In August 2006, French author Muriel Barbery published her breakout novel, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, set in a well-to-do apartment building in central Paris. The main character is Renée, a middle-aged woman and concierge of the tenement. Our American friends would call her ‘the super’. Renée performs a menial and poorly paid job, but she harbours a secret, perceived by the 12-year-old Paloma and Japanese businessman Mr Ozu.
Paloma and Ozu in fact pick up several clues from Renée’s mannerisms and vocabulary, coming to the conclusion that she is much more well-educated and intelligent than she lets out to be.
Let’s now move to early 2009, in real-life Oxford, where a man nicknamed ‘Baron Bobby’ manages the cheese stall of the city’s popular covered market. ‘Bobby’ has recently hired a new worker: Christine, a middle-aged French woman. She displays a quiet and humble demeanour, but almost immediately attracts his attention. You see, ‘Bobby’ is also French. A French Baron to be precise, and his real name is Robert Pouget de Saint Victor.
Similar to the novel’s characters, ‘Baron Bobby’ Pouget picks up on Christine’s accent and figures of speech, realising that she might be of upper-class, even aristocratic stock. And much like the novel’s Renée, Christine might conceal a secret. Upon his relentless badgering, Christine caves in and spills the beans, causing Bobby’s jaw to plummet to the floor. As Christine spews forth her story, a massive, convoluted conspiracy swirls amongst her words, one that would leave Dan Brown giggling in a puddle of his own fluids: Treasure hunts!
Freemasons! The Knight Templars! The Rosicrucians! And a mysterious cabal of laser-wielding homosexuals.
What the hell is going on?
To uncover the atrocious plot that has ruined Christine’s life, we must travel back to the previous decade, and meet her extended family: the de Vedrines.
The Castle and the Avalanche
The de Vedrines were, and are, a large family of rich, successful and highly intelligent professionals of aristocratic descent, whose lives unfolded across Paris, Bordeaux, and their ancestral home: a village in southern France called Monflanquin, where they could boast their own castle, Chateau Martel.
The matriarch of the family was Guillemette, born in 1912, and at the time of our story had three surviving children, all aged between 50 and 60-years-old.
The first-born son was Philippe, an executive for Shell Oil, married to Brigitte.
Next, we have second-born Ghislaine, owner of a school for secretarial staff in Paris and married to journalist Jean Marchand. Ghislaine and Jean had two children, Wilhelmina Jr and François.
Finally, the youngest child is Charles-Henri, henceforth simply ‘Charles’. Charles is a gynaecologist with a successful practice, and is married to Christine, whom we met in the introduction. Charles and Christine decided to sire three children: Guillaume, Amaury and Diane.
To recap: Guillemette—‘Wilhelmina’—has three children: Philippe, married to Brigitte, with no children; Ghislaine, married to Jean, with children Wilhelmina Jr and François; and Charles, married to Christine, with children Guillaume, Amaury and Diane.
On paper, such a family would not make for targets susceptible to conspiratorial thoughts. But as we shall soon see, they would eventually let themselves be drenched by a veritable avalanche of bullshit.
The fall of the house of de Védrines began in the most anticlimactic of ways: a job posting for a cleaning services vendor.
A Snake in their Midst
Back in 1997, second-born Ghislaine de Védrines was looking for a cleaning contractor to take care of her school for secretaries. The father of one of her students introduced her to a former associate, claiming he was the man for the job.
The guy in question was one Thierry Tilly, born in 1964 in the outskirts of Paris. Not much was known about him, except that he had a knack for business and administration, despite flunking out of his university studies. According to rumours, he had accomplished at least two lucrative real-estate deals. According to other rumours, those deals turned out to be scams.
Nonetheless, at first Mr Tilly appeared completely harmless to Ghislaine. He was small, thin and friendly enough. He also appeared to be happily married to Mrs Jessica Diener, a striking former model.
But Ghislaine’s husband, journalist Jean, would immediately perceive an undercurrent of menace underneath Thierry Tilly’s uncharismatic appearance. As later described by journalist Michael Gross: ‘The bespectacled 35-year-old had a raspy voice, a pasty face, and an unexpectedly strong handshake—a painful grip that felt less like a friendly greeting than an assertion of power.’
Nonetheless, Tilly’s competence impressed Ghislaine, who hired him as a sort of jack-of-all-trades and master-of-all. Tilly sorted out the cleaning priorities, then fixed the school’s IT infrastructure. Little by little, the newcomer became essential to the daily running of the business, and was promoted to the rank of Ghislaine’s right-hand man. Jean was jealous at first, suspecting an affair, but soon realised that his wife’s fascination with Tilly was purely intellectual. And perhaps all the more dangerous.
Gradually, Tilly extended his influence over the entire de Védrines clan, as Ghislaine invited him to weekends and family gatherings. On such occasions, the pasty-faced factotum unleashed his secret weapon: a talent for shameless brownnosing!
Philippe is a high-ranking executive of Shell Oil? Why, he should be its president!
Charles is a gynaecologist with a busy practice? Such an injustice, he should be Head of Medicine at a hospital!
In hindsight, Tilly was targeting the family with a relentless campaign of love-bombing to get into their good graces. But everybody, except for Jean, was too busy massaging their own egos to realise the scale of the menace.
World out of Balance
Throughout 1998 and 1999, Tilly further impressed the clan by revealing his friendships and acquaintances in high places. According to him, he had access to the corridors of power in the French government, financial institutions, even NATO! And thanks to his contacts, he was able to place highly lucrative investments! How lucrative?
Well, he could guarantee a return of up to 10% monthly. Yeah, Bernie Madoff could sod off with his meagre 10% a year! The de Védrine males fell for the ruse, and entrusted their savings to the newcomer.
Surprisingly, he was able to fulfil his promises! Nobody really understood where those payments came from. We can speculate that either Tilly was running a Ponzi scheme, or was plundering the funds of Ghislaine’s school.
What matters to us, is that Mr Nobody Thierry Tilly now had an old, aristocratic and rich family eating out of the palm of his deceptively weak hands. When the time was ripe, Tilly sprung upon the de Védrines a shocking revelation.
Unbeknownst to them, a secret lodge of Freemasons was conspiring to acquire Ghislaine’s school for secretaries. Were they short on typists? Not really, for what the lodge was actually after was the Paris building hosting the business. This computed to the clan, as back in the day the Parisian Freemasons were actually notorious for pursuing real-estate deals. We should specify that they did so legally, but Tilly speculated that, in this case, they would go as far as committing murder to secure Ghislaine’s school!
Moreover, the Freemasons were not alone in their conspiracy. They could count on some powerful allies. Allies such as the Rosicrucian order, a mystic and esoteric order founded in the 17th century. Or a mysterious, unnamed cabal of homosexuals, or p-word-philes, according to the flavour of the day. Completing this roster of baddies lurking in the shadows, Tilly added perhaps the most dangerous of all: France’s equivalent of IRS, or HMRC, the tax and revenue services!
Luckily, the clan was not alone in this titanic struggle, oh no! For Thierry Tilly, apparent cleaning operator and IT engineer, was in fact a former secret agent, who still enjoyed the protection of his NATO contacts. And if that wasn’t enough, the de Védrines themselves were a force to be reckoned with: unbeknownst to them, the family were among the last descendants of “The Balance of the World”, a secret knightly order, once part of the formidable Knights Templar!
The Balance of the World had been lying dormant for centuries, awaiting to be activated only when the planet itself was at great peril. Battle lines were being drawn against the forces of darkness—but who would lead the de Védrines in the coming struggle? Well, Thierry Tilly, of course, and his close associate, one Jacques Gonzales. By day, Gonzales owned a car-importing business, and managed a humanitarian organisation called ‘Blue Light Foundation’.
But in truth, Gonzales was a secret cousin of His Majesty Juan Carlos of Bourbon, King of Spain, and held the rank of Grand Master of The Balance of The World.
If this wasn’t clear enough, Tilly had dumped onto the clan a lump of bullshit so big as to generate its own gravitational field. And yet, they swallowed it all. In the ‘parallel universe’ created by Tilly, it was Gonzales who called the shots, issuing the strategies required by the family to survive the plot against them. Thierry acted simply as a dispatch, carrying the orders and executing tactics on the ground.
But was Jacques Gonzales actually the master conman, and Tilly simply a lackey in his thrall? This has never been clarified. For sure, the two were accomplices, and it may be that Gonzales had been manipulated as much as the unlucky aristocrats.
Now, we mentioned strategies, tactics and orders. But what exactly were the clan supposed to do to fight against the Freemasons and their allies? Well, mostly dish out the cash, and plenty of it. Tilly urged them to entrust him with their savings and properties, so that he could finance a non-existing network of protectors in high places.
As we mentioned earlier, the only family member reluctant to buy bovine intestinal produce was Jean, Ghislaine’s husband. He noticed as his wife lost a great amount of weight, and gradually slipped into paranoia, perceiving Masonic enemies behind every corner. She entrusted the daily running of the school to Tilly, who moved on the premises and even hired a watchman to keep the grounds secure.
The school’s headmaster, Martine Gourdin, was flabbergasted to discover gaping holes in the business’ accounting books, but her protests fell on deaf ears. As the funds presumably disappeared into Tilly’s pockets, in March 2001 Ghislaine ceased to pay her staff, before shutting down the school altogether in the summer.
Over the holidays, the entire family retreated to their hometown of Monflanquin, where Ghislaine and Jean set to organise the wedding of their first-born daughter, Wilhelmina Jr. The nuptials were celebrated on September the 1st, and Jean hoped for life to return to normal.
He would be sorely mistaken.
Two days later, Ghislaine hastily left for Paris, summoned by Tilly on urgent business. On September the 7th, she suddenly reappeared in their family home, surprising Jean with what appeared to be a staged act.
Jean was in the living room, when his wife burst in, holding a bunch of dried flowers and a glove. She threw the flowers and the glove on her husband’s face and launched into a tirade, which appeared as though she had learned by heart. Ghislaine described herself as being ‘weak, an outcast, a soulless being’ and then said that those flowers were a symbol of the ‘evil network’ to which Jean belonged.
As for poor Jean, he could not understand what the fuck was going on. Was he being accused of being allied to the Freemasons? Before he could react, Ghislaine’s brothers Philippe and Charles made an entrance, grabbed him by the arms and shoved him out of the house. The two threatened Jean, giving him half an hour to pack his stuff and get the hell back to Paris.
But Jean was a journalist with an inquisitive mind, and after some weeks he returned to Monflanquin in secret. He entered his holiday home unnoticed and rifled through Ghislaine’s belongings, searching for clues. In his wife’s computer he found an email from Tilly, bearing precise orders: ‘Toss the flowers and the glove on his face. Tell him that they are the symbols of his “evil network”. Give him half an hour to pack.’
Tilly had started as a conman, but had now executed a move out of the cult leader’s handbook: he had singled out Jean as an internal enemy. And by removing him, he had consolidated the loyalty of his followers. Jean was now completely excluded. The shared account he held with Ghislaine had been squeezed dry.
And his wife would file for divorce shortly thereafter. The journalist would later declare: ‘It was like a tsunami! They made me into a zombie, a ghost! Thierry Tilly was a sort of brain burglar.
He broke open my relatives’ heads, stole their brain, and replaced it with a new one.’
Brains were not Tilly’s only loot, however. After draining Ghislaine’s personal and business accounts, he also sucked dry Philippe’s finances. All these funds were collected into the capital of a company called Presswell Enterprises Limited, nominally owned by the entire de Védrines family. But, guess what, the only beneficiary was Mr Tilly himself, who used the funds to buy himself a nice apartment building on the Alps!
Castle of Doom
By the end of September 2001, Tilly moved to chapter 2 of ‘How to Lead Cults for Dummies’: a campaign of isolation. He spun another big fat lie, warning the clan that their enemies were closing in. For their safety, they had to move to a secluded, well-protected location. Well, how about a castle? How about their very own Chateau Martel?
In the span of a few months, the entire family quit their jobs, liquidated most of their assets, handed over the cash to Tilly and relocated to the family castle near Monflanquin. Even the newlywed Wilhelmina Jr left her husband to join the family in their self-imposed captivity.
Their protector-slash-manipulator Tilly did not move in with them, of course. He was too busy enjoying their cash, buying luxury watches, fine clothing and expensive holidays. But the official version he spun to the de Védrines was that he was preoccupied with securing a protective network around the castle. All the family had to do was to stay indoors as much as possible and follow his instructions, relayed sporadically via phone and email.
They had to avoid contact with outsiders, strangers and old friends alike!
But how about going to the doctor? Matriarch Wilhelmina was approaching 90, and had developed a cataract problem. Tilly emailed that a visit to the doctor was absolutely forbidden! As per those cataracts, they had not developed naturally: they were the result of well-aimed laser beams, shot with precision by fiendish homosexuals and Freemasons lurking around the castle! If they all wanted to avoid a similar fate, they had to keep the window shutters permanently closed.
So, for the ensuing months, the eleven members of the clan lived in almost total isolation, secluded from the world and from natural light. All they could do was watch TV, play table tennis, or obsessively clean the entire castle as per Tilly’s instructions. This bizarre behaviour did not go unnoticed, and the neighbours alerted a local newspaper, the Sud-Ouest, or South-West.
The paper’s articles blew open the case of the ‘Captives of Monflanquin’, which made it to the headlines of national paper Le Monde. One article of the time read: ‘Since Autumn 2001, eleven members of an aristocratic family live in almost total autarchy after cutting off contact with friends and neighbours. Is this a scam? A case of mental manipulation? A cult?’
All of the above, we daresay!
An old friend of the family told Le Monde: ‘I only see them while they do their shopping in a rush, always in pairs or groups of three, never alone. And when I meet them in a shop, our conversation doesn’t go beyond good morning and good evening.’
Another old friend revealed: ‘I don’t have contacts with them any longer, even though we basically grew up together. One day, because of a minor dispute involving a car, I was verbally assaulted by one of them, whom I considered to be one of my best friends. He accused me of hosting swingers’ orgies, of taking part in Black Masses. They all accused us of being Freemasons!’
The press campaign, however, failed to solve the problem. The de Védrines threatened to sue the papers, and reporters were forced to respect their privacy. But you know who does not respect anybody’s privacy? Tax collectors!
Since the start of their captivity, the clan had failed to pay their taxes, accumulating a hefty bill. In 2003, revenue services staged a raid at Chateau Martel, confiscating furniture, crockery and white goods. To add insult to injury, that slimeball Tilly seized the day claiming that the raid was proof that the revenue services were in cahoots with Freemasons! Now, the utterly paranoid and impoverished clan had to relocate to a smaller house in a nearby town, all the while still living under Tilly’s iron heel.
You may remember that one family member had dodged the bullet: Jean Marchand, Ghislaine’s husband. The indefatigable journalist spoke to lawyers and psychiatrists, while pestering investigators and prosecutors. Unfortunately, nothing could be done. All of Tilly’s victims were consenting adults, and thus a report for coercion could be filed only by a relative—but all relatives had been enthralled by Tilly, and thus would not speak to the authorities!
This Catch-22 could have been broken by Jean, but as he was now divorced from Ghislaine, he no longer counted as a relative of the victims!
Crossing the Channel
Thierry Tilly eventually did run into trouble with the law, however. Prosecutors were about to take the conman to court on an old charge for misappropriation of company funds. To avoid the trial, Tilly relocated to London with his wife.
In 2005, the couple moved to Oxford, where he would soon be joined by Guillaume de Védrines, first-born son to Charles and Christine. In the later years, this young man had emerged within the group as a sort of ‘favourite’, a right-hand man to Tilly, who helped him keep in check the other family members. In 2006, Tilly and Guillaume rented some properties from a local landlord, orchestrating the move to Oxford of more clan members. Eventually, the ‘Tilly cult’ occupied three properties: one for Tilly and his wife; one for Charles, Christine and their first-born Guillaume; and one for Guillaume’s younger siblings Diane and Amaury, plus their cousin François, son of Ghislaine.
Out of all of them, Guillaume was the only one allowed a ‘cushy’ job, as an employee in an archaeological surveying company. Moreover, he had the honour of working as personal assistant to Tilly and his mysterious accomplice Jacques Gonzales, in their equally mysterious Blue Light Foundation. As per the other five de Védrines, they were essentially kept as forced labourers. Tilly somehow coerced them into taking underpaid jobs, devolving 90% of their salaries to their ‘master’.
Take young Diane, for example. She was forced to toil away at a double-shift, serving milkshakes from 9am to 6pm, before waiting tables into the night at a local Nando’s, Britain’s favourite purveyor of roast chicken smothered in spicy Portuguese sauce. Her dad Charles, once a gynaecologist, was now a gardener, mum Christine also waited tables, while brother Amaury swept floors at a Burger King.
Once the clan members were settled into their jobs, in November 2006 Tilly summoned them for an important revelation. Unbeknownst to them, and even to herself, Christine was “the chosen one”!
But “chosen” for what exactly? Tilly’s explanations were wild and murky as usual. You see, Christine was not a de Védrines, she had married into the family. Her surname before marrying Charles was ‘Cornette de Laminière’—a surname which might have a vague meaning as ‘Cornet of the mines’.
But Tilly insisted that the actual meaning was more akin to ‘Transmission of precious metal’. In the conman’s contorted explanation, such a name was a portentous sign: Christine was the key to a wondrous treasure, itself a conduit to a secret which would have saved the World! And Tilly knew where the treasure was held: in a safe deposit box, stored inside a bank vault in Brussels.
Alright, but which bank? And what was the account number? Well, Tilly admitted that he did not know. Only Christine had such information, but had forgotten it! She only needed some help to refresh her memory.
To do so, Tilly organised an expedition to Belgium. Christine, Guillaume and himself travelled to Brussels, where the middle-aged lady was meant to suddenly ‘remember’ which was the right bank and the account number. In an agonising trip, Christine walked into every banking branch in Brussels, asking if her deposit box was stored there, by any chance?
Naturally, the trio returned to Oxford empty-handed, so Tilly decided it was time to extract the information by other means. Christine, at the time aged 58, was forced to undergo two periods of captivity and ill-treatment, first from November 2006 to March 2007, and then again in January 2008.
As Christine later recalled: ‘At the beginning, I was allowed to drink tea and eat some biscuits. Then Tilly said I was not allowed to go to the toilet any longer, and so I stopped drinking. Thierry Tilly treated me like an animal. I was forced to urinate in front of my own relatives.
My son Amaury had to clean it all up. It was terrible. Tilly would walk into my room at regular intervals, he shouted and threatened me. He said he would not allow me to see my children any longer.
He said he would fire a pistol close to my ears, and that he would have left me in the clutches of a regiment of Senegalese soldiers.’
The rather racist implication here, being that the Senegalese soldiers could not help but sexually assault the poor lady. Tilly eventually moved beyond verbal threats: ‘One day, he struck my back very hard!’
The conman even involved Christine’s family in her torture. Her husband Charles was ordered to pull hard on her ears whenever she was falling asleep, keeping her awake for days at a time. All the while, a humiliated Christine demanded forgiveness, as she was not able to remember those bank details—which had never existed in the first place!
And then, suddenly, Tilly put an end to the torture, the sleep deprivation, the captivity. A tearful Christine was allowed to rejoin the fold of the mini-cult. What was all that about? Was Tilly really convinced that his victim guarded a secret treasure? That’s another mystery, but according to French psychiatrist and cult-expert Daniel Zagury, ‘The whole episode had been just a stratagem conceived by Tilly to strengthen his grip on the family, to stir them up against each other, and essentially enslave them.‘
The Cheese Man Cometh
Let’s move away from Oxford for a moment now, and pan southwards to France. Up to February 2008, four members of the clan were still living in Southern France: Wilhelmina the Matriarch, her daughter Ghislaine, her son Philippe, and Philippe’s wife Brigitte. Their lives were still pretty much dictated by Tilly’s wishes, but as funds ran low, Philippe grew restless.
In the past, Philippe had loaned some money to other family members, and now wanted back his cash. Following a ferocious quarrel in February, Philippe told his relatives that they could all go fuck off and left his voluntary imprisonment. Suddenly, he and Brigitte were out of the clan, and as such, had cut ties with their tormentor. The Matriarch and Ghislaine, left alone, decided to join the rest of the de Védrines in Oxford, while Philippe made contact with Jean.
The two employed lawyer Daniel Picotin, an expert in cases concerning cults and manipulation. Could they finally file a report for fraud and coercion? French authorities were willing to proceed, at least in theory. In practice, as the victims were living in England, they still needed a complaint from a group member still under Tilly’s influence. That damned Catch-22 again!
So, let’s cross once more the Channel, shall we?
By Autumn of 2008, Tilly had resumed his role as cult leader from a distance, delegating much of his daily manipulating tasks to his new associate Guillaume de Védrines. The latter was mainly in charge of managing funds, which were never enough. For this reason, Tilly and the young clan member decided to sell off the family’s ancestral home, Chateau Martel, below market value.
This was a hard blow for the entire family, especially for Christine. Her own son was cooperating with her tormentor, while concentrating the clan’s wealth into his own hands—while poor Christine had to skip from one underpaid job to the other!
In early 2009 she started working for a new employer, a catering company in charge of the cheese stall at Oxford’s covered market.
We are now back to the beginning of our story.
Thanks to ‘Baron Bobby’ Pouget’s persistent questioning, Christine eventually opened up, revealing her incredible tale of swirling conspiracies, treasure hunts and psychological abuse. Christine was still feeling guilty about not remembering where the alleged Belgian treasure was hidden. To which Bobby blurted out: ‘You don’t remember because there isn’t any memory. That’s all made up!’
Being a practical man, The Cheese Baron had realised that Christine and her relatives had fallen victim to a narcissistic, manipulative conman, one who might have enjoyed his status as leader of a cult-like group—but eventually it was all about the money! So, he asked Christine: ‘What happened to your money? Who has your money?’
Christine replied that her son Guillaume was the master of the purse strings, so Bobby insisted they call him, there and then, and force him to give Christine her fair share. But she was still paranoid, fearing Tilly might have bugged Bobby’s phone. ‘Bobby, be careful, you don’t know—Thierry Tilly is an all-powerful man!’
But Pouget wouldn’t have any of that: ‘Nonsense! He’s just a little creep!’
Bobby then dialled Guillaume’s number and put him on speakerphone, and it is worth quoting here the ensuing dialogue.
Guillaume: You again mum? You are an old bore, a nightmare! Mind your own business! Don’t worry, things are under control—Just fucking leave me alone!
Bobby: Listen, you little shit! How dare you speak to your mother like this? She’s a kind lady. She’s trying to contact you. Where are your manners? And where is her money?
Guillaume: None of your business!
Bobby: I’m making it my fucking business!
Guillaume: I don’t have to speak with you!
Bobby: You may not have to speak with me. But you will have to speak to the police!
In Italy, old people in the northern regions like to tell tales about a mythical character called ‘The Cheese Man’. This is a legendary being who can walk into town at any moment to mete out justice, putting bullies, douches and assorted scumbags in their place. One likes to think that this sort of folk superhero had materialised in late 2000s Oxford, taking the imposing shape and booming voice of cheese merchant Baron Bobby Pouget. In this incarnation, the Cheese Man had swooped in to save Christine with the help of a few chosen magic words: “little creep” and “little shit”!
Exit Counselling
That’s all it took to initiate the chain of events which melted down Tilly’s fortress of deceit.
After cutting short the phone call with Guillaume, Pouget started planning Christine’s exfiltration. The two made a call to Marie-Hélène Hessel, an old school friend of Christine’s, and arranged an appointment in London. Bobby then escorted Christine from Oxford to St Pancras International train station, and entrusted her to the care of Marie-Hélène. The school friend helped Christine on board the Eurostar train, and the two zoomed under the Channel, emerging in Paris a couple of hours later.
Here, Christine reunited with Philippe de Védrines and Jean Marchand, the two clan members who had escaped Tilly’s clutches. The three then met with lawyer and cult specialist Daniel Picotin, who enthusiastically collected Christine’s testimony. They finally had the case to proceed with Tilly’s arrest, on charge of fraud, false imprisonment and mistreatment. French prosecutors cooperated with the British police, who wiretapped Tilly’s phone and learned he was about to flee to Switzerland.
The Brits passed the ball to the Swiss police, who eventually arrested Thierry Tilly in Zurich, on October 21, 2009.
Tilly’s victims, however, were still in Oxford. They still suffered from the conman’s psychological programming, and were too paranoid to trust local authorities. Jean Marchand and attorney Picotin feared that they might ‘terminate’ themselves, if approached by the police. Luckily, Picotin was an expert in ‘exit counselling’, an exfiltration technique perfected in 1978 to deal with cult members.
Using this method, Picotin conducted two expeditions to Oxford, in November and December 2009, safely returning the entire clan to France.
In June of 2010 French police also busted Tilly’s mysterious accomplice Jacques Gonzales. Upon searching his property, officers found 120,000 euros in cash, a BMW worth 93,000 euros, several luxury watches and a collection of tailor-made suits, worth more than 80,000 euros.
Then, in September, both Gonzales and Tilly went to trial, charged with ‘fraud, psychological abuse, violence against vulnerable people and false imprisonment’.
By the time they bore witness in court, all the members of the de Védrines family had thoroughly awakened from the hypnotic spell cast by Tilly. Even Guillaume admitted to having been duped and manipulated by the conman into harming his own family: ‘Mr Tilly is not a guru, and we did not form a cult. He is a criminal, a highly perverse man, a predator. He is the Hannibal Lecter of Manipulation!’
The name of Hannibal Lecter may evoke images of master criminals with a genius-level intellect. But during the trial, Tilly came across as a total and utter moron, a deluded narcissist, who desperately tried to impress the court with increasingly deranged bullshit.
At one point he stated: ‘I was a good friend of General De Gaulle’s!’
And then: ‘I was one of the co-founders of President Chirac’s party!’
Yeah, right! Next!
‘I am a direct descendant of Charles V of Hapsburg!’
OK, what else?
‘Queen Elisabeth II is my aunt!’
So, that would make him royalty, right?
‘My correct aristocratic title is “King of Israel”!’
It is fair to speculate that Tilly may have been trying to diminish his responsibility by reasons of insanity. In any case, on November 13, 2012, judge Marie-Elisabeth Bancal, presiding over the Bordeaux tribunal, issued her sentence: ‘Mr Tilly and Mr Gonzales have been at the centre of a Machiavellian plot. Over the span of nine years, Tilly exploited the weaknesses of an entire family, taking advantage of their history and their situation.’
Tilly was thus found guilty of all charges and sentenced to eight years in prison. Jacques Gonzales, well into his sixties and disabled due to severe diabetes, received a lighter four-year sentence. His real role in the entire affair remains unclear: accomplice, dupe or real mastermind? The court settled on ‘accomplice’ and forced the scamming duo to return to the de Védrines all the money they had pilfered throughout the years: five million euros. That’s 6.8 million in today’s value, or 7.4 million dollars.
The family still has not recovered their beloved Chateau Martel, however, and a parallel court case is still ongoing against the notary who oversaw the sale in 2008. After all, the buyers had purchased the property in good faith, seeing that at the time Guillaume de Védrines had acted as agent on behalf of Tilly.
As per the chief antagonist of this story, the self-proclaimed King of Israel appealed his sentence in 2013. In a rare instance, the tribunal admitted their mistake—and extended the prison terms by one year! The conman benefitted from an early release, however, and by June 2021 was free to walk again the streets of Bordeaux.
Then, something happened. According to local paper Le Sud-Ouest, the once mastermind of convoluted conspiracies experienced a severe psychotic or manic episode while in Bordeaux. So severe, that he was picked up by an ambulance and forcibly interned in a psychiatric ward. Had his mental health deteriorated while in prison? Had he been suffering from mental health issues all along?
Unfortunately no further information could be found about his current whereabouts and circumstances, and several search results against his name appeared to have been removed according to privacy protection laws.
What really matters is the well-being of his victims, the de Védrines clan. Their psyche had been shattered by years of induced paranoia, mindgames, manipulation and abuse. As of today, they are still receiving counselling from psychiatrist Daniel Zagury, an expert in deprogramming cult victims.
The same expert could provide some answers to the big question: how was it possible that an apparently close family of successful and intelligent professionals fell for the outrageous lies fed by Tilly?
In March 2014, Charles and Christine de Védrines attended the annual congress of FECRIS, the European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Cults. In their speech, they quoted Dr Zagury, according to which ‘85% of the population is susceptible to being manipulated at any point in their life. The victims of manipulation are not ill, they are not crazy, they are not marginalised and are not fanatics of the occult.’
Christine then explained to her audience how they, too, were part of that 85%: ‘We had not been attacked by dark forces, we simply responded to phenomena which are regulated by the laws of the human psyche. Mechanisms used by cults, conmen and bogus medical professionals.’
And therein lies the answer. We may consider ourselves to be rational, strong-willed individuals, but after all it’s very easy to fall victim to said mechanisms. We may consider fraudsters to be less dangerous than gangsters or serial killers, but let’s not forget that they share many of the techniques used by manipulators of every magnitude, from narcissistic abusive partners to violent dictators.
So, let’s be aware of the techniques used by these ‘little creeps’ and ‘little shits’.
The creeps normally initiate a stage of seduction or love-bombing, designed to gain the approval of an individual or group. Once the creeps have made themselves essential, they entrap their victims, exploiting their weaknesses, their fragility, or any other point of leverage.
Next, the creeps progressively drain the material and mental resources of their victims, with increasing requests for attention, time, energy, or plain hard cash.
Now, the creep has to shield the victims from the outside world, instigating a sense of paranoia against alleged enemies, both internal or external to the group.
As the victims are fearful of outsiders, they will rely on the creep for their basic needs. This reliance cements loyalty, which is further reinforced by periods in which the creep alternatively humiliates or praises individuals within the group.
Once this stage is reached, the feeling of loyalty and dependence has become completely irrational, and thus much harder to eradicate.
A cursory study of 20th Century history may show how these handbook techniques were applied by the Hitlers, the Mussolinis, the Stalins and Chairman Maos of this world. But you needn’t be the subject of a homicidal regime to find yourself in such a situation. Too many people today still fall prey to their own private dictatorship, under the heel of a cult leader, a charming scammer, or simply an abusive individual.
If you find yourself trapped at any of the stages described above, it’s never too late to snap out of it and rightfully reclaim your life. It’s difficult, sure, but one has to not do it alone. For every Tilly at large there are dozens of ‘Cheese Men’ or ‘Cheese Women’ willing to lend a hand.
Resources for Victims of Manipulation and Abuse
For any reader who may have fallen victim to a ‘little creep’, or may know someone who has, here are some helpful resources:
In the UK:
- The Cult Information Centre at cultinformation.org.uk
- For fraud-related matters, a specialised police squad can be reached at 0300 123 2040
- The National Domestic Abuse Helpline, available 24 hours a day: 0808 2000 247
In the US:
- A directory of help centres for cult victims at cultrecovery101.com
- For fraud-related matters, the FBI: (202) 324-3000
- The National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
If you know of any organisation that may help in these cases, please share their contacts. The more help available, the better.
Key Takeaways
- Thierry Tilly manipulated a wealthy French family into believing in a complex conspiracy involving Freemasons, Rosicrucians, and other secret societies.
- The de Védrines family, despite their intelligence and success, fell victim to Tilly’s manipulation, leading to financial ruin and psychological abuse.
- Tilly used tactics such as love-bombing, isolation, and paranoia to control the family, eventually leading them to live in seclusion and poverty.
- Christine de Védrines was subjected to severe psychological and physical abuse, including forced confinement and sleep deprivation.
- A French baron, Robert Pouget de Saint Victor, played a crucial role in exposing Tilly’s manipulation and helping Christine escape her abusive situation.
Dana Ortiz covers prosecutorial mechanics, evidentiary procedure, and how investigations unwind decades after the original case file went cold.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the main character in ‘The Elegance of the Hedgehog’?
The main character is Renée, a middle-aged woman and concierge of a tenement in central Paris.
What is the real name of ‘Baron Bobby’?
The real name of ‘Baron Bobby’ is Robert Pouget de Saint Victor.
What is the name of the family that Thierry Tilly targeted?
The family that Thierry Tilly targeted is the de Vedrines family.
What was the initial job that Thierry Tilly did for Ghislaine de Védrines?
Thierry Tilly was hired to manage the cleaning services for Ghislaine de Védrines’ school for secretarial staff.
What was the name of the company that Thierry Tilly used to collect funds from the de Védrines family?
The company was called Presswell Enterprises Limited.
What was the name of the castle owned by the de Védrines family?
The castle owned by the de Védrines family was called Chateau Martel.
What was the name of the journalist who was initially skeptical of Thierry Tilly?
The journalist who was initially skeptical of Thierry Tilly was Jean Marchand, Ghislaine’s husband.
What was the name of the lawyer who helped the de Védrines family?
The lawyer who helped the de Védrines family was Daniel Picotin.
What was the name of the psychiatric expert who helped the de Védrines family?
The psychiatric expert who helped the de Védrines family was Daniel Zagury.
What was the sentence given to Thierry Tilly?
Thierry Tilly was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Sources
- Original Casual Criminalist video: The Tilly Conspiracy: The Conman who Enslaved a Family
- https://www.overdrive.com/media/2146615/we-were-not-armed
- https://www.amazon.co.uk/We-Were-Not-Armed-Family/dp/0992627052
- https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2010/08/aristocrats-and-demons-201008
- https://www.smh.com.au/world/for-us-it-was-a-guru-accident-20121210-2b4am.html
- https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2003/12/03/le-mystere-de-monflanquin_344443_1819218.html
- https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sudouest.fr%2F2010%2F06%2F05%2Freclus-de-monflanquin-un-proche-du-gourou-a-ete-ecroue-109697-3770.php#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&tab=url
- https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lefigaro.fr%2Factualite-france%2F2012%2F10%2F01%2F01016-20121001ARTFIG00701-monflanquin-l-escroc-aide-par-un-infirme.php#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&tab=url
- https://www.france24.com/en/20121113-france-guru-thierry-tilly-sentenced-eight-years-prison-swindling-aristocratic-family-vedrines
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-21384793
- https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2013/04/23/01016-20130423ARTFIG00408-reclus-de-monflanquin-le-prevenu-delire-dans-son-box.php
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/sep/24/france-court-guru-thierry-tilly
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20310624
- https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lefigaro.fr%2Factualite-france%2F2012%2F09%2F24%2F01016-20120924ARTFIG00738-les-vedrines-face-au-diable-de-monflanquin.php#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&tab=url
- https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.francetvinfo.fr%2Ffaits-divers%2Fjustice-proces%2Fl-improbable-envoutement-des-reclus-de-monflanquin_134712.html#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&tab=url
- https://fecris.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Acts-Brussels-2014_update_30.04.2021.pdf
- Hero image source by IAEA Imagebank / openverse, by.
