A man named Wayne D. Puff ran a big Ponzi scheme that was fueled by subprime mortgage free-flowing money and was recently sentenced to 18 years in prison, while ordered to pay out around $100 million to his victims. His was one of the largest real estate frauds in the history of New Jersey.
From 1998 to 2005, 1,200 investors nationwide gave hundreds of millions to his company and he was able to draw in investors through advertisements of guaranteed 15-20% in returns from his real estate business of buying, reselling and renovating.