People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 July 1895 — MANAGERS WERE BLIND. [ARTICLE]

MANAGERS WERE BLIND.

Well Known Men Allowed Their Name* to Be Used. That a list of strong names in the managing board does not always guarantee the stability of the enterprise was proved in the case of the Paris Savings Bank, the other day. Nearly every one of the directors .had been a well-known member of the Chamber of Deputies, or had held some important place in the service of the state. The real brains of the concern, however, were two men, named Brugerolles and David, each of whom, it is now learned, had been “chevroned with five years in prison.” The directors are now trying to explain to the court and the enraged depositors how they could have been blind to the gigantic swindle going on under their noses. When the bank was started by the skillful use of promise and ink, depositors came from all parts of the republic. All that was necessary was to put money in the bank and receive big dividends each month. Within a fortnight the bank announced the establishment of six tributary enterprises, the principal of which was the “Agricultural Distillery,” which had for its especial object the culture and refining of Jerusalem artichokes. It is almost needless to say that every one of these pretended industrial societies was born but to die after it had issued a large sum in bonds, which Brugerolles and David unloaded on their guileless clients. The whole thing went to smash last week. Brugerolles fled across the Channel, and his accomplice killed himself. The boffrd of directors have been arrested, and they find It difficult to explain why they should have lent their names to such a fraud as the Banque d’Epargne proved to be without looking into tts financial soundness beforehand.