"Investors Overseas Services (IOS)" was founded in 1955 by financier Bernard Cornfeld. The company was incorporated outside the United States with funds in Canada and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. In the 1960's, the company employed 25,000 people who sold 18 different mutual funds door-to-door all over Europe, with most operations in Germany to small time investors. The company mainly targeted American expatriates and US servicemen who sought to avoid paying income tax. The mutual fund offerings by the company were called, "people's capitalism" by founder Cornfield. Bernard Bernie Cornfeld (Istanbul 17 August 1927 - London 27 February 1995) was a prominent businessman and international financier who sold investments in US mutual funds. ... Geneva (pronunciation //; French: Genève //, German: //, Italian: Ginevra) is the second most populous city in Switzerland, situated where Lake Geneva (French Lac Léman) flows into the Rhône River. ... The central idea of a mutual fund is to enable investors to pool their money and place it under professional investment management. ... An expatriate (in abbreviated form expat) is someone temporarily or permanently in a country and culture other than that of their upbringing and/or legal residence. ...

In the following decade, the company raised $2.5 billion due in part to its "Fund of Funds," which meant investment in shares of other IOS offerings. The offering was very popular in the bull market times, but then the market dropped and the guaranteed dividends had to be paid straight out of the capital—in effect, which made it a pyramid scheme. IOS was forced into an Initial Public Offering to meet its costs. The next bear market made many investors cash their funds as stock value decreased. A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, usually without any product or service being delivered. ... A bear market is a prolonged period of time when prices are falling in a financial market. ...

Share value decreased from $18 to $12 in the spring of 1970. Cornfeld formed an investment pool with some other investors, but they lost when the share value dropped to $2. Even IOS employees and portfolio managers sold their shares by this time.

Financier Robert Vesco who, at the time, was also in financial trouble, turned to Cornfeld and offered his help. Vesco proceeded to use $500 million worth of IOS money to cover his own investments in his International Controls Corporation. When he was discovered, Vesco fled to the Bahamas. IOS then collapsed and in the process ruined a number of US and European banks. Robert Lee Vesco (born December 4, 1935) is a US financier who fled Securities and Exchange Commission and ended up in Cuba. ...