Ponzi scheme

British  

/ ˈpɒnzɪ /

noun

1. a fraudulent investment operation that pays quick returns to initial contributors using money from subsequent contributors rather than profit

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Etymology

Origin of Ponzi scheme

After Charles Ponzi , who famously perpetrated such a scheme in the United States of America in the early 20th century

Example Sentences

Last September, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit against Lopez and his partners, accusing them of running a Ponzi scheme, misleading investors and misappropriating $16.1 million.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 10, 2026

In November, Trump pardoned David Gentile 12 days into a seven-year sentence after conviction for a private-equity Ponzi scheme External link that cost more than 17,000 people a total of $1 billion.

From Barron's • Jan. 20, 2026

Then, at the age of 54, Allen Stanford, the now-convicted fraudster and his Ponzi scheme, happened.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 23, 2025

“I mean, you take a 10%, 20%, 15% of a guy’s NIL money, that’s Bernie Madoff level,” Cronin said Friday, referencing the crooked financier who was convicted in a massive Ponzi scheme.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 5, 2025

They had the essential feature of a Ponzi scheme: To maintain the fiction that they were profitable enterprises, they needed more and more capital to create more and more subprime loans.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis