[Dantheman62]

For those that don't know about a Ponzi scheme......A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to investors out of the money paid by subsequent investors rather than from profit. The term "Ponzi scheme" is used primarily in the United States, while other English-speaking countries do not distinguish colloquially between this scheme and other pyramid schemes.

The Ponzi scheme usually offers abnormally high short-term returns in order to entice new investors. The perpetuation of the high returns that a Ponzi scheme advertises and pays requires an ever-increasing flow of money from investors in order to keep the scheme going.

The eponymous Ponzi scheme was orchestrated by Charles Ponzi, who went from anonymity to being a well-known Boston millionaire in six months using such a scheme in 1920. Profits were supposed to come from exchanging international postal reply coupons. He promised 50% interest (return) on investments in 45 days or “double your money” in 90 days. About 40,000 people invested about $15 million all together; in the end, only a third of that money was returned to them.

On December 11, 2008, former chairman of the NASDAQ Stock Market Bernard Madoff was arrested and charged with a single count of securities fraud, but one which, if proved, may rank among the biggest frauds ever - totaling $50 billion of fraudulent losses. If these figures are accurate, this would be the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. It is alleged that one of Madoff's biggest investors, René-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, of Access International Advisors, committed suicide following the disclosure of the scheme. At the time of this writing, it is unclear to what extent Access International's funds were involved in the scheme. Villehuchet is alleged to have lost as much as $1.4 billion in Madoff's scheme.