Christophe Rocancourt
| Christophe Rocancourt | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Christophe Thierry Rocancourt 16 July 1967 Honfleur, Calvados, France |
| Other names | Christopher Rocancourt |
| Occupation | Impostor, Confidence man |
| Spouse(s) | Gry Park Pia Reyes |
| Children | 3 |
Christophe Thierry Rocancourt, sometimes also called Christopher Rocancourt (born July 16, 1967), is a French impostor and confidence man who scammed affluent people by masquerading in turn as a French nobleman, the heir to the Rockefeller family or family member of a celebrity.
His first big con was made in Paris, where he faked the deed to a property that he did not own, which he then "sold" for USD $1.4 million.
Making his way to the United States, Rocancourt used at least a dozen aliases. He got the rich and powerful to invest in his schemes, he told Dateline, by tapping into their greed. He convinced them that he, too, was rich by paying for their lavish dinners in cash. In Los Angeles, he pretended to be a movie producer, ex-boxing champion or venture capitalist. He dropped names like "his mother" Sophia Loren or "his uncles" Oscar de la Renta and Dino De Laurentiis and was associated with various celebrities. He married Playboy model Pia Reyes; they had a son, Zeus. He lived for a time with Mickey Rourke and apparently convinced actor Jean-Claude Van Damme to produce his next movie. He also married actress Gry Park in 1995 with whom he has a daughter.
Beside being married to Pia Reyes, according to the press, he lived with Playboy model Rhonda Rydell for six months. She did not know Rocancourt was married, and said he had told her he was French nobility, the son of a countess.
In 1997 police raided Rocancourt's hotel suite. In 1998 he was arrested for an involvement in a shootout and jumped bail. In 1999 he was freed of charges of forging passports after he had bribed State Department employees to get a passport. He was arrested in 2000 in the Hamptons for an unpaid hotel bill, then jumped bail. On April 27, 2001 he and Reyes were arrested in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and charged with defrauding an elderly couple. Reyes was released after convincing authorities that she had no part in the scam, much less any idea of her husband's criminal activities.
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Wikipedia