Caristo continued that he hed made shipments of hand-made material 10 the United States, and had made a handsome profit on. the transaction. He could thus afford to pay Pinto large interest on the loan. Pinto, he declared, knew that he had a brother living in the United States, but wit- th ness dfd not say that he needed the money for his brother, One of the witnesses heard that day was Count. 'T. Tatisheff, who was confined in the "same cell with Pinto at the Central Police Station, and who subsequently gave evidence in court of conversations which Pinto was alleged to have ear-ried on with him while in jail. These conversations were of a confidential nature. Tatisheff, recalled, was asked by the judge whether Pinto had explained to him how much money he could obtain from "idiots." "He told me that he was taking 12 per cent. a year," declared Tatisheff, "but that on top of that there were commissions, provisions, and insurance, wiping out the original interest of 12 per cent. 'The interest, he said, came to anything that he wanted it'
'The Judge: Did he say exactly what amount he was receiving as interest? }—When he was speaking on the subject of diamonds, he said that 25 per ent, per annum' would be perznitted. With regard to real estate, he was telling me that 30 per cent. would be a legal rate of interest.
"Pinanclal Sharks'
Atter Dr, Costantint had summed up in Italian, M. de Ruffé said that he had no sympathy for those who were financial sharks, He was pretty well-known for having fought. with the press over this kind of person. Financial sharks wore of different species, and the most dangerous were those whom they might call the "smart set" They were above the law, being particularly powerful. Against this type of person he had always fought, and always would fight. When ft came to the case of Pinto, the defence had to admit that the interest charged by him was illegally high.
"But why," continued M. de Rufté, should a small fry such as Pinto pay heavily, while the biggest offendfers escape." He admitted that in many cases Pinto had charged a heavy interest, possibly 30-40 per cent, But it might serve as an excuse to put forward the fact that many people had not pald him that interest, and he therefore lost both the interest [and the capital.
"In the long' run," declared M. de Ruffé, *T would not like to undertake such business, because Tam afraid that T should be the loser. In any case, Pinto's business was but a small and insignificant one." It had been the unfortunate trick of many in
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.