Evening star., 1962-06-18
U.S.Trying to Close Off
Fugitive Haven in Brazil

BY the Associated Press
The United States hopes
though it is keeping its fingers
croSsed-that it soon can break
up an exclusive club of fugitive
United States tycoons who are
living it UP in Brazil.
Brazil is the only country in
the Western Hemisphere that
has no extradition treaty with
the United States. But one was
signed January Is, 1861, and
ratified by the Senate. Officials
hope Brazil will ratify soon.
In the absence of a treaty,
Brazil has become a haven for
Americans who have found it
advisable to take it on the lam.
Latest Of these is Edward NJ.
Gilbert, 38-year-old Wall Street
wizard" and hardwood floor
ing magnate, who has acknowl-
edged unauthorized d with
drawals of almost 50 million
from the company he headed.
Affairs Scrutinized
No charges have been placed
against him so far, but the
New York district attorney is
investigating him, and the Sc
curities and Exchange Comnis-
sion has seized his personal
files at the E. L. Bruce Co.
Brazil's extradition treaty
with the United States lapsed
about so years ago when Brazil
passed an extradition law
which, in effect, abrogated such |
pacts. Under present law, Brazil |
can expel undesirable aliens"
and has sometimes done so.
But this law has not touched |
such figures as Earl Belle, who |
fled to Brazil in 1858 after being
accused in Pittsburgh of frauds
in connection with Cornucopia
Gold Mines; Benjack Cage of
Texas, who jumped bail in
1859 after being sentenced to a
10-year term in an $8-million
insurance. swindle, and Lowell
Macafee Birrell, accused in New
York Of a $14-million stock
fraud.
RetrOactivity Weighed
Officials here say lawyers for
fugitives would have a difficult
time If they tried to argue that
the treaty cannot be made ret
roactive. The officials say
there is nothing in the treaty
to bar the extradition of a per-
son who fled before the effec-
tive date Of the pact.
The United States, officials
say, has extradition treaties
with "about 65 or 10" of some
120 sovereign nations in the
world. The reason the officials
cannot give exact statistics is
that many new nations are en-
erging. particularly in Africa.
and in some cases it is not
known whether they win ac-
knowledge the treaties Of the
colonial powers that formerly
ruled them.
In Western Europe, the
United States lacks a treaty
only with Sweden. However, one
has been signed and ratified by
Sweden and is due to come up
in the Senate.
Some Satellite Treaties
There is no treaty with Rus
sia, which threw a lot of
treaties out the window after
the BolshevikS took power. Nor
with Red China. But there are
pacts with a. number of Com
munist countries, including
Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugo-
slavia, Bulgaria and Hungary.
These were signed long before
the Reds took over.
Some countries. like Sweden,
give their executives authority
to extradite even without a
treaty, but this is not so in the
case Of the United States,
Great Britain or Canada, for
A practically universal pro-
vision Of most treaties is that
nobody can be extradited un-
less his offense is a crime both
in his home country and the
country to which he has fled.
This can cause difficulties
for the United States since it
has a dual system of laws,
State and Federal. States have
jurisdiction over most common
crimes.
One of the most universal
and neutrality-suspicious. in
treaties exempts persons ac-