Louisiana has three people on Forbes' new list of America's richest people

Rich
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Forbes today released its annual list of wealthiest people in the U.S.

Todd Graves is the richest person in Louisiana.

Graves
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Forbes says he is worth $9.5 billion.

"Todd Graves is founder and CEO of fried chicken fast food chain Raising Cane's. Graves came up with the concept for a restaurant serving only chicken finger meals while in college."

The publications says a professor gave his idea the lowest grade in the class and he couldn't get bank financing, so he worked as a boilermaker and salmon fisher to save up money to start the business.

"He launched Raising Cane's in 1996, using his savings and an SBA loan. It's now a fast-growing, $3.7 billion (sales) business serving chicken fingers across some 800 locations in more than 40 states."

The second wealthiest person from Louisiana is William Goldring.  He's worth an estimated $7 billion.

William Goldring
Photo credit New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation

"William Goldring's Sazerac Company owns some 500 alcohol brands and a dozen distilleries in the U.S., Canada, France, Ireland and India," according to Forbes.

One more person from Louisiana made the list of the 400 richest people in America.

Gayle Benson owns the NFL New Orleans Saints and NBA New Orleans Pelicans.

Benson
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Forbes says she is worth $6.6 billion.

She inherited both teams from her late husband, Tom Benson when he died in 2018.

She also has interests in horse racing, car dealerships and more.

The top five in America are Elon Musk at $244 B, Jeff Bezos at $197 B, Mark Zuckerberg at $181 B, Larry Ellison $175 B, and Warren Buffett at $150 B.

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