Dona Branca
Encyclopedia
Don (honorific)
Don, from Latin dominus, is an honorific in Spanish , Portuguese , and Italian . The female equivalent is Doña , Dona , and Donna , abbreviated "Dª" or simply "D."-Usage:...
" Branca (1902 – 1992) was a Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
criminal known chiefly for maintaining a Ponzi scheme
Ponzi scheme
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned by the individual or organization running the operation...
in Portugal between 1970 and 1984 that paid a ten percent monthly interest. During this time she became popularly known as "The people's banker".
Dona Branca was arrested in 1984, and in 1988 she was sentenced to 10 years in prison. She was one of the last inmates of Convento das Mónicas
Convento das Mónicas
Convento das Mónicas or Monica's convent, was an Augustinian nunnery founded in Lisbon in 1586 to the religious order of Saint Augustine, and named after his mother Saint Monica.The convent was partially destroyed by the 1755 earthquake...
when it was dismantled in 1989.
In 1993 RTP
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, S.A.,commonly known as RTP, is Portugal's public service broadcasting organization. It operates four terrestrial television channels and three national radio channels, as well as several satellite and cable offerings....
created a telenovela
Telenovela
A telenovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming popular in Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish television programming. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão , and novela, a Spanish or Portuguese word for "novel"...
titled A Banqueira do Povo ("The People's Banker") based on these events with Eunice Muñoz
Eunice Muñoz
Eunice Muñoz, OSE, GCIH is a Portuguese actress. She was born in Amareleja, Portugal.-External links:...
playing the role of the title character, in this case Doina Benta.