In a previous post, based on the written accounts of two of his victims, Thierry Tilly was described as an astute and patient conman. In 1997, he connected with his first victim, Ghislaine Marchand, as an entrepreneur claiming to have influence in high places, in the political and legal spheres. She took him at his word, as she had no actual proof of his competence or influence. By the end of 1999, he had convinced Ghislaine and her son, Francois, that he was a secret agent tasked with protecting their family, the de Vedrines, from masonic plots and attacks.

My sources are Diabolique, by Ghislaine de Vedrines and Jean Marchand, and We Were Not Armed, by Christine de Vedrines.

2000

As mentioned previously, in February of 2000, Tilly, with no warning, hands a letter of dismissal to Agnes, the educational director of the school Ghislaine is in charge of. This is the canary in the coal mine for many such letters to school staff.

Around Easter, Mamie is sued by the buyers of one of her properties, who now claim a hidden fault, having to do with the water supply. This calls for a family reunion. Christine, who is present, will later recall Ghislaine’s preaching about Tilly’s invaluable role and help to her, as well as her state of mind. According to Christine, Ghislaine is now very paranoid, thinking everyone is out to get her, connecting an attack on Francois on the metro to the family’s general troubles.

Tilly is now described as originating from a very old family, having attended St Cyr’s, presently working at the UN and the owner of multiple management companies. Family members admire and praise his achievements in unison. The decision is reached to phone Tilly for advice on the lawsuit. Luckily, Ghislaine knows his number by heart. Charles-Henri is passed the phone and has a long discussion with him about the case, after which, thoroughly impressed, he decides Tilly should handle it.

Curiously, Tilly reminds him of a time in 1995, when Charles Henri’s name appeared on the list of supporters for a non-electable political candidate – support some of his neighbours could’ve taken issue with (suggesting he might have enemies based on this alone). Shortly after, Charles-Henri starts romanticising his family’s past, concluding that his mother, Mamie, must’ve been involved with the Resistance in France during the war, as she is reluctant to disclose certain aspects of her past. Tilly must also be in contact with other members of the Resistance and thus naturally orbiting his family. With this in mind, things make sense to him. Christine will later reflect on his pragmatic nature, but also, his occasional “besieged citadel syndrome”, making him territorial and defensive towards the outside world.

At some point during the spring, Francois attempts to get his driving licence and fails. Tilly tells him that “Jean’s networks” were to blame and Jean sabotaged him. Francois believes it, as he saw the instructor take a phone call right before his test.

Around the same time, Charles-Henri takes several trips to Paris to meet Tilly in person, after receiving short phone calls. This is unusual to Christine, who wonders why a busy gynecologist and obstetrician, working long hours, clears his schedule at the drop of a hat to jump on a train when Tilly asks him to. The first time they meet at the train station, Tilly recognises him immediately, and she wonders how – perhaps from photos Ghislaine has shown him. He builds a relationship of equals with Charles-Henri, relating as a busy working dad who rarely sees his children and relies on his wife for their upkeep. Tilly drops names and places, yet seemingly wants to be discreet, not wanting to say too much about his endeavours. As with Ghislaine, he listens patiently, akin to a therapist.

Upon his return from one such trip, Christine finds out they have been discussing her inheritance, pondering whether the money is safely invested. In fact, Tilly brought this up during their first in person meeting, proposing a way for them to increase the value of the capital. She becomes uneasy and thinks of connections of her own, suggesting to her husband that they should check up on Tilly before entering into financial arrangements with him. Charles-Henri dismisses her concerns and refuses to enquire about his new trusted friend. To Christine, keeping the peace is more important in the end; she accepts her husband’s decision of placing some of this money with Tilly’s company, Presswell Ltd. Tilly arrives in Bordeaux to collect the cheques. He is instantly offended by Christine’s insistence on finding out more about his company and becomes abrupt, to which she yields.

Around the same time, the family starts experiencing incidents such as car thefts and Christine’s car going on fire at a tollbooth, after being serviced. Christine will later describe these as coincidences in her book – very useful in augmenting Charles Henri’s paranoia, of course. In the summer, two cows die on their farm, which is unprecedented. Next, someone steals a farm trailer and seed from their shed. Tilly claims the trailer will reappear a week later and it does. Christine’s account is also reimbursed for the seed. Strangely, instead of thinking the obvious – that Tilly had something to do with the theft itself – they credit him for investigating and solving the matter.

He tells Charles-Henri and Christine that he isn’t sure who is targeting them yet, but he thinks it my be the freemasons. Christine will later find out that Tilly himself has been a freemason, expelled from the organisation for embezzlement. Around the same time, local authorities come up with a plan for a reservoir; should it go ahead, it would take two thirds of the couple’s lands. The proposal is opposed by many landowners in the region and dropped shortly after. Tilly takes credit for having intervened. They believe him.

The family becomes increasingly paranoid, seeing any occurrence causing them problems or worries as a deliberate attack against them. Increasingly, they only trust their closest family members. Christine attempts to communicate this to her husband, but finds it difficult to verbalise and ultimately accepts anything he decides. Her mental health worsens, and on Tilly’s advice, she is prescribed Tranxene, which somewhat numbs her emotions. She will recall feeling rejected by the family around this time.

In June, Francois obtains his baccalaureate, which the Marchands gather to celebrate at a restaurant. Jean arrives first. He then sees exit the car his wife, his daughter, Francois and Tilly. After a while, Tilly suggests that he intervened to help Francois with his exam. Jean takes this very badly, without causing a scene, and Tilly, catching on, leaves.

Towards the end of summer, Tilly arrives with his family for a holiday at Monflanquin, to see the end of the music festival. Ghislaine describes his wife, Jessica, as beautiful and stylish, yet quiet and seemingly fearful at times. She reckons this is caused by her husband’s job as a secret agent, which puts him at risk. They are accompanied by their two sons. Ghislaine finds them a property they can spend their holiday in every August going forward, as Tilly is charmed by the surroundings.

At the end of the festival, Ghislaine organises a party, inviting Tilly and his family, against Jean’s wishes. Also present are Philippe’s son and daughter, the latter with her fiancé. Tilly is strategically seated at the head of the table, to make acquaintance and impress people with his stories. This works very well on Guillaume, Christine’s son, who is convinced and fascinated. Philippe’s children, however, and his daughter’s fiancé, consider him a clown. When leaving the party, they “have a fit of the giggles” in the car. A strange incident occurs when someone attempts to lift Tilly’s briefcase, which he left in the lobby, near the entrance. Tilly “thunders” not to touch it, as it will explode if anyone but him handles it.

In September, Ghislaine is faced with a URSSAF financial investigation into the music festival, which is a first. She is very stressed and spends every night going over the accounting of the past three years, at times not sleeping. She knows these checks usually result in repayments, which worries her. Since the investigation is to take place at Monflanquin, Ghislaine takes her voluminous folder and prepares to head there. Before she goes, Tilly tells her that he’ll handle it, which shocks her, as he hasn’t even opened the folder, not being familiar with the issue at all. He insists and, despite serious doubts, she hands it to him. They travel to Monflanquin together, yet Tilly attends the meeting by himself.

About an hour later, he returns with good news: no repayments, and she doesn’t even have to pay the inspector’s fees, which is the norm. Ghislaine is astounded and breathes a sigh of relief, after so much stress. Months later, Jean will receive not only a repayment order, but also a fine, indicating Tilly’s no-show to the meeting. At this time though, Ghislaine is extremely grateful, thinking Tilly’s influence is such that any inspector will back away instantly. She reckons the inspector didn’t even open the folder and instead, upon hearing Tilly’s identity, took off immediately.

The school is fitted with surveillance cameras, as Tilly thinks the lone security guard might be no match for the masons and Rosicrucian, who are both so interested in a failing secretarial college. Tilly’s “services” keep receiving information that these groups are planning to destroy the de Vedrines in the following months, as they are a living reminder of what French aristocracy used to be. Tilly tells her the following:

“Ghislaine, you are among the chosen; among those we have decided at the highest level to protect. As such, you and your brothers have nothing to fear; you are under my protection and that of my services.”

At the beginning of October, Tilly goes in person to supervise the fitting of security cameras in Phillipe’s home, Talade, as well as shutters on the windows. He has long conversations with his partner, Brigitte, convincing her of the masonic plot against the family. He adds that her husband (this suggests she is still married to someone else while living with Philippe) is part of the enemy group. Tilly tells her that he plans on having her committed to a mental hospital to take her possessions. This leaves her shaken. Tilly orders her to break all contact with her husband immediately and gives her an encrypted phone, as hers is apparently being tapped.

In October, the family begins to transfer part of their savings to bank accounts in Belgium, then England, belonging to companies Tilly and his services created specifically for the the purpose of protecting their capital and increasing its value. There is a cost, he says, but it will be recovered from the investments. In mid October, Tilly is given a cheque for 100818 euros. A month later, 129648 euros, and from Ghislaine herself, 126532 euros. In addition, 122000 euros from another family member. Combined, around 500000 euros are entrusted to him, without having run any kind of checks on this individual or his businesses. Brigitte also transfers 115 000 euros to an account in Brussels, owned by Tilly. She plans on selling all her effects and entrusting him with the money.

In November, Jean’s employer is still expecting an order of computers from Tilly, made in October. Although Jean didn’t trust him, he figured Tilly had successfully purchased and installed these items at the school and could be relied on for that. Tilly insisted on being paid in advance, into a London-based account. The first time, the items are delivered by Francois and don’t match those ordered. Jean tells him to return them, following which Tilly tells Francois that Jean is mentally ill and could be dngerous.

Jean communicates often with Tilly, who keeps postponing the second delivery. He gets angry, shouts and threatens, but no items arrive. Finally, he asks Tilly to meet him in a cafe. There, Tilly explains that the order cannot be completed for reasons of national security – while it consists of basic office computers and a printer. Tilly’s boss had forbidden any deliveries to the company. Jean demands a refund if nothing is delivered. On the 13th of November, Jean calls his secretary repeatedly; she confirms no items have arrived still. He is furious.

He is on holiday, spending time with family members, but Ghislaine is not and is still in Paris. Later that day, at his home, Bordeneuve, Jean is surprised Philippe doesn’t leave his house, claiming he wants to spend time with his mother, who is staying there overnight. Jean doesn’t mind and goes to bed. The next morning, he finds Philippe is still there. Charles-Henri arrives shortly after. Seeming hysterical, the brothers tell Jean he’s in danger and he isn’t leaving the house. He argues with them almost to the point of a physical fight; they throw incomprehensible accusations at him about his employer. He discovers they have locked the doors and taken the keys, making it impossible for him to leave. Outside, Philippe has also blocked his car with his own, to make sure he can’t drive off if he does leave the house.

Jean finds himself sequestered in his own home. He goes to his bedroom and when attempting to exit, he is stopped by Philippe. He thinks of every conceivable way of escaping or alerting someone, but there isn’t any. The landline is in his office and the mobile has poor signal. If he were to shout, no one would hear him. Mamie is in on the plot, as she has no reaction at all to what they’re doing. He refuses to eat or drink thinking they might drug him.

Around 5 pm, a psychiatrist arrives, called by Charles-Henri. He has a conversation with Jean, informing him that the brothers believe him to be suicidal and presently in crisis. After speaking to Jean, the psychiatrist concludes that there’s nothing wrong with him and leaves. The brothers, however, are still there. Charles-Henri tells him they are now reassured they don’t have to hospitalise him, revealing that this had been their intention. During the night, Jean thinks of ways to escape.

At 9 am the next morning, Jean manages to sneak into his office and grab the phone. He’s worried his story might sound implausible. He phones his boss. His boss, in turn, phones a mutual friend, who can only advise him to phone Jean’s wife. Ghislaine reassures him that she’s taking charge of the issue, so nothing more comes of it. Jean then phones her, demanding she tell her brothers to leave at once. She refuses, confirming that she’s in on the plot as well. After she arrives, her brothers finally leave.

Jean is traumatised after the experience, having decided to get a divorce and break off from the family. However, he reconsiders. He has a long reconciliatory talk with his wife, reaching the compromise that they will stay together, provided he doesn’t have to see her brothers or mother again.

At Christmas, for the first time, the de Vedrines don’t spend the holidays together at Martel, the family chateau, but at their individual homes. Ghislaine and Jean spend them with their children and Sebastien, Guillemette’s fiancé. By now the widower and children of her late sister, Anne, are placed by Tilly in the enemy camp; Ghislaine has no idea why. Francois barely speaks to his father and Philippe’s relationship with his children, who consider Tilly a clown, has severely deteriorated. Ghislaine will later remark that by this point, their once tight-knit family is already broken.

Notes

After hiring Vincent David to represent Mamie – an actual lawyer – the family decides to entrust the litigation case to Tilly. This suggests that in their social sphere, having connections is more important than having a degree or operating correctly within the system. Whereas Ghislaine believes he had helped with the school’s legal issues, she had seen no proof of it, nor have any of her family members. All they have is still his word. At the party, a new claim emerges: Tilly is a Doctor of Law as well, besides being a General, secret agent and whatever else he claims. However, Ghislaine turns out not to be the most credulous, as it has taken him three years to work on her, whereas others fall for his nonsense immediately.

The conversation with Charles-Henri indicates that Tilly has done his research, finding his name pop up in random places, using bits and bobs to claim in-depth knowledge of the family’s affairs, “obtained from his services”. This shows him to be meticulous. In truth, the internet has already taken off by 2000.

It’s impossible to know whether Tilly has anything to do with the car-related incidents; it’s rather odd that they occur right when he’s trying to convince the de Vedrines that they are surrounded by enemies. Him being responsible for the car going on fire after being serviced is unlikely. The car thefts, not so much. He is definitely behind the theft and return of the trailer, which puts a question mark on everything else.

The insanity around Tilly’s claims is difficult to quantify, exploding briefcase and all. However, one thing stands out: Jean’s supposed state of mental crisis, a claim originating from Tilly alone, right after Tilly fails to deliver the computers or issue a refund. Normally, this would raise red flags as tall as the Eiffel tower, never mind Jean’s lack of strange behaviour that anyone could observe. It boggles the mind that four people, including a doctor, believe a complete stranger who isn’t living with Jean and barely interacts with him on a personal level, regarding his state of mind, enough to consider having him hospitalised. In fact, they don’t even let him leave after he is cleared by a psychiatrist. What they are doing, by holding someone captive, never mind in his own home, is surely illegal. But they don’t care. Does anyone worry about Tilly taking off with the money for the order, or at least what happened to that money? No. It’s not mentioned again. Fascinating. Computers would have been expensive at that time.

Ghislaine’s brothers’ behaviour is so implausible that Jean mulls over who to ask for help, fearing he won’t be believed. Unfortunately, that is partially correct, as his boss eventually phones his wife, instead of the police, who could intervene immediately, with sobering consequences for said behaviour.

Throughout this entire period we see a thirst for uniqueness from the de Vedrines, so eager to believe they are so important that the freemasons and Rosicrucian are targeting them personally, interfering with petty issues and engaging in petty crime.

The trust placed in Tilly, with no checks or proof of its merit, is perhaps illustrative of how things work in high circles. They do not work like that anywhere else, without someone proving that money can be placed with them – particularly obscene sums for anyone to just hand over. Especially when a person makes implausible claims visibly designed to obtain access to that money. Brigitte in particular is incredibly trusting and easy to scare, handing over all her savings and planning to sell everything else she owns, to hand the proceeds over to Tilly. Just like that, she is convinced by a total stranger in a day or two.

As Ghislaine remarks regarding the party at the end of summer, Tilly provokes extreme reactions in people: they either believe him fully or think he’s a complete clown and fraudster. There is no in between. We also notice that as soon as he manages to infiltrate the family, he switches his priorities from causing distrust and chaos at the school, to causing it among family members. By the end of 2000, Tilly is a rich man, and none of that money will ever be recovered.

To be continued in the next post.