Henry Oberlander

Henry Oberlander (born c. 1927) was the leader of the Hungarian Circle, a gang that defrauded international banks of hundreds of millions of pounds. Following a global investigation, the gang were arrested in 1978 at their headquarters in West London, England. During the trial, the prosecution asserted that the gang "could have wrecked the entire banking system of the Western World". The scam, possibly operating over a twenty-year period, was dubbed at the time as "the greatest fraud in banking history". As a notorious conman, the detail of Oberlander's testimony was not given much weight at the time. His aliases included Evans, Blum, Orlander, Markowitz and Weisser.

In the early morning of 13 August 1976, 250 police detectives, led by the Serious Crime Squad, closed in on the flat and arrested 32 people, including Oberlander, Fiocca and Fleischmann. Police officers describe finding thousands of forged letters of credit, cheques, passports and visas. Among the paperwork, they found 117 forged bankers drafts about to be distributed through the Israel Discount Bank, to the value of £10 million. Police also raided 20 other buildings connected to the circle. British police officers stated that Oberlander was freed early as he managed to convince American authorities that he held valuable information available for trading.

Henry's rule Oberlander's motto is today known as 'Henry's rule' of business. "Everyone is willing to give something for whatever it is they desire the most."

Further resources Footage of Hungarian Circle trial. British Universities Film and Video Council, News report, 30 May 1978 Trial records held at the National Archives. 1977 Jan 01 - 1980 Dec 31