Robert Morris (the financier of the Revolution) is probably the most famous case. He financed many privateering missions. Morris also controlled much of the grain supply in America at the time, and was accused of hoarding grain to wait until he could sell it to the arriving French armies (who had specie - hard coin) instead of selling it to Americans who only had (increasingly worthless) paper money.

Gouveneur Morris, who became a Senator, also was famous for his involvement of privateering.

Many of the Founding Fathers invested in privateering and made money off of it. The states often gave bounties for British prizes captured by these privateers - usually the privateers got a cut of the proceeds of the sale of the prizes.

Thousands of Americans fought as privateers - dwarfing enlistment in the Navy by more than ten to one. John Adams complained that Massachusetts couldn’t fill its quotas for troop enlistments because so many of its young men were privateers.

The Assumption of the States Debts during Washington’s administration also made many men rich. After the Revolutionary War the US owed ~75 million dollars in debts accrued during the fighting. To put this in context, the federal revenue during the first year of the federal government was ~2 million dollars. During the war, massive amounts of “IOUs” were given out to small businesses for supplies provided to the Continental Army. After the war, these “IOUs” were seen to be almost worthless, nobody was repaying them, and desperate farmers and tradesmen were selling theirs to speculators who bought them for pennies on the dollar. When Washington’s administration (under Hamilton’s plan) validated them and paid them in full, these speculators got rich and the original holders of the debt saw nothing. It was a major political issue of the early 1790s.

Citations:

Founders and Finance: by Thomas McCraw Founding Finance: by William Hogeland Warhogs - a History of War Profits in America: by Stuart Brandes