Robert Shapiro was the owner and CEO of Woodbridge, a supposed investment firm. Woodbridge’s main business model was to solicit money from individuals to invest in “low-risk” and “conservative” investments. According to Woodbridge, these investments were tied to real estate owned by third parties, and these third parties would be making interest payments to Woodbridge and the investors. In reality, Shapiro owned all of the investment properties and was perpetrating a Ponzi scheme, using new investors’ money to pay off old investors.

Shapiro created and controlled a network of more than 270 LLCs to buy and sell the properties to trick investors and cover his tracks. In total, Shapiro and his associates gathered over $1.29 billion in investments from more than 9,000 individuals. However, Shapiro was unable to keep up with his own massive scam, and his misdeeds were discovered when Woodbridge filed for bankruptcy. What crime do you think Shapiro would have been convicted of? Why?