It was named for Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé, the 17th-century abbot of the monastery at La Trappe, France.
By October 1984, the charity's value plummeted to $83 million as a result of Harry John's questionable expenditures and investments of its assets.
[3] They claimed he was spending too much on a major television venture based at KIHS-TV in Ontario, California.
[4][2] Harry John was found guilty of gross mismanagement and was permanently removed by a judge from the De Rance board in August 1986.
[5] After Harry John died in December 1992, the De Rance board voted to award $30 million of the charity's $100 million in assets to several of John's favorite causes and then dissolved in order to prevent assets from being transmitted to Southern Cross Inc., a conservative Catholic agency.