Conning is an act of persuading someone to believe in an idea, deceiving and tricking people. The word “con” is derived from “confidence” because it is a fundamental principle designed to make people take a false ideology as truth. A reward for conning is primarily money. Bernard Madoff, Earl Jones, and Charles Ponzi are three intriguing con artists and widely known for their cunning schemes. Bernard Madoff is an American citizen who was once a stockbroker, financier, and investment advisor. Madoff was born on April 29, 1938, to Jewish parents. As the second born among three siblings, Bernard graduated from Far Rockaway High school in 1956 before attending the University of Alabama. He is the founder of Wall Street firm and currently serving a prison sentence. Bernard Madoff is a father to two children, Mark and Andrew Madoff, who are both deceased.
Earl Jones, on the other hand, is a Canadian non-practicing investment advisor and a former owner of an investment advising business. Earl Jones was born on June 24, 1942, in Montreal and was raised in the locality of Notre-Dame-de-Grace. In his twenties, Jones was an employee of Montreal Trust Company, where he trained in wills handling and estate planning (Fabio, 2013). At a young age, Jones started his investment of advising businesses even though no security regulator had registered him. Having played a role in the Ponzi scheme, Jones served a criminal penalty of 11 years for fraud allegation charges.
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The other con artist, Charles Ponzi, was an Italian con artist who practiced both in the United States and Canada. Born in Italy on March 3, 1882, he became widely known in North America for his money laundering skills. Ponzi worked as a postal agent in his early 20s before enrolling at the University of Rome La Sapienza (Zuckoff, 2005). By following his rich friends along bars, operas, and cafes, Ponzi used his postal experience to swindle cash from unsuspecting individuals for his financial gains, which landed him in prison in both Canada and U.S, hence subsequent deportation from the United States in 1934 (Zuckoff, 2005). Consequently, he promised his clients a 100% profit within 90 days and 50% profit within 45 days if they invested in postal reply coupons that he intended to sell in other countries.
The cons of the three swindlers worked because they always controlled whom they interacted with and the amount of the information they passed. By pretending to be good financial advisers and investors, Madoff and Earl attracted investors who always pleaded with them (Madoff and Earl) to manage their (investors) savings so that they could reap steadily. Through the widely known Ponzi scheme, Madoff and Earl designed a way to make people fall for their trap so that they could increase their stake (Fabio, 2013). For instance, Madoff always created a feeling of “no vacancy” for potential clients so that they could pay him a little cash to get their way into the business. Earl Jones, on the other hand, raised capital from clients with the aim of giving them Madoff-like return, which he never did, and instead used the money to finance his lavish lifestyle (Popova, 2016). He took 50 million from clients with the aim of returning it with an 8% interest then spent 13 million for his gains. For illusive purposes, Earl returned 37 million, which earned him more trust among his clients (Fabio, 2013). Charles Ponzi, the proprietor of the Ponzi scheme, had his con work because of the faith he built with his clients. For instance, promising clients the double-returns in a short time seemed a good deal for many of the ignorant investors.
The marks for the three con artists were hungry investors who wanted quick returns over a short period of time. For instance, Bernard Madoff marks were retail brokers, more so the wealthy American Jewish communities and their charitable organizations. Earl Jones targeted elderly clients who always sought financial and professional liaisons from him (Ragothaman, 2014). Otherwise, Charles Ponzi had a client base that mainly consisted of European postal investors and his close friends who had wanted an idea to invest in. The marks were chosen because they were the vulnerable and easy target of the con artists. The marks also identified as great partners from their previous interactions with the swindlers, which gave Madoff, Jones, and Ponzi great hopes in expanding their businesses.
The length of time the con games took differed in all the three artists. For instance, Madoff’s con took a total of 20 years from the day of its inception to when the government discovered it (Ragothaman, 2014). Jones scandal took 27 years before it was unraveled. Ponzi’s fraud was the longest in history, and it is known for 66 years. Basically, from the day Ponzi was born to the day he died. The cons worked so well because the artists looked like experts. Additionally, the artists were confident, charming and persuasive to make people believe they are old friends who have not seen each other in years.
In their investigations, public and financial organizations failed to get a cue on what was going on what was going on in the companies of the three con artists because some of them were members of those organizations. Furthermore, some had control over the operations of government investigators. For instance, Madoff had government access and influence in local politics. Madoff subsequently contributed money to federal candidates, committees, and parties through the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (Ragothaman, 2014). Throughout their operations, there were approximately 4,800 victims in the Madoff scandal, 158 victims in Earl Jones con games, and more than 18 people in the Ponzi scheme.
People lost 18 billion dollars in Bernard Madoff investment, $40 million through Earl Jones, and $20 million in Charles Ponzi’s fraud. Madoff’s downfall came the day he pleaded guilty to 11 cases of federal crimes, insisting that he was solely responsible for the scam (Ragothaman, 2014). On the other hand, Earl Jones and Ponzi’s fall came from their inability to refund people who had invested in them, bringing questions as to whether they can afford to raise the money and whether their investment plans are genuine.
The conmen received appropriate penalties for their actions. For instance, Madoff has been subjected to 150 years in prison begin 2009, Earl Jones faced 11 years, and Ponzi faced a total of 17 years from three different countries Therefore, people have learned that it is almost impossible to catalog every con artist since they are inventive and can defraud even seasoned investors.
References
Fabio, C. M. (2013, September 8). Four Years Later: How Uncle Earl Jones Swindled Investors. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/carmen-marie-fabio/earl-jones-jail_b_3567642.html
Popova, M. (2016, January 19). The Confidence Game: What Con Artists Reveal About the Psychology of Trust and Why Even the Most Rational of Us Are Susceptible to Deception. Retrieved from https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/01/12/the-confidence-game-maria-konnikova/
Ragothaman, S. C. (2014). The Madoff Debacle: What are the Lessons? Issues in Accounting Education , 29 (1), 271-285. doi:10.2308/iace-50597
Zuckoff, M. (2005). Charles Ponzi and the Ponzi Scheme. Retrieved from http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/charles_ponzi_and_the_ponzi_scheme
