The trial of Charles Random de Berenger, baron de Beaufain [and others] for conspiracy in the Court of King's Bench, Guildhall, On Wednesday the 8th, and Thursday the 9th of June, 1814 : With the subsequent proceedings in the Court of King's Bench

Charles Random de Berenger Beaufain, baron de.; William Brodie Gurney; Great Britain. Court of King's Bench

 London : J. Butterworth, and Gale, Curtis and Fenner, 1814

[The History of Financial Hoaxes - The Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814] First edition. Bound in later 3/4 sheep over green boards. Good binding and cover, with minor edge wear. 604 pages, [4] ads; 26 cm.  Includes folding plate.  Old institutional book plate.  Goldsmiths' 21014. 

An account of the trial of Charles Random de Berenger, Sir Thomas Cochrane, and others for their conspiracy to defraud the price of government securities.  After spreading false information of Napoleon's death and causing bond prices to rise, Berenger and his co-conspirators sold more than a million pounds of government bonds at a tidy profit.  Once news of Napoleon's death was found to be a hoax, bond prices plummeted.  Investigators quickly discovered the conspiracy and the six men were arrested and tried.  Berenger, and Cochrane, a British MP and Admiral, was expelled from the Order of Bath, jailed and fined, and ordered to stand for one hour in the pillory in front of the Royal Exchange.  The events became known as the Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814.  Lord Cochrane maintained his innocence throughout the episode and was eventually pardoned in 1832, impart because popular opinion had sided with the naval war hero.  The evidence appears to show that Cochrane had intimate knowledge of the scheme.