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French court ups ‘Oxford guru’ conman’s jail term

Thierry Tilly, the "Oxford guru" who conned a wealthy French family into giving him €4.5 million, had his eight-year sentence increased to a decade in court on Tuesday.

Published: 4 June 2013 18:33 CEST

French court ups 'Oxford guru' conman's jail term

Thierry Tilly, the "Oxford guru" who swindled €4.5 million from a wealthy French family, had his eight-year jail sentence bumped up to ten years on June 4th. Photo: Mr Alibekki/Youtube

Initially sentenced to eight years in jail for swindling a French family out of their fortune, a conman will now have to spend a decade behind bars after a court of appeal Tuesday bumped up his punishment.

Over 10 years, Thierry Tilly managed to persuade a family of Protestant nobles in southwest France to give him €4.5 million euros and sell their belongings after convincing them they were targets of a masonic plot.

He was sentenced to eight years in jail in November in the southwestern city of Bordeaux for what a judge called a "machiavellian plot", and a court of appeal increased the sentence to 10 years.

Victims of his manipulation from 1999 to 2009, the family locked themselves away in their home, earning them the nickname "recluses of Monflanquin" in reference to the medieval village of that name near their chateau.

Tilly, who claimed descent from Austria's royal Habsburg dynasty, had used manipulation techniques to convince the 11-strong family their lives were at risk from an international plot by Freemasons that only he could defeat.

He was eventually convicted of false imprisonment and psychological abuse last November.

The presiding judge at the time said that among the techniques the self-styled guru used were "creation of group paranoia… exploitation of family weaknesses… (and) a constant presence by their side, physical and then by telephone or email".

French tax authorities eventually seized the chateau when the de Vedrines family stopped paying taxes, after which Tilly took them to Oxford to live.

He was arrested in Switzerland in 2009 following a complaint by a family member who had escaped his clutches in Oxford.

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Germany takes third spot in global ranking of ‘ultra-rich’ people

The number of rich is growing despite the pandemic. Photo: picture alliance / dpa | Jens Kalaene

The year 2020 caused financial stress for many people across the world. But some people – including in Germany – actually got richer.

Overall across the world, the number of individuals with a financial wealth of over 100 million US dollars (€82.25 million) grew by 6,000 during the coronavirus pandemic year 2020, according to the Global Wealth 2021 report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Currently a record 60,000 people belong to the ultra-rich club. These individuals own 15 percent of the world’s investable assets, according to the report.

Germany came in at third place on global rankings, with around 2,900 of these “ultra-high net worth individuals,”. The US is at the top with about 20,600 people with a wealth of over 100 million dollars, followed by China with 7,800.

READ ALSO: Who belongs to the top 10 percent of earners in Germany?

What about private wealth?

People around the globe accumulated more wealth than ever before in the coronavirus crisis year 2020.

Private financial assets rose by eight percent year-on-year to a record 250 trillion US dollars (around €205 trillion), according to the analysis.

Rising stock market prices and growing savings contributed to this. For the first time, BCG also took into account tangible assets such as real estate or gold. Total wealth thus amounted to 431 trillion dollars.

In Germany, private financial assets, including cash, account balances, shares, pensions and life insurance policies, rose by around six percent to approximately nine trillion dollars, according to the data. Tangible assets increased by five percent to 13 trillion dollars.

“Germans traditionally invest in real estate,” said BCG partner and report author Anna Zakrewski. This is clearly shown by the real asset ratio of just under 60 percent, she said.

“At the same time, investors in Germany are saving at an above-average rate.”

Many people have been holding on to their money during the crisis, Zakrewski said, adding that temporary closures in the retail sector and travel restrictions were also putting the brakes on spending.

READ ALSO: How and why Germany’s super-rich list is growing

The number of dollar millionaires in Germany increased by 35,000 to 542,000 in 2020, according to the report.

The consulting firm said the increase could partly be attributed to the development of the euro exchange rate, which rose against the dollar. This had a noticeable effect on the conversion to the US currency.

Across the globe, 26.6 million people own financial assets of one million dollars or more – up by 1.8 million from the previous pre-Covid year.

The US led the global wealth ranking overall with 136 trillion dollars, followed by Asia excluding Japan (111.9 trillion) and Western Europe (103 trillion). In view of the expected economic recovery after the crisis, BCG believes global private wealth will grow steadily in the coming years.

READ ALSO: This is how many millionaires live in Germany

Who are the richest people in Germany?

As heirs to Aldi Süd, they became billionaires: Beate Heister and Karl Albrecht Junior are currently the richest people in Germany, with assets of 39.2 billion US dollars, according to Forbes.

In second place of the richest Germans is Dieter Schwarz, owner of the Schwarz Group, which Lidl and Kaufland belong ($36.9 billion) to. Theo Albrecht, the co-owner of Aldi Nord, is also in the top seven, with assets of $18.8 billion.

Internationally, however, another (super) market founder is leading: with 177 billion US dollars, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is currently considered the wealthiest person in the world.

Graph translated by Statista for The Local Germany

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