Chapter 38
The Financial Gazette
“LORD LOMBARD’S” EMPTY LEDGER
A System of Fictitious Investments Alleged at Eden & Co.
Rumors have long attached themselves to the remarkable prosperity of Mr. Virgil Eden, the private banker whom society has eagerly embraced as “Lord Lombard,” yet documents lately placed before this reporter by an unnamed source suggest that Mr. Virgil Eden’s success rests upon a deception as simple as it is audacious.
The investment report, issued by Eden & Co.
, was reviewed and tested against the records of the companies named therein.
No corresponding shares can be traced, no debentures were issued, and no holdings stand in the names represented within the records of those reputable companies.
To an unsuspecting client, such a report would appear to prove his investments were sound and increasing, but in truth, it is nothing more than paper, ink, and a lie.
To date, no evidence exists of any investments made by Eden & Co. within those reputable firms, which leads one to question where the money has gone, and if Lord Lombard’s institution has invested in any scheme or company.
If these allegations are borne out, the public is confronted not with a case of unlucky speculation or overeager bankers attempting to please their clients, but with a deliberate machinery of false confidence: a ledger filled with securities that do not exist, profits never earned, and fortunes entrusted to a thief…