Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-08-11
FORTUNE IDEA
DESCRIBED AT
KTWANIS CLUB
Wizard POnzi Makes First APP
pearance as After Dinner
Speaker.
BOSTON MEN ARE HOSTS

BOSTON, Mass. Aug. 11.-Charles
Ponzi. who claims to have jumped from
comparative poverty to a multimiIlion-
aires state within few months through
dealings in international postal coupons,
told members of the Kiwanis club yes
tsrday Of a few Of the steps in the
process by which he claims to have
amassed his fortune.
Ponzi, making his first appearance as
an after dinner speaker since he became
the most talked-of man in the country
was a luncheon guest of the club.
he was invited several days ago. be-
fore he was compelled to cease payment
in his ''ffty-per-cent-in- IS days" propo-
sftfon because OF the orders issued by the
state bank commissioner to the Hanover
Trust Company to pay no more Of Ponzts
checks.
Ponzi related how he had rented a
small office, used his small capital in
various business schemes, and then, with
an international reply coupon always
m his desk, began to do little think
.ng'
He finally obtained financial assistance.
be said. to develop his idea, and spent
thousands of dollars in foreign CORE
sDondence.
II learned" ne said, that postal cou-
pons we're being sold in foreign cOun>
tries for the equivalent of cents anu
could be converted into postage stamps.
Then all | had to do was to figure how
many ~nickeIs made 100000.
GETS IN TOUCH
WITH BIG AMOUNTS.
.I got in touch with men-thats as
far as I'll go-who were able to obtain
for me large amounts of coupons in dir
ferent countries. They bought them
with our money and used them as col
lateral. to be redeemed later.
when conditions were right I offered
10 borrow money from the public.
cTered 30 per cent in ninety days and
could not promise TO redeem notes IN
forty-fve, although I thought that three
weeks was the right time to bank the
money here, send it abroad, receive the
stamps and convert them into cash.
IT started the Securities Exchange
Company. I was everything from presi-
dent to office boy.
The second day after I opened
gentleman from the Chamber Of Com
merce came to my office TO investigate.
He was convinced that my scheme was
possible. Ninety per cent of the public
ply coupons.
''Then a postoffice inspector came. I
asked him whether or not it was legal
to buy an international reply coupon
abroad and change it to stamps. He
said Yes. I asked him whether or not
it wss legal to redeem millions Of the
coupons and he said NO. He would
have to decide whether they were stolen
or whence they came.
TOOK NO CHANCE
N UNITED STATES.
However. l decided that II I redeemed
the stamps in the United States the
federal government might decide that it
came within its jurisdiction, although
taere was 10 federal nor state law
against it. But the exchange was the
saase il Switzerland and Norway, and a
fe- ether countries, so I decided to re-
dtrm them there"
Someone in the audience asked why
81. postal authorities had been unable
fad any eridence Of such large deal
~s in reply coupons.
'rszi replied that foreign governments
,izaj 4 profit on the issue Of these
sl certificates. and are not going TO
disclose to other governments how many
coauons have been issued
And the international postal union IS
uef going 10 do it, he added.
ASKED whether or not foreign govern
Inents had stopped this. he replied:
Yes they are stopping. They have
sfspped the sale Of coupons for public
use But that does not stop my business.
sly money is IN Europe working
today. even if 1t is not here"
Ir the transactions in coupons, he in
sisted. nobody suffered 4 loss.
II buy today" he said, "a dollars
worth of Italian exchange. At the pres
eat rate 7 obtain eighteen lire. I would
receive five under normal exchange. With
the eighteen lire I buy sixty international
reply coupons. These coupons can be
sold for three dollars in American
money"