Where the Father of the Ponzi Scheme Once Slept.
LEXINGTON, Mass. – This postcard-perfect town near Boston was where the first patriots died in the Revolutionary War.
It was also where Charles Ponzi, the financial con artist who pioneered the category of swindle that now bears his name, made his last stand.
Mr. Ponzi, a hardscrabble Italian immigrant whose fraudulent scheme allowed him to guzzle cash and briefly taste luxury, was only a short-term resident of Lexington, buying a mansion here in 1920 just weeks before his arrest.
The mansion at 19 Slocum Road – a three-story residence in the colonial revival style, with stately balusters and a circular porch, alongside a porte-cochère leading to a carriage house in back – sat privately owned for decades.
But on Sunday, the house opened to the public for the first time in memory, allowing curious neighbors to explore its many rooms and marvel at its Art Deco flourishes. Some who visited were drawn by the legend of Mr. Ponzi, whose particular brand of trickery became known to a wider audience when Bernard L. Madoff admitted in 2009 to perpetrating it on a far larger scale. Others simply wanted a peek inside one of the most distinctive houses in the area.
List of the biggest Ponzi Scammers In History
Biggest Ponzi Scammers in History
Bernie Maddoff
Bernie Madoff is presumably the most famous Ponzi schemer, other than Ponzi himself, operating the largest fraud in US history. Madoff stole $65 billion from investors and committed over 11 federal felonies. Madoff lived a flashy, luxurious life by most standards, but less so than, for example, Scott Rothstein. Madoff received the maximum sentence of 150 years in prison, which he is currently serving in Raleigh, North Carolina. Madoff ran a wealth management company in New York, which started as a legitimate business, but ultimately turned the entire business into one giant Ponzi scheme. His son, Mark, who worked with him, claimed not to be involved in the fraud, but committed suicide in December 2010. HBO is currently making a movie about Madoff based on the book, The Wizard of Lies.Mr. Ponzi Himself
Charles Ponzi was the man who started it all. In the 1920’s, Ponzi promised investors a whopping 50% return in 45 days, or 100% in 90 days on of all things, international postal coupons, which he never actually purchased. He earned $15 million and became a millionaire in only six months. When Ponzi was caught one year later, investors received a mere $5 million back. He was charged with 86 counts of mail fraud and sentenced to 5 years. During his time in federal prison, he was prosecuted again in Massachusetts, but Ponzi claimed double jeopardy and his case went to the Supreme Court. He was then sentenced to seven to nine years in state prison. After Ponzi was released, he launched another scheme, where he sold real estate that was literally underwater. Not surprisingly, the namesake schemer was jailed yet again, and ultimately died penniless in Brazil, working as a translator.
Adryenn Ashley:
ADRYENN ASHLEY FUNDING CON WOMAN/PONZI SCHEME/ POP TV/CROWDFUNDING
This lady is quite obvious. She promises, Fame, Fortune, Verified Twitter, Verified Facebooks, Wikipedia, TV Fame, and all the cookies to go with it! All you have to do is put your show on her Crowded Reality TV Network Site, get funded, Pay her and walla she can get you deals on Network TV Show, off times. She is so desperate that she crosses boundaries, steals people, steals mailing lists, steals contacts, and shoves ROIS’ that her shows /public TV selling BS at off time to Investors. She goes to all the Reality TV Show Galas and TV Pitch Festivals and markets herself like a guru but she is a greedy con woman and dishonorable.
All you have to do is go to the POP TV NETWORK she is not on the site, she is not in the schedule nor are none of her shows. She gets deals for off times and pays $2000 for them then charges $10,000 for Sponsorships, then asks for $300,000 in funding and sends fake ROI’s and promises of the shows playing on ships and gives scenerious, the truth of the matter is, No one and I mean no one will see ONE dime of any money but Adryenn Ashley! Greed is her middle name. She feels if she gets you on the phone she can totally close the deal and seal you in!
Beware of this fraudulent woman! She has all these crowd funding platforms, as well as FAKE TV SHOWS that she spends Sponsors dollars on to fund her lifestyle in Tahoe Nevada. She promises all this money that funders will get back by Sponsoring her programs, and bought TV air time with POP TV NETWORK and other NETWORK which air at 2am when No one is awake to watch them, and promises DVR twit chats to get views or ratings. The truth is As a funder or Sponsor you will never see the ROI on your investment.
It’s all a Get Rich Quick Scheme and a Get famous for Adryenn Ashley scheme. Funders will never see their money back. She buys airtime at off peak hours! No ROI, its Pay to Play and no advertisment dollars to recoup! She tries to sell advertisement but No one buys it! So you are in a black hole!
This woman is a Ponzi Scammer! Beware!
Michael Eugene Kelly
Michael Eugene Kelly ran a massive Ponzi scheme, defrauding nearly 8,000 investors, mostly retired or elderly people out of about $500 million. This was not a traditional Ponzi scheme because most Ponzi schemes leave nothing left to return to its victims, whereas Kelly had millions of dollars of real estate and other assets. Kelly’s scheme consisted of creating “universal leases” which payed high commissions to brokers who sold what were basically time-share investments. Investors could stay in the hotel rooms for one week a year or use another company, which was not surprisingly owned by Kelly, to lease the rooms at an annual return rate of 11%. Every single investor chose this option. Kelly remained in Federal Custody from 2006-2012, when he was released under house arrest pending a $10 million bond signed by his family members, so he could receive treatment for colon cancer. Kelly died in 2013.
Lou Pearlman
If the name Lou Pearlman sounds familiar, it’s because he was one of the hottest music producers in the 90’s, having worked with ‘NSYNC, LFO and The Backstreet Boys. In addition to producing music, he also produced one of the biggest and longest-running Ponzi schemes in US history, having stolen more than $300 million. For over 20 years, Pearlman convinced individuals and corporations to invest in two companies that only existed on paper. He also created fake financial statements to secure bank loans. In 2008, Pearlman was convicted of money laundering, conspiracy and making false statements during a bankruptcy proceeding. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Gerald Payne
When someone runs a church, it’s safe to say that this person is a man of God, but sometimes that God is the almighty dollar. In the mid 1990’s, Pastor Gerald Payne ran Greater Ministries International, where his greatest accomplishment was bilking 18,000 people out of approximately $20 million. How did he get these devoted churchgoers to hand over their cash? Well, it wasn’t through passing around a basket. Using scripture, he told the members of the church that if they invested with him and the church, they could double their money. Payne got away with his scheme for a while by cashing checks written for under the $10,000 reporting limit, but ultimately, the IRS caught-on and traced it back to Payne and his wife’s checking account. Payne claimed the cash wasn’t invested, but gifted and that their first Amendment rights as a church were violated. Payne was sentenced to 27 years in prison and his wife, Betty, was sentenced to just less than 13 years.Scott Rothstein
Gary Gauthier
Gary Gauthier hosted a radio show called, It’s God’s Money, in Tampa. It probably wasn’t God’s intention to have him steal $6 million from 38 senior citizens in Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties. He promised his victims an 8%-40% return on investments in real estate. Gauthier lured his victims by telling listeners to call him, and he would set up a personal meeting at their homes or at his office. The scheme lasted from 2005-2010. To increase his legitimacy, investors (who presumably received a return) would call into the radio show and talk, and talk about how they got rich quick. Ultimately, Gauthier was charged with a laundry list of charges, from racketeering to security fraud.Adriaan Nieuwoudt
Tom Petters
Tom Petters ran a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme, where investors funded non-existent electronic goods, to sell to big box retailers who weren’t buying them. A successful legitimate businessman, Petters owned many well-known large companies, including Fingerhut and Polaroid, which made him appear trustworthy in the eyes of investors. On Decemeber 2, 2009, Petters was charged with 20 counts of fraud, including money laundering, wire fraud and mail fraud. He is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence in a federal facility in Leavenworth, Kansas. Petters’ was the largest frauder the state of Minnesota had ever seen.Reed Slatkin
Scott Rothstein
is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence, for a $1.4 billion Ponzi scheme. The largest Ponzi schemer in the history of Florida, the now disbarred lawyer Rothstein lived a very flashy lifestyle, owning over 200 luxury watches, Bugattis and other cars, as well as doing his business on his very own golden toilet. Rothstein convinced investors to purchase fabricated structured settlements. Investors were guaranteed a return of at least 20% in 3 months. On January 27, 2010, he pleaded guilty to 5 federal crimes. During the investigation, his wife, Kim tried to hide jewelry and other assets, but she too was found, and was forced to serve 1.5 years in prison.
Crowd Funding Scams 