The Farmer

In 1922, Lustig went to Missouri and expressed great interest in a dilapidated old farm that a bank had repossessed. No one wanted this farm, but Lustig did. Lustig assumed his most famous of aliases. As `Count` Victor Lustig, he was able to give some sob story of how his life of nobility in Austria was destroyed when the country was overthrown as a result of the First World War. He claimed to have come to America to rebuild his life with what was left of the family fortune and chose a life of farming.

He offered the bankers $22,000 in Liberty bonds to buy the farm and they gladly took it. Lustig also convinced them to exchange an additional $10,000 of bonds for cash so that he would have some operating capital until the farm became productive. The bankers gladly obliged. They were so excited to be rid of this worthless farm that they had no idea that the Count had switched envelopes and made off with both the bonds and the cash.

Lustig made no attempt to hide his escape. The bankers hired a private detective who captured him in a New York City hotel room. During the long train ride home, Lustig convinced his captors that if they actually did press charges against him, there would be a run on the bank by its depositors and the bank would go belly up. And, Lustig insisted that they should give him $1000 for the inconvenience that the arrest has caused him. Somehow, Lustig had twisted the whole story and walked away to freedom with their $1000 in his pocket. (Now that is one smooth operator )