The Meb Faber Show · Friday, September 11, 2026
The podcast recounts the infamous scam of Gregor MacGregor, who styled himself as the 'Roderick' of the 'Principality of Poyais' on the Mosquito Coast. He duped hundreds of people into selling their belongings and moving to what he claimed was a paradise, but was in reality a barren and disease-ridden land, leading to the death of most settlers.
“Well, the OG, like, you know, just an amazing name. Scottish mercenary who fought like in the Napoleonic wars in Portugal and Spain. And then, clearly, you know, was a restless soul, moved to Latin America, fought in lots of different independence conflicts as a mercenary.”
“And he went to, um, basically Central America and was given the princedom of a country called Poe. And he went back to London, told everybody about this amazing country called Poe. It was London, milk and honey and gold and had a very established system of governments that looked like the UK.”
“So he managed to entice hundreds of people to sell their belongings, move to this amazing country. And he also sold bonds to raise money to invest in in gold mines or things like that. But of course, this is of course, obviously, it's a giant scam.”
“It was actually a barren bit of land, a place called the Mosquito Coast. The settlers that went there, I think there were 700 people went there. Most of them died from entry, famine, malaria, and so on and never made it back.”