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Topic: Ponzi scheme

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	Frauds and Scams Introduction \| Crimes of Persuasion - A Resource for Investigators
		Ponzi claimed that this return on investment was possible due to his unique understanding of the international postal reply coupon system; by international agreement, postal reply coupons were recognized by all countries but the cost of these coupons varied dramatically from country to country depending upon their economy.
		The reason that these schemes are illegal is that, as is the case with their pyramid cousin, they are mathematically doomed to collapse.
		A Ponzi Scheme, by definition, is a scheme and artifice to defraud that was insolvent from its inception.
	www.fraudsandscams.com /ponzi.htm (577 words)

	Ponzi scheme - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that involves paying abnormally high returns ("profits") to investors out of the money paid in by subsequent investors, rather than from net revenues generated by any real business.
		Today's schemes are often considerably more sophisticated than Ponzi's (though the underlying formula is often quite similar), but the principle behind every Ponzi scheme is to exploit a lack of judgement based on greed.
		Unlike in a Ponzi scheme, government receipts (taxes) and payouts (entitlements) can be calculated quite accurately in the short term (five to ten years), and predicted (with a range of assumptions) for periods beyond that timeframe.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Ponzi_scheme (2082 words)

	Charles Ponzi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Ponzi ended up befriending Lupo, but it was another prisoner who became a true roll-model to Ponzi; Charles Morse convinced doctors he was dying by eating soap shavings, and was released early.
		Ponzi lived luxuriously: He bought a mansion with air conditioning and a heated swimming pool, and brought his mother from Italy in a first-class stateroom on an ocean liner.
		Ponzi was released in 1934 and was immediately deported to Italy since he never became an American citizen.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Charles_Ponzi (2680 words)

	History and Nature of Ponzi Schemes
		Ponzi noticed that the coupon he had received from Italy had been purchased in Spain and found that the reason for this was that the price in Spain was exceptionally low.
		Ponzi's publicity was reaching primarily the immigrant community of the North End of Boston, the community which Ponzi himself was part of.
		When Ponzi was charged with grand larceny and using the mails to defraud he told his public that all of his troubles came from the fact that the wealthy were trying to punish him for giving the "little guys" the opportunity to make a high rate of return.
	www2.sjsu.edu /faculty/watkins/ponzi.htm (1242 words)

	The Ponzi Scheme
		Ponzi had managed to pay off all of his notes in the promised forty-five days and, since everyone was happy to get their earnings, not a single complaint had ever been filed.
		Ponzi obliged and assured the public that his organization was financially stable and that he could meet all obligations.
		Ponzi died in January of 1949 in the charity ward of a Rio de Janeiro hospital.
	home.nycap.rr.com /useless/ponzi (2013 words)

	Ponzi Schemes and Bubble Scam Investment Frauds
		Ponzi schemes eventually collapse because the underlying asset upon which the investment was based either never existed, or was grossly overvalued.
		And unlike pyramid schemes, where one's potential gain is measured by the active and conscious practice of participant recruitment, ponzi schemes attribute their moneymaking abilities on some elaborate and inventive investment or business process, with the influx of new depositors the result of word-of-mouth only.
		Ponzi schemes can be applied to almost any business or investment, so when it fails, as it must, people often deem it a poor investment rather than an elaborate hoax.
	www.crimes-of-persuasion.com /Crimes/InPerson/MajorPerson/ponzi.htm (2223 words)

	Charles Ponzi and the Ponzi Scheme
		Ponzi's success at ripping off so many people was so memorable that he has given his name to that type of scam, the Ponzi scheme.
		Ultimately, however, the scheme falls apart when its operator skips town with as much of the "investment money" as possible, when the operator fails to recruit enough new investors to make the payments to the old ones, or when the police are alerted and put a stop to it.
		Ponzi schemes can and do make money for early investors, but it is difficult to tell in the early stages who is operating a Ponzi scheme and who is just trying to simply embezzle money.
	www.bizcovering.com /Investing/Charles-Ponzi-and-the-Ponzi-Scheme.69473 (571 words)

	Pyramid Schemes, Ponzi Schemes, and Other Frauds
		Pyramid schemes are prohibited by the laws of the United States of America, by the laws of each of the fifty individual states, and by the laws of most other nations.
		Ponzi schemes are similar to pyramid schemes, but differ in that Ponzi schemes are operated by a central company or person, who may or may not be making other false claims about how the money is being invested, and where the returns are coming from.
		Ponzi schemes don't necessarily involve a hierarchal structure, as in a pyramid scheme; there is merely one person or company that is collecting money from new participants and using this money to pay off promised returns to earlier participants.
	members.impulse.net /~thebob/Pyramid.html (3278 words)

	Ponzi Schemes
		At his trial, Ponzi was said to constantly smile and chuckle to himself as if enjoying a private joke, and burst out laughing on several occasions as compatriots and ex-staff talked about how completely false his "Securites Exchange Company" had been.
		Ponzi's biggest initial problem was that the sheer volume of incoming cash (literally wheelbarrows) caused him to have to start storing his money somewhere other than the office, and so he brought in the Hanover Trust Company, which was as happy to perpetuate the fraud as he was.
		Of course, it came out a tad too late that Ponzi had served time before, for forgery and illegal smuggling, and after serving time for the Ponzi scheme he went to prison for a Florida Land Scheme of equal chutzpah.
	www.rotten.com /library/crime/ponzi-schemes (700 words)

	Nature and History of Ponzi Schemes
		Ponzi noticed that the coupon he had received from Italy had been purchased in Spain and found that the reason for this was that the price in Spain was exceptionally low.
		Ponzi envisioned a massive money making scheme in which dollars funds would be converted into Spanish pesetas to use to purchase International Postal Reply Coupons which would be sent to the U.S. to be redeemed in U.S. postage stamps which could then be sold for dollars.
		When Ponzi was charged with grand larceny and using the mails to defraud he told his public that all of his troubles came from the fact that the wealthy were trying to punish him for giving the "little guys" the opportunity to make a high rate of return.
	www.sjsu.edu /faculty/watkins/ponzi.htm (1242 words)

	Chicago Securities Arbitration Lawyer - Ponzi Scheme - Recovers Investment Losses through NASD Arbitration - Brokerage ...
		A Ponzi scheme is nothing more than a fraudulent investment operation where abnormally high returns/profits are paid to investors out of the money paid in by subsequent investors, as opposed to net revenues generated by any real business.
		Ponzi was not the first to invent such a scheme, but his operation took in so much money that it was the first to become known throughout the United States.
		Today's schemes are often considerably more sophisticated than Ponzi's, although the underlying formula is quite similar and the principle behind every Ponzi scheme is to exploit lapses in judgment arising from investor naivete.
	www.investmentfraud.pro /ponzischeme.asp (2130 words)

	Lifeinsurances
		The manner of Ponzi's initial scheme was actually fairly crude, one of the apparent reasons being that he himself believed that he had found a way to legally generate large profits.
		Some argue that Social Security is even worse than a Ponzi scheme in one respect, in that investors in the latter at least have a legal right to their money returned (even though in practice they are most likely to lose it when current contributions dry up).
		Unlike in a Ponzi scheme, government receipts (taxes) and payouts (entitlements) can be calculated quite accurately in the short term (five to ten years), and predicted (with a range of assumptions) for periods beyond that timeframe.
	lifeinsurances.9cy.com (2064 words)

	Charles K Ponzi. Chapter 2, the "Ponzi Scheme" (Site not responding. Last check: )
		In 1909, Ponzi was convicted of forgery in events surrounding the collapse of the Montreal banking firm of Zrossi and Co., of which he was a member.
		Ponzi claimed this problem was solved by having the coupons redeemed overseas, outside of the federal government's jurisdiction.
		[Ponzi's] account with the trust company indicated that he was not employing the money received from the enterprise, but was using it, without interest, for the purpose of paying his notes as or before they matured, and that such was the fact was, or should have been, known to the officials of the trust company.
	www.enterprise21.com /faq/ponzi2.htm (3490 words)

	Social Security Reform: To Extend or Unwind a Ponzi Scheme?
		Decades later, the Ponzi scheme continues to work on the "rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul" principle, as money from new investors is used to pay off earlier investors until the whole scheme collapses.
		Ponzi was only promising people a 40% return on their money in 90 days.
		Unfortunately, few participants in a Ponzi scheme ever achieve such spectacular returns, and the whole scam invariably implodes when the REAL investors have the nerve to ask for their money back.
	www.intellectualconservative.com /article4219.html (892 words)

	Charles Ponzi
		Ponzi, who fleeced Bostonians out of millions in 1920, did not invent what has come to be known as a Ponzi scheme, a scam in which early investors are paid with money from new investors.
		But Ponzi did it on such a grand scale, with such flair and in such full view of the world and the media, that he earned his place in criminal history.
		As the program Ponzi claimed to be involved in to generate the large returns was not real, he couldn't pay back investors as they came in increasing numbers asking for their money back.
	www.goldhaven.com /scam_page/Ponzi.htm (628 words)

	Mass Moments: Ponzi Scheme Begins to Unravel
		Rose wanted to live quietly and frugally and despaired that her husband's tastes were "those of a millionaire." Ponzi was not content with the small apartment and modest lifestyle he could afford on his $25 a week salary.
		Ponzi was not sure just how redeeming stamps for cash would work, but in December 1919, he opened for business anyway.
		Ponzi was arrested and indicted on two counts of using the postal service to defraud the public.
	www.massmoments.org /moment.cfm?mid=215 (995 words)

	Pyramid Schemes, Ponzi Schemes, and Other Frauds
		These schemes usually collapse much more quickly than regular pyramid schemes, because of their dependence on the administrator, who is easily identified and turned in to proper law-enforcement authorities.
		Ponzi schemes are similar to pyramid schemes, but differ in that Ponzi schemes are operated by a central company or person, who may or may not be making other false claims about how the money is being invested, and where the returns are coming from.
		Ponzi schemes don't necessarily involve a hierarchal structure, as in a pyramid scheme; there is merely one person or company that is collecting money from new participants and using this money to pay off promised returns to earlier participants.
	www.impulse.net /~thebob/Pyramid.html (3278 words)

	Ponzi Scheme
		Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud or scam that promises high rates of return with little or no risk to investors.
		Originally a Ponzi scheme was dubbed as a ‘bubble’, but it was renamed in 1920 after Charles Ponzi and his Boston-based company that collected almost $10 million from ten thousand investors by selling promissory notes that claimed to pay 50 % profit in forty-five days.
		A Ponzi scheme flourishes impressively in its initial stages, but ultimately it collapses as the flood of new investors slows and there is no money left to pay anyone.
	www.gurubusters.com /Business_Scams/Ponzi_Scheme.html (334 words)

	Apocalypse soon - X files - Ponzi Schemes, the investment craze and the End of Days
		The scheme Ponzi devised is today called a "Ponzi Pyramid." It's called this because if one were to chart out the scheme on a piece of paper it would resemble a pyramid with the originator(s) perched atop the pyramid and the losers sitting at the bottom.
		Recruits to MLM schemes are enlisted in the hope of huge profits to be made on their "downline commissions," not on the sales of the product per se.
		But it was a Ponzi Pyramid nonetheless, at least in the sense that people bought and sold homes not to live in them, but to speculate on them.
	www.apocalypsesoon.org /xfile-44.html (3402 words)

	"Ponzi" Schemes
		Ponzi schemes are a type of illegal pyramid scheme named for Charles Ponzi, who duped thousands of New England residents into investing in a postage stamp speculation scheme back in the 1920s.
		Ponzi told investors that he could provide a 40% return in just 90 days compared with 5% for bank savings accounts.
		Decades later, the Ponzi scheme continues to work on the "rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul" principle, as money from new investors is used to pay off earlier investors until the whole scheme collapses.
	www.sec.gov /answers/ponzi.htm (163 words)

	In Ponzi We Trust (Site not responding. Last check: )
		Ponzi schemes — those enticing come-ons that offer to make huge profits from a small investment in next to no time — are now enjoying a new life in cyberspace.
		Ponzi claimed to have found a way to profit by speculating in international postal reply coupons — a form of prepaid return postage for use in foreign correspondence.
		This kind of swindle, borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, is also known as a pyramid scheme or — since 1920 —; a Ponzi scheme.
	smithsonianmag.com /smithsonian/issues98/dec98/ponzi.html (332 words)

	The "Ponzi Scheme"
		Although Ponzi never realized any profits from dealings in postal reply coupons, much of the debate prior to his 1920 arrest involved questions about whether it was possible to make enormous profits trading in such coupons, and even if it were possible, whether he was actually doing so.
		Learning that Ponzi had established banking connections with the Hanover Trust Company, and having reason to believe that he had bought stock in the corporation, the Commissioner sought to determine to what extent, if any, the bank had become involved by Ponzi's relations to or transactions with the bank.
		[Ponzi's] account with the trust company indicated that he was not employing the money received from the enterprise, but was using it, without interest, for the purpose of paying his notes as or before they matured, and that such was the fact was, or should have been, known to the officials of the trust company.
	www.mark-knutson.com /Ponzi/theScheme.html (3468 words)

	"PYRAMID SCHEMES"
		Both Ponzi schemes and pyramids are quite seductive because they may be able to deliver a high rate of return to a few early investors for a short period of time.
		Ponzi claimed that he could pay such a high rate of return because he could earn 400 percent by trading and redeeming postal reply coupons.
		Ponzi discovered that he could only make a few cents per coupon and that handling large volumes of coupons cost more than they were worth.
	www.ftc.gov /speeches/other/dvimf16.htm (5931 words)

	TMF: Ponzi Scheme / Property - Markets and Trends
		A ponzi scheme, as many of you probably know, is essentially a pyramid scam where money that comes in from later entrants is use to pay off a "return" on those who have been the scheme longer.
		The banks are also acting as a brake on the ponzi scheme by refusing to lend beyond some multiple of income (though the foot has probably hit the brake too late here); as do the Bank of England with their interest rate rises (ditto).
		And anyone who put their money into the scheme in the last few years, with the expectations of getting rich quick, will be very dissapointed.
	boards.fool.co.uk /Message.asp?mid=8675833&sort=whole (1287 words)

	Columns posted March 26, 2002
		"Ponzi" is a character in the 179th Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and Vanishing Moolah," wherein Harry engages the evil wizard Kenlay in furious battle while attempting to retrieve the fortune that the duplicitous Count Ponzi has stuffed in the ears of the entire U.S. Congress.
		Ponzi's investors didn't know that, of course, and all the public knew was that some people were getting very rich.
		But as the number of new investors grew exponentially, it became mathematically impossible for the scheme to continue, and the resulting collapse of the fraud immortalized the term "Ponzi scheme." A "Ponzi scheme" is thus very similar to (and every bit as bogus as) the "pyramid" or "chain letter" scams so prevalent on the internet.
	www.word-detective.com /032602.html (5624 words)

	pyramid schemes, chain letters and Ponzi schemes
		A pyramid scheme is called a pyramid scheme because of the shape of a pyramid: a three dimensional triangle.
		The scheme was similar to five others that had been operating in southern California, also involving police officers and support staff.
		The police pyramid schemes are called "investment clubs" and have attractive names such as "The Friendship Investment Club" and "A Gift Network." They're sold to investors with the assurance that they are perfectly legal, approved by the IRS or a CPA, and that they definitely are not a pyramid scheme.
	skepdic.com /pyramid.html (1840 words)

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