Leo Koretz

Biography

Leo Koretz, born in 1879, achieved prominence as an investment counselor in Chicago, promising investors extraordinary returns through purported oil and timber interests, but over time the enterprise depended on an elaborate web of deception.

When the scheme unraveled and he fled to Canada in 1924, he was eventually captured and returned to face prosecution; he died in a federal hospital in 1925 while serving his sentence. His story remains a cautionary tale about the price of unchecked ambition and the importance of integrity in financial affairs.