Thursday, September 1, 2011

Ponzi scheme: the greatest fraud plan of the 20th century

 by Alice

Charles Ponzi takes the leading places in the list of world's most daring and successful frauds.
Ponzi was born on the 3d of March, 1882 in the North of Italy. In 1903 20-year old Italian came to Boston having only $2.5 in his pocket. There is almost no information about his childhood and youth, and the facts hat exist are full of contradictions and mismatches. It's only known for sure that Ponzi lost all his money on the way to the United States. During next 16 years living from hand to mouth he was dreaming about luxury and wealth.
In 1919 Charles Ponzi borrowed $200 from his friend Daniels and opens his own firm. The firm was registered in Boston and was named "The Securities Exchange Company". The company took money from investors and gave them a bill of debt instead. In the document Ponzi promised to pay $150 for every received $100 within 90 days. Business was so successful that in spring, Ponzi who lost his head because of unbelievable wealth, gave all rights to manage the company to 18-year old Lucy Martelli. Charles himself bought an extremely expensive mansion where the richest and most famous bankers lived.
Ponzi scheme worked as a clock. New investors provided old ones with income, and Charles Ponzi with riches. Though, investors has no idea Ponzi's company wasn't provided with anything, and businessman didn't want to pay his attention to such "trifles".
Ponzi scheme and his company crashed in summer of 1920. That was the very moment when Daniels, ho borrowed Ponzi $200, sued him. He demanded 50% of gain from Ponzi's business. At that time American government allowed freezing all Charles' accounts. On the 26th of July Ponzi announced about pause in taking investments because of Internal Revenue Service inspection. That was a fatal mistake.
Investors attacked Ponzi demanding their money back. In 1920 on the 12th of August Charles Ponzi was arrested due to the shocking results of tax inspection. It appeared that Ponzi owed investors $7 million, and real funds on all banking accounts were only $ 4 million. In 1920 on the 25th of October Ponzi's company was admitted an absolute bankrupt, and Charles himself was sentenced to 5 years in jail.
After he was released Ponzi tried to revive his power and started financial machinations. As a result, American government deported him from the country to Italy.
In Italy famous fraud worked as an interpreter, and later move to Brazil. In Rio de Janeiro worked for "Italian airlines".
After his death Ponzi scheme was used by many frauds in various variations. Despite the fact that financial pyramids guarantee investors will lose their money, millions of people still become victims of such financial frauds.
Today name of Ponzi became a common noun. People use it when want to warn someone about the consequences of a doubtful venture. All doubtful projects that promise high incomes and require low investments are called "ponzi".
http://goarticles.com/article/Ponzi-scheme-the-greatest-fraud-plan-of-the-20th-century/5244739/

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