International Reply Coupon
Books
- Fifty Percent in Ninety Days Charles Ponzi, the Boston Post, and the Scheme That Named a Fraud · Liszt Think
In 1920, an Italian immigrant clerk in Boston promised to double investments in ninety days through postal reply coupons.
- Rose of the North End…red messages. The letter from Spain arrived at this office. A company there, responding to one of his advertising catalogs, had included an international reply coupon—a financial instrument Ponzi had encountered before but never systematically considered. The coupon allowed the holder to purchase postage…
- The Controlling Stake…it accumulation, the conservative ratios that regulators expected. In June 1919, when Charles Ponzi appeared seeking a $2, 000 loan for his international reply coupon scheme, they had turned him down. The officers had listened to his explanation of arbitrage between foreign and domestic postage rates, exa…
- The Auditor’s Ledger…ny coupon arbitrage would have to navigate regardless of Ponzi’s willingness to document it. The Universal Postal Union had established the International Reply Coupon in 1906 as a mechanism for prepaying return postage across national boundaries. A coupon purchased in one member country could be exchanged…