Opinion ID: 1547054
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Lewis E. Van Riper.

Text: Whatever may be said as to the original connection of Lewis E. Van Riper with the business, he was in active charge of the Moore street offices after Hedrick left on August 10th. He did not finally abandon it until November, and he knew, or at least he could be found to have known, that on September 13, 1924, the drilling had stopped, and that there was no further justification for holding out the promises for the future of the well which were made thereafter, as, for example, in the issue of the Analyst of October 18th. Whether or not any sales were made after that date is unimportant; that issue betrays the scheme and it is enough. Moreover, the disposition so shown is not to be limited to the precise time of that issue. Van Riper was an officer of the Parco Company, had been closely associated with Hedrick from the outset, and it was a proper  indeed, in our opinion, an inevitable  inference that he shared with the rest whatever knowledge they had. If, as we think, the jury was justified in concluding that the scheme was a fraud at an earlier period, say from July 15th, the date of the earliest count, they were justified in supposing that Van Riper was equally in it with the rest.