I'm increasingly convinced that being rich in general seems to be toxic for the soul. I went to a university that tends to draw a lot of rich and influential people, and I have a striking memory of talking to a posh girl at a party once. She was deeply lonely, and lamented that all of the people in her "social class" were assholes, but they also felt like the only safe people to be close to, because everyone else were suckups and sycophants. I got the sense that she was someone super important, but that the conversation was only happening because I had no idea who she was (I wouldn't be surprised if she was a princess or something).

I'm also reminded of an article by Abigail Disney a while back, that explained how the rich are taught from a young age that they must protect their dynastic wealth. It's quite a tragic thought to me, as someone who grew up in poverty, that even the rich seem to live their lives subordinate to money.

It's "charlatans", but hard agree.

Sycophant is probably another good word https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/sycophant