Charles Ponzi and the Postal Service
The story of the man who put the 'Ponzi' in 'Ponzi scheme'
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1/ Carlo Pietro Giovanni Guglielmo Tebaldo Ponzi, a.k.a. Charles Ponzi, was an italian swindler and con-artist.
Born in 1882 in Italy, he became notorious for his money-making fraudulent schemes in North America in the 1920s.
2/ He arrived in Boston in late 1903 with $2.50 in his pocket.
After many professional failures, he moved to Montreal in 1907 and started working as a bank teller at Banco Zarossi, where he rose to the position of bank manager.
3/ This is where he first witnessed the bank's scheme, where Zarossi was funding interest payments using deposits from newly opened accounts instead of investment profits.
4/ Ponzi served 3 years in jail for check forgery and returned to the US after his release.
However, he got involved in smuggling illegal immigrants into the country landing in prison for another 2 years, moving back to Boston after that.