6 Revealing Chapters in the Salad Oil Swindle Saga that Almost Shattered American Finance

2. The Salad Oil Scheme

The second chapter dives into De Angelis's clever yet fraudulent salad oil scheme. He claimed to have vast reserves of salad oil stored in massive tanks in Bayonne, New Jersey. However, these tanks were primarily filled with water, with only a thin layer of oil floating on top. When inspectors came to verify the inventory, they were misled by the illusion of abundant oil. De Angelis used these fraudulent inventories as collateral to secure enormous loans, leading to the emergence of the Salad Oil Swindle.