348

IOS Investment Program Specimen Certificate, ca.1960s Cornfeld & Vesco Scam Stock.

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Stock & Bond - Certificates Start Price:110.00 USD Estimated At:160.00 - 250.00 USD
IOS Investment Program Specimen Certificate, ca.1960s Cornfeld & Vesco Scam Stock.
PLEASE CONTACT US TO REGISTER FOR LIVE BIDDING OR ABSENTEE BIDDING AT:

PH: 1-201-944-4800
FAX: 1-201-839-3336
Web: www.archivesinternational.com
Email: info@archivesinternational.com

Snail Mail: Archives International Auctions
1060 Main Street, Suite 202, River Edge, NJ 07661

The auction will take place on April 7th and 8th, 2020. It will be a live Internet - Phone Bidding - Absentee Bidding auction
Switzerland, ND (ca. 1960s) Specimen Program Certificate, Black text with gray border and undertint, Eagle about to take flight in oval to left. Red specimen overprints, "00000" serial number, POC's and extended margins with perforations, VF condition, ABNC. Investors Overseas Services, Ltd. (IOS) was founded in 1955 by financier Bernard Cornfeld. The company was incorporated outside the United States with funds in Canada and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. In the 1960s, the company employed 25,000 people who sold 18 different mutual funds door-to-door all over Europe, operating mostly in Germany with small investors. The company mainly targeted American expatriates and U.S. servicemen who sought to avoid paying income tax. The mutual fund offerings by the company were called ÒpeopleÕs capitalismÓ by founder Cornfeld. In the following decade, the company raised $2.5 billion, due in part to its ÒFund of Funds,Ó which meant investment in shares of other IOS offerings. The offering was very popular in the bull market times, but then the market dropped and the guaranteed dividends had to be paid straight out of the capitalÑin effect, making it a pyramid scheme. IOS was forced into an Initial Public Offering to meet its costs. The next bear market made many investors cash their funds as stock value decreased. Share value decreased from $18 to $12 in the spring of 1970. Cornfeld formed an investment pool with some other investors, but they lost when the share value dropped to $2. Even IOS employees and portfolio managers sold their shares by this time. Financier Robert Vesco who, at the time, was also in financial trouble, turned to Cornfeld and offered his help. Vesco proceeded to use $500 million worth of IOS money to cover his own investments in his International Controls Corporation. When he was discovered, Vesco fled to Costa Rica. IOS then collapsed and in the process ruined a number of US and European banks.