They provided important financial and commercial services to the Dey (the local ruler of the Ottoman Empire), and some of them were appointed over the years to serve as the "early" mediator between the Algerian Jewish community and the government.
In 1800, agents of the Bakri-Bujanah company, Jacob Cohen Bakri and Shimon Aboucaya, were arrested in Paris, after urging France to pay its debts.
The question of France's debts to the Bakri-Busnach company remained unresolved during the years 1800–1826, despite Algeria's attempts to obtain the funds at the time of Louis XVI.
On this occasion, Hussein Dey publicly asked the French consul whether France intended to meet the debt settlement and whether it had begun transferring the funds.
News of the incident spread fast becoming an outrage in France where the coup d’éventail ('blow with the fly whisk') promoted calls to restore French honour.
France also approached Russia and Egypt proposing a grand north African campaign to bring Tripolo, Tunis and Algiers all under French or Egyptian control.