Mr. Hoffenberg was trying to fool not just investors but also the S.E.C., which began investigating him in 1989, court filings said.

These accounting deceptions fooled investors into believing PurchasePro had met its sales projections and bolstered its stock price.

Wall Street salesmen then try to fool investors into buying the overpriced merchandise.

Or is Takafumi Horie simply a 33-year-old crook who fooled investors with fake numbers?

But prosecutors contend that the company was fooling investors into believing that they were making a profit while it diverted the money to themselves.

This may make sense to the fund executives, but is unlikely to fool professional investors, who pick money managers for their expertise in a specific area.

But rallies from lows have fooled investors in the past.

Mr. Dunlap fooled investors for years.

"This is the same bogus thing that they try to fool investors with day in and day out," Mr. Burgess said.

Prepays may have been legal, but they were incredibly sleazy, their primary purpose being to fool investors.