How a false Rockefeller descendant emptied the pockets of Hollywood stars for 20 years: ingenious swindler Christophe Rocancourt

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

At one time, the writers Ilya Ilfov and Yevgeny Petrov created the literary image of the “great schemer” Ostap Bender, who knew how to “take” money “in four hundred comparative honest ways”. One of its modern prototypes is the swindler Christophe Rocancourt. The only difference is that Bender called himself the son of a Turkish citizen, and the modern "combinator" - a descendant of Rockefeller.

An orphan without education

In 1967, in the fabulously beautiful town of Lower Normandy Honfleur, which is also called the "city of artists", the future great swindler of the 90s Christophe Rocancourt was born. His father was an alcoholic artist, and his mother was a woman of easy virtue. She often and for a long time left, spending time with other men, so the children - Christophe and his younger sister, with a difference of a year, remained at home alone.

A year later, Christophe's father went to work and the family broke up. Christophe and his sister were taken in by their grandparents, who lived in a trailer without water or heating. Only when the boy was five years old did the “head of the family” return and first of all sent the children to an orphanage: they were “ballast” for him in arranging his personal life.

In 1985, Christoph fled from his foster family, where he ended up from an orphanage, in search of a rich life. The atmosphere of living in the orphanage left an imprint on the character of the child. He, like many children from such institutions, learned all sorts of shenanigans, which served as his orientation in choosing a life path.

The beginning of the path of the future "combinator"

In Paris, where Christophe fled, he tried to work honestly, but he was convinced that such earnings did not make him happier and richer. And then the guy decided to use his orphanage experience of cheating. The future aphirist tried everything from raiding shops to robbing banks.

So Christoph got a mentor with criminal experience and both criminals are going to Switzerland - a country of banks with big money. The arrest of the mentor and five “walkers” behind bars of Christoph himself suggest that he should act differently. His first clever scam was the sale of real estate using fake documents.

For such activities, Christoph had to adopt different images, pretend to be an honest and decent real estate seller. And it worked great! He realized that people are led by images, and that he has excellent acting skills. In the head of an inventive swindler, a plan was born to infiltrate the upper strata of society.

He's Rockefeller, he's the son of Sophia Loren and …

The most interesting thing in the life of Christophe Rocancourt began after he robbed a jewelry store in Geneva in 1991. He succeeded, only after this event the great swindler was put on the wanted list. And then, as if fate itself prompted the swindler the way to untold riches: in order to get away from prison, Rokancourt goes “fishing” to the United States.

At that time, Christophe Rocancourt had already understood that the main "key" to the safe of the rich was a skillfully composed legend, the creation of the illusion of wealth and elementary human greed. This almost always gave results, there were only a few failures that convinced the rogue that there are still smart people on the planet.

At first Christophe Rocancourt hunted rich women. He knew perfectly well the psychology of the fair sex, which allows him to easily win their heart and money. The weapon of temptation was skillful courtship - lunches and dinners in expensive restaurants, appropriate gifts. Such acquaintances ended with robbery. Then the modern Ostap Bender realized that he could hit a big jackpot by circling the stars of Hollywood.

The fraudster boldly took this step without bothering about the scam plan, because for such people the main bait was the greed, the usual human greed. Christophe had already honed his manners, knew how to behave in high society and always skillfully put on one or another mask.

The swindler could rent a gorgeous room and introduce himself as a relative of Rockefeller. This surname had a magical effect on everyone who heard it. Christophe was embarrassed to ask for a fee and without any doubt invested a lot of money in non-existent projects. And in order for such a legend to work 100%, the fraudster left (supposedly forgetting) a watch covered with diamonds and other expensive things. He said that the smell of money was stupefying to his opponents.

Christophe Rocancourt was also known under the name of Fabien Ortuno, Christopher Reyes, as the driver of Formula 1, acting under the name of Michael van Hoven, the nephew of the famous producer Dino de Laurentiis and even the son of Sophia Loren.

For stars whose careers were nearing decline, Laurentis's ossuary name had a strong influence. The promise to double or triple their capital was taken seriously and millions fell into the hands of the swindler. Jean-Claude Van Damme and Mickey Rourke were on the list of those deceived by Rocancourt. He was married to two Playboy models at once - Pie Reyes, who gave birth to a son to Christophe, and Rhonda Rydell, who knew the fraudster as the unmarried son of a French countess. According to information that later became known to law enforcement agencies, Christophe Rocancourt deceived nineteen people. And how much in fact, only he knows!

They tried to arrest the swindler several times, but he always got out of it. In 2001, he was still imprisoned, but after a couple of years, Rokancourt was released. During his stay "in the zone" the false millionaire wrote an autobiography in which he openly ridiculed everyone he had deceived, and also honestly confessed his "sins." But the most interesting thing is that the fraudster won nationwide fame and he was offered a contract with publishers for a new biography and shooting a film about him. Also, Rokancourt even worked as a TV presenter of a famous channel and recorded a single.

Fame and recognition did not change Christophe Rocancourt and his mind did not stop building new financial pyramids. In 2008, he already walked the red carpet arm in arm with Naomi Campbell, unaware of her partner's true face.

And in continuation of the theme about brilliant scammers, a story about how the Russian aristocrat Maria Tarnovskaya made love a profitable business, and then paid for it.