We've seen the rise and fall of Charles Ponzi, the 20th century's first great, well-known con artist who achieved a kind of immortality with his name now forever linked to the name of a scheme linked with fraud and deceipt. So intertwined is his name with fraud that his name is mentioned in countless Federal and State lawsuits and criminal prosecutions and is self-defining.
Note one thing I mentioned at the very beginning of this thread - Ponzi already had a criminal past when he began his fraud scheme. This goes also to what I said at the beginning - fraud schemes and con artists, no matter how elaborate or "charming" (as Hollywood would have it), are criminals at heart. They seek to defraud people. Their methods and means may be more "polite" than holding up someone with a gun or beating a person for his money, but the results are the same - a person loses his money through dishonest means.
Ponzi's scheme had all the hallmarks of a "get rich quick" idea that appealed to the baser instincts of human nature. While it seems lucridous to believe that people fell for it, keep in mind that Ponzi schemes are alive and well today. If Ponzi could come back from the dead, he would look at Enron and other modern-day frauds and feel right at home.
Ponzi would be the first to say that human nature does not change and people like Ponzi would always be around to take advantage of it.
In his own way, therefore, Ponzi was indeed "great."
Have a great and fraud free day.
http://www.tauskvega.com
------------>>>>>>>>>>>gene tausk
Note one thing I mentioned at the very beginning of this thread - Ponzi already had a criminal past when he began his fraud scheme. This goes also to what I said at the beginning - fraud schemes and con artists, no matter how elaborate or "charming" (as Hollywood would have it), are criminals at heart. They seek to defraud people. Their methods and means may be more "polite" than holding up someone with a gun or beating a person for his money, but the results are the same - a person loses his money through dishonest means.
Ponzi's scheme had all the hallmarks of a "get rich quick" idea that appealed to the baser instincts of human nature. While it seems lucridous to believe that people fell for it, keep in mind that Ponzi schemes are alive and well today. If Ponzi could come back from the dead, he would look at Enron and other modern-day frauds and feel right at home.
Ponzi would be the first to say that human nature does not change and people like Ponzi would always be around to take advantage of it.
In his own way, therefore, Ponzi was indeed "great."
Have a great and fraud free day.
http://www.tauskvega.com
------------>>>>>>>>>>>gene tausk
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