 The story first became widely known in 1907, when it was published in the Russian journal "New Time" by Professor Alexander Rubets.In 1908 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia ordered the issue to be investigated by the Russian Consulate in London.Specifically, their unclaimed deposits at the Bank of England over the previous 200 years were investigated, and were found to total less than the alleged amount of Polubotok's fortune.