The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-12
.P0Nz| ADMITS HE IS AN EX-CONV|CT
 IN TWO INSTANCES
Commissioner Orders Han over Trust Co. Closed. Italian and Bank Claim
 SOlvency
1y Associated Press


 Boston, August II. Charles
 Ponzi, who has handled millions of
 dollars of other peoples money in
 the last few months, admitted in a
 formal statement today thnt he wns
 former convict.
 While he was making this state ment, the Hanover Trust Company, In which Ponzi was a director and share holder and through which he had done a large checking business, was closed by order of Bank Commi toner Joseph c, Allen. Ponzi at the same time an nounced his resignation from the bank's s directorate
 Commissioner Allen said he had
 taken action because his examiners
 had found that the bank had made
 loans which .werc excessive and Y beyond fhe legal limit" and .mnny
 ionns that are either had nre of
 very doubtful value" He expressed
 the fear that the banks capital
 had been impaired.
 The executive committee of the Hanover Trust Company in a statement late today said the committee believed there were few poor loans on the son to believe that the bank would not continue to meet it's obligations and that 1t had a cash reserve of three times the amount that the law re- nuiraea William C McNary treasurer of the bank. said that Ponzi did not owe the bank a cent, that any bank in the country would have been glad of his account and that Ponzi had paid out six million dollars through the bank
 Ponzis statement followed the pub lication in morning newspapers oi stories of the career of Charles Ponsi in Montreal. Confronted with these stories, Ponzi conferred with his at. torneys and then gave to newspapers lengthy statement in which he ad- mitted he and "Ponsi" were the same man, that he had served twenty months in prison in Montreal for forgery, ant that subsequently he had served two years in the federal penitentiary at At lanta, Ga. for smuggling Italians into this country.
 He asserted that his sentence for forgery resulted from his assuming the blame for crime committed by a banker in Montreal by whom he had been employed and fled to Mexico "I am not trying to pose he added As to the smuggling incident Ponzi declared he did not smuggle Italians into this country.
 within ten days of my release iron, the Montreal prison" he said. 'T was asked to escort five Italians into ths United States. l did not smuggle them | in. I crossed the border on Ire train openly and was placed immediately under arrest"
 He said he had not previously made known these incidents in his career because he felt that the past had very little bearing on the present situa- tion."
 If I made mistake I paid for it. he said. and I had every reason tC believe that society owed me another chance" Ponzi, in a later statement, reiterated previous assertions that he was sol vent and could pay all notes outstand' | ing against him as result of hl. operation of the Securities Exchange Company It was the large bushes done by this company. which offered | to pay 50 per cent interest in ninety | days on all loans and which. in fact redeemed many notes with that In terest in forty five days, that resulted in the investigation now In progress I by federal and state authorities.