the article says, deep in a paragraph about how he got caught, that Forex was illegal but largely ignored. > The Angola & Metropole illegally bought foreign ex

the article says, deep in a paragraph about how he got caught, that Forex was illegal but largely ignored. > The Angola & Metropole illegally bought foreign exchange from him at a premium (money exchange was illegal in Portugal at the time, but in fact widespread and tolerated). The ledgers of these transactions were then torn out and destroyed. Although neither the teller nor the officials at the Porto branch of the Bank of Portugal could find any evidence that the bills from the Angola & Metropole were counterfeit, the circumstances were suspicious enough that the allegation was reported to Lisbon. I think Reis would have done much better than Hennies if he had fled; after all, Reis was a mastermind and Hennies was duped twice. (I think it's fair to absolve someone of the claim of poor investments in the late 1920s.)