In the 1870s, a woman from Boston ran a Ponzi scheme disguised as a bank by women, for women that promised 8% interest.

Famous scammer Anna Delvey lied about having a $67M trust fund

Delvey conned New York City’s elite with her lies, saying that she was a German heiress and defrauding the city’s banks, restaurants, and more out of more than $275K in just 10 months. Her story was even turned into a Netflix series while she was in prison.

The namesake of the Ponzi Scheme, Charles Ponzi made an estimated $15M from running a fake international arbitrage scheme in the 1920s.

Inside the Sarah Lawrence College sex cult scandal

In late 2010, a middle-aged man, freshly released from prison, moved into his daughter's college dorm and created a group that had all the hallmarks of a cult. Over the decade that followed, he extorted millions of dollars from vulnerable young adults through violence, psychological torture, and forced sex work. Authorities credited his arrest to a magazine article published in 2019 detailing victims' allegations.

An 18th-century woman tricked doctors into believing she gave birth to rabbits

Mary Toft was a poor servant in Surrey who reportedly sought fame and money by perpetuating the story of her "monstrous birth." After having a miscarriage a month earlier, Toft claimed to still be pregnant and called obstetrician John Howard to witness her give birth to animal parts, including a cat without a liver, a rabbit’s head, the legs of a cat, and nine dead baby rabbits. Eventually, after fooling the court physicians of King George I, she confessed to orchestrating the births.

Former LuLaRoe vendors have accused the clothing multilevel marketing company of operating a pyramid scheme, resulting in more than 50 lawsuits and a $4.75M settlement.

Esther Howland built a Valentine's Day card empire in 19th-century New England

In 1849, Howland launched her card business, the New England Valentine Company, in her home, staffing an assembly line with her friends, who'd piece together the intricate valentines. The cards were elaborately decorated, with silk, lace, and romantic verse. Howland's annual sales eventually grew to $100K and helped popularize the holiday in the US.

After an estimated $8B in customer funds were lost through a cryptocurrency scheme likened to a Ponzi scheme, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Often dubbed the 'king of bank robbers,' George Leonidas Leslie stole an estimated $7M (equivalent to $200M today) and charged other criminals a $20K fee to evaluate their heist plans

Leslie studied architecture and used blueprints of safes and banks to execute meticulously planned bank heists across the Northeast between 1869 and 1878. Although Leslie was an infamous bank robber by night, he posed as a member of high society by day, providing critical intel on the institutions he'd rob and helping conceal his crimes. Months before his largest planned heist, where he planned to turn on his gang, Leslie's body mysteriously washed up along the Hudson River. His killer remains a mystery.

Inside a FIRE follower's money diary

This podcast episode details a few days inside the bank account of a woman in Australia who set out to retire by age 35.

A couple was once sent to prison for running a $31.8M extreme couponing fraud scheme

Investigators found fake coupons in “every crevice” of husband and wife duo Pacifico Talens Jr. and Lori Ann Talens’ home. The couple was sent to prison and are serving a combined 19 years.

US women got the right to open a credit card in their own name in 1974

Before that year, banks in the US were legally allowed to deny women credit or charge them higher interest if they failed to get a male cosigner.

After the owner fell into a Ponzi scheme, one braiding shop in suburban Maryland began making $130K a day by staying open for 24-hours

Because braiding often takes a long time, the salon prioritizes fast, efficient styles, with two braiders often working together on a client, which increases revenue by increasing turnover. The salon has 120 seats and more than 400 contracted braiders across its 10,000-square-foot space.

The woman who coined the term ‘girlboss’ now has a VC firm called Trust Fund

In 2006, Amoruso founded the clothing company Nasty Gal, then later wrote a memoir called “#Girlboss” about her company’s meteoric rise. Later, she launched other ventures, including her “Business Class” business coaching series and the venture capital fund “Trust Fund.”

The story of a bitcoin loophole that gave one man millions

James Parker discovered a glitch in an Australian cryptocurrency exchange that would allow him to cash in credits worth over $20M and make big gifts to his friends. Like most loopholes, the authorities found out, but not before his life was transformed. The first in a six-part series.

Why America is obsessed with the stories of scammers

A "grifter" is someone who exploits systems at a high level. Notable cases like fake heiress Anna Delvey, Fyre Festival creator Billy McFarland, and startup faker Elizabeth Holmes, who deceived their way to success, captivate our culture. These...

The US Mint was among the first federal agencies to hire women

In 1795, the US Mint hired two women, named Sarah Waldrake and Rachael Summers, as adjusters. At the time, adjusters weighed blank coins and “adjusted” those weighing too much by filing them down.

How Martha Stewart became the first self-made billionaire woman

Through her cooking shows, cookware, and media empire, Martha Stewart ascended to billionaire status in 1999, becoming America's first woman to achieve that number on her own. Despite a conviction in 2004 and time spent in prison, Stewart rebounded and continues to develop product lines and media, with an estimated net worth of $200M. Read more about her story here.

Women were prohibited from the Boston Marathon, so Bobbi Gibb snuck in

Race directors assumed women could not handle the physical demands of the race. In 1966, Bobbi Gibb hid in the bushes near the starting line, then hopped in the race after it began, and became the first woman to finish the Boston Marathon, albeit unofficially.

Ten people on Goldman Sachs’ 31-person senior management committee are women

However, only two of those 10 women were in charge of a revenue-generating business arm. Learn more about what it’s like to be a woman in investment banking—and about Goldman’s recent gender discrimination settlement.

Cassatt participated in a fundraiser for women's suffrage against her family's wishes

The painter took part in a 1915 charity exhibition in support of women's right to vote. That offended some of her family members, especially her sister-in-law, who were opposed to the cause. In response, Cassatt sold works that had originally been designated for them.

Abigail Adams was a shrewd and largely self-taught financial investor

While John was away during the Revolution and his diplomatic career, Adams managed the family's finances and investments skillfully. When John urged her to buy farmland in 1783, she refused—investing instead in government bonds and earning up to 25% annually, compared to his farmland's 1%.

The story of Susy Thunder, the female hacker who disappeared

Here's the story of Susan Thunder, a woman who entered the hacker underground scene in the late 1970s and one day disappeared completely. She had a troubled past, facing abuse and hardship, and found solace in manipulating phone systems and later computer systems. She became involved with prominent hackers and her ability to control systems mirrored her quest for personal control. Her story highlights the role of social engineering in hacking.

Listen to an account of an 'airplane game' leader, a notorious, widespread illegal pyramid scheme that swept across the US in the 1980s.

Advertising powerhouse Mary Wells Lawrence was the first female CEO of a public company listed on the NYSE

The TV show “Mad Men’s” character Peggy Olson is inspired by Wells Lawrence, who founded ad agency Wells Rich Greene in 1966. Wells Lawrence is also known for her famous Alka-Seltzer campaign slogan, “plop plop fizz fizz.”

Many of the 2010s girlboss-era founders experienced a public fall from grace in 2020

In the 2010s, dozens of female founders were celebrated on the covers of business magazines like Inc. for their recent startup success, from Emily Weiss’s Glossier makeup brand to Steph Korey’s Away luggage company. But many of these companies were also the subject of large takedown articles around the year 2020.

A post-game interview with Sophia Amoruso directly after her 2016 Forbes cover

This article from 2016 is a time capsule of sorts. It includes an interview with the person who coined the term “girlboss,” Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso, that took place just after she appeared on the cover of Forbes magazine. We now know that her company would go on to file for bankruptcy the next year.

Turning a profit with terminal illness

After Amanda Riley was diagnosed with cancer, her social media followers rallied to raise funds to ensure their favorite religious influencer could afford one miracle after another. As more than $100,000 of donations poured in, Riley shared glimpses into her health struggles, posting evidence as fake as her diagnosis. Pulling from years of journalistic investigation, this eight-episode podcast series dives into Riley's reality.

The history of New York's first hotel for middle-class women

March 2, 1903, marked the opening of New York's first hotel just for women, generally from the middle class. Prior to the establishment of the "Women's Hotel," it was difficult for solo women to find lodgings in the city. Seeing an opportunity, Charles Day Kellogg raised funds to establish the 400-room hotel, which exclusively served women until 1998. Read more about its history here.

Credit reporting's earliest origins in the 1700s resemble a game of telephone, with rural merchants asking their most esteemed neighbors to vouch for them to sleuthing urban lenders

It would be decades before the system evolved into something more formulaic. For instance, New York City's Mercantile Agency—which was created to formalize information and rumors about borrowers, sorting the reports into enormous ledgers—wasn't started until 1841.

The 2024 Synapse collapse took $90M of people’s life savings with it

In 2024, a banking middleman called Synapse declared bankruptcy. Unfortunately, it also locked roughly 100,000 Americans out of their own money, which prompted a class action lawsuit.

A mysterious man named Emmerich Juettner once produced thousands of counterfeit $1 bills

After his wife died in 1937, Juettner fell into financial trouble and soon began replicating $1 bills. These bills aren’t typically prime targets for counterfeiting given their low value.

Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton founded New York City's first private orphanage

Schuyler Hamilton, Alexander's wife for 24 years, continued telling his story after his death. She devoted decades to her own work—cofounding New York's first private orphanage, leading charitable fundraising, and becoming a prominent advocate for education and social welfare in the early republic.

The South Sea Bubble was an 18th-century scandal that redefined speculation

This video illustrates how the South Sea Company in Britain sparked a stock boom in 1720, with promises of huge trading profits, driving shares to unprecedented heights before a sudden crash wiped out the fortunes of investors—including Isaac Newton, who lost an estimated £20K.

The story of America's first woman presidential candidate

This video guides us through the history of Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president in the US. Despite the odds being against her, Woodhull experienced extraordinary success as a stockbroker, newspaper founder, and presidential candidate. Watch to learn more about her background, her revolutionary ideas, and her impact on 19th-century politics.

'The Chinatown Sting': Unraveling an international drug smuggling ring

In the late 1980s, a group of women connected through the mahjong parlors in Manhattan’s Chinatown were caught in a massive undercover drug bust. But this bust was just the beginning of an even bigger case.

The mastermind behind Veuve Clicquot Champagne was an 1800s French widow

When Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin's husband died in the early 1800s, the Widow Clicquot (the word "veuve" means "widow" in French) took over the family's Champagne business—and turned it into the success it is today. She did so during a particularly unfavorable time for women in business.

Thomas and Anne Rogers were famous counterfeiters in 17th-century England

The pair used a practice called “coin clipping,” shaving the edges off silver coins to decrease their weight before sending them back into circulation. When banknotes rather than coins gained popularity, counterfeiting methods evolved—in the 1700s, an early banknote counterfeiter named Mary Butterworth created counterfeit paper money using starched cloth and a hot iron to transfer the pattern of a banknote onto paper.

Grace Hopper was named the 1959 Time magazine 'Woman of the Year'

The honor was part of the 2019 series "100 Women of the Year," which spotlighted an influential woman for each of the years the publication had previously awarded a "Man of the Year." In its write-up, Hopper was described as having "paved the way for women everywhere to thrive in math, computer science, and service to their countries."

One man lost roughly $100K to a con artist—then turned it into a business

The victim of the con now helps other victims of similar crimes. He's also written a book and hosts a podcast on the subject.