History's Greatest Conman!

Patrick Boyle On Finance

Patrick Boyle

Investing, Business

4.9 • 320 Ratings

🗓️ 6 July 2024

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Send us a textGregor MacGregor was a Scottish soldier, adventurer, and con man who invented a Central American country called “Poyais,” in 1820 which he claimed to rule as the “Cazique.” MacGregor attempted to draw British and French investors and settlers to his fictional country. Hundreds invested in Poyaisian government bonds and land certificates, while about 250 emigrated to MacGregor’s invented country. MacGregor’s Poyais scheme has been called one of the most brazen confidence tricks i...

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Expedia and Visit Scotland.
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0:50.5	Hello and welcome. You are listening to Patrick Boyle on Finance, a podcast exploring ideas from quantitative finance, examining events occurring in markets right now and financial history to see what lessons can be taken away, including interviews with some of the most interesting people in the world of finance. To learn more about the podcast, visit
1:11.5	onfinance.org.
1:17.3	In 1821, Gregor McGregor, a 19th century Scott Soldier and Adventurer, pulled off possibly the most
1:25.4	audacious fraud in history when he made up a fictional country
1:29.8	and then made a fortune selling bonds on its behalf. McGregor deceived the public, banks,
1:36.6	investors and the governments of France and Venezuela. While not as famous today as Ponzi,
1:43.4	made of, or Bankman Freed, it's possibly fair to describe
1:47.5	him as the greatest con man the world has ever seen.
1:51.2	McGregor's bond market frauds raised £1.3 million, which is equivalent to around $5 billion
	...

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