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139-512: Charles Ponzi ( / ˈ p ɒ n z i / , Italian: [ˈpontsi] ; born Carlo Pietro Giovanni Guglielmo Tebaldo Ponzi ; March 3, 1882 – January 18, 1949) was an Italian charlatan and con artist who operated in the United States and Canada . His aliases included Charles Ponci , Carlo , and Charles P. Bianchi . Born in Lugo, Italy , he became known in the early 1920s as

278-475: A Ponzi scheme ). Zarossi paid 6% interest on bank deposits—double the going rate at the time—and was growing rapidly as a result. Ponzi eventually rose to bank manager. However, he found out that the bank was in serious financial trouble because of bad real estate loans, and that Zarossi was funding the interest payments not through profit on investments, but by using money deposited in newly opened accounts. The bank eventually failed and Zarossi fled to Mexico with

417-656: A mining camp as a nurse, he came up with the idea of going to another mining camp, starting a utility there that would supply water and power, and selling its stock. During this time, a fellow nurse called Pearl Gosid had suffered severe burns in an accident. Despite not knowing her, Ponzi volunteered for two major operations to donate 122 square inches (790 cm) of skin from his back and legs to Pearl. This resulted in pleurisy and similar complications, and Ponzi's losing his job. Thereafter Ponzi continued to travel around looking for work, and in Boston, he met Rose Maria Gnecco,

556-419: A stenographer , to whom he proposed marriage. Gnecco came from a family of Italian-American immigrants who had a small fruit stall in downtown Boston . Though Ponzi did not tell Gnecco about his years in jail, his mother sent Gnecco a letter telling her of Ponzi's past. Nonetheless, she married him in 1918. For the next few months, Ponzi worked at a number of businesses, including his father-in-law's grocery, and

695-709: A worldwide famous cuisine . Due to comparatively late national unification, and the historical autonomy of the regions that comprise the Italian peninsula, many traditions and customs of the Italians can be identified by their regions of origin. Despite the political and social isolation of these regions, Italy's contributions to the cultural and historical heritage of the Western world remain immense. Famous elements of Italian culture are its opera and music, its iconic gastronomy and food, which are commonly regarded as amongst

834-581: A Napoleonic sister republic of Revolutionary France , took place, on the basis of the events following the French Revolution (1789–1799) which, among its ideals, advocated the national self-determination . This event is celebrated by the Tricolour Day . The Italian national colours appeared for the first time on a tricolour cockade in 1789, anticipating by seven years the first green, white and red Italian military war flag , which

973-412: A bank located on Saint Jacques Street started by Luigi "Louis" Zarossi to service the influx of Italian immigrants arriving in the city. By this time, Ponzi had a winning personality and spoke English, Italian, and French, which Zuckoff says helped him get the job at Banco Zarossi. It was at Banco Zarossi that Ponzi first saw the scheme of " robbing Peter to pay Paul " (which subsequently would be called

1112-569: A charity hospital in Rio de Janeiro , the Hospital São Francisco de Assis of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro , on January 18, 1949. Supported by his last and only friend, Francisco Nonato Nunes, a barber who spoke English and had notions of Italian, Ponzi granted one last interview to an American reporter, telling him, "Even if they never got anything for it, it was cheap at that price. Without malice aforethought, I had given them

1251-460: A checkbook he found, forging the signature of Damien Fournier, a director of the company. Confronted by police who had taken note of his large expenditures just after the forged check was cashed, Ponzi held out his wrist and said, "I'm guilty". He ended up spending three years at St. Vincent-de-Paul Federal Penitentiary [Inmate #6660], a bleak facility located on the outskirts of Montreal. Rather than inform his mother of his imprisonment, he posted her

1390-611: A delayed honeymoon with Rose but instead decided to change them to bring his mother from Italy to the U.S. in a first-class stateroom on an ocean liner. She lived with Ponzi and Rose for some time in Lexington, but died soon after. On July 31, 1920, Ponzi told Father Pasquale Di Milla , the director of the Italian Children's Home in Jamaica Plain , that he would donate $ 100,000 in honor of his mother. Ponzi also bought

1529-553: A fine, or to both. Any offence at common law of forgery is abolished. The abolition of a common law offence of forgery does not affect proceedings for any such offence committed before its abolition. Except as regards offences committed before the commencement of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 and except where the context otherwise requires, without prejudice to section 65(4)(a) of that Act, references to forgery must be construed in accordance with

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1668-459: A forged physical object. The similar crime of fraud is the crime of deceiving another, including through the use of objects obtained through forgery. Forgery is one of the techniques of fraud, including identity theft . Forgery is one of the threats addressed by security engineering . In the 16th century, imitators of Albrecht Dürer 's style of printmaking improved the market for their own prints by signing them "AD", making them forgeries. In

1807-968: A half million are in Switzerland , as well as in France , the entire population of San Marino . In addition, there are also clusters of Italian speakers in the former Yugoslavia , primarily in Istria , located between in modern Croatia and Slovenia (see: Istrian Italians ), and Dalmatia , located in present-day Croatia and Montenegro (see: Dalmatian Italians ). Due to the wide-ranging diaspora following Italian unification in 1861, World War I and World War II , (with over 5 million Italian citizens that live outside of Italy) over 80 million people abroad claim full or partial Italian ancestry. This includes about 60% of Argentina 's population ( Italian Argentines ), 1/3 of Uruguayans ( Italian Uruguayans ), 15% of Brazilians ( Italian Brazilians ,

1946-693: A key role in ushering the Age of Discovery and the European colonization of the Americas. The most notable among them were: Christopher Columbus (Italian: Cristoforo Colombo [kriˈstɔːforo koˈlombo] ), colonist in the name of Spain, who is credited with discovering the New World and the opening of the Americas for conquest and settlement by Europeans; John Cabot (Italian: Giovanni Caboto [dʒoˈvanni kaˈbɔːto] ), sailing for England, who

2085-457: A large number of Ponzi-controlled accounts had received more than $ 250,000 in loans from Hanover Trust. This led Allen to speculate that Ponzi was not nearly as well-financed as he claimed, since he was getting large loans from the bank he effectively controlled. He ordered two bank examiners to keep an eye on Ponzi's accounts. On August 9, the bank examiners reported that enough investors had cashed their checks on Ponzi's main account there that it

2224-464: A large portion of the bank's money. Ponzi stayed in Montreal and, for some time, lived at Zarossi's house helping the man's abandoned family while planning to return to the U.S. and start over. As Ponzi was penniless, this proved to be very difficult. Eventually, he walked into the offices of a former Zarossi customer, Canadian Warehousing, and finding no one there, wrote himself a check for $ 423.58 in

2363-586: A lesser extent in the Middle East ( Italians in the United Arab Emirates ). Italians have influenced and contributed to fields like arts and music , science , technology , fashion , cinema , cuisine , restaurants , sports , jurisprudence , banking and business . Furthermore, Italian people are generally known for their attachment to their locale, expressed in the form of either regionalism or municipalism . Hypotheses for

2502-602: A letter stating that he had found a job as a "special assistant" to a prison warden. After his release in 1911, Ponzi decided to return to the U.S., but became involved in a scheme to smuggle Italian illegal immigrants across the border. He was caught and spent two years in Atlanta Prison . Here he became a translator for the warden, who was intercepting letters from mobster Ignazio "the Wolf" Lupo . Ponzi ended up befriending Lupo. Another prisoner, Charles W. Morse , became

2641-421: A macaroni company and part of a wine company in an attempt to gain profits that could be used to repay the investors of his IRC scheme. Ponzi's rapid rise naturally drew suspicion. When a Boston financial writer suggested there was no way Ponzi could legally deliver such high returns in a short period of time, Ponzi sued for libel and won $ 500,000 in damages. As libel law at the time placed the burden of proof on

2780-552: A millionaire in a short span of time. There was a run on the Securities Exchange Company, as some investors decided to pull out. Ponzi paid them and the run stopped. On July 24, 1920, The Boston Post printed a favorable article on Ponzi and his scheme that brought in investors faster than ever. At that time, Ponzi was making $ 250,000 a day. Ponzi's good fortune was increased by the fact that just below this favorable article, which seemed to imply that Ponzi

2919-570: A reply to a correspondent in another country. IRCs were priced at the cost of postage in the country of purchase, but could be exchanged for stamps to cover the cost of postage in the country where redeemed; if these values were different, there was a potential profit. Inflation after World War I had greatly decreased the cost of postage in Italy expressed in U.S. dollars, so that an IRC could be bought cheaply in Italy and exchanged for U.S. stamps of higher value, which could then be sold. Ponzi claimed that

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3058-820: A result of invasions by another Germanic tribe, the Lombards . Much of the peninsula was now politically dominated by the Kingdom of the Lombards ; however, remnants of Byzantine control remained, especially in Southern Italy , where the Byzantine Empire retained control into the 11th century until the Norman conquest of Southern Italy . In addition to the Normans , Arabs conquered parts of Southern Italy in

3197-470: A swindler in North America for his money-making scheme. He promised clients a 50% profit within 45 days or 100% profit within 90 days, by buying discounted postal reply coupons in other countries and redeeming them at face value in the U.S. as a form of arbitrage . In reality, Ponzi was paying earlier investors using the investments of later investors. While this type of fraudulent investment scheme

3336-451: A true role model to Ponzi. Morse, a wealthy Wall Street businessman and speculator, fooled doctors during medical exams by eating soap shavings to give the appearance of ill-health. Morse was soon released from prison. Ponzi completed his prison term following Morse's release, having an additional month added to his term due to his inability to pay a $ 50 fine. After Ponzi's release from prison, he made his way back to Boston. While working at

3475-503: A way to actually change the IRCs to cash. He also subsequently realized that changing the coupons to money was logistically impossible. For example: for the initial 18 investors of January 1920, for their $ 1,800 investment, it would have taken 53,000 postal coupons to actually realize the arbitrage profits. For the subsequent 15,000 investors that Ponzi had, he would have had to fill Titanic -sized ships with postal coupons just to ship them to

3614-763: Is Marco Polo , explorer of the 13th century, who recorded his 24 years-long travels in the Book of the Marvels of the World , introducing Europeans to Central Asia and China. The country boasts several world-famous cities. Rome was the ancient capital of the Roman Empire, seat of the Pope of the Catholic Church, capital of reunified Italy and artistic, cultural and cinematographic centre of world relevance. Florence

3753-425: Is triable either way . A person guilty of forgery is liable, on conviction on indictment , to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, or, on summary conviction , to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum , or to both. For offences akin to forgery, see English criminal law#Forgery, personation, and cheating . The common law offence of forgery

3892-652: Is abolished for all purposes not relating to offences committed before the commencement of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981. Forgery is not an official offence under the law of Scotland, except in cases where statute provides otherwise. The Forgery of Foreign Bills Act 1803 was repealed in 2013. In the Republic of Ireland , forgery is an offence under section 25(1) of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 which provides: A person

4031-537: Is an offence under section 1 of the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 , which provides: A person is guilty of forgery if he makes a false instrument, with the intention that he or another shall use it to induce somebody to accept it as genuine, and by reason of so accepting it to do or not to do some act to his own or any other person’s prejudice. "Instrument" is defined by section 8, "makes" and "false" by section 9, and "induce" and "prejudice" by section 10. Forgery

4170-547: Is considered the "father of the Italian flag". After the Battle of Waterloo , the reaction set in with the Congress of Vienna allowed the restoration of many of the old rulers and systems under Austrian domination. The concept of nationalism continued strong, however, and sporadic outbreaks led by such inveterate reformers as Giuseppe Mazzini occurred in several parts of the peninsula down to 1848–49. In this context, in 1847,

4309-409: Is essentially concerned with a produced or altered object. Where the prime concern of a forgery is less focused on the object itself – what it is worth or what it "proves" – than on a tacit statement of criticism that is revealed by the reactions the object provokes in others, then the larger process is a hoax . In a hoax, a rumor or a genuine object planted in a concocted situation, may substitute for

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4448-405: Is guilty of forgery if he or she makes a false instrument with the intention that it shall be used to induce another person to accept it as genuine and, by reason of so accepting it, to do some act, or to make some omission, to the prejudice of that person or any other person. A person guilty of forgery is liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, or to

4587-637: The Baroque , Neoclassicism , the Risorgimento , Fascism , and European integration . Italy also became a seat of great formal learning in 1088 with the establishment of the University of Bologna , the oldest university in continuous operation , and the first university in the sense of a higher-learning and degree-awarding institute, as the word universitas was coined at its foundation. Many other Italian universities soon followed. For example,

4726-461: The East Coast , eventually taking a job as a dishwasher in a restaurant, where he slept on the floor. Ponzi managed to work his way up to the position of waiter, but was fired for theft and shortchanging customers. In 1907, after several years of failing to establish himself in the U.S., Ponzi moved to Montreal , Quebec , Canada, and became an assistant teller in the newly opened Banco Zarossi,

4865-1013: The Etruscans , the Rhaetians , the Ligurians , the Adriatic Veneti , and the Italic peoples , including the Latins , from which the Romans emerged and helped create and evolve the modern Italian identity. Foreign influences include the ancient Greeks in Magna Graecia , and the Phoenicians , who had a presence in Sicily and Sardinia , the Celts , who settled in parts of the north,

5004-568: The Germanics and the Slavs. Legally, Italian nationals are citizens of Italy , regardless of ancestry or nation of residence (in effect, however, Italian nationality is largely based on jus sanguinis ) and may be distinguished from ethnic Italians in general or from people of Italian descent without Italian citizenship and ethnic Italians living in territories adjacent to the Italian peninsula without Italian citizenship. The Latin equivalent of

5143-716: The Hanover Trust Company , but they were not convinced, and its manager, Chmielinski, refused to lend him money. Subsequently, Ponzi set up a stock company to raise money from the public. He also went to several of his friends in Boston and promised that he would double their investment in 90 days, in an environment when banks were paying only 5% annual interest. The great returns from postal reply coupons, he explained to them, made such incredible profits easy to accomplish. Some people invested and were paid as promised, receiving $ 750 in interest on initial investments of $ 1,250. In January 1920, Ponzi started his own company,

5282-470: The Kingdom of Sicily . From the 11th century on, Italian cities began to grow rapidly in independence and importance. They became centres of political life, banking , and foreign trade. Some became wealthy, and many, including Florence , Rome , Genoa , Milan , Pisa , Siena and Venice , grew into nearly independent city-states and maritime republics . Each had its own foreign policy and political life. They all resisted, with varying degrees of success,

5421-719: The Massachusetts State House to furnish their names and addresses for the purpose of the investigation. On the same day, Ponzi received a preview of Pride's audit, which revealed Ponzi was at least $ 7 million in debt. On August 11, the Post published with a front-page story about his criminal activities in Montreal 13 years earlier, including his forgery conviction and his role at Zarossi's scandal-ridden bank. That afternoon, Bank Commissioner Allen seized Hanover Trust due to numerous irregularities. The commissioner thus inadvertently foiled Ponzi's plan to borrow funds from

5560-451: The Nation through emblems , metaphors , personifications , allegories , which are shared by the entire Italian people. Some of them are official, i.e. they are recognized by the Italian state authorities, while others are part of the identity of the country without being defined by law. Traditions of Italy are sets of traditions , beliefs , values , and customs that belongs within

5699-698: The Ostrogoths . Theodoric and Odoacer ruled jointly until 493, when Theodoric murdered Odoacer. Theodoric continued to rule Italy with an army of Ostrogoths and a government that was mostly Italian. After the death of Theodoric in 526, the kingdom began to grow weak. By 553, emperor Justinian I expelled the Ostrogoths, and Italy was included into the Byzantine Empire under the Justinian dynasty . Byzantine rule in much of Italy collapsed by 572 as

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5838-528: The Papal States in central Italy. The Lombards remained a threat to papal power, however, until they were crushed by Charlemagne in 774. Charlemagne added the Kingdom of the Lombards to his vast realm. In recognition of Charlemagne's power, and to cement the church's alliance with him, Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III in 800. After Charlemagne's death in 814, his son Louis

5977-409: The Post started a series of articles that asked hard questions about the operation of Ponzi's money machine. The paper contacted Clarence Barron , the financial journalist who headed Dow Jones & Company , to examine Ponzi's scheme. Barron observed that though Ponzi was offering fantastic returns on investments, Ponzi himself was not investing with his own company. Barron then noted that to cover

6116-586: The Praetorian prefecture of Italy ( praefectura praetoria Italiae ), and was subdivided into two dioceses. Diocesis Italia annonaria (Italy of the annona , governed from Milan) and Diocesis Italia Suburbicaria (Italy "under the government of the urbs ", i.e. governed from Rome). Christianity became the Roman state religion in AD 380, under Emperor Theodosius I . The last Western emperor, Romulus Augustulus ,

6255-665: The Schola Medica Salernitana , in southern Italy, was the first medical school in Europe. These great centres of learning presaged the Rinascimento : the European Renaissance began in Italy and was fueled throughout Europe by Italian painters, sculptors, architects, scientists, literature masters and music composers. Italy continued its leading cultural role through the Baroque period and into

6394-569: The Uffizi Gallery . The Catholic Church openly condemned the Mafia, and two churches were bombed and an anti-Mafia priest shot dead in Rome. Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were named as heroes of the last 60 years in 13 November 2006 issue of Time . Italy is considered one of the birthplaces of Western civilization and a cultural superpower . Italian culture is the culture of

6533-921: The culture of Italian people. These traditions have influenced life in Italy for centuries, and are still practiced in modern times. Italian traditions are directly connected to Italy's ancestors, which says even more about Italian history . Folklore of Italy refers to the folklore and urban legends of Italy . Within the Italian territory, various peoples have followed one another over time, each of which has left its mark on current culture. Some tales also come from Christianization , especially those concerning demons , which are sometimes recognized by Christian demonology . Italian folklore also includes Italian folk dance , Italian folk music and folk heroes . Women in Italy refers to females who are from (or reside in) Italy . The legal and social status of Italian women has undergone rapid transformations and changes during

6672-704: The four great powers after the victory of the Allies . In the decades following unification, Italy began creating colonies in Africa , and under Benito Mussolini 's fascist regime conquered Ethiopia , founding the Italian Empire in 1936. The population of Italy grew to 45 million in 1940 and the economy, which had been based upon agriculture until that time, started its industrial development, mainly in northern Italy. World War II soon severely damaged Italy and destroyed its colonial power. Between 1945 and 1948,

6811-427: The import-export company JR Poole before hitting upon an idea to sell advertising in a large business listing to be sent to various businesses. He was unable to sell this idea to businesses, and his company failed soon after. Ponzi took over his wife's family's fledgling fruit company for a short time, but to no avail, and it, too, failed shortly thereafter. Ponzi set up a small office at 27 School Street , Boston, in

6950-548: The term Italian had been in use for natives of the geographical region since antiquity. The majority of Italian nationals are native speakers of the country's official language, Italian, a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin , or a variety thereof, that is regional Italian . However, many of them also speak a regional or minority language native to Italy,

7089-877: The " Maxi Trial ", and of the new anti-mafia measures launched by the government. In 1992, two major dynamite attacks killed the judges Giovanni Falcone (23 May in the Capaci bombing ) and Paolo Borsellino (19 July in the Via D'Amelio bombing ). One year later (May–July 1993), tourist spots were attacked, such as the Via dei Georgofili in Florence, Via Palestro in Milan, and the Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano and Via San Teodoro in Rome, leaving 10 dead and 93 injured and causing severe damage to cultural heritage such as

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7228-514: The "Securities Exchange Company", to promote the scheme. In the first month, 18 people invested in his company with a total of $ 1,800. He paid them promptly, the very next month, with money obtained from a newer set of investors. Ponzi set up a larger office, this time in the Niles Building on School Street. Word spread, and investments increased rapidly. Ponzi hired agents and paid them generous commissions . Between February and March 1920,

7367-538: The 14th century, and led to an unparalleled flourishing of the arts, literature, music, and science. However, the city-states were often troubled by violent disagreements among their citizens. The most famous division was between the Guelphs and Ghibellines . The Guelphs supported supreme rule by the pope, and the Ghibellines favoured the emperor. City-states often took sides and waged war against each other. During

7506-450: The 20th century the art market made forgeries highly profitable. There are widespread forgeries of especially valued artists, such as drawings originally by Pablo Picasso , Paul Klee , and Henri Matisse . A special case of double forgery is the forging of Vermeer 's paintings by Han van Meegeren , and in its turn the forging of Van Meegeren's work by his son Jacques van Meegeren . In England and Wales and Northern Ireland , forgery

7645-425: The 9th century, establishing an Emirate of Sicily that lasted until it was also eventually overtaken by the Normans in the 11th century. The subsequent interaction between Latin, Byzantine, Arab, and Norman cultures resulted in the formation of a Norman-Arab-Byzantine culture in Southern Italy. During the 5th and 6th centuries, the popes increased their influence in both religious and political matters in Italy. It

7784-530: The Elder 's Origines , the first work of history composed in Latin , described Italy as the entire peninsula south of the Alps . According to Cato and several Roman authors, the Alps formed the "walls of Italy". In 264 BC, Roman Italy extended from the Arno and Rubicon rivers of the centre-north to the entire south. The northern area of Cisalpine Gaul was occupied by Rome in the 220s BC and became considered geographically and de facto part of Italy, but remained politically and de jure separated. It

7923-416: The European kings who opposed France. After the French king was overthrown and France became a republic, secret clubs favouring an Italian republic were formed throughout Italy. The armies of the French Republic began to move across Europe. In 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte led a French army into northern Italy and drove out the Austrian rulers. Once again, Italy was the scene of battle between the Habsburgs and

8062-417: The French. Wherever France conquered, Italian republics were set up, with constitutions and legal reforms. Napoleon made himself emperor in 1804, and part of northern and central Italy was unified under the name of the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as king. The rest of northern and central Italy was annexed by France. Only Sicily, where the Bourbon king had taken refuge upon the French invasion of Naples, and

8201-421: The Italian economy which, until the late 1960s, enjoyed a period of sustained economic growth commonly called the " Economic Miracle ". In 1957, Italy was a founding member of the European Economic Community (EEC), which became the European Union (EU) in 1993. Italy faced several terror attacks between 1992 and 1993 perpetrated by the Sicilian Mafia as a consequence of several life sentences pronounced during

8340-423: The Italians and is incredibly diverse spanning the entirety of the Italian peninsula and the islands of Sardinia and Sicily . Italy has been the starting point of phenomena of international impact such as the Roman Republic , Roman Empire , the Roman Catholic Church , the Maritime republics , Romanesque art , Scholasticism , the Renaissance , the Age of Discovery , Mannerism , the Scientific revolution ,

8479-503: The Italians, is medieval and was used alternatively with Italicus during the early modern period . After the fall of the Western Roman Empire , which was caused by the invasion of the Ostrogoths , the Kingdom of Italy was created. After the Lombard invasions, "Italia" was retained as the name for their kingdom , and for its successor kingdom within the Holy Roman Empire , which nominally lasted until 1806, although it had de facto disintegrated due to factional politics pitting

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8618-404: The Middle Ages to the early modern period, with its intricate canal system attracts tourists from all over the world especially during the Venetian Carnival and the Biennale . Naples , with the largest historic city centre in Europe and the oldest continuously active public opera house in the world ( Teatro di San Carlo ). Bologna is the main transport hub of the country, as well as the home of

8757-399: The Pious succeeded him. Louis divided the empire among his sons, and Frankish Italy became part of Middle Francia , extending as far south as Rome and Spoleto . This Kingdom of Italy became part of the Holy Roman Empire in the 10th century, while southern Italy was under the rule of the Lombard Principality of Benevento or of the Byzantine Empire , in the 12th century absorbed into

8896-400: The Renaissance, Italy became an even more attractive prize to foreign conquerors. After some city-states asked for outside help in settling disputes with their neighbours, King Charles VIII of France marched into Italy in 1494; he soon withdrew, showing that the Italian peninsula's delicate equilibrium could be taken advantage of. After the Italian Wars , Spain emerged as the dominant force in

9035-445: The Romantic period, when its dominance in painting and sculpture diminished but the Italians re-established a strong presence in music. Italian explorers and navigators in the 15th and 16th centuries left a perennial mark on human history with the modern "discovery of America", due to the Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus . In addition, the name of " America " derives from the geographer Amerigo Vespucci 's first name. Also noted

9174-404: The S.S. Vancouver . By his own account, Ponzi had $ 2.50 in his pocket (equivalent to $ 85 in 2023), having gambled away the rest of his life savings during the voyage. "I landed in this country with $ 2.50 in cash and $ 1 million in hopes, and those hopes never left me," he later told a reporter for The New York Times . He quickly learned English and spent the next few years doing odd jobs along

9313-519: The Springfield neighborhood of Jacksonville , Florida , and launched the Charpon Land Syndicate ("Charpon" is an amalgamation of his name), seeking to capitalize on the Florida land boom . He offered investors tiny tracts of land, some underwater, and promised 200% returns in 60 days. In reality, it was a scam that sold swampland in Columbia County . Ponzi was indicted by a Duval County grand jury in February 1926 and charged with violating Florida trust and securities laws. A jury found him guilty on

9452-409: The U.S. from Europe. However, Ponzi found that all the interest payments returned to him, as investors continued to re-invest. Ponzi lived luxuriously: he bought a mansion in Lexington , Massachusetts , and maintained accounts in several banks across New England besides Hanover Trust. He bought a Locomobile , the finest car of that time. He had initially purchased two first-class tickets to Italy for

9591-417: The amount of the loss, yielding eight years in prison. In Connecticut , forgery in the Third Degree, which is a class B misdemeanor is punishable by up to 6 months in jail, a $ 1000 fine, and probation; forgery in the First Degree, which is a class C felony, is punishable by a maximum 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $ 10,000 fine, or both. As to the effect, in the United Kingdom, of a forged signature on

9730-612: The associated Romanization , culminated in 88 BC, when, in the aftermath of the Social War , Rome granted its fellow Italian allies full rights in Roman society , extending Roman citizenship to all fellow Italic peoples . From its inception, Rome was a republican city-state, but four famous civil conflicts destroyed the Roman Republic : Lucius Cornelius Sulla against Gaius Marius and his son (88–82 BC), Julius Caesar against Pompey (49–45 BC), Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus against Mark Antony and Octavian (43 BC), and Mark Antony against Octavian . Octavian,

9869-470: The attention of Daniel Gallagher , the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts . Gallagher commissioned Edwin Pride to audit the Securities Exchange Company's books—an effort made difficult by the fact Ponzi's bookkeeping system consisted merely of index cards with investors' names. In the meantime, Ponzi had hired a publicist, William McMasters . However, McMasters quickly became suspicious of Ponzi's endless talk of postal reply coupons, as well as

10008-504: The bank vaults as a last resort in the event all other efforts to obtain funds failed. The following day, Ponzi's certificate of deposit at Hanover Trust, which had been worth $ 1.5 million, was reduced to $ 1 million after bank officials tapped into it to cover the overdraft. Even if he had been able to convert it into cash, he would have had only $ 4 million in assets. Amid reports that he was about to be arrested any day, Ponzi surrendered to federal authorities and accepted Pride's figures. He

10147-462: The beginning of the 14th century. During the 14th and 15th centuries, some Italian city-states ranked among the most important powers of Europe. Venice, in particular, had become a major maritime power, and the city-states as a group acted as a conduit for goods from the Byzantine and Islamic empires. In this capacity, they provided great impetus to the developing Renaissance , began in Florence in

10286-599: The best show that was ever staged in their territory since the landing of the Pilgrims! It was easily worth fifteen million bucks to watch me put the thing over." Italians Italians ( Italian : italiani , pronounced [itaˈljaːni] ) are an ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region . Italians share a common culture , history , ancestry and language . Their predecessors differ regionally, but generally include native populations such as

10425-598: The capital of the kingdom. Pope Pius IX , a longtime rival of Italian kings, stated he had been made a "prisoner" inside the Vatican walls and refused to cooperate with the royal administration. Only in 1929 did the Roman Pope accept the unified Italy with Rome as capital. World War I has been interpreted as completing the process of Italian unification, with the annexation of Trieste, Istria , Trentino-Alto Adige and Zara . After World War I, Italy emerged as one of

10564-719: The city was far from the troubled frontiers. The seats of the Caesars became Augusta Treverorum (on the River Rhine frontier) for Constantius Chlorus and Sirmium (on the River Danube frontier) for Galerius , who also resided at Thessaloniki . Under Diocletian, Italy became the Dioecesis Italiciana , subdivided into thirteen provinces, now including Raetia . Under Constantine the Great , Italy became

10703-474: The designated manufacturer or producer given on the label or flagged by the trademark symbol. When the object forged is a record or document it is often called a false document . This usage of "forgery" does not derive from metalwork done at a blacksmith's forge , but it has a parallel history. A sense of "to counterfeit " is already in the Anglo-French verb forger , meaning "falsify". A forgery

10842-544: The efforts of noblemen, emperors, and larger foreign powers to control them. The emergence of identifiable Italian dialects from Vulgar Latin , and as such the possibility of a specifically "Italian" ethnic identity, has no clear-cut date, but began in roughly the 12th century. Modern standard Italian derives from the written vernacular of Tuscan writers of the 12th century. The recognition of Italian vernaculars as literary languages in their own right began with De vulgari eloquentia , an essay written by Dante Alighieri at

10981-495: The empire against the ascendant city republics in the 13th century. The Italian peninsula was divided into a multitude of tribal or ethnic territory prior to the Roman conquest of Italy in the 3rd century BC. After a series of wars between Greeks and Etruscans , the Latins , with Rome as their capital, gained the ascendancy by 272 BC, and completed the conquest of the Italian peninsula by 218 BC. This period of unification

11120-524: The etymology of the Latin name "Italia" are numerous. One is that it was borrowed via Greek from the Oscan Víteliú 'land of calves' ( cf. Lat vitulus "calf", Umb vitlo "calf"). Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus , mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides . According to Antiochus of Syracuse ,

11259-460: The existence of which predates the national language. Although there is disagreement on the total number, according to UNESCO , there are approximately 30 languages native to Italy , although many are often misleadingly referred to as "Italian dialects ". Since 2017, in addition to the approximately 55 million Italians in Italy (91% of the Italian national population), Italian-speaking autonomous groups are found in neighboring nations; about

11398-697: The expansion of the Roman Republic , the name was used by Greeks to indicate the land between the Strait of Messina and the line connecting the Gulf of Salerno and Gulf of Taranto , corresponding roughly to the current region of Calabria . The Greeks gradually came to apply the name "Italia" to a larger region In addition to the "Greek Italy" in the south, historians have suggested the existence of an "Etruscan Italy" covering variable areas of central Italy. The borders of Roman Italy are better established. Cato

11537-465: The federal charges. He sued, claiming that he would be facing double jeopardy if Massachusetts essentially retried him for the same offenses spelled out in the federal indictment. The case, Ponzi v. Fessenden , made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court . On March 27, 1922, the Supreme Court ruled that federal plea bargains have no standing regarding state charges. It also ruled that Ponzi

11676-501: The final victor (31 BC), was accorded the title of Augustus by the Senate and thereby became the first Roman Emperor. Augustus created for the first time an administrative region called Italia with inhabitants called "Italicus populus", stretching from the Alps to Sicily : for this reason historians like Emilio Gentile called him Father of Italians . In the 1st century BC, Italia

11815-459: The first public performance of the song Il Canto degli Italiani , the Italian national anthem since 1946, took place. Il Canto degli Italiani , written by Goffredo Mameli set to music by Michele Novaro , is also known as the Inno di Mameli , after the author of the lyrics, or Fratelli d'Italia , from its opening line . The unification of Italy was brought to a successful conclusion under

11954-530: The guidance of Camillo Benso, conte di Cavour , prime minister of Piedmont. Cavour managed to unite most of Italy under the headship of Victor Emmanuel II of the house of Savoy, and on 17 March 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed with Victor Emmanuel II as king. Giuseppe Garibaldi , the popular republican hero of Italy, contributed much to this achievement with the Expedition of the Thousand and to

12093-434: The intent to defraud, knowing that he or she has no authority to do so." The written document usually has to be an instrument of legal significance. Punishments for forgery vary widely. In California, forgery for an amount under $ 950 can result in misdemeanor charges and no jail time, while a forgery involving a loss of over $ 500,000 can result in three years in prison for the forgery plus a five-year "conduct enhancement" for

12232-424: The introduction of laws regulating divorce (1970), abortion (1978), and the approval in 1975 of the new family code. Today, women have the same legal rights as men in Italy, and have mainly the same job, business, and education opportunities. Forgery Forging money or currency is more often called counterfeiting . But consumer goods may also be counterfeits if they are not manufactured or produced by

12371-417: The investments made with the Securities Exchange Company, 160 million postal reply coupons would have to be in circulation. However, only about 27,000 actually were in circulation. The United States Post Office stated that postal reply coupons were not being bought in quantity at home or abroad. The gross profit margin in percent on buying and selling each IRC was colossal, but the overhead required to handle

12510-515: The island of Sardinia, which had been ceded to the Alpine House of Savoy in 1720 and had remained under their rule ever since, were not under French control. French domination lasted less than 20 years, and it differed from previous foreign control of the Italian peninsula. In spite of heavy taxation and frequent harshness, the French introduced representative assemblies and new laws that were

12649-424: The jury on all charges. He was tried a second time on five of the remaining charges, and the jury deadlocked . Ponzi was found guilty at a third trial, and was sentenced to an additional seven to nine years in prison as "a common and notorious thief". There were efforts to have him deported as an undesirable alien in 1922. In September 1925, Ponzi was released on bail as he appealed the state conviction. He fled to

12788-691: The largest Italian community outside Italy), more than 18 million Italian Americans , and people in other parts of Europe (e.g. Italians in Germany , Italians in France and Italians in the United Kingdom ), the American Continent (such as Italian Venezuelans , Italian Canadians , Italian Colombians and Italians in Paraguay , among others), Australasia ( Italian Australians and Italian New Zealanders ), and to

12927-453: The losses of Ponzi's scheme. In two federal indictments, Ponzi was charged with 86 counts of mail fraud and faced life imprisonment . At the urging of his wife, Ponzi pleaded guilty on November 1, 1920, to a single count before Judge Clarence Hale , who declared before sentencing, "Here was a man with all the duties of seeking large money. He concocted a scheme which, on his counsel's admission, did defraud men and women. It will not do to have

13066-448: The most popular in the world, its cinema (with filmmakers such as Federico Fellini , Michelangelo Antonioni , Mario Monicelli , Sergio Leone , etc.), its collections of priceless works of art and its fashion (Milan and Florence are regarded as some of the few fashion capitals of the world). National symbols of Italy are the symbols that uniquely identify Italy reflecting its history and culture . They are used to represent

13205-510: The net profit on these transactions, after expenses and exchange rates, was in excess of 400%. This was a form of arbitrage , or profiting by buying an asset at a lower price in one market and immediately selling it in a market where the price is higher, which is legal. Seeing an opportunity, Ponzi quit his job as a translator to execute his IRC scheme, but needed a large capital expense to buy IRCs at lower performing European currencies. He first tried to borrow money from several banks, including

13344-414: The ongoing investigation against him. He later described Ponzi as a "financial idiot" who did not seem to know how to add. The investigation into Ponzi began in late July, when McMasters found several highly incriminating documents that indicated Ponzi was merely "robbing Peter to pay Paul" . McMasters went to Grozier, his former employer, with this information. Grozier offered him $ 5,000 for his story, which

13483-407: The outlines of a new Italy began to appear. Victor Emmanuel III gave up the throne on 9 May 1946, and his son, Umberto II , became king. On 2 June Italy held its first free election after 20 years of Fascist rule (the so-called Ventennio ). Italians chose a republic to replace the monarchy , which had been closely associated with Fascism . They elected a Constituent Assembly , which was formed by

13622-460: The past decades. This includes family laws , the enactment of anti-discrimination measures , and reforms to the penal code (in particular with regard to crimes of violence against women). After World War II , women were given the right to vote in 1946 Italian institutional referendum . The new Italian Constitution of 1948 affirmed that women had equal rights. It was not however until the 1970s that women in Italy scored some major achievements with

13761-480: The provisions of that Act. Forgery is an offence under sections 366, 367 and 368 of the Canadian Criminal Code . The offence is a hybrid offence , subject to a maximum prison sentence of: Forgery is a crime in all jurisdictions within the United States , both state and federal. Most states, including California , describe forgery as occurring when a person alters a written document "with

13900-452: The purchase and redemption of these items, which were of extremely low cost and were sold individually, would have exceeded the gross profit (see #Infeasibility of Ponzi's scheme ). Barron noted that if Ponzi really was doing what he claimed to do, he would effectively be profiting at the expense of a government—either the governments where he bought the coupons or the U.S. government. For this reason, Barron argued that even if Ponzi's operation

14039-607: The region. Venice, Milan, and other city-states retained at least some of their former greatness during this period, as did Savoy -Piedmont, protected by the Alps and well defended by its vigorous rulers. Italian explorers and navigators from the dominant maritime republics, eager to find an alternative route to the Indies in order to bypass the Ottoman Empire , offered their services to monarchs of Atlantic countries and played

14178-660: The representatives of all the anti-fascist forces that contributed to the defeat of Nazi and Fascist forces during the Italian Civil War , to prepare a new democratic constitution. The Assembly approved the new Italian constitution in 1947, which came into force on 1 January 1948. Under the Treaty of Peace with Italy, 1947 , Istria , Kvarner , most of the Julian March as well as the Dalmatian city of Zara

14317-551: The same for all parts of the country. For the first time since the days of ancient Rome, Italians of different regions used the same money and served in the same army. Many Italians began to see the possibility of a united Italy free of foreign control. During the Napoleonic era , in 1797, the first official adoption of the Italian tricolour as a national flag by a sovereign Italian state, the Cispadane Republic ,

14456-450: The scheme. Ponzi's investors even included those closest to him, like his chauffeur John Collins and his own brother-in-law. Ponzi was indiscriminate about whom he allowed to invest, from young newspaper boys investing a few dollars to high-net-worth individuals , like a banker from Lawrence , Kansas , who invested $ 10,000. Though Ponzi was still paying back investors, mostly from money from subsequent investors, he had not yet figured out

14595-482: The securities charges, and the judge sentenced him to a year in the Florida State Prison . Ponzi appealed his conviction and was freed after posting a $ 1,500 bond. Ponzi traveled to Tampa , where he shaved his head, grew a mustache, and tried to flee the country as a crewman on a merchant ship bound for Italy. However, he revealed his identity to a shipmate. Word spread to a deputy sheriff, who followed

14734-497: The service of France, renowned as the first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America between Florida and New Brunswick in 1524. The French Revolution and Napoleon influenced Italy more deeply than they affected any other outside country of Europe. The French Revolution began in 1789 and immediately found supporters among the Italian people. The local Italian rulers, sensing danger in their own country, drew closer to

14873-675: The ship to its last American port of call in New Orleans and placed Ponzi under arrest. After Ponzi's pleas to Calvin Coolidge and Benito Mussolini for deportation were ignored, he was sent back to Massachusetts to serve out his prison term. Ponzi served seven more years in prison. In the meantime, government investigators tried to trace Ponzi's convoluted accounts to figure out how much money he had taken and where it had gone. They never managed to untangle it and could only conclude that millions of dollars had gone through his hands. Ponzi

15012-477: The state would seek additional charges and seek a bail high enough to ensure Ponzi would stay in custody. The news brought down five other banks in addition to Hanover Trust. Ponzi's investors were practically wiped out, receiving less than 30 cents to the dollar. They lost about $ 20 million in 1920 dollars (approximately $ 304 million in 2023 dollars). By comparison, Bernie Madoff 's similar scheme that collapsed in 2008 cost his investors about $ 18 billion, 53 times

15151-824: The subsequent incorporation of the Papal States under the Italian monarch. Cavour handed Savoy and Nice over to France at the Treaty of Turin , a decision that was the consequence of the Plombières Agreement , on 24 March 1860, an event that caused the Niçard exodus , which was the emigration of a quarter of the Niçard Italians to Italy, and the Niçard Vespers . Italian troops occupied Rome in 1870, and in July 1871, this formally became

15290-460: The summer of 1919 attempting to sell business ideas to contacts in Europe. He received a letter from a company in Spain asking about the advertising catalog which included an international reply coupon (IRC), leading Ponzi to find a weakness in the system which, at least in principle, gave him an opportunity to make money. Postal reply coupons allowed a person in one country to pay for the postage of

15429-548: The term Italy was used by the Greeks to initially refer only to the southern portion of the Bruttium peninsula corresponding to the modern province of Reggio and part of the provinces of Catanzaro and Vibo Valentia in Southern Italy . Nevertheless, by his time the larger concept of Oenotria and "Italy" had become synonymous and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. According to Strabo 's Geographica , before

15568-612: The total amount invested had risen from $ 5,000 to $ 25,000 ($ 80,000 to $ 380,000 in 2023, respectively). As the scheme grew, Ponzi hired agents to seek out new investors in New England and New Jersey . At that time, investors were being paid impressive rates, which subsequently encouraged others to invest. By May 1920, he had made $ 420,000 (equivalent to $ 6,400,000 in 2023). By June 1920, people had invested $ 2.5 million in Ponzi's scheme (equivalent to $ 38,000,000 in 2023). By July, he

15707-566: The university a "four-year vacation", and he was inclined to follow them around to bars, cafés, and the opera. This resulted in Ponzi spending all his money, and four years later he was broke and without a degree. During this time, a number of Italian boys were migrating to the U.S. and returning to Italy as wealthy individuals. Ponzi's family encouraged him to do the same, with the intention of returning his family to its former socio-economic status. On November 15, 1903, Ponzi arrived in Boston aboard

15846-485: The whole Italian geographical region . All its inhabitants were considered Italic and Roman . The Latin term Italicus was used to describe "a man of Italy" as opposed to a provincial . For example, Pliny the Elder notably wrote in a letter Italicus es an provincialis ? meaning "are you an Italian or a provincial?". The adjective italianus , from which are derived the Italian (and also French and English) name of

15985-429: The world understand that such a scheme as that can be carried out ... without receiving substantial punishment." Ponzi was sentenced to five years in federal prison. Ponzi was released after three-and-a-half years and was almost immediately indicted on 22 state charges of larceny, which came as a surprise to Ponzi; he thought he had a deal calling for the state to drop any charges against him if he pleaded guilty to

16124-443: The writer and publisher, this effectively neutralized any serious probes into his dealings for some time. Nonetheless, there were still signs of his eventual ruin. Joseph Daniels, a Boston furniture dealer who had given Ponzi furniture which he could not afford to pay for, sued Ponzi to cash in on the gold rush. The lawsuit was unsuccessful, but it did prompt people to begin asking how Ponzi could have gone from being penniless to being

16263-582: Was adopted by the Lombard Legion in 1796. The first red, white and green national flag of a sovereign Italian state was adopted on 7 January 1797, when the Fourteenth Parliament of the Cispadane Republic (1797), on the proposal of deputy Giuseppe Compagnoni , decreed "to make universal the ... standard or flag of three colours, green, white, and red ...": For having proposed the green, white and red tricolour flag, Giuseppe Compagnoni

16402-453: Was almost certainly overdrawn . Allen then ordered Hanover Trust not to pay out any more checks from Ponzi's main account. He also orchestrated an involuntary bankruptcy filing by several small Ponzi investors. The move forced Massachusetts Attorney General J. Weston Allen to release a statement that there was little to support Ponzi's claims of large-scale dealings in postal coupons. State officials then invited Ponzi noteholders to come to

16541-401: Was also under investigation by Massachusetts authorities, and, on the day the Post printed its article, Ponzi met with state officials. He managed to divert the officials from checking his books by offering to stop taking money during the investigation, a fortunate choice, as proper records were not being kept. Ponzi's offer temporarily calmed the suspicions of the state officials. On July 26,

16680-474: Was annexed by Yugoslavia causing the Istrian-Dalmatian exodus , which led to the emigration of between 230,000 and 350,000 of local ethnic Italians ( Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians ), the others being ethnic Slovenians, ethnic Croatians, and ethnic Istro-Romanians , choosing to maintain Italian citizenship . In 1949 Italy became a member of NATO . The Marshall Plan helped to revive

16819-766: Was approaching a million dollars per day. Ponzi began depositing the money in the Hanover Trust Bank of Boston (a small bank on Hanover Street in the mostly Italian North End ), in the hope that once his account was large enough he could impose his will on the bank or even be made its president; he bought a controlling interest in the bank through himself and several friends after depositing $ 3 million. By July 1920, Ponzi had made millions. Some of his investors had been mortgaging their homes and investing their life savings. Most did not take their profits but reinvested. Ponzi's company, meanwhile, had set up branches from Maine to New Jersey . Even though Ponzi's company

16958-507: Was born in Lugo , Emilia-Romagna , Kingdom of Italy on March 3, 1882. He told The New York Times he had come from a family in Parma . Ponzi's ancestors had been well-to-do, and his mother continued to use the title " donna ", but the family had subsequently fallen upon difficult times and had little money. Ponzi took a job as a postal worker early on, but soon was accepted into the University of Rome La Sapienza . His richer friends considered

17097-625: Was bringing in fantastic sums of money each day, the simplest financial analysis would have shown that the operation was running at a large loss. As long as money kept flowing in, existing investors could be paid with the new money. This was the only method Ponzi had to continue providing returns to existing investors, as he made no effort to generate legitimate profits. Ponzi's initial investors consisted of working-class immigrants like himself. Gradually, news travelled upwards, and many well-to-do Boston Brahmins also invested in his scheme. In its heyday, nearly 75% of Boston's police force had invested in

17236-486: Was charged with mail fraud for sending letters to his marks telling them their notes had matured. He was originally released on $ 25,000 bail and was immediately re-arrested on state charges of larceny , for which he posted an additional $ 10,000 bond. After the Post released the results of the audit, the bail bondsman feared Ponzi might flee the country and withdrew the bail for the federal charges. Attorney General Allen declared that if Ponzi managed to regain his freedom,

17375-474: Was deposed in 476 by a Germanic foederati general in Italy, Odoacer . His defeat marked the end of the Western Roman Empire , and the end of the political unification of Italy until the establishment of the modern Kingdom of Italy in 1861. Odoacer ruled well for 13 years after gaining control of Italy in 476. Then he was attacked and defeated by Theodoric , the king of another Germanic tribe,

17514-637: Was followed by one of conquest in the Mediterranean, beginning with the First Punic War against Carthage . In the course of the century-long struggle against Carthage, the Romans conquered Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. Finally, in 146 BC, at the conclusion of the Third Punic War , with Carthage completely destroyed and its inhabitants enslaved, Rome became the dominant power in the Mediterranean. The process of Italian unification, and

17653-562: Was indeed returning 50% return on an investment after only 45 days, was a bank advertisement that stated that the bank was paying 5% returns annually. The next business day after this article was published, Ponzi arrived at his office to find thousands of Bostonians waiting to give him their money. Despite this reprieve, Post acting publisher Richard Grozier (who was running the paper in the absence of his father Edwin , its owner and publisher) and city editor Eddie Dunn were suspicious and assigned investigative reporters to look into Ponzi. He

17792-483: Was legally merged into the administrative unit of Italy in 42 BC by the triumvir Octavian as a ratification of Julius Caesar 's unpublished acts ( Acta Caesaris ). Under Emperor Diocletian the Roman region called "Italia" was further enlarged with the addition in 292 AD of the three big islands of the western Mediterranean Sea : Sicily (with the Maltese archipelago ), Sardinia and Corsica , coinciding with

17931-428: Was legitimate, it was immoral to take advantage of a government in this manner. The Post articles caused a panic run on the Securities Exchange Company. Ponzi paid out $ 2 million in three days to a wild crowd outside his office. He canvassed the crowd, passed out coffee and doughnuts, and cheerfully told them they had nothing to worry about. Many changed their minds and left their money with him. However, this attracted

18070-415: Was not facing double jeopardy because Massachusetts was charging him with larceny while the federal government charged him with mail fraud, even though the charges implicated the same criminal operation. In October 1922, Ponzi was tried on the first 10 larceny counts. Since he was insolvent, Ponzi served as his own attorney and, speaking as persuasively as he had with his duped investors, was acquitted by

18209-433: Was not invented by Ponzi, it became so identified with him that it now is referred to as a " Ponzi scheme ". His scheme ran for over a year before it collapsed, costing his "investors" $ 20 million. Ponzi may have been inspired by the scheme of William W. Miller (also known as "520% Miller"), a Brooklyn bookkeeper who in 1899 used a similar deception to take in $ 1 million (approximately $ 35 million in 2022). Charles Ponzi

18348-462: Was officially deported. Rose stayed in the U.S. and divorced Ponzi in 1937. She had not wanted to leave Boston, and Ponzi was in no position to support her in any event. In Italy, Ponzi jumped from scheme to scheme, but little came of them. He eventually got a job in Brazil as an agent for Ala Littoria , the Italian state airline. During World War II , however, the airline's operation in the country

18487-709: Was printed in the Post on August 2, 1920. McMaster's article declared Ponzi hopelessly insolvent , reporting that while he claimed $ 7 million in liquid funds, he was actually at least $ 2 million in debt. With interest factored in, McMasters wrote, Ponzi was as much as $ 4.5 million in the red. The story touched off a massive run, and Ponzi paid off in one day. He then sped up plans to build a massive conglomerate that would engage in banking and import/export operations. Massachusetts Bank Commissioner Joseph Allen became concerned that if major withdrawals exhausted Ponzi's reserves, it would bring Boston's banking system to its knees. Allen's suspicions were further aroused when he found out

18626-423: Was released in 1934. With the release came an immediate order to have him deported to Italy. He asked for a full pardon from Massachusetts Governor Joseph B. Ely . However, on July 13, Ely turned the appeal down. Ponzi's charismatic confidence had faded, and when he left the prison gates, he was met by an angry crowd. He told reporters before he left, "I went looking for trouble, and I found it." On October 7, Ponzi

18765-572: Was shut down after the British intelligence services intervened and Brazil sided with the Allies. During that time, Ponzi also wrote his autobiography. Ponzi spent the last years of his life in poverty, working occasionally as a translator. His health deteriorated and in 1941 a heart attack left him considerably weakened. His eyesight began failing, and by 1948 he was almost completely blind. A brain hemorrhage paralyzed his left leg and arm. Ponzi died in

18904-724: Was still a collection of territories with different political statuses. Some cities, called municipia , had some independence from Rome, while others, the coloniae , were founded by the Romans themselves. Around 7 BC, Augustus divided Italy into eleven regiones . During the Crisis of the Third Century , the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasions, military anarchy and civil wars, and hyperinflation. In 284, emperor Diocletian restored political stability. The importance of Rome declined, because

19043-554: Was the first European to set foot in "New Found Land" and explore parts of the North American continent in 1497; Amerigo Vespucci , sailing for Portugal, who first demonstrated in about 1501 that the New World (in particular Brazil) was not Asia as initially conjectured, but a fourth continent previously unknown to people of the Old World (the name of " America " derives from his first name ); and Giovanni da Verrazzano , at

19182-553: Was the heart of the Renaissance , a period of great achievements in the arts at the end of the Middle Ages. Other important cities include Turin , which used to be the capital of Italy, and is now one of the world's great centers of automobile engineering. Milan is the industrial and financial capital of Italy and one of the world's fashion capitals . Venice , former capital of a major financial and maritime power from

19321-484: Was usually the popes who led attempts to protect Italy from invasion or to soften foreign rule. For about 200 years the popes opposed attempts by the Lombards, who had captured most of Italy, to take over Rome as well. The popes finally defeated the Lombards with the aid of two Frankish kings, Pepin the Short and Charlemagne . Using land won for them by Pepin in 756, the popes established political rule in what were called

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