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Leo Koretz got burned by a sham investment, which clued him in to the fast track to illicit wealth: Dupe investors with phony land deals, then sustain the charade by recruiting more investors and robbing Peter to pay Paul. He was Chicago's very own Charles Ponzi.
Leo Koretz projected himself as wealthy almost beyond imagination. He entertained royally, belonged to tony private clubs, had a box at the opera and drove a Rolls-Royce. What people didn't know at the time was that Koretz was a con man who had bilked naive investors to the tune of at least $2 million through a Ponzi scheme. Born to Jewish parents in what is now the Czech Republic, Koretz was brought to Chicago as a small child. He excelled at debate at Lakeview High School, went on to graduate from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1901, and by 1917 he was selling stock in the Bayano River ...