About Charles Ponzi
Charles Ponzi (; Italian: [ˈpontsi]; born Carlo Pietro Giovanni Guglielmo Tebaldo Ponzi; 3 March 1882 – 18 January 1949) was an Italian charlatan and con artist who operated in the United States and Canada. His aliases included Charles Ponci, Carlo, Benny Broncko and Charles P. Bianchi. Born in Lugo, Italy, he became known in the early 1920s as a swindler in North America for his money-making scheme. He promised clients a 50% profit within 45 days or 100% profit within 90 days, by buying discounted postal reply coupons in other countries and redeeming them at face value in the U.S. as a form of arbitrage. In reality, Ponzi was paying earlier investors using the investments of later investors. While this type of fraudulent investment scheme was not invented by Ponzi, it became so identified with him that it now is referred to as a "Ponzi scheme". His scheme ran for over a year before it collapsed, costing his "investors" $20 million (equivalent to $237 million in 2024). Ponzi may have been inspired by the scheme of William W. Miller (also known as "520% Miller"), a Brooklyn bookkeeper who in 1899 used a similar deception to take in $1 million (approximately $31.8 million in 2024). While working there, Ponzi first saw the scheme of "robbing Peter to pay Paul", which later would be called a Ponzi scheme. After his release in 1911, Ponzi decided to return to the U.S., but became involved in a scheme to smuggle Italian illegal immigrants across the border.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.