Ponzi scheme

British

/ ˈpɒnzɪ /

noun

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Ponzi scheme

Only Bernie Madoff, whose Ponzi scheme defrauded 40,000 investors, comes close in terms of attention.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

The cattle empire that turned out to be a giant Ponzi scheme.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 8, 2026

Now, amid suits and countersuits among the lender bank, investors, a bankruptcy trustee and McClain’s family, details of the alleged Ponzi scheme are coming out.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026

To build confidence, it isn’t just about going after a Ponzi scheme, which we all agree we have to go after.

From Barron's ● Apr. 18, 2026

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

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023