| 释义 |
Ponzi scheme U.S.|ˈpɒnzɪ|
[f. the name of Charles Ponzi, who perpetrated such a fraud 1919–20.]
A form of fraud in which belief in the success of a fictive enterprise is fostered by payment of quick returns to first investors from money invested by others.
[1957Encycl. Brit. IX. 708/1 The Ponzi Scheme... Beginning in Dec. 1919 Ponzi..produced a scheme involving the purchase of International Postal Reply coupons in countries where the exchange was low, trading them in for postage stamps at their face value in a country where the rate was high, and then selling the stamps at a great profit... The slogan of the swindle was 40% in 90 days... Actually..Ponzi made no purchases whatever of International Postal Reply coupons.] 1973Guardian 14 Apr. 2/4 The indictments..allege that Mackell's staff invested in what is called a Ponzi scheme, a confidence game named after a famous Italian. 1976Billings (Montana) Gaz. 27 June 9-g/1 The Home-Stake scandal is a form of the ‘Ponzi’ scheme, named for a self-educated, slight but dapper Italian immigrant named Charles Ponzi whose intricate schemes in the 1920s were front-page stuff. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 10 July 8/3 ‘He was operating a Ponzi scheme,’ says Michael Mustokoff, chief of the unit. The first few investors were paid ‘dividends’ out of the money invested by people who came in later, and word spread that the club was raking in the bucks. |