Ask most people on here which historical figure would have a great twitter account

And they’ll give you the same boring answers

Mark Twain. Ben Franklin. Blah blah

This is Charles Ponzi

And I think he would have killed it on twitter

Charles Ponzi will be forever remembered in history for the Ponzi scheme

But Ponzi would have been entertaining on twitter

Charles Ponzi was a crook and a con man

But he also was entertaining as heck

Ponzi’s scam started innocently enough

He began exchanging Spanish stamps for American stamps while the Spanish peseta dropped

He made about 10% on every stamp

Soon he began making big and boisterous claims

And attracting interested buyers with claims of guaranteed profit

They just had to buy in bulk

Of course Ponzi had no interest in doing any work

He simply took the money and duped thousands

An audit of his company found he had only purchased $61 in Spanish stamps

But Ponzi’s real genius was his image

He carefully curated an image of wealth

Even when he had none

Ponzi was always seen smoking expensive cigars

He rode in expensive cars and lived a playboy lifestyle

He always made sure his name was in the paper

Eventually the post office ended their conversion of Spanish stamps

Angry mobs formed outside of Ponzi’s home demanding their money

Ponzi brought them all sandwiches

Eventually his true crimes were revealed

And he nearly collapsed the us financial system

But even on his way to prison he had a smile

And was scheming his next move

Charles Ponzi was not a great man

He was a crook and a con artist

But he would have been entertaining on twitter

We can all learn a thing or two from Charles Ponzi

Both good and bad