The Ocean in Bayonne: The Great Salad Oil Scandal

Oil floats on water. That is the entire secret. A ninth grader could tell you. And Anthony "Tino" De Angelis built one of the largest frauds in American history on it. Fill a sixty-foot storage tank with seawater. Float a thin layer of vegetable oil on top. An inspector drops a measuring line, pulls it up coated in oil, and certifies a full tank. He isn't lying. He saw oil. From a leased tank farm in Bayonne, New Jersey, De Angelis borrowed against inventory that did not exist, using warehouse receipts issued by a subsidiary of American Express. Fifty-one financial institutions lent against that paper, including Bank of America and Chase Manhattan. At the peak, his receipts accounted for more soybean oil than the U.S. Department of Agriculture said existed in the entire country. Nobody ran that check. In this episode: The federal school lunch meat scandal De Angelis walked away from a decade earlier, with no conviction The forty-one tanks: twenty-three unavailable, seven unusable, one that did not exist, ten that were real Three methods for showing an inspector four hundred million pounds of oil when you have twenty Field warehousing explained, and why the American Express name was the whole game The self-reinforcing loop: fake inventory to receipts to loans to futures to higher prices to bigger receipts November 15, 1963: the Senate kills the Russian wheat deal and soybean oil falls twenty-six percent in two days The twenty thousand Ira Haupt customers who had never heard of Tino De Angelis and could not reach their own money Why American Express chose to pay when it may not have had to, and why Warren Buffett was watching The lesson: audited does not mean honest, and certified does not mean true Next episode: An immigrant with two dollars and fifty cents, fifty percent in forty-five days, and a crowd in the street in Boston. Charles Ponzi. Unleashed 101 is a Fuzzy Life Entertainment production. Some stories are too incredible to stay forgotten.In this episode of Unleashed 101, we uncover the true story behind [Episode Title]. Through immersive storytelling and meticulous research, we explore what happened, why it happened, and the lasting impact it left behind.Whether it's a forgotten historical event, a shocking fraud, an unsolved mystery, corporate deception, an extraordinary act of courage, or one of history's greatest betrayals, Unleashed 101 brings remarkable true stories back into the light.If you enjoyed this episode, please:Follow or subscribe to Unleashed 101Leave a rating and reviewShare this episode with someone who loves incredible true storiesEvery share helps us uncover more stories that deserve to be remembered.Follow Unleashed 101 for new episodes featuring forgotten history, legendary scams, remarkable crimes, extraordinary survival stories, and mysteries that continue to fascinate the world. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.