Harcourt Fenton "Harry" Mudd was a notorious con artist encountered on numerous occasions by the crew of the USS Enterprise.

Mudd the Rogue

Mudd's interstellar exploits began when he deserted his nagging wife, Stella, on Earth sometime in the mid-23rd century, and became a peripatetic grifter who roamed through the galaxy practicing various cons, schemes and scams – not always successfully. By 2266, Mudd had already been convicted of smuggling (receiving a suspended sentence), transporting stolen goods, and purchasing a space vessel using counterfeit currency. For these last two crimes, Mudd was sentenced to undergo psychiatric treatment, the effectiveness of which was officially disputed. He held a Master's License permitting him to legally operate a spacecraft, but this license was revoked on stardate 1116.4 for operating stolen spacecraft and transporting illegal goods.

Mudd's Women

In 2266 Mudd, using the illegal Venus drug, attempted to sell Eve McHuron, Ruth Bonaventure and Magda Kovacs to a group of lithium miners led by Ben Childress on Rigel XII. The drug gave the impression that the three women were beautiful, when in fact they were not. Childress and the other miners married the women anyway, as they were more interested in companionship and the benefits that having three practical, intelligent women around could provide, and the women were happy to escape their previously lonely existence. However, criminal charges were pressed against Mudd for his actions and he spent at least some time in jail.

Mudd and Vulcan

Somehow though, Mudd soon escaped. He then promptly began to sell the plans for alien technologies to various worlds -- without bothering to pay any royalties to the actual off-world patent holders. This ended when an attempt to sell a Vulcan technology to the inhabitants of Deneb V backfired. The transaction was unmasked as a hoax when the Denebians actually contacted Vulcan to ensure that Mudd had the rights to sell the technology in question... which, of course, he didn't.

King Mudd

The penalty for fraud on Deneb V is death. However, Mudd managed to 'borrow' a spaceship and escape before the sentence could be carried out. He ended up fleeing to a previously uncharted planet, one that was populated entirely by androids who were interested in studying Mudd as a specimen of Humanity. This meant that while the androids attended to his every need, and even made him the titular ruler of the planet (later named Mudd in his honor), Mudd was not allowed to leave.

Mudd then attempted to broker a deal where he would be allowed to escape, if he provided the androids with other prime Human specimens to study. Therefore in 2268, Mudd identified the starship Enterprise to the androids as a likely source of exceptional examples of Humanity. Subsequently the android known as Norman, posing as a member of the Enterprise crew, successfully took control of the ship and took it to Planet Mudd. The crew of the Enterprise, however, was able to escape captivity by identifying Norman as the control for all of the planet's androids. The crew proceeded to confuse Norman with illogical behavior, causing him to break down. Mudd was left behind on the planet, with a number of android replicas of his shrill wife Stella for company.

Mudd and a Potion

Eventually, Harry Mudd stole another spaceship and escaped the androids' planet in 2269. He traveled to planet Ilyra VI and "sold" Starfleet Academy to its inhabitants. Mudd then used the proceeds of that con to travel to Sirius IX where he discovered a love potion crystal that he sold to over a thousand of the planet's inhabitants. Unfortunately, the buyers suffered allergic reactions to the crystals, and Mudd was forced to flee to the mining planet Motherlode, where he also tried to sell the love potion drug. Once again, however, he encountered the crew of the Enterprise and was captured by Captain Kirk and Spock.

Mudd was incarcerated in the brig, where he gave the love potion to Nurse Chapel as a gift. She then took the potion to Spock, but found that it did not take effect immediately; as a Vulcan, the effects of the drug took longer. Later, the drug did affect him, and Spock fell in love with Nurse Chapel. Fortunately the drug only had temporary effects. After yet another escape, Harry Mudd was again captured and sentenced to an indefinite period of rehabilitation therapy.