AIJが客から預かった資金の大半を投資に失敗して失った事に端を発し、金融庁は厳しい規制を導入する事としました。 AIJは架空の運用実績を示し契約を広めていったとされています
４月３０日のThe Japan Tiemsの記事より：
Such criticism has been growing since it was found ealier this year that AIJ Investment Advisors Co. lost an obscene amount of client money on bad investments while running something akin to a Ponzi scheme. The Tokyo-based investment advisory firm, which is suspected of faking its performance numbers to win investment contracts from corporate pension funds and other clients, has lost more than ¥109 billion of the ¥145.8 billion in pension money it had under managemnet.
ここでPonzi schemeとは：
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from profit earned by the individual or organization running the operation. The Ponzi scheme usually entices new investors by offering higher returns than other investments, in the form of short-term returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent. Perpetuation of the high returns requires an ever-increasing flow of money from new investors to keep the scheme going.
Ponzi schemes are named after Carlo Ponzi who ran a huge Ponzi scheme in the US in the 1920s.
日本語訳としては「ネズミ講」と訳されている事が多いようですが、Ponzi schmeは出資者がピラミッド構造になる事を前提にしていない。 ネズミ講は子から集めた金が自分の所に来るというスキームを出資者に明示しているのに対して、Ponzi Scheme は後から来た人のお金でつないでいることを隠してあたかも「本業」の資金運用がうまく行っているように見せて出資者を募っている。 AIJのcaseは「ネズミ講」ではなくまさにPonzi schmeですね
