It is well understood that the Ponzi scheme is a dangerous form of fraud, capable of destroying entire economies and toppling governments, as occurred in Albania. The pyramid scheme or endless chain-business scheme may be similarly viewed as an insidious financial virus, threatening the foundation of a legitimate market, subverting legitimate entrepreneurship, harming extraordinary numbers of vulnerable people and destroying trust in the American Dream. The Ponzi scheme relies on concealment of its money transfer, while the pyramid, more dangerously, relies on mass deception and political influence-buying to prevent law enforcement. The Ponzi is based on one big lie, whereas the pyramid must cultivate an intricate web of lies. The Ponzi perpetrator personally assumes the nefarious role of perpetrator and organizer, while the pyramid promoters entangle the victims in a network of legal liabilities and personal deceptions to spread to family and close associates. And whereas the Ponzi enables all its victims to grasp the nature of the fraud once it is revealed and to identify themselves as innocent victims, the pyramid must engage in mind control, cultivate a predatory value system among participants and subject the victims to a debilitating narrative of self-blame, leaving many unaware of how or why they lost their money and destined to repeat the folly. The Ponzi scheme may mushroom in scale but quickly and totally collapses upon exposure or prosecution. The pyramid scheme, on the other hand, can mobilize its very own victims in cult formations to expand its reach, attack whistle-blowers and protect itself from law enforcement, even when exposed. It can, therefore, be reasonably argued that the pyramid scheme is a far more destructive force in a society than the Ponzi is. It contains elements of cultism, mind-control, authoritarianism, political corruption and social disruption. It is obvious that that law has not kept pace with the development of endless chain rackets disguised as direct selling enterprises. Yet, in recent years, public interest advocates, attorneys, financial managers, academics and thousands of victims have come forward to expose the realities of MLM and to demand that the FTC finally enforce the laws that are available and applicable.