Ponzi

1. not comparablebusinessPertaining to a scheme whereby investors' returns are paid for directly by later investors' investments, giving the false impression that the investment is viable.

   Officers, who say he [Kautilya Nandan Pruthi] was Britain's most prolific Ponzi fraudster "by some way", fear that only around £2m will be returned to his victims.

   2012 March 8, “Fraudster jailed for Britain's biggest Ponzi scam”, in The Guardian

plural Ponzis · plural Ponzies

1. A Ponzi scheme.

   To be fair, degenerate gambling and poorly designed Ponzis have consumed some corners of the crypto market, […]

   2023, Ben Armstrong, Catching Up to Crypto, page 67

   2 more examples

   Based on the media's portrayal of these Ponzies, at the end of the day, it seems as though these villains had zero concern about what they were doing to their clients.

   2010, Nico R. Willis, Death of the American Investor, The Emergence of the New Global eShareholder, page 28

   There are as many Ponzies and greedy people that have infinite time and resources, knowledge, freedom and the greatest of all, The Purpose!

   2011, Go Pal, Politics of Convenience! Upset the Balance of Power, page 24

present rare singular third person Ponzies · participle present Ponzying · participle past Ponzied · past Ponzied

1. informalintransitiveuncommonTo introduce or perpetrate a Ponzi scheme style scam.

   There was a man, very "smart", who ponzied his way to billions of dollars.

   2009, P. L. Reynolds, The Ten Commandments, a Common Man's Opinion, page 71

   3 more examples

   Harry then ponzied over on Rotarians, the slickest scheme in high finance that has ever been witnessed by the organization.

   1920, Rotary Club of Minneapolis, “Today's Meeting”, in The Tribunette, volume 7, number 29

   Senator KERRY: Lending and ponzying and scheming and defrauding and buying illegally and doing all these things, correct?

   1992, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations. Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations, The BCCI Affair, Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations of the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, One Hundred Second Congress, First Session · Part 6, page 710

   In late August 2022, Weinstein revealed his true identity to the Tryon owners in a secretly recorded meeting, Sellinger said. In another recorded August 2022 meeting, Weinstein admitted to embezzling Tryon investor money and making false statements about the alleged Optimus deals. Weinstein acknowledged that he was conducting a Ponzi scheme, stating, “I finagled, and Ponzied and lied to people to cover us,” Selinger said.

   2023 July 20, David Shasha, “The Pride of Lakewood: Trumpscum Jew Sewer Rat Alan Dershowitz, Paid Friend of Ponzi Scheme Recidivist Eli Weinstein”, in Sephardic Heritage Update (Usenet)

2. informaltransitiveuncommonTo deceive someone by promising false investment returns that are funded by the proceeds of a new victim.

   About 6,000 California investors did—and got "Ponzied" out of their money.

   1999, Jack Heselov, Politics, Money & Shtick, page 24

   1 more example

   Never mind that the losers outnumber them and that their losses are greater than the winners' gains; the losers discover that in effect they got Ponzied.

   2020, William Ian Miller, Outrageous Fortune, Gloomy Reflections on Luck and Life, page 10