Scandal
Harry Sinclair's high-profile image as a reputable American business leader and sportsman came under question in April 1922 when the Wall Street Journal reported that United States Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall had granted an oil lease to Sinclair Oil without competitive bidding. The oil field lease was for government land in Wyoming that had been created as an emergency reserve for the United States Navy. What became known as the Teapot Dome scandal, ultimately led to a United States Senate establishing a Committee on Public Lands and Surveys to conduct hearings into the circumstances surrounding the government oil lease. The result was a finding of fraud and corruption which led to a number of civil lawsuits and criminal charges against Harry Sinclair and others. In 1927 the United States Supreme Court declared the Sinclair oil lease had been corruptly obtained and ordered it canceled.
Two weeks after Harry Sinclair's trial began in October 1927, it abruptly ended when the judge declared a mistrial following evidence presented by the government prosecutors showing that Sinclair had hired a detective agency to shadow each member of the jury. Sinclair was charged with contempt of court, the case eventually winding up before the United States Supreme Court who, on June 3, 1929, upheld Sinclair's conviction. He was fined and sentenced to six months in prison. The 1996 film Killer: A Journal of Murder features a scene of Harry Sinclair in Leavenworth prison when Carl Panzram is sent there.
In 1929, Secretary Albert B. Fall was found guilty of bribery, fined $100,000 and sentenced to one year in prison - making him the first Presidential cabinet member to go to prison for his actions in office.
Read more about this topic: Harry Ford Sinclair
Famous quotes containing the word scandal:
“In London, love and scandal are considered the best sweeteners of tea.”
—John Osborne (1929–1994)
“There’s no scandal like rags, nor any crime so shameful as poverty.”
—George Farquhar (1678–1707)
“Certain it is that scandal is good brisk talk, whereas praise of one’s neighbour is by no means lively hearing. An acquaintance grilled, scored, devilled, and served with mustard and cayenne pepper excites the appetite; whereas a slice of cold friend with currant jelly is but a sickly, unrelishing meat.”
—William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863)