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Ferdinand De Wilton Ward, Jr. (1851–1925), known first as the "Young Napoleon of Finance," and subsequently as "the Best-Hated Man in the United States," was an American swindler. The collapse of his Ponzi scheme caused the financial ruin of many people, including famous persons such as Thomas Nast and the former U.S. President Ulysses S ...
May 14, 2020 · Ward, who had briefly been known as the “Napoleon of finance”, quickly became the “best-hated man in the United States” and spent nearly seven years in jail.
Aug 30, 2013 · Ferdinand Ward ran what came to be called, 40 years later, a ‘ Ponzi scheme ’, a swindle as old certainly as financial instruments and probably as greed. He promised investors improbable returns from unlikely investments, in Ward’s case government procurement contracts. He spent enough money himself and made his partners, including the ...
Now out of the obscurity that for a quarter of a century has surrounded him, comes Ferdinand Ward, the second central figure of the Grant & Ward crash, the one who was selected by the public as the object of reprisal, to tell the story for the first time of the intimacies that existed between himself and General Grant.
Following the failure of Grant & Ward, Puck Magazine depicted Ferdinand Ward as a disgraced Napoleon Bonaparte. He sits on an island as business leaders in New York City disclaim any prior knowledge of working with Ward.
Apr 23, 2013 · The compelling behind-the-scenes story of the greatest swindler of the Gilded Age, whose villainy bankrupted Ulysses S. Grant and stunned the world of finance—told by his great-grandson, award-winning historian Geoffrey C. Ward.
May 8, 2020 · Thanks to a pyramid scheme operated by his unscrupulous partner, Ferdinand Ward, Grant’s investment firm had instantly collapsed, wiping out his life savings.
May 20, 2012 · Ferdinand Ward plied his fraudulent schemes in the late 1800s. His most famous victim was Ulysses S. Grant, former U.S. president and commander of the Union Army in the Civil War.
Jun 29, 2012 · His name was Ferdinand Ward. In 1880, when just 28, he had persuaded the former president to become a partner in Grant & Ward, a Wall Street brokerage house. Ward reported astonishing...
Around 1880, Ferdinand Ward and Ulysses “Buck” Grant Jr., son of former president Ulysses S. Grant, joined to form Grant and Ward, a brokerage firm. Ward made a series of bad investments but altered the books to make it appear that the firm was still making money.
