The financial scandal that rocked Franco's Spain and ended with a suicide in Lausanne

"His body was lying in the double bed of the apartment he and his wife had moved to when he had to leave his hometown because he had lost his job. Georges Laurent Rivara shouldn't have died in Lausanne, nor should his last job have been as a lingerie salesman. He died on September 6, 1962, at the age of 46. It's most likely that he killed himself."

"Although the plot sounds right out of a detective novel, every element has been thoroughly documented, says its author Enrique Faes, a professor of social history and political thought at the distance university UNED. The historian's research began with the 20 boxes of the Rivara case summary. I initially looked for it in the Bank of Spain's archives, because the documents from the Spanish Institute of Foreign Currency must have been there, but I finally located it instead in the Economic Crimes Court Collection,"

Georges Laurent Rivara died in Lausanne on September 6, 1962, at age 46, most likely by suicide. He spent most of his life in Geneva and entered the banking profession early. A major scandal erupted in late 1958 revealing his orchestration of hundreds of financial crimes and large-scale capital flight from Francoist Spain. Case files totaled 20 boxes and were located in the Economic Crimes Court Collection within the General Administration Archives. Documents from the Swiss Ministry of the Interior were held by the Federal Archives. Ten additional archives contributed material, and the investigative record includes an interview with Rivara's son.

Read at english.elpais.com