Illinois’ fortunate 13

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Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of the hedge fund Citadel, again leads the Illinois contingent on the Forbes 400 list. | Sun-Times files

Thirteen Illinois residents made the cut this year for the Forbes 400, a list of the country’s wealthiest people.

Ken Griffin continued to lead the Land of Lincoln’s delegation. Griffin, CEO of the hedge fund Citadel, ranked 45th — up seven places from last year — with a net worth of $10 billion.

Illinois placed 14 people on the 2017 list. Missing this time is Rishi Shah, a founder and former executive of Outcome Health. Shah ranked 206th last year, with an estimated fortune of $3.6 billion. Last year, investors accused Outcome Health, which installed TVs to display advertising in doctors’ offices and hospitals, of misleading investors and customers about the company’s performance.

Most of the 13 saw their fortunes increase from last year. Net worths decreased for three people: Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker, Beanie Babies magnate Ty Warner and poultry processor Joseph Grendys.

Overall, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos took over the No. 1 spot on the Forbers list from Bill Gates, who had led the list for 24 years. The magazine estimates Bezos’ fortune at $160 billion. Second was Bill Gates with $97 billion, followed by Warren Buffett with $88.3 billion.

Forbes said the cutoff for the list was $2.1 billion, an all-time high. The average net worth for the Forbes 400 was $7.2 billlion.

Here are the Illinois residents who made the list:

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