Criminal: A Con Artist's Story

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Phoebe Judge: Sarah Howe was nothing more than a con artist. She went and found jobs that she was no more prepared to do than a man in the world, Phoebe says. Criminal is recorded in the studios of North Carolina public radio, WNC. We're part of the Vox Media Network.

In the late 1870s, a woman named Sarah Howe started a bank just for single women called the Ladies’ Deposit Company. She asked new customers to tell their friends about the bank rather than advertising in newspapers, and she promised she could almost double their money.

Today, the story of the woman running a Ponzi scheme before Charles Ponzi was even born.

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Artwork by Julienne Alexander.

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