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European Kings Club
The European Kings Club (EKC) was a large-scale Ponzi scheme operated from 1991 to 1994 in Switzerland, Germany and Austria by the German nationals Damara and Harald Bertges and Hans Günther Spachtholz. The EKC promised investors profit rates of 70% after buying "letters" for 1,400 Swiss francs each. In total, victims bought some two billion Deutsche Mark worth of EKC letters. Participation was particularly widespread in central Switzerland, where the scheme's operators successfully exploited popular mistrust in the banking system. In the cantons of Uri and Glarus , neighboring_municipalities= Glarus Nord, Glarus Süd, Muotathal (SZ), Innerthal (SZ) , twintowns= Wiesbaden-Biebrich (Germany) } Glarus (; gsw, Glaris; french: Glaris; it, Glarona; rm, Glaruna) is the capital of the canton of Glarus in S ..., about one in ten citizens bought EKC letters. The scheme collapsed in the autumn of 1994 when authorities in Germany and Switzerland arrested the EKC leadership and manag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ponzi Scheme
A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors. Named after Italian businessman Charles Ponzi, the scheme leads victims to believe that profits are coming from legitimate business activity (e.g., product sales or successful investments), and they remain unaware that other investors are the source of funds. A Ponzi scheme can maintain the illusion of a sustainable business as long as new investors contribute new funds, and as long as most of the investors do not demand full repayment and still believe in the non-existent assets they are purported to own. Some of the first recorded incidents to meet the modern definition of the Ponzi scheme were carried out from 1869 to 1872 by Adele Spitzeder in Germany and by Sarah Howe in the United States in the 1880s through the "Ladies' Deposit". Howe offered a solely female clientele an 8% monthly interest rate and then stole the money that the women ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' (; ''FAZ''; "''Frankfurt General Newspaper''") is a centre-right conservative-liberal and liberal-conservativeHans Magnus Enzensberger: Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen' (in German). ''Deutschland Radio'', 16 October 2007 German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' (; ''FAS''). The paper runs its own correspondent network. Its editorial policy is not determined by a single editor, but cooperatively by four editors. It is the German newspaper with the widest circulation abroad, with its editors claiming the newspaper is delivered to 148 countries. History The first edition of the ''F.A.Z.'' appeared on 1 November 1949; its founding editors were Hans Baumgarten, Erich Dombrowski, Karl Korn, Paul Sethe and Erich Welter. Welter acted as editor until 1980. Some editors had worked for the moderate '' Frankfurter Zeitung'', which had been banned in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swiss Francs
The Swiss franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the federal mint Swissmint issues coins. In its polyglot environment, it is often simply referred as german: Franken, french: franc, it, franco and rm, franc. It is also designated through signes: ''Fr'' Some fonts render the currency sign character "₣" (unicodebr>U+20A3 as ligatured Fr, following the German language convention for the Swiss Franc. However, most fonts render the character as F with a strikethrough on the lower left, which is the unofficial sign of French Franc. (in German language), ''fr.'' (in French, Italian, Romansh languages), as well as in any other language, or internationally as ''CHF'' which stands for ''.'' This acronym also serves as eponymous ISO 4217 code of the currency, CHF being used by banks and financi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deutsche Mark
The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was typically called the "Deutschmark" (). One Deutsche Mark was divided into 100 pfennigs. It was first issued under Allied occupation in 1948 to replace the Reichsmark and served as the Federal Republic of Germany's official currency from its founding the following year. On 31 December 1998, the Council of the European Union fixed the irrevocable exchange rate, effective 1 January 1999, for German mark to euros as DM 1.95583 = €1. In 1999, the Deutsche Mark was replaced by the euro; its coins and banknotes remained in circulation, defined in terms of euros, until the introduction of euro notes and coins on 1 January 2002. The Deutsche Mark ceased to be legal tender immediately upon the introduction of the euro—in contrast to the o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canton Of Uri
The canton of Uri (german: Kanton Uri rm, Chantun Uri; french: Canton d'Uri; it, Canton Uri) is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland and a founding member of the Swiss Confederation. It is located in Central Switzerland. The canton's territory covers the valley of the Reuss between the St. Gotthard Pass and Lake Lucerne. The official language of Uri is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken dialect is the Alemannic Swiss German called . Uri was once the only canton whose children in school had to learn Italian as their first foreign language, but in the school year of 2005/2006, that was changed to English, as in other Central and Northeastern Swiss cantons. The canton's population is about 35,000, of which 3,046 (or 8.7%) are foreigners. The legendary William Tell is said to have hailed from Uri. The historical landmark Rütli lies within the canton of Uri. Name The name of the valley is first mentioned in the 8th or 9th century, in the Latinized f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glarus
, neighboring_municipalities= Glarus Nord, Glarus Süd, Muotathal (SZ), Innerthal (SZ) , twintowns= Wiesbaden-Biebrich (Germany) } Glarus (; gsw, Glaris; french: Glaris; it, Glarona; rm, Glaruna) is the capital of the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Since 1 January 2011, the municipality Glarus incorporates the former municipalities of Ennenda, Netstal and Riedern.Amtliches Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 18 February 2011 Glarus lies on the river Linth between the foot of the Glärnisch (part of the Schwyzer Alps) to the west and the Schilt (Glarus Alps) to the east. Very few buildings built before the fire of 1861 remain. Wood, textile, and plastics, as well as printing, are the dominant indu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neue Zürcher Zeitung
The ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' (''NZZ''; "New Journal of Zürich") is a Swiss, German-language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zürich. The paper was founded in 1780. It was described as having a reputation as a high-quality newspaper, as the Swiss-German newspaper of record, and for objective and detailed reports on international affairs. History and profile One of the oldest newspapers still published, it originally appeared as ''Zürcher Zeitung'', edited by the Swiss painter and poet Salomon Gessner, on 12 January 1780, and was renamed as ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' in 1821. According to Peter K. Buse and Jürgen C. Doerr many prestige German language newspapers followed its example because it set "standards through an objective, in-depth treatment of subject matter, eloquent commentary, an extensive section on entertainment, and one on advertising." Aside from the switch from its blackletter typeface in 1946, the newspaper has changed little since the 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pyramid And Ponzi Schemes
A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or of any polygon shape. As such, a pyramid has at least three outer triangular surfaces (at least four faces including the base). The square pyramid, with a square base and four triangular outer surfaces, is a common version. A pyramid's design, with the majority of the weight closer to the ground and with the pyramidion at the apex, means that less material higher up on the pyramid will be pushing down from above. This distribution of weight allowed early civilizations to create stable monumental structures. Civilizations in many parts of the world have built pyramids. The largest pyramid by volume is the Great Pyramid of Cholula, in the Mexican state of Puebla. For thousands of years, the largest structures on Earth were pyramids ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1991 Establishments In Europe
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, 1991 Russian presidential election, elected as Russia's first President of Russia, president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet Union, Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, erupts in the Philippines, making it the List of large historical volcanic eruptions, second-largest Types of volcanic eruptions, volcanic eruption of the 20th century; MTS Oceanos sinks off the coast of South Africa, but the crew notoriously abandons the vessel before the passengers are rescued; Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The Flag of the Soviet Union, Soviet flag is lowered from the Kremlin for the last time and replaced with the flag of the Russian Federation; The United States and soon-to-be dissolved Soviet Union sign the START I Treaty; A tropical cyclone 1991 Bangladesh cyclone, strikes Bangladesh, killing nearly 140,000 people; Lauda Air Flight ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
