Posted on 01/04/2022 5:53:18 AM PST by Red Badger
I always marvel at this. These con men ( screw the pronoun he she it stuff) are smart but miss the exit ladder. I remember hearing about a guy named Stanford. Conned a small Caribbean country and thousands of Americans. He had fancy offices around the country, flew around in private jets and made this little Caribbean nation a world cricket center.. When the whole thing unraveled he was found hiding in a girl friend’s apartment. It was pretty clear Elizabeth Holmes technology wasn’t viable, but she strutted around like the reincarnation of Pasteur.
Bernie Madoff also comes to mind. All Ponzi schemes are destined to fail as his was. There should be a point in which the fraudster can tell the jig is up and he activates a pre-planned escape plan. Do they believe their own hoaxes?
10% for the Big Guy.
The word is GREED.
They get away with it long enough that the money is looking just too good and they start believing they can extend the con indefinitely.
Amateurs like Madoff and Holmes also get addicted to the fame and notoriety that goes with their con. They enjoy the interviews, the magazine covers, the hobnobbing with the movers and shakers of the world.
Professional grifters (other than politicians) know they have a set amount of time and work accordingly. For some they have a set dollar amount, for others it’s a period of time. The one thing they keep in mind is the exit point. Then off to somewhere else for another con.
They have dozens of cons and variations they pull over their lifetime.
The professional con also works in the shadows. They don’t want their pictures out in the world. They don’t want televised interviews. They want to remain anonymous. That way the next con has a good chance of success.
“There should be a point in which the fraudster can tell the jig is up and he activates a pre-planned escape plan. Do they believe their own hoaxes?”
Except when they get too big and you can’t even bolt the country without looking over your shoulder the rest of your life.
And if one tries to leave earlier, they’re (understandably) scared to death that they’ll still get nailed, so the default is to keep it going, and simply hope...
I was just reading about this:
(How DID she fool them all? Feted by billionaires and world leaders, Elizabeth Holmes was the darling of Silicon Valley. Now she’s going to jail - and they are paying the price after her audacious £700m fraud, writes TOM LEONARD)
I have never heard of this before. What an absolutely crazy story!! I checked out a portion of a video with her in it, talking in a weird voice. (I can do a better baritone than she can! Just saying! Mr K - not the one on this forum - can’t even hit low notes as well.)
Lots of people got suckered into this. Wow. Just wow. Not surprising that The Big Guy was in on it. Did he lose a bundle? I hope so!
She was considered the female Steve Jobs.
Her ‘accomplishments’ were praised all over the planet by woke fools.
Nobody bothered to question her on the details, they just accepted, lemming-like, the ‘fact’ that she was female and had done all these great things.
They literally threw investment money at her and her corporation, thinking it would be the next ‘APPLE’ stock.
They were suckered in by their own greed, she just helped.
“You can’t cheat an honest man.” - -———————————————————
Seems to me he should have some legal liability in all this, especially given his professional standing.
Holmes to face maximum of 80 years in prison when she’s sentenced in September (via Ars Technica)
September?.......... If that were you or me we’d already be in the Big House!................
I would have been beaten to death in the big house years ago and have an unmarked grave somewhere out in northern New Mexico.
I just wonder how many of the investors KNEW it was a hoax.
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