Marcial Maciel started and controlled the Legion of Christ. Right wingers loved them. Pope John Paul II protected them. At its peak, they had a fortune of $33 billion.
Macial was addicted to morphine, sexually abused seminarians, fathered children by two wives. The order has been smashed (finally) and it now appears it was buying the silence of Vatican cardinals by paying them off in cash.
This multiple rapist and bigamist essentially got away with his crimes because he bought silence from key Vatican officials, at the very least by ingratiating himself by donating huge amounts to the church and at the very most by directly bribing key officials with envelopes stuffed with cash.