Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 153, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 June 1920 — ROUNDUP OF BIG OIL PROMOTERS [ARTICLE]

ROUNDUP OF BIG OIL PROMOTERS

New York, June 24.—With the breaking of seals today on indictments charging fourteen concerM and fifty individuals with fraud, government agents let it become known that they had begun a na-tion-wide roundup of alleged wildcat oil company promoters who are said to have swindled the public out of millions within the last few months. The defendants, oil companies, brokerage concerns and their officers and salesmen —are charged wiw having used the mails to defraud. They are alleged to have made gross misrepresentations and to have in some cases paid impressive dividends out of receipt? on stock sales. In one casf, the indictments charged, salesmen disposing of stock of the Crown Oil company falsely represented that a son of former President Roosevelt was an officer of the company, which it was claimed would soon rival the Standard Oil company in volume of business. . Shares of this company, according to one of the indictments, were sold to investors in Chicago at >2.25 a share, and to “evade the western blue sky law” lated was disposed of here at $3, after costing grokers only 7% cents a share.