Example 1: The Martin Frankel Case
Martin Frankel was a man of mystery, a con artist and claimed to be a “financial genius”, as seen in an
episode of CNBC’s, American Greed. Frankel started off as a self-taught stock broker that led to him
giving poor financial advice, and cheating them out of their money, ultimately resulting in him being
banned from stock and shares trading. After being banned from the stock world, most people would
walk softly on the already thin ice, but Frankel decided to continue to live a life of crime. He started
numerous U.S. based insurance companies that were simply a front business to enable his life of luxury.
Mr. Frankel would use money invested in the eight insurance companies to pay for outrageous parties.
Eventually after continuous bragging, and many failed businesses, Martin Frankel was ultimately
brought down by nosey neighbors, private investigators and pure greed.
Example 2: Charles Ponzi
The original White Collar man, Charles Ponzi, who now has a crime, the Ponzi Scheme named after him.
During the 1920s, Charles Ponzi convinced investors to purchase discount postage coupons. As more
people invested, Ponzi would pay the older/original investors their profits from the new investors
money. There are tons of recent examples of Ponzi schemes, the Madoff scandal is the first and really
the only one that people can relate to when they hear Ponzi scheme. The way his scheme work, was
Ponzi would convince investors that buying international reply coupons and exchange them for more
expensive stamps in the U.S., filling his pockets with money. Again, Ponzi would pay out investors with
other investors money when they requested to withdraw their profits. The Boston Post’s investigation
into Charles Ponzi ultimately brought down his scheme, resulting in the closure of six banks and Ponzi
being convicted of mail fraud and sentenced to 14 years in prison. It is believe that he cost his investors
upwards of $20 million.
Grossman, S. (2012, March 07). Top 10 Swindlers. Retrieved January 25, 2018, from