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MONACO: The Gambling Banker

3 minute read
TIME

Throughout the world, threadbare gamblers with avid eyes have dreamed of becoming “the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo.” But the man who came nearest to breaking the bank at Monte Carlo last month was no true gambler at all; he was the man who owned it.

Strictly speaking, the Société Monétgasque de Banque et de Méttaux Prétcieux, run by swarthy Greek Promoter Constantin Liambey, is only one of 13 banks in Monaco. But it had this advantage over most of the others: some $2,500,000 of Monaco’s state funds were deposited in its coffers. In the eight years since he opened his bank, the favor of autocratic Prince Rainier and his top advisers had made johnny-come-lately Liambey one of Monaco’s richest men.

TV That Failed. In Monte Carlo, however, the gambling urge is strong even in successful bankers, and Liambey was anxious to make himself even richer. Last year he threw about half of his bank’s resources into a commercial TV station near the French border on the theory that it would reap a fortune from French advertisers unable to hawk their products on the noncommercial, state-owned French TV. But the station turned out to have an embarrassing connection with the French government, which vetoed the advertising contracts.

With his TV station a flop, Liambey did his best to recoup with investments elsewhere. Last month one of his biggest depositors, a building contractor, discovered that the bank which held his money was using it to back a competitor. He demanded his money, but Liambey couldn’t pay up. He begged the contractor to give him some time, then raced over to see his old friend Arthur Crovetto, Minister Plenipotentiary, Secretary of State, Director of the Cabinet. Crovetto was also the man who had persuaded Prince Rainier to deposit the state money in Liambey’s bank. Panicked, Crovetto himself raced to the Prince and the 18-man Monétgascan National Council and urged them to give Liambey a loan. The Council agreed — on one condition: that the Prince fire Crovetto and three other of the Prince’s top financial advisers.

Bag of Gold. Leaving the bank with a valise full of gold and bank notes, the angry building contractor was satisfied at last. But stories of his plight got out to other depositors, who stormed the bank demanding their money. Once again Liambey howled for help and the depositors were paid off, but the effort severely strained Monaco’s credit.

Last week, in the worst crisis to over take his realm since 1871, the prestige and power of handsome, autocratic Prince Rainier lay under eclipse. With Monaco’s solvency teetering in the balance, Rainier’s National Council stepped in, began a searching investigation. First move: to persuade French police to arrest Banker Liambey in his villa at nearby Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.

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