JEWEL SMUGGLING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 December 1938, Page 7

JEWEL SMUGGLING

CHARGES IN THE UNITED STATES PROMINENT CINEMA PEOPLE INVOLVED. NEW YORK JUDGE'S WIFE ARRESTED. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. NEW YORK, December 12. George Burns, of the film and radio team of Burns and Allen, pleaded guilty in a Federal Court today to nine charges of smuggling 4885 dollars’ worth of diamond-studded jewellery. The maximum penalty on all counts would be 18 years’ imprisonment and a 45,000 dollars’ fine, but it is believed that he will only be fined. Other prominent cinema people are expected to be involved in the smuggling investigation, which began a fortnight ago. Those already questioned include Katherine Hepburn, Jack Benny and Wallace Ford, the film movie director.

The authorities recently arrested the wife of a New York judge and an agent who allegedly smuggled clothing and jewellery for prominent people by claiming diplomatic privileges. Burns’s name was found among the latter’s correspondence., Information is believed to have been lodged with the authorities by a servant in the judge’s household, who, incensed by anti-Nazi remarks made at the dinner table, left a threatening note, “You’ll suffer for this.” Burns made a statement that he was not aware that the duty had not been paid on the jewellery and that he considered the offence merely a technicality, involving no moral guilt on his part.