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CRIME

‘Rockefooler’ identified as Bavarian man

A con man who passed himself off as a member of the US Rockefeller dynasty until he was charged with abducting his daughter has been identified as Christian Gerhartsreiter of Bavaria.

'Rockefooler' identified as Bavarian man
Photo: DPA

Authorities have been struggling to unravel the true identity of the mystery man known as Clark Rockefeller since his arrest last weekend. Rockefeller is being held in a Boston jail for allegedly kidnapping his seven-year-old daughter, Reigh Boss, who normally resides with her mother, Sandra Boss, in London.

Now it’s emerged that Rockefeller, who has taken on several guises including that of a British aristocrat over the past three decades, is actually Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, and hails from a small village in Bavaria.

A reporter for the Boston Herald received a positive identification after showing photos of Rockefeller to Alexander Gerhartsreiter, who said that the con man is his long-lost brother.

Gerhartsreiter said that Christian left the family’s home in Bavaria in 1961 when he was 17 and had not been seen since.

He is believed to have traveled to Connecticut, where he lived with a family as the German exchange student, Christian Gerhart Reiter.

In 1985, he is alleged to have reinvented himself as Christopher Crowe Mountbatten Chichester, son of a British aristocrat. He lived in the guest house of a young married couple in San Marino, California, and is still listed as a suspect in their disappearance and possible murder.

In 1993, he reemerged in New York’s high society as Clark Rockefeller, when he met his future wife, the Harvard graduate Sandra Boss. She gave birth to their daughter, Reigh, in 2001.

Rockefeller, or “Rockefooler” as he was dubbed by the New York Post claims not to remember anything about his life before 1993.

“There is so much stuff coming out from so many sources, I don’t know what to believe,” the con man’s lawyer, Stephen Hrones, told the Boston Globe on Friday.

In another interview with the paper, Rockefeller’s supposed brother, Alexander Gerhartsreiter, speculated on the motive behind the trail of lies.

“I think Germany was too small for him,” Gerhartsreiter said. “He wanted to live in the big country and maybe get famous. Now that I see all this, he’s really famous.”

MILITARY

What we know so far about the alleged spies accused of plotting attacks in Germany for Russia

Investigators have arrested two German-Russian men on suspicion of spying for Russia and planning attacks in Germany – including on US army targets – to undermine military support for Ukraine, prosecutors have said.

What we know so far about the alleged spies accused of plotting attacks in Germany for Russia

The pair, identified only as Dieter S. and Alexander J., were arrested in Bayreuth in the southeastern state of Bavaria on Wednesday, federal prosecutors said in a statement.

The main accused, Dieter S., is alleged to have scouted potential targets for attacks, “including facilities of the US armed forces” stationed in Germany.

Russia’s ambassador to Berlin was summoned by the foreign ministry following the arrests.

Germany would not “allow Putin to bring his terror to Germany”, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock subsequently said on X.

But Russian officials rejected the accusations.

“No evidence was presented to prove the detainees’ plans or their possible connection to representatives of Russian structures,” the Russian embassy in Berlin said in a post on X.

Police have searched both men’s homes and places of work.

They are suspected of “having been active for a foreign intelligence service” in what prosecutors described as a “particularly serious case” of espionage.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser likewise called the allegations “a particularly serious case of suspected agent activity for (Vladimir) Putin’s criminal regime”.

“We will continue to thwart such threat plans,” she said, reiterating Germany’s steadfast support for Ukraine.

How US army facilities were targeted 

“We can never accept that espionage activities in Germany take place,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.

According to prosecutors, Dieter S. had been exchanging information with a person linked to Russian intelligence services since October 2023, discussing possible acts of sabotage.

“The actions were intended, in particular, to undermine the military support provided from Germany to Ukraine against the Russian aggression,” prosecutors said.

The accused allegedly expressed readiness to “commit explosive and arson attacks mainly on military infrastructure and industrial sites in Germany”.

Dieter S. collected information about potential targets, “including facilities of the US armed forces”.

Fellow accused Alexander J. began assisting him from March 2024, they added.

Dieter S. scouted potential targets by taking photos and videos of military transport and equipment. He then allegedly shared the information with his contact person.

Der Spiegel magazine reported that the military facilities spied on included the US army base in Grafenwoehr in Bavaria.

“Among other things, there is an important military training area there where the US army trains Ukrainian soldiers, for example on Abrams battle tanks,” Der Spiegel wrote.

Dieter S. faces an additional charge of belonging to a “foreign terrorist organisation”. Prosecutors said they suspect he was a fighter in an armed unit of eastern Ukraine’s self-proclaimed pro-Russian “People’s Republic of Donetsk” in 2014-2016.

Espionage showdown 

Germany is Ukraine’s second-largest supplier of military aid, and news of the spy arrests came as Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck was on a visit to Kyiv.

“We will continue to provide Ukraine with massive support and will not allow ourselves to be intimidated,” Interior Minister Faeser said.

Germany has been shaken by several cases of alleged spying for Russia since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, amid suggestions that some German officials have been too sympathetic with Moscow in the past.

A former German intelligence officer is on trial in Berlin, accused of handing information to Moscow that showed Germany had access to details of Russian mercenary operations in Ukraine. He denies the charges.

In November 2022, a German man was handed a suspended sentence for passing information to Russian intelligence while serving as a German army reserve officer.

“We know that the Russian power apparatus is also focusing on our country — we must respond to this threat with resistance and determination,” Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said Thursday.

READ ALSO: Two Germans charged with treason in Russia spying case

Additionally, a man suspected of aiding a plot by Russian intelligence services to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been arrested in Poland, on Thursday, according to Polish and Ukrainian prosecutors.

It said the suspect had stated he was “ready to act on behalf of the military intelligence services of the Russian Federation and established contact with Russian citizens directly involved in the war in Ukraine”.

Russian authorities for their part have levelled treason charges against dozens of people accused of aiding Kyiv and the West since the invasion.

A Russian court sentenced a resident of Siberia’s Omsk region to 12 years in jail earlier this month for trying to pass secrets to the German government in exchange for help moving there.

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