It is believed that the first in the history of the financial pyramid appeared in 1717 in France. The creator of the pyramid, the country's finance minister, John Law, had to secretly flee France. Since then, hundreds of times dishonest entrepreneurs left hundreds of thousands of gullible investors with a broken trough.
The largest financial pyramids in history entered our today's Top 5. They were selected not only in terms of financial damage, but also in the number of deceived depositors. Among the pyramids were the notorious Russian companies MMM and Lord.
5. L&G
The largest financial pyramid from the Land of the Rising Sun was founded by Kazutsugi Nami in 2000. The company promised a return of 36%, which attracted 37 thousand investors.
In 2007, the company defaulted, failing to settle its obligations. Over the entire period of its existence, L&G managed to raise $ 1.43 billion.
In 2010, 76-year-old Katsutsugi Nami was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
4. The sovereign
The company "Vlastilina" was registered in Podolsk in 1992. According to the promises of the owner of the company, Valentina Solovyeva, having invested half the cost of a new car, in a month it was possible to double the capital and purchase the desired vehicle.
In 1994, the company began to accept deposits for the purchase of housing, as well as just deposits, incl. in foreign currency. At the same time, the first disruptions in payments began.
In 1999, Valentina Solovyova was sentenced by the court to 7 years in prison, and in 2000 the fraudster was already released “for good behavior”. 16,000 people were recognized as victims of Vlastilina, having lost 536 billion rubles. and 2.6 million dollars.
3. Stanford International Bank
Texas billionaire Allen Stanford for 15 years selling trusting citizens deposit certificates, guaranteeing a high percentage of return. Stanford was arrested in 2009. It turned out that fake papers brought the fraudster and his family almost 7 billion dollars. With this money, the billionaire led a luxurious lifestyle, and also paid bribes to the regulatory authorities that covered the criminal scheme.
In March 2012, a 60-year-old Stanford court sentenced to 20 years in prison.
2. MMM
Over the 5 years of its existence, the pyramid has issued 27 million shares, as well as 72 million tickets. 200% of income per month was promised to their investors in MMM. As a result, the number of depositors was at least 10 million people.
Established in 1992, the company worked almost without problems for 2 years. However, in 1994, the tax service ordered that almost 50 billion rubles be collected from MMM in the budget. As a result, in August 1994, the company turned bankrupt, leaving behind a debt of 5 billion rubles to depositors.
1. Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC
This financial pyramid is the most famous of all that has ever existed. Established in 1960 by Bernard Madoff, the company was considered one of the most reliable investment funds. However, one fine day, the sons of Madoff informed the authorities about the incredible frauds of his father - he did not invest the funds entrusted to him, but simply transferred them to personal accounts.
As a result of the proceedings, it turned out that Madoff is not able to repay debts not only to citizens, but also to such reputable investors as BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, HSBC, Credit Agricole, Royal Bank of Scotland, UniCredit. In June 2009, a court sentenced Madoff to 150 years in prison. At that time, the fraudster turned 71 years old.
