43 Times People Accidentally Discovered Loopholes That They Used The Hell Out Of

Finding a loophole - and using it - doesn't always mean cheating. In fact, the very definition of "loophole," according to Investopedia, is "a technicality that allows a person or business to avoid the scope of a law or restriction without directly violating the law."

It's about playing the game and playing it well. Not just thinking outside the box. But completely redefining it. You can admire their brilliance or be shocked by their boldness. At the end of the day, these people found a genius hack that nobody else saw coming. And they ran with it.

Sometimes it's something small, like a free candy bar or saving $2 on parking. But other times, exploiting a loophole has managed to save people thousands, if not millions, and even help others evade jail, or spend less time behind bars.

Take Romania, for example. Under that country's earlier law, prisoners could shave 30 days off their jail terms for every book of scientific value that they published. And as the Guardian reported back in 2016, white-collar criminals were taking full advantage.

"While in prison for graft offences, politicians and businessmen in particular are churning out papers in order to take advantage of the loophole, with little in the way of checks to confirm the value or even originality of the works produced," reported the Guardian at the time.

The outlet added that many of the prisoners' books were believed to be written by ghostwriters, or heavily guided by outside research assistants. The text was allegedly then passed to the convicts to handwrite, essentially helping them not do all of the time for their crime.

This loophole made international news headlines but was later suspended by the government.

Look no further than Wall Street for a tried-and-tested way to beat the system and save big bucks.

"A prime example is the carried interest provision that allows private equity managers, venture capital investors, hedge fund managers, and real estate investors to pay a capital gains tax rate (presently 20%) instead of the higher ordinary income tax rate on the income earned from their day-to-day work activity," explains Investopedia.

The site adds that this very loophole has saved hundreds of millions in taxes for financiers such as Stephen Schwarzman and others like him.

"A person or company utilizing a loophole isn't considered to be breaking the law but circumventing it in a way that was not intended by the regulators or legislators that put the law or restriction into place," notes the site.

And the reason they're even able to do this is often because those who originally drafted the law or made the rules didn't go through them with a fine-tooth comb and allowed something to slip through the cracks. Although sometimes, loopholes were purposely placed there.

It just took a cunning and clever figure to spot them and strike with sheer audacity.