Abstract

The thesis represents an exploration of the motivations and subjective experiences of those involved in the perpetration of illicit investment, or Ponzi, schemes. Using in-depth biographical narrative interviews, the research explored the experiences of fourteen males who have been prosecuted for their involvement in Ponzi fraud. Drawing on the perspective of critical criminology, the work seeks to explore the relationship between the perpetration of fraud and the wider context in which it occurs. The project uses an ultra-realist framework to identify the intersections between crime, harm, culture and economics within late-capitalism and it is argued that the material and ideological features of our time are deeply implicated in shaping the behaviours, motivations and moral understandings of those involved in acts of economic predation.