Ponzi Schemes
Barron's Accounting Dictionary:
Top
Ponzi Schemes
A method of escalating values built on fabricated assets. The most famous of these schemes occurred during the 1920s, perpetrated by Charles Ponzi, in which dividends were paid to early investors out of the payments received from later investors. When no new investors joined the investment scheme, it collapsed. In 2009, two infamous Ponzi schemes surfaced: (1) According to civil charges filed by the SEC, R. Allen Stanford, the Stanford Financial Group and Stanford Capital Management defrauded investors worldwide, resulting in losses of more than $9 billion, using a Ponzi scheme. (2) BernardMadoff, who served as a non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange, pled guilty to an 11-count criminal complaint, admitting to defrauding thousands of investors of billions of dollars.
He was convicted of operating a Ponzi scheme that has been called the largest investor fraud ever committed by a single person, resulting in client losses estimated at almost $65 billion. On June 29, 2009, he was sentenced to 150 years in prison, the maximum allowed.
He was convicted of operating a Ponzi scheme that has been called the largest investor fraud ever committed by a single person, resulting in client losses estimated at almost $65 billion. On June 29, 2009, he was sentenced to 150 years in prison, the maximum allowed.
| Point-Of-Sale (POS), Pledged Asset, Plantwide Overhead Rate | |
| Pool Rate, Population, Portfolio |
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
Barron's Accounting Dictionary
Dictionary of Accounting Terms. Copyright © 2010 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.
Read more