The mass layoffs at his companies earned him the nicknames "Chainsaw Al"[4] and "Rambo in Pinstripes", after he posed for a photo wearing an ammo belt across his chest.

[5] It was later discovered that his reputed turnarounds were elaborate frauds and his career was ended after he engineered a massive accounting scandal at Sunbeam Products, now a division of Newell Brands, that forced the company into bankruptcy.

[2] He then served in the United States Army for three years, qualifying as a paratrooper and being posted at a nuclear missile site.

Dunlap never mentioned Nitec on his resume, and the scandal was not widely known until reported by The New York Times after the revelation of his dishonesty at Sunbeam.

[19] In 1995, he sold Scott Paper to Kimberly-Clark for $9 billion, making $100 million from the deal via stock options and the appreciation of his holdings.

[23][24] Industry insiders became suspicious when they discovered certain seasonal items were being sold at higher volume than normal for the time of year.

Many shareholders felt they had been tricked into buying stock that was worth far less than it actually was, and they filed a class action lawsuit against Dunlap and Sunbeam.

"[2] In the second quarter of 1998, the Sunbeam board of directors investigated aggressive accounting practices and extreme discounting, carried out at the direction of Dunlap.

Dunlap's search for a buyer for Sunbeam in 1997 was timed so that the huge inventory-related losses would come to light after the sale had closed.

[25] As the fraud was further uncovered in late 1998, Sunbeam was forced a number of times to restate financial results dating back to 1996.

[29] An SEC investigation revealed that Dunlap and others had created the impression of a greater loss in 1996 in order to make it look like the company had experienced a dramatic turnaround in 1997.

Although he did not admit or deny wrongdoing, he agreed to pay a $500,000 fine and accepted a lifetime ban from serving as an officer or director of a public company.

[20][31] The United States Department of Justice investigated Sunbeam's management during Dunlap's tenure but ultimately did not file any charges.

[33] A 1999 BBC documentary film called The Mayfair Set, about business titans in Britain, prominently featured Dunlap.

The comic book is a collaboration between a cartoonist and a finance columnist, which casts Wall Street executives and traders as heroes and villains.