Ponzi, Part Deux

Another man, this time an eccentric Texan, is in the middle of a possible multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/02/at_tpmmuckraker_weve_been_closely.php

 

You know the scary part of these kinds of stories?
There's probably a ton of 'em dealing with the same kind of crap as we speak.

 

Who is Ponzi and what was his scheme?

Okay, I'm just kidding, but seriously... has any name ever been used more?

 

Stanford has always struck me as a bit of a used car salesman in his manner.

Just a dodgy dealer, full of bluster.

 

As schemes go, probably "Pyramid," but that's quibbling. The term "Ponzi scheme" has been used more in the last six months than it was in the six years previous.

 

The whole world's a Ponzi scheme.

Get yours, and get out.

 

The next cover boy for ESPN: The Magazine's "Who's Next" feature will be named Ponzi.
He's a 10-year-old who has already screwed his classmates out of vendor money.

 

The US government is the biggest.




From the story:

Some $8 billion that was apparently deposited at Stanford International Bank in Antigua is now unaccounted for, according to the SEC.

At this point, if you have your money at the Stanford International Bank in *Antigua*, earning rates higher than anywhere else, and you don't know something's up, then too bad.

Money doesn't flow to Antigua because of the great weather.

 

He's a diaper dandy, babeee!

 

Don't forget about Nick Cosmo in Long Island, who went on a message board to cop to being a convicted financial fraud felon, but that he was better now, to assure skeptics his latest fund was on the level. Of course, it wasn't, and $375 million is gone.

Cosmo used some of the that money to start his own baseball league, build a youth sports facility (that was open one day, I think) and coach and sponsor soccer teams. Also he was a hopeless degenerate gambler who had already been sent to counseling after his first conviction and was allegedly in hock big with some major Mafia families.

Then there was the 74-year-old guy in Sarasota who fled with $400 million, and of course the Indiana guy that tried to fake his death... these are endless.

What appears to not be endless are the number of suckers who believe it's possible to get 10-20% month-after-month returns no matter what. It's amazing what financial bullshit people will swallow as long as they think they're making money.

 

He'd hit the "broken" jukebox and make it work to look cool (while subtly slipping a quarter into it to simply turn it on), then nail anything with a vagina and no high school diploma.

 

Sadly, his scheme unraveled following a water-skiing stunt.