Education

Inside the Harvard Business School Ponzi Scheme

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When New York State attorney general Tish James announced a legal action in February over a small investment Ponzi scheme, the case didn’t receive much attention. But features writer Jen Wieczner got curious. The accused was Vlad Artamonov, a 2003 Harvard Business School grad and a veteran of one of the most famous hedge funds on Wall Street: Why would he allegedly run a racket like this and do so against his former classmates? In the financial world, an HBS degree is the ultimate blue-chip credential — a route to getting rich in more traditional (and legal) ways. Artamonov seemed to be well on his way down that road. But over the past few years, according to James, he cooked up a false story about secret leads on market-moving information and used it to solicit, often successfully, six-figure investments from many people in the larger HBS world. In theory, there should be no more financially sophisticated investors out there, but many HBS-ers ended up taking the bait. Jen uncovers a wild story of deceit and desperation inside an elite and wealthy community.

—Jebediah Reed, editor, Intelligencer

Inside the Harvard Business School Ponzi Scheme He had a successful Wall Street career. Why would he con his classmates?

Photo: Patrick McMullan
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