The Ponzi Scheme
Nikolaĭ Genov · 2025
Ponzi-style criminal organizations have been on the rise since COVID-19, particularly in the United States. How to react to the phenomenon intellectually? The easiest way is to focus on the need for strengthening the institutional responsibility to deal with the issue. Another option is to focus on building and applying conceptual frameworks to better understand the genesis and effects of financial pyramids. Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme is an intriguing case for the realization of the second option. In this chapter, the case is analyzed in a twofold way. First , the task is to decompose concepts referring to the basic characteristics of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Second , evidence is sought to identify the scheme within the parameters of consumerism. This identification shows that Madoff’s Ponzi scheme is actually a case of consumerism. Thus, it is part and parcel of the global trend of instrumental activism. The fetishization of money making and the distance of Ponzi schemes from productive investments receive their place among the key parameters of present-day global society. The outcome of the conceptual analysis and argumentation is tested on interviews with Bernard Madoff about the evolution of his Ponzi scheme.