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The Indictment Charges a Plot to Inflate Stock Prices

On February 21, 1814, a false messenger arrived in Dover claiming Napoleon Bonaparte was killed and the Allies had entered Paris. This rumor caused government securities on the London Stock Exchange to skyrocket. The indictment frames this false intelligence as a criminal conspiracy orchestrated by Charles Random de Berenger, Lord Cochrane, and their associates to profit from stock sales.

Prosecution Evidence Traces the Fake Officer to London

Witnesses trace De Berenger travelling from Dover to London under the alias Colonel de Bourgogne while scattering rewarded rumors along the road. Postboy testimonies and bank receipts link the purchase of De Berenger's scarlet uniform to funds provided by Richard Gathorne Butt and Andrew Cochrane Johnstone. Further testimony establishes that Lord Cochrane's broker sold thousands of pounds in stocks during the brief artificial market surge.

Ellenborough Charges the Jury Leading to a Guilty Verdict

Lord Cochrane submits affidavits stating De Berenger visited his house in a green civilian coat without disclosing any fraud. Lord Chief Justice Ellenborough heavily emphasizes circumstantial evidence and questions why Cochrane received De Berenger immediately after the false dispatches arrived. The jury deliberates briefly before finding all defendants guilty of conspiracy, leading to severe sentences of imprisonment, fines, and the pillory.

Book

The Trial of Lord Cochrane and Others

An official transcript of the 1814 Great Stock Exchange Fraud trial that convicted naval hero Lord Cochrane.

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