Ponzi's Scheme_ The True Story of a Financial Legend - Mitchell Zuckoff [151]
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Rose worried: Charles Merrill, “His Pretty Girl Wife Sorry When Ponzi Quit $50 Job,” Boston Globe, August 8, 1920, p. 8.
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Roberto de Masellis: “Reporters Convinced of De Masellis’ Honesty,” Boston Evening Globe, August 26, 1920, p. 8; “Ponzi Asks Aid . . . Witness Says Foreign Exchange Plan Feasible,” Boston Transcript, October 27, 1922.
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“Mr. Ponzi bears a favorable”: A copy of the credit report, which describes the June 30, 1920, visit and was dated July 26, 1920, was found among the oldest stories on Ponzi in the Boston Globe clippings library.
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obtain coupons from Poland: Ponzi, pp. 111–13.
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“I was left high and dry”: Ibid., p. 113.
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clerks had filled wastebaskets with greenbacks: Ponzi, p. 99.
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In June alone: Monthly investment totals come from the federal audit that led to the closure of the Securities Exchange Company and were evidence at Ponzi’s 1922 trial. “How the Bubble Grew,” Boston Evening Transcript, November 6, 1922, p. 24.
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prohibiting post offices from redeeming: “Seeking Source of Big Profits,” Boston Post, July 28, 1920, p. 20.
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a ten-thousand-dollar loan: Cunningham v. Commissioner of Banks, 144 N.E. 447.
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He paid all Gnecco Brothers’ creditors: The Bradstreet Company credit report dated July 26, 1920.
Chapter Eleven: “Like stealing candy from a baby”
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Joseph Daniels had watched streams of people: The account of Daniels’s suit against Ponzi and Ponzi’s response comes from In re Ponzi, 268 F. 997 (District Court, Massachusetts, November 12, 1920); “Ponzi Partnership and Receiver Hearings On,” Boston Traveler, October 1, 1920; “Ponzi Criminal Trial to Start Soon, Belief,” Boston Traveler, October 2, 1920, p. 1; “Ponzi to Tell More on ‘Partnership Deal,’ ” Boston Traveler, October 5, 1920, p. 1; “Insist Daniels Tell Disposition of $55,000,” Boston Traveler, October 9, 1920, p. 1; “Bar Witnesses as Spectators During Trial of Ponzi Case,” Boston Traveler, October 26, 1922, p. 1; “Ponzi Sent No Representative to Europe,” Boston Globe, September 29, 1920; “Ponzi Tells How He Borrowed Millions,” Boston Globe, September 30, 1920; “Figures of Auditor Rittenhouse,” Boston Globe, October 5, 1920.
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Frank Leveroni: Obituary of Judge Frank Leveroni found in the library files of the Boston Globe; clip is undated but is hand-stamped August 2, 1948. Information on Leveroni and his family also was obtained from the 1920 U.S. Census.
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Leveroni had invested five thousand dollars: “Creditors of the Ponzi Enterprise,” Boston Post, August 27, 1920, p. 8.
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his Lucy Martelli account at Hanover Trust: Cunningham v. Commissioner of Banks, 144 N.E. 447; “Questions Ex-Secretary,” Boston Globe, October 25, 1922.
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Ponzi emptied his account: Annual Report of the Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks, 1921, p. 20.
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Grozier stopped at the desk: Interview with Mary Grozier, March 7, 2003. Also “Bursting Golden Bubble Wins Gold Medal,” Editor & Publisher, June 4, 1921, p. 1; Kenny, p. 194; “Pulitzer Prize Is Awarded to Post,” Boston Post, May 30, 1921, p. 1.
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A Boston native: “Post Executive E. J. Dunn Dies,” Boston Herald, May 6, 1961, p. 1.
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Much more creative ideas were percolating: Ponzi’s ideas to transform the Securities Exchange Company into a less speculative and more legitimate operation come largely from Ponzi himself; see Ponzi, pp. 127–34 and 139–43. Elements of his ideas are confirmed elsewhere, notably by the fact that publicity man William McMasters, who would play an instrumental role in helping the Boston Post build its case against Ponzi, was initially hired to promote Ponzi’s deposit contest idea. See “All Demands Met by Ponzi: Investigators Still at Sea,” Boston Daily Globe, August 3, 1920, p. 1.
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Over their initial dinner at the Copley: “Reporters Convinced of De Masellis’ Honesty,