Ponzi and pyramid schemes are both forms of financial fraud that share many characteristics. However, there are distinct differences in how they operate.

Often, after discovering that they were invested in a Ponzi scheme, victims are left in a state of shock wondering how they became embroiled in such a travesty. Many reflect, concluding in hindsight ...

Social Security is facing a $22.4 trillion long-term funding shortfall, and sweeping benefit cuts for retired workers may be just nine years away. Although some people are of the opinion that Social ...

On March 3, 1882, one-hundred-and-thirty-seven years ago today, the founding father of financial hijinks, Charles Ponzi, was born in Parma, Italy. Ponzi emigrated to the United States in 1903. He ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Steve Weisman writes about white-collar crime. Natalie Cochran was recently convicted of first degree murder for killing her ...

Before Jonathan Gould lost everything in Pride of Austin’s alleged Ponzi scheme, he thought he’d built a $1 million nest egg. Instead his money disappeared, along with $60 million from other backers ...

The $50 billion Ponzi scheme allegedly masterminded by former Nasdaq chairman Bernard Madoff punctuated a miserable year for Wall Street in the worst possible way: by underlining, yet again, that ...

Who Is Running The Ultimate Ponzi Scheme, And How Do We Stop It? The Ponzi scheme is a simple concept. “A Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that pays existing investors with funds collected from new ...

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent and illegal business practice where people are scammed into investing in a false business that pays high financial returns to early investors with funds from more recent ...

Demonstrators gather outside of the Edward A. Garmatz United States District Courthouse in Baltimore, on Friday, March 14, 2025, before a hearing regarding the Department of Government Efficiency's ...

At its root, bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme — it will stay afloat only as long as enough people buy the fiction that bitcoin represents real value. All other cyber currencies are Ponzi schemes, too, except ...

In this week’s issue, Clyde Haberman reviews Mitchell Zuckoff’s “Fall and Rise.” Fourteen years ago, David Margolick reviewed Zuckoff’s “Ponzi’s Scheme,” an account of the life of Charles Ponzi, for ...