Originally Posted by
llozymandias
I imagine that Lex's fortune would have several legal & quasi-legal sources. His inventions, both the patented ones & the secret ones. For example: Lexoil is earth's largest energy company. On the one hand he uses patented tech to enable him to use oil wells that were previously "tapped out". Otoh he uses a secret instant synthetic oil process to insure that Lexoil always has the biggest market share ever. As well as keep the world market price for oil so low, that next to nobody could afford to compete with him.