ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the government interventions in the form of Acts, laws, and regulations that apply to Ponzi schemes. Many of the laws and regulations in effect today came about as a result of the Great Depression. A Ponzi scheme is not a specific law that is broken but a name adopted to identify a specific fraudulent act: the act of “taking from Peter to pay Paul.” The state regulations can be accessed through individual state websites. The information within agency documents indicates when the entity became a Ponzi scheme, as well as when federal agents or regulatory authorities ended the scheme. The civil process allows a plaintiff to bring an action against a defendant for monetary damages, when the defendant has failed to carry out a legal obligation. In Ponzi cases the primary agent of a company has a legal obligation to be honest with investors concerning the investment risks.
