1990s Harshad Mehta scam
The top photo is of Harshad Mehta in 1991 with his Lexus and the photo under it is that of the same person but being escorted by police in 1992 for fraud. Mr Mehta, nicknamed Big Bull, was a flamboyant stock broker of Mumbai who rose to instant fame in 1991 due to his aggressive strategies of stock market. He bought a Lexus, a sprawling house with swimming pool and a golf course!! But not many knew about his fraudulent methods.He exploited every possible loophole in banking systems to make quick money illegally. Two such loopholes were Ready Forward (RF) and Bank Receipts (BR). Let me try to explain in simple words how he exploited the system. At any point of time, there would be banks wanting to sell their securities (like bonds/shares) for cash and there would be banks wanting to buy securities by offering cash. He used to act as a middleman between such banks. Suppose SBI wanted to sell securities and ICICI wanted to buy securities. He would go to SBI and assure t...