Ponzi scheme....similar to the Phoenix.

It's not a case that this blog is named as it is, in fact "the never ending Ponzi schemes" refers to the ability of this fraudulent investment activity to exponentially replicate itself over the years despite the fact that has become a well known fraudulent activity and that at this stage, investors should be well aware of it.
This particular characteristic, which makes a Ponzi scheme similar to a Phoenix - that is, from the ashes of one scheme immediately a new and stronger one arises as the mythical fire bird - has drawn my attention and leaded me to willing to provide an overview of it, with the hope that by providing information of it, future investors will may be more cautious in engaging in their investment activities.

In order to gain a better understanding of how disruptive can be a Ponzi scheme for both an economy as a whole (e.g Albania 1997) and private investors (e.g.Mardof 2008), it is necessary and interesting to observe some of the most important Ponzi schemes perpetrated over both the past and the current century.

Although there are numerous cases to be reported and discussed of, only the most relevant will be presented as examples; while the two cases known as the "Albanian Ponzi scheme" and the "Madof Ponzi scheme" will be discussed in detail in future posts, given the fact that for different reasons they both clearly show the disruptive and serious consequences that a Ponzi scheme can cause both to a financial sector of an economy in the Madof case and to a whole nation in the Albanian case.

Here are listed six important cases of Ponzi schemes occurred across Europe, Russia and USA:

1. Portugal 1970/1984 - Dona Branca maintained a scheme that paid 10% monthly interest. She had received the equivalent of €85 million before being arrested and sentenced 10 years in prison.
2. МММ is a Russian company which during the 1990's implemented one of the world's largest Ponzi schemes of all time. Has been estimated that  between 5 and 40 million people lost up to 10 billion dollar. 
3. The European Kings Club collaps occurred in Switzerland (1994), caused losses of about 1.1 billion dollar.
4. In Romania, between 1991 and 1994, the Ponzi scheme run by the "Caritas" company from Cluj, guaranteed to investors eight times the money invested in six months. It attracted more than 400,000 depositors who invested about 1 billion dollars before it finally went bankrupt in 1994,  with debts accounting for 450 million dollar.
5. In 2003, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission closed a 1 billion dollar scheme by Mutual Benefits Company in Florida, run by Peter Lombardi, affecting more than 28,000 investors.
6. USA 2008 Tom Petters was accused by the Federal government as the criminal mind behind a 3.65 billion dollar Ponzi scheme that attracted investors for more than 13 years.