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Ponzi Scheme

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Submitted By Shadfox
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Finance 1
22 May 2013

Charles Ponzi In August of 1919 a man by the name of Charles Ponzi was given an International Postal Reply Coupon from a friend. Upon reading the coupon he discovered it was purchased in Spain while it happened to be receiving it in Italy. Charles did some research and discovered that buying the Coupon in Spain cost a low amount of money, but that it could be traded in for more money in the United States. This discovery lead to Charles Ponzi creating a large scheme that if exploited correctly could allow him to acquire large amounts of money. However, Ponzi did not keep up with the International Postal Reply Coupons and instead had thousands of new investors paying him money which he then gave to old investors. Eventually, Ponzi's scheme was discovered and the entire entity collapsed, but not before making Ponzi famous enough to have the type of scheme named after him. His level of fame matched the amount for which his investors lost, about 20 million, or 225 million in today's dollar value.
What is a Ponzi Scheme? A ponzi scheme is when a person swindles large amounts of cash from "investors" by promising high returns on their original investment. The scheme goes that a single person gets multiple people to give him/her money that they will in turn "invest" into something. The investees are never told what it is they invested in, just that they will get more money back this way then if they put the money in a bank. Within the allotted time the schemer brings them back their money and the profit they gained. The investees are so happy they in turn tell their friends and family who then invest with the schemer. The schemer takes this new money and gives it to the original investees. The scheme can only last as long as there are new investors, once the incoming money runs out the scheme collapses and only the original investors and the schemer are left with any profit. In the case of the Charles Ponzi's original "scheme" he was going to buy International Postal Reply Coupons and resell them for more money. The buying and selling of merchandise in different world markets is not illegal and would have resulted in only the merchandise turn in price to perhaps be lowered. If Ponzi would have continued to only buy and sell the coupons he would have made a lot of money legally. However, Ponzi decided to get investors to give him extra money so he could buy more coupons, in return the investees would see a return of 50% which was ten times any bank could provide. After awhile Ponzi no longer bought coupons to resell and only took in money from new investors, eventually leading the scheme to collapse. Ponzi's scheme up to that point had been discovered by two different people, one of whom he sued and won and the other who was told by the government that he was simply wrong. Since no one was believed the scheme continued until its collapse which led to Ponzi receiving a five year jail sentence in a federal prison.
The First Ponzi Scheme Chales Ponzi was not the first to come up with this type of scheme and is not even the most famous schemer anymore. The first Ponzi scheme happened close to the time of Ponzi's scheme and was headed by Fredrick A Cook. Cook was an explorer who claimed to be the first person to reach the north pole, when it was found out that he faked the photos and trip he was ruined and returned to the United States. While in the states, cook got involved in the Texas Oil Business which he used to exploit hundreds of people. Cook overstated the amount of oil the fields contained and convinced investors to give him their life savings in the promise that he would make them rich. With little to no oil production the company could not put out the necessary funds and Cook was sentenced to jail time. Cook however ended up lucky in that the oil fields did contain enough oil to eventually exceed the expectations set by Cook and he was later pardoned.
The Most Famous Ponzi Scheme In 1960 a man by the name of Bernard Madoff started a Wall Street firm which he would run with the help of several family members. The firm was made famous by Madoff's father-in-law and amassed wealthy clients who received 10% or more annual returns. The firm grew and sometime in the 1970's a branch of the firm became a huge Ponzi scheme. Madoff informed his sons of the scheme in 2008 when they questioned him about where extra money was coming from. The next day on December 11, 2008, Madoff was arrested by the FBI and later sentenced to 150 years in prison. The amounts missing from client accounts was approximated at 65 billion dollars, however the court-appointed trustee estimated that the actual loss was closer to 18 billion. For over 40 years Madoff's scheme was never found even after complaints had been filed against the company for over a decade. The person to discover his scheme was Harry Markopolos who tried to replicate Madoff's numbers and concluded that Madoff was a fraud. Harry presented his finding to SEC and was ignored four times even after presenting additional evidence. Harry was not the only one who believed Madoff was scheming, as many Wall Street firms denounced him and would not invest with him. This should have tipped off the government.
Conclusion
Ponzi schemes are rare and usually collapse fairly quickly when new investors run out. Unlike regular businesses Ponzi schemes do not have actual products that are sold to customers, instead the customers invest blindly in hopes that they will get more money than invested.

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