One of the positive outcomes of all the Ponzi schemes in the news is that most of the operators have been caught. Granted, they haven’t been convicted and are innocent until proven guilty but it’s interesting that after allegedly stealing millions or billions of dollars, these guys didn’t have a decent get-away plan. Anyone who has watched at least one heist flick knows that every bank robber has a get-away driver.
Here’s a few thoughts as to why they didn’t have a get-away plan:
1) Many of operators had been running their scam for years and were probably lulled into a sense of safety. If they had gotten away with it for five years, why not run it one more, or five more, or ten more years?
2) Some Ponzi schemes don’t originally start out as a scam. Some operators start off with an intent to invest but either suffer a personal financial crisis or the fund starts losing money and the manager does not want to reveal this to investors. Either way, the fund manager may not have much money left to fund his get-away.
3) Ponzi scheme operators were as surprised as anyone at the swiftness of the market decline which exposed the Ponzi schemes so that they didn’t have time to concoct a good escape.
Tags: ponzi scheme
