Enter our main characters: Albert Fall, the Secretary of the Interior, and Harry Sinclair and Edward Doheny, two oil tycoons with deep pockets. These guys were like the Wolf of Wall Street types, always looking for ways to make a quick buck. And, boy, did they find a way to do just that.
So, here's what happened: Fall secretly leased the Teapot Dome oil field to Sinclair and Doheny's companies without bidding - a major no-no. And, in return, they "accidentally" donated a bunch of money to Fall's campaign - wink-wink. It was like a big quid pro quo party, and everyone was invited - except the American people, of course.
But, as the saying goes, "absolute power corrupts absolutely". And, in this case, it was more like "absolute power corrupts absolutely and leads to a huge scandal". The whole thing blew up in 1924 when a whistleblower came forward, and the Senate launched an investigation. It was like a domino effect - once one piece fell, the whole thing came crashing down.
