【金融犯罪】诈骗之王.doc

【金融犯罪】诈骗之王
Financial crime金融犯罪The king of con-men诈骗之王The biggest fraud in history is a warning to professional and amateur investors alike专业或非专业的投资者都要从历史上最大的诈骗案中引以为戒Dec 22nd 2012 | from the print edition of The Economist
译者：ninia
LOCH KATRINE is an unlikely birthplace for a master criminal. The slice of pristine water stretches through the heart of Scotland’s Loch Lomond national park, around 30 miles north of Glasgow. At its head is a small house which takes its name from the loch’s main tributary, Glen Gyle. It is a peaceful setting.
位于苏格兰的卡特琳湖看起来不像是一位犯罪老手的出生地。纯净的湖水一直延伸，可至格拉斯哥以北30英里的苏格兰洛蒙德湖国家公园，直达公园中心。在湖水的源头，有一座叫做Glengyle的小屋，是以卡特琳湖的主要支流命名，是一处幽静的所在。
Glengyle house was built in the early 17th century by the clan MacGregor, a family made famous by Rob Roy, born there in 1671. Rob’s debt-dodging antics have made him very popular in Scotland (his creditors were rich landowners). He features in two Hollywood films, an operetta and a cocktail. Gregor MacGregor, born at Glengyle in 1786, is less well known. He deserves more attention: he pulled off the greatest confidence trick of all time.
Glengyle于17世纪初由麦格雷格尔家族建成。这个麦格雷格尔家族有个著名的族人，绰号是罗布·罗伊，他出生于1671年。罗布·罗伊各种怪异的躲债行为使得他在苏格兰人尽皆知（他的债主是富有的地主）。他的事迹两次被改编成好莱坞电影，一部是歌舞片，另一部类型混杂。麦格雷格尔家族还出了一个名人叫格雷格尔·麦格雷格尔，于1786年在Glengyle出生。他不如他的祖辈有名气，但他应该获得更多的关注，因为他成功制造了一场骗局，影响之大，前所未有。
MacGregor’s biggest swindle raised ￡200,000. Over his lifetime, his bond-market frauds ran to ￡ (as a share of Britain’s economy, around ￡ billion today). It is true that more recent scams have raised more. Bernie Madoff, a New York-based fraudster caught out in 2008 ran a scheme 20 times bigger, at $65 billion. In cash terms alone Mr Madoff trumps MacGregor.
格雷格尔·麦格雷格尔最大的一次诈骗获得了20万英镑。他一生中在债券市场上共骗得130万英镑（以目前英国经济的情况折算，这个数字相当于36亿英镑）。现今骗局的诈骗金额固然比麦格雷格尔的要多很多。伯纳德·麦道夫是一个纽约的骗局制造者，2008年被揭发，当时他已骗得650亿美元，比他最初设局时的金额多了20倍。在金额上，麦道夫远胜麦格雷格尔。
But fraud is about creating false confidence, and making people believe in something that does not exist. For some, lik