WOMAN WALLINGFORD

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 530, 6 December 1928, Page 9

WOMAN WALLINGFORD

PANIC IN PARIS OVER £1,000,000 INVOLVED t Australian and -V. Z. Press AesociationJ LONDON, Tuesday. Dispatches from Paris state that a sensation was caused to-day by the ari'est ot Madame Marthe llanau and her divorced husband. Laz&re Bloch. The woman is known throughout France as "Madame la Prcsidente. financial wizard.” She had been operating one of the most gigantic get-rich-quick schemes ever devised.The news of the arrests spread very rapidly. Panic-stricken investors rushed to the sumptuous, marblefronted 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 himself with rage, waved a cheque for 300,000 francs, which he declared a bank had refused to cash. Among the victims were members of the Chamber of Deputies, priests, nuns and the widows of officers. It is stated that the total amount of money involved in the woman’s activities is more than £ 1,000,000. The Paris correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” savs the losses of the investors may total £ 3,500.000. The scandal was referred to in the Chamber of Deputies this 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 4.000 agencies in France and abroad.