The True Story of the Conman That Brainwashed a Wealthy Family Out of Their Home and Fortune
When reality is stranger than fiction
An aristocratic French family fell victim to a conman in a tale as convoluted as any Dan Brown novel. In the end, they believed they were lost descendants of an ancient society, and he, a master spy, was their only friend.
The Vedrines
The Vedrines were a wealthy family of French aristocrats. Educated and cultured, they held prominent jobs and were active in their upper-class social circles. The family owned many properties, including their ancestral chateau in Monflanquin, located in southwestern France.
Between the years of 1999 and 2009, they lost everything they had to a conman, including their sanity.
From a castle to a rental home in Oxford
Eleven family members in all fell victim to conman Thierry Tilly. They included the matriarch of the family, Guillemette de Vedrines, her children Ghislaine, Philippe, and Charles-Henri, the two brother’s wives, Christine and Brigitte, and five adult grandchildren.
These were not people you would expect could be easily fooled. Charles-Henri was a successful obstetrician. Philippe, a retired Shell Oil executive. Ghislaine was the director of a French secretarial school. They were active and prominent members of their community. Wealthy, comfortable, and privileged, they seemingly had it all.
Until Thierry Tilly entered their lives. Over ten years, he fed them lies until they fell into a group paranoia. The family sold seven properties, including their ancestral home, and gave Tilly everything they had.
As of 2013, the Vedrines were living in social housing in France. Charles-Henri gave an interview to BBC Inside Out, where he stated, “He (Tilly) stole ten years of our lives. But he did more than that, he destroyed everything on the way.”
How did the Vedrines go from an aristocratic lifestyle to social housing? And how did one man convince them they were in mortal danger that he alone could save them from? To understand it, we have to start at the beginning.
Thierry Tilly entered the scene
It was Ghislaine who first introduced Tilly to the family. An unassuming-looking man in his 40s, Tilly was a gifted liar and had them all believing he was close to influential people.
In all accounts, Thierry Tilly is described as a nondescript man. During his court trial, The Guardian detailed him as “a small man in a black polo neck and frameless glasses.” Even Ghislaine thought of him as “uncharismatic” upon their first meeting.
And yet, over time, this uncharismatic man put the Vedrines under his spell. He told them he was a descendant of the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria. One lie led to another, and before long, he had convinced the family that he was a master spy, a secret agent, sent to them to warn them of imminent danger.
Tilly told the Vedrines they were descendants of an ancient society called ‘The Balance of the World.’ He persuaded them that they were being spied on, bugged, and followed by an evil network of freemasons that even included other family members.
In fear, they locked themselves in their chateau and cut themselves off from all other contacts. Tilly became their only connection to the outside world.
If this story seems impossible to accept, Christine has trouble believing it ever herself.
“If someone told me this story, I would have difficulty believing it,” Christine reported during an interview with the Observer, “But it happened. It’s true. We were all manipulated.”
Brainwashing and manipulation
Tilly used brainwashing techniques designed to confuse and frighten the family. They holed themselves up in their castle, having no contact with former friends and coworkers. Charles-Henri left his medical practice. Christine walked away from her social circle, shunning her friends.
The family spent hours and days in darkened rooms in their home, not even knowing the time, as the clocks had been removed. Tilly controlled their every move. These behaviors continued for five years, with the family barely leaving the castle out of fear they would be murdered. They came to be known as the “recluses of Monflanquin.”
Tilly convinced them he was working with a powerful group of “protectors” that needed financing to help the Vedrines. They gave up their savings, sold their jewelry, and finally, their properties, to pay the supposed protectors.
Tilly wasn’t always present during this time. But he kept control of them through phone calls and emails, insisting they respond immediately when he contacted them.
Jean Marchand
One family member, Ghislaine’s husband, Jean Marchand, was skeptical of Tilly and attempted to warn the others. His attempts were futile as they banished him from the property, giving him 30 minutes to pack.
“Thierry Tilly was a sort of brain burglar. He opened their heads, took out their brains, and put in a new one.” — Jean Marchand, Vanity Fair
It was on orders from Tilly that Ghislaine divorced Jean Marchand, believing him to be a part of the evil society that was targeting the Vedrines.
They took odd jobs in Oxford
The publicity of the strangeness surrounding the family grew in France. So Tilly convinced them to leave their home and took them to Oxford. Here he lived with them in a series of modest houses.
The family members held odd jobs during this time, turning over all of their income to Tilly. They worked as kitchen workers and gardeners. They swept floors, worked at an ice cream shop, and waited tables.
And though their outward appearances were of normal, working-class people, they believed they had a special destiny. They imagined they were players in a greater cause, at the center of events of global importance.
It must be this sense of specialness, that kept Tilly’s spell from dissipating.
It was in Oxford that the manipulation grew to even worse levels. Tilly told the family that Christine knew of the code for a bank account that somehow was supposed to hold information that could save the world.
Of course, she had no knowledge of any codes. But her family members, on orders of Tilly, tortured and abused her in increasingly vile ways. Christine reported she was beaten and locked in a room for months, deprived of food.
Finally free
At long last, the spell ran out. Christine fled from Oxford and went to the French police with her wild tale. In 2009, Tilly was arrested in Zurich. His arrest was not enough to convince the other family members that they had been duped. They were deeply brainwashed, and a team of experts was required to reprogram them.
Tilly was sentenced to eight years in prison, which was later increased to ten. He was found guilty of arbitrary detention, using violence against vulnerable people, and abuse. An accomplice was uncovered. Jacques Gonzalez was sentenced to four years in prison.
The castle is gone
Free of Tilly’s spell, the Vedrines cannot reclaim what they have lost. They tried to win back their ancestral home, but as far as I could find, in a French news report from 2018, the French court refused to cancel the sale of the castle and found the current owner to be “in good faith” as they were unaware of the circumstances surrounding the sale.
Christine wrote a book about the family's struggles, We Were Not Armed, is currently for sale on Amazon. It’s a short book, listed at 218 pages and it’s only acquired three ratings from readers. And though I haven’t read it, I doubt this book fully explains exactly how a prominent, successful family fell under the spell of one man.
Somehow his lies convinced them they were special. They were vulnerable with a deep need to be at the heart of something truly significant. Tilly played on their fears and their desires to be beyond the ordinary, to be exceptional. And within that deep need is where he found his way in.
As of 2013, the Observer reported that Charles-Henri had returned to work as a doctor to help feed the family. The grown children were working on completing various degrees. They still have their aristocratic name, but the fortune is long gone.
As for Tilly, he served his time and now he is free.
Sources:
- BBC News — Conman ‘stole lives’ of French aristocrats
- Vanity Fair, Aristocrats and Demons
- Time, Hunted by Freemasons: French Con Man on Trial for Bizarre Scam of Aristocratic Family
- Cult Education Institute — ‘He was the da Vinci of mental manipulation’
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