So, any company that's been around for several years can't be a Ponzi, right?
Wrong. Check some CFTC cases for multi-year Ponzi's and remember that the CFTC is probably the toughest regulator out there::
In the Order, the Court found that, from approximately December 2008 to January 2012, McCullough and Mayhew operated a fraudulent scheme that solicited approximately $2.3 million from at least 11 members of the public to trade leveraged or margined off-exchange foreign currency contracts. The Court also found that McCullough and Mayhew misrepresented their trading record, used some customer funds to repay other customers in the manner of a Ponzi scheme, and misappropriated more than $1.6 million from their customers, including $829,000 for their personal use.
http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/7220-15
Washington, DC– The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a civil enforcement Complaint against DefendantGlen Galemmoof Cincinnati, Ohio, charging him with operating a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme through his firm,QFC, LLC,from February 18, 2010 through at least July 17, 2013.
http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/7001-14
The summary judgment order entered against Gresham on September 9, 2011, found that, from 2004 to 2009, Gresham fraudulently solicited $15,900,245.97 from over 100 customers for the purported purpose of trading forex. According to the order, Gresham lured customers and prospective customers with promises of extraordinary monthly returns ranging from five to 10 percent and perpetuated his scheme by falsely reporting substantial gains to customers. The court further found that Gresham engaged in only limited, unsuccessful forex trading and that Gresham misappropriated the vast majority of customer funds to pay “returns” to other customers and for personal use.
http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/6268-12
According to the complaint, since at least 2001 through February 29, 2012, Wilson and AB&C operated a Ponzi scheme, and, as part of the scheme, fraudulently offered contracts of sale of silver, a commodity in interstate commerce. Through their 11-year long scheme, the defendants allegedly fraudulently obtained at least $90.1 million from at least 945 investors for the purchase of silver.
http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/6275-12
Here are a few other long-term Ponzi schemes:
A woman known as
Dona Branca ran a Ponzi that paid 10% per month for 14 years.
Ronald Rewald has a Ponzi paying 20% annually from 1978 until 1983.
James Paul Lewis, Jr. ran a large Ponzi scheme for about 20 years. In the end, investors lost over a hundred million dollars.
In all of these cases, some investors end up in profit. What is also plain is that 100% of these "profits" came from money that was stolen from other investors.
Any real investment company will not pay large, fixed interest far above banks. Any real investment company will be transparent. Any real investment company will be happy to provide all the evidence needed to show that they are not a Ponzi.
If Exential were a real investment company, they'd have sent someone to this thread to try to explain away some of the many warning signs and to provide some evidence of their trading skills.