what is the most famous ponzi scheme 
the most famous modern ponzi scheme was orchestrated by bernie madoff his firm defrauded thousands of investors out of billions of dollars over decades the scheme unraveled when he was unable to meet an unexpectedly high level of withdrawals the bottom linethe con artists who create ponzi schemes aren t investing their clients money in anything they are creating an illusion of profits by paying early investors from the funds deposited by later investors meanwhile they are pocketing the bulk of the money for their own use beware of promises of steady high profits at no risk to you 