"For a few months in 1922, throngs of America’s youth — from schoolkids to shopgirls — were swept up in a leaderless pyramid scheme that promised “something for nothing” and encouraged promiscuous flirtation. These were the “Shifters.”
This is their (brief) story." (NYTimes link)
Previously on the flappers and flapper slang: 1, 2.
posted by OmieWise
on Dec 6, 2012 -
43 comments
On July 23, 1920,
Charles Ponzi hired former Boston Post journalist William H. McMasters as his publicist, who quickly realized that his new client was defrauding the public. Just ten days later, McMasters wrote an exposé published in the Post that led to Ponzi's ultimate downfall. The newspaper won a Pulitzer. McMasters was
The Man Who Time (Almost) Forgot (Via) [more inside]
posted by zarq
on Aug 10, 2011 -
11 comments
Monday, December 6, 2010: WASHINGTON— “Attorney General Eric Holder announced today the results of Operation Broken Trust, a nationwide operation organized by the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to target investment fraud. To date, the operation has involved enforcement actions against 343 criminal defendants and 189 civil defendants for fraud schemes that harmed more than 120,000 victims throughout the country. The operation’s criminal cases involved more than $8.3 billion in estimated losses and the civil cases involved estimated losses of more than $2.1 billion. Operation Broken Trust is the first national operation of its kind to target a broad array of investment fraud schemes that directly prey upon the investing public.” —Or, well, maybe, perhaps,
not so much. [more inside]
posted by kipmanley
on Dec 9, 2010 -
24 comments
An Australian Madoff? Trio Capital, an Australian fund manager, has been
ordered to wind up its funds after being unable to account for $123 million in its Astarra fund since investigations began in October. The fund "has a total of $426 million under management - including
superannuation savings of about 10,000 Australians." Some worry what this means for more potential frauds in Australia's "privatized social security."
[more inside]
posted by FuManchu
on Mar 21, 2010 -
10 comments
Would you trust
this man with your life's savings? Successful entrepeneur and president of Trans Continental Airlines cum boy band svengali,
Lou Pearlman was the guiding hand behind N'Sync, the Backstreet Boys, and O-Town. Now, however,
he's on the lam, wanted by the FBI for swindling old folks out of $317 million. Pearlman was last seen in Berlin on February 1st; as he sat in a crowded theater watching his latest creation, the German boy band
US5, win an international pop award, FBI investigators were already combing through his Florida home and offices.
posted by billysumday
on Apr 17, 2007 -
43 comments
Earthlink founding investor Reed Slatkin to plead guilty of defrauding over 800 people out of $254 million in a Ponzi scheme. Several of the victims were members of the Church of Scientology, where he was a minister. Oh, and he filed for bankruptcy too so there's no chance for reparations... I don't know how to feel!
posted by kfury
on Mar 27, 2002 -
10 comments
