What was Charles Ponzi?
Leo Koretz Leo Koretz (1879-1925) was an American lawyer and stockbroker who ran an elaborate Ponzi scheme in Chicago, called the "Bayano oil fraud," which garnered an estimated $30 million (about $400 million today) from hundreds of investors in Chicago. The scheme used fraudulent claims of oil interests in Panama in a criminal career that predated his contemporary, Charles Ponzi. Koretz was so trusted and admired that after Ponzi's fraud was exposed in 1920, his investors nicknamed him "Our Ponzi," never suspecting they were being duped as well.
Charles Nissen Charles Nissen (c.1880 – 13 March 1944) was a British philatelist, and stamp dealer who discovered the famous stock exchange forgery and wrote, with Bertram McGowan, the definitive book on the plating of the Penny Black.