March 9, 2023 • 51 mins
He was zee best con artiste en zee 90s, no? Frenchman Christopher Rocancourt took Los Angeles by storm, rubbing elbows with celebrities and emptying the bank accounts of the wealthy and gullible. But when he took his act on the road to the Hamptons as a phony heir to an enormous fortune, they saw right through him.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. Zaron Burnett. What up,
Elizabeth Dutton? You know it's ridiculous, girl. I do the
Utah Jazz stop? Yeah? Did you ever wonder why as
a team in Salt Lake City called the Utah Jazz
didn't they start somewhere else? New Orleans of courts, right,
They were the New Orleans Jazz. They were an expansion team,
and they chose their name because jazz is quote defined
(00:22):
in the Dictionary as collective improvisation, and that's basketball to them.
They're like, yeah, we're the Utah. We're sorry, Utah, We're
the New Orleans Jazz. Okay, well, Elizabeth Jazz, and that
belongs in New Orleans basketball apparently does not, because I
looked into this because I was curious, like, how did
that ever happen? Oh Man? In their second stadium, they
had an elevated court. They were only in New Orleans
(00:45):
for five years, but they had a second stadium, and
in the second stadium they was elevated. It was elevated
so high that the NBA Players Association, the Union for players,
made the Jazz at a net around the court so
when players fell off, they didn't get hurt here kidding,
like what is going didn't have like enough of a
I don't hurt. It was elevated like you would be
(01:07):
watching it like it was a boxing match or something
like they were up high above the crowd. Is that
just so that we could all peak up their shorts? Maybe? Yes,
they were very short then, But there was also like
not just that, there was the issue of Mardi Gras.
So whenever they had to leave and be out of
the town, out of New Orleans the entire month that
Mardi Gras was going, because nobody would go to the basketball,
(01:28):
They're like, oh, forget that. So they were like, well,
we can't have that look bad, So they would just
leave town for a whole month. They go on a
road trip because of Mardi Gras. So after this five years,
people were like, look, we got to get basketball out
of New Orleans. So then they moved it to Utah
and they're like, oh, yeah, but why didn't they change
that question? You know why? Paperwork? What they missed a deadline.
The league had a deadline for to approve a name change.
(01:50):
They couldn't get that in time. So because they didn't
do that, they just had to keep the Mardi Gras
colors and become the Utah Jazz. And so to this day,
this Utah Bay Professional basketball team, they now have a
mascot named Jazz Bear who rides into the stadium on
a dirt motorbike and he fires off like I don't know,
t shirt guns and you like that, and I don't
(02:12):
know the only way that this makes sense to me
is if Jazz Bear and Cocaine Bear are related, that
would make sense, and then are they are? Now that's
cannon So but like the team, the team should be
the Utah Templars, right or the Honeybees. Dude. I saw
somebody on Reddit they said that, you know, they point
basically pointed out that it's right next to the Salt
Lake Green Salt Lake, and they're like, that thing's got
mad Brian Shrimp. So dude, Reddit user bush did Cloverfield.
(02:37):
He posted that the Utah Jazz and I quote should
be called the Utah Sea Monkeys, and I agree with
bush did Cloverfield. Go see monkeys. I'm gonna do a
change dot Org post this make this happen there. You
got ridiculous, right, It's ridiculous. Yeah, do you know what
else is ridiculous. Now hit me with it having a
con career that involves creating a perfume. In line with
(03:00):
Jermaine Jackson, This is Ridiculous Crime, a podcast about absurd
(03:25):
and outrageous capers, heists and cons. It's always ninety nine
percent murder free and one hundred percent ridiculous. Zaren. I
love a good European con artist. Yeah, you do, right,
especially when the con takes their show on the road
to the United States. That's when it gets good. Well,
there were such suckers here for British or European accents
(03:46):
and continental mannerism. Oh my god. Yeah, if you wear
like pants where I can see your ankles, and oh
you must know things, brilliant things. Well, I think you
know a little about this from your time in Hollywood.
Did you ever encounter any eighty Europeans when you were there?
Did I ever, we could ask a shorter question, did
I ever meet any like solid and well to do
(04:08):
and reasonable Europeans in the film industry? No, I would
say that. Yeah, I met a ton of shady like
mostly French, a lot of and so gentlemen. So I
just trying to find places to invest our money because
we all saw it, like what you're doing at Hollywood
is so much fun, and everybody around the world peas
attentions and we have you don't know very well in
Germany right now. So we're looking for places to invest.
(04:30):
Do you need some money? You're like, are you kidding?
You're not a real investor. This is a cocaine deal. Basically,
I think that the guy I'm going to tell you
about it was before your time there, but he would
blend right into what you're talking about. I'm talking about
a man named Christophe Rocancorp. Oh good name. Or was
Christopher Reyes or Christopher Lloyd or Christopher de Laurentis or
(04:55):
Christopher Rockefeller. Oh, yeah, I've heard me. I'm catching I'm
catching up. Yeah, so I said European, right, This dude's French.
Apparently he's from the French branch of the Rockefeller fan
Christophe Terry Danielle Rocancourt. He was born in nineteen sixty
(05:16):
seven in En Fleur, of France. So his dad was
a house painter and a drunk and an all around
garbage human being. I was gonna say, you had me
going with house and then it fell off. It just
went right off. A cliff. His mom was a seventeen
year old prostitute. His early home life was obviously chaotic.
Sounds like chaotic is an understatement. Yes, I don't want
(05:36):
to get into it because it's a sad, horrible mess.
But the essential part is that Christophe wound up in
an orphanage. So he gets adopted when he's twelve by
this military guy in his family, great Tantini type, well,
super disciplinarian. Yeah, Christoph ran away a few times and
then took off for good when he was eighteen. That
was in nineteen eighty five. So he goes to Paris,
(05:58):
does some modeling. Okay, as you do, didn't see that coming. Yeah,
he got himself a wealthy girlfriend, and then he pulled
his very first con look at you. Yeah, he said
he was Russian nobility, and he called himself Prince day
Gallots in Prince de Gallots as Prince de Gallotzin. He
forged a deed to this one of the posh townhouses
(06:22):
that his girlfriend's father owned. Oh yeah, wow, and then
he tried to sell it a choice one point two
million dollars. Oh wow? Did he? The girlfriend's father owned
a lot of places. He owned a ton of places,
but no one was buying his Russian royalties, so it
didn't fly. But between eighty seven in nineteen ninety two
he did five different jail stints for forgery, counterfeiting, petty larceny.
(06:45):
So he was not good. No, he was not good
at this. Yes, he skipped over the border to Switzerland
and then he participated in this home invasion robbery that
kind of blossomed into a jewelry store heist. That's strange. Yeah,
they bust in, They're like, oh, you you own this
jewelry store. Take us to the Oh so the cops
pinned him is a one, Yeah, exactly there. Oh hey,
you're at the jewelry store in Or Let's go down
(07:07):
to your business. They pit. The cops take him as
a suspect, but he leaves the country mark so before
you can get caught, where did he go? His next
location was the perfect spot for him and where he
could really run his con in the best possible way.
Los Angeles. Oh, yes, so it's ninety one. He's twenty
four years old. He's a Frenchman on a mission to
(07:30):
reinvent himself and lighten some bank accounts along the way.
This is who you meet in exactly, so he gets
in good with the French expatriates in Los Angeles. The
epicenter of that crowd was Cafe Maurice on Las Siannaga, Okay,
and the location is now the Belmont, But for many years,
up until two thousand and one, Cafe Maurice was the
(07:50):
spot for the French and those who wanted to kind
of be in their orbit. The snobbery was exceptionally thick. Yeah,
a pure Parisian gem. You know what else was thick?
This guy's accent. Rokan Corp. Yeah. I watched his interview
with Steve Croft on sixty Minutes and I was totally
blown away. I thought your French accent was thick, like
(08:11):
comically so yes, I didn't think any real Frenchman sounded
like that when speaking English. I was wrong. Yes, Mother
of Pearl, his accent is thick. So anyway, basically I
do not know what she'll talking about. Um On. In
June of nineteen ninety two, Rokean Corp. He went to
this place called Bar One on Sunset Boulevard and it
(08:34):
was the hip spot in the nineties for Hollywood types
and the wealthy. Um there were tons of paparazzi photos
of people like I looked it up. Who was going
to Bar One at this time? Pam Anderson, Oh yeah,
Ringo Starr had a birthday party there. Christian Slater, Oh yes,
Scott bo It's like El listaries. Um, it was a
(08:56):
hot spot. You gotta trust meet. It was a hot spot.
Even though I couldn't find photographing the so Rogan Corp.
He wanted to go to Bar One, not for celebrity
spotting or like schmooz rich dudes. He wanted a wheeze
on the coach check girl a born again Christian named
greed Park so green. She tried her hand at acting.
She was in the Adventures of Ford Fairlane as twin
(09:19):
club Girl, and then she was in an episode of
Freddie's Nightmares. But now here she is reading the Bible
while working the coach check of Bar One. Like she
literally sat there reading the Broken Corps, smitten and relentless.
He's like, there's a market or should I say De
Laurentis was smitten and relent He introduced himself degree as
(09:42):
Christopher de Laurentis, nephew of film producer Dino de Laurentis. Yeah,
of course, why not. Yeah, and he's determined to get
together with gree He offers to go to church with her. Wow,
he's like, that's a good date. A couple of months,
his pursuit pays off, Like he just keeps at her,
keeps at her. They didn't have like a normal first date,
they didn't have a first kiss. They flew to Hawaii
(10:04):
for a vacation. He took her to Hawaii, right, the
first thing he did. First thing, the first time he
gets her out of bar one is to go to
They had separate rooms in Hawaii, so he and she's
like he was a perfect gentleman. So over time though,
he wins her affections, and he also confesses his cons
to her. This is like way before Instagram, fly me
out store completely this Yeah, she has nowhere to post
(10:27):
the picks. Yeah, so you know people who say they're
not doing it for the Graham or doing it for
the Graham. Um, So he confesses his cons. He also
tells her his real name, and he gets her to
Hawaiian decides the confessor. No, this is like when they
get back and so then they're kind of they're like
going around. They go to Vegas, all the time. Yeah,
so this is October of ninety two. The love bombing work. Yes,
(10:49):
the love bombing paid off on one of their Vegas trips.
They got married and then they moved into this new
home together, a suite at the Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel,
so green. Though she's starting a little suspicious. None of
his stories are adding up, and like debts are piling up.
They're starting to have like bill collectors come. So she
(11:09):
threatens to leave unless he tells the truth about himself
and his life. Like, hey, Chris, your dad really a diplomat.
It's like, no, Leno, he was diplomatic. He was diplomatique
Uh was he? Are you a drug dealer? Christ Leno?
And then he's like, all right, fine, I'm a criminal.
(11:31):
I'm actually part of the Italian mafia. Gree's like I've
had enough. I know. That does it for the Italian mafia? Yeah?
So she the Italian, the Frenchman and the Italian mafia.
So she's like, look, I'm leaving. She goes to her
sisters in San Francisco. I need to tell you that
at the time, she's pregnant with their child. Oh yeah,
(11:53):
so she didn't tell him where she was going. Somehow
he tracks her down. Um, he moved into a place
just across the Golden Gate from her in Saceleto, a
lot of marks in Saceleto, and he begs her over
and over again to reconcile. Did she call the cops? No,
kind of she called the FBI. Wow. Yeah, So she's
(12:16):
just like, this guy's harassing me whatever, So she calls
the FBI kind of like you called the Coastguard. She
called the FBI. Yeah, But here's what she does. She
calls him up and she's like, hey, um, i am
married to this guy Christopher Rokeencorp. If you've heard of him,
or if you have anything you want to talk about,
give me a call. She leaves a message. Five minutes later,
they call back, and then like ten minutes after that,
an agents at her door, already in the Bay Area
(12:40):
to track him down, because like the agent had gone
interviewed a bunch of people in Saceleto and in NAPA
who said they'd all been caned by a guy named
Christopher de Laurentis and they lost money to him. So
Gree's like, you know what I'm in, Let's catch this
guy like yeah, So phones are tapped, calls are traced.
(13:01):
Greece sets up this call with Rokean Corp. She's like, honey,
it's over for good no, and then like he hangs
up on her. A few minutes later, he called right back.
He's like, guess what if BI has arrested me? And
so hangs up and he's like, I know it was you.
He's like, by zuwe, I will not kill you. Tells
(13:23):
her I'm not going to kill you. So there's that.
He's like, okay, well I feel a little bit better
about that. You feel safe. So Rokean Corps. He was
wanted for that Swiss home invasion turn jewelry heist. He
gets extradited to Geneva. There wasn't enough evidence though, so
he gets handed over to the French for all those
old swindles that he pulled back there. He went to
prison in France in nineteen ninety four, supposedly for life,
(13:47):
real sentence. Wow, well that sounds excessive, it does, doesn't it.
The French thought so too, so he comes very French.
He goes in in ninety four and he comes out
in ninety five, from life to one year. Say love
you if we have a chance in life it is,
it is so imperminent, why should we make you spend
the impermanent here? So what does he do? He gets
(14:09):
out and he contacts gree and I am back. He's like,
come to Paris and she does. She's like, all right,
I guess it's like she's the mother of his child.
Or they get back together. She really belies in prison reform.
It's restorative. So they get back together. But she what
(14:29):
she doesn't tell them is she's had their Marriaginald, so
it's over. But like, all right, fine, I'll give it
a shot. They both eventually go back to La and
then rocan cor is like, I'm going to go straight,
but he obviously doesn't. He doesn't know how to do that,
because otherwise that would be the end of this episode.
So they're on again, off again, and he's like getting
help from her like Christian missionary pals. Oh wow, Like
(14:49):
you can sleep on my sofa and I'll pay for
you to take some classes or whatever. The sheep invites
the wolf into their homes basically, but at the whole time,
Rogan corp he's romancing a pla boy model named Pia
Rea's yeah, and in nineteen ninety six they got married.
So he marries this playboy model. They move into Sweet
ten ninety at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, and he
(15:14):
tells everyone that he's this wealthy French businessman. Sometimes he's
Christopher de la Rena, nephew of fashion designer Oscar de
la Renta. Sometimes he says he owns all these Beverly
Hills boutiques. Sometimes he's Christopher Reyas like he takes progressive
he takes his wife's name, you know. So he's running
up all these huge tabs at hotels, boutiques, restaurants because
(15:36):
he's convincing. Things start to get a little close with
the debts. So then he just like swindles someone new,
pays them off and then keeps going. So he just
clears his debt with a new swindle, Peter exactly. So
there he is cruising around La in a Ferrari, this
gray Ferrari. He's playing the part of bon vivant. Everyone
(15:59):
wanted to come and party at Sweet ten ninety. Celebrities,
rich weirdos, Hollywood freaks, Beverly Hills adventurers. This is getting
like a Stefan from sn He got himself a bodyguard,
a guy named Benny omgarum Omgar also did security for
another late nineties spectacle and a Nicole Smith. Oh yeah,
(16:19):
we're in that. Like, um so, let's take a break
and process this. When we come back, I'm going to
tell you about the people who partied in Sweet ten
ninety and we're back. Hey, look at us. We're at
(16:52):
the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Oh yeah, we can see
Rodeo drive from here exactly U Roken Corps. He's married
to a playboy bunny living it up. You know. He
has tons of interesting and weird and shady and naive
people hanging around and partying with him. It's la Well,
you'd have like a list of like all the stuff
that they like, like drugs, Asian ladies like so. Um so.
(17:16):
There's another grifter in this orbit named Leah Bongo. That's
a great name. Well, she's the daughter of Omar Bongo,
president of Gabon. Oh so not like the cousin of
no So. He was president for forty two years from
nineteen sixty seven to his death in two thousand and nine,
and he was plagued by allegations of corruption most of
(17:37):
the president of Yes. Um he was one of the
wealthiest heads of state thanks to oil money and corrupt ruption. Yes,
the other Jack Abramoff scandal. Oh yeah so he yeah, exactly.
He was the lobbyist who went to jail for corruption
and bribery. That's the simplest way to explain that one. Um.
(18:01):
You should do an episode on Jackie. Oh yeah, him Ambigoyevich. Yes. Well, anyway,
so Abramoff he offered to put together a meeting between
George W. Bush and Bongo for the low, low price
of nine million. Wow it was meg. Yeah. It was
never proven that money changed hands, but Bush did meet
with Bongo less than a year after the offer was made. Wow.
So omar Bongo. He had thirty kids and of those kids,
(18:25):
one Leah Bongo. And who is she. She's the assistant
to Jermaine Jackson. Wait a minute, you're the daughter of
a president and the best gig you can get is well.
Herruption that he had is he was sending tons of
money over to the States and buying mansions Malibu and
all these other places, and and just living this lavish
lifestyle and sending his kids exactly. So I'm not so
(18:47):
sure if she was like the true assistant or just
like Smaine Jackson. Sure, but the fact you had to
show up anywhere on a schedule look like like a
clock was a part of her life is amazing. Well,
every time I see the name Jermaine Jackson, all I
think about is that he has a kid named your Majesty,
and I just keep marveling at that. I give myself
a little clothes mouth chuckle. So Leah Bongo. She gives
(19:11):
ROCANCR access to a bunch of like hyper wealthy African
royalty and he uses that to his full advantage. They're
giving him cars, they're learning him money, so he's just
taken advantage. Another clown in this circus is a guy
named Carlos Pinto. He's a Beverly Hills cop and how
did he meet? Rocan Corps? Gave him a ticket once? Oh,
(19:33):
i'll take you with corruption now, and suddenly they're like
Pal's his sister, Lillian Pinhoe, she also entered the friend group.
She wound up giving ROCANCR one hundred and twenty five
thousand dollars for one of his phony investment schemes, and
this time he said it was a project to open
an Italian men's clothing shop called pal Zileery downstairs in
(19:53):
the lobby of the Regent Beverly Wilsher. So he's scamming
a Cops sister out of one hundred grand to make
some when she went to this whole thing trying to
get the money back where she she had to fly
somewhere to meet up with him, and he had this
henchman with him, and she thought he was like an assassin,
and they're gonna give her this check. And the henchman
(20:13):
pulls the check out of his tie and hands it
to her and she opens it up and it's like
a fake check, but it's signed by Steve Martin, like
the comedian. What the whole thing is so confusing? She's confused.
She's like, are you kidding me? So he takes it
and then he's like confides like I'm not really a henchman.
I'm like I got con too, So anyway, that's Lilian,
I'm like you so, and the check coming out of
(20:38):
the tie likes a little it's like those old shoes,
like the kangaroos with the zipper and all you can
get anyway, Steve randomly Steve Martin. So here's Christopher. He's
like two littling around Beverly Hills and his Ferrari. He
comes up with fake business deals with which to con
the wealthy and like the not so wealthy of their money.
Most of the people were wary of his schemes, but
(21:00):
two men kept him afloat all right. M One was
Michelle Paulnarf, an aging French pop star who was just
like in a blonde like his hair looks like a blonde,
fright wigs, just a fright um he met he Paulnarf
met Rocan Court at Cafe Maurice one day. Pulnar Ff
(21:21):
was like bemoaning the dangers of being a celebrity that
like no one had ever heard of um and Rokan
Cort told him, like, I get you a national gun permit.
There's no such things. No, Paulnarf is like, that sounds amazing.
That sounds amazing. He gives him a couple hundred thousand
dollars to secure one a couple thousand for a gun plan.
(21:41):
I forgot the perfect Terran. He doesn't deserve the money. No.
Another dupe was a guy um Shahram Muzazade. Okay, So
Shaam he was a boutique owner. Okay, Um, I think
he may have been a fellow con artist, but that's
pure speculation on my right. So Shaam gave Rokan Court
two hundred thousand dollars in cash, twenty five thousand dollars
(22:03):
worth of clothes. And then that little KICKI Ferrari he
was driving around town. Remember Jermaine Jackson, yes, father of
ger Majesty, and his assistant Leabongo Rocancourt met them in
one of Shaham's boutiques. Um, all four of them came
up with his plan in which sharem would sell a
line of perfumes based on the hit songs of Jermaine's brother,
(22:23):
Michael Jackson, so like Thriller and Bad you know whatever.
I'm not sure that Jermaine had the authority to do,
I guess not. Needless to say, the deal fell through.
Um you know who else Rocan Corps started hanging out
with around this time? Oh man, I don't even know.
It's a grab bag. Harvey Kitel, I have no idea.
(22:45):
Mickey Rourke, Oh my god. So they met at Barfly
appropriately enough on Sunset Boulevard, right, huh Rocan Corps. He
eventually moved into Nicky Rourk's house. Okay, and they are roomies. Um.
It was at this point that Rokean Cort took a mistress,
(23:06):
a topless model by the name of Ronda Ridel. So
he's married to a playboy bunny and he is hooking
up with Rhonda Ridel. So he convinces Ronda that he's
French royalty, but with like a working man's soul. French royalty,
that there is no the French Revolution got rid of that.
(23:26):
She doesn't don't tell him, not a reader. She falls
head over heel, of course, right, not, he's a prince.
She also didn't know that Rocancorp had a wife at home,
and oh, ps Pia Reus had a baby. So they
have a wife, He has a wife and child. Of
how these people are always fertile. Yeah, do you know
what their child was named? I don't know what zeus.
(23:49):
I'm not kidding. So Ronda and Rocancor they're living this
party lifestyle and it's just like two intoxicating. She can't
help it. Oh, I want you to picture it. Yes,
it's March nineteen ninety eight. It's about midnight and you're
sitting on the patio of the Garden of Eden nightclub
(24:10):
in Hollywood, on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Labreya.
The place opened last year and it is the place
to see and be seen. You are loving the luxurious
Moroccan decor, the candles, the fresh flowers. You can hear
the dance floor a popping inside, and you're loving the
people watching, like, what is that David Faustino over there? No,
(24:32):
it just looks like them. But you know, you're pretty
sure that Mickey Rourke is sitting at the next table,
and you want to tell him that Angel Hart is
one of your favorite movies, but you decide to sit
back and let him enjoy his evening. Yeah, please deserves that.
Mickey Rourke is sitting with a bunch of people. He's
talking to one guy in particular. He's loud and he
has the most incredible thick French accent. So you see
(24:53):
some concern on the frenchman's face as he looks just
beyond you. You turn to see where his gaze is
landed and you catch sight of a very buff guy
in a tight T shirt. Guy has a ponytail, so
you know what he means business. Yeah, Roken Corp tells
the guy take a picture out if we last longer.
The buff guy says, it's free country poll or words
to that effect. I'm just riffing here. Suddenly the buff
(25:16):
guy stands up and threatens Roken Corps life. I won't
repeat what he said, but it was colorful, Rourke. He
moves to hold Roken cor back. You don't held back
by Mickey Rourke. Yeah. And then the buff guy's pal
they like they step in, They're like, no, man, it's
not worth it. Um. So everything like dies down. People
eventually head out to either go home or keep party
(25:37):
going somewhere else. You just keep thinking about this guy's accent.
Oh yeah, just in your head, and the amount of
hair care product that I just saw getting a fight,
and like pseudo boxer because well, you know, and Rokean Corp.
First came to the United States, he told people at
Cafe Maurice he was a boxer. Of course, So yeah,
it all works, oh of course, Mailer so and Mickey Rourke.
So the next day you are weirdly craving French onion Sue,
(26:02):
and you head to Cafe Maurice to sate that desire.
As you're standing outside, you're waiting for your table for one,
you see a giant black hummer pull up to the curb.
What you don't know is that the hummer used to
belong to Dodi Fayette. And it's just I told you
it's a grab bag of Diana's boyfriend. Yeah, that due
(26:22):
at that time was the recently deceased Egyptian film producer
in paramour Diana, Princess of Wales. Dodi Fayette's son of
billionaire owner of Herod's department store, Mohammed al Fayette. The
man behind the wheel had a bit of an obsession
with Dody. He tried to meet him a bunch of times,
and even went to an open house when Dodie was
selling his house in Malibu because he thought he'd be
(26:44):
there and he could see him, which like that doesn't
owners Right there after Doughty died in that Paris tunnel
with Diana, the man behind the wheel somehow managed to
buy that hummer what and it was tricked out too.
The surveillance had surveillance cameras on the back. No, they
weren't driving the hummer. They were It was like yeah, no,
(27:06):
that the hummer was in La so Dodie dies and
he's like, can I get in? Can I get in
on that car? Because I love Dodie? I got you?
And so it had surveillance cameras on the back like
in the late nineties that wasn't common or cheat No, no, yeah.
So the window of the hummer rolls down and you
see that it's none other than the frenchman from last night,
Christopher rokean Corp Kell coincidence. So he's about to shout
(27:30):
a greeting to the major d who's like standing outside
the door, when this black Mercedes five hundred pulls up.
Who should exit that vehicle but the buff guy and
his friends from last night? Oh no, crazy coincidence, Kell,
crazy coincidence. Roken Corp and the Buff guy like lockeyes
Roken Corp peels away from the curb and the fellas
from last night jump back in the ben zone. Give chase.
(27:51):
Oh wow, car Chase is on. What in the world?
Who put a b in their bonnets? That's what you're
thinking to yourself. Then you hear zaren party of one
your table's read, so you go inside. You get delicious
French onion soup, maybe some steak fried who knows the
night is young Zarn. Meanwhile, Christopher Rocan cor He's like
hall and tail down Las Siannega in SNL Californian's style.
(28:13):
I'll tell you he went down Las Siannega and then
he turned her right on Melrose, and then he made
another right on San Vicente. Okay, see kind of know
where he is. As he's watching the car in his
rear video monitor, his mistress, Rhonda Rydell, calls him and
he tells her, I am being chased by a car.
It is full of are Arabs. Please calls it police,
(28:35):
and so she's like, wait, the what and the what now?
So here's rocan Cors. He's like being followed by a
Mercedes of what he's describing as angry Arabs. He stops
at the light at San Vicente and Santa Monica. The
Mercedes pulls up next to him, and then suddenly a
Hundai pulls up behind him. The man in the Hunday
gets out. Ronda's still on the line at this point.
She's like listening as Christopher sits in tense silence. Shots
(28:58):
ring out, The car peels away and Roken court uninjured.
He gets out of his car and he runs to
the La County Sheriff West Hollywood station located Conely at
that corner. Yeah, so they shot him in front of
the Sheriff's station. Yeah. I mean it's huge. You can't
miss it. No, or did they wait? So the cops
go outside, they secure the scene. They find bullet holes
(29:19):
in the hummer. Here's the problem. They came from inside
the car. And then they also found a glock. So
they searched local hospitals. They find the man in the hunday.
He had a graze wound on his arm. Okay, so
of course Roken Coort is brought in for questioning. When
this sort of thing happens, the police don't just let
it go, right, so they ran as information. They find
(29:42):
out that he's wanted for passport fraud. Okay, what passport fraud?
You say, what passport fraud? I said he held a
valid US passport sort of. Do you remember Leah Bongo?
Oh yes, okay, she and Roken Coort paid a couple
of grand to two LA passport clerks in exchange for
a passport for Rocan Corps who was not a citizen.
(30:03):
So he has he has a fake passport from the
actual passport agency. But he's got a fake American, fraudulent
American passport. Yeah. So Rocan Corp's wife, Pia, she comes
down to the station, so does his mistress, Randa, and
that's where they found out about each other. In the
of the police station. The Sheriff's department run like she's
(30:25):
still in love with Roken Corps, but she ends the
relationship because he's married. She had no clue up until
that points a wholeman of great virtue. She is so
Roken Corps. He caught gun charges for having the glock
on top of the passport charges is bail is set
at one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars. He asked
all of his pals, from Mickey Rourke to restauranturs to
(30:47):
random wealthy investors he knew for bail money, no dice.
None of them had the seventeen thousand five Pia was
able to rustle most of it up and Rokean Corps
is released. He's out on bail, which for him out
of the area. He jumped bail in the wind. Where
did he go? When we get back from this break,
I'll tell you. When we left off, Christopher Rocan Corps
(31:32):
had skipped bail in LA and was in the wind completely.
Where was the wind for Christopher Rocan car Let me guess,
I'm thinking maybe we get Anabitha in this no New
York City. Oh, he Pia and their son Zeus. They're
living in a posh loft department in Lower Manhattan. Of
course he's going big with his cons there. He gets
(31:54):
one hundred and seventy five thousand from this businessman who
was an immigrant. He gets forty thousand dollars in merchandise
from a store, He owes twenty thousand and back rent.
He gets forty thousand from a store employee for a
quote investment. He bought a building in Dumbo that Jay
Z didn't want Dumbo, And so he seduces this wealthy
woman and she gives him ninety grand in cash, and
(32:17):
then he also steals two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
worth of jewelry from said wealthy woman. Who Yeah, But
here's the thing is that like a lot of the
really wealthy people that he was ripping off were so
embarrassed by it and they didn't want their affairs made public.
They wouldn't talk to the cops. They just let it go.
I think we need to not skip over this point
because we've heard this come up lots of time. People
(32:39):
are like, I'll write off that one point five billion.
This wouldn't even make a dent for her, this amount
of money, whoever she was. So that's all well and good,
but for real money, he knew where he had to go.
The family now with an assistant named Dante Dan Yellow,
who was calling himself Joseph but apparently had like a
big stick like bronx accent, call me Joe um. They
(33:01):
moved to the Hamptons, headed up there. So Rogan Corp.
Is looking at properties to quote unquote buy, but like, meanwhile,
he's taking the real estate agent for more than one
hundred thousand dollars on a fake stock tip, like, oh,
we can invest the money. He's working his own real
estate agent. Yes, yes, but he's not really looking to
buy a hell I know, but he's just present to
(33:24):
the real estate agent. It's so busy trying to call.
He's like, oh, I'll get in good with this wealthy guy.
I'll get a huge commission. So it's at around that
time that he starts introducing himself to people in the
Hamptons by a new alias, Christopher Rockefeller. He had his
quote unquote assistant quote screen as calls in front of people,
either like accepting or declining calls from like aristocrats, Kennedy's celebrities.
(33:50):
Um so like, oh, you know, we've got I don't know,
some famous person on the line. Alanz, I'll call him,
he said, the Hamptons. All right, I've got Dershowitz. And
he's like, I'll call him back. This is what Jim
Rockford used to do on the Rockford Fi TV. Rockefeller Rockford,
I see a connection. So one day he's at the
Easthampton Jim getting a massage as you do. He convinced
(34:12):
the masseuse corene Ill Tink that he had a great
investment opportunity that would triple her money. He's stealing from
the massage. Yea, So she gives him fourteen thousand dollars.
What the hell. He's just super charming. She's like, you
know what, come hang out at my house. Like, I
have a lot of cool people friends there. One of
(34:32):
the friends is this Spanish painter named he Nez Saran Pagan.
That's a Great Glos and then he and then another
good friend of hers is this guy Kevin McCrary, So
they'll come back to us, all right. Karin's father back
in the Netherlands had a stroke, so she had to
go out and fly and see him. But she wanted
to use the investment opportunity from Rocan Cord to triple
(34:53):
her entire savings because she's like, I'm going to need
this money to take care of my dad. So she
has one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars she wants
to give it to Rocan Corp. To invest. So she
calls up her friend McCrary and is like, hey, I'm
at the airport, you know, can you take this money,
take it to Rocan Corp And like have him invested.
He's like all right, fine. So McCrary meets up with
(35:14):
Rocan Corps at Karin's house. Red flags a fly in
all I hope. So, yeah, he's uncouth, Rocan Corps. He's tattooed,
he's sloppy, and these are not the traits of a Rockefeller.
Now generally, here's what McCrary told Vanity Fair quote. He
set me off immediately. How could a Rockefeller be associated
with such a bumbling fool. It didn't fit. Nothing fit.
(35:37):
He's French. My family has known the Rockefellers for decades,
Nelson David, We've known them for years. If there's one
thing I know, it's growing up around money. He didn't
feel like money. Wow, seriously. Yeah, So McCrary, he finds
out that another friend of his had given Rocan cor
money and he's just like, I rate, who, why are
(35:58):
you guys trusting this man? So he tries to report
it as a crime, but no crime had really taken
place yet, because it's not like, you know, he had
stolen something immediately. So meanwhile he nes Saran pagan Um.
He's grown wise to Rokan I know, and I wish
he could see it written out, because it's amazing. It
(36:19):
looks like giants, Sarah Pagan, but it's he nes Saran
pagan Um. So Sarah and Pagan. Uh. He doesn't go
to the cops. He's wise to him. He doesn't go
to the cops. He's an artist, a free thinker, a
free spirit, a jokester. He was fascinated by Rocan Cory
wanted to know more. This is what he later told
(36:41):
The New York Times quote. I wanted in on his game.
I liked him, but I knew he wasn't a Rockefeller
as a con man. I'll give him an eight on
what scale? So uh he nes he sets up a
dinner party at his house. I'm sure the Hampton's has
(37:01):
its share of weird dinner parties, but this is like
got to be up there for it. He assembled an
interesting and eclectic group. Pierre a peculiar art collector, Maria
and Clia, daughters of a wealthy Greek shipping magnet. Okay,
and not Suko, the daughter of a top executive at
Sony International. Did Ryan Johnson write this pretty much? Go on,
(37:23):
here's the thing though, they're all imposters. So Pierre is
actually Peter Fazio, a local contractor. Maria was really Maria Etemides,
the New York bureau chief at People magazine. Oh wow.
Clia was a friend of hers and a jag lawyer. Lawyer,
(37:44):
And then Notasuko Utsumi had no relation to anyone at
Sony and was actually a photojournalist who was working on
a book about African genital mutilation. I mean, you have
to run that back. No, So Maria the journalist, she
could not help herself, but quiz roken Corp on his
lifestyle and the question she asked out more and more probing,
(38:04):
like where do you live? How would you describe your house? Like?
And as he's getting shorter and shorter, more and more
terse like, she starts pressing him and then he Nez
is like stop, like kicks round to the table. So
most of the time, though Rokean Chords just held court.
He's like waxing demi elegant on things like art, economics,
the ladies. Do you think a good job? No? Imagine no,
(38:26):
he was terrible. So at one point and he's like
super pretentious about it. At one point he told Rokean
Chord he was a genius and like this is and
roken Cords like, what do you mean? And you know
Einstein was a genius. I am but a simpleman. And
this is what this is how he Nez relayed what
he said to Vanity fair quote. A genius is a
(38:47):
person who has control, who has no fear, he said.
For the briefest moment their eyes met, and Pagan sense
that some part of Rockefeller's elaborate mask had fallen away.
Then he knew the artist speculates today he knew that
I knew, and he knew I would keep his secret,
that I wouldn't turn him in. Wow, so they're just
like scammered, a scam. He knew that I knew that
(39:08):
I knew that he knew. Also, his definition of genius
would mean that both Evil Knevil and my neighbor Bob
are both geniuses. Your point, Yeah, he's a low bar
so McCrary though, he's not tickled by Roken Corp's deceptions
the way that he nez is mccrary's I rate. So
(39:30):
he keeps bugging the cops until they get a lead. Right,
Rokean Court was not staying at a fancy summer home
like he had everyone believing. Like he told people that
he lived on whatever, like the fanciest street there was.
He would name drop that and they're like, oh really,
which one? Um, He's staying at a bed and breakfast
and he hadn't paid the bill and he owed nineteen
thousand dollars kind of bed and breakfast I don't know.
(39:53):
So he gets arrested and he provides an idea a
passport that has the name faby In or Tuna, and
so you know he's sitting there in jail, his attorney
shows up, Bruce Cutler. I don't know if you know
that name. That's John Gotti's familiar. Yeah. So the next
day post forty five thousand dollars casha, no, post forty
(40:18):
five thousand dollars cash bond, and once again in the
wind Man. So it wasn't until after he's out on
bail that the police ran his prince are you kidding me,
Sleepy Hampton's so oh, there's all the mess in La Rome,
Hong Kong like understuff in exactly, so he's getting around.
Roken Corps wasn't totally off the radar, though. He reached
(40:41):
out via third parties to talk to the media while
he was on the run. He told the New York
Times quote, I would not consider myself a criminal. I
steal with my mind. If I take things. If that's
your definition of a criminal, then I am a criminal.
If they catch me, I will make no deal. I
will do my time. I steal in my mind. This
(41:01):
is more of what he told the Time quote. I've
never killed anyone, he said. I don't believe in taking
another life. It is the ultimate sin. He said. He
felt no remorse for his actions, just pity for his victims.
I feel sorry for their greed, he said, I'm not laughing.
There's nothing funny about stupidity. Would he be caught? That
is in the hands of God, he said, So there
(41:24):
we go. Damn. He insults his marks. He says, he's
not about me. They're stupid and greedy and if anybody's
gonna come after me, it's God, and right, I ain't
listen to another. Wise, where is he when he's getting
all emotional with the press. This is amazing Canada. He
went to Canada. So he and his family they made
their way to British Columbia. They ditched the assistant. It's
just Himpia and zeus that there they meet this businessman
(41:46):
named Robert Baldock, and Rocancourt tells Baldock that he's actually
Michael van Hoven, Formula one racer for Ferrari. It's like, sure,
of course, yeah, And he's like, you know, I make
twenty eight in a year. It's a pretty cool gig.
You know, do what you love. You never work a
day in your life. And so he said, you know,
what do you do, Baldoc? He's like, well, I own
(42:08):
this medical diagnostic company. He's like, Fontastique, they give you
five million to invest. Baldock's like, oh okay. So he's like,
I'll transfer the five million to you. And in the meantime,
like Baldoc and this wife, they're just showering him with gifts.
They give him a suite at this luxury hotel resort,
they give him a Rolex. Baldoc goes to Switzerland in
(42:29):
order to complete the transfer of funds. Okay, he did
this a few times because it never took So he
goes to Switzerland because in person to pick up money. Essentially,
he goes to UBSA, Switzerland, and it's like I have
There's all this confusion, like he's showing up. They're like, oh,
do you want to open account? He's like no, no no, no,
I'm supposed to take stuff. I don't know what was
(42:50):
wrong with everybody involved. How do these rich people have
this money? Like they're so irresponsible and like casual about it.
It seems like money is really leased. He does this
a bunch of times. He goes over there, and every
time Rokean Coors like, oh, you know what, it didn't
go through because I don't know the fates do not know,
and then he flies over again. Yeah, he's like, well
(43:10):
try it again, like next week, come back and then
try again. So the Balldocks they'd had enough. I hope
they go to the cops. They go to the Mounties. Yes,
Rokan Corp gets arrested and charged with fraud. He pleads guilty,
and then he also pleads guilty to the charges in
LA and New York. P said she had absolutely no
idea what was going on, didn't have part of the scheme.
(43:31):
I don't really believe that, but they let her go. Huh,
she doesn't get charged. Rokeancorp did a year in a
Canadian prison, and while he was there he did what
all our favorite criminals do, not make toilet wine, but
rather he wrote a book. Of course, it's what you
do in prison. It has an amazing title, I Christopher
rokean corps, orphan playboy prisoner. That's the title. Huh so good. So,
(43:55):
after finishing his time in Canada, he gets sent to
Brooklyn to face federal charge. Is on eleven counts of fraud. Okay,
felony counts. So now he's actually facing something. Yeah, his
lawyer didn't request bail. He pled guilty because I mean,
I don't know how it is, but I imagine a
Canadian prison is from what I've seen, is kind of
like the some of the northern European prisons, like in
Sweden and Denmark. And it's basically like, oh, you got
(44:16):
a free hotel room and some space to write. I
don't know. I would hope so I honestly. But still
in October two thousand and three, he gets sentenced to
three years and ten months, so forty what is it?
Forty six months in jail plus one point three million
in restitution, and he gets ordered to pay seventy five
percent of any profits from telling his life story, whether
(44:37):
a movie or a book, sure to pay back the victims.
The judge, the Honorable Charles Sifton, had this to say, quote,
the likelihood that people are going to take seriously anything
he says or rely on it in the future is
rather slim. Yeah, but it'll still sell books, huh. So
he gets released in two thousand and seven, sent back
to France. Much like our pal Elmir de Hori. His
(45:00):
social currency was only enhanced behind like by his time behind. Yes,
of course, so he starts dating Sonya Roland. The former
Miss France. What In two thousand and seven Want you know?
Two thousand and seven, he meets French filmmaker Kathleen Bleia.
She asked him to be in a movie that she
was making called Bad Love, and it was based upon
(45:21):
a novel that she wrote. The star of the movie
Naomi Campbell, pulling all the nineties names two and seven
and that's how he found himself on the red carpet
at Con as the date of of Naomi Campbell Leyeah.
She also gave him money to write a screen pay
about his life. Do you get the idea that him
being handsome is really a big boy and he's sort
(45:42):
of in that handsome like that who's the French actor
of Vincent gall No, the French one Vincent. He's kind
of like that where it's like he's not traditionally handsome,
but you can see it. I think that guys can
traditionally handsome. But I mean, I don't think traditionally he
doesn't look like all those weird like frat boy, cookie
cutter American act Oh oh yeah, but I was in
(46:04):
bring like French, right, I think he's handsome, but it's
like I think I could see how people wouldn't and
so that's kind of imagine him. I think he's handsome
this one, but you can also see like in some
pictures where maybe people wouldn't conventionally here okay, because you
remember you said he started as a model. I was
wondering if that's why it's always helping the people. Yeah,
but not in the model he was very much in
like the kind of c k one, Calvin Clin, like
(46:27):
Calvin Klein like, um, I don't know, it's just that
he doesn't he didn't have like the traditional model looks. Um,
So he's getting money to write a screenplay about his
life Byah also loaned him more than six hundred and
fifty thousand euros for various projects and things. By July
of two thousand and nine, she was fed up, and
(46:47):
she published a book accusing him of taking advantage of
her diminished mental capacity following a stroke that she had
in two thousand and four. The book, called Abuse of Weakness,
was eventually made into a filming Isabelle Hupair. In twenty twelve,
rocan Cor was arrested for defrauding Bryat and did some
(47:08):
time in prison. A twenty fourteen he gets arrested again,
this time for bribing a police officer to supply him
with passports to end visas to sell at outrageous prices
to illegal immigrants. Yeah, so I don't know what he's
up to now exactly. He's written seven books in total.
He has an Instagram account Chris rokan cor O f
(47:33):
like official just thirty two thousand followers. There's a lot
of pictures of him living a really super elegant lifestyle.
He's like sitting in a beach chair on a cold dale,
bundled up with the caption life is a storm worth
living to the fullest. But it's in French, too tired
to butcher that it's very much like a Kendall roy
(47:55):
look book his Instagram account, or rather the unknown Roy
brother we didn't know we needed on succession makes sense.
He's like the It's like as stint as a Rockefeller
roy Um. So there he is. Check him out, Zarin,
what's your ridiculous takeaway? Man? I used to think Mickey
Rourke was pretty cool, but now I'm wondering is if
(48:16):
he could hang out with this? Do have wild Mickey
Rourke stories that I cannot share Everything that I've heard
from friends in La and I'm just gonna leave it
at that. Terrible things that I can't share really like bad,
like bad bad, or like bad like weird bad weird.
Oh yeah, okay, and I'm gonna I'm just gonna tease
that and leave it. I just always found him peculiar,
starting from when he wanted to be a boxer. I
(48:38):
was like, oh, that dude's not right. I love it.
So I always paid attention to him. And he's also smart.
I mean he's like, he's charismatic, he's interesting, he's curious,
a lot of the things I really respect in a person. Yeah,
but also he's just so uniquely him that I was like,
I like to think that inside of there there is
some like not I don't say goodness. I'm not measuring
his soul, but I mean like something some spark of
(49:00):
like real raw humanity and like like a flame of
not like a pure spirit, but like an artistic spirit,
which I understand he's gonna hurt, hurt people think he
was malicious people. I don't want that. I don't think
he was ever taken by Rokean Corps. And I think
it was just like an interesting thing to so maybe
Roken Corp helped take care of those chihuahuas he carries, Sure,
and I can see him. I mean, he's gonna have
(49:21):
weird friends, you know, so I imagine his quartier. You
are just all kinds of weird friends. But like this
is like I just would expect or I guess exactly. Yeah,
what's your ridiculous takeaway, Elizabeth? My ridiculous takeaway is that
if you can go through things with a ridiculous accent
and really like carry yourself like you know what you're
(49:41):
doing and you're you're above it all, you can get
away with whatever. Certainly from expial. Well, that is it
for today. Excellent. Oh. You can find us online at
Ridiculous Crime, about Twitter for the talking, Instagram for the go.
Can email us at Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com,
(50:03):
do a talkback iHeartRadio app, leave us a voicemail tune
in next time. Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton
and Zarin Burnett, produced and edited by Dave Kuston, heir
to the Rockefeller Records. Fortune Research is by Marissa. Jeff
Bezos is my cousin Brown and Andrea Bill Gates is
(50:25):
my uncle. Song Sharp and tier. The theme song is
by Thomas Larry Ellison is my half brother, Lee and
Travis Warren Buffett is my son, as is Jimmy Buffett Dutton.
Executive producers are Ben Hey, McKenzie Scott, How You doing Bowlin'
and Noel I Am from Ziemeric and Blanche of z
Alno Family, Brown Quiet See One More Time We Quisque
(50:55):
Ridiculous Crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio. Four more podcasts
to my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. Zaron Burnett. What up,
Elizabeth Dutton? You know it's ridiculous, girl. I do the
Utah Jazz stop? Yeah? Did you ever wonder why as
a team in Salt Lake City called the Utah Jazz
didn't they start somewhere else? New Orleans of courts, right,
They were the New Orleans Jazz. They were an expansion team,
and they chose their name because jazz is quote defined
(00:22):
in the Dictionary as collective improvisation, and that's basketball to them.
They're like, yeah, we're the Utah. We're sorry, Utah, We're
the New Orleans Jazz. Okay, well, Elizabeth Jazz, and that
belongs in New Orleans basketball apparently does not, because I
looked into this because I was curious, like, how did
that ever happen? Oh Man? In their second stadium, they
had an elevated court. They were only in New Orleans
(00:45):
for five years, but they had a second stadium, and
in the second stadium they was elevated. It was elevated
so high that the NBA Players Association, the Union for players,
made the Jazz at a net around the court so
when players fell off, they didn't get hurt here kidding,
like what is going didn't have like enough of a
I don't hurt. It was elevated like you would be
(01:07):
watching it like it was a boxing match or something
like they were up high above the crowd. Is that
just so that we could all peak up their shorts? Maybe? Yes,
they were very short then, But there was also like
not just that, there was the issue of Mardi Gras.
So whenever they had to leave and be out of
the town, out of New Orleans the entire month that
Mardi Gras was going, because nobody would go to the basketball,
(01:28):
They're like, oh, forget that. So they were like, well,
we can't have that look bad, So they would just
leave town for a whole month. They go on a
road trip because of Mardi Gras. So after this five years,
people were like, look, we got to get basketball out
of New Orleans. So then they moved it to Utah
and they're like, oh, yeah, but why didn't they change
that question? You know why? Paperwork? What they missed a deadline.
The league had a deadline for to approve a name change.
(01:50):
They couldn't get that in time. So because they didn't
do that, they just had to keep the Mardi Gras
colors and become the Utah Jazz. And so to this day,
this Utah Bay Professional basketball team, they now have a
mascot named Jazz Bear who rides into the stadium on
a dirt motorbike and he fires off like I don't know,
t shirt guns and you like that, and I don't
(02:12):
know the only way that this makes sense to me
is if Jazz Bear and Cocaine Bear are related, that
would make sense, and then are they are? Now that's
cannon So but like the team, the team should be
the Utah Templars, right or the Honeybees. Dude. I saw
somebody on Reddit they said that, you know, they point
basically pointed out that it's right next to the Salt
Lake Green Salt Lake, and they're like, that thing's got
mad Brian Shrimp. So dude, Reddit user bush did Cloverfield.
(02:37):
He posted that the Utah Jazz and I quote should
be called the Utah Sea Monkeys, and I agree with
bush did Cloverfield. Go see monkeys. I'm gonna do a
change dot Org post this make this happen there. You
got ridiculous, right, It's ridiculous. Yeah, do you know what
else is ridiculous. Now hit me with it having a
con career that involves creating a perfume. In line with
(03:00):
Jermaine Jackson, This is Ridiculous Crime, a podcast about absurd
(03:25):
and outrageous capers, heists and cons. It's always ninety nine
percent murder free and one hundred percent ridiculous. Zaren. I
love a good European con artist. Yeah, you do, right,
especially when the con takes their show on the road
to the United States. That's when it gets good. Well,
there were such suckers here for British or European accents
(03:46):
and continental mannerism. Oh my god. Yeah, if you wear
like pants where I can see your ankles, and oh
you must know things, brilliant things. Well, I think you
know a little about this from your time in Hollywood.
Did you ever encounter any eighty Europeans when you were there?
Did I ever, we could ask a shorter question, did
I ever meet any like solid and well to do
(04:08):
and reasonable Europeans in the film industry? No, I would
say that. Yeah, I met a ton of shady like
mostly French, a lot of and so gentlemen. So I
just trying to find places to invest our money because
we all saw it, like what you're doing at Hollywood
is so much fun, and everybody around the world peas
attentions and we have you don't know very well in
Germany right now. So we're looking for places to invest.
(04:30):
Do you need some money? You're like, are you kidding?
You're not a real investor. This is a cocaine deal. Basically,
I think that the guy I'm going to tell you
about it was before your time there, but he would
blend right into what you're talking about. I'm talking about
a man named Christophe Rocancorp. Oh good name. Or was
Christopher Reyes or Christopher Lloyd or Christopher de Laurentis or
(04:55):
Christopher Rockefeller. Oh, yeah, I've heard me. I'm catching I'm
catching up. Yeah, so I said European, right, This dude's French.
Apparently he's from the French branch of the Rockefeller fan
Christophe Terry Danielle Rocancourt. He was born in nineteen sixty
(05:16):
seven in En Fleur, of France. So his dad was
a house painter and a drunk and an all around
garbage human being. I was gonna say, you had me
going with house and then it fell off. It just
went right off. A cliff. His mom was a seventeen
year old prostitute. His early home life was obviously chaotic.
Sounds like chaotic is an understatement. Yes, I don't want
(05:36):
to get into it because it's a sad, horrible mess.
But the essential part is that Christophe wound up in
an orphanage. So he gets adopted when he's twelve by
this military guy in his family, great Tantini type, well,
super disciplinarian. Yeah, Christoph ran away a few times and
then took off for good when he was eighteen. That
was in nineteen eighty five. So he goes to Paris,
(05:58):
does some modeling. Okay, as you do, didn't see that coming. Yeah,
he got himself a wealthy girlfriend, and then he pulled
his very first con look at you. Yeah, he said
he was Russian nobility, and he called himself Prince day
Gallots in Prince de Gallots as Prince de Gallotzin. He
forged a deed to this one of the posh townhouses
(06:22):
that his girlfriend's father owned. Oh yeah, wow, and then
he tried to sell it a choice one point two
million dollars. Oh wow? Did he? The girlfriend's father owned
a lot of places. He owned a ton of places,
but no one was buying his Russian royalties, so it
didn't fly. But between eighty seven in nineteen ninety two
he did five different jail stints for forgery, counterfeiting, petty larceny.
(06:45):
So he was not good. No, he was not good
at this. Yes, he skipped over the border to Switzerland
and then he participated in this home invasion robbery that
kind of blossomed into a jewelry store heist. That's strange. Yeah,
they bust in, They're like, oh, you you own this
jewelry store. Take us to the Oh so the cops
pinned him is a one, Yeah, exactly there. Oh hey,
you're at the jewelry store in Or Let's go down
(07:07):
to your business. They pit. The cops take him as
a suspect, but he leaves the country mark so before
you can get caught, where did he go? His next
location was the perfect spot for him and where he
could really run his con in the best possible way.
Los Angeles. Oh, yes, so it's ninety one. He's twenty
four years old. He's a Frenchman on a mission to
(07:30):
reinvent himself and lighten some bank accounts along the way.
This is who you meet in exactly, so he gets
in good with the French expatriates in Los Angeles. The
epicenter of that crowd was Cafe Maurice on Las Siannaga, Okay,
and the location is now the Belmont, But for many years,
up until two thousand and one, Cafe Maurice was the
(07:50):
spot for the French and those who wanted to kind
of be in their orbit. The snobbery was exceptionally thick. Yeah,
a pure Parisian gem. You know what else was thick?
This guy's accent. Rokan Corp. Yeah. I watched his interview
with Steve Croft on sixty Minutes and I was totally
blown away. I thought your French accent was thick, like
(08:11):
comically so yes, I didn't think any real Frenchman sounded
like that when speaking English. I was wrong. Yes, Mother
of Pearl, his accent is thick. So anyway, basically I
do not know what she'll talking about. Um On. In
June of nineteen ninety two, Rokean Corp. He went to
this place called Bar One on Sunset Boulevard and it
(08:34):
was the hip spot in the nineties for Hollywood types
and the wealthy. Um there were tons of paparazzi photos
of people like I looked it up. Who was going
to Bar One at this time? Pam Anderson, Oh yeah,
Ringo Starr had a birthday party there. Christian Slater, Oh yes,
Scott bo It's like El listaries. Um, it was a
(08:56):
hot spot. You gotta trust meet. It was a hot spot.
Even though I couldn't find photographing the so Rogan Corp.
He wanted to go to Bar One, not for celebrity
spotting or like schmooz rich dudes. He wanted a wheeze
on the coach check girl a born again Christian named
greed Park so green. She tried her hand at acting.
She was in the Adventures of Ford Fairlane as twin
(09:19):
club Girl, and then she was in an episode of
Freddie's Nightmares. But now here she is reading the Bible
while working the coach check of Bar One. Like she
literally sat there reading the Broken Corps, smitten and relentless.
He's like, there's a market or should I say De
Laurentis was smitten and relent He introduced himself degree as
(09:42):
Christopher de Laurentis, nephew of film producer Dino de Laurentis. Yeah,
of course, why not. Yeah, and he's determined to get
together with gree He offers to go to church with her. Wow,
he's like, that's a good date. A couple of months,
his pursuit pays off, Like he just keeps at her,
keeps at her. They didn't have like a normal first date,
they didn't have a first kiss. They flew to Hawaii
(10:04):
for a vacation. He took her to Hawaii, right, the
first thing he did. First thing, the first time he
gets her out of bar one is to go to
They had separate rooms in Hawaii, so he and she's
like he was a perfect gentleman. So over time though,
he wins her affections, and he also confesses his cons
to her. This is like way before Instagram, fly me
out store completely this Yeah, she has nowhere to post
(10:27):
the picks. Yeah, so you know people who say they're
not doing it for the Graham or doing it for
the Graham. Um, So he confesses his cons. He also
tells her his real name, and he gets her to
Hawaiian decides the confessor. No, this is like when they
get back and so then they're kind of they're like
going around. They go to Vegas, all the time. Yeah,
so this is October of ninety two. The love bombing work. Yes,
(10:49):
the love bombing paid off on one of their Vegas trips.
They got married and then they moved into this new
home together, a suite at the Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel,
so green. Though she's starting a little suspicious. None of
his stories are adding up, and like debts are piling up.
They're starting to have like bill collectors come. So she
(11:09):
threatens to leave unless he tells the truth about himself
and his life. Like, hey, Chris, your dad really a diplomat.
It's like, no, Leno, he was diplomatic. He was diplomatique
Uh was he? Are you a drug dealer? Christ Leno?
And then he's like, all right, fine, I'm a criminal.
(11:31):
I'm actually part of the Italian mafia. Gree's like I've
had enough. I know. That does it for the Italian mafia? Yeah?
So she the Italian, the Frenchman and the Italian mafia.
So she's like, look, I'm leaving. She goes to her
sisters in San Francisco. I need to tell you that
at the time, she's pregnant with their child. Oh yeah,
(11:53):
so she didn't tell him where she was going. Somehow
he tracks her down. Um, he moved into a place
just across the Golden Gate from her in Saceleto, a
lot of marks in Saceleto, and he begs her over
and over again to reconcile. Did she call the cops? No,
kind of she called the FBI. Wow. Yeah, So she's
(12:16):
just like, this guy's harassing me whatever, So she calls
the FBI kind of like you called the Coastguard. She
called the FBI. Yeah, But here's what she does. She
calls him up and she's like, hey, um, i am
married to this guy Christopher Rokeencorp. If you've heard of him,
or if you have anything you want to talk about,
give me a call. She leaves a message. Five minutes later,
they call back, and then like ten minutes after that,
an agents at her door, already in the Bay Area
(12:40):
to track him down, because like the agent had gone
interviewed a bunch of people in Saceleto and in NAPA
who said they'd all been caned by a guy named
Christopher de Laurentis and they lost money to him. So
Gree's like, you know what I'm in, Let's catch this
guy like yeah, So phones are tapped, calls are traced.
(13:01):
Greece sets up this call with Rokean Corp. She's like, honey,
it's over for good no, and then like he hangs
up on her. A few minutes later, he called right back.
He's like, guess what if BI has arrested me? And
so hangs up and he's like, I know it was you.
He's like, by zuwe, I will not kill you. Tells
(13:23):
her I'm not going to kill you. So there's that.
He's like, okay, well I feel a little bit better
about that. You feel safe. So Rokean Corps. He was
wanted for that Swiss home invasion turn jewelry heist. He
gets extradited to Geneva. There wasn't enough evidence though, so
he gets handed over to the French for all those
old swindles that he pulled back there. He went to
prison in France in nineteen ninety four, supposedly for life,
(13:47):
real sentence. Wow, well that sounds excessive, it does, doesn't it.
The French thought so too, so he comes very French.
He goes in in ninety four and he comes out
in ninety five, from life to one year. Say love
you if we have a chance in life it is,
it is so imperminent, why should we make you spend
the impermanent here? So what does he do? He gets
(14:09):
out and he contacts gree and I am back. He's like,
come to Paris and she does. She's like, all right,
I guess it's like she's the mother of his child.
Or they get back together. She really belies in prison reform.
It's restorative. So they get back together. But she what
(14:29):
she doesn't tell them is she's had their Marriaginald, so
it's over. But like, all right, fine, I'll give it
a shot. They both eventually go back to La and
then rocan cor is like, I'm going to go straight,
but he obviously doesn't. He doesn't know how to do that,
because otherwise that would be the end of this episode.
So they're on again, off again, and he's like getting
help from her like Christian missionary pals. Oh wow, Like
(14:49):
you can sleep on my sofa and I'll pay for
you to take some classes or whatever. The sheep invites
the wolf into their homes basically, but at the whole time,
Rogan corp he's romancing a pla boy model named Pia
Rea's yeah, and in nineteen ninety six they got married.
So he marries this playboy model. They move into Sweet
ten ninety at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, and he
(15:14):
tells everyone that he's this wealthy French businessman. Sometimes he's
Christopher de la Rena, nephew of fashion designer Oscar de
la Renta. Sometimes he says he owns all these Beverly
Hills boutiques. Sometimes he's Christopher Reyas like he takes progressive
he takes his wife's name, you know. So he's running
up all these huge tabs at hotels, boutiques, restaurants because
(15:36):
he's convincing. Things start to get a little close with
the debts. So then he just like swindles someone new,
pays them off and then keeps going. So he just
clears his debt with a new swindle, Peter exactly. So
there he is cruising around La in a Ferrari, this
gray Ferrari. He's playing the part of bon vivant. Everyone
(15:59):
wanted to come and party at Sweet ten ninety. Celebrities,
rich weirdos, Hollywood freaks, Beverly Hills adventurers. This is getting
like a Stefan from sn He got himself a bodyguard,
a guy named Benny omgarum Omgar also did security for
another late nineties spectacle and a Nicole Smith. Oh yeah,
(16:19):
we're in that. Like, um so, let's take a break
and process this. When we come back, I'm going to
tell you about the people who partied in Sweet ten
ninety and we're back. Hey, look at us. We're at
(16:52):
the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Oh yeah, we can see
Rodeo drive from here exactly U Roken Corps. He's married
to a playboy bunny living it up. You know. He
has tons of interesting and weird and shady and naive
people hanging around and partying with him. It's la Well,
you'd have like a list of like all the stuff
that they like, like drugs, Asian ladies like so. Um so.
(17:16):
There's another grifter in this orbit named Leah Bongo. That's
a great name. Well, she's the daughter of Omar Bongo,
president of Gabon. Oh so not like the cousin of
no So. He was president for forty two years from
nineteen sixty seven to his death in two thousand and nine,
and he was plagued by allegations of corruption most of
(17:37):
the president of Yes. Um he was one of the
wealthiest heads of state thanks to oil money and corrupt ruption. Yes,
the other Jack Abramoff scandal. Oh yeah so he yeah, exactly.
He was the lobbyist who went to jail for corruption
and bribery. That's the simplest way to explain that one. Um.
(18:01):
You should do an episode on Jackie. Oh yeah, him Ambigoyevich. Yes. Well, anyway,
so Abramoff he offered to put together a meeting between
George W. Bush and Bongo for the low, low price
of nine million. Wow it was meg. Yeah. It was
never proven that money changed hands, but Bush did meet
with Bongo less than a year after the offer was made. Wow.
So omar Bongo. He had thirty kids and of those kids,
(18:25):
one Leah Bongo. And who is she. She's the assistant
to Jermaine Jackson. Wait a minute, you're the daughter of
a president and the best gig you can get is well.
Herruption that he had is he was sending tons of
money over to the States and buying mansions Malibu and
all these other places, and and just living this lavish
lifestyle and sending his kids exactly. So I'm not so
(18:47):
sure if she was like the true assistant or just
like Smaine Jackson. Sure, but the fact you had to
show up anywhere on a schedule look like like a
clock was a part of her life is amazing. Well,
every time I see the name Jermaine Jackson, all I
think about is that he has a kid named your Majesty,
and I just keep marveling at that. I give myself
a little clothes mouth chuckle. So Leah Bongo. She gives
(19:11):
ROCANCR access to a bunch of like hyper wealthy African
royalty and he uses that to his full advantage. They're
giving him cars, they're learning him money, so he's just
taken advantage. Another clown in this circus is a guy
named Carlos Pinto. He's a Beverly Hills cop and how
did he meet? Rocan Corps? Gave him a ticket once? Oh,
(19:33):
i'll take you with corruption now, and suddenly they're like
Pal's his sister, Lillian Pinhoe, she also entered the friend group.
She wound up giving ROCANCR one hundred and twenty five
thousand dollars for one of his phony investment schemes, and
this time he said it was a project to open
an Italian men's clothing shop called pal Zileery downstairs in
(19:53):
the lobby of the Regent Beverly Wilsher. So he's scamming
a Cops sister out of one hundred grand to make
some when she went to this whole thing trying to
get the money back where she she had to fly
somewhere to meet up with him, and he had this
henchman with him, and she thought he was like an assassin,
and they're gonna give her this check. And the henchman
(20:13):
pulls the check out of his tie and hands it
to her and she opens it up and it's like
a fake check, but it's signed by Steve Martin, like
the comedian. What the whole thing is so confusing? She's confused.
She's like, are you kidding me? So he takes it
and then he's like confides like I'm not really a henchman.
I'm like I got con too, So anyway, that's Lilian,
I'm like you so, and the check coming out of
(20:38):
the tie likes a little it's like those old shoes,
like the kangaroos with the zipper and all you can
get anyway, Steve randomly Steve Martin. So here's Christopher. He's
like two littling around Beverly Hills and his Ferrari. He
comes up with fake business deals with which to con
the wealthy and like the not so wealthy of their money.
Most of the people were wary of his schemes, but
(21:00):
two men kept him afloat all right. M One was
Michelle Paulnarf, an aging French pop star who was just
like in a blonde like his hair looks like a blonde,
fright wigs, just a fright um he met he Paulnarf
met Rocan Court at Cafe Maurice one day. Pulnar Ff
(21:21):
was like bemoaning the dangers of being a celebrity that
like no one had ever heard of um and Rokan
Cort told him, like, I get you a national gun permit.
There's no such things. No, Paulnarf is like, that sounds amazing.
That sounds amazing. He gives him a couple hundred thousand
dollars to secure one a couple thousand for a gun plan.
(21:41):
I forgot the perfect Terran. He doesn't deserve the money. No.
Another dupe was a guy um Shahram Muzazade. Okay, So
Shaam he was a boutique owner. Okay, Um, I think
he may have been a fellow con artist, but that's
pure speculation on my right. So Shaam gave Rokan Court
two hundred thousand dollars in cash, twenty five thousand dollars
(22:03):
worth of clothes. And then that little KICKI Ferrari he
was driving around town. Remember Jermaine Jackson, yes, father of
ger Majesty, and his assistant Leabongo Rocancourt met them in
one of Shaham's boutiques. Um, all four of them came
up with his plan in which sharem would sell a
line of perfumes based on the hit songs of Jermaine's brother,
(22:23):
Michael Jackson, so like Thriller and Bad you know whatever.
I'm not sure that Jermaine had the authority to do,
I guess not. Needless to say, the deal fell through.
Um you know who else Rocan Corps started hanging out
with around this time? Oh man, I don't even know.
It's a grab bag. Harvey Kitel, I have no idea.
(22:45):
Mickey Rourke, Oh my god. So they met at Barfly
appropriately enough on Sunset Boulevard, right, huh Rocan Corps. He
eventually moved into Nicky Rourk's house. Okay, and they are roomies. Um.
It was at this point that Rokean Cort took a mistress,
(23:06):
a topless model by the name of Ronda Ridel. So
he's married to a playboy bunny and he is hooking
up with Rhonda Ridel. So he convinces Ronda that he's
French royalty, but with like a working man's soul. French royalty,
that there is no the French Revolution got rid of that.
(23:26):
She doesn't don't tell him, not a reader. She falls
head over heel, of course, right, not, he's a prince.
She also didn't know that Rocancorp had a wife at home,
and oh, ps Pia Reus had a baby. So they
have a wife, He has a wife and child. Of
how these people are always fertile. Yeah, do you know
what their child was named? I don't know what zeus.
(23:49):
I'm not kidding. So Ronda and Rocancor they're living this
party lifestyle and it's just like two intoxicating. She can't
help it. Oh, I want you to picture it. Yes,
it's March nineteen ninety eight. It's about midnight and you're
sitting on the patio of the Garden of Eden nightclub
(24:10):
in Hollywood, on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Labreya.
The place opened last year and it is the place
to see and be seen. You are loving the luxurious
Moroccan decor, the candles, the fresh flowers. You can hear
the dance floor a popping inside, and you're loving the
people watching, like, what is that David Faustino over there? No,
(24:32):
it just looks like them. But you know, you're pretty
sure that Mickey Rourke is sitting at the next table,
and you want to tell him that Angel Hart is
one of your favorite movies, but you decide to sit
back and let him enjoy his evening. Yeah, please deserves that.
Mickey Rourke is sitting with a bunch of people. He's
talking to one guy in particular. He's loud and he
has the most incredible thick French accent. So you see
(24:53):
some concern on the frenchman's face as he looks just
beyond you. You turn to see where his gaze is
landed and you catch sight of a very buff guy
in a tight T shirt. Guy has a ponytail, so
you know what he means business. Yeah, Roken Corp tells
the guy take a picture out if we last longer.
The buff guy says, it's free country poll or words
to that effect. I'm just riffing here. Suddenly the buff
(25:16):
guy stands up and threatens Roken Corps life. I won't
repeat what he said, but it was colorful, Rourke. He
moves to hold Roken cor back. You don't held back
by Mickey Rourke. Yeah. And then the buff guy's pal
they like they step in, They're like, no, man, it's
not worth it. Um. So everything like dies down. People
eventually head out to either go home or keep party
(25:37):
going somewhere else. You just keep thinking about this guy's accent.
Oh yeah, just in your head, and the amount of
hair care product that I just saw getting a fight,
and like pseudo boxer because well, you know, and Rokean Corp.
First came to the United States, he told people at
Cafe Maurice he was a boxer. Of course, So yeah,
it all works, oh of course, Mailer so and Mickey Rourke.
So the next day you are weirdly craving French onion Sue,
(26:02):
and you head to Cafe Maurice to sate that desire.
As you're standing outside, you're waiting for your table for one,
you see a giant black hummer pull up to the curb.
What you don't know is that the hummer used to
belong to Dodi Fayette. And it's just I told you
it's a grab bag of Diana's boyfriend. Yeah, that due
(26:22):
at that time was the recently deceased Egyptian film producer
in paramour Diana, Princess of Wales. Dodi Fayette's son of
billionaire owner of Herod's department store, Mohammed al Fayette. The
man behind the wheel had a bit of an obsession
with Dody. He tried to meet him a bunch of times,
and even went to an open house when Dodie was
selling his house in Malibu because he thought he'd be
(26:44):
there and he could see him, which like that doesn't
owners Right there after Doughty died in that Paris tunnel
with Diana, the man behind the wheel somehow managed to
buy that hummer what and it was tricked out too.
The surveillance had surveillance cameras on the back. No, they
weren't driving the hummer. They were It was like yeah, no,
(27:06):
that the hummer was in La so Dodie dies and
he's like, can I get in? Can I get in
on that car? Because I love Dodie? I got you?
And so it had surveillance cameras on the back like
in the late nineties that wasn't common or cheat No, no, yeah.
So the window of the hummer rolls down and you
see that it's none other than the frenchman from last night,
Christopher rokean Corp Kell coincidence. So he's about to shout
(27:30):
a greeting to the major d who's like standing outside
the door, when this black Mercedes five hundred pulls up.
Who should exit that vehicle but the buff guy and
his friends from last night? Oh no, crazy coincidence, Kell,
crazy coincidence. Roken Corp and the Buff guy like lockeyes
Roken Corp peels away from the curb and the fellas
from last night jump back in the ben zone. Give chase.
(27:51):
Oh wow, car Chase is on. What in the world?
Who put a b in their bonnets? That's what you're
thinking to yourself. Then you hear zaren party of one
your table's read, so you go inside. You get delicious
French onion soup, maybe some steak fried who knows the
night is young Zarn. Meanwhile, Christopher Rocan cor He's like
hall and tail down Las Siannega in SNL Californian's style.
(28:13):
I'll tell you he went down Las Siannega and then
he turned her right on Melrose, and then he made
another right on San Vicente. Okay, see kind of know
where he is. As he's watching the car in his
rear video monitor, his mistress, Rhonda Rydell, calls him and
he tells her, I am being chased by a car.
It is full of are Arabs. Please calls it police,
(28:35):
and so she's like, wait, the what and the what now?
So here's rocan Cors. He's like being followed by a
Mercedes of what he's describing as angry Arabs. He stops
at the light at San Vicente and Santa Monica. The
Mercedes pulls up next to him, and then suddenly a
Hundai pulls up behind him. The man in the Hunday
gets out. Ronda's still on the line at this point.
She's like listening as Christopher sits in tense silence. Shots
(28:58):
ring out, The car peels away and Roken court uninjured.
He gets out of his car and he runs to
the La County Sheriff West Hollywood station located Conely at
that corner. Yeah, so they shot him in front of
the Sheriff's station. Yeah. I mean it's huge. You can't
miss it. No, or did they wait? So the cops
go outside, they secure the scene. They find bullet holes
(29:19):
in the hummer. Here's the problem. They came from inside
the car. And then they also found a glock. So
they searched local hospitals. They find the man in the hunday.
He had a graze wound on his arm. Okay, so
of course Roken Coort is brought in for questioning. When
this sort of thing happens, the police don't just let
it go, right, so they ran as information. They find
(29:42):
out that he's wanted for passport fraud. Okay, what passport fraud?
You say, what passport fraud? I said he held a
valid US passport sort of. Do you remember Leah Bongo?
Oh yes, okay, she and Roken Coort paid a couple
of grand to two LA passport clerks in exchange for
a passport for Rocan Corps who was not a citizen.
(30:03):
So he has he has a fake passport from the
actual passport agency. But he's got a fake American, fraudulent
American passport. Yeah. So Rocan Corp's wife, Pia, she comes
down to the station, so does his mistress, Randa, and
that's where they found out about each other. In the
of the police station. The Sheriff's department run like she's
(30:25):
still in love with Roken Corps, but she ends the
relationship because he's married. She had no clue up until
that points a wholeman of great virtue. She is so
Roken Corps. He caught gun charges for having the glock
on top of the passport charges is bail is set
at one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars. He asked
all of his pals, from Mickey Rourke to restauranturs to
(30:47):
random wealthy investors he knew for bail money, no dice.
None of them had the seventeen thousand five Pia was
able to rustle most of it up and Rokean Corps
is released. He's out on bail, which for him out
of the area. He jumped bail in the wind. Where
did he go? When we get back from this break,
I'll tell you. When we left off, Christopher Rocan Corps
(31:32):
had skipped bail in LA and was in the wind completely.
Where was the wind for Christopher Rocan car Let me guess,
I'm thinking maybe we get Anabitha in this no New
York City. Oh, he Pia and their son Zeus. They're
living in a posh loft department in Lower Manhattan. Of
course he's going big with his cons there. He gets
(31:54):
one hundred and seventy five thousand from this businessman who
was an immigrant. He gets forty thousand dollars in merchandise
from a store, He owes twenty thousand and back rent.
He gets forty thousand from a store employee for a
quote investment. He bought a building in Dumbo that Jay
Z didn't want Dumbo, And so he seduces this wealthy
woman and she gives him ninety grand in cash, and
(32:17):
then he also steals two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
worth of jewelry from said wealthy woman. Who Yeah, But
here's the thing is that like a lot of the
really wealthy people that he was ripping off were so
embarrassed by it and they didn't want their affairs made public.
They wouldn't talk to the cops. They just let it go.
I think we need to not skip over this point
because we've heard this come up lots of time. People
(32:39):
are like, I'll write off that one point five billion.
This wouldn't even make a dent for her, this amount
of money, whoever she was. So that's all well and good,
but for real money, he knew where he had to go.
The family now with an assistant named Dante Dan Yellow,
who was calling himself Joseph but apparently had like a
big stick like bronx accent, call me Joe um. They
(33:01):
moved to the Hamptons, headed up there. So Rogan Corp.
Is looking at properties to quote unquote buy, but like, meanwhile,
he's taking the real estate agent for more than one
hundred thousand dollars on a fake stock tip, like, oh,
we can invest the money. He's working his own real
estate agent. Yes, yes, but he's not really looking to
buy a hell I know, but he's just present to
(33:24):
the real estate agent. It's so busy trying to call.
He's like, oh, I'll get in good with this wealthy guy.
I'll get a huge commission. So it's at around that
time that he starts introducing himself to people in the
Hamptons by a new alias, Christopher Rockefeller. He had his
quote unquote assistant quote screen as calls in front of people,
either like accepting or declining calls from like aristocrats, Kennedy's celebrities.
(33:50):
Um so like, oh, you know, we've got I don't know,
some famous person on the line. Alanz, I'll call him,
he said, the Hamptons. All right, I've got Dershowitz. And
he's like, I'll call him back. This is what Jim
Rockford used to do on the Rockford Fi TV. Rockefeller Rockford,
I see a connection. So one day he's at the
Easthampton Jim getting a massage as you do. He convinced
(34:12):
the masseuse corene Ill Tink that he had a great
investment opportunity that would triple her money. He's stealing from
the massage. Yea, So she gives him fourteen thousand dollars.
What the hell. He's just super charming. She's like, you
know what, come hang out at my house. Like, I
have a lot of cool people friends there. One of
(34:32):
the friends is this Spanish painter named he Nez Saran Pagan.
That's a Great Glos and then he and then another
good friend of hers is this guy Kevin McCrary, So
they'll come back to us, all right. Karin's father back
in the Netherlands had a stroke, so she had to
go out and fly and see him. But she wanted
to use the investment opportunity from Rocan Cord to triple
(34:53):
her entire savings because she's like, I'm going to need
this money to take care of my dad. So she
has one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars she wants
to give it to Rocan Corp. To invest. So she
calls up her friend McCrary and is like, hey, I'm
at the airport, you know, can you take this money,
take it to Rocan Corp And like have him invested.
He's like all right, fine. So McCrary meets up with
(35:14):
Rocan Corps at Karin's house. Red flags a fly in
all I hope. So, yeah, he's uncouth, Rocan Corps. He's tattooed,
he's sloppy, and these are not the traits of a Rockefeller.
Now generally, here's what McCrary told Vanity Fair quote. He
set me off immediately. How could a Rockefeller be associated
with such a bumbling fool. It didn't fit. Nothing fit.
(35:37):
He's French. My family has known the Rockefellers for decades,
Nelson David, We've known them for years. If there's one
thing I know, it's growing up around money. He didn't
feel like money. Wow, seriously. Yeah, So McCrary, he finds
out that another friend of his had given Rocan cor
money and he's just like, I rate, who, why are
(35:58):
you guys trusting this man? So he tries to report
it as a crime, but no crime had really taken
place yet, because it's not like, you know, he had
stolen something immediately. So meanwhile he nes Saran pagan Um.
He's grown wise to Rokan I know, and I wish
he could see it written out, because it's amazing. It
(36:19):
looks like giants, Sarah Pagan, but it's he nes Saran
pagan Um. So Sarah and Pagan. Uh. He doesn't go
to the cops. He's wise to him. He doesn't go
to the cops. He's an artist, a free thinker, a
free spirit, a jokester. He was fascinated by Rocan Cory
wanted to know more. This is what he later told
(36:41):
The New York Times quote. I wanted in on his game.
I liked him, but I knew he wasn't a Rockefeller
as a con man. I'll give him an eight on
what scale? So uh he nes he sets up a
dinner party at his house. I'm sure the Hampton's has
(37:01):
its share of weird dinner parties, but this is like
got to be up there for it. He assembled an
interesting and eclectic group. Pierre a peculiar art collector, Maria
and Clia, daughters of a wealthy Greek shipping magnet. Okay,
and not Suko, the daughter of a top executive at
Sony International. Did Ryan Johnson write this pretty much? Go on,
(37:23):
here's the thing though, they're all imposters. So Pierre is
actually Peter Fazio, a local contractor. Maria was really Maria Etemides,
the New York bureau chief at People magazine. Oh wow.
Clia was a friend of hers and a jag lawyer. Lawyer,
(37:44):
And then Notasuko Utsumi had no relation to anyone at
Sony and was actually a photojournalist who was working on
a book about African genital mutilation. I mean, you have
to run that back. No, So Maria the journalist, she
could not help herself, but quiz roken Corp on his
lifestyle and the question she asked out more and more probing,
(38:04):
like where do you live? How would you describe your house? Like?
And as he's getting shorter and shorter, more and more
terse like, she starts pressing him and then he Nez
is like stop, like kicks round to the table. So
most of the time, though Rokean Chords just held court.
He's like waxing demi elegant on things like art, economics,
the ladies. Do you think a good job? No? Imagine no,
(38:26):
he was terrible. So at one point and he's like
super pretentious about it. At one point he told Rokean
Chord he was a genius and like this is and
roken Cords like, what do you mean? And you know
Einstein was a genius. I am but a simpleman. And
this is what this is how he Nez relayed what
he said to Vanity fair quote. A genius is a
(38:47):
person who has control, who has no fear, he said.
For the briefest moment their eyes met, and Pagan sense
that some part of Rockefeller's elaborate mask had fallen away.
Then he knew the artist speculates today he knew that
I knew, and he knew I would keep his secret,
that I wouldn't turn him in. Wow, so they're just
like scammered, a scam. He knew that I knew that
(39:08):
I knew that he knew. Also, his definition of genius
would mean that both Evil Knevil and my neighbor Bob
are both geniuses. Your point, Yeah, he's a low bar
so McCrary though, he's not tickled by Roken Corp's deceptions
the way that he nez is mccrary's I rate. So
(39:30):
he keeps bugging the cops until they get a lead. Right,
Rokean Court was not staying at a fancy summer home
like he had everyone believing. Like he told people that
he lived on whatever, like the fanciest street there was.
He would name drop that and they're like, oh really,
which one? Um, He's staying at a bed and breakfast
and he hadn't paid the bill and he owed nineteen
thousand dollars kind of bed and breakfast I don't know.
(39:53):
So he gets arrested and he provides an idea a
passport that has the name faby In or Tuna, and
so you know he's sitting there in jail, his attorney
shows up, Bruce Cutler. I don't know if you know
that name. That's John Gotti's familiar. Yeah. So the next
day post forty five thousand dollars casha, no, post forty
(40:18):
five thousand dollars cash bond, and once again in the
wind Man. So it wasn't until after he's out on
bail that the police ran his prince are you kidding me,
Sleepy Hampton's so oh, there's all the mess in La Rome,
Hong Kong like understuff in exactly, so he's getting around.
Roken Corps wasn't totally off the radar, though. He reached
(40:41):
out via third parties to talk to the media while
he was on the run. He told the New York
Times quote, I would not consider myself a criminal. I
steal with my mind. If I take things. If that's
your definition of a criminal, then I am a criminal.
If they catch me, I will make no deal. I
will do my time. I steal in my mind. This
(41:01):
is more of what he told the Time quote. I've
never killed anyone, he said. I don't believe in taking
another life. It is the ultimate sin. He said. He
felt no remorse for his actions, just pity for his victims.
I feel sorry for their greed, he said, I'm not laughing.
There's nothing funny about stupidity. Would he be caught? That
is in the hands of God, he said, So there
(41:24):
we go. Damn. He insults his marks. He says, he's
not about me. They're stupid and greedy and if anybody's
gonna come after me, it's God, and right, I ain't
listen to another. Wise, where is he when he's getting
all emotional with the press. This is amazing Canada. He
went to Canada. So he and his family they made
their way to British Columbia. They ditched the assistant. It's
just Himpia and zeus that there they meet this businessman
(41:46):
named Robert Baldock, and Rocancourt tells Baldock that he's actually
Michael van Hoven, Formula one racer for Ferrari. It's like, sure,
of course, yeah, And he's like, you know, I make
twenty eight in a year. It's a pretty cool gig.
You know, do what you love. You never work a
day in your life. And so he said, you know,
what do you do, Baldoc? He's like, well, I own
(42:08):
this medical diagnostic company. He's like, Fontastique, they give you
five million to invest. Baldock's like, oh okay. So he's like,
I'll transfer the five million to you. And in the meantime,
like Baldoc and this wife, they're just showering him with gifts.
They give him a suite at this luxury hotel resort,
they give him a Rolex. Baldoc goes to Switzerland in
(42:29):
order to complete the transfer of funds. Okay, he did
this a few times because it never took So he
goes to Switzerland because in person to pick up money. Essentially,
he goes to UBSA, Switzerland, and it's like I have
There's all this confusion, like he's showing up. They're like, oh,
do you want to open account? He's like no, no no, no,
I'm supposed to take stuff. I don't know what was
(42:50):
wrong with everybody involved. How do these rich people have
this money? Like they're so irresponsible and like casual about it.
It seems like money is really leased. He does this
a bunch of times. He goes over there, and every
time Rokean Coors like, oh, you know what, it didn't
go through because I don't know the fates do not know,
and then he flies over again. Yeah, he's like, well
(43:10):
try it again, like next week, come back and then
try again. So the Balldocks they'd had enough. I hope
they go to the cops. They go to the Mounties. Yes,
Rokan Corp gets arrested and charged with fraud. He pleads guilty,
and then he also pleads guilty to the charges in
LA and New York. P said she had absolutely no
idea what was going on, didn't have part of the scheme.
(43:31):
I don't really believe that, but they let her go. Huh,
she doesn't get charged. Rokeancorp did a year in a
Canadian prison, and while he was there he did what
all our favorite criminals do, not make toilet wine, but
rather he wrote a book. Of course, it's what you
do in prison. It has an amazing title, I Christopher
rokean corps, orphan playboy prisoner. That's the title. Huh so good. So,
(43:55):
after finishing his time in Canada, he gets sent to
Brooklyn to face federal charge. Is on eleven counts of fraud. Okay,
felony counts. So now he's actually facing something. Yeah, his
lawyer didn't request bail. He pled guilty because I mean,
I don't know how it is, but I imagine a
Canadian prison is from what I've seen, is kind of
like the some of the northern European prisons, like in
Sweden and Denmark. And it's basically like, oh, you got
(44:16):
a free hotel room and some space to write. I
don't know. I would hope so I honestly. But still
in October two thousand and three, he gets sentenced to
three years and ten months, so forty what is it?
Forty six months in jail plus one point three million
in restitution, and he gets ordered to pay seventy five
percent of any profits from telling his life story, whether
(44:37):
a movie or a book, sure to pay back the victims.
The judge, the Honorable Charles Sifton, had this to say, quote,
the likelihood that people are going to take seriously anything
he says or rely on it in the future is
rather slim. Yeah, but it'll still sell books, huh. So
he gets released in two thousand and seven, sent back
to France. Much like our pal Elmir de Hori. His
(45:00):
social currency was only enhanced behind like by his time behind. Yes,
of course, so he starts dating Sonya Roland. The former
Miss France. What In two thousand and seven Want you know?
Two thousand and seven, he meets French filmmaker Kathleen Bleia.
She asked him to be in a movie that she
was making called Bad Love, and it was based upon
(45:21):
a novel that she wrote. The star of the movie
Naomi Campbell, pulling all the nineties names two and seven
and that's how he found himself on the red carpet
at Con as the date of of Naomi Campbell Leyeah.
She also gave him money to write a screen pay
about his life. Do you get the idea that him
being handsome is really a big boy and he's sort
(45:42):
of in that handsome like that who's the French actor
of Vincent gall No, the French one Vincent. He's kind
of like that where it's like he's not traditionally handsome,
but you can see it. I think that guys can
traditionally handsome. But I mean, I don't think traditionally he
doesn't look like all those weird like frat boy, cookie
cutter American act Oh oh yeah, but I was in
(46:04):
bring like French, right, I think he's handsome, but it's
like I think I could see how people wouldn't and
so that's kind of imagine him. I think he's handsome
this one, but you can also see like in some
pictures where maybe people wouldn't conventionally here okay, because you
remember you said he started as a model. I was
wondering if that's why it's always helping the people. Yeah,
but not in the model he was very much in
like the kind of c k one, Calvin Clin, like
(46:27):
Calvin Klein like, um, I don't know, it's just that
he doesn't he didn't have like the traditional model looks. Um,
So he's getting money to write a screenplay about his
life Byah also loaned him more than six hundred and
fifty thousand euros for various projects and things. By July
of two thousand and nine, she was fed up, and
(46:47):
she published a book accusing him of taking advantage of
her diminished mental capacity following a stroke that she had
in two thousand and four. The book, called Abuse of Weakness,
was eventually made into a filming Isabelle Hupair. In twenty twelve,
rocan Cor was arrested for defrauding Bryat and did some
(47:08):
time in prison. A twenty fourteen he gets arrested again,
this time for bribing a police officer to supply him
with passports to end visas to sell at outrageous prices
to illegal immigrants. Yeah, so I don't know what he's
up to now exactly. He's written seven books in total.
He has an Instagram account Chris rokan cor O f
(47:33):
like official just thirty two thousand followers. There's a lot
of pictures of him living a really super elegant lifestyle.
He's like sitting in a beach chair on a cold dale,
bundled up with the caption life is a storm worth
living to the fullest. But it's in French, too tired
to butcher that it's very much like a Kendall roy
(47:55):
look book his Instagram account, or rather the unknown Roy
brother we didn't know we needed on succession makes sense.
He's like the It's like as stint as a Rockefeller
roy Um. So there he is. Check him out, Zarin,
what's your ridiculous takeaway? Man? I used to think Mickey
Rourke was pretty cool, but now I'm wondering is if
(48:16):
he could hang out with this? Do have wild Mickey
Rourke stories that I cannot share Everything that I've heard
from friends in La and I'm just gonna leave it
at that. Terrible things that I can't share really like bad,
like bad bad, or like bad like weird bad weird.
Oh yeah, okay, and I'm gonna I'm just gonna tease
that and leave it. I just always found him peculiar,
starting from when he wanted to be a boxer. I
(48:38):
was like, oh, that dude's not right. I love it.
So I always paid attention to him. And he's also smart.
I mean he's like, he's charismatic, he's interesting, he's curious,
a lot of the things I really respect in a person. Yeah,
but also he's just so uniquely him that I was like,
I like to think that inside of there there is
some like not I don't say goodness. I'm not measuring
his soul, but I mean like something some spark of
(49:00):
like real raw humanity and like like a flame of
not like a pure spirit, but like an artistic spirit,
which I understand he's gonna hurt, hurt people think he
was malicious people. I don't want that. I don't think
he was ever taken by Rokean Corps. And I think
it was just like an interesting thing to so maybe
Roken Corp helped take care of those chihuahuas he carries, Sure,
and I can see him. I mean, he's gonna have
(49:21):
weird friends, you know, so I imagine his quartier. You
are just all kinds of weird friends. But like this
is like I just would expect or I guess exactly. Yeah,
what's your ridiculous takeaway, Elizabeth? My ridiculous takeaway is that
if you can go through things with a ridiculous accent
and really like carry yourself like you know what you're
(49:41):
doing and you're you're above it all, you can get
away with whatever. Certainly from expial. Well, that is it
for today. Excellent. Oh. You can find us online at
Ridiculous Crime, about Twitter for the talking, Instagram for the go.
Can email us at Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com,
(50:03):
do a talkback iHeartRadio app, leave us a voicemail tune
in next time. Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton
and Zarin Burnett, produced and edited by Dave Kuston, heir
to the Rockefeller Records. Fortune Research is by Marissa. Jeff
Bezos is my cousin Brown and Andrea Bill Gates is
(50:25):
my uncle. Song Sharp and tier. The theme song is
by Thomas Larry Ellison is my half brother, Lee and
Travis Warren Buffett is my son, as is Jimmy Buffett Dutton.
Executive producers are Ben Hey, McKenzie Scott, How You doing Bowlin'
and Noel I Am from Ziemeric and Blanche of z
Alno Family, Brown Quiet See One More Time We Quisque
(50:55):
Ridiculous Crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio. Four more podcasts
to my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app,
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Elizabeth Dutton
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