A Field of Schemes
A Field of Schemes Introduction This is the city. Chicago, Illinois. A place where people work hard, save their money, and trust their banks. But trust has a way of being broken. The story you’re about to read is true. The names and places are real. People trust their bankers with their money, their futures, their lives—but not all bankers are worthy of that trust. And the consequences—lives ruined, faith broken—speak louder than the just facts, maam. There are many stories like this—tales of banking crimes, fraud, and deception. Some make the front pages, others vanish into the footnotes of financial history. What follows is just one of them. This is the story of A Field of Schemes. Marvin Wagner turned to see a thirty-something man (John) wearing a Chicago Cubs’ t-shirt entering the bank lobby. Wagner knew him. They exchanged smiles. Wagner knew most of his customers. He spent a fair amount of time on th...