Columbus Trust Company

Bank Information

Episode Type: Suspension → Closure
Bank Type: trust company
Start Date: July 14, 1948
Location: NEWARK, New Jersey (40.736, -74.172)

Metadata

Model: gpt-5-mini
Short Digest: 00d5c77d

Response Measures

None

Description

Article reports discovery of large embezzlement by a vice president/counsel and states that all Columbus Trust Co. offices opened as branches of the United States Trust Co., which assumed responsibility for all deposits — indicating the bank was taken over/assumed (permanent closure) rather than merely a temporary run or reopening. No run or depositor panic is described.

Events (1)

1. July 14, 1948 Suspension

Cause: Bank Specific Adverse Info
Cause Details: Embezzlement of about $630,000 by P. James Pellecchia Jr., vice president and counsel; discovery prompted bank takeover/assumption by United States Trust Co.
Newspaper Excerpt: All of the Columbus Trust's offices opened for business yesterday as branches of the United States Trust Co., which assumed responsibility for all of the deposits.
Source: newspapers

Newspaper Articles (1)

1. July 14, 1948 Evening Star Washington, DC

Article from Evening Star, July 14, 1948

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Article Text

NEWARK, N. J., July 14. - A dapper, 38-year-old Police Court judge who admitted he had embezzled more than a half million dollars took his place today in the County Jail alongside some 40 men he himself had sentenced there previously. Unshaven but still attired neatly in some choice selections from his 400-tie, 15-suit wardrobe, Judge P. James Pellecchia, jr., was assigned to a cell pending a hearing Friday on his possible release on bail. Pellecchia, named recently by a haberdashers' trade organization as "the Nation's best-dressed jurist," pleaded guilty yesterday to 20 charges of embezzlement in a hastily summoned hearing before Common Pleas Judge Philip Hartshorne. He faces a possible maximum seven-year sentence on each of the 20 counts, or a total of 140 years in prison. ### Father Is Chairman of Board. State Banking Commissioner John J. Dickerson said Pellecchia admitted taking $630,000 from the Columbus Trust Co., of which he was a vice president and counsel. His father, Pellegrino Pellecchia, 72, is chairman of the bank's board of directors. The judge was quoted as saying he had rigged up a series of fictitious mortgages to obtain the funds to cover his losses in horse-race bets. State Attorney General Walter D. Van Ripper said Pellecchia told him it was "nothing to lose $5,000 or $6,000 a week on the horses." Gov. Alfred E. Driscoll said at Trenton that he was ordering the investigation of the embezzlement continued along several lines. "Not the least of our interests," the Governor said, "is how it was possible for a police court judge to gamble away that much money and where." Mr. Van Riper ordered the judge's arrest by members of the Essex County prosecutor's office. Both Mr. Dickerson and Gov. Driscoll stressed that all depositors of the Columbus Trust Co. are "fully protected." All of the Columbus Trust's offices opened for business yesterday as usual as branches of the United States Trust Co., which assumed responsibility for all of the deposits. ### Ex-Showgirl Stands by Him. A pretty, brunette ex-follies girl to whom Pellecchia formerly was engaged for seven years said she would stand by him. The former showgirl, Gloria Cook, who lives in New York City, said, "I still think an awful lot of him. While I have no intention of going to see him now, I'll run to him if he wants me." Miss Cook, who appeared in "Say When" with Bob Hope, said they