André Langrand-Dumonceau

He started his career in financial services, helped by his elder brother, who worked for a Belgian branch of a French insurance company.

[5] His fortune collapsed in the late 1860s, triggering a major financial-political scandal in Belgium.

[6] During the period from the 1850s to 1870 he was involved with managing over twenty companies, including banks, and insurance and railway companies, a number of which he had founded;[3] including Royale Belge.

[6] He received backing from a number of notable figures, including Pope Pius IX, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, Napoleon III of France, and King Leopold of Belgium.

[3] In the financial Crash of 1870 he declared personal bankruptcy and fled into exile; he was accused of theft, bribery and criminal recklessness, and was condemned in absentia after a trial that ran from 1872 to 1879.