Allen Stanford's CD Fraud

Allen Stanford’s CD fraud sold $7 billion in fraudulent certificates of deposit from his Antigua-based bank, promising returns that were 20% higher than the industry average. Operating as a massive Ponzi scheme, it lured investors with the guise of safety, a tactic that outperforms #8 OneCoin in exploiting trust in regulated banks. Stanford’s operation ran from the 1990s until 2009, when the SEC uncovered the fraud, leading to his 110-year prison sentence—a penalty 4.4 times longer than WorldCom’s Bernie Ebbers received. The scheme collapsed when it could no longer sustain its promises, and investors lost 80% of their principal, with only $100 million recovered to date.