Gruban was a German-born businessman who ran several factories that made tools for manufacturing munitions for the First World War.

In an effort to find government contracts and money to expand his business, he contacted a businessman and MP, Frederick Handel Booth, who willingly promised both.

The case was so popular that the involved barristers found it physically difficult to get into the court each day because of the size of the crowds gathered outside.

Although those on both sides were noted for their skill, the case went almost entirely one way, with the jury taking only ten minutes to find Booth guilty.

[1] That made Gruban a major player in a now-large market, and he attempted to raise £5,000 to expand his business.

[1] On independent advice, he contacted Frederick Handel Booth, a noted Liberal Member of Parliament who was chairman of the Yorkshire Iron and Coal Company and had led the government inquiry into the Marconi scandal.

[3] Over the next few months, a series of complaints came from the Ministry of Munitions about Gruban's work and his German origins and ended in a written statement by Lloyd George's private secretary that it was "undesirable that any person of recent German nationality or association should at the present time be connected in an important capacity with any company or firm engaged in the production of munitions of war".

[5] The trial attracted such public interest that on the final day that the barristers found it physically difficult to get through the crowds surrounding the Law Courts.

In his opening speech to the jury, he criticised Booth for loving money rather than his country and said that one of the things that the English prided themselves on was fair play, and "no matter how loudly the defendant raises the cry of patriotism, I feel sure that your sense of fair play, gentlemen, will ensure a verdict that the defendant is unfit to sit in the House of Commons, as he has been guilty of fraud".

[9] The jury decided the case in only ten minutes, found Booth guilty and awarded Gruban £4,750.