> Steven Jude Hoffenberg (January 12, 1945 – August 2022) was an American businessman and fraudster. He was the founder, CEO, president, and chairman of [[Towers Financial Corporation]], a debt collection agency, which was later discovered to be a Ponzi scheme. In 1993, he rescued the [[New York Post]] from bankruptcy, and briefly owned the paper. Towers Financial collapsed in 1993, and in 1995 Hoffenberg pleaded guilty to bilking investors out of $475 million. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison (serving 18 years), plus a $1 million fine and $463 million in restitution. The U.S. [SEC](Securities%20and%20Exchange%20Commission.md) considered his financial crimes to be "one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history". > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven%20Hoffenberg) >