Ponzi's scheme : the true story of a financial legend / Mitchell Zuckoff.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zuckoff, Mitchell.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ponzi, Charles.

Swindlers and swindling--Biography.

Swindlers and swindling.

Swindlers and swindling--United States--Biography.

Commercial crimes.

Ponzi schemes.

History.

United States.

Ponzi schemes--United States--History.

Commercial crimes--United States--Case studies.

Genre:

Biographies.

Case studies.

Physical Description:

xiii, 390 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Random House, [2005]

Summary:

In 1920, Charles Ponzi raked in millions of dollars by promising people he would double their investments in three months. Only later did anyone realize he was paying old investors with money from new ones, a trick known as "robbing Peter to pay Paul." While it lasted, Ponzi's scheme made some people rich beyond their wildest dreams, most of all Ponzi himself. When it ended, it rocked the nation with a spectacular fiscal explosion. Ponzi is the first nonfiction account of the irresistible scoundrel who launched the most successful bit of financial alchemy in our history--and uttered the first roar of the Roaring Twenties. In Zuckoff's hands, Ponzi is no mere swindler; instead he is appealing and magnetic, a colorful and poignant figure. Ponzi is a classic American tale of immigrant life and the dream of success, and the unexpectedly moving story of a man who --for a fleeting, illusory moment--attained it all.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [373]-375) and index.

ISBN:

1400060397

OCLC:

54953082