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Why could Paul de Man not return to Belgium after 1948?
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Paul de Man could not return to Belgium after 1948 because he had become a fugitive facing an open warrant for his arrest. Following the collapse of his publishing house, Hermès, he was prosecuted in absentia by two courts in Antwerp. He was found guilty on 16 counts of fraud, forgery, swindling, and falsifying financial records, resulting in a sentence of five years in prison and heavy fines.1