death The neutrality years also rekindled controversy over Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești's daily affairs. A scandal erupted in 1913, after banker Aristide Blank brought Bogdan-Pitești to court on charges of blackmail. The plaintiff enlisted the services of lawyer Take Ionescu, and the defendant, represented by Fleva, was ultimately sentenced to a jail term. Throughout the scandal, Seara hosted articles by Arghezi, professing Bogdan-Pitești's innocence. In 1916, just before Romania entered the war as an Entente country, Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești was again involved in a legal dispute with the Francophiles Take Ionescu and Barbu Ștefănescu-Delavrancea, with Constantin Dissescu as his lawyer. The Ententist bid resulted in major initial defeats, and a Romanian theater of war was opened. The country suffered heavily, and Bucharest was taken by the Central Powers. Reputedly, the occupation forces picked up Bogdan-Pitești from his cell at Văcărești, where he was still serving time. Like Arghezi, Macedonski, Galaction and Mateiu Caragiale, he remained in German-occupied territory. Despite his apparent triumph over the Ententist lobby, he kept a low profile: according to popular but unverifiable rumors, he was even arrested once the occupation authorities angrily discovered his uselessness for the cause. He was however a free man as of April 12, 1917, the date of his marriage to Domnica Colanoski. One account has it that Bogdan-Pitești proceeded to denounce his Ileana colleague, Petrescu Găină, who had published a set of anti-German cartoons. As a result, the Romanian draftsman spent the war years in German captivity. Once Romania recovered possession over its southern areas, Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești was reportedly prosecuted for treason and was again sent to Văcărești. Others however note that this last sentence, passed in 1919, was not in fact related to his wartime dealings, but merely to his fraudulent activities, and that only by coincidence did Bogdan-Pitești share a prison with the convicted collaborationist journalists (Arghezi, Karnabatt, Ioan Slavici). T. Vianu notes that Bogdan-Pitești spent his last years "in ignominy", while Cernat describes his definitive fall to the status of "a pariah". The art promoter died four years after the war ended, at his house in Bucharest, having suffered a myocardial infarction. According to Cernat, his "grotesque" death was sudden, catching him in the middle of a telephone conversation. Reportedly, Bogdan-Pitești's last wish had been for his collection to pass into state property and be kept as a museum. Legacy Role and influence Bogdan-Pitești was the subject of fascination in the