1.   He actually used the investments as collateral for large loans that he used to pay off earlier investors -- a classic pyramid scheme, they said.

2.   In the end, SEC officials said it amounted to a classic pyramid scheme, in which money from new investors was used to pay old investors.

3.   Securities market fraud, ranging from secret share issues to classic pyramid schemes, are not uncommon.

4.   Investigators called it a classic pyramid scheme in which early investors were paid off with money from later investors until the program collapsed.

5.   Officials said Mavrodi ran a classic pyramid scheme that collapsed last month, leaving millions of small-time investors holding virtually worthless pieces of paper.

6.   The company attracted its clients by selling and then buying back its own shares at a higher price in what has been described as a classic pyramid scheme.

7.   The government has described MMM as a classic pyramid scheme in which investors are paid off using funds from increasing numbers of new shareholders.