Every Ponzi scheme involves five elements:
- A promise of statistically impossible high returns
- An investment story that makes no sense economically
- Greedy investors who want something for nothing
- A willing suspension of disbelief by investors
- Investors' angry rejection of exposures by investigators
Strangely, most Ponzi schemes involve a sixth element: the unwillingness of the con man to quit and flee when he still can. Bernie Madoff is the supreme example. But Ponzi himself established the tradition.
via lewrockwell.com