Los Angeles, Aug. 28 (AP) —

A suit against E. L. Doheny and
the directors of the Pan-American
Petroleum Transport company by
etockholders of the latter corpor-
ation who allege that the share-
holders were the real losers in
the Elk Hills naval oil reserve
leasing scandal, was on file here
today.

The complaint, filed yesterday
in behalf of Frank H. Kunkel of
Cincinnati, and other sharehold-
ers, declares that the stockhold-
ers lost $10,000,000 as the result
of the cancellation of the fraud-
ulent lease. It asks that Doheny
and the board of directors be com-
pelled to render an accounting.

The $100,000 which was de-
livered to Albert B_ Fall, former
secretary of the interior, by E. L.
Doheny. jr., in the much discus-
sed “little black satchel,’’ was de-
clared in the suit to have been
the rightful property of the stock-
holders. An -aceounting of this
exchange, which the complaint
branded as a bribe, was demand-
ed,

The lease, which was negotiat-
ed in behalf of the government by
Fall, was cancelled by a decision
of the United States supreme
court after the Pan-American had
spent several million dollars to-
ward developing the Elk Hills,
Calif., oil reserve and on the
building of oil storage tanks at
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Kunkel’s complaint sets forth
that neither he nor any of the
plaintiff stockholders had = any
hand in the leasing negotiations.
Some time ago, aceording to the
suit, demand was made upon the
board of directors of the company
for the accounting but nothing
was done about it.

The suit demands that Doheny
personally be compelled to reim-
burse the stockholders for the al-
leged losses.
 
By ihe Associated Press. :

Los Angeles, Cal. Aug. 27.—A bill
of complaint demanding an account-
ing of $10,000,000 was filed in the
United States district court today
against Edward L. Doheny and the
Pan-American Petroleum and Trans-
port company. The bill which charges
that stockholders of the company lost
this sum thru alleged fraud on the
part of Doheny in the famous Elk
Hills oil scandal, was filed by a Los
Angeles law firm on behalf of Frank
H. Kunkel, attorney, of Cincinnati,
who brought the suit in the interests
of himself and other stockholders.

The bill declares that the $10,000,000
was lost by the stockholders solely be-
cause Doheny acted fraudulently in
connection with the leasing from for-
mer Secretary cof the Interior Albert
B. Fall of the Elk Hills naval oil re-
serve, and thru large sums spent in
development of the fields themselves,
and elsewhere in connection with the
deal. It demands that an accounting
be made by Doheny and that such
money as was expended in the alleged
giving of a $100,000 bribe to Fall, and
in the development of the fraudulent-
ly leased fields, be returned to the
stockholders.

The complaint declares that neither
Kunkel nor the other stock holders
had any hand in the alleged fraud
whereby the money was lost. He al-
leges that demand was made some
time ago upon the board of directors
of the oil company for the starting of
legal action against Doheny to force
the accounting and recovery of this
money and that the board had done
nothing. He also demands that when
the accounting is rendered, the court
Issue a decree and judgment against
Doheny compelling him personally to
repay this money to the stockholders.

 
 