INVESTORS DUPED

Evening Star, Issue 20586, 11 September 1930, Page 15

INVESTORS DUPED

STRANDED IN BRAZIL FRAUDULENT PROMOTERS TERMS OF IMPRISONMENT. \ 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 tho Old Bailey. London, which extended over several days. In the first case William Pope Chitty, aged thirty-nine, a former Deputy ViceConsul in Brazil; Brunei White, aged thirty-eight, agent; and Frederick Price, aged thirty-two. 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 and Produce (Parent) Company, Limited, and obtaining several sums of money from investors by false pretences. Mr Percival Clarke, who appeared for the Public Prosecutot, 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. Advertisements were inserted in the newspapers, offering a commencing salary oi £SOO a year, plus a share in the profits, and 500 shares in the company, with sea passage 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 the business of the Bahia Company was to exploit a fibre and export oranges. He said the company had an option on two estates in Brzail, and the fibre which was 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 men, attracted by the advertisement, invested £SOO each, and went to Brazil. One of the estates was inspected. It was about twelve miles square, and only one native was in charge of it. The estate consisted ol virgin ground, principally forest, and there was no prospect of doing anything at all. The men ran short of money, and cabled to Loudon to the company, but they did not receive any. One witness, Mr Robert Maltby, who invested £SOO, declared that tho 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 Y —Yes. Mr Maltby added that the estate could have been developed if the money had been forthcoming. A VERDICT OF GUILTY. After hearing the accuseds’ 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 forty-five, 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 Marino Salvage Corporation, Limited. In this case, also, men were induced, 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 Urico were withdrawn, and the jury found him guilty on eleven 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 eighteen months, and Chitty and Brice would be sentenced to imprisonment for twelve months.