home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
TIME: Almanac 1990
/
1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
/
time
/
092589
/
09258900.045
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1990-09-17
|
3KB
|
56 lines
NATION, Page 25Big Scam on CampusA bogus Frenchman gives a course in con
But for the fact that he was only a part-time student at Duke
University, he might have been rated a Big Man on Campus. Enrolled
in 1987 in the continuing-education program, he quickly became a
campus celebrity. His moniker helped. The short, wavy-haired chap
with the cosmopolitan air just happened to be Maurice de
Rothschild, wayfaring scion of the rich and illustrious French
banker, Baron Guy de Rothschild.
At least, so he said, and for two years he never let anyone
forget it. He drove the little white Honda CRX, he confided, only
because he did not want to risk denting his Maserati. He helped out
in a research lab for a measly $100 a week, he said, only because
his family had cut him off when he failed to go to Harvard. He
would not speak French, he said, only because Americans had such
atrocious accents. He was fond of showing pictures of family
mansions clipped out of magazines. When going away for a few days
he would confide he was off for some sailing with the Kennedys. He
spent $200 a month at the Campus Florist on bouquets that went to
people in Philadelphia or New York with cards that said, "Thanks
for the hospitality."
So it went for two years around Duke and Durham. When the
putative nobleman had to borrow a few dollars from friends, it
seemed to pain him royally. When he could string together enough
credit, he was a sport, once laying on a swank downtown party for
the Duke swimming team he managed. He lived in an ordinary town
house, but it was elegantly appointed and always stocked with good
wine. He boasted about his friendships with Kevin Costner, Burt
Reynolds and other Hollywood celebrities.
Eventually, a few acquaintances began to wonder about Maurice.
It appeared odd, to say the least, that he could speak only halting
French. And what about those vivid blue contact lenses? And where
did he get that Southern accent? If he was in his mid-30s as he
looked, what was he doing in school? Was this guy for real?
As it turned out, no. At a Sigma Alpha Epsilon convention in
Cincinnati last summer, Rothschild created such a vulgar scene
complaining to the hotel desk that his fraternity brothers decided
to check into his background. They learned that another guy named
Rothschild had pulled off some funny business at the SAE chapter
in Berkeley years before. After they demanded that he prove his
identity, Maurice skipped town. He showed up in Bronxville, N.Y.,
to pick up his belongings from a rented room and has not been
sighted since.
Last week Duke's campus daily, the Chronicle, reported that
the phony Frenchman was Mario Cortez Jr., 37, of El Paso. In 1967,
said the daily, he changed his name to Mauro Jeffery Rothschild.
Wherever and whoever he may be, Rothschild left thousands of
dollars in debts at Duke, including $14,000 owed to one friend and
a $400 tab at the florist. He also left a legacy of stories that
ought to last a generation at least.