Question: What was Charles Ponzi?

Context paragraphs:
Frankensteins of Fraud: Frankensteins of Fraud is a book written by Joseph T. Wells, founder of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.  Subtitled "The 20th Century's Top Ten White-Collar Criminals", the book profiles ten famous criminal frauds.  From Charles Ponzi, the father of the Ponzi scheme, to Crazy Eddie, this books talks about the crimes committed by these fraudsters and the consequences of those crimes.

Reed Slatkin: Reed Eliot Slatkin (born January 22, 1949 in Detroit, Michigan) was an initial investor and co-founder of EarthLink and the perpetrator of one of the largest Ponzi schemes in the United States since that conducted by Charles Ponzi himself.

Charles Ponzi: Charles Ponzi, (born Carlo Pietro Giovanni Guglielmo Tebaldo Ponzi) (March 3, 1882 – January 18, 1949), was an Italian swindler and con artist in the U.S. and Canada.  His aliases include "Charles Ponci", "Carlo", and "Charles P. Bianchi".  Born and raised in Italy, he became known in the early 1920s as a swindler in North America for his money-making scheme.  He promised clients a 50% profit within 45 days, or 100% profit within 90 days, by buying discounted postal reply coupons in other countries and redeeming them at face value in the United States as a form of arbitrage.  In reality, Ponzi was paying earlier investors using the investments of later investors.  While this swindle predated Ponzi by several years, it became so identified with him that it now bears his name.  His scheme ran for over a year before it collapsed, costing his "investors" $20 million.

Leo Koretz: Leo Koretz (1879-1925) was an American lawyer and stockbroker who ran an elaborate Ponzi scheme in Chicago, called the "Bayano oil fraud," which garnered an estimated $30 million (about $400 million today) from hundreds of investors in Chicago.  The scheme used fraudulent claims of oil interests in Panama in a criminal career that predated his contemporary, Charles Ponzi.  Koretz was so trusted and admired that after Ponzi's fraud was exposed in 1920, his investors nicknamed him "Our Ponzi," never suspecting they were being duped as well.

Charles Wells (gambler): Charles De Ville Wells (1841–1922) is one of the men who broke the bank at Monte Carlo, in a series of successful gambles in 1891, made famous by the song "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo".  Subsequently, he was often referred to, especially in the press, as "Monte Carlo Wells".  He was also a fraudster who used several aliases and who served four prison sentences (two in Britain and two in France).  He was possibly the first criminal to set up a Ponzi scheme, pre-dating the swindles of Charles Ponzi himself by ten years.

Supporting paragraphs: Leo Koretz Charles Ponzi
Answer: an Italian swindler and con artist