Jean-Pierre Van Rossem
Belgian economist, politician and fraudster (1945–2018)
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Key Takeaways
- Jean-Pierre Van Rossem (29 May 1945 – 13 December 2018) was a Belgian economist, econometrician, activist, author, philosopher, stock-market guru, politician, and member of the Belgian and Flemish Parliaments.
- Moneytron controversy and conviction for fraud Van Rossem became famous as a stock market guru with Moneytron, an investment company that could offer apparently endless returns.
- Van Rossem also claimed that he had developed a model that could predict the stock market and beat the capitalist system.
- At his most successful, Van Rossem owned a yacht, The Destiny, 108 Ferraris and two Falcon 900 aircraft.
- He also printed false shares.
Jean-Pierre Van Rossem (29 May 1945 – 13 December 2018) was a Belgian economist, econometrician, activist, author, philosopher, stock-market guru, politician, and member of the Belgian and Flemish Parliaments.
Life and career
Van Rossem studied economics at the Ghent University in 1963–67. With his final term paper De omloopsnelheid van het geld : theoretische begripsbenadering en praktische toepassing in België (English: The velocity of money: Theoretical approach to understanding and practical applications in Belgium) he won the International Scholarship of Flanders-prize and was able to study two years of econometrics under Nobel Prize winner Lawrence Klein at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Moneytron controversy and conviction for fraud
Van Rossem became famous as a stock market guru with Moneytron, an investment company that could offer apparently endless returns. His customers included the moneyed of Europe, including the Belgian royal family.
Van Rossem also claimed that he had developed a model that could predict the stock market and beat the capitalist system. He invested for the very wealthy and accumulated 860 million dollars for himself. At his most successful, Van Rossem owned a yacht, The Destiny, 108 Ferraris and two Falcon 900 aircraft. Later everything was sold to pay debts. He also printed false shares.
In 1991, he was sentenced to five years in prison for fraud; according to him, it was "a way to fuck the system." In prison, he wrote a personal diary, Gevangenisdagboek (English: Prison Diary), which was later published.
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