Selective Chronology of the U.S.
Grant and Ward

"In the 1870's General/President Ulysses S. Grant joined his son and a slick Wall Streeter named Ferdinand Ward in starting a brokerage firm. In 1884 Grant and Ward failed for the enormous sum of $16,725,466, and Ward was revealed as a common swindler who had used the great name of Grant to cloak all kinds of frauds."