MMMs

MMMs commonly refers to Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox (MMM), a Ponzi-style investment scheme created by Sergei Mavrodi in the late 1980s in the Soviet Union. It rapidly expanded to Russia and other former Soviet states, attracting hundreds of thousands or even millions of participants with promises of unusually high and rapid returns on investments. The scheme relied on funds from new entrants to pay purported returns to earlier investors, rather than on any legitimate profit, and it used social networks and mutual-aid rhetoric to recruit participants.

Across the early 1990s MMM grew to substantial scale before it collapsed in the mid-1990s, causing widespread financial losses and political and regulatory fallout. Mavrodi was arrested and charged with fraud, and the episode remains a prominent example cited in discussions of Ponzi schemes and consumer protection. The MMM phenomenon subsequently produced several variants and spinoffs.

Subsequent iterations included MMM-1997 in Russia and, more notably in later years, MMM Global, which appeared around 2011–2013 and was promoted largely through online platforms and social media. These versions maintained a similar structure—promising high returns paid from new participants’ investments—but faced increased scrutiny and shutdowns in many jurisdictions.

Legacy and context: MMMs are frequently referenced in studies of financial fraud as case material illustrating risks of non-regulated schemes that promise high yields with little risk. Regulators worldwide use MMMs as examples to educate investors about pyramid and Ponzi dynamics and to bolster consumer protections and enforcement against fraudulent investment promoters.