Geographies of Financial Fraud in South Florida

Keywords: fraud, ponzi scheme, finance, South Florida
Session Type: Virtual Poster Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 45

Abstract

This poster presents a map (and associated contextual charts) depicting locations associated with successful Ponzi scheme and affinity fraud prosecutions in South Florida from the last 20 years. By utilizing court documents, it highlights key sites of execution and spending in these schemes that totaled billions of dollars, showing uneven densities of activity across South Florida municipalities, connected to concentrations of race, class and nationality.

The significance of this map (which is part of a larger project on geographies of fraud) goes beyond those with an interest in South Florida, and touches on wider issues in economic and political geography. Indeed, one of the central tenets of U.S. neoliberal policy is that individuals are responsible for their own financial situations. This creates a nearly impossible burden of learning and discernment as US residents try to navigate rivers of endless, highly impactful financial choices about education, debt, retirement, and healthcare, where it is hard to tell the good from bad choices. This is especially true as there are so many entities that push against the boundaries of legality while remaining highly exploitative. In this context, where people are considered responsible for their own fortunes, South Florida stands out, having been referred to by both FBI and SEC officials as the “fraud capital of the United States”. But the fact that South Florida has a disproportionate number of these prosecutions (and that such schemes are distributed unevenly across the region), shows that even fake/criminal economies have economic geographies.