BROKER GUILTY OF FRAUD

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20016, 15 August 1939, Page 2

BROKER GUILTY OF FRAUD

“HIGH PRIEST OF CROOKED FINANCE”

MANIPULATION OF BONDS

NEW YORK, July 6.

A Now York jury to-night found William P. Buckner, the broker, guilty of conspiracy and mail fraud in the manipulation of Philippine Railway bonds. Two other of the five defendants, William J. Gillespie, a broker, and Felipe Buencamino, a Philippine lawyer, were also found guilty. Captain John Stuart Hyde, a former officer in the British Army and now a Hollywood producer and actor, and C. Wesley Turner, were acquitted. Buckner was denounced in scathing terms by the United States Assistant Attorney, Mr. William Maloney, who exclaimed: “The defence calls him an innocent, inexperienced playboy. “Callous Renegade” “But this is what he really is. He is a disbarred lawyer, a callous, young renegade with a pleasing personality, a young man with a charming smile which lie flashed on his victims as no dipped into their pockets. Mr. .Maloney described Buckner and his co-defendants as “high priests cf crooked finance,” ridiculing the contention that any wrongs conunitteo wore the result of inexperience.

He argued that the defendants, particularly Buckner. Turner and Gillespie. had a very definite scheme to defraud bond-holders. Referring to “Hyde, tile gentleman,” Mr. Maloney exclaimed: “Yes, yes, a gentleman of gentlemen, without a nickel in his pocket.”