There are many ways in which investors steal from the public, but there also are ways in which they steal from each other — and Ponzi schemes are merely one example of that, but insider trading is another, and there are others as well. However, their biggest thefts, by far, are from the public, and most such thefts are entirely legal and will be described here, by presenting examples of them.

On 4 November 2025, Semafor, a loyal propaganda-organ for the U.S. empire, headlined "Exclusive / As Trump pressures Venezuela, investors see 'major opportunities'", and reported:

As President Donald Trump takes an increasingly aggressive approach toward regime change in Venezuela, international investment giants are already eyeing potential benefits that Nicolás Maduro's ouster would create.

During last month's IMF-World Bank meetings in Washington, Barclays organized a private meeting to talk investment opportunities with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, two sources familiar with the meeting told Semafor.

The meeting was widely attended by investment firms, hedge funds, and others interested in future business in Venezuela, said Rafael de la Cruz, the director of the US office of Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia, who is recognized by the US as the winner of the last Venezuelan election. The opposition leader's team has also held "informal conversations" with the World Bank, IMF, and Inter-American Development Bank about Venezuela's future, de la Cruz said.