The Stavisky affair was a financial scandal in France in 1934, involving embezzler Alexandre Stavisky. The scandal had political ramifications for the Radical Socialist moderate government of the time when it was revealed that Prime Minister Camille Chautemps had protected Stavisky, who died suddenly in mysterious circumstances. Political rightists engaged in large anti-government demonstrations on 6 February 1934, resulting in Paris police firing upon and killing fifteen demonstrators. A right-wing coup d'état seemed like a possibility at the time, but historians agree that the multiple rightist forces were uncoordinated and not trying to overthrow the government. Stavisky Serge Alexandre Stavisky (1888–1934), who became known as le beau Sacha ("Handsome Sasha"), was a Russian Jew born in modern-day Ukraine whose parents had relocated to France. Stavisky tried various professions, working as a café singer, a nightclub manager, a soup factory worker, and as the operator of a gambling den. During the 1930s he managed municipal pawnshops in Bayonne but also knew financial people. Stavisky sold worthless bonds and financed his "hockshop" on the surety of what he called the emeralds of the late Empress of Germany—which were revealed later to be glass. Stavisky maintained his reputation by using his acquaintances with important people. If a newspaper tried to investigate his affairs, he paid them to stop, either with large advertisement contracts or by buying the newspaper's company. In 1927 Stavisky was put on trial for fraud for the first time. However, the trial was postponed repeatedly and he was granted bail nineteen times. Stavisky probably continued his scams during this time. One judge who claimed to have secret documents involving Stavisky was later found decapitated. Janet Flanner wrote: The scheme which finally killed Alexandre Stavisky, his political guests' reputations, and the uninvited public's peace of mind, was his emission of hundreds of millions of francs' worth of false bonds on the city of Bayonne's municipal pawnshop, which were bought up by life-insurance companies, counseled by the Minister of Colonies, who was counseled by the Minister of Commerce, who was counseled by the Mayor of Bayonne, who was counseled by the little manager of the hockshop, who was counseled by Stavisky. At risk of exposure in December 1933, Stavisky fled. On 8 January 1934, the police found him in a chalet in Chamonix, dying from a gunshot wound. Stavisky was officially determined to have committed suicide, but there was a persistent speculation