Who was Charles Ponzi?
Charles Ponzi was born Carlo Pietro Giovanni Guglielmo Tebaldo Ponzi in March, 1882. He was born in Lugo, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The infamous Ponzi scheme is named after Charles Ponzi as he ran one of the largest and most lucrative schemes in America. Before he turned into one of America’s most infamous swindler, Charles was just a boy with big dreams and an affinity for the finer things in life.
Charles came from an Italian family that had previously been very wealthy. Over the years the family’s wealth had dwindled significantly leaving the family borderline poor. Charles had worked many small jobs as a young man before finally being accepted into University of Rome La Sapienza. University was meant to be Charles's way out of poverty; he could have made a name for himself and potentially rebuilt his family’s wealth.
However, while at university Charles made friends with a group of wealthy boys. In an attempt to keep up appearances, he spent most of his time with them. He would skip class, go to fancy hotels, restaurants and bars. As a result of this, he had spent all his money and had no degree to show for the four years he had been away at university. And, unlike his rich friends, Charles did not have a wealthy family to fall back on. He was back to square one, being the poor Italian boy with nothing but big dreams and an affinity for the finer things in life.
In 1903, Charles decided to move to America in hopes of living the American dream. Charles was later quoted in The New York Times saying,
I landed in this country with $2.50 in cash and $1 million in hopes, and those hopes never left me.
Charles was extremely ambitious and had big dreams. He hoped that his move to America would be the answer to his family’s prayers of one day being able to be the wealthy family that they were once known to be. His ambition and confidence was undoubtedly crucial in his creation of the infamous Ponzi scheme.
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