I think the problem with the concept of having "acute business acumen" is that it is basically orthogonal to moral concerns, but there seem to be plenty of people who consider making money using one's business smarts morally good an sich, no matter how ruthless and unethical the means. King Leopold II can certainly be said to have had "acute business acumen"...

Well; they are known for their impeccable execution(s) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Alexander_Litvine...)

By the way; this isn't snark towards Russia but snark against the notion that the threat of violence doesn't play a significant part in the distribution of wealth anymore.

true that. Spending few minutes Googling "aluminum wars." The results are downright scary.

And so did Paris Hilton.

Much as I personally dislike Paris Hilton and the related series of celebrities (the Kardashians come to mind), I have to respect the business acumen.

A lot of people have made sex tapes, some of them professionally, but very few have made that much money from it. Partially that's because they were rich already, and maybe they just had a good manager/marketer/whatever, but they still managed to make a lot of money from something that is not typically well compensated.