Master con man Ari Olivier died of cancer last week at the age of 82. ‘Lord Olivier’ was a well-known Dutchman, especially in the seventies, eighties and nineties. “Then you take that million and say: cuckoo!”
How do you get someone you just know to give you a million? Master con man Ari Olivier once explained it in a television program from broadcaster Human† He ran into ‘a fat, cigar-smoking rich bitch’ and told him about a profitable project. At some point Olivier went to the bathroom for a while, leaving his pieces on the table.
What he hoped happened: The man secretly looked at it and saw that his investment could yield triple that. Moments later, when all the formalities had been arranged, Olivier ran off with the money. “Then you take that million and say: cuckoo!”
Wednesday made The Telegraph announced that Olivier is last week passed away in Nieuw-Vennep, at the age of 82. According to his son Boris, who confirmed the news, he had cancer.
Robin Hood
In the seventies, eighties and nineties in particular, the master con artist was a well-known Dutchman. ‘Lord Olivier’ was his nickname, because he always looked well-groomed: in tailored suits from the French fashion house Lanvin, with a handmade tie and a fine wristwatch. Bestsellers appeared about him, he made a TV program and even released a picture, Can I do something about it? He presented himself as someone who deceived naive, money-hungry businessmen: a Robin Hood, who stole from the rich. Was that false romance or the truth?
As a child, he already stole hundred guilder bills from his wealthy grandfather and grandmother, according to his memoirs. Money has always been very important to him. Olivier is smart enough to study and get a good job, but “I wouldn’t have achieved what I have now been able to do with that,” he said in the interview. Provincial Zeeland Courant.
The book Lord Oliver; memoirs is full of anecdotes. For example, Olivier describes that in 1968 he checked into a five-star hotel in Vienna and pretended to be the first astronaut to fly to the moon for the Americans. Because he could win someone’s trust like no other and something like that at that time – without the Internet – was not easy to check, he succeeded. It earned him a TV appearance in Austria, and a fee for promoting a restaurant and sparkling wine. When the American embassy sounded the alarm, Olivier fled.
‘Smart psychologist’
At the age of 24, he faced his first conviction for dislodging two Jaguars at a car company with a bad check. It earned him seven months in prison. After that, the young criminal went on the hunt for big money, with new sentences as a result.
Because the scammer had been declared bankrupt, he had to deal with Ton Steinz in the early eighties. “The judge had appointed me as his trustee: I had to handle Ari Olivier’s financial affairs,” says 76-year-old Steinz. ‘I soon found out that he was a clever psychologist. Olivier could easily estimate which women lacked a little love. He wrapped it up with his charms. They lost their money within a week.’
Not everything was criminal. “I’ve had a lot of crying women at my desk. They had gone to the police, where they were told nothing could be done. Because, for example, they had signed something whereby they had given their assets to Olivier in management.’
Crime journalist Bas van Hout (62) was in the public gallery of a court in the early eighties when Olivier’s lawyer, Max Moszkowicz, made a beautiful plea. “His client was going to make amends, Moszkowicz said, he was going to study law in prison. Everyone was impressed until Olivier told the judges why he was going to delve into criminal law. “I don’t want them to catch me so easily next time,” he said. Van Hout: ‘That was not a joke, but madness of pride.’
No regrets
Usually Olivier expressed no regrets. Not even when he sat opposite victims, as in the television program The black sheep in 2000. He loved publicity and had no conscientious objection. During the show, the criminal pointed out that many victims themselves had offered him the opportunity to make off with their money.
According to Ton Steinz, who was also a guest on that show, Olivier was an unscrupulous narcissist. “He wasn’t Robin Hood. Victims have reported to me who received 20,000 guilders (9,000 euros, red.) were lost. They had just sold their house and were about to buy a new house. It was their only money, he would invest it. They never got it back. That way I know more stories.’
According to Steinz, the fact that Olivier’s image is not so bad is partly because TV makers were ‘laughing, yelling, roaring’ with him instead of asking critical questions. For example, the scammer presented a TV show at Veronica, in 1997, Lord Olivier’s world† That show was canceled after three broadcasts, because the presenter was arrested with counterfeit dollars.
Olivier has always claimed that he became an honest businessman in the 1980s. It would surprise crime journalist Bas van Hout if that were true. ‘I met him in 1994 in a cafe and didn’t trust him at all. People like him usually spend their entire lives looking for ways to get rich without working.’
3 x ARI OLIVIER
Fictional Series
Boris, the son of Ari Olivier, is a director and documentary maker. “We’ve been working until the very end on a fictional series, based on his life, for one of the streaming services,” told he The Telegraph†
Weapons or drugs
“I would never get into guns or drugs, I’m not fit for that at all,” Olivier said in a statement tv show from Human. “That’s not for me.”
‘master con artist’
Once a master con artist, always a master con artist? Olivier wanted to get rid of that stamp, he emphasized in 1994 in the Provincial Zeeland Courant† “But that doesn’t work in this shitty country.”