Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-02-21
AFTER CROOKED BROKERS
New York is Going After Bucket.
shop Buccaneers.
MANY INDICTMENTS ARE EXPECTED
Most of Men Under Scrutiny Were In
Firms Now Rankrupt-Many Victims
Come Forward With Evidence.


Come Forward With Evidence.
Twenty indictments of brokers in the
financial district are expected this
week as a result of evidence to be laid
before grand juries in general ses-
sions and in the Supreme Court by AS
sistant Distract Attorneys Simmons
and Schneider, who are sitting evidence
from more than 200 complaints Of
bucket shop and wash sales victims,
relates the New York World
All told the prosecutors expect to OBJ
tain thirty or forty indictments before
they discontinue the Investigations.
Mr.. Simmons made known yesterday
that during the past ten days he had
supervised the secret raiding of several
Offices in the financial district, seizlng
books and records which it is intended
to use as the basis for prosecution.
Only three or four of the individuals
whose indictment is sought are still
actively engaged in brokerage bus
mess. Mr.. Simmons explained that in
most cases the men under scrutiny
were the partners in now bankrupt
firms.
Evidence accumulated OF wholesale
frauds will be presented first to-day
to the February Grand Jury in General
Sessions and in other cases to the Su-
preme Court Grand Jury tomorrow.
Stacked up in the District Attorneys
office are ledgers, account books and
other seized documents that reveal
varying methods of Turing cash from
the gullible. The bucket shop method
predominated, with wash sales a close
contender. One broker, Mr.. Simmons
said, made $4,000 in a single day by
the latter method.
This man. who sold by prearrange-
ment with an agent, created an artIf-
cial market at ST a share on, an indus
trial stock selling ordinarily for $3.50.
On the strength Of this New York
market" nc unloaded quantities of the
stock on victims in all parts of the
United STATES. Just before going into
bankruptcy the broker make sS0,oC0 by
ordering an agent to buy at 81 a share.
Through his accomplice he sold his
holdings at this price, gathered in the
proceeds and disappeared. The buying
agent was thus unable to make deIiy-
cry, finding himself with the stock, no
longer supported by the created mark
ct, on his hands.fo
Mr.. Simmons cited the case Of a wo-
man in business in New York as de-
signer of women s clothes who lost s4,-
500 to a brokerage firm which for four
months exacted additional margins
from her on a stock which had declined
steadily. The brokers pretended they
had executed her order to buy the
stock, whereas they kept the money
she put up for 1t and bled her for more
as the stock dropped.
Among other schemes to be brought
to the Grand Jury are those whereby
brokers formed tpools; including in
yestors to contribute in the expecta-
tions Of Killings" Invariably the IN
vestors heard no more of what became
of their money or the pools. Still others
bucketed orders on standard stocks.
That is, orders to buy legitimate stocks
were never executed, the brokers sim
ply using to their own ends the money
furnished for the purchases,
Major Frederick r, Rich, Deputy At
torney General, and Post Office In
spectors who are cooperating in the
District Attorneys Investigation, have
many complaints, including 14O cases
of using the mails to defraud, that are
still to be sifted for evidence on which
indictments can be asked, Mr.. Sim
mons said