Australian securities regulator ASIC recently put forth its nominees for the Pie in the Sky Award, which goes to the most outrageous scam of the year.
Below is the skinny on the victor, but I'm confident the U.S. can provide more outrageous scams, and future posts will be the proof of the pudding.
The ASIC award went to something they call the Mercorella investment scheme, which offered the vics a return of 36% annually. That's insane enough, but suckers were lured in with the promise that they could double the return to 72% by convincing friends and family to kick in more dough.
The similarity to multi-level marketing ploys is worth noting. So is the preposterous rate of return. Sure, you might get that return with a multi-million dollar investment in the right place, but you'll probably never have the capital and the opportunity at the same time.
The Mercorella Ponzi scheme ultimately cost investors $76 million.
Next step--defining Ponzi schemes and taking a look at the wreckage from a few in the U.S. . . . .
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