Ferdinand Ward (1851-1925), known in his youth as the "Young Napoleon of Finance," recruited former presidents and their sons, but in reality, he was running a simple Ponzi scheme promising high interest returns. The scheme collapsed in May 1884, directly triggering the 1884 Panic in the US financial markets. Former President Grant lost everything and died 14 months later. This book, written by Ward's great-grandson, Geoffrey Ward (1940- ), is subtitled "The Greatest Conman of the Gilded Age." In the end, a Ponzi scheme must swindle more money to survive, and to do so, it must promise higher returns, further straining its finances. Therefore, its collapse is a mathematical inevitability.