The Ponzi Scheme by Kola Ola Olaniran

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The Ponzi Scheme; According to Wikipedia, "A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation where the operator, an individual or organization, pays return to its investors from new capital paid the operators by new investors, rather than from profit earned by the operator." The first time I read about Bernie Madoff and his "Ponzi scheme", I felt it was time to know the origin of the Ponzi scheme. I rushed to my dictionary to check the meaning of the word, "ponzi", I flipped over and over my Chambers dictionary, I first thought the page had been ripped off only to find out that no page was missing in the dictionary. Then I did a little bit of research online and got the the true story of the man whose financial notoriety shook the world in the early 19s. "Charles Ponzi's name will be forever associated with the financial fraud scheme he elevated to a way of life. After some minor financial crime and brief time in jail in early 1920 he began offering investors a 50 percent return on their money in 45 days and a 100 percent return in 90 days. Although it seemed too good to be true, the money poured in. Ponzi used money from new investors to pay prior investors and fund his lavish lifestyle. By the time his fraud was discovered in August 1920, investors had lost 20 million dollars and five banks had failed. Ponzi spent 3 years in prison. He was later deported to Italy and died penniless in 1949 at the age of 66. Today, questions are being asked; How would like to be remembered? what would you like to be remembered for? Is it for what you build or what you destroy?

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