Exactly 5 years ago, on January 24, 2008, the French bank Societe Generale announced that as a result of the machinations of one of its employees, the bank suffered losses in the amount of about five billion euros. Journalists immediately called these frauds "Financial scam of the XXI century", and soon the name of this employee was revealed: it turned out to be 31-year-old Jerome Kerviel.
It turned out that Jerome Kerviel brought losses to his bank in the amount of 4.9 billion euros ($ 7.2 billion), surpassing the previous record of the Englishman Nick Leeson from the British bank Barings. In the early 1990s, Leeson lost £ 830 million ($ 1.4 billion) in futures, which led to the collapse of the bank that held the accounts of the British royal family. As a result, Barings Bank was sold for a symbolic one pound sterling.

Jerome Kerviel's biography was unremarkable - he was born into a middle-class family, went to school in Normandy for the middle class, studied at the Universities of Nantes and Lyon, where he studied financial markets. His education did not enjoy prestige in the financial sector, he studied averagely, was not fond of women or alcohol, and did not stand out among other students. In short, not a financial genius.
In August 2000, Kerviel began working in a minor position at the Societe Generale bank, and only four years later he became an independent trader, while receiving a relatively modest salary for his position - less than € 100 thousand per year, including bonuses. He married unsuccessfully, divorced unsuccessfully, dabbled in politics in the municipal elections in Pont-L "Abbe, and also unsuccessfully. His colleagues claimed that he was withdrawn and invisible, and had rather mediocre professional data, and again did not stand out in any way.

Kerviel was responsible for monitoring minor and short-term price differences for similar market instruments in different markets, trying to predict market movements. And based on this analysis, buy and sell futures. There was little risk of losing money because each trade was counterbalanced by the opposite one, although if successful, a small margin could make a small profit.
At the end of 2007, Kerviel is said to have gambled on the strong growth of the European stock market. By somehow bypassing automated control systems, he opened an incredible number of positions on European stock indices for a total of $ 50 billion. At first, the situation was in his favor, but then the market fell, which led to losses of the Societe Generale bank in the amount of € 4.9 billion
Societe General's position was aggravated by the fact that just before that, the bank had already written off € 2 billion in losses from unsuccessful investments in the shaken American mortgage. Experts started talking about the sale of the bank, but the Prime Minister of the country Francois Fillon assured: "Societe Generale is a great French bank, and Societe Generale will remain a great French bank."

The Kerviel trial took place in Paris from June 8 to June 25, 2010. From the very beginning, the accused claimed that the Societe Generale leadership condoned his machinations, but Kerviel's former bosses insisted that they knew nothing about them. On October 5, 2010, the court's verdict was announced: Kerviel was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison, another two years on probation and compensation for Societe Generale losses in the amount of € 4.9 billion. It is calculated that even if the former trader continued to receive a salary at Société General, it would have taken him 180,000 years to pay this amount.
The broad masses immediately liked the news, the world media exaggerated this topic for a long time, and Jerome Kerviel quickly gained the status of almost a national superhero. French Che Guevara, banking Robin Hood, financial James Bond - this is not a complete list of heroic "titles" that the public has awarded a trader. In France and in the USA T-shirts with the inscriptions "Jerome is a hero", "Jerome is a genius" were released, as well as pink T-shirts specially for girls with the words "Girlfriend of Jerome Kerviel".

In October 2012, the court of appeal upheld the lower decision, and a plaque appeared on the house in the Neuilly-sur-Seine district where Kerviel lived: “Kerviel's apartment on the 3rd floor was rented out to English-speaking people of Asian descent. Kerviel himself left the house, so please don't disturb the residents. "

“The financial markets have turned into a casino out of control. It's just incredible that some ordinary trader lost five billion, ”lamented security expert Bob Lewis. But the Societe Generale Bank, founded in May 1864 by a decree of Napoleon III himself, was famous first of all for its reliability and respectability.
However, many financiers do not believe that Jerome Kerviel, who has never been trusted with big money in his life, could secretly execute deals worth more than $ 50 billion, with Societe General's market capitalization of $ 37 billion. Many professionals believe that that a brilliant financial operation was carried out in the Societe Generale Bank, the essence of which I personally, frankly speaking, did not understand.
But I understood three things, which, in principle, I knew about before:
- I do not understand anything about world financial instruments;
- any, even the most reliable bank in which you keep your savings, may burst tomorrow;
- people hate bankers, and they will be very happy about this news ...

In the world at all times there have been enough people who want to warm their hands on someone else's gullibility and greed. For some it was just a way to quickly fill their own pockets, for others it was gambling on the brink and beyond the foul. And in the new century, little has changed here. "Lenta.ru" tells about the most famous founders of modern financial pyramids.

Former head of the NASDAQ exchange

Bernard Madoff should rightfully lead any rating of financial fraudsters. He amassed his first and possibly only honestly earned $ 5,000 by moonlighting as a beach lifeguard and garden planter while attending college in New York. With this money, in the early 1960s, he founded the Madoff Investment Securities investment fund, which over time gained a reputation as one of the most reliable and profitable in the United States. The fund offered its investors a stable income of 12-13 percent per annum with zero risks of investment default. There were enough people willing to invest money on such conditions. Madoff Investment's clients included large banks, hedge funds, charities, as well as wealthy members of the European nobility and Hollywood celebrities.

Over the years, Madoff attracted family members into the business - brother, sons and nephews. Together with his wife, he founded a charitable foundation that donated millions for culture and art. Participated in the creation of the American stock exchange NASDAQ and chaired its board of directors in the 1990s. Madoff Investment Fund was one of the largest players on this exchange.

The global economic crisis of 2008 destroyed Madoff's business empire and his reputation as a great financier: at the end of the year, several large investors asked for the return of funds or assets totaling $ 7 billion. At that time, the fund was under the management of 17 billion. And then it turned out that the fund is a classic pyramid scheme, which paid money to depositors due to the influx of new customers.

Madoff confessed this to his sons, and they handed him over to the police. Such large financial structures as HSBC, BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Scotland, Banco Santander and many others have suffered from the scam. The total damage is not reliably known, it is estimated - up to $ 160 billion. A New York court sentenced Madoff in 2009 to 150 years in prison. His wife had to sell luxury items and real estate to partially cover the losses caused, one of the sons committed suicide in 2010, the other received ten years in prison.

Founder of WorldCom

Former physical education teacher Bernard Ebbers created and then ruined one of the largest telecommunications companies in the United States. It is not so much the story of this man's financial machinations that is worthy of adaptation, but his fate.

The future businessman was born and raised in a poor family of a merchant (what his father was selling is not known for certain), which constantly moved from place to place. The future billionaire often did not have enough money even for a hamburger. Studying at a sports college also did not promise any particular prospects, and the injury received in a fight put an end to the basketball player's career. Bernard Ebbers went into business, starting as a small hotel manager. He quickly rose to the position of the head of a motel chain.

In 1984, he and a friend founded the telecommunications company Long Distance Discount Services Inc. (LDDS), which under his leadership has grown into the second largest telecom holding in the country. Ebbers's strategy was simple: he spent all his income on absorbing small local players. The development of LDDS (renamed WorldCom in the mid-1990s) fell on the period of the collapse of the telecom giant AT & T - the authorities forcibly divided the monopolist. Ebbers was ruined by greed: WorldCom began to buy up companies whose value was many times higher than its own. Ebbers instructed his deputy, Scott Sullivan, to falsify financial statements to hide losses. He left the post of the head of the company even before the deception was revealed, and the pyramid collapsed. But this did not help him escape punishment - in 2005, the billionaire was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Owner of Stanford Financial Group

In 2012, the court sentenced one of the most notorious American financiers, Allen Stanford, who, like Bernard Madoff, was brought to light by the 2008 crisis.

In the late 1970s, an enterprising Texan opened a gym in the city of Waco, but went bankrupt a few years later. He earned his first serious money in real estate trading. His father, James Stanford, acted as a partner and mentor. Having amassed capital, Stanford Jr. moved to the island state of Antigua and Barbuda (Caribbean), where he registered his Stanford International Bank.

In the early 1990s, Stanford Sr. retired, and his son bought out his share in the family business - the Stanford Financial Group investment company, becoming its sole owner and director. He offered to depositors in his bank false certificates of deposit, which claimed to guarantee high profits. The money, meanwhile, went to his personal accounts. And he did not skimp on them on luxury yachts, charity, and the maintenance of a professional cricket team. Stanford even received a knighthood from the authorities of Antigua, which is not surprising - he was the largest employer on the island.

In 2008, the US Securities and Exchange Commission became interested in the activities of the bank and the investment fund, which managed assets worth $ 50 billion. The result was dire for Stanford and its contributors. Clients failed to return investments of about $ 7-8 billion, and the billionaire went to jail for 110 years.

L&G Pyramid Creator

Kazutsugi Nami can be called a professional swindler. In the 1970s, he served as Vice President of APO Japan Co in Tokyo. The company allegedly produced devices for cleaning exhaust gases, but in fact it was a pyramid. She went bankrupt in 1975.

We took part in organizing another scheme for taking money from the population - companies producing magic stones for water purification and high-performance pressure cookers. However, all these wonderful inventions were just a cover to cheat gullible investors. This continued until the fraudster came to the attention of the police, and then to the prison cell. But being behind bars did not destroy the spirit of Ostap Bender in the enterprising Japanese. Released, he took up the old.

In 2000, Nami founded the investment company L&G, which promised investors to pay 9 percent dividends every three months for every million yen invested. This seemed not enough, and the company issued its own electronic money - Enten, which were exchanged for real money. For seven years, about 40 thousand investors have invested in L&G, according to various estimates, from 126 billion to 200 billion yen (1.4-2.24 billion dollars). In 2007, the payment of dividends suddenly stopped. The scam was investigated for three years. In 2010, Kazutsugi Nami, who has already turned 76 years old, was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

MMM host

The most famous (and most unsinkable) Russian swindler is the founder of MMM Sergei Mavrodi. He is probably the record holder for the number of robbed depositors - 10-15 million people. The exact number, most likely, we will never know.

Mavrodi, judging by his biographical data, was capable and purposeful - he studied diligently at school, won Olympiads in mathematics and physics. The future owner of the largest financial pyramid in the history of Russia was not deprived of talents - he graduated from the Moscow Children's Art School named after Serov, practiced sambo (even passed for a candidate for master of sports, which is surprising, given the information about congenital heart disease).

In 1989, he and his associates opened the MMM cooperative, which sold office equipment. In 1994, on the basis of MMM, a joint-stock company was formed, later recognized as a classic financial pyramid. The shares were sold according to the principle “today is always more expensive than yesterday”. Prices were set by Mavrodi himself twice a week, promising exorbitant profitability - up to 1000 percent per annum (cry, Madoff!). Growing by leaps and bounds, the value of securities led to a rush of new investors, which were used to settle accounts with the old ones. Within a few months, MMM shares were bought by millions of Russians, and the value of the securities increased a hundredfold. At the same time, Mavrodi accumulated an amount comparable to the size of the Russian budget. The authorities tried to warn the population about the impending danger, but to no avail. In 1994, the swindler was nevertheless arrested, according to the official version, for tax evasion in the amount of 50 billion rubles. MMM shares collapsed, and the offices of Mavrodi and the White House were besieged by defrauded investors. True, the fraudster was soon released - he registered as a candidate and was later elected to the State Duma, thereby gaining immunity. The fight against Mavrodi continued until 1997, when the company was declared bankrupt and its founder was wanted. More than ten thousand people turned to law enforcement agencies and were recognized as victims of MMM, unofficial data are several orders of magnitude higher - 10-15 million. Several dozen MMM investors committed suicide.

While on the run abroad, Mavrodi warmed his hands on gullible foreigners. He created a virtual stock exchange Stock Generation Ltd, which traded shares of non-existent companies. In 2003, a follower of the Great Combinator was arrested in Moscow. The trial lasted until May 2007. Mavrodi was kept in the capital's detention facility "Matrosskaya Tishina". He was released three weeks after the verdict was announced (he received 4.5 years with the payment of 20 million rubles to the defrauded investors) - the term in the pre-trial detention center was credited.

In January 2011, Mavrodi founded the MMM-2011 pyramid, but it immediately collapsed. MMM-2012 followed. In May 2012, a criminal case was opened against Mavrodi in Russia, and he fled from the investigation.

Current page: 1 (total of the book has 21 pages) [available passage for reading: 14 pages]

Sergey Golubitsky
What is the name of your god? Great scams of the XX century. Volume 1

There "s a sucker born every minute

The phrase in the title of the article belongs to the prominent American swindler Charles Ponzi and conveys the main stimulus of his intricate life: "Every minute a new sucker is born." In all languages ​​of the world, the concept of "goof" sounds offensive, although it would seem that it is not clear why: after all, "goof" is almost always an honest person, whose only fault is excessive naivety and the habit of trusting people. However, why is it not clear? After all, the word "sucker" migrated into common language from the thieves' fenny - the jargon of "masters of the situation", who are accustomed to "breed" these same suckers. Why be surprised when people are offended: who wants to admit that he was "bred like a sucker"?

Meanwhile, everything is much more complicated than it might seem at first glance. The fact is that the process itself does not intersect in any way with the rational sphere. In other words, swindlers "breed suckers" not because the former are very smart, but the latter are fools, but for completely different reasons. Moreover, as a rule, swindlers are people monstrously narrow-minded and infinitely uneducated, and even stand on the social ladder several steps below their victims. It is quite paradoxical that the smarter the "sucker", the easier it is for a swindler to "dissolve" him.

As I said, "breeding suckers" is an irrational process. Everything happens on a purely subconscious level: if you had to play with "thimblers" at least once in your life, you will understand what it is about. When, at the very dawn of perestroika, the thimblers deprived me of my hard-earned two hundred rubles in the square in front of the Leipzig department store, I was already fully armed with numerous warnings and admonitions about how the fraud is carried out: there is no foam ball under the thimbles, and all this is pure fraud and dexterity. hands. So what? But nothing. With a condescending smile of deep understanding of the situation, with ironic chuckles, for some reason I approached the impromptu gambling table from a cardboard box and began to watch the frank performance that was being played out in front of me: some actors came up, others left, a young guy bet and won. Many. The fat aunt bet and lost. Few. This performance smelled like a provincial theater, I understood all this, grinned, and then ... I took and set for some reason 25 rubles! Lost. Bet 50 - lost. 25 - lost. Another 100 ... Everything about everything took less than 60 seconds, so there was not even time to enjoy in its entirety the feeling of a sucker, who was bred specifically, according to all the rules and in full.

For another half an hour I was in some kind of hypnotic confusion, so in addition, on the way home, I stuck my headlight into a trolleybus - what is really there: to hit - so to hit!

Nevertheless, I am convinced that 200 rubles is a fair payment for the lesson learned. What did I understand? And the fact that the relationship between a swindler and his victim is not a battle of intellects, but a dialogue between a rabbit and a boa constrictor, in which the swindler always hypnotizes, and his victim relaxes. The swindler never appeals to your mind, therefore, in any situation of "divorce" there is absolutely no semantic element: there are no smart conversations, proofs, conclusions. The swindler never tries to argue or convince you, knowing full well that he simply cannot do it. It acts directly and directly on your subconscious, and does this at the level of not concepts, but symbolic images.

These images can be simple words that in themselves do not mean anything, do not carry any information, but at a subconscious level they play an important role: they calm the victim, instill in him a sense of self-confidence, conviction of righteousness, and also awaken the most primitive instincts. first of all - greed.

Another type of symbolic images with the help of which a swindler can influence the victim's subconscious is certain postures, grimaces and passes, which are also inexplicable by reason and outwardly meaningless. By their nature, these body movements are the closest to what shamans did in ancient times, later - grandmothers-sorcerers, and today - doctors-hypnotists.

It is for these reasons that one can quite accurately understand on a rational level that thimblers are deceivers and there is not the slightest chance to beat them, but still succumb to the temptation and be left without money as a result of a skillful influence on your subconscious mind.

And yet, a clear understanding of the mechanisms of influence of swindlers serves as more or less reliable protection against their encroachments. A year later, after the ill-fated story of the "Leipzig divorce," I had a wonderful opportunity to test the viability of the lessons learned.

Once I looked at the Kuntsevo bus station. Nothing worthwhile for my Zhiguli horse was not found on the half-empty (still Soviet in spirit) counters, so I stood at the entrance to the spare parts store, smoked in relaxation and wondered where else to go and what to look for. At this time, venerable years, respectable-looking Georgians came out of the store. He stood nearby: neither give nor take an imposing diplomat, who for a moment absent from the presidential reception. In the worst case, it is the imperious secretary of the regional committee, who has carved out a minute for a smoke break during the break between the dispersal perpetrated by a negligent subordinate. However, the "diplomat" from the Kuntsevo bus station demonstrated in every possible way his democratism and desire to share his star company with the young stranger. A real celestial, what can I say. At the same time, four classes of elementary school and many years of separation from written material were written on the face of the celestial.

The "diplomat" asked for a light and muttered something humorously about the weather and empty counters. I didn’t support. They stood in silence, but in the next instant another "Foreign Ministry employee" emerged from the same store - no less solid-looking guy. The fact that the play was being prepared could be seen with the naked eye, especially since the "actors" themselves almost did not hide their desire to play a funny performance - they were so confident in the effectiveness of their charms.

It is difficult to describe what followed this in words, because the actions of the swindlers in their meaning approached complete nonsense and could not cause anything but irritation. However, the whole performance was accompanied by some kind of ritual dance, constant circular movements, almost squatting, the secret meaning of which could not be predicted: either you knew about it in advance and thus got a chance to defend, or you were doomed to ruthless confusion, clouding of consciousness and subsequent "divorce".

The first "diplomat" played the role of a seasoned joker, his boyfriend and benevolent fellow traveler. The second, with all the might of his scanty acting talent, tried to convey the image of either an incredulous simpleton, or a well-to-do, but narrow-minded provincial. I must say that for all the primitiveness of the drama (and it could not be otherwise - after all, the impact was not on the mind, but on the subconscious, which, as you know, does not know how to operate with concepts), the performance was verified and calculated to the smallest detail. It looked like this: the "experienced" offers the "provincial" a cigarette and opens a purse. There are two cigarettes in the wallet. The "provincial" gratefully agrees, pulls out his hand, but in the next moment, he is allegedly accidentally distracted by the sound of a car alarm. In a split second, the "experienced" snatches one cigarette from the purse and hides it in his pocket. "Provincial" turns his head back and sees that there is only one cigarette left, but continues to stretch his hand. To which the "experienced" declares that it is generally indecent to take two cigarettes at once, because he has already taken one. The "provincial" pretends to be angry, but with restraint and without pressure, making it clear that he is in a complacent mood. Then the "experienced" reaches out and takes out the disappeared cigarette from the side pocket of the "provincial" jacket (it is clear that all this time the cigarette was not in the pocket of the "experienced", but in his sleeve).

I want to remind the reader that all this external outline of the performance, these imaginary absurdities and inconsistencies of the plot have absolutely no meaning, that's why the "experienced" does all the passes, as it were, in slow motion, allowing you to trace how the cigarette migrates from his sleeve to pocket of the "provincial". Latently, the suggestion of two important attitudes takes place: the "sucker" is made to feel that everything is happening for fun and for fun, that he is completely safe and - most importantly! - he is on the right side of the barricade - plays in the team of the "seasoned" against the "provincial". That is, the victory is assured to him.

Finding a cigarette in his pocket, the "provincial" feigns slight confusion, but the next minute he laughs cheerfully, shakes his hairy finger with a gold signet and slyly reproaches the "experienced" for hocus-pocus: here, they say, how clever you are, but let's see , can you do this joke again. Thus, the potential victim is again given to understand that he is present in a harmless, non-binding game and that he is not in any danger.

"Experienced" does not deny that the joke with a cigarette is a sleight of hand, and offers the "provincial" a bet on mere trifles, but at least just one ruble. Provincial agrees.

After that, the whole bodyag is played in the second round: a cigarette case with two cigarettes is opened, the "provincial" pulls his hand, gets distracted, the cigarette migrates into the pocket (sleeve) of the "experienced", and then deftly removes it from the pocket of the "provincial". The "provincial" gets angry, this time more energetically, I would even say recklessly, but he gives up the ruble and offers to play for the third time.

At this moment, for the first time, something incomprehensible happens, and the hitherto relaxed atmosphere is suddenly and for no apparent reason replaced by a heavy oppressive atmosphere of a tense collision of wills and energies. It seems that in another moment, and at best a fight will take place, at worst - a specific stabbing or shootout. The merit in changing the energy of the performance belongs, again in an unexpected way, not to the “experienced”, but to the “provincial”. He seems to be transformed, throws off the sheep's skin and it turns out that in fact it is he who is the master of the situation, and not the "experienced" one. Thus, you, as a potential "sucker", instantly leaves a feeling of security and confidence in success: after all, until now you have played in the team of the "experienced", which is now rapidly losing its authority and control over the situation!

Now, you are in danger of not only losing inner comfort and peace of mind, but also a real danger of being drawn into a completely unnecessary criminal showdown. All this is staged with a single purpose: first, your mind was lulled, and then sharply exposed in a defenseless state. The calculation is made on the fact that on a subconscious level you wish to immediately restore the lost status quo and join the safe side of the conflict. The feeling of danger disturbs you so much that you are ready for the sake of your own peace of mind to make certain sacrifices, even material ones.

The "provincial" forges the iron while it is hot (as it seems to him): he literally forces the "experienced" to lose the trick with the thrown cigarette for the third time, while the rate rises exactly tenfold, and you are attracted not just as witnesses, but almost not forcibly pushed to participate directly in the bet. At this moment, the energy of the "provincial" is so great, his control over the situation is so unconditional, and the appearance of the "experienced" is so pathetic that there is not a grain of doubt: the bet will be won and the "provincial" will not be able to throw a cigarette into his pocket in any way.

I turned out to be a tough nut to crack and refused to participate in the bet. However, my new Georgian friends did not give up hope. Then everything went on at a deliberately slow pace: the purse opens, the "provincial", like a boa constrictor, does not take his eyes off the "experienced" and does not give in to any pathetic attempts of the latter to distract him. Disappointed "experienced" forcibly and picturesquely hides a cigarette in his own pocket. The "provincial" triumphantly says: "Well, where is the cigarette?" "In your pocket!" A victorious glance in my direction: “Did you see? Let's place your bet before it's too late. " Towards the "experienced": "Maybe we will double it?" “Come on” - at this moment it is simply a pity to look at the “experienced”. "Provincial" finishes: "Only I myself will check my pocket, not you, do you understand?" "Understood". - "Provincial" by all means makes it clear that his song is sung. "Loch" is given the last chance for an almost guaranteed income: "Well, are you going to bet?" “I won’t,” I say calmly, because I don’t doubt for a second that the “provincial” initially came to the stage with a prepared cigarette in his pocket.

I looked with horror and bewilderment at the magic theater performed by two uncles ennobled with gray hair. I watched and refused to believe my eyes: “How can such respectable and adult people be engaged in such a small and cheap theater ?!” After all, this whole performance was played in front of me, an unfamiliar "sucker", with the sole purpose of getting a few banknotes out of my wallet. And for the sake of this, adults who have been wise for years are ready to almost dance a lezginka around an unfamiliar passer-by.

My horror and bewilderment were clearly not the reaction the swindlers expected. Therefore, as soon as it became clear that the ritual had no effect, they instantly lost all interest in my person, broke off, without saying a word, the show in mid-sentence and waddled on their way, casually muttering on their native suleko, in search of a more pliable "sucker."

Needless to say, the time was simple, and "divorces" were also not distinguished by intricacy. The described adventure is from the category of street farce and in the worst case threatens the man in the street with the devastation of the wallet and withdrawal of cash. Entrepreneurship-motivated fraudsters can be singled out as a special category; they are the ones who pose a real threat not only to small, but often very large businessmen.

Of course, there are enough home-grown craftsmen here, but for our people there is nothing more dangerous than international swindlers. There is a simple explanation for this: all Soviet people were cut off from the world context for almost a century, therefore, already at the genetic level, they got used to looking at a foreigner almost as a messenger from another galaxy. At the same time, it does not matter at all whether we feel an ideological or racial hostility towards a stranger, or, on the contrary, in the fashionable context of our time, we show a servile readiness to look in the mouth and listen to every word. The main thing is that we are initially set up to separate "us and them", which, as you will soon see for yourself, is almost the main condition for a successful "divorce" at the international level.

If we add to this attitude of “alienation” the general illiteracy of the broadest strata of society in the field of modern international office work, then we get a very favorable picture for the withdrawal of money on a large scale.

In the story that we will now analyze together, there is another piquant moment - representatives of one wonderful African country appear in it, and with the blacks, the Soviet person has a Hamburg score - warm at the genetic level. Even in the midst of the Cold War and global hatred of the American States, this quivering class feeling did not extend to Uncle Tom's oppressed descendants. Even today, I watch with affection how Moscow businessmen with genuine delight indulge in the establishment of partnerships with the ambassadors of the hot continent. On the sole reason that they are like our younger brothers. But can a younger brother "throw" an older one? It turns out, maybe, and how!

I will tell the story of the so-called Scam 419. This international curse owes its name to the article of the same name in the Nigerian Criminal Code. Scam 419 has begun - you won't believe it! - back in the early 80s. By the mid-90s, it cost gullible suckers (mostly Americans) over five billion dollars. Today, no one is calculating, however, at the most modest prices, the total damage has long exceeded 10 billion.

This, I can tell you, is the real scope. Over the past 20 years, many governments have changed in the country, and all of them have unanimously supported the 419 Scams, because today these frauds are no, you just think about it, reader! - are the third largest industry in Nigeria! Needless to say, it has almost never been possible to snatch money stolen under the 419 scheme from Nigerian banks? And this despite the fact that there is a formal article in the country's criminal code. Without any doubt, Scam 419 enjoys state support, and thus it is more dangerous for the inhabitants of the civilized world.

It all starts with the fact that you receive a letter from distant sunny Nigeria. However, you should not delude yourself: instead of a letter, you can easily get a couple of black-faced businessmen dressed with a needle with the same Rolexes (a finely crafted fake, of course) on their wrists, who will show up in your office one fine day. And they will begin to present a business proposal - about the same as in the written version. As an illustration, I have chosen one of the most recent developments launched into circulation in the fall of 2002:

Subject: Urgent

From: Maika Aba

Dear friend,

In the process of reading my letter, please visit the website of the newspaper This Day (www.thisdayonline.com) and browse the archive of the publication for March 18, 2002, volume 8, number 2521 (first page), as well as for May 25 of the same Years, volume 8, number 2584. This is necessary in order for you to appreciate the topicality of the situation.

I am sending my best wishes, and I am also sending you goodness, peace and love from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. I really hope that my letter will not cause you any inconvenience, because I write it from the bottom of my heart. I received your address from a good friend of mine who works at the Nigerian Embassy in your country. Once again, I apologize for interfering with your privacy.

My name is Mike Aba, and I represent Mrs. Mariam Abacha, widow of General Sani Abaha, former head of the Nigerian state. The general died in 1998, and since then his family has suffered significant financial losses due to the vengeful policies of the new authorities. In this regard, the Abacha family asked me to find a reliable international partner who would agree to cooperate with us and facilitate the withdrawal from the country of 75,000,000 (seventy-five million US dollars) currently at the disposal of the heirs. This money belonged to the late general and is kept by the family in a secret place. The Swiss government has already frozen all of the Abacha family's Swiss bank accounts, and officials from several other countries have expressed their intention to follow Switzerland's lead. That is why we are forced to ask you to assist in the export of capital, as well as further investment of money in the interests of the family.

The deal will be in the nature of a joint venture, and we will need a high level of coordination of efforts. All money is in the form of cash, so it is very important to take additional security measures to prevent it from being stolen or seized. I have already fully developed an action plan. Without a doubt, the withdrawal of money should be carried out in stages. The first tranche will amount to 30,000,000 (thirty million) US dollars. My clients have expressed a desire to provide you with a reasonable percentage of this amount for the services rendered upon completion of the transaction. I think it would be wise if we discuss your share from the very beginning. I am ready to listen to your wishes. Immediately after that, I will provide you with all the details of the transaction necessary for its successful completion.

I ask you not to have any doubts about the safety of our joint work: all precautions will be taken in a timely manner, so I can guarantee you the success of the event. However, I must draw your attention to the need to maintain the absolute confidentiality of our transaction until the final withdrawal of capital from Nigeria.

If you are interested in our offer, please let me know about your consent to assist my client.

If you are not interested, I ask you to assess the degree of trust that we have shown you, and not to disclose the contents of this letter.

Looking forward to further cooperation and gratitude,

Mike Aba

In its depth, this letter can only be compared with the natal chart of the horoscope - such an abundance of valuable information lies in the modest message of the African Ostap. The real Gospel 419. Here are the key points that are common not only for this fraud, but also for all, without exception, "business scams":

1. Pseudo-documentation: At the beginning of the letter, Mike Aba sends his potential victim to the website of a central Nigerian newspaper, specifying the exact page and archive number of articles that are allegedly related to the proposed deal. Indeed, there is an article on the front page of This Day newspaper with the headline "The Abach Family Will Pay Another $ 1.2 Billion to the Federal Government." The calculation is made on the fact that the meticulous recipient of the letter, who is interested in Mike Aba's proposal, will definitely go to the newspaper's website to check the original source. And what does he know? The fact that General Abacha stole more than one billion dollars from his native people. However, what he stole is not scary, the main thing is that he really has money. True, the newspaper report does not say anything that Mike Aba has even the slightest relation to the Abach family, but who is thinking about that now? Greed has big eyes. Nevertheless, the first swallow of trust has been launched.

2. Recommendation and elitism. Another essential element of a professional "divorce": Mike Aba is not addressing you just like a bunch of bugs, but on the recommendation of a close friend from the embassy. The real meaning of a recommendation in a scam is always the same: to please the victim's pride, to make him feel his own importance, chosenness. This is why fraudulent "credentials" always come from high-profile sources. In our case, diplomatic circles appear, which automatically means: the recipient of the letter is a respected person with a reputation (if the rumor about him went even through the Nigerian embassy!).

3. Cosmic amounts of transactions. Scams are never done for the sake of a dozen or two dollars, it is always about millions. Moreover, there is a clear pattern: the more ragged the swindler, the higher the rate. In the early 90s, a wave of swindlers swept through all the Moscow offices of barely rich merchants, who with an air of importance offered their assistance in obtaining a bank loan. Always at least $ 10-20 million. The "bankers" showed up for negotiations in worn-out sandals from the Tula Rabochiy factory and frayed Indian jeans, lit filthy cigarettes, but at the same time they were sure to operate with figures in the tens of millions of dollars. Any suggestions to go down to earth and talk about a more modest loan of a hundred or two thousand caused a contemptuous grin and the phrase: "Young man, we do not deal with trifles."

4. Accentuated illegitimacy of the transaction. It seems that the father of this technique was the unforgettable Ostap Bender, the creator of the secret union of the sword and plowshare. An entrepreneurial scam always emphasizes the piquancy of the situation, its closed nature and one or another degree of illegality. Abach's money is kept in a "secret place", the main thing in the deal is "preserving its confidentiality", and indeed the whole operation can be called by its own name: money laundering. The calculation is made that after a successful divorce, the sucker will not run to complain to the law enforcement for fear of becoming an accomplice in an illegal act.

5. Small efforts. Another indispensable element of an entrepreneurial scam is ensuring that the victim does not have to work hard to complete the task at hand. This condition is even necessary, since only one category of humanity falls into the network of fraudsters: those who believe in the Field of Miracles. Accordingly, these people are not so much stupid as lazy at a subconscious level, and the maximum effort they are capable of: bury coins at night and wait for the golden tree to grow. That is why Mike Aba insistently repeats that the whole operation has already been thought out and calculated by him to the smallest detail, so nothing will be required from you: to determine your share of the profit and to perform some easy gestures.

Well, that's fine. We are interested in receiving two or three million in commissions for the services of withdrawing $ 70 million outside Nigeria. What's next? Then Mike (maybe it's better Misha?) Aba sends the following letter:

Thank you for your willingness to help us. We are planning to deposit the agreed amount of money in the holdings of the Dutch company Global Sec And Fin. I will prepare a certificate of deposit in your name, as well as give the coordinates of the person you should contact by phone in Holland, who is responsible for the transportation of the cargo. Please provide me with your phone and fax numbers and your full name so that I can fill out the paperwork correctly.

Thank you for your cooperation,

Mr Mike Aba

The "divorce" has already begun, however, so far in a very innocuous form: all that is required from us is telephone and fax numbers, as well as a name and patronymic. The main thing is ahead! Next letter:

How are you doing? I'm sure everything is great, so thank the Lord for letting us see another day! I received your letter and thought it over. Once again, I want to assure you that our transaction is completely safe - all documents will be prepared in due order, so you have nothing to worry about. We decided to thank you with an amount of 30% of the total value of the transaction. Our interest will be 60%, and 10% will be allocated to a special fund to cover direct costs of both parties that may arise in the course of the transaction: telephone bills, air tickets, etc. I need to get your bank details in order to indicate them in our agreement for the subsequent transfer to your account of the stipulated compensation. I will send you the text of the agreement by fax. You should familiarize yourself with its content, sign and send back.

Mike Aba

Aha! We seem to have guessed: if a Nigerian swindler manages to get from us everything he asks for in this letter, it's in the bag! After all, after you sign the agreement, Mike will have a copy of your signature, which can always be used for any illegal transaction with your bank account (you also told him about it).

Does it seem to fit together? No matter how it is! In fact, the request for your signature on the agreement is a so-called false trail: a classic trick, which my Georgian friends - "diplomat" and "provincial" also used in their work. Remember? - at first they specially focused my attention on the fact that the cigarette is hiding in the sleeve, and then in the final dispute they stipulated such conditions that supposedly dispel all doubts: he himself will check the pocket of the "provincial", and not the "diplomat", so he will not it will be possible to throw anything out of my sleeve, and, therefore, my participation in the bet turns out to be a completely risk-free event. Mike Aba does the same when he sends another letter after:

Thanks to good connections, I managed to agree on everything, so you no longer need to sign an agreement and send it by fax - as soon as the money is delivered to Holland, you will need to fly to this country and sign a vacation order with your own hand, which will happen in the presence of an independent notary ... The costs of notarization will, as we said earlier, be covered from a special fund.

At the same time, Mike kills the second hare: he kind of restores the shaken trust and dispels the last fears and doubts of the victim. Indeed, what a noble man this Nigerian benefactor is! And we, by a sinful deed, suspected him of devilry in what nasty things.

In fact, the falsity of the trace with the signature on the agreement lies almost on the surface, since in reality there are no conditions under which a stranger will be able to withdraw money from your account using a copy of your signature and bank details. In any case, he will need to find out your password for electronic access to the account, and no sane person will share this information. Likewise, he will not be able to request a transfer by fax, since he does not know the name of your personal banker, nor the special code that is indicated in the fax request for a bank transfer. So the excitement was in vain, and Mike Aba from the very beginning was preparing a strike on a completely different front.

And here it is, this blow:

How are you doing? I hope everything is all right, besides, I have wonderful news for you: yesterday I finally managed to issue a certificate of deposit, so that in the very near future, by the grace of God, the transaction will come to a successful conclusion, and we can all breathe a sigh of relief. I had to pay $ 1,600 in cash for the certificate. Today the affidavit in your name has yet to be certified in the federal court of Abuzh, however, I have only one thousand dollars left, while the cost of the certification is 1,550 US dollars. In this regard, I urgently ask you to find an opportunity and transfer the missing amount (550 US dollars) through the Western Union system to the name of Francis Okoby, Amuza Street, 92, Mafoluku Oshodi, Lagos, Nigeria. This will allow us to fully prepare all the documentation required to transfer money to Holland.

Respectfully,

Mike Aba

Actually, that's all. You don't have to go further. I remember that at the beginning of the turbulent 90s, all the talk about multi-million dollar loans also ended with the invariable request of the "bankers" to lend them a mere trifle for a couple of days: $ 100 to cover some unexpected and secondary expenses. Indeed: well, what is $ 550 against the background of 30% commission of 30 million that awaits you in the near future? Meanwhile, everything was twisted around this "trifle" from the very beginning. Remember, as in the anecdote about Raskolnikov: "An old woman - for a nickel, and twenty old women - already a ruble." It was from such small sums that it was possible to put together $ 10 billion in material assistance to Nigerian entrepreneurs.

The 20th century entered history as the century of fraud and grandiose deceptions. The sale of the Eiffel Tower, financial pyramids, MMM, robberies, medical quackery - an incomplete list of machinations that shocked humanity. So, we present to your attention the TOP-10: the most grandiose scams of the century.

10th place. The duet that can't sing

Milli Vanilli is a protégé of the famous German producer Frank Farian. The duo was formed in the early 80s of the last century and quickly gained worldwide recognition. Great shows, performances in the largest cities in Europe, millions of fans - all this has become a reality for former dancers Rob and Faris. The duo's popularity peaked in 1990, when Milli Vanilli received the prestigious Grammy for Best New Artist. However, the group's activities were soon interrupted due to a scandal. During a concert in Bristol (USA), where Rob and Faris sang "live", there was a technical failure of the disc on which the phonogram was recorded. As a result, the phrase from the famous song “Girl You Know It’s True” was repeated many times, and the duo was forced to leave the stage. It turned out that during their performances Pilatus and Morvan imitated singing, and the original voices belonged to American vocalists Charles Shaw, Brad Howell and John Davis.

The scandal was followed by a long trial. As a result, the duo was forced to refuse all awards. In addition, the deceived listeners were reimbursed for the purchased Milli Vanilli records and tickets for their concerts.

9th place. John Brinkley's Miracle

John Brinkley was born in a small American village. In his youth, he had to work hard. It is at this time that John begins to think about illegal earnings. Brinkley's "teachers" became famous in

In 1918, John bought a medical degree and began to implement a variety of shenanigans. The pseudo doctor took up the solution of problems related to male potency. He offered his patients "miracles" from tinted distilled water. Then John Brinkley had another brilliant idea. Soon the pseudo doctor convinced all men that a transplant of genitals from a goat would help solve the problem with potency. Two years later, Mr. Brinkley's new business began to generate incredible profits. He and his colleagues performed at least 50 operations per month! In 1923 he acquired his own radio station, on the waves of which he advertised the clinic of Dr. Brinkley.

In the 30s. the pseudo doctor was forced to complete his medical practice. Several lawsuits have been filed against Mr. Brinkley due to the death of former patients. In 1941, the famous swindler was declared bankrupt.

8th place. Perpetrator

At the beginning of the 20th century, a wave of banking scams swept across the Russian Empire. The largest banks in the country have lost large sums. The problem was kept silent for a long time, as the organizations did not want to lose the trust of their millionaire investors. Later it turned out that all these robbery scams were carried out under the leadership of a certain Mikhail Tsereteli. In different parts of Russia he was known under different names: Prince Tumanov, Eristavi, Andronnikov.

Tsereteli invited the richest people of the empire to cooperate, took their passports and appropriated their bank deposits. In 1913, a fraudster managed to carry out a large-scale scam in Germany. He organized a fundraiser for the construction and repair of the fleet, and then embezzled a large sum.

Another direction of Tsereteli's activity was the robbery of wealthy ladies in European resorts. The young man quickly rubbed into the trust, and then lured away from the amount.

In 1914, under the name of Prince Tumanov, Tsereteli settled in Odessa. He was arrested a year later. It turned out that only in 1914-1915. the scammer has done more than 10 major scams! Nevertheless, Tsereteli never sought an excuse for himself, he only declared: "I am not a criminal, I am an artist."

7th place. Catch Me If You Can

For 5 years, he has committed a huge number of grandiose scams. This man went down in American history as the largest fraudster. In addition, Steven Spielberg's film "Catch Me If You Can" was made based on the life of the genius swindler. So, what is Frank Abagnale famous for?

Mr. Abagnale's great scams involved forging bank documents. Frank began his criminal activities at the age of 16, having deceived his own father. Until the age of 21, the young man “tried on” many professions. He was a pediatrician, professor of sociology, and even the attorney general of Louisiana! Depositors of banks in 26 European countries suffered from the machinations of Mr. Abagnale.

At 21, the swindler was arrested. But after 5 years, he was released early on the condition that the former fraudster would cooperate with the FBI. As a result, for more than 40 years, Frank Abagnale consulted the Bureau of Investigation and assisted in exposing swindlers.

6th place. Fake rockefeller

Christopher Rocancourt was born in a small French village. At the age of 20, he committed his first crime - the robbery of the Geneva bank. After that, Mr. Rockancourt leaves for the USA. At first, Christopher entered into the trust of wealthy women, posing as the son of Sophia Loren or the nephew of Dino de Laurentiis. Soon Mr. Rockancourt invented a new legend. He became a member of the family of American banker James Rockefeller, the famous founder of Standard Oil. A rich life, the attention of women, a personal helicopter - all this has become a reality for the former poor man. Christopher Rockefeller is quickly infiltrating the credibility of the most famous people. Jean Claude Van Dam and Mickey Rourke became his friends. But the fake Rockefeller's fame was short-lived. In 2000, Christopher Rockancourt was arrested. After posting the bail, the fraudster left for Hong Kong, where he continued his scams. In 2001, he was arrested again and charged with embezzlement of $ 40 million.

5th place. MMM

The 5th place in the rating of great scams is occupied by the MMM financial pyramid. Mavrodi Sergey is considered the organizer of the largest scam in the history of Russia. The structure was founded in 1989 and continued to be active until 1994. Organizing MMM, Mavrodi decided to compose the name from the first letters of the names of its founders (Sergei Panteleevich himself, his brother and Olga Melnikova). Initially, the company was selling computers. Since 1992, the organization began to issue its own shares, which sold very rapidly. Then Mavrodi put into circulation the so-called MMM tickets. The price of one ticket was 1/100 of a share. Outwardly, they were similar to Russian rubles, but in the center of the paper was a portrait of Mavrodi himself. In 1994, MMM had over 12 million depositors. In August 1994, the scandalous founder of the financial pyramid was arrested, and the activities of MMM were terminated. According to various sources, about 10 million depositors suffered from Sergey Mavrodi's scam.

Financial fraud is one of the main problems of the 20th century. The structure of Sergei Mavrodi was not just one of the few companies that affected millions of people. You can see the list of financial pyramids of the XX century below.

The most famous financial pyramids

• Pyramid of Dona Branca. In 1970, Portuguese citizen Donna Branc opened her own bank. To attract depositors, she promised a monthly rate of at least 10% to each client. Thousands of people from all over the country have entrusted their deposits to the bank. But in 1984, Dona Branc was arrested for fraud, and the grand one collapsed.
• Lou Perlman's diagram. The resourceful swindler became famous for selling almost $ 300 million in shares of non-existent companies.
• The European Royal Club is a company founded by Hans Spachtholz and Damara Bertges. As a result of the fraudulent organization's activities, thousands of investors from different countries have lost about $ 1 billion.

Financial pyramids XXI

Financial pyramids are not only a problem of the 20th century. Various criminal schemes continue to be implemented to this day. We present to your attention a list of the most famous financial pyramids of the XXI century.

• "Double Shah" is a scheme developed by an ordinary teacher from Pakistan, Syed Shah. First, he made a lucrative offer to his neighbors, promising to quickly double their investments. The pyramid soon expanded across the country. As a result, Shah managed to lure more than $ 800 million from depositors.
• The Barnard Medoff Pyramid, a major scam orchestrated by an American businessman, is considered one of the biggest financial frauds in history. As a result of the activity of the Medoff investment fund, more than 3 million people were deceived. The damage suffered by depositors is estimated at $ 65 billion.

4th place. Financial genius Charles Ponzi

The 4th place in our rating "The Greatest Scams of the Century" is occupied by the financial frauds of Charles Ponzi. Mr. Ponzi is considered one of the biggest scammers in US history. The future financial swindler came to the country in 1903. According to Ponzi himself, he had "$ 2 and a million dollars of hope" in his pocket. In 1919, he borrowed $ 200 from a friend and founded his own financial pyramid, SXC. Ponzi offered his investors income by selling and buying goods in different countries. In addition, the fraudster promised his clients 50% profit from the deposit in 3 months. The Ponzi circuit began to work successfully. However, the ingenious plan collapsed when Charles's friend, who had once lent him money, demanded half of Ponzi's income. A long trial followed, during which the "financial genius" was declared bankrupt and deported to his homeland. Charles Ponzi died in Rio de Janeiro, where he was buried with his last 75 dollars.

3rd place. Rogue prodigy

The 3rd place in the rating "The most grandiose scams of the century" is occupied by the frauds of Martin Frenkel. This man, along with Charles Ponzi, is considered the largest con man in US history. Since childhood, Martin has been denigrated the fate of a successful businessman. The boy graduated early from school, and then entered the university.

The genius swindler began his criminal path in 1986 by founding an investment firm Creative Partners Fund LP. As a result, Martin Frenkel managed to lure about $ 1 million from his depositors. A few years later, the swindler founded another investment fund and thereby significantly increased his income.

A few years later, Frenkel came up with a new scam and started buying insurance companies in different states.

In 1998, the ingenious swindler made two very useful acquaintances: with the American ambassador to the USSR and with the famous Catholic priest Father Jacob. With their help, he organized a charitable foundation in support of the American church, which, in fact, was another financial pyramid.

Mr. Frenkel's activities were suspended only in 2001, when he was arrested and sentenced to 200 years.

2nd place. Scam 419

The 419 scam started back in the 80s. last century. At this time, a group of criminals formed in Nigeria who began to implement the old technique of deceiving gullible citizens. Soon, this fraudulent technique spread to the vastness of the Internet. What is the essence of the Nigerian letters?

People from different countries receive letters from Nigeria or other African countries by mail. The sender begs the recipient to help in multi-million dollar transactions, promising a solid percentage. Typically, the sender introduces himself as a former king, wealthy heir, or banker. The letter contains a request for assistance in transferring a large amount to another country or in obtaining an inheritance. If the recipient agrees to assist the sender, then he not only does not receive the promised money, but also loses his own.

1st place. Eiffel Tower Sale

At the beginning of the 20th century, a native of the Czech Republic settled in Paris. Here he runs several scams, and then moves to the United States. In 1925 Lustig returned to Paris. There, on the pages of one of the newspapers, I read a message that the Eiffel Tower had practically fallen into disrepair and needed repair or demolition. This information served as the basis for a new ingenious scam. Lustig, posing as a French minister, sends telegrams to the richest magnates in Europe with a proposal to take part in the discussion of the further fate of the main symbol of Paris. At the same time, he assures them of the need to keep this information secret. As a result, Victor Lustig sold the right to utilize the Eiffel Tower to André Poisson for $ 50,000. The scandal that followed soon after was hushed up by the French authorities.

Lustig emigrated to the United States, but a few years later he returned to Paris and again sold the Eiffel Tower (this time for $ 75,000).

The most talented crooks who ever lived. They endlessly invented scams, had many pseudonyms, were fluent in languages ​​and even managed to sell the Eiffel Tower!

Victor Lustig (1890-1947) - the man who sold the Eiffel Tower

Lustig is considered one of the most talented con men who have ever lived. He endlessly invented scams, had 45 pseudonyms and was fluent in five languages. In the United States alone, Lustig was arrested 50 times, but for lack of evidence he was released each time. Prior to the outbreak of World War I, Lustig specialized in organizing fraudulent lotteries on transatlantic cruises. In the 1920s, he moved to the United States, and in just a couple of years he defrauded banks and individuals for tens of thousands of dollars.

Lustig's biggest scam was the sale of the Eiffel Tower. In May 1925, Lustig arrived in Paris in search of adventure. In one of the French newspapers, Lustig read that the famous tower was dilapidated and in need of repair. Lustig decided to take advantage of this. The fraudster drew up a fake credential, in which he named himself the deputy head of the Ministry of Post and Telegraph, after which he sent official letters to six dealers of vtorchermet.

Lustig invited businessmen to the expensive hotel where he was staying, and said that since the costs of the tower are unreasonably huge, the government decided to demolish it and sell it for scrap at a closed auction. Allegedly, in order not to cause outrage from the public, who had time to fall in love with the tower, Lustig persuaded the businessmen to keep everything secret. After a while, he sold the right to scrapped the tower to André Poisson and fled to Vienna with a suitcase of cash.

Poisson, not wanting to look like a fool, hid the fact of deception. Thanks to this, after a while Lustig returned to Paris and once again sold the tower according to the same scheme. However, this time he was out of luck, as the deceived businessman reported to the police. Lustig was forced to urgently flee to the United States.
In December 1935, Lustig was arrested and put on trial. He received 15 years in prison for counterfeiting dollars, as well as another 5 years for escaping from another prison a month before sentencing. He died of pneumonia in 1947 at the famous Alcatraz prison near San Francisco.

Ferdinand Demara - impersonated a surgeon and cured 15 out of 16 people

The man in this photograph is named Ferdinand Waldo Demara, but he is also known as the "Great Impostor". Why was it called that?

Posing as a Benedictine monk, prison director, ship doctor, child care expert, civil engineer, deputy sheriff, certified psychologist, lawyer, orderly, teacher, editor, and scientist looking for a cure for cancer. But I never tried to make money on it. All he needed was the respect of those around him. Possessed a photographic memory and a high IQ.

At the age of 16, he ran away from home and spent several years with the Cistercian monks, and in 1941 he enlisted in the army. Then to the navy. He tried to impersonate an officer, and when that failed, he faked suicide and turned into Robert Linton French, a psychologist with a religious bias. He taught psychology at the colleges of Pennsylvania and Washington.

Then FBI agents approached him and Demara received 18 months in prison for desertion. After his release, he bought forged documents and studied law at Northeastern University, before becoming a monk again. He founded a college that still exists today. In church, he met a young doctor, Joseph Sera, used his name and began to impersonate a surgeon. During the Korean War, he was promoted to lieutenant and ship's doctor on the Canadian destroyer Cayuga and was sent to Korea. There he treated patients with penicillin perfectly.

Once, 16 seriously wounded soldiers were brought to the destroyer, who needed an operation. Demara was the only surgeon on the ship. He told the staff to prepare the wounded and take them to the operating room, while he sat down in his cabin with a textbook on surgery. Demara independently performed all operations (including several heavy ones). And not a single soldier died. Newspapers enthusiastically wrote about him. The mother of the real Joseph Sira read them by chance, and the deception was revealed. For a long time, the captain refused to believe that his surgeon had nothing to do with medicine. The Canadian Navy decided not to press charges against Demara, who returned to the United States.

Then he also worked as a deputy governor of a prison in Texas (he was hired thanks to his diploma of a psychologist). There, Demara embarked on a serious program of psychological reforging of criminals - and succeeded in it. He has worked as a consultant at the largest Los Angeles homeless shelter, received his college graduation certificate in Oregon, and was a parish priest at the hospital.

In 1982 he died of heart failure. Several books have been written about him, and a film and series have been filmed.

Frank Abagnale - "catch me if you can"

Frank William Abagnale, Jr. (born April 27, 1948), at the age of 17, managed to become one of the most successful bank robbers in US history. This story took place in the 1960s. Using fake bank checks, Abegneil stole about $ 5 million from banks. He also flew countless flights around the world with forged documents.

Later, Frank successfully played the role of a pediatrician for 11 months in a hospital in Georgia, after which, after forging a Harvard University diploma, he got a job in the office of the attorney general of Louisiana.

Over the course of more than 5 years, Abagnale changed about 8 professions, he also continued to enthusiastically forge checks and receive money - banks in 26 countries of the world suffered from the actions of a fraudster. The young man spent money on dinners in expensive restaurants, buying clothes of prestigious brands and dating girls. The story of Frank Abagnale was the basis for the film Catch Me If You Can, where Leonardo DiCaprio played the witty con man.

Christopher Rockancourt - Fake Rockefeller

David Hampton (1964-2003)

A fraudster of African American descent. Posing as the son of a black actor and director Sidney Poitier. At first, Hampton introduced himself as David Poitier to dine in restaurants for free. Later, realizing that he was believed and he could influence people, Hampton convinced many celebrities to give him money or shelter, including Melanie Griffith and Calvin Klein.

To some people, Hampton said that he was a friend of their children, to others he lied that he missed his plane in Los Angeles and that his luggage flew away without him, and others deceived that he had been robbed.

In 1983, Hampton was arrested and charged with fraud. The court sentenced him to compensation for victims in the amount of $ 4,490. David Hampton died of AIDS in 2003.

Milli Vanilli - The Duo Who Couldn't Sing

In the 90s, a scandal broke out related to the popular German duo Milli Vanilli - it turned out that the voices of other people, not of the duet, were heard on the studio recordings. As a result, the duo was forced to return the 1990 Grammy award.

The duo Milli Vanilli was formed in the 1980s. The popularity of Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan began to grow rapidly, and already in 1990 they won the prestigious Grammy award.

The exposure scandal led to tragedy - in 1998, one of the duo members Rob Pilatus died of an overdose of drugs and alcohol at the age of 32. Morvan tried unsuccessfully to pursue a musical career. In total, Milli Vanilli sold 8 million singles and 14 million records during the period of its popularity.

Cassie Chadwick is Andrew Carnegie's illegitimate daughter

Cassie Chadwick (1857-1907), née Elizabeth Bigley, was arrested for the first time in Ontario at the age of 22 for forging a bank check, but was released because she feigned mental illness.

In 1882, Elizabeth married Wallace Springsteen, but her husband left her 11 days later when he learned about her past. Then in Cleveland, a woman married Dr. Chadwick.

In 1897, Cassie orchestrated her most successful scam. She identified herself as the illegitimate daughter of Scottish steel merchant Andrew Carnegie. Thanks to a fake $ 2 million bill allegedly issued to her by her father, Cassie received loans from various banks totaling between $ 10 million and $ 20 million. In the end, the police asked Carnegie himself if he knew the fraudster, and after his negative answer, they arrested Mrs. Chadwick.

Cassie Chadwick appeared in court on March 6, 1905. She was found guilty of 9 major frauds. Sentenced to ten years, Mrs. Chadwick died in prison two years later

Mary Baker - Princess Karabou

In 1817, a young woman in exotic clothes with a turban on her head appeared in Gloucestershire, who spoke an unknown language. The locals asked many foreigners to identify the language until a Portuguese sailor "translated" her story. The woman was allegedly Princess Karabou from an island in the Indian Ocean.

As the stranger said, she was captured by pirates, the ship was wrecked, but she managed to escape. For the next ten weeks, the stranger was in the spotlight of the public. She dressed up in exotic clothes, climbed trees, hummed strange words, and even swam naked.

However, soon a certain Mrs. Neal identified "Princess Karaba". The island impostor turned out to be the daughter of a shoemaker named Mary Baker. As it turned out, while working as a servant in Mrs. Neal's house, Mary Baker entertained the children with the language she had invented. Mary was forced to confess to deception. At the end of her life, she was selling leeches at a hospital in England.

Wilhelm Voigt - Captain of Köpenick

Wilhelm Voigt (1849-1922) - German shoemaker who pretended to be a Prussian captain. On October 16, 1906, in the south-eastern suburb of Berlin Köpenicke, the unemployed Wilhelm Voigt rented a Prussian captain's uniform in the city of Potsdam and organized the seizure of the town hall.

Voigt ordered the four grenadiers and a sergeant, who were accidentally stopped in the street, to arrest the burgomaster of Köpenick and the treasurer, after which he single-handedly seized the local town hall without any resistance, and then confiscated the city treasury - 4,000 marks and 70 pfennigs. Moreover, all his orders were carried out by the soldiers and the burgomaster himself without question.

Taking the money and ordering the soldiers to remain in their places for half an hour, Voigt left for the station. On the train, he changed into civilian clothes and tried to escape. Voigt was eventually arrested and sentenced to four years in prison for his raid and stealing money. In 1908 he was released early on the personal order of the Kaiser of Germany.

George Psalmanazar - the first witness of the Aboriginal culture of the island of Formosa

George Psalmanazar (1679-1763) claimed to be the first Formosa resident to visit Europe. It appeared in Northern Europe around 1700. Although Psalmanazar was dressed in European clothing and looked like a European, he claimed to have come from the distant island of Formosa, where he had previously been captured by the aborigines. As proof, he spoke in detail about their traditions and culture.

Inspired by the success, Psalmanazar later published the book Historical and Geographical Description of the Island of Formosa. According to Psalmanazar, men on the island walk completely naked, and the islanders' favorite food is snakes.

The Formosans allegedly preach polygamy, and the husband is given the right to eat his wives for infidelity.

Aborigines execute murderers by hanging them upside down. Every year, the islanders sacrifice 18 thousand young men to the gods. The Formosans ride horses and camels. The book also described the alphabet of the islanders. The book was a great success, and Psalmanazar himself began to lecture on the history of the island. In 1706, Psalmanazar got bored with the game, and he admitted that he simply cheated everyone.

Darius McCollum isn't the most spectacular impostor on this list, but he is by far the most persistent. McCollum was arrested 29 times. He posed as railroad and subway employees, including becoming a train driver for the New York Subway when he was 15 years old. He was born and raised in New York. Suffering from Asperger's, an autism spectrum disorder, McCollum has been obsessed with trains since childhood. At the age of five, he remembered the city's metro system.

He became a cult figure, inspiring plays, documentaries and songs. Knows more about trains than any employee of the New York Subway.

Frederic Bourdain - chameleon

Bourdain had a ton of fake personalities. The first he invented as a child. The boy called the police and said that he was a missing child, that he was tortured or lied, that his parents either died or kicked him out of the house. He did this many times throughout Europe. Subsequently, many wondered how and why a thirty-year-old man posed as an orphan teenager. He had no sexual deviations or material interest. Bourdain simply enjoyed it all.

The young man began his deception as soon as he left the orphanage and as of 2005 had taken on at least 39 fake identities, three of whom were teenagers who went missing. In 1997, Bourdain posed as Nicholas Barclay, a missing child from San Antonio, Texas, and invited his would-be parents to the American Embassy in Spain to meet with him. Although Bourdain had brown eyes and a French accent, he convinced the family that he was their blue-eyed son, who disappeared three years ago. He said he was the victim of traffickers supplying minors to the child prostitution industry. Bourdin lived with his family for three months until the moment when he was suspected by a local detective of forgery and lies, which were confirmed by a DNA test. He was jailed for 6 years.

When Bourdain returned from the United States in 2003, he moved to Grenoble and began to impersonate Leo Ballet, a teenager who had been missing since 1996. The DNA test was able to refute this. In August 2004, in Spain, he claimed to be a teenager Ruben Sanchez Espinosa and said that his mother died in Madrid during a terrorist attack. When the police found out the truth, he was deported to France.

In June 2005, Bourdin disguised himself as 15-year-old Spanish orphan Francisco Hernandez-Fernandez, who spends a month at Jean Monnet College in Pau, France. He claimed that his parents died in a car accident, dressed like a teenager, imitated a teenager's walking style, covered bald patches with a baseball cap and used special creams to remove facial hair. his ward. On September 16, Bourdain was sentenced to four months in prison for using the false name "Leo Ballet".

In his own words from a 2005 interview, Bourdain did all this for one single purpose - he wanted love and attention that he did not receive as a child. He appeared on French and American television shows, but continued his deception. In 2007, after a year of courtship, Bourdin married a French woman named Isabelle. They had three children.

In 2010, the film The Chameleon was filmed based on the story of an impostor based on the story of Jean-Paul Salomé, The Case of Nicholas Barclay. Bourdain (renamed Forten in the film) acted as the film's consultant. In the film, he is played by Canadian actor Marc-Andre Gronden. In 2012, Bart Layton directed The Imposter, a documentary based on the story of the disappearance of Nicholas Barclay. Frederic Bourdin plays himself in it.

Anna Anderson - daughter of Nicholas II (1896 - 1984)

Birth name Franziska Schanzkowska

According to the generally accepted version, the entire imperial family was shot on July 17, 1918. According to Anna's version, it was she, Princess Anastasia Nikolaevna, who managed to survive and escape.

Anna Anderson is perhaps the luckiest false Anastasia, Grand Duchess Anastasia, daughter of the last Russian emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna who was shot. According to the generally accepted version, the entire imperial family was shot on July 17, 1918. According to Anna's version, it was she, Princess Anastasia Nikolaevna, who managed to survive and escape.

This story began on the night of February 17, 1920, when a young woman tried to throw herself from the Bendlerbrücke Bridge in Berlin. The unknown was rescued - not far from the scene of the tragedy, a policeman was on duty. In the hospital, where she was taken after a police report was drawn up, the unidentified woman was found to have many gunshot scars on her back, as well as a star-shaped scar on the back of her head. The woman was severely emaciated - with a height of 170 cm, she weighed only 44 kg, and, moreover, she was in a state of shock and gave the impression of not quite normal mentally. Later, she said that she had come to Berlin in the hope of finding her aunt, Princess Irene, the sister of Queen Alexandra, but the palace did not recognize her and did not even listen to her. According to "Anastasia", she attempted suicide out of shame and humiliation.

The young woman was admitted to a psychiatric clinic in Dalldorf, where she spent a year and a half. It was not possible to establish the exact data, and even the name of the patient - the "princess" answered the questions out of place, and although she understood the questions in Russian, she answered them in some other Slavic language. However, someone later claimed that the patient spoke in perfect Russian.

The girl suffered from severe melancholy and could spend whole days in bed. She was often visited in the hospital by a variety of people who had ever been related to the Russian royal court, but it was still not possible to unambiguously establish the identity of the strange patient. Someone came to the conclusion that this was Princess Anastasia, someone assured that she was a one hundred percent impostor.

In the meantime, the patient was on the mend, but this still did not help the investigation - the stories of her salvation were all the time different and contradictory. So, once "Anastasia" said that during the execution she lost consciousness and woke up in the house of the soldier who allegedly saved her. Together with his wife, she arrived in Romania, after which she fled to Berlin. Another time she said that the soldier's name was Alexander Tchaikovsky, and he had no wife, but from Tchaikovsky "Anastasia" herself gave birth to a son, who at the time of the story was supposed to be about three years old. Alexander, according to the patient, was killed in a street shootout in Bucharest.

Later it was established that none of the firing squad bore the surname "Tchaikovsky", and none of the people whom the "princess" called as her saviors could be found.

After the hospital, Anastasia enjoyed the hospitality of several houses, all of which ultimately refused to take care of her - partly because of the falsity of her stories, partly because of her bad temper. However, be that as it may, everyone, without exception, agreed that the manners, behavior and etiquette of the unknown unambiguously betrayed a person of high society in her.

Soon, thanks to the press, which actively covered the story of the "princess", Alexei Volkov, the former valet of Alexandra Fedorovna, arrived in Berlin. After the meeting, Volkov openly announced that "he cannot claim that this is not a Grand Duchess."

By the way, "Anastasia" herself continued to be ill - she was tormented by bone tuberculosis, and her health was under great threat. In 1925, she was declared an impostor by Pierre Gilliard, a Swiss who had previously been an educator of the imperial children. Moreover, Gilliard conducted his own investigation, tracing the history of the "princess" from her very appearance in Berlin. In addition to him, several other people were also investigating.

In 1928, "Anastasia" at the invitation of the Grand Duchess Ksenia Georgievna moved to the United States, but again, due to her unbearable nature, she did not stay in the princess's house for a long time and moved to the "Garden City Hotel". By the way, it was here that she registered under the name "Anna Anderson", and later this name was finally assigned to her.

So, Anna Anderson remained in the United States, and from time to time she had to be a patient in psychiatric hospitals. I must say that the "last Russian princess" was received warmly almost everywhere - many tried to show her hospitality and help. In turn, Anderson accepted help without much hesitation.

In 1932, Anderson returned to Germany, where preparations were under way for the trial, which was to recognize her as the Grand Duchess and open her access to the Romanov inheritance.

She returned to the States in 1968 and, already 70, married her longtime fan, Jack Manahan. It is known that by that time her character was already more than unbearable, but the faithful Menahan happily endured all the antics of the "princess".

At the end of 1983, An
Derson was again in a psychiatric hospital, her condition by that time was very unimportant.

Anna Anderson died on February 12, 1984, her body was cremated, and on the grave, according to her will, was written: "Anastasia Romanova. Anna Anderson."

The opinions of experts on whether Anderson was the real daughter of the emperor, or a simple impostor, remained controversial. When in 1991 it was decided to exhume the remains of the royal family, two bodies were missing from the common grave - one of them was Princess Anastasia. DNA examinations did not show Anderson's belonging to the Russian royal family, but they completely coincided with the Schanzkowska family, and according to one version, the woman was Franziska Schanzkowska, a worker of one of the Berlin enterprises.

So, false Anastasia is considered one of the most successful impostors in the world, who managed to hold out in her role for half a century.

George Parker (1870-1936)

Parker was one of the most daring criminals in American history. He made his living selling New York City attractions to hapless tourists. His favorite object was the Brooklyn Bridge, which he sold twice a week for several years. Parker assured buyers that they could make a fortune by controlling access to certain attractions. Police have had to remove naive buyers from the bridge many times when trying to set up barriers to collect admission fees. Other public landmarks "sold" by Parker included Madison Square Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grant's Tomb, and the Statue of Liberty. George used a variety of ways to realize his sales. So, when he sold Grant's grave, he often passed himself off as the grandson of the famous general. He even set up a fake office to conduct real estate scams. He created forged documents impressive in their "authenticity" to prove that he was the rightful owner of all the property that was offered for sale.

Parker was convicted three times of fraud, and the third time, on December 17, 1928, he was sentenced to life in Sing Sing Prison. There he became incredibly popular with the guards and other prisoners who had heard of his "exploits". They even entered American pop culture, spawning the famous phrase: “You probably think I have a bridge to sell you.” These words are addressed to overly gullible people who are ready to do anything to get rich.

Joseph Weill (1877-1975)

Joseph Weill, or "Yellow Kid", was one of the most famous swindlers. Over the course of his career, he is believed to have stolen over $ 8 million. While working as a tax collector, Joseph realized that while collecting debts, his colleagues kept a small portion of the money for themselves. Then Weill offered himself to them as a "roof", promising not to report illegal activities in exchange for a part of what they get from it.

His many shenanigans have featured fake oil deals, women, races, and an endless list of other ways to fool the gullible public. Weill could change his appearance almost daily and always matched the role he played in the next fraud scheme. He introduced himself as a well-known geologist, then as a representative of a large oil company, in order to receive cash, which he was given to "invest in fuel." The next day, he was already the director of the Elysium Development Company, promising land to gullible investors and collecting initial contributions from them. He was also an excellent master of counterfeiting dollar bills.

In his autobiography, Weill writes: “The desire to make money without doing anything was costly for those who dealt with me and my 'colleagues'. The average person, by my estimate, is ninety-nine percent animal and only one percent human. Ninety-nine percent do not present any problems. But this one percent is the cause of all our troubles. When people understand (which I strongly doubt) that they cannot get something out of nothing, crime will decrease and we will live in a more harmonious world. "

Charles Ponzi (1882-1949)

The Italian immigrant Charles Ponzi is also firmly established in the history of the United States. Most people don't know Ponzi himself. On the other hand, the so-called “Ponzi scheme” is well known and is still widely used in various “quick money making” schemes, including via the Internet.

Ponti began his "career" by working in a restaurant, but was soon fired for shortcuts. His next job was a bank serving Italian immigrants. Once, after issuing another false check, he was imprisoned for several years. In prison in 1919, Charles Ponzi had a brilliant idea. One day he received a reply from Spain to his letter. The envelope contained international exchange coupons. At the post office, anyone could exchange these coupons for stamps, and send the letter back. But the most interesting thing was that in Spain you could get one stamp for 1 coupon, and in the USA as many as six. The same situation was with other European countries. Ponzi realized quickly enough that this could be played.

He bought many of these coupons at low prices due to the post-war devaluation and then resold them in the United States for a 400% profit. It was a form of arbitration, which meant nothing illegal. Ponzi began to involve friends and acquaintances in his business, promising them a profit of 50% or doubling the capital in 90 days. The company he founded was called the Securities Exchange Company.

However, the scheme began to fail, and money from those who wanted to get rich quickly continued to be accepted. The end is known. Investors, as always, began to suspect something was wrong when the "train left". Those who trusted their money to Ponzi lost every single cent of it. Ponzi was convicted of mail fraud and sent to prison. After an unsuccessful escape attempt, he was returned to his place to carry out the sentence, but was subsequently deported to Italy, where he died in 1949.

Soap Smith

Soap Smith (née Jefferson Randolph Smith, 1860-1898) is an American con man and gangster who played the role of first fiddle in organized crime in Denver, Colorado, Alaska and other US states from 1879 to 1898. He is by far the most famous con man in the Old West. In the late 1870s and early 1880s, Smith began his career in Denver by fooling the crowd with a trick that newspapers called the Fraudulent Soap Sale Prize Package.

At the corner of a busy street, Jefferson would open his "magic chest" on a tripod and stack ordinary bars of soap on top of it, describing the miracles to come. Crucifying in front of the growing crowd of curious onlookers, he pulled out his wallet and began to arrange bills from one to one hundred dollars, placing them on several shelves. He wrapped each stack of money in paper. Then he mixed piles of money with piles, which were just pieces of paper, and put them in packs of soap. The soap was selling for a dollar a piece.

At this time, his accomplice, who was in the crowd, bought a package of soap, opened it and screamed loudly, waving the "won" money so that everyone could see it. The performance produced the desired effect. People rushed to buy soap. Typically, victims would take several packages at a time, continuing to buy until the sale ended. Towards the end of the trade, Smith proclaimed that the $ 100 bill was still in the unbought pack and announced an auction for the remaining packs of soap, selling them to the highest bidder.

Thanks to the art of manipulation and sleight of hand, bags of soap, in which money was hidden, were almost all imperceptibly replaced by others in which there was no money. But the auction was publicly won by one of the members of the group.

The scam could have continued for quite a long time, if one day, "Soap Smith" was not shot by a group of gamblers he had deceived.

Eduardo de Valfierno who stole La Gioconda

Eduardo de Valfierno, who called himself the Marquis, was in fact an Argentine rogue who is said to have devised a plan to steal the famous Mona Lisa painting. It is unknown whether this was his idea. But he paid a group of people, including museum worker Vincenzo Perugia, to steal this masterpiece from the Louvre. On August 21, 1911, Perugia simply managed to hide the painting under his coat and take it out of the museum.

Before the robbery took place, Valfierno ordered the restorer and counterfeiter Yves Chabrot to make six copies of the painting. The fakes have subsequently been successfully sold in various parts of the world. Valfierno knew that since the Mona Lisa was stolen it would be difficult to get copies through customs. Nevertheless, the copies were delivered to the buyers, and each of them was sure that they received the original stolen especially for him. Walferno's goal was to sell copies, and therefore he never came into contact with Perugia again. And his instinct did not disappoint. Perugia was subsequently caught trying to sell the original. In 1913, the painting was returned to the Louvre.

James Hogue (b. 1959)

og was a famous American con man who started by (using a benefit) entered Princeton University, posing as a self-taught orphan. In 1986, he similarly enrolled at Palo Alto High School. This time already under the name of Jay Mitchell Huntsman - a 16-year-old orphan from Nevada, taking the name of the deceased boy. However, a suspicious local reporter exposed the deception. Hoag was sentenced to a suspended sentence, but decided not to stop there. After another "admission" to a university in Utah, he was arrested for stealing bicycles. Under different names, he joined various closed clubs.

His real identity was revealed in 1991 when Rene Pacheco, a student at Palo Alto High School, recognized him. Hoag was then arrested for stealing $ 30,000 from the university's financial aid fund and sentenced to three years in prison and 100 hours of community service.

On May 16, 1993, Hoag's name made headlines again. This time, under an assumed name, he managed to get a job as a security guard at a museum on one of the campuses of Harvard University. A few months later, museum workers noticed that several of the gem exhibits had been replaced with cheap imitations. Sommerville police arrested Hough at his home and charged him with $ 50,000 theft.

On March 12, 2007, after carrying out a series of regular scams and being caught again, Hog agreed to plead guilty to only one crime - embezzlement in the amount of 15 thousand dollars, and then only on the condition that the prison term did not exceed ten years. The prosecutor agreed to drop all other criminal charges against him.

Robert Handy-Freehard (b. 1971) - intelligence agent

Obert Hendy-Freehard is a British bartender, car dealer, crook and "grand schemer" disguised as an agent of the British secret service MI5, responsible for the country's security. He deceived people by persuading them to go underground so as not to be killed by the Irish extremist organization IRA, which allegedly hunted them. He met his victims at social events, as well as in pubs and at the car dealership where he worked. Freigard disclosed his "role" as an agent of the secret service MI-5 (Scotland Yard's special forces to fight the IRA) and demanded that people cut off all contact with family and friends and live alone. They believed him, he lured money out of them for valuable information and demanded to comply with the terms of the contract. In addition, he seduced five women by promising to marry them. At first, the victims were hesitant to contact the police as Freegard convinced them that the police were double agents who also work for the IRA.

In 2002, when the real secret services received information about the impostor, Scotland Yard, together with the FBI, organized a special operation to capture the criminal. He was detained at Heathrow airport. Freegard denied all charges against him, however, on June 23, 2005, after a trial that lasted eight months, Robert Hendy-Freegard was found guilty of kidnapping, ten thefts and eight counts of fraud. On September 6, 2005, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. On April 25, 2007, according to the BBC, a cassation motion by Robert Handy-Frigard regarding the abduction of children was granted. The life sentence was commuted to nine years in prison.

Bernard Kornfeld (1927-1995)

Bernard Kornfeld was an internationally renowned businessman and financier who sold quotas to American mutual funds. He was born in Turkey. When he moved to the United States, he initially worked as a social worker. However, already in the 1950s, he became a seller of shares in joint funds. And although he suffered from stuttering, nevertheless, even then he was able to fully manifest his natural gift of a seller.

In the 1960s, Kornfeld founded his own mutual fund quota trading company called Investors Overseas Services (IOS), which he incorporated outside of the United States. That said, although the accounts were in Canada and the headquarters were in Geneva, IOS's main operational offices were in Ferney-Voltaire, France, a short drive from the Swiss border. It was simply a way for the many employees of the company to avoid the problems of obtaining the right to work in Switzerland.

Over the next ten years, IOS "grossed" over $ 2.5 billion, bringing Kornfeld's personal fortune to over $ 100 million. Kornfeld attracted attention by his ostentatious consumption of luxury. At the same time, as noted, in communication he was a very generous and cheerful person.

In 1969, a group of 300 IOS employees complained to the Swiss authorities that Kornfeld and his co-founders were pocketing a portion of the proceeds from shares distributed to company employees. As a result, in 1973 the Swiss authorities charged him with fraud. When Kornfeld came to Geneva one day, he was immediately arrested. He spent 11 months in a Swiss prison before being released on $ 600,000 bail. Back in Beverly Hills, he no longer lived for show as before. He was consumed by a passion for healthy eating and vitamins. Kornfeld completely gave up red meat and practically did not drink alcohol. After a stroke resulting in a cerebral aneurysm, Bernard Kornfeld died in London on February 27, 1995.