The materials in this series are comprised of numerous investigations of securities law violations undertaken by the Department of Securities (and its predecessor agencies, the Railroad and Public Service Commissions and the Banking Dept.). A number of these investigations led to prosecution in state court (and occasionally to further federal investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission). Charges include fraud, illegal sales of securities (illegal usually because the sellers failed to obtain a permit from the state of Wisconsin), and similar violations of the state securities law. Some of the cases achieved a measure of regional notoriety, including the case of Sherburn J. Dodge (I.1818), a former mayor of Shawano who was tried in 1960 for embezzling large sums of money from his brokerage clients. Some have a particular degree of human interest - the files for the case of Elsie Ihlenfeld vs. William Seyler (0.1269), for example, contain a number of increasingly bitter letters from a delusional Ihlenfeld to a number of public officials (including Milwaukee District Attorney Herbert Steffes, Attorney General Orland Loomis, and Governor Philip La Follette), accusing them of obstructing justice and protecting Seyler from prosecution.
Materials include correspondence to and from individuals under investigation, attorneys, victims, and other authorities; exhibits from trials and investigations, financial documentation assembled by defendants and/or gathered by investigators; reports of investigations; transcripts of hearings; assorted memoranda; and other records relating to the investigation and enforcement processes.
