The Ponzi Scheme Research Paper

Ponzi Schemes also known as a multi-marketing organization are white-collar crime; it is essentially an individual swindling a quick investment from new investors. Always ends up with investors or victums losing “their shirt” all the profits and many cases the company and is bankrupted and the owner ends up in jail. Two very highly successful Ponzi schemes are Primerica group and Amway. Primerica Group sells insurance and financial services and Amway sells heath insurance, but it doesn’t matter what they sale, its all about recruitment. They take your hard earned money and invest it into there business for a bigger profit in the future for a retirement but many people who try to get some of there money back for emergency are sadly mistaken

In December 2008, one of the largest Ponzi scheme surfaced when Mark and Andrew Madoff reported the works of their father, Bernard Madoff to the federal authorities. A Ponzi scheme is an investing scam that promises high rates of return with little risk to investors. The operator generates returns for older investors by gaining new investors. Bernard was arrested on December 11, 2008 and charged with securities fraud. He pled guilty to 11 counts and was sentenced to 150 years in federal prison-the maximum possible prison sentence. A reported $17.3 billion was invested into the scam by Bernie’s clients and only about $2.48 billion have been returned to these victims as of September 2012.

Many times in a Ponzi scheme the offender targets people they do not know personally but not Madoff. He had family, friends, employees and even charities and non-profit organizations as investors. “He tapped local money pulled in from country clubs and charity dinners, where investors sought him out to casually plead with him to manage their savings so they could start reaping the steady, solid returns their envied friends were getting” (Colesanti, 2012). “Levy invested $100,000” for Dell’Orefice, who felt honored to be a part of the “exclusive fund” (Lewis, 2010). Sheryl Weinstein, who was a friend of Madoffs for nearly 24 years, lost her entire savings to Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. “The charitable foundation of philanthropist Carl Shapiro had invested about 45 percent of its assets ($345 million) in Madoff's fund” (Auerbach, 2009). It is “estimated that Madoff's scam cost Jewish philanthropies at least $600 million, and

Convictions of the Bernie Madoff conspirators prove the Ponzi scheme could not have been the work of one person. Furthermore, the conspirators each played a critical role in facilitating the Ponzi scheme and concealing it from regulators, and auditors. For instance, Annette Bongiorno, was employed for Madoff for approximately 40 years as his secretary (Lappin, 2014). Consequently, Bongiorno was charged with manufacturing the false statements sent to clients that indicated they were worth a lot more than they actually were. Moreover, Bongiorno transferred $50 million of client’s funds into her own private account (Lappin, 2014).

Allen Stanford’s Ponzi scheme is considered to be one of the top grossing Ponzi schemes that have been at the forefront of white collar crime. As stated on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission website, “a Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to earlier investors by the contribution of new investors that promises to generate high returns with little or no risk” (Sec.gov). These schemes take advantage of people who put their faith in the offender out of trust or any other personal reason and in the case of Allen Stanford it is no different.

Schneeweis &Szado (2010, p.9) suggested that ffinancial fraud in general and Ponzi schemes in particular continue to maneuver investors. A Ponzi scheme is frequently described as a securities fraud in which the investment manager is in fact taking money from new investors to fund redemptions from current investors. These strategies are often discovered when new investors cannot be found to offset redemptions from current investors. The Ponzi method received its name from Charles Ponzi, who marketed an investment based on managing the International Postal Reply Coupons. Ponzi suggested that an arbitrage opportunity existed because he could exchange U.S. dollars into the necessary foreign currency, and use the foreign currency to purchase postal reply coupons. The postal reply coupons could be redeemed for U.S. postage stamps, which could then be sold for U.S. dollars. Ponzi promoted unusually high returns to investors when in fact he simply used the new investment to pay of the previous investors. While the scheme soon collapsed, there are similarities between him and the Madoff scheme. For example, Madoff sold primarily to the Jewish community and also Ponzi sold primarily to the immigrant community of the North End of Boston, to which he belonged. Along with that, the validity of Madoff's strategy was a subject argued by the public press (Barron's) as well as by individuals (Markopolus) on the grounds. Comparable to Ponzi's investors, Madoff’s investors, have received

At first, Madoff was in a broad sense unusual Ponzi manipulator. The extraordinary model was social, connecting with, and set out to bewilderment others with his cerebrum, his thoughtfulness, his thriving. Madoff sharpened a sort of energized spirit about his character, turning that radiant speculation that people would overlook: He won trust not by endeavoring to influence people that he was gorgeous making to move, yet expected that they were well-known. People who may never have fallen for the excellent Ponzi progressive were totally debilitated by Madoff's hypothesis.

Investment fraud is a maneuver where the operator or individual, pays returns to the investors from fines paid to operators from the new investors, then from the profit earned by the operator or the individual. The Ponzi scheme was an investment fraud were financial returns were not available through traditional investors. The scheme did not invest funds from the individual victims, Ponzi paid dividends which is not a company expense: to initial investors using the funds for future investors. The white-collar offender known for the Ponzi Scheme was called Carlo Ponzi, later known as Charles Ponzi, Charles P. Bianchi, or Charles Ponzi.

Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme is one of the most notorious scandal in financial and accounting industry. Over a period of fifty years, Bernie’s investment profiles had grown in reputation and confidence from tradespeople, with the fund mushroomed into a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. How could Bernie, from an unlicensed stockbroker, be so successful with his meticulous scheme and become a trustworthy investment advisor to many people, even to the sophisticated managers? I have to confirm that Bernie was really a genius in manipulating people. In other words, according to personality characteristics, he is a cunning Machiavellian. Using his manipulation skill, he persuaded his father-in-law and his brother to support him, buying his employees loyalty

An all-around regarded lender, Madoff persuaded thousands regarding financial specialists to hand over their funds, dishonestly encouraging steady benefits consequently. His misconduct was noticed in December 2008 and accused of extortion, illegal tax avoidance, evasion, and burglary. Madoff utilized the alleged Ponzi conspiracy, which attracted several financial specialists in by ensuring uncommonly noteworthy earnings. The name begun with Charles Ponzi, who guaranteed half profits for interests in just short notice. Ponzi plans were controlled by a main administrator, who utilized the cash from new, approaching financial specialists to pay off the guaranteed original returners. That plan made the operation appear to be productive, despite

This paper introduces Bernard L. Madoff a fraudster who orchestrated a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme. The paper discusses elements that make up a Ponzi scheme and explains what a Ponzi scheme is. The paper goes on to introduce some of the victim’s and examines some reasons why someone might fall victim to a Ponzi scheme. The paper describes the three elements making up the fraud triangle and how they relate to the fraud and the fraudster. This paper covers Bernard Madoff’s background and history and how he committed the fraud analyzing the fraud triangle. The paper describes ways to correct the issue, accounting principles violated, and recommendations for a fix. Finally, the paper looks at internal and external controls violated and ends with a conclusion.

1. Explain how a Ponzi scheme works (5 pts). A Ponzi scheme, one example of a white collar crime, is typically considered to be a fraudulent investment operation in a usually made-up or nonexistent business. A Ponzi scheme works by a primary schemer (e.g. Bernie Madoff) beginning with one set of investors – these investors are encouraged by the promise of a quick and easy pay/return on their investment and success.

Ponzi schemes are named after Italian immigrant, Charles Ponzi. In 1920 he led investors into believing they could reap outrageous amounts of returns if they would invest their money with him. Charles Ponzi invented these schemes after he failed many times to be

A Ponzi scheme is an illegal business practice in which new investor’s money is used to make payments to earlier investors. In many Ponzi schemes, the fraudsters focus on attracting new money to make promised payments to earlier-stage investors and to use for personal expenses, instead of engaging in any legitimate investment activity. The returns are repaid out of new investors’ principal, but not from profits. This can continue as long as new investors line up with cash, and old investors don’t try to withdraw too much of their money at once.

Scams can destroy any human life and destroy them emotionally, physically and financially. Fraud was labeled as a victimless crime. Years ago fraud was labeled as a victimless crime. Victims were usually considered to be dupes who allowed themselves to be fleeced by smarter people, dubbed con artists. People even more advanced that are criminals can be called a homicidal artist. People that are attached to murders, armed robber, etc. Another type of fraud is when criminals propose or inflate returns which they either know they can't keep or just ignore, this is otherwise known as the Ponzi scheme. If the person has had a financial loss and wants to make quick and easy money, also if they are greedy, they can use the Ponzi scheme. A ponzi