List of Ponzi schemes
This is a list of Ponzi schemes, fraudulent investment operations that pay out returns to investors from money paid in by subsequent investors rather than from any actual profit earned from the operation of a business. == Historical examples == === 19th century === ==== 1860s ==== Jacob Young, William Abrams, and Nancy Clem (see Cold Spring murders) ran what author Wendy Gamber argues, in her book The Notorious Mrs.