(As a disclaimer, this database is meant for educational purposes only, and was compiled through articles published on Ponzitracker as well as through reporting available on the internet through various sources, including Kathy Phelps' monthly Ponzi roundups at ThePonziSchemeBlog.com. A special thanks to Alison Jimenez with Dynamic Securities Analytics for her assistance in visualizing the data. Individuals accused of Ponzi schemes are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The database generally only included Ponzi schemes of $1 million or more. Please feel free to direct any comments or inquiries toinquiries@ponzitracker.com.)
2015 Ponzi Scheme List
In a sharp reversal of previous years, statistics compiled by Ponzitracker for 2015 show that both the number of uncovered Ponzi schemes as well as sentences handed down to participants declined significantly in 2015. In 2015, at least 61 Ponzi schemes were uncovered, with a total of more than $800 million in potential losses. This figure was down approximately 10% from the number of schemes discovered in 2013 and 2014. Further, the amount of potential scheme losses in 2015 was less than half of the estimated losses in 2014 and just more than 25% of the estimated losses in 2013. This decrease in uncovered schemes meant that a Ponzi scheme was uncovered roughly every six days in 2015. The average scheme losses also declined, with only one scheme having estimated losses of $100,000,000 or more.
Sentences handed out to those convicted for their role in Ponzi schemes in 2015 also sharply decreased. In 2015, 79 individuals were sentenced to nearly 700 years in cumulative sentences. Both the number of indivduals sentenced and the cumulative sentences handed down were approximately half of the corresponding 2014 number and also well below the data from 2013. These sentences ranged from mere months to decades in prison, with Joyce Allen's 30-year sentence for a $20 million Ponzi scheme ranking as the highest Ponzi sentence handed down in 2015.
A full database of uncovered Ponzi schemes and prison sentences for 2015 is below:
