The Woman Who Sold the Eiffel Tower

The tower had been built for the 1889 World's Fair with a 20-year permit. By the 1920s, it was rusting, expensive to maintain, and genuinely unpopular with many Parisians who considered it an eyesore. Newspapers ran articles debating whether to tear it down. Lustig, a Czech con artist operating across Europe, read one such article and saw opportunity.

He forged government credentials identifying himself as the Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs, which actually did oversee the tower. He then invited six scrap metal dealers to a secret meeting at the Hotel de Crillon, explaining that the government wanted to quietly sell the tower for demolition to avoid public outcry. The secrecy, he emphasized, was essential.

Lustig identified Andre Poisson as the most eager and most insecure of the six. Poisson was new to the Parisian business scene and anxious to establish himself. When Poisson's wife expressed suspicion about the deal, Lustig made his masterstroke. He took Poisson aside and confessed that his government salary was inadequate, strongly implying he expected a bribe. This made the deal feel authentic. Government officials asking for bribes was normal. Con artists typically didn't.

Poisson paid Lustig the equivalent of roughly $70,000 in cash for the salvage rights, plus a substantial bribe. By the time Poisson realized what had happened, Lustig had fled to Vienna. The humiliation was so complete that Poisson never reported the crime.

One month later, Lustig returned to Paris and tried the same scheme with a new set of dealers. This time one of them went to the police, and Lustig had to flee again. He eventually ended up in the United States, where in 1935 he was arrested for counterfeiting and spent the rest of his life in Alcatraz.