This final first round contest in the Plan of Reorganization Regional boasts charming conman Charles Ponzi against golddigging guess girl Anna Nicole Smith, and you may be surprised by all of it.

A colorful and charismatic conman, Charles Ponzi promised 1920’s investors a 50% profit within 45 days, or 100% profit within 90 days by buying discounted coupons in other countries and redeeming them at face value in the United States. In reality, Ponzi was paying early investors using the investments of later investors creating what is now known as a “Ponzi scheme”. His scam ran for over a year before it collapsed, costing his “investors” $20 million. Ponzi served over 3 years in federal prison and seven years in Massachusetts before being deported. He died penniless in Brazil in 1949.

26 year old Anna Nicole Smith became notorious for marrying 89 year old billionaire Howard Marshall. In 1996, after the marriage and his death, Smith was forced to filed bankruptcy after losing an $850,000 judgment for sexually harassing her former nanny. Smith and her stepson, Pierce Marshall, litigated virtually identical issues in Texas probate court and California bankruptcy court. The litigation outlived both Smith and Marshall and ended when the Supreme Court ruled that the bankruptcy court did not have jurisdiction to hear Smith’s counterclaim that Pierce had talked his father into cutting her out of the will.

No surprise that Anna Nicole Smith, playboy model and tabloid queen won nearly all the points in the fame period, as Charles Ponzi today is really known only for the fraudulent scheme that bears his name.

On the debt side we have a different story. The twenty million dollars Ponzi defrauded from his investors was immense by 1920s standards, adjusted for inflation he overwhelmed Anna Nicole Smith, even though her creditors lost over $16 million.

With this close match going into the third panel, it was fitting that the panel would once again choose the winner. Alex Kurtz gave Ponzi points for being one of the fathers of corruption, while Lisa Wong gave Anna Nicole Smith kudos for making such an unexpected contribution to the law of bankruptcy jurisdiction.
In the end Ponzi charmed the panel just as he had his investors and he slid by Anna Nicole Smith in what turned out to be the closest match of the first period and will advance to the second round.