FEMALE FINANCIER.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 289, 6 December 1928, Page 7

FEMALE FINANCIER.

Arrested With Her Divorced Husband. INVESTORS PANIC-STRICKEN. (Australian and N.Z. Press Association.) LONDON", December 5. Dispatches from Paris state that a sensation was caused yesterday bv the arrest of Madame Marthe Hanau and her divorced husband, Lazare Blocß. The woman is known throughout France as "Madame la Presidente, financial wizard." She had been operating one of the most gigantic get-rich-quick schemes ever devised. The news of the arrests spread verv rapidly. Panic-stricken investors rushed to the sumptuous, marble-fronted offices from which the woman, with Bloch and a staff of 250 employees, had directed enormous operations. The crowd many with drawn faces shouted angry taunts. One man, beside f Wlth ra ? e ' w » ved a che< l ue for 300 000 francs, which he declared a bank had refused to cash.' Among the victims were members of S^ amb . e F o£ Deputies, priests, nuns, fw I 6 A w i d ° ws of officers. It is stated that the total amount of money involved in the woman's activities is more than fiT'T, J hG Paris corr esjM>ndent of the Daily Telegraph" says the losses o- the investors may total £3,500,000. The scandal was referred to in the Chamber of Deputies last evening The Minister of Finance, M. Cheron, gave his assurance that justice would be done. Besides running the "Gazette du France the woman Hanau formed five share-investing companies. She had 4000 agencies in France and abroad.