and similar investments. However, the money was instead put in shell companies connected to him, low-key building a Ponzi Scheme which escaped everyone’s attention for a long time, including Kenneth’s more financially wise acquaintances.
While Kenneth’s charms and financial jargon convinced many people for years, it wasn’t enough to cover all the lies. Besides Al Pacino, many others intentionally and unintentionally discovered his scheme and sued, such as director Martin Scorsese and writer Jane Staton Hitchcock.
According to the New York Times, Kenneth stole over $59 million and counting from his formerly blindsided clients, and while that doesn’t compare to the billionaire schemes which had been uncovered in the business world in the last two decades, the case was shocking for how many big names it affected.
Other Unfortunate Decisions
Many assume that having a brilliant acting career also means continuous financial stability, but that isn’t the case for Al Pacino. Besides the hard hit to his finances that finding out that his once-trusted accountant had defrauded him of millions, Al’s lifestyle got out of his hands, as admitted himself.
As he recalled in his memoir “Sonny Boy”, Al’s lifestyle has widely consisted of him spending almost everything to maintain his high status while getting paid far less than that. One of his earliest big screen roles was as Michael Corleone in “The Godfather”, but what was a big stepping stone in his career didn’t mean the same in financial terms; as Al affirmed, he ended up ‘owing’ money, as his salary went to his agents and a manager instead.
Al still did his best to maintain the facade, even if that meant living off his former actress girlfriend Jill Clayburgh at some point. His declining financial situation led Al to reprise his role in “The Godfather” twice, despite the panning criticism that the third movie received.
While Al’s career eventually stabilized, and he was able to build a fortune, his spending habits and the big staff who took care of him just kept increasing. As he recalls, he paid a landscaper $400,000 a year, while having less than promising salary offers as an actor.
Coming Back From The Depths
By the time Al Pacino discovered that he’d been scammed by his accountant Kenneth Starr, he had been spending wide and wild on big vacations, paid child support to three children, and had several houses to maintain. That led him to stop his ban on acting in TV ads, and also act as himself in Adam Sandler’s “Jack and Jill”, which was a far cry from the roles he’d taken before that.
When talking about this switch in his career, Al affirmed that his income was good, and he was in a hard place back then, with Kenneth’s Ponzi Scheme still fresh in everyone’s minds. Nonetheless, Al also affirms he considers Sandler a ‘dear friend’ and the job helped him get out of the bad place he had fallen into, regardless of the criticism Al received for his role in the movie.
According to Variety, Al applied the “Jack and Jill” logic to movies such as “88 Minutes” and “Oceans 13”, as his restrictions with work were no longer in place. Prompted by his continued popularity, Al also talked in seminaries and to all types of audiences, slowly but surely making a living out of his appearances.
That said, many of his roles in the 2010s were celebrated by the audience and critics, including his work in “The Irishman” and “Danny Collins”.
What Is Al’s Net Worth Now?
While some sources estimate Al Pacino’s net worth as up to $120 million, the truth is that his “Sonny Boy” revelations make it hard to estimate of his current fortune. It’s also worth noting that the “Scarface”’s residuals are still a constant and considerable income for Al, as Page Six reported in 2024.
Even though Al Pacino has made unfortunate financial decisions and got himself into a tough place, he has done his best to get out of those financial mistakes, to a stable financial position, aided by his still popular acting appreances.
