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Victor Lustig, the Con Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower

Lustig pictured center
Victor Lustig, who preferred to be called Count Lustig, in spite of having no claim to the title, was an early 20th century confidence man. To hear some tell it, he was one of the greatest con artists of all time. He was always smooth and composed–the antithesis of the fast-talking con man. It was this poise combined with a knack for swindling that earned him a reputation as the man who sold the Eiffel Tower twice. While not exactly true, he did earn a pretty penny running scams.

The 81-story wrought iron Eiffel Tower was designed and constructed for the 1889 World's Fair. Even before construction began, there were people who hated it. One group even called it a monstrosity. It was quite an unusual structure for Paris at the time. It would definitely stand out, but construction commenced anyway. Victor Lustig was born the January after construction on the monument ended.

Lustig got the idea for his most famous con while reading about the Eiffel Tower in 1925. He learned that the rusting monument was proving costly to upkeep. There was some talk of tearing it down. It was never meant to remain in the city anyway. Lustig figured out a way to take advantage of this talk, devising a plan to get big scrap metal dealers to bid on the Eiffel Tower.

He had to look authentic, so Lustig stayed at a fancy hotel, rented limousines and used the official alias of Deputy Director of the Ministere de Postes et Telegraphs. He had 7,000 tons of scrap metal to pretend to sell, so he had to make the deal sound lucrative, and he had to make himself look like a true politician. So, Victor Lustig chose a mark from among the scrap dealers and offered him a deal. If the man gave Lustig $70,000, he'd ensure the man's company got the Eiffel Tower.

Victor Lustig got the bribe money and left the country. Andre Poisson, the man he swindled, was too embarrassed to come forward, so Lustig came back to try again. This time around, he was suspicious of one of his marks, so he left before completing the deal. However, some accounts say he actually did sell the Eiffel Tower twice, so who knows? With such a lengthy career and 47 known aliases, it's hard to tell how many cons this man pulled.

Lustig wound up in America after the Eiffel Tower job and went to work conning and counterfeiting. He even pulled a successful con on Al Capone. However, the Secret Service eventually caught up with him. He was jailed, escaped and jailed again before dying of pneumonia at a medical center for prisoners.
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