A chronological index of U.S. Ponzi schemes and investment frauds from 2000 to the present. Each entry gives the operator, the place, the period, and the scale of the scheme, and links to the government record: SEC litigation releases and complaints, Justice Department and FBI releases, CFTC actions, and court opinions. No news coverage.
This is a selection, not a complete census. Thousands of these cases have been prosecuted in the United States in this period. What follows is a cross-section weighted toward the larger and better documented ones, and it grows as we work through the record.
Every entry also carries a Search the record link that opens a pre-built search, filtered to SEC, Justice Department, CFTC, and court sources, so you can dig into any case yourself. Use the selector below to send those searches to the engine you prefer.
The structure barely changes. Reading it in order is the point: the wrapper changes (hedge funds, real estate, solar, crypto) and the play does not.
Promissory note Ponzi scheme sold through a nationwide sales network. The SEC sued in June 2000 in the Southern District of Ohio; investors lost approximately $52 million when the company filed for bankruptcy in 1999. Piromalli pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and was sentenced in April 2003 to three and a half years in prison.
Investors, many of them elderly, were offered bogus IPO units, an offshore bank in Belize, and Heartland units. The SEC alleged that most of the $29 million raised went to repay earlier investors. The SEC sued in August 2000 in the Southern District of Indiana. Danker was sentenced to five years and eleven months in prison and ordered to pay more than $27 million in restitution.
EarthLink co-founder who raised nearly $600 million from approximately 800 investors over 15 years, many of them fellow Scientologists. The SEC obtained an asset freeze in May 2001. Slatkin pleaded guilty in March 2002 to 15 felony counts including mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to obstruct justice, and was sentenced in September 2003 to 14 years in prison.
SEC LITIGATION RELEASE · SEC LITIGATION RELEASE 2 | Search the record →
Internet Ponzi scheme that used interrelated websites and a national network of agents to guarantee exorbitant returns to thousands of investors. The SEC sued in September 2003 and a federal grand jury in Hartford indicted Prater in January 2006. He was sentenced in March 2007 to 120 months in prison.
Hedge fund whose offering materials claimed $180 million in assets when it held far less. A federal court found in SEC v. Haligiannis (S.D.N.Y.) that by early 2004 the fund had effectively become a Ponzi scheme. Haligiannis pleaded guilty to parallel criminal charges in September 2005 but failed to appear for sentencing and was a fugitive when the SEC obtained summary judgment.
Hedge fund CEO who fabricated returns and created a sham audit firm to conceal losses. Raised over $450 million from investors. Pleaded guilty in September 2005 and was sentenced in April 2008 to 20 years in prison, with a $300 million forfeiture order. He staged his own apparent suicide in 2008 to avoid reporting to prison and was later recaptured.
Boy band manager who sold investments in a fictitious Employee Investment Savings Account and phony airline companies, taking more than $300 million from investors and banks over roughly two decades. Pleaded guilty to conspiracy, money laundering, and a false claim in bankruptcy, and was sentenced in May 2008 to 25 years in prison. He died in custody in 2016.
Mortgage firm president who raised more than $30 million from over 200 investors, many approached at church gatherings and investment seminars, by promising returns of 30 to 60 percent and paying earlier investors with newer money. The SEC filed its complaint in the Central District of California on October 6, 2006.
The largest Ponzi scheme ever prosecuted in the United States, sustained for decades through fabricated account statements, with about $65 billion in claimed client assets. The SEC filed its complaint on December 11, 2008. Madoff pleaded guilty in 2009 and was sentenced to 150 years in prison.
Minnesota businessman whose company raised money through notes supposedly secured by consumer electronics merchandise that in large part did not exist. Scale: about $3.65 billion. Convicted by a federal jury in December 2009 and later sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Managing partner of a 250-lawyer New York firm who sold fake promissory notes supposedly issued by real developer clients. Raised over $700 million, with victim losses above $400 million. Arrested in December 2008, pleaded guilty in 2009, and was sentenced in July 2009 to 20 years in prison.
SEC COURT FILING · DOJ INDICTMENT RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from Illinois. Scale: about $255 million. Sentenced in July 2011 to 22 years.
Fraud case from Utah. Scale: about $180 million. Sentenced in December 2008 to 17 years.
Fraud case from New York. Scale: about $110 million. Sentenced in March 2010 to 15 years 8 months.
DOJ PRESS RELEASE · DOJ PRESS RELEASE 2 | Search the record →
Fraud case from New York. Scale: about $80 million. Sentenced in September 2009 to 24 years 4 months.
Fraud case from Michigan. Scale: about $72 million. Sentenced in August 2013 to 15 years.
Fraud case from Texas. Scale: about $70 million. Sentenced in March 2009 to 10 years.
Fraud case from California. Scale: about $62 million. Sentenced in April 2010 to 25 years.
Fraud case from California. Scale: about $52 million. Sentenced in September 2008 to 7 years 3 months.
SEC LITIGATION RELEASE · DOJ PRESS RELEASE | Search the record →
Offshore bank that sold certificates of deposit at above-market rates, backed by a portfolio that did not exist as represented. Scale: about $7 billion. Stanford was sentenced to 110 years in prison.
Law firm that sold investors interests in fabricated confidential legal settlements. Scale: about $1.2 billion. Rothstein pleaded guilty in 2010 and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Fraud case from Texas. Scale: about $485 million. Sentenced in May 2012 to 12 years.
Long Island businessman who raised over $400 million from more than 4,000 investors by claiming the money would finance short-term commercial bridge loans, while losing roughly $80 million in commodity futures. Arrested in January 2009, pleaded guilty in October 2010, and was sentenced in October 2011 to 25 years in prison.
SEC LITIGATION RELEASE · DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE · CFTC CASE STATUS | Search the record →
Sarasota hedge fund manager who reported fabricated returns across six funds that claimed to hold about $350 million but held under $1 million when the scheme collapsed. He disappeared in January 2009, days before large redemption requests, and turned himself in. Pleaded guilty to fraud counts in 2010 and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
SEC LITIGATION RELEASE · SEC PRESS RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from Oregon. Scale: about $300 million. Sentenced in November 2015 to 15 years.
Fraud case from New York. Scale: about $292 million. Sentenced in July 2010 to 12 years.
Fraud case from Michigan. Scale: about $200 million. Sentenced in October 2011 to 16 years 4 months.
FBI PRESS RELEASE · FBI SENTENCING RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from Minnesota. Scale: about $190 million. Sentenced in August 2010 to 25 years.
Fraud case from Arizona. Scale: about $160 million. Sentenced in October 2013 to 15 years.
Fraud case from New York. Scale: about $150 million. Sentenced in October 2010 to 40 years.
Fraud case from Connecticut. Scale: about $100 million. Sentenced in May 2011 to 10 years.
FBI PRESS RELEASE · FBI SENTENCING RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from New Jersey. Scale: about $135 million. Sentenced in November 2011 to 16 years.
Fraud case from Florida. Scale: about $135 million. Sentenced in April 2012 to 5 years.
Fraud case from Florida. Scale: about $110 million. Sentenced in August 2012 to 6 years 6 months.
DOJ PRESS RELEASE · DOJ PRESS RELEASE 2 | Search the record →
Fraud case from Michigan. Scale: about $73 million. Sentenced in July 2013 to 5 years.
SEC LITIGATION RELEASE · SEC LITIGATION RELEASE 2 | Search the record →
Fraud case from Arizona. Scale: about $50 million. Sentenced in November 2011 to 9 years.
FBI PRESS RELEASE · FBI SENTENCING RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from Florida. Scale: about $40 million. Sentenced in December 2010 to 10 years.
Fraud case from Utah. Scale: about $30 million. Sentenced in February 2012 to 10 years.
Fraud case from Michigan. Scale: about $28 million. Sentenced in January 2016 to 17 years 6 months.
Fraud case from Washington. Scale: about $135 million. Sentenced in November 2014 to 9 years.
Fraud case from New Mexico. Scale: about $80 million. Sentenced in September 2012 to 12 years.
Fraud case from Texas. Scale: about $50 million. Sentenced in November 2011 to 17 years.
Fraud case from Utah. Scale: about $47 million. Sentenced in April 2016 to 3 years.
Fraud case from New York. Scale: about $26 million. Sentenced in September 2016 to 10 years 4 months.
Fraud case from Illinois. Scale: about $21 million. Sentenced in November 2012 to 14 years 2 months.
Fraud case from California. Scale: about $20 million. Sentenced in March 2013 to 10 years.
Fraud case from New York. Scale: about $12 million. Sentenced in June 2012 to 10 years.
Penny auction affiliate program sold as a way to earn daily profit shares. The SEC filed an emergency action in August 2012 against what it described as a $600 million Ponzi and pyramid scheme with about one million investors. Burks was convicted by a jury in 2016 and sentenced in 2017 to nearly 15 years in prison.
SEC LITIGATION RELEASE · DOJ VICTIM NOTICE | Search the record →
Fraud case from North Carolina. Scale: about $129 million. Sentenced in February 2015 to 21 years 10 months.
Fraud case from Georgia. Scale: about $60 million. Sentenced in August 2014 to 5 years.
Fraud case from Illinois. Scale: about $30 million. Sentenced in August 2015 to 7 years.
Fraud case from Vermont. Scale: about $28 million. Sentenced in August 2013 to 7 years.
Fraud case from California. Scale: about $25 million. Sentenced in November 2013 to 12 years 7 months.
Fraud case from California. Scale: about $20 million. Sentenced in October 2014 to 15 years 8 months.
Fraud case from Georgia. Scale: about $17 million. Sentenced in August 2017 to 8 years.
DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE · SEC PRESS RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from Tennessee. Scale: about $15 million. Sentenced in December 2013 to 5 years 11 months.
Fraud case from Nevada. Scale: about $800 million. Sentenced in May 2019 to 50 years.
Fraud case from New York. Scale: about $100 million. Sentenced in September 2017 to 12 years.
Fraud case from New York. Scale: about $50 million. Sentenced in December 2018 to 4 years 8 months.
Fraud case from North Carolina. Scale: about $44 million. Sentenced in October 2015 to 9 years 2 months.
Fraud case from Florida. Scale: about $30 million. Sentenced in February 2014 to 12 years 6 months.
Fraud case from Maryland. Scale: about $25 million. Sentenced in May 2015 to 13 years.
Fraud case from Florida. Scale: about $25 million. Sentenced in June 2015 to 9 years.
Fraud case from South Dakota. Scale: about $18 million. Sentenced in May 2014 to 9 years.
Fraud case from California. Scale: about $123 million. Sentenced in November 2015 to 10 years.
Fraud case from New Jersey. Scale: about $42 million. Sentenced in May 2017 to 4 years 2 months.
Fraud case from Florida. Scale: about $17 million. Sentenced in February 2016 to 12 years.
Fraud case from New York. Scale: about $17 million. Sentenced in September 2015 to 6 years.
Fraud case from Tennessee. Scale: about $15 million. Sentenced in December 2016 to 9 years.
Fraud case from Indiana. Scale: about $13 million. Sentenced in October 2014 to 7 years 6 months.
SEC LITIGATION RELEASE · DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from Minnesota. Scale: about $10 million. Sentenced in June 2015 to 25 years.
Fraud case from Connecticut. Scale: about $8 million. Sentenced in March 2015 to 5 years 3 months.
Fraud case from California. Scale: about $32 million. Sentenced in January 2021 to 10 years.
DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE · SEC PRESS RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from New York. Scale: about $20 million. Sentenced in October 2016 to 2 years.
DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE · SEC PRESS RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from Tennessee. Scale: about $18 million. Sentenced in September 2017 to 21 years 10 months.
Fraud case from Arizona. Scale: about $18 million. Sentenced in December 2017 to 24 years 4 months.
SEC LITIGATION RELEASE · DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from Texas. Scale: about $15 million. Sentenced in March 2017 to 19 years 7 months.
DOJ CONVICTION RELEASE · DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from Texas. Scale: about $9.3 million. Sentenced in July 2015 to 6 years.
Fraud case from Ohio. Scale: about $5.5 million. Sentenced in June 2016 to 4 years 7 months.
Fraud case from Texas. Scale: about $5.4 million. Sentenced in April 2016 to 3 years.
Fraud case from California. Scale: about $30 million. Sentenced in November 2020 to 3 years 1 month.
Fraud case from New York. Scale: about $23 million. Sentenced in July 2017 to 3 years.
Fraud case from North Carolina. Scale: about $19 million. Sentenced in June 2018 to 7 years 6 months.
DOJ CHARGING RELEASE · DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from California. Scale: about $12 million. Sentenced in May 2017 to 2 years.
Fraud case from Massachusetts. Scale: about $10 million. Sentenced in May 2017 to 5 years 10 months.
SEC LITIGATION RELEASE · DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from Michigan. Scale: about $7.5 million. Sentenced in February 2017 to 5 years 10 months.
DOJ PRESS RELEASE · DOJ PRESS RELEASE 2 | Search the record →
Fraud case from New Jersey. Scale: about $5.3 million. Sentenced in May 2019 to 15 years.
DOJ CHARGING RELEASE · DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE | Search the record →
Sold notes and units backed by purported hard money loans to third-party property owners; regulators found the borrowers were largely affiliated shells. Scale: about $1.3 billion. Shapiro pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Fraud case from New York. Scale: about $81 million. Sentenced in April 2018 to 6 years 6 months.
Fraud case from Massachusetts. Scale: about $30 million. Sentenced in March 2019 to 14 years 7 months.
DOJ ARREST RELEASE · DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from California. Scale: about $20 million. Sentenced in May 2018 to 12 years 7 months.
Fraud case from Maryland. Scale: about $20 million. Sentenced in July 2019 to 20 years.
Fraud case from Massachusetts. Scale: about $15 million. Sentenced in May 2018 to 6 years.
Raleigh investment adviser convicted on 20 counts in a roughly $15 million Ponzi scheme and sentenced to 40 years in prison, a sentence affirmed on appeal. The subject of Neal McTighe's forthcoming book Big Time and of a standalone episode of the show.
DOJ CONVICTION RELEASE · DOJ APPEAL RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from Texas. Scale: about $6.3 million. Sentenced in June 2018 to 12 years.
Fraud case from Illinois. Scale: about $5 million. Sentenced in April 2018 to 12 years 7 months.
Fraud case from Washington. Scale: about $3.6 million. Sentenced in August 2017 to 9 years.
Mobile solar generator company that sold tax-equity investments in generators, many of which did not exist, using circular payments to pay earlier investors. The FBI raided the company in December 2018. Jeff Carpoff pleaded guilty in January 2020 and was sentenced in 2021 to 30 years in prison, in what prosecutors called the largest criminal fraud in the history of the Eastern District of California.
Fraud case from Maryland. Scale: about $364 million. Sentenced in October 2019 to 22 years.
Fraud case from Mississippi. Scale: about $85 million. Sentenced in October 2018 to 19 years 6 months.
Fraud case from California. Scale: about $61 million. Sentenced in November 2020 to 6 years 3 months.
SEC LITIGATION RELEASE · DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from Colorado. Scale: about $55 million. Sentenced in June 2019 to 10 years 1 month.
SEC LITIGATION RELEASE · DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from Florida. Scale: about $28 million. Sentenced in June 2019 to 9 years.
DOJ INDICTMENT RELEASE · DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from California. Scale: about $26 million. Sentenced in November 2019 to 10 years.
Fraud case from New York. Scale: about $13 million. Sentenced in January 2020 to 14 years 2 months.
Fraud case from New York. Scale: about $7.9 million. Sentenced in August 2019 to 13 years.
DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE · SEC PRESS RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from California. Scale: about $300 million. Sentenced in March 2021 to 15 years.
Fraud case from Florida. Scale: about $30 million. Sentenced in December 2020 to 7 years.
Fraud case from California. Scale: about $29 million. Sentenced in September 2019 to 8 years 1 month.
Fraud case from Florida. Scale: about $21 million. Sentenced in January 2020 to 10 years.
SEC LITIGATION RELEASE · DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from New York. Scale: about $19 million. Sentenced in September 2020 to 5 years 3 months.
DOJ CHARGING RELEASE · DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from North Carolina. Scale: about $14 million. Sentenced in July 2020 to 17 years 6 months.
Fraud case from Florida. Scale: about $10 million. Sentenced in February 2021 to 4 years 9 months.
SEC LITIGATION RELEASE · DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from Rhode Island. Scale: about $10 million. Sentenced in February 2020 to 8 years.
Alleged fraud in New York. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2020, alleging a scale of about $200 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in California. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2020, alleging a scale of about $119 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in New York. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2020, alleging a scale of about $100 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Fraud case from Pennsylvania. Scale: about $60 million. Sentenced in July 2020 to 10 years.
Alleged fraud in California. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2020, alleging a scale of about $35 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in California. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2020, alleging a scale of about $26 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in Georgia. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2020, alleging a scale of about $23 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in South Dakota. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2020, alleging a scale of about $20 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Fraud case from Pennsylvania. Scale: about $1.4 million. Sentenced in November 2020 to 6 years 6 months.
SEC LITIGATION RELEASE · DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE | Search the record →
Fraud case from Tennessee. Scale: about $1 million. Sentenced in April 2021 to 10 years.
DOJ PLEA RELEASE · DOJ SENTENCING RELEASE | Search the record →
Alleged fraud in New York. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2021, alleging a scale of about $1.7 billion. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in Illinois. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2021, alleging a scale of about $650 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in Texas. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2021, alleging a scale of about $122 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in Georgia. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2021, alleging a scale of about $110 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in Florida. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2021, alleging a scale of about $70 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in Florida. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2021, alleging a scale of about $66 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in Massachusetts. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2021, alleging a scale of about $30 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Digital advertising lead-generation business sold to investors as generating returns from marketing arbitrage. Scale: about $17 million. Covered on The Ponzi Playbook.
Alleged fraud in New Jersey. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2022, alleging a scale of about $650 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in Nevada. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2022, alleging a scale of about $450 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in Mississippi. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2022, alleging a scale of about $300 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in Florida. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2022, alleging a scale of about $295 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in Florida. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2022, alleging a scale of about $60 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in New York. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2022, alleging a scale of about $59 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in Oregon. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2022, alleging a scale of about $44 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in Arizona. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2023, alleging a scale of about $191 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in Hawaii. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2023, alleging a scale of about $145 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in Texas. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2023, alleging a scale of about $128 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in Florida. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2023, alleging a scale of about $112 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in New York. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2023, alleging a scale of about $100 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in Michigan. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2023, alleging a scale of about $100 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Alleged fraud in California. Charges or a civil complaint were filed in 2023, alleging a scale of about $70 million. These are allegations; the linked records show the current status.
Fraud case from New York. Scale: about $25 million. Sentenced in January 2024 to 4 years.
SEC PRESS RELEASE · IRS-CI PRESS RELEASE | Search the record →
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Entries describe allegations and adjudicated findings drawn from public records. Charges are allegations; defendants are presumed innocent unless convicted. See our legal notice.
