If there is one thing I have learned about Charles Ponzi, it is that the man had more tenacity and ambition than I ever would have thought. Ponzi was undeterred even after years of business failure, job hopping, and time in prison.
While I now know the story behind the infamous Ponzi Scheme, I wanted to touch on the elements I found the most shocking/interesting:
1. Contrary to my initial belief, Charles Ponzi didn't actually invent this specific scheme. Other people throughout history had run similar operations to Ponzi's, his however, was just so huge and hurt so many people that his name became attached to it in history.
2. Ponzi's original scheme wasn't illegitimate or illegal, at first. Most of the schemes we have touched on involve complete misinformation and/or are the total creation of the fraudster. However, buying IRCs overseas for cheap and turning them into U.S. stamps at a profit was legitimate, the scale at which he promised though, was not.
3. Ponzi promised a 50% return in 45 days. This is an unbelievable promise, but for the financially illiterate that he chose to target it was so appealing for getting rich fast. With this appeal, he ended up raking in over $15 million in 1920!
4. Ponzi struck a deal so get his 86 counts of mail fraud down to only 1 and ended up only serving time for the Ponzi Scheme for 5 years! After all the lives he ruined and banks he shut down, the fact that he managed to negotiate down to 5 years served blows my mind.
Thanks for posting about Ponzi. He financially ruined hundreds of thousands of people, maybe millions when panic set in and banks began to fail. Yet I have a soft spot for Ponzi. He had a tender love relationship with his wife Rose. And strangely enough his greatest swindle was convincing himself of his own lies. That's the ultimate self-delusion.
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