World's Greatest Scams

As you know, the First French Republic lasted exactly five years. It began in 1789 with the capture of the Bastille. And ended in 1794 with a conspiracy of 9 Thermidor, when Robespierre and his associates Jacobins were overthrown. The French did not have time to come to their senses, as they passed from the era of the Republic to the era of the restoration of the monarchy.

But some believe that this change of milestones was nothing more than a grandiose spectacle conceived and directed by Baron Jean de Butz.

The "Gray Cardinal" at the court of Louis XVI after the revolution resigned and was engaged mainly in stock speculation. The main director’s task was to save his property invested in the country's largest monopoly, the East India Company.

Baron Jean de Batz came from a Gascon noble family, to which Charles de Butz, who lived a century and a half before, belonged to him, aka Castlemore D’Artagnan, immortalized by the pen of Alexander Dumas.

The future "executioner of the revolution" was born in 1754 in Gascony. At the age of 18, this short young man went, as D’Artagnan had once, to conquer Paris and entered the regiment of dragoons of the queen. Six years later, he left military service and engaged in financial speculation, in particular the game to increase the shares of a company trading with India. Significant service was rendered to him by prominent French bankers and industrialists, who he managed to establish in the process of social life of the court officer. Over time, he became a kind of intermediary between the high society of France and the world of the exchange. On behalf of aristocratic families, he conducted operations with securities that they for one reason or another did not want to advertise. The young Gascon was able to provide secret services to Louis XVI himself, who, with his help, increased his own fortune, giving the amount from the treasury to growth. De Butz also received official orders from the royal family for the placement and redemption of state loans, for which he was granted the rank of colonel. According to the Louvre, rumors were circulating that the Gascon would soon take the post of Minister of Finance, but the king’s secret relationship with a clever financier was more likely to lead de Batz to remain aloof from official politics. Louis and Marie Antoinette were personally interested in ensuring that the right person was always at hand as a freelance consultant. A few months before the revolution of 1789, the king handed over to the 35-year-old baron the state-owned block of shares of the largest French company Ost Ind, which traded with India on the right of monopoly, minted Indian rupees and owned a huge fleet, as well as dozens of factories in Africa and Asia. For some reason, their value began to decline sharply, and de Batz was instructed to restore their previous course using the game on the domestic and foreign exchanges. However, the king was soon arrested and executed several years later. The baron still holds 60% of the shares of the company, which the new government considered to be its own.

The baron from the capital received information about his dizzying career success and special financial talent, and he easily won the election to the nationwide constituent assembly of a liberated France.

As a member of this revolutionary body, de Butz accepted an assignment to deal with the "liquidation of public debt." It was about the payment of compensation to persons who had previously purchased various posts that were destroyed by decision of this legislative body. This position, of course, was not comparable in level with the position of a proxy of the royal family.