Sergei Mavrodi, 62, the Russian founder of the MMM Ponzi scheme that cheated millions of people around the world out of their savings, has died in a Moscow hospital on Monday.
Mavrodi was hospitalized from his apartment in Komsomolsky Avenue in central Moscow where he lived. He was taken to the hospital from a bus stop in Polikarpova Street in north Moscow. Mavrodi complained of weakness and pain in the heart and a passer-by called an ambulance for him. A heart attack is the preliminary cause of his death.
He was taken to the Moscow city hospital No. 67 where he died.
The MMM company, which existed from 1989 to 1994 in Russia, was recognized as one of the biggest financial pyramid schemes.
Mavrodi, who had been fleeing from prosecution, was arrested in Moscow with a forged passport in January 2003. In April 2007, the court found him guilty of cheating millions of Russians of their savings and sentenced him to 4.5 years in jail for fraud.
The scheme was brought to Nigeria a few years ago. Many who fell victim are still licking their financial hounds. It took the intervention of the federal government last year to curtail the loss the scheme would have inflicted on Nigerians.
