By the end of 2000, con artist Thierry Tilly had already inculcated himself into the close-knit family he was targeting financially, the de Vedrines. By now, 11 members were convinced of Tilly’s expertise and authority as a secret agent working for the UN, specifically tasked to protect them from the freemasons and Rosicrucian, who wished them harm due to their aristocratic status. As an observation, they were not difficult to ruin financially, since Tilly managed single-handedly, with no more than brazen lies and conspiracy theories. In 2000 alone, the family transferred around half a million euros into offshore accounts owned by Tilly, for him to “protect” and “invest”.

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

2001

In early 2001, the family has still not recovered from the two days of sequestration of Jean Marchand in his own home, based on false claims made by Tilly, that he was suicidal. Jean’s marriage to Ghislaine, however, survives (and therefore has to be attacked from a different angle).

On the 31st of January, Tilly convenes Ghislaine and her two children in his office and tells them, point blank, that Jean is planning on leaving them to move to the US with a mistress. Jean does have a business trip to the US planned in the near future. The three believe it and confront Jean, who is exasperated and goes to sleep, deciding to ignore the issue. He evidently does not take off with a mistress the same night, as claimed. Tilly takes credit for having stopped him.

One spring day, Tilly abruptly tells Ghislaine that he’s relocating permanently to England. He has just been convicted to a year in prison over a financial crime in France – which she is of course unaware of, perceiving his departure as a feature of his life as secret agent. He takes off immediately, leaving all his possessions behind in the groundskeeper’s lodge, including his clothes. He assures her that he’s more efficient from a distance, promising to instruct her constantly. He keeps this promise, contacting her several times daily.

As before, he makes all decisions related to the IFSAD, continuing to promise it will become an international college geared towards wealthy Chinese students. He writes letters of dismissal to all staff members. Ghislaine goes on to fire everyone, expecting to hire new talent for the coming school year. This is the final nail in the coffin of the college, as all enrolled students withdraw as well.

During the summer, Jean tells Ghislaine that they should get a technical divorce, on paper only, to protect their assets. The IFSAD has been a money drain and risks costing them dearly. Ghislaine perceives this as a discussion about separating in practice and is very hurt by the proposition. It reinforces Tilly’s warnings about Jean, his mistresses, his network and his intentions towards her family.

The last music festival takes place at Monflanquin, not without issues. Tilly assures Ghislaine that one of the main organisers, a dear friend of hers named Nicole, is Jean’s other mistress. Nicole is told not to attend mere days before the event, which causes chaos.

The festival is followed by a family holiday in Orange, where despite appearing happy, Ghislaine is tormented by multiple daily phone calls from Tilly, informing her that Jean is activating his network and plotting against her. According to Tilly, Jean asks her to type a few articles for him (presumably handwritten) as a technique of putting her to sleep.

Note: Tilly is such a quick-thinking scam artist that he comes up with this on the spot; it wouldn’t cross the average person’s mind to focus on that detail. Although Ghislaine is with her family and everyone acts normally, her ability to interpret what goes on around her remains controlled by Tilly, all the way from England.

On the 1st of September, Guillemette marries her fiancé, Sebastien, after a year of engagement. The event is described by all as beautiful and heartwarming, minus the few oddities, such as excluded guests, since Tilly controls this aspect from afar. Close relatives banned include the widower and children of Ghislaine’s late sister, Anne, now painted as enemies. Tilly suggests that Anne was murdered by her husband, as opposed to dying of natural causes. Jean’s parents are also treated coldly.

Two days after the wedding, Ghislaine is at her home, Fontenay-sus-Bois, when out of an open window, she spots a withered flower bunch and a gardener’s glove on the lawn. She phones Tilly, who calmly informs her that these items are the evil signs of the network Jean belongs to. The glove symbolises his intention to cut one of her hands off, while the withered flowers mean that she’s close to death. He gives clear instructions on what to do and she, accompanied by her brothers, follows them to the letter.

Note: Items the gardener could’ve forgotten in a rush to go to the toilet are instantly given monumental, life-and-death importance. Just as with Jean asking Ghislaine to type articles for him, Tilly comes up with this on the spot, in a monotone voice, not seeming surprised at all.

On the 7th of September, at their main home, Bordeneuve, Jean is ambushed by Ghislaine, Philippe and Charles-Henri, in the most bizarre manner. Ghislaine, wearing a cocktail dress, throws a gardening glove and the dead flower bouquet at his feet, reciting the following:

“Jean, here are the evil signs of your network, that I found in our garden at Fontenay. You’ve got half and hour to pack your bags and leave this house.“

Ghislaine goes on to accuse her husband of having 40 mistresses and being part of a cult (ironically). Charles-Henri also accuses him of having given evidence against him when two patients had sued him, to harm his career, presumably. A fight nearly breaks out, as Jean protests their behaviour and accusations.

Unwilling to listen to reason, Ghislaine accompanies Jean upstairs, as he packs his bags, and drives him to the train station, dumping him there. He is in a state of disbelief. He will find out shortly after that their joint bank account has been emptied.

Shortly after, Ghislaine temporarily moves into the empty college building in Paris, along with Philippe, Brigitte and Guillemette, with the belief that they will be there for a mere few days. Tilly is supposedly working hard at enrolling foreign students for the start of the year. They end up staying there for a few weeks, sleeping on floors and washing themselves with cold water. Tilly’s justification is that since they are no longer paying the rent for the building, they must protect it for a short period of time.

On the 12th of September, after the terrorist attacks in New York, Tilly takes credit for having asked Guillaume to delay his flight, feigning that he knew what was going to happen, and even that he was the first to be warned. Instead of pondering on why Tilly didn’t inform anyone else, to prevent the attacks altogether, she is further convinced of his omnipotence and of the luck that has befallen her family in benefitting from his protection.

Several phone calls and letter exchanges take place between Jean and Ghislaine while she’s in Paris. Every single time, she acknowledges her love for him, yet states that they cannot resume the marriage until he receives treatment for his psychological problems.

On the 26th of September, at night, Ghislaine is ordered by Tilly to travel to Waterloo the following morning, for a secretive purpose. She obeys and he meets her there. In a cafe, Tilly points out a man reading a newspaper, claiming he is part of Jean’s network. They get up and leave. They walk around the neighbourhood for three hours, until finally sitting down at a different cafe. Ghislaine is exhausted, both physically and mentally. Around 7pm, Till lets her know they’ve got a meeting in half an hour with his boss, who is exceptionally important, having global responsibilities, and has travelled 25 hours by plane just to meet her. She is shocked, but also flattered.

Note: There is no practical purpose for what he does, apart from exhausting her, so she doesn’t question the character he will introduce her to – fellow scam artist Jacques Gonzalez. He is the same “boss” Tilly claimed to be secretly meeting at the IFSAD, when asking Ghislaine to leave the building (probably to look through her drawers, computer files etc).

They enter an expensive restaurant, where Jacques Gonzalez awaits at a table. He is elegantly dressed, but according to Ghislaine, without knowing his importance, he gives off rich car salesman vibes. They dine together for four hours, during which Tilly says almost nothing, allowing her to make acquaintance with Jacques. Like Tilly, he is a good listener.

Jacques reinforces the fact that she must separate from Jean for good, for her own safety, adding that his mission is to protect her and her family, stopping those who want to see her dead. He adds that her late sister, Anne, was indeed murdered by her husband, as claimed by Tilly before. Ghislaine, an emotional mess, doesn’t sleep and takes the first train back to Paris.

Note: During the trial, years later, Jacques will try to pretend that he knew little and wasn’t involved in Tilly’s scam; however, this meeting and a few other issues will paint different story.

October arrives and the four are still living in the empty college, on a very small budget, having handed all their money to Tilly for “investments”. He allows them to exit the building daily for some walks around the corner. They’ve got no TV, no books, no internet, no newspapers and no phone (long cut off for nonpayment). They are cut off from the outside world, apart from Tilly’s 4 phone calls per day. In mid October, Tilly allows them to buy a TV set and allows Ghislaine to go to a shop to buy thread and canvas for her needlepoint project.

Eventually, bailiffs show up, confiscating the furniture and electronics, presumably to recover the huge debt. It finally dawns on them that the college affair is over, and instead of a blooming international college, it is now just a money hole.

In September, Tilly also demands that Francois and his cousin, Amaury, live at Martel with their grandmother, referred to as Mamie, without leaving the property. The treat invoked is Anne’s widower, who lives nearby, and may be used by Jean to do something nefarious. They stay there until November.

Tilly also directs Ghislaine to phone Jean’s parents with ludicrous accusations. According to Tilly, Jean’s father was a member of the SS during WWII; a traitor to France and a man with blood on his hands. She is aggressive and horrible to them on the phone, after decades of good relations. Her mother in law then dies three weeks later. Ghislaine asks Tilly for permission to go to her funeral; he tells her that there will be people waiting outside the cemetery with an ambulance, to take her to a mental hospital.

In November, a man arrives, as instructed by Tilly, referred to as Luis de L., an architect tasked with opening a hospital in China, on behalf of the Blue Light Foundation, established by Gonzalez, as well as preparing the college for the arrival of Chinese students. He has genuine connections in China and is being taken for a fool, like the de Vedrines. His presence is orchestrated by Tilly to likely restore confidence in the future of the empty college, before the de Vedrines became thoroughly fed up with waiting. Louis, by dragging his Chinese connections into Tilly’s empty promises, will lose credibility with them, becoming a collateral victim. No students arrive and the de Vedrines continue to occupy the venue, in even worse conditions given the winter weather and the lack of heating.

In early December, a large group of bailiffs turns up at the college, instead of students, to seize the furniture, which will be sold at auction to recover the unpaid rent. Ghislaine lets them enter and carry items out, but as Tilly claims, she believes those bailiffs would be intimidated to know that the school was under the protection of the UN and NATO. The family remains there still.

Around the 15th of December, Tilly tells them to leave urgently, invoking a threat from Jean’s network. They have an hour to leave. They scramble to get into Philippe’s Mercedes, which has been stationary for months. About 60 km into their journey, Tilly rings again, warning them to turn back immediately, as the car has been sabotaged and may burst into flames any minute. They turn back in a rush, abandon the car in the courtyard of the college and walk to the train station, where they take a train to Monflanquin. Arriving at Martel, finally, they breathe a sign of relief, thinking they have narrowly escaped death.

Two or three days later, Louis, who is still at the college, informs Ghislaine that the bailiffs have returned and are seizing everything in the building. He asks what to do with Philippe’s Mercedes. Ghislaine is forbidden by Tilly from answering him. The Mercedes gets seized as well. Nobody wonders why the car has not burst into flames at any point.

Christine arrived at Martel on the 2nd of December, to keep Mamie company until the holidays. They have gotten along excellently, preparing for the festivities; the atmosphere is relaxed, away from the constant stress of Tilly’s directives and artificial scares. As soon as the rest of the family joins in, things instantly change. All family members are there apart from Guillaume, who is in the US, and Guillemette, who will arrive before New Year’s Eve.

The house fills with tension; Ghislaine in particular is very agitated, bickering about small things, like Christmas decorations. Mamie, so cordial and calm while with Christine for weeks, becomes apprehensive as well. According to Christine, Ghislaine has been telling Mamie that she was a thief, a liar and that she was deceiving her husband, Charles-Henri.

Note: The smears against Chrisitine indicate that Tilly perceives her as a threat, perhaps due to how difficult it was to convince her to hand her inheritance over to him.

Christmas eve unfolds peacefully, minus the phone calls which Christine would like to answer but is directed not to. Because of this, on Christmas day, the police arrive for a wellness check. The de Vedrines are outraged and blame Christine, as her sister asked for this check, given how unusual it is for her to be unreachable.

Christine describes the atmosphere at the table as dreadful, with Ghislaine in particular picking on her. When she makes the innocuous comment that Christmas should be celebrated at least for the children, Mamie, from the head of the table, throws an empty plate at her face. The plate misses her, landing on the floor. Christine doesn’t protest, remaining seated and silent. This will later be explained to her by a psychologist as the battered wife syndrome, namely having been broken down psychologically to the point of feeling guilty and responsible for fixing the situation.

Guillemette, having arrived, will prolong her stay; in fact, she will only see her new husband once more, to discuss divorce proceedings. Apart from Charles-Henri and Diane, who return home, everyone will remain at Martel, controlled by Tilly from abroad, beginning the period of self-sequestration which earned the family the nickname “Les reclus de Monflanquin”.

To be continued in the next post.

Note: By this stage, Tilly has broken two marriages and successfully pit some family members against each other. The college Ghislaine was running is on track to declare bankruptcy, most of the family’s money is gone and everyone is utterly miserable. Compared to 4 or even 3 years prior, this should be shocking, when put into perspective. However, they don’t stop to realise that things were going well for them until the gradual inculcation of Tilly into their family circle.