Thierry Tilly: the guru who manipulated an entire millionaire family

In 2012 the trial against Thierry Tilly took place. This character, who outwardly may seem like someone rather normal, was responsible for one of the biggest scams carried out in France, and one of the cruelest kidnappings.

Known by the French press as the Leonardo da Vinci of brainwashing, Tilly took it upon himself to manipulate and steal from one of the oldest aristocratic families in the French country, the de Védrines.

The story of how she came to know these nobles and tricked them to the point where she could do whatever she wanted with them. he takes your breath away. It is such an aberrational case of mental manipulation that it can only be fully understood if you continue reading this article.

• Related article: "Forensic Psychology: definition and functions of the forensic psychologist"

Thierry Tilly, the case of the Monflanquin guru

The story of a decade of psychological manipulation she begins in Paris, in 1999. One of the members of the old Védrines family, Ghislaine, was the one unlucky enough to meet the brainwashing guru, and who served as a Trojan horse for Thierry Tilly, making him meet his wealthy family.

Ghislaine was looking for someone to help update the Parisian headquarters of her secretarial school for computer systems. A friend of his, a lawyer, had recommended the services of Thierry Tilly, who had extensive knowledge on the subject. It is curious to know that Ghislaine de Védrines and Tilly met due to a simple debt. Ghislaine's friend had recommended Tilly's services to her because Tilly owed her money, and by working for de Védrines she would settle a debt.

When they first met, Ghislaine was charmed by Tilly's clean appearance, leading her to make what was probably the worst mistake of her entire life: trusting him. Ghislaine began to tell him some private details of her life, such as the fact that her husband was depressed. or that her son gave no sign of wanting to prosper in life. In addition, she told him how a tense situation was developing in the Védrines family due to the inheritance of Ghislaine's father, in 1995.

In the year 2000 Ghislaine invited Thierry Tilly to a festival in Monflanquin, where she was the main organizer. Ghislaine suggested that he go to the castle that her family owned in that town and thus give him the opportunity to meet her. The de Védrines family was not very close, and this was surely what allowed Tilly to leave it, with the passage of time, gaining greater influence over it. This meeting was the precise moment that allowed him to act and change the fate of the de Védrines forever.

The Védrines family at that time consisted of the following members. Ghislaine and her husband, Jean Marchand, along with her children, François and Guillemette. Ghislaine's brothers, Charles-Henri, a local politician and gynecologist, and Philippe, a retired Shell Oil executive. His wives were Christine and Brigitte, and the children of Christine and Charles-Henri: Diana, Amaury and Guillaume. The family matriarch was Guillemette d'Adhemar.

Psychological manipulation begins

Taking advantage of the family reunion situation, Thierry Tilly revealed to the family what his true mission was. He hadn't met Ghislaine in Paris to help her with her computer systems, but to warn them her and relatives of the danger they were running. She told them that he was a special agent in the service of France and even had NATO connections.

After some time, and gaining greater confidence in the Védrines family, he finished revealing the threat in full. He informed the family that they were descendants of an ancient branch belonging to the Order of the Temple, called ‘L’Équilibre du Monde’ (The balance of the world). This organization was in charge of making sure that the world did not come to an end when the most evil forces of hell appeared.

As strange as it may seem, eleven members of the family, from grandchildren to their grandmother, believed Tilly's stories, and began to obey his orders and recommendations. Who did not believe this fantasy was Ghislaine's husband, Jean Marchand. He never trusted Tilly, and even thought that he and his wife were having an affair. He tried to convince Ghislaine that they were being tricked, but she didn't listen and, obeying Tilly,. Finally, she divorced Marchand, forbidding him to return.

In fact, from then on, Jean Marchand was considered persona non grata in the Védrines family, carrying out a dishonorable ritual in front of Marchand, which consisted of throwing a glove and a bouquet of flowers dry. In this way, Marchand was recognized by the family as a member of evil, of the forces that wanted to kill the de Védrines and steal their fortune. Marchand returned to Paris, but upon arrival found that his bank accounts had been emptied by Ghislaine, at the request of Thierry Tilly.

At this point, the damage was done. The family was immersed in the spell of the guru. He ordered them to empty all their bank accounts and give the money to a mysterious organization. called the Blue Light Foundation. If they did this, Tilly told them that they would get to stay safe under the protection of this foundation. The money would go to Jacques Gonzalez, patron of the organization, who would use the money to build hospitals in China.

The dismantling of a fortune

For nearly ten years, all the wealth of the de Védrines was dismantled to go to this mysterious organization that, of course, was a scam. The money helped Tilly and Jacques Gonzalez to afford all kinds of luxuries, several residences, wine, expensive cars and watches, and a comfortable lifestyle. The scammed fortune was around 5 million euros, with most of that money going to the Cayman Islands.

But the economic scam is not the great evil carried out by Thierry Tilly. This colorful character, who if you look at the photos of him seems like a normal, ordinary man, managed to carry out the kidnapping of the entire family, doing it of his own free will.

In 2003 he got the family to leave their castle in Monflanquin and go to a residence in a nearby town called Talade. They lived in seclusion there from that same year until 2008. Thierry Tilly forbade them to use calendars and watches. This way, he guaranteed that the eleven kidnapped members of the de Védrines would be completely disoriented. he wanted them cut off from the world.

At this point in the story, the fact that the family listened to Tilly was explained because, seen as a true guru in part due to the sacrifices that he had been ordering them to make, if he told them to do something, they saw it as a truth that undoubtedly should be carried out. cape.

The case begins to transcend through the media

It was from 2008 in which, as a result of the strange events that were happening to those of Védrines, and especially the complaints made by Jean Marchand, that the press began to spread what, at that time, was a rumor. Already known as 'les reclus de Monflanquin' (the recluses of Monflanquin), the solitary and isolated life of the de Védrines was becoming familiar.

Tilly knew how to take advantage of this, who used it to give strength to the story of the dark forces, which was manifesting itself in "lies" that they had been kidnapped. Already having some prominence in the local press, Thierry Tilly she decided to have the whole family move to Oxford, UK. In this way, he would be able to avoid risks, removing them from any family ties with people from abroad, and be able to keep the situation under control with the press.

Tilly's word about the de Védrines was already absolute, and he took advantage of this to put them together. against others, in order to have even more control over the family and, furthermore, avoid any flight. She led the Védrines brothers to believe that one of them, Amaury, had pedophilic tendencies. To others that among their own they had infiltrated Freemasons. And even she came to make them afraid of anyone from the outside, no matter how harmless she might seem.

The stage of torture

It is at this point that the worst of the case occurs, which was used in the trial to add torture and barbaric acts to the accusation against Thierry Tilly. Once the family was reunited in Oxford, he commissioned one of the members, Christine, to go to Brussels, where she would have to go to collect a treasure deposited in a Belgian bank account. Christine, named by Tilly as the chosen one, had the mission to bring him and, with him, they could reach the place where the secret to save the world was found.

tilly he made her believe that she had been chosen by a mysterious network of great international personalities and the head of which was Jacques Gonzalez, who was said to be directly related to the then King of Spain, Juan Carlos I. While the mission was carried out, the rest of the family would survive doing jobs far removed from their comfortable noble life: gardeners, waiters, shop assistants, cleaners...

Despite the mission given to Christine, she was not told where she had to go to find her treasure, nor did she know her bank account number. That is why when Christine returned from Belgium, she did so empty-handed. Tilly took advantage of this and, to gain even more control over the family, he flew into a rage, accusing Christine of the misery of her family, and decided that she would be punished especially cruelly.

Christine's husband, Charles-Herni, and Ghislaine were in charge of torturing her following the guru's orders. Her torture consisted of preventing Christine from falling asleep by pinching her earlobes., while they sat in front of her on a stool. She made them believe that Christine didn't want to cooperate or she was too weak to carry out the mission and that she had to suffer for it.

Also, to reduce her to a mere animal, Tilly only allowed her to do some things at the expense of others. If Christine drank water, she then forfeited the right to go to the bathroom. When she had the need to urinate, she had to do it secluded, in front of her husband and sister-in-law. Thierry Tilly paid her visits from her, enraged, threatening her. She told him that she would never see her children again and that she would be handed over to Senegalese soldiers.. He came to physically assault him.

Tilly's arrest

Fortunately, the beginning of the end of this hell came in 2008. Philippe, Christine's brother-in-law, was the first to leave Oxford. He returned to his country in July of that year and once there, he contacted Jean Marchand, Ghislaine's ex-husband, and Daniel Picotin, a lawyer specializing in sects. By March of the following year, Christine was also freed from her chains, albeit leaving her husband and children behind her.

Although years before Jean Marchand had denounced the case before the French authorities, the French police he had not been able to do anything without the particular testimony of those who had been brainwashed. Fortunately, with Philippe gone, they already had enough evidence to start the search and capture of Thierry Tilly. The British police also decided to collaborate, tapping the telephone of the residence in Oxford.

In this way, Tilly informed the police, without knowing it, that he would shortly be making a trip to Switzerland. An international arrest warrant was signed for the guru, who was finally arrested in Zurich on October 21, 2009. However, despite Leonardo da Vinci's arrest of the manipulation, the de Védrines family was still under his influence.

It is from then on that begins a therapeutic process of recovery of the mind of the de Védrines. Daniel Picotin initiated two missions of what is called exit counselling, a technique invented by Steven Hassan in 1978 that serves to disconnect the brainwashed people who have been trapped in sects. Evoking pre-slavery memories of him, Picotin managed to slowly bring the family members back down to earth.

Psychological explanation of the case

According to one of the most important psychiatrists in France, Dr. Daniel Zagury, Thierry Tilly he followed to the letter everything that the great manipulators carry out, which can be found at the head of sects and groups of the like. According to Zagury, Tilly went through the following phases when he was with the de Védrines family, driving them to the brink of madness.

First, he was in charge of identifying and taking advantage of the weaknesses of each member. Then, taking advantage of this advantage, he spread fear with conspiracy theories, assuring the family that the forces of evil were after them. To strengthen his image as an all-knowing guru, he made sure he had answers to everything. Finally, in order to enslave the family members, he took it upon himself to break all ties with the outside world and also with the other family members, causing them to doubt his own personal life.

The event of the kidnapping, taking the family to Oxford, was what ensured him to have total control, both physically and mentally, of each one of the members of the de Védrines. In addition, forbidding them the use of watches and calendars, preventing them from knowing what time and day it was, managed to disorient them and change their notion of the passage of time.

During the trial, Thierry Tilly was psychologically evaluated. Far from finding the mind of a person with a psychotic disorder, it was seen that Tilly was very talented and extremely intelligent.. He had a very good memory.

trial and sentence

The trial against Thierry Tilly took place in Bordeaux on October 4, 2012. In it, Tilly appeared as if he were a priest, with the peculiar accessory of rimless glasses. The event lasted for about 7 hours, in which the defendant did not appear to be as concerned as he might have been. to expect from a person accused of brainwashing, kidnapping, torture and acts of barbarism.

At that time, the French and international press were already calling him Monflanquin's guru, and the The fact of having defrauded three generations of the de Védrines was widely known in the country Gallic. The 5 million euros scammed from the aristocrats were also known. During the trial there were 10 of the 11 members who had suffered all of Tilly's manipulation. The matriarch, Guillemette d'Adhemar, had passed away in 2010.

On November 13, 2012, Thierry Tilly and his accomplice Jacques Gonzalez found guilty of brainwashing, in addition to various tortures and kidnapping. Tilly was sentenced to 8 years, while Gonzalez was sentenced to 4. In addition, both were forced to repay the entire swindled fortune. Unfortunately, of all the wealth of the de Védrines, only 220,000 euros could be recovered, with the suspicion that much more is in the Cayman Islands.

Thierry Tilly's lawyer, Alexandre Novion, criticized the sentence, saying that it was too harsh and that it was a sign of liberticidal jurisprudence. He criticized the fact that psychologists and psychiatrists had intervened in the case, in addition to indicating that he was willing to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights. Also, the lawyer said that Jacques Gonzalez was really the manipulator, Tilly being as much a victim as the de Védrines.

After being imprisoned, Thierry Tilly never has the same cellmates for a long time, to avoid being manipulated, and he has hardly received visitors. He has refused to see his father, mainly because he was the one who helped disprove several of the stories that the guru had told the de Védrines and investigators during the trial. Tilly claimed that his father was a commando diver, and that his mother was a champion skater. In fact, Mr. Tilly was a retired army driver, and his wife was a licensed midwife.

Bibliographic references:

• Hassan, S. TO.; Shah, M. J. (2019). The anatomy of undue influence used by terrorist cults and traffickers to induce helplessness and trauma, so creating false identities. Ethics, Medicine and Public Health. 8: 97 - 107.