1/ By far, the biggest Ponzi scheme I've discovered until now was the diamonds one. In 2014, two years before other media and 3 years before prosecutors, I wrote stories about physical diamonds sold by 2 brokers through banks to tens of thousands of Italian investors. 
2 / Diamonds were sold at constantly rising prices in a sort of linear progression, which wasn't related to real market prices. The prices were produced by the two brokers themselves, Intermarket Diamond Business (Idb) and Diamond Private Investment (Dpi), then published monthly
3/They published monthly table of their prices in markets pages on my newspaper, Il Sole 24 Ore, Italy's highest-selling financial daily. Then the 2 diamonds brokers cut the price tables from the pages and presented them to the public as "Il Sole 24 Ore records" but they weren't
4 / People were lured into the scheme with the promise of constantly revaluating physical luxury assets, easy to be hidden (a lot of diamonds were sold to tax evaders and probably gangsters). For just connecting their clients to the 2 brokers, banks earned 15-20% fees.
5 / The business throve thanks to a hole in Italy's financial regulations: diamonds weren't overseen neither by Bank authority Bank of Italy nor financial authority Consob. In two decades, the 2 brokers sold diamonds for 2/3 billion € proceeds.
6 / Italy's infamous mob 'ndrangheta tried to get into business buying one of the two brokers, Idb, which had been founded by a woman who previously had worked for the mafia banker Michele Sindona. Strangely, 'ndrangheta wasn't able to complete its attempted deal.
7 / I went on writing 2 dozen stories about the scheme. Then people woke up and tried in mass to sell their diamonds. The scheme blew up. Public prosecutors came in. Idb Ceo committed a strange "suicide" choking himself to death in a hotel room with a plastic bag around his head
8 / Now public prosecutors have just finished their inquiries. Dozen of managers of 4 listed banks, tens of managers of the 2 brokers will go to trial for fraud. Idb is bankrupt. Dpi is illiquid and probably will follow Idb. Tens of thousands of bank clients want their money back
9 / As you may notice, in the Italian diamonds Ponzi scheme there were lots of details in common with many other Ponzi schemes. It was easy to detect. But no one talked, even in the press, because media were making money too through the two brokers Idb and Dpi advertising.
10 / It was very hard for me to convince my at that time newspaper to stop publishing the diamonds brokers tables of "prices" and not to publish their advertising any more. Many colleagues of mine were against me. I guess the two brokers Idb and Dpi paid bribes to many people.
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