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In 1903, a ship filled with dreamers docked in Boston. Amongst their quantity was a refugee from Lugo in northern Italy. He was cleaned out by cardsharps in the course of the voyage, so he acquired right here with $2.50 in his pocket. A lot later, he instructed a newspaper, “I landed on this nation with $2.50 in money and $1 million in hopes, and people hopes by no means left me.” That man’s title was Charles Ponzi.
Ponzi unplugged.
The ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ swindle that now bears his title is without doubt one of the first classes within the syllabus for Grifter 101. And the SEC believes that such was the marketing strategy of Harbor Metropolis Capital, the agency the place now-Rep. George Santos (if that’s his actual title) labored previous to his having been elected to the Home of Representatives. To be honest, Santos “has mentioned he was unaware of any fraud by Harbor Metropolis.” However he does appear to have introduced his own brand of shadiness to this shady enterprise. From the Washington Publish:
In two cases, he inflated his personal tutorial or skilled credentials, The Publish discovered. As well as, Zoom recordings of office conferences present Santos providing anecdotes about his purported interactions with rich individuals — tales disputed by these concerned — for potential inclusion in advertising supplies or to impress potential shoppers.[…]Santos claimed that he as soon as unintentionally flipped over a desk whereas within the workplace of Stephen A. Schwarzman, the billionaire non-public fairness investor and Blackstone CEO[…]“I walked out of there feeling like a totally incompetent fool,” he added, based on Zoom footage of the assembly. A Blackstone spokesman mentioned Schwarzman “has no recollection of any such incident or assembly Mr. Santos, and now we have discovered no report of Mr. Santos having a enterprise relationship with Blackstone.”
Santos’ former employer (allegedly) put its personal spin on the scheme, as have dozens of different artists down by way of the years, together with Bernie Madoff, who took it to an interplanetary stage. However the primary structure has remained primarily unchanged since Mr. Ponzi was taking the old-line Brahmins (and reportedly 75 % of the Boston Police Division) to the cleaners.
Two of the individuals [Santos] pitched mentioned they didn’t understand till being contacted by a reporter that the person they’d often called “George Devolder” was the newly elected congressman who amongst different issues falsely claimed that his mom was working within the World Commerce Middle on Sept. 11, 2001. “Devolder” was Santos’s mom’s surname. “I can’t imagine it,” one of many two, Al Conard, mentioned when instructed that Devolder and Santos are one and the identical. Conard, a 60-year-old actual property agent from Minnesota, mentioned he misplaced $50,000 in Harbor Metropolis.
Go softly, George. You stroll with the legends now.
(Particulars about Ponzi’s profession come from Mitch Zuckoff’s great Ponzi’s Scheme: The True Story of a Monetary Legend, which y’all ought to learn.)
Charles P Pierce is the writer of 4 books, most just lately Fool America, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives close to Boston and has three youngsters.
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