Everybody Lost
As Massachusetts Bank Commissioner, Joseph Allen, had feared, the collapse of Ponzi’s scheme had a devastating impact on the Boston banking system. The Hanover Trust, along with five other banks, collapsed entirely. The remaining investors of the Securities Exchange Company lost almost everything, with only 30 cents on each dollar invested being paid out.
The total losses to all investors were calculated at approximately $20 million – the 2021 equivalent amount would be over $250 million. The bubble which Charles Ponzi created had well and truly burst. It wouldn’t be the biggest financial loss the world ever saw, but that wouldn’t have been much comfort to the people of Boston in 1920.
