The neutrality years also rekindled controversy over Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești's daily affairs. A scandal erupted in 1913, after banker Aristide Blank brought Bogdan-Pitești to court on charges of blackmail. The plaintiff enlisted the services of lawyer Take Ionescu, and the defendant, represented by Fleva, was ultimately sentenced to a jail term. Throughout the scandal, "Seara" hosted articles by Arghezi, professing Bogdan-Pitești's innocence. In 1916, just before Romania entered the war as an Entente country, Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești was again involved in a legal dispute with the Francophiles Take Ionescu and Barbu Ștefănescu-Delavrancea, with Constantin Dissescu as his lawyer.