The suit brought by a group of shareholders against the directors and manager of the Judea Industrial Corporation, of which the Judea Life Insurance Company is a subsidiary, to restrain them from offering for sale and issuing stock of the insurance company, was begun on Monday before Supreme Court Justice Wasservogel. Louis Lipsky, president of the Zionist Organization of America, appeared as a witness for the plaintiffs on Monday. Yesterday officials of the State Insurance Department appeared as witnesses.
The suit was brought by David Blumowitz and Arthur Kampel in behalf of themselves and other stockholders of the Judea Industrial Corporation. Among those who are named as defendants are Municipal Court Justice Jacob S. Strahl of Brooklyn, president of the Judea Industrial Corporation; Jacob Ish-Kishor, secretary; Max Fendik, and Samuel Mason, manager of the corporation.
The defendants are accused of using the Judea Insurance Company for their personal interests. The plaintiffs state first that Judge Strahl and Mr. Ish Kishor each received several hundred shares free; second, that the directors and the manager of the Industrial Corporation speculated with the stock of the company and boosted the price of shares from 25 to 75 dollars each, thus making large profits on the shares which they received free; third, that Mr. Mason, manager, made a quarter of a million dollars in commissions which he received for boosting and selling the shares of the company; fourth, that several directors received a share of the profits made by the manager.
The plaintiffs are seeking to prove that the Judea Industrial Corporation was originally founded as an idealistic undertaking to help in the upbuilding of Palestine, that it was understood that it would be under the moral control of the Order Sons of Zion, but that the present directors and managers of the corporation have converted it into a purely business undertaking. Besides Mr. Lipsky, Harry A. Pine, grand secretary of the Order Sons of Zion, also appeared as witness for the plaintiffs. The trial is expected to continue all week.
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