Patenting the Ponzi: the extraordinary growth of Ponzi schemes

Tim Harford:

“Two world poker champions and other leaders of one of the largest internet card gaming sites turned the company into a massive Ponzi scheme, wrongly taking out more than $440m from player accounts, US officials alleged on Tuesday.”

Office of Charles Ponzi & Sons:



“Mr Ponzi, have you seen what the US Justice Department is saying about this poker website?”



(Sighs) “Don’t tell me, Massimo: they say it’s a Ponzi scheme?”



“You’ve got it in one, Mr Ponzi.”