Three Trials
Having no money to pay for lawyers, Ponzi chose to represent himself in court. He faced three separate trials for his larceny offenses. In the first trial, which considered his first ten counts of larceny, Ponzi was able to charm the jury effectively enough to have all charges thrown out. Trial two was for five more counts, this time he argued his case well enough to deadlock the jury.
His third trial did not go quite so well. On the final seven charges of larceny, Ponzi was found guilty. He was referred to in court as “a common and notorious thief” and sentenced to seven-to-nine years in prison. While serving this sentence, Ponzi still received requests from people wanting to invest in his scheme.
