Great frauds in history… George Graham Rice's "adventures with your money"

George Graham Rice, AKA Jacob Simon Herzig, made millions from his dodgy share-tipping sheets, pumping up worthless mining stocks.

Jacob Simon Herzig was born in Manhattan in 1870. In 1890, he was convicted and spent the first of several spells in prison for stealing from his father’s firm in order to cover gambling debts. While inside he changed his name to George Graham Rice, who had been one of his fellow inmates. Upon release Rice worked as a journalist and betting tipster. When the authorities shut down his racing tips business, he switched to promoting mining companies, as well as writing a popular newsletter about the industry. He was convicted of mail fraud in 1911 and wrote a memoir, My Adventures With Your Money, which was serialised and then published as a book in 1913 .

What was the scam?

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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