Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Adele Spitzeder

Adele Spitzeder

 * This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page.

The result was: scheduled for Today's featured article/February 9, 2020 by Ealdgyth - Talk 20:49, 25 January 2020 (UTC)

 Adele Spitzeder (9 February 1832 – 27 or 28 October 1895) was a German actress, folk singer, and confidence trickster. Initially a promising young actress, Spitzeder became a private banker in Munich when her theatrical success dwindled. Running what was possibly the first recorded Ponzi scheme, she offered large returns on investments by continually using the money of new investors to pay back the previous ones. At the height of her success, contemporary sources considered her the wealthiest woman in Bavaria, although she maintained the persona of a pious Christian woman who helped the poor. Brought to trial in 1872, she was convicted of bad accounting and mishandling customers' money, since Ponzi schemes were not yet illegal, and sentenced to three years in prison. In her later years, Spitzeder performed as a folk singer, living off friends and benefactors, but never completely left her criminal life, resulting in further trials and periods of incarceration.
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 * Main editors: SoWhy
 * Promoted: 3 November 2019
 * Reasons for nomination: 9 February 2020 marks her 188th birthday. It's my first FA ever and thus also first TFA. I will try and fill in all the red links by the scheduled date. Regards So  Why  14:07, 18 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Support as nominator. So  Why  14:07, 18 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Support. Gratz (or maybe: "sorry for your loss"!) on your appointment to Arbcom. You'll be great. I've copied in the blurb from the blurb review. - Dank (push to talk) 16:58, 18 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Support, per FAC, good date. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:01, 18 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Support, per FAC, a very inventive female fraudster.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 02:28, 27 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Support. What a fine change of pace. Gog the Mild (talk) 00:43, 31 December 2019 (UTC)