Moreover, even though the regulations require that anyone investing in the CD be an accredited investor with a minimum income and networth, several were not.
This essentially calls for a minimum tax on high-net worth individuals, similar to the one Warren Buffett proposed in his op-ed to the Times last weekend, but as Silver correctly points out, the implementation of such a minimum tax would have an unintended consequence.
Thirty people fell off the list, either because their networth dropped below the minimum or because their fortunes were reclassified as belonging to families.