Great Frauds in History: Robert Schuyler’s illicit share issue

Robert Schuyler was known as “America’s first railroad king” issued millions of dollars' worth of fraudulent shares in his company, and kept the money, fleeing to France when his scam was exposed.

Robert Schuyler was born in Rhinebeck, New York in 1798, the grandson of American general Phillip Schuyler and nephew of the treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton. After graduating from Harvard he moved into steamboats, becoming president of the New York and Boston Transportation Company in 1838. In 1846 he founded R. & G. L. Schuyler, which invested in railroads. His career progressed rapidly and he soon became a major figure in the American rail industry: he was president of several railroads and involved with many others. As a result he became known as “America’s first railroad king”.

How did the scam work?

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri