How to Use Ponzi scheme in a Sentence

Ponzi scheme

noun
  • Our debt is a giant Ponzi scheme.
    — Les Rubin, Boston Herald, 25 Feb. 2026
  • Celsius turns out to be a Ponzi scheme.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 20 Apr. 2026
  • The entire economy of AI is being propped up by a Ponzi scheme.
    — John Ross, Vanity Fair, 24 Mar. 2026
  • In the posts, de Hek called out Goliath as a Ponzi scheme defrauding its investors.
    — Stephen Hudak, The Orlando Sentinel, 1 Mar. 2026
  • McPhee instead used incoming money to make the 3% payouts to prior investors, a form of fraud called a Ponzi scheme.
    — Logan Smith, CBS News, 28 Dec. 2025
  • Allen compared the crypto industry to a Ponzi scheme that depends on bringing in more people to prolong high asset values.
    — Ronald J. Hansen, AZCentral.com, 9 June 2025
  • He is now accused of soliciting investors to the firm in what investigators call a massive Ponzi scheme.
    — Olivia Rubin, ABC News, 26 Feb. 2026
  • This summer, the 73-year-old businessman was indicted on charges that his investment business was a Ponzi scheme.
    — Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 17 Aug. 2025
  • The Bernie Madoff scandal is considered the biggest Ponzi scheme in history.
    — Kelly Phillips Erb, Forbes.com, 16 Aug. 2025
  • The scheme came to an end when a whistleblowing director tipped off the FBI that the company had become a Ponzi scheme.
    — Alexandria Burris, IndyStar, 13 Aug. 2025
  • Rebollido’s not the first in South Florida to run a Ponzi scheme on MCA lies.
    — David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 30 Nov. 2025
  • He was charged in 2013 with tax fraud for filing an incorrect return tied to a Ponzi scheme operated by another man.
    — Nick Penzenstadler, USA Today, 10 Mar. 2026
  • Myers also engaged in a Ponzi scheme by using new investors' funds to repay earlier investors, prosecutors said.
    — Adam Harrington, CBS News, 8 June 2026
  • McMaster thanked the entire team involved in investigating the alleged Ponzi scheme.
    — Madeline Montgomery, CBS News, 1 Apr. 2026
  • Critics of Social Security have long compared the pay-as-you-go structure to a Ponzi scheme, in which early investors are paid with money from later ones.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 13 Mar. 2026
  • According to the lawsuit, Hallivis was not involved in financing and knew nothing about the Ponzi scheme until Horwitz was arrested.
    — Gene Maddaus, Variety, 4 June 2026
  • The trustee contended that by 2011, Marshall was using new investment money to pay off previous investors, the hallmark of a Ponzi scheme.
    — Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 17 Aug. 2025
  • Total losses by Marshall’s investors fall short of the multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme masterminded by Bernie Madoff.
    — Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 17 Aug. 2025
  • The last of eight defendants sentenced for committing the biggest Ponzi scheme in California history has received a 5½ year state prison term, authorities said.
    — Rick Hurd, Mercury News, 15 Apr. 2026
  • The existence of the private independent school was plunged into uncertainty at the start of this month when bankers in Boston flagged potential fraud and lawsuits accused the school's founder of running it like a Ponzi scheme.
    — Patrick Anderson, The Providence Journal, 27 Mar. 2026
  • His $300 million Ponzi scheme through his Trans Continental companies was uncovered in 2006.
    — Stephanie Nolasco, FOXNews.com, 14 Apr. 2026
  • Delgado, 34, was the president and CEO of Goliath Ventures, the company at the center of the alleged Ponzi scheme.
    — Annie Martin, The Orlando Sentinel, 22 May 2026
  • In addition to that Ponzi scheme, Rebollido bought a 54-foot boat and, possibly, two Florida Keys condominiums.
    — David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 30 Nov. 2025
  • Forty-six victims of what was allegedly Georgia's largest Ponzi scheme will get millions of dollars back, according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
    — Madeline Montgomery, CBS News, 1 Apr. 2026
  • Just as a Ponzi scheme collapses without sufficient cash inflows from new investors, Ponzi finance collapses without sufficient price appreciation for the asset being financed.
    — Hersh Shefrin, Forbes.com, 31 Aug. 2025
  • All of this fueled fresh attacks from Saylor’s critics who say Strategy’s unusual business model, which revolves around selling stock to buy Bitcoin, is unsustainable or even a Ponzi scheme.
    — Jeff John Roberts, Fortune, 3 Dec. 2025
  • But in reality, there was little legitimate demand for the generators, prosecutors said, and instead the company used money from new investors to make payments to earlier investors — a classic Ponzi scheme.
    — Aldo Toledo, San Francisco Chronicle, 9 Mar. 2026
  • Related Stories Horwitz is serving a 20-year sentence over what federal prosecutors described as a $650 million Ponzi scheme.
    — Gene Maddaus, Variety, 4 June 2026
  • Federal agents allege Goliath Ventures was a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors in Central Florida and elsewhere of $328 million.
    — Stephen Hudak, The Orlando Sentinel, 3 Mar. 2026
  • Redding fraudster Matthew Piercey was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in federal prison for a $35 million Ponzi scheme that ran from 2016 to 2020.
    — Sacbee.com, 23 May 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Ponzi scheme.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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