The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1920-08-27
RECEIVERS HANDLE
PONzrS BUSINESS
Settlement OF Claims To Be
Made On Actual In
vestment.

Boston, Aug. 2O-The broken for.
tunes of Charles Ponzi and the inter
ests of thousands of investors in his
get-rich-quick scheme were placed in
receivership by Judge Morton of the
Federal District Court today.
The court appointed three receiv-
ers-William II. Sears of Cohasset'
John Forbes Perkins of Milton and
Edward A. Thurston of Fall River.
1t was ordered that they qualify in
bonds of $4,000 each.
The amount of assets to be handled
is uncertain, Ponzi's statement that
they would aggregate S4,O0O,O00 be-
ing the only estimate available.
The receivers will be called upon
to adjust claims which already ag-
gregate more than that sum on the
basis of records of noteholders tab
ulated by the State Attorney Cen
eral, and the total is likely to run
to S7,OOO,0OO, according to the esti-
mate of Edwin l.. Price, the account
ant who has been making an audit
of Ponzi's liabilities for the Federal
authorities. These figures include the
SO per cent profits promised by Pom
ri to his investors and Incorporated
in the notes which he issued for pay
,,,a,t IN ,iDotv dave
With the probability that settle
ment of claims will be on the basis
of actual investments, the figures will
be pared down by approximately one
third. The receivers also will be
called upon to decide whether they
will proceed against those persons to
whom Ponzi paid the so per cent
profit before he stopped doing bust
ness.
He asserted yesterday that he had
paid out S7,5OO,OOO. Some of these
payments were refunds of actual in
vestments only, hundreds Of persons
having fastened to abandon their
promised profits iQ the run of with
drawals which marked several of the
late stages of the operations of Pom
zi's Securities Exchange Company.
Accordingly the amount of money
paid out by Ponzi in interest and
subject to action by the receivers
should it be held that undue prefer
ence was given the persons who re-
ceived it, would be approximately
100000.
OF the receivers named by Judge
Morton, Sears and Thurston are law
yers and Perkins a business man.
The Old Colony Foreign Exchange
Company, a rival of Ponzi in Offer
ing high rates of interest for invest
ments, also was placed in receiver
ship by Judge Morton. John e. Han
nigan of this city, a lawyer, being
named as receiver.
A belief that creditors of the COM
pany would receive 80 per cent Of
their investments was expressed to
the court by Robert Gallagher, coun-
sci for the company. This figure is
considerably higher than the esti-
mate Of Attorney General Allen of
Massachusetts, who said yesterday
that the visible assets amounted to
something like $4,000 and that the
total Of the company's business in
notes was probably $25O,OOO,
Mr.. Gallagher told the court that,
aside from the assets in the posses
sion of Attorney General Allen and
the police, there was a deposit of
$500 in a Boston bank in the name
of the wife of the president of the
company. Trarles Brightwell, a de-
posit in New York bank of $4,000
and the office furniture.
Judge Morton said that the re-
ceiyership would cover all the three
petitions filed in the case, including
one against the company and one each
against President Brightwell and the
secretary, Raymond Meyers