World's biggest fraudster Bernie Madoff has died – what was his scam?
World's biggest fraudster Bernie Madoff has died – what was his scam?
Bernie Madoff, perpetrator of the world's biggest Ponzi scheme, has died in prison at the age of 82. Matthew Partridge looks at his massive fraud sche…
14 Apr 2021
Great frauds in history: Wang Fengyou’s ant-breeding scam
Great frauds in history: Wang Fengyou’s ant-breeding scam
“Model entrepreneur” Wang Fengyou's ant-farming Ponzi scheme pulled in $1.2bn, with investors losing all.
25 Mar 2021
Great frauds in history: Jeff Carpoff’s green Ponzi scheme
Great frauds in history: Jeff Carpoff’s green Ponzi scheme
Jeff Carpoff's plan to make money from renting out solar-powered generators quickly turned into a Ponzi scheme.
4 Mar 2021
Great frauds in history: Helmut Kiener, Germany’s mini-Madoff
Great frauds in history: Helmut Kiener, Germany’s mini-Madoff
The performance of Helmut Kiener’s fund of funds, which invested money from institutions and private investors into hedge funds, seemed too good to be…
25 Feb 2021
Great frauds in history: Manfred Schmider, the Sheikh of Karlsruhe
Great frauds in history: Manfred Schmider, the Sheikh of Karlsruhe
Manfred Schmider massaged the sales figures at FlowTex, his utility technology company, and used investors’ money to buy villas around the world, a fl…
10 Feb 2021
Christopher Columbus Wilson: the spiv who cashed in on new-fangled radios
Christopher Columbus Wilson: the spiv who cashed in on new-fangled radios
Christopher Columbus Wilson gave radios away to drum up business in his United Wireless Telegraph Company. The company went bankrupt and Wilson was co…
21 Jan 2021
Great frauds in history: Philip Arnold’s big diamond hoax
Great frauds in history: Philip Arnold’s big diamond hoax
Philip Arnold and his cousin John Slack lured investors into their mining company by claiming to have discovered large deposit of diamonds. There were…
13 Jan 2021
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Great Frauds in History: Robert Schuyler’s illicit share issue
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…
17 Dec 2020
Great Frauds in History: Michael Meehan’s market manipulation
Great Frauds in History: Michael Meehan’s market manipulation
Stockbroker Michael Meehan manipulated the markets, driving stock prices up and making a mint.
8 Dec 2020
Great frauds in history: Meyer Blinder's Blind ’em & Rob ’em
Great frauds in history: Meyer Blinder's Blind ’em & Rob ’em
Meyer Blinder’s brokerage firm cold-called unsuspecting punters and pumped shares in fraudulent shell companies while stiffing them with huge commiss…
1 Dec 2020
Great frauds in history: John MacGregor’s dodgy loans
Great frauds in history: John MacGregor’s dodgy loans
When the Royal British Bank fell on hard times, founder John MacGregor started falsifying the accounts and paying dividends out of capital. The bank f…
22 Nov 2020
Great frauds in history… William Strahan’s stolen bonds
Great frauds in history… William Strahan’s stolen bonds
Eton-educated William Snow, AKA William Strahan, inherited a huge fortune and joined the family bank. On the face of it he was a pillar of respectable…
18 Nov 2020
Great frauds in history: the Independent West Middlesex Fire and Life Assurance Company's early Ponzi scheme
Great frauds in history: the Independent West Middlesex Fire and Life Assurance Company's early Ponzi scheme
The Independent West Middlesex Fire and Life Assurance Company (IWM) offered annuities and life insurance policies at rates that proved too good to be…
21 Oct 2020
Great frauds in history... John Factor’s penny-stock scams
Great frauds in history... John Factor’s penny-stock scams
John Factor sold worthless penny stocks through a boiler room operation, ramping the price via his financial newsletters. But he was never held to ac…
14 Oct 2020
Great frauds in history: Farrow’s Bank
Great frauds in history: Farrow’s Bank
Thomas Farrow set up his eponymous bank in 1901, offering high interest rates to small savers. After falsifying the accounts and collapsing the bank, …
7 Oct 2020
Great frauds in history: Alan Bond’s debt-fuelled empire
Great frauds in history: Alan Bond’s debt-fuelled empire
Alan Bond built an empire that encompassed brewing, mining, television on unsustainable amounts of debt, which led to his downfall and imprisonment.
1 Oct 2020
Great frauds in history: the Pigeon King’s Ponzi scheme
Great frauds in history: the Pigeon King’s Ponzi scheme
Pigeon-fancier Arlan Galbraith claimed to have created a new breed of elite racing pigeon, but his Ponzi scheme defrauded investors of over £200m.
23 Sep 2020
Great frauds in history: Martin Grass’s debt binge
Great frauds in history: Martin Grass’s debt binge
AS CEO of pharmacy chain Rite Aid. Martin Grass borrowed heavily to fund a string of acquisitions, then cooked the books to manage the debt, inflating…
16 Sep 2020
Great frauds in history: how Joyti De-Laurey became “the Picasso of con artists”
Great frauds in history: how Joyti De-Laurey became “the Picasso of con artists”
Joyti De-Laurey forged the signatures of her bosses at Goldman Sachs and started writing cheques to herself. Over many years, she netted £4.3m.
10 Sep 2020
Great frauds in history: crypto-queen Ruja Ignatova and her “bitcoin killer”
Great frauds in history: crypto-queen Ruja Ignatova and her “bitcoin killer”
Ruja Ignatova convinced punters to put up to $12bn into her worthless "OneCoin" cryptocurrency – then disappeared with the loot.
27 Aug 2020
Great frauds in history: the Fauntleroy embezzlement
Great frauds in history: the Fauntleroy embezzlement
Henry Fauntleroy's embezzlement Berners Street Bank cost his clients their fortunes and Fauntleroy his life.
18 Aug 2020
Great frauds in history: Alexander Fordyce and shorting the East India Company
Great frauds in history: Alexander Fordyce and shorting the East India Company
Alexander Fordyce's disastrous shorting of the East India Company led to him bankrupting the private bank in which he was a partner.
12 Aug 2020