The Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814: Spreading False Peace

 The Great Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814: Spreading False Peace

Date: February 21, 1814

Key Characters: Charles Random de Berenger (imposter), Lord Cochrane (wrongly implicated), stockbrokers.

Summary: Near the end of the Napoleonic Wars, a man dressed as a British officer arrived in Dover claiming Napoleon was dead and the Allies had taken Paris. The false news spread rapidly to London via staged coach arrivals. The stock market soared on expectations of peace. Fraudsters, including an imposter named Charles Random de Berenger, had bought stocks just before spreading the rumor and sold at the peak for huge profits. The subsequent crash ruined many. Famous naval hero Lord Cochrane was unjustly implicated and convicted in a politically charged trial, though later pardoned. It was a sophisticated early case of market manipulation.

Historical Reference: Trial transcripts, Parliamentary investigations, financial records of the time, Cochrane's memoirs.