INVESTORS DUPED

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1082, 20 September 1930, Page 27

INVESTORS DUPED

STRANDED IN BRAZIL FRAUDULENT PROMOTERS Rich estates in Brazil, an alleged fortune in ship-breaking, and unlucky investors, who lost their capital, were ever-recurring themes in two recent trials at the Old Bailey, London, which extended over several days. In the first case William Pope Chitty, aged 39, a former Deputy ViceConsul in Brazil; Brunei White, aged 38, agent, and Frederick Price, aged 32, estate agent, pleaded not guilty to conspiring with others to defraud persons entering into employment agreements with, and investing money in, the Bahia State Land a*nd Produce (Parent) Company, Limited, and obtaining several sums of money from investors by false pretences. Mr. Percival Clarke, who appeared for the Public Prosecutor, alleged that the three defendants defrauded various investors of sums of money amounting to about £3,000, by making false representations about the company and inducing them to take shares in it, with the prospect of obtaining employment. Advertise ments were inserted in the newspapers, offering a commencing salary of £SOO a year, plus a share in the profits, and 500 shares in the company, with sea passages to Brazil and expenses paid. One Native in Charge of Estate Commenting upon one specific case, counsel stated that a Mr. W. J. P. Chesterton answered the advertisement, and Price told him that he business of the Bahia Company was to exploit a fibre and export oranges. He said the company had an option on two estates in Brazil, and the fibre which w r as found there could be made into artificial silk, paper and bags. Chitty, he was told, had been a Vice-

Consul in Bahia, and had considerable influence. Mr. Chesterton paid -£250 and sailed for Brazil. Other n, attracted by the advertisement invested £SOO each and went to Brazil. One of the estates was inspected. It was about 12 miles square, and only one native was in charge of it. The estate consisted of virgin ground, principally forest, and there was no prospect of doing anything at all. The men ran short of money and cabled to London to the company, but they did not receive any. One witness, Mr. Robert Maltby, who invested £SOO, declared that the land was good so far as he could judge. There was a village close by and it had a State judge. Judge Gregory: Was there a public house?—Yes. Mr. Maltby added that the estate could have been developed if the money had been forthcoming. A Verdict of Guilty After hearing the accused’s version of the transactions, the jury found them guilty of conspiring to defraud and obtaining money by false pretences. White and Price were then charged, with Bertram Brice, contractor, aged 45, with conspiring with other persons to defraud such persons as should be induced to enter into employment agreements with, and invest money in, the British Marine Salvage Corporation, Ltd. In this case, also, men were iudifced, through the medium of advertisements, to invest in a scheme for breaking up old ships at Cowes, Isle of Wight, and selling the material as scrap metal. White ! and Price pleaded guilty. Three minor counts against Brice were withdrawn and the jury found him guilty on 11 other counts. Judge Gregory declared that White and Price had been convicted of a series of very serious crimes, and he had been considering whether it was not his duty to send them to penal servitude. They would go to prison for IS months, and Chitty and Brice would be sentenced to imprisonment for 12 months.