"A mysterious woman on a train stripped Harry of $100,000 and what remained of his faith in an orderly world." (p. 8) Lucretia Bingham "Uncle Harry's Secret"

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One of the most embarrassing episodes in Bingham IV's life that the Bingham family had to deal with was his extramarital affair while he stationed in Marseille.

Shortly after the Binghams arrived in Marseille, Bingham IV's wife Rose with, by then, their four children were send back home to the United States. (Exhibit 1, p. 2, ¶ 2-20). Handsome, alone, and with plenty of money to "burn" in Marseille where corruption and black market reigned supreme, created for sure an unique set of circumstances, like never before encountered, for the sophisticated Bingham IV.

After the departure from Marseille of Bingham IV's wife Rose, Bingham IV became a "regular" at various fashionable high-class brothels in the area as openly revealed by William S. Bingham, son of Bingham IV. In one of his documented findings [sic!], "Met in Brothels", part of his October 5, 1997 published article in the New London Day newspaper of Connecticut, USA, Exhibit 3_97Article, William S. Bingham asserted that his dad frequented so often the brothels

"because it was one of the few places where discretion and hushed conversation in English and other foreign languages could take place without arousing the suspicion of the proprietors. On occasion, some of the women in the team (Americans among them) would entice pro-Nazi guards and policemen in order to distract them, or get them drunk so that rescue operations could proceed with little or no interruption." William S. Bingham "Met in Brothels"

It was in that surreal environment, that Bingham IV was intimately acquainted with a woman that was able to steal from him a true fortune, the unheard sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000). We do not know who was that woman, whether Jewish or not, whether a high-class prostitute or not, but for sure she was well acquainted with Harry and his wealth.

Harry's face always had a sad, almost frozen, quality that I never understood until I delved into this story. (¶ 1-14) Lucretia Bingham "Uncle Harry's Secret"

Out of consideration and respect for the Bingham family, this is as much as we care to divulge in here with respect to that wrecking experience which has consumed Bingham IV's entire life.

The current Bingham family in attempting to resurrect Bingham IV to a status of hero, clearly could not have had that "cloud" hanging over his head, so a fable was concocted portraying Bingham IV as a "naïve" person with a golden heart who was taken advantage by an unscrupulous "mysterious" woman who, out of the blue, was able to swindle Bingham IV of the enormous sum of $100,000 (see, Exhibit 1, p. 7, ¶¶ 7-110 to 7-112):

• "soon after he returned from Argentina he fell prey to a con woman. Harry was returning by train from a disappointing business trip to New York, and when he returned from the dining car, a charming lady was sitting in his seat. They fell to talking and he was soon sharing his story with her. She convinced him she had a wonderful money-making scheme, and that she would promote his ideas for a new steel-making process if he would give her some money to invest in a sure-thing real-estate venture.
  
  Over the next few weeks, Harry signed over $100,000 to this woman.
  
  'That was half of more than everything I owned,' said Harry. The embezzlement was further proof to him that people were out to get him. He became convinced this woman had been sent by people who wanted to keep hidden his ideas about Argentina and a world-wide conspiracy to help the Nazis. " [sic!]
  
  
  • Yes, there is no question that Harry was taken for a "ride" by the "charming lady," but that, for sure, was not a train ride ...
    

    • 	.
      Hiram Bingham IV: anything but naïve ...

      Robert Kim Bingham, mentioned in our Opening Statement, went to extreme lengths to see that the official State Department record for his father would be changed to reflect this concocted "naïve" angle. With the help of his childhood friend David Patterson from Connecticut who is the State Department's deputy historian, a revised official biographic entry was placed for Bingham IV where one can see these lines from the State Department:
      

      "He was idealistic and naïve (a casual business acquaintance much later swindled $100,000 from him)."

      Bingham IV was anything but naïve but if that is the desired family picture on him, let it be. The impact of that experience, in any form portrayed, has had a devastating effect on Bingham IV out of which he never could get over. His outlook on life has changed forever as he became a completely transformed man. It is about this profound transformation that we deal in our next section.
      

 

 
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