Answer
Ponzi, originally named Carlo Pietro Giovanni Guglielmo Tebaldo Ponzi, rose to notoriety in the early 1900s for masterminding a fraudulent investment scheme known as the Ponzi scheme. This infamous scheme involved paying returns to investors from funds contributed by new investors, rather than from legitimate business profits. Ponzi's deceitful practices led to significant financial losses for numerous individuals and ultimately resulted in his downfall and legal consequences.