BAYANO "OIL" FRAUDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18889, 11 December 1924, Page 9

BAYANO "OIL" FRAUDS.

GULLIBLE SPECULATORS. FOUGHT TO LOSE MONEY.. CHICAGO. Dec. 2. "They actually fought to give me their money," said Leo Koretz, who made a full confession, following his return from Halifax, where for nearly a year his identity had been hidden behind a "Vandyke" beard, since he vanished after stealing £1,000,000 from big investors in Panama "oil" lands, which did not exist. Koretz said he started 18 years ago, paying handsome interest and dividends out of the principal. Money always kept coming faster than he could spend it, until curious shareholders insisted on a pleasure jaunt to see their Bayano investments.

Leo Koretz, head of the "Bayano Trust, of ■• who was accused of swindling many wealthy Chicago people, fled from Chicago to Honduras, by aeroplane, last December. Before leaving he distributed £100,000 among his family, who later volunteered to turn the money over to the police to assist the swindled people. Later he established himself at Halifax, living in the best clubs, and owning a fine estate. His identity was established indirectly by a tailor, who discovered a name on his coat collar that was not Koretz's. In his prospectuses he described the wonderful possibilities of the Bayano oil field in Panama, and from the investments of fresh victims he paid dividends to the old ones. He disappeared when a committee insisted on visiting the estate.