The Ponzi scheme is named for Charles Ponzi, who in 1920 promised investors a 50% profit in 45 days by trading international postal reply coupons. He was really paying earlier investors with later investors’ money — the same mechanism every Ponzi has used since.

Bernie Madoff’s clients believed they held about $65 billion — the number printed on their statements. Almost none of it was real: he ran the largest Ponzi scheme in history, and in 2009 was sentenced to 150 years in prison.

Allen Stanford sold billions in certificates of deposit promising safe, above-market returns — all backed by a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. In 2012 he was sentenced to 110 years in prison.

When Enron collapsed into bankruptcy in December 2001, it took its auditor down with it: Arthur Andersen, one of the world’s five largest accounting firms, was convicted of obstruction and effectively ceased to exist — even though the Supreme Court later overturned the conviction.