Ponzi: The Financial Idiot Who Scammed the World

The history of the Ponzi scheme, and the story of Charles Ponzi, the financial fraudster who became rich and infamous with his Ponzi scam that claimed people could get rich quick thanks to the arbitrage of IRCs. Ponzi promised very high returns to investors and soon millions of dollars were being invested by those looking to get rich as fast as possible. Imagine doubling your money with an investment in 90 days, and making money with no work. Well, it sounds too good to be true, because it was...

But there was a time when the financial world marvelled at the financial genius of Charles Ponzi, the man who was in charge of one of the most successful business investments in America. He had millions of dollars at his disposal and crowds of people lining up literally begging him to take their money. Little did everyone know that Ponzi’s business was built on nothing but lies. The whole thing was an outrageous scam, one which turned Ponzi into a very rich man, but ruined the lives of thousands of innocent people. Ponzi’s deception was so shocking and infamous that even now, a hundred years later, the scam still shares his name - the Ponzi scheme.

This video is the untold truth of the man behind the scam, Charles Ponzi - and how to make millions of dollars with nothing but lies. This is part of MagnatesMedia's series on financial fraudsters and get rich quick schemes - check out my video on Jho Low: The man who robbed an entire country for the first episode! #money #rich #scam #documentary #ponzi #finance #business #wealth #getrichquick #makemoney

00:00 Intro to The Ponzi Story
00:48 Chapter 1: Living Beyond His Means
02:24 Chapter 2: A Wake-up Call
05:17 Chapter 3: Back in America
10:06 Chapter 4: The Ponzi Scheme
14:13 Chapter 5: Highs and Lows
17:55 Chapter 6: The Dream Is Over

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[SpencerPaire]

Ponzi sounds like the personification of "Don't worry, this move is calculated.... but man, do I suck at math."

[SouveraineMiaa]

Ponzi was the living definition of no realizing that YOU are the problem in the situation

[mugambo]

The fact that this guy never gave up is motivating.

[Boxingsnotdead]

Imagine how epic he'd be if he had social media like all the scammers and gurus today

[CristanMeijer]

It's actually quite a sad story. He apparently had so little self love that he needed the external validation of expensive stuff so bad he ended up ruining his marriage and spending years and years in jail.

[peachtreee]

The fact that people used his name to this day made everything worth it for him.

[thenoviceind]

Ponzi schemes never Target those people who are already rich ...they always targeted those people who are exactly like him more dreams than common was lit🔥

[richlambeth]

If you're going to run a scam, then the first million should always go to developing a good exit strategy. Set up a fake identity and everything ahead of time for when you inevitably need to run. Of course, most con artists that go big are initially successful because they have the confidence to believe it will never fail.

[jasper]

I love how whenever someone is thinking or devising a plan a bunch of e=mc squares just fly around

[luckyluc]

Sarah Howe in Boston (1870’s) is also in the running for the first Ponzi Scheme. She operated a bank for single women that promised 8% returns, but in reality was running a Ponzi scheme.

[NyteOwl]

Honestly man, found this channel a month back and it is all I watch now. Incredibly done.

[AikiraBeats]

I was always curious as to where the name Ponzi Scheme came from. It's really interesting story watching him go from riches to rags back to riches just to complete lose everything.

[oxygen]

Ponzi is the type of guy to unironically say that he doesn’t lose but only fails to win

[Xamry]

This man worked so hard to be a scammer and lost years of his life as opposed to just making an honest living at the very least honourably but with a clean reputation

[DeadDancers]

6:55 - I’m very curious about the source of information for this because listen to how it’s framed. ‘ponzi wasn’t satisfied with a steady job and a wife who loved him. Not for himself gosh no! But because he wanted to shower her with diamonds!!! It’s not irrepressible greed anymore, it’s a man in love wanting to give his partner everything she deserves!! And *that’s* why the serial job-quitter and sole provider of his family quit his job again.’

[madlysoldier]

One of lessons I learn from this is basically, Luxury life is like hard drug, once taken and you don’t have legit way to sustain the grind for it, one can turn into desperate attempt to gain a bit of nectar of luxury.

[kalen]

y’all sleeping on the editing skills and story telling, this video is insane. New visuals every few seconds and the story telling is so good 10/10

[krishnaSagar]

I once almost almost lost a fortune for the scheme. Thank god I consulted my dad and explained him that thing. He immediately smelled it and told me what it is.

[smj]

From the Wikipedia article: Ponzi granted one last interview to an American reporter, telling him, "Even if they never got anything for it, it was cheap at that price. Without malice aforethought, I had given them the best show that was ever staged in their territory since the landing of the Pilgrims! It was easily worth fifteen million bucks to watch me put the thing over."

[michaelfjmusic]

What sucks is that this guy easily could have lived such a happy life if he had just kept his head cool. He was living in America, had a beautiful wife who loved him, and a strong work ethic. He could have had everything if he had just poured all of his ambition and motivation into a regular 9-5 job instead of his scheme.