Customer Reviews

Ponzi: The Incredible True Story of the King of Financial Cons (Library of Larceny)

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To understand the Ponzi scheme, is to understand the basic root of all types of [cheating]. This book gives a wonderful overview of the life and times of Charles Ponzi. It is written as a historical novel, but seems to be very well researched! The epilogue alone is full of details concerning an important subject about whom little has been written. I only wish the book was footnoted as to references. Donald Dunn has done history a great service by documenting the life of Mr. Ponzi. THIS BOOK IS A "FUN READ" ABOUT A SERIOUS HISTORICAL EVENT!

This book is a great read that all will enjoy! Fascinating story and very well written. I am recommending PONZI for my next book club meeting. And I can't wait for the movie to come out!

Like a great crime drama, "Ponzi" takes you down the amazing road of a simple huckster, and how close he came to making it big. I knocked it out in under 3 days; it's impossible to put down!

Donald Dunn has written a historical account of the greatest con of the twentieth century, that flows and pulls you in to the story like the latest thriller. Dunn leveraged contemporary accounts, Ponzi's autobiography, and un-precedented access to insiders including Ruth Ponzi. When this book was written in 1973, Ruth Ponzi was in her seventies, and operating a concession stand at a Florida racetrack with her second husband. Dunn tracked her down and convinced her to help with the book on the condition that her identity was not revealed during her lifetime. She has since gone to collect her just rewards and Dunn has updated the book, to show analogies to Enron. The former Mrs. Ponzi had been pursued by many for a long time who thought perhaps she had some of their money.

Charles Ponzi was everything we have heard and more. An Italian immigrant, he bounced around the US and Canada for years, learning the banking industry, running small cons, and doing time in prison. Then he appeared in Boston, married a beautiful young woman, and set up his own shop. He did very well the first 6 months, paying 50% interest each quarter to his initial investors using the new money from the later investors. He even survived the first run on his company, in fact this improved his balance sheet since the redemptions pre-maturity did not pay any interest. Financial analysts were telling the public that this was a house of cards, but people were loyal to the man who paid an order of magnitude more than the local banks. However he could not survive the Boston newspapers reporting that he had been in prison for extended periods on two occasions.

Federal and state prison followed, then deportation to Italy. Ultimately he found small jobs in Mussolini's Italy and later in Brazil, eventually dying a pauper. Ponzi never bought more than a few postal coupons. He was correct in determining that the postal coupons were a good investment as an arbitrage tool between the fixed and floating exchange rate systems that co-existed in those days. Unfortunately for Ponzi there was no liquid market or easy way to convert them to cash. In fact he never really attempted to do so; Ponzi was too much of the dreamer, always seeking the next big thing to save his crumbling empire.

Written like a novel, this is the true story of Charles Ponzi, the most famous con man using the "rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul" scam. I found the book to be entertaining without a dull spot. After several unsuccessful cons, he started with a small stake and took people's money and paid them 50% in 45 days. When other people heard, the number of investors mushroomed. He finally made about $8,000,000 (in the 1920's) in this pyramid scheme before he was caught.

?Ponzi? chronicles the life of Charles Ponzi who is synonymous with the scam of paying off new investors with old investors money. This entertaining character would promise a 50% return on investment in 90 days.

To recruit investors Ponzi would hire people on a freelance basis, whereby they would earn 10% of new investors money. For example, if they located someone willing to invest $1000 they would earn $100. These recruiters would target both the poor and the wealthy. This caused such a surge in demand that Ponzi could afford paying off old investors with the new money that was constantly pouring in.

Each major city eventually had someone working for him, and eventually there would be thousands of investors lined up, waiting patiently for hours for the privilege of investing.

At one point major banks had to shut down because most account holders were withdrawing all of their funds to invest with Ponzi. Ponzi of course had enough money to rescue some banks from bankruptcy and became a majority shareholder.

These investments were based on a bogus business of buying and selling International Reply Coupons.

This is thrilling to read and at times what happens sounds too unbelievable to be. Other scenes are hilarious as the story moves around from one con to another. My only complaint with this book is that at times the author ?Donald Dunn? dictates what Ponzi is thinking, when there is no actual way for him to know.

This is a great addition to the ?Broadway Books Library of Larceny?. You might also want to read another book in this series titled ?Where?s the Money?, which is the autobiography of Willie Sutton, a famous bank robber.

This book introduces the reader to the man behind the phrase "Ponzi scheme". The author's attention to detail makes the reader feel like he is really living in the late 1930s and getting to know this devious man. The reader gets the flavor of the rough and tumble times after the depression when people were desperate to recoup their losses or just make a buck. Whether you think that we are finished with or still in the midst of the Great Recession, it is instructive to get inside the mind of a con man. And the author leads us there with great imagination based on extensive research.

An intrepid attempt at presenting the life of the man whose machinations gave rise to the term "ponzi scheme." Taking advantage of the economic chaos engendered by the First World War and the opportunity for financial speculation arising from passage of ill-considered treaties creating international reply postal coupons, a diminutive ne'er-do-well Italian immigrant single-handedly engineers an investment bubble that threatens to bring down the entire banking industry of New England. Ignoring his fleecing of the common investor, the authorities decide to prosecute only when their own interests are threatened.

Rendered in semi-fictional format with extensive reconstructed dialogue and colorful characterization, this book avoids technical analysis, description, and academic narrative. The result is highly entertaining, though perhaps less than reliable from the standpoint of historical authenticity. A fun romp that leaves the reader sympathetic to the ever-smiling and forever-optimistic "Charlie," who, though clever--even a genius in his own way--was out of his depths in the financial circles he invaded, and defended to the end of his life his erstwhile success and the honesty of his intentions.

Great story of Charles Ponzi. You really get into his mind and get a feel for what this man was thinking. Pretty amazing that he was able to go on for as long as he did when you think that most people would have given up with any of the good reasons he had to do just that. Leaning about this kind of attitude is something that will help anybody in business, even legal business. :) Lots of lessons to be learned from this man, mostly of what to avoid when in your business career. Ego, greed, selfishness, charity, work ethic, etc. It's all here.