Clifford Irving
Clifford Michael Irving (born November 5, 1930) is an American investigative reporter and novelist who has written and published twenty books under his own name. He is best known for a fictional "autobiography" of Howard Hughes in the early 1970s. After Hughes denounced him and sued the publisher, McGraw-Hill, Irving confessed the hoax and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison, of which he served 17 months. Clifford's 1981 book titled The Hoax is the author's version of events surround the fake autobiography. The book was made into a 2006 film of the same name starring Richard Gere as Clifford. Clifford is most active now as an author of electronic books available via Kindle and Nook.