The World's Worst by Mark Frauenfelder

Author:Mark Frauenfelder [Mark Frauenfelder]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780811846067
Publisher: Chronicle Books LLC

MOST INFAMOUS CON

SELLING THE EIFFEL TOWER (TWICE)

Charles Ponzi stands as the exemplar of con artists. That’s too bad, because his con, admittedly effective while it lasted, was crude and unimaginative. It amounted to little more than taking money from suckers and promising to pay them back at a ludicrously high rate of interest. Ponzi simply paid off earlier “investors” with money he took from people buying into the con later. Such a scheme is bound for catastrophe in the long run because, like a chain letter, it requires an ever-growing pool of suckers to maintain itself. Fraud is an ugly business, and Ponzi was certainly guilty of ripping off a lot of people—about 40,000—to the tune of $140 million in today’s money. But the most infamous con in history was perpetrated by Ponzi’s contemporary, Victor Lustig. Born on January 4, 1890, Lustig traveled the world posing as a wealthy European count. By blithely flashing around large wads of cash, he was able to gain the trust of his marks, whom he’d drain through elaborate long-term con games involving several accomplices. He reached the height of his dishonest trade when he sold the Eiffel Tower, not once, but twice, to an unsuspecting victim. Here’s how he did it.

Arriving in Paris in 1925, Lustig read a newspaper story about maintenance problems with the Eiffel Tower. It was 36 years old, having been erected as a temporary monument for the 1889 Paris Exposition, and was supposed to have been torn down in 1909. Now it was in sorry shape, and upkeep was costing the local government a fortune. The city was even considering tearing it down rather than pay for the yearly repairs. Although that seems preposterous today, many Parisians at the time thought the Eiffel Tower was a crass eyesore ruining the classic architecture of their beloved city.

Ever on the lookout for an opportunity to direct other people’s money in his direction, Lustig hired an unscrupulous printer to make some counterfeit government stationery. He assumed the role of Paris’s Deputy Director General of the Ministère de Postes et Télégraphes, and sent letters to five of Paris’s largest scrap dealers, asking them to attend a secret meeting at the impressive Hôtel Crillon.

Lustig wined and dined the men, then explained that the city government intended to tear down the tower and sell it for scrap. He told them Paris was accepting bids for the tower and swore them to secrecy, explaining that the government didn’t want news of the controversial decision to be leaked to the public until everything was put in place. A couple of days later, Lustig rented a limousine and chauffeured the men to the Eiffel Tower, to explain certain particulars. He did this in order to observe the dealers’ behavior, so he could pick the most gullible sucker. He selected André Poisson, because he seemed to be the most insecure about his station in the Parisian business world.

When the bids came in, Lustig called Poisson for a meeting and told him that he had won the contract—on one condition.

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