【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 an Madoff, it is the belief in the trickster’s shamanic stock-picking skills. For others, like Charles Ponzi, it is a fail-safe mathematical scheme. MacGregor was far more ambitious: he invented an entire country. He was, he claimed, the “Cazique” or Prince of this land—Poyais—located near the Black River, in modern-day Honduras (see map).
然而，所谓诈骗，就是骗子制造某种假象，并使人们相信这种根本不存在的东西。对于一些人来说，骗子制造的假象就像麦道夫那样，是一种近似于巫术的选股技巧；对于另一些人来说，所谓假象就是查里斯·庞兹的庞氏骗局那样，是一种可以自动防骗局败露的数学体系。麦格雷格尔的骗局比上面那些人要规模宏大的多：他虚构了一整个国家。据他自称，他是一个国家的“酋长”（或者可以说是一国之君），他的国家叫Poyais，位于布拉克里沃河附近，该地位于今天的洪都拉斯境内。（见下图）MacGregor claimed that Poyais covered 8m acres (an area larger than Wales). It was rich in natural resources but in need of development. That would require both cash and manpower. Through an elaborate publicity campaign, he succeeded in persuading people not only to invest their savings in the bonds of a non-existent government, but also to emigrate to a fictional country. How on earth did he manage it?
麦格雷格尔声称，Poyais占地800万英亩（面积大于威尔士），自然资源丰富，但有待于开发，需要大量资金与人力。通过一个复杂的宣传活动，他成功使人们相信他。人们不仅拿出了积蓄，去购买一个根本不存在的政府的国债，还移民到了这个虚构的国家。麦格雷格尔究竟是怎么做到的？
The blind capital of the country英国投资者的盲目The financial climate of the early 1820s was ideal for a con man. Napoleon had been defeated and the British economy was expanding steadily, driven on by manufacturing. The cost of living was falling, with industrial workers’ wages rising. Interest rates drifted down, with the government borrowing more and more cheaply. The country was in upbeat mood.
19世纪20年代初，当时的金融环境对于骗子来说很理想。拿破仑惨遭失败，而英国经济在制造业的驱使下稳步扩张。生活开销降低，同时产业工人的工资提高。银行利率下降，政府借贷水平不高。整个英国都充满着积极乐观的心态。
The downside to all this was that investing in government debt, a staple place to park spare funds, had become boring. The market rate on the most popular British government bond (the “consol”) fell steadily between 1800 and 1825. The government made the most of this, swap