3. Stanford International Bank Investment Scheme
Year: Late-80s to 2009
Approx. Amount: $8 Billion*
Company / Person Involved: Robert Allen Stanford
For close to 20 years, the rates of the certificates of deposit (CDs), that the Stanford International Bank was offering, were constantly higher than what would be given from the banks in the United States. As it turned out, this was too good to be true as, by using the promise of improbably high returns on investors’ money, Robert Allen Stanford orchestrated one of the longest-running and most-profitable investment schemes in history.
Stanford International Bank Investment Scheme ©Dave Einsel / Gettyimages.com
As a result of his misappropriating more than $7 billion of investor’s money for his own leisure, Robert Allen Stanford was sentenced to an unprecedented 110 years in 2012. In 2015, Stanford’s appeal to have his conviction overturned, but the appeal fell on deaf ears and was denied by the U.S. court of appeals.