Jean-Pierre Van Rossem (29 May 1945 – 13 December 2018) was a
Belgian stock market
guru
Guru ( ; International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''guru'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian religions, Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: tr ...
,
economist
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
,
econometrician
Econometrics is an application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics", '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8� ...
, convicted fraudster,
author
In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...
,
philosopher
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
,
public figure
A public figure is a person who has achieved fame, prominence or notoriety within a society, whether through achievement, luck, action, or in some cases through no purposeful action of their own.
In the context of defamation actions (libel and ...
,
politician
A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...
, and member of the
Belgian and
Flemish Parliament
The Flemish Parliament (Dutch language, Dutch: , formerly called Flemish Council or ''Vlaamse Raad'') constitutes the legislature, legislative power in Flanders for matters which fall within the competence of Flanders, both as a geographic reg ...
s.
Life and career
Van Rossem studied
economics
Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...
at the
Ghent University
Ghent University (, abbreviated as UGent) is a Public university, public research university located in Ghent, in the East Flanders province of Belgium.
Located in Flanders, Ghent University is the second largest Belgian university, consisting o ...
in 1963–67.
With his final term paper ''De omloopsnelheid van het geld : theoretische begripsbenadering en praktische toepassing in België'' (English: ''The velocity of money: Theoretical approach to understanding and practical applications in Belgium'') he won the International Scholarship of Flanders-prize and was able to study two years of
econometrics
Econometrics is an application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics", '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...
under Nobel Prize winner
Lawrence Klein
Lawrence Robert Klein (September 14, 1920 – October 20, 2013) was an American economist. For his work in creating computer models to forecast economic trends in the field of econometrics in the Department of Economics at the University of Penn ...
at the
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...
.
Moneytron
Van Rossem became famous as a
stock market
A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange a ...
guru with Moneytron, an investment company that could offer apparently endless returns. His customers included the moneyed of Europe, including the
Belgian royal family
The monarchy of Belgium is the constitutional and hereditary institution of the monarchical head of state of the Kingdom of Belgium. As a popular monarchy, the Belgian monarch uses the title king/queen of the Belgians and serves as the ...
.
Van Rossem also claimed that he had developed a model that could predict the stock market and beat the
capitalist
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...
system. He invested for the very wealthy and accumulated 860 million dollars for himself. At his most successful, Van Rossem owned a
yacht
A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...
, ''The Destiny,''
108
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...
s and two
Falcon 900
The Dassault Falcon 900, commonly abbreviated as the F900, is a French-built corporate trijet aircraft made by Dassault Aviation.
Development
The Falcon 900 is a development of the Dassault Falcon 50, Falcon 50, itself a development of the e ...
aircraft.
Later everything was sold to pay debts. He also printed false shares.
In 1991, he was sentenced to five years in prison for fraud; according to him, it was "a way to fuck the system." In prison, he wrote a personal diary, ''Gevangenisdagboek'' (English: ''Prison'' ''Diary''), which was later published.
Formula One
Van Rossem
sponsored and later became the majority owner of a
Formula One
Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
team in 1989,
Moneytron Onyx, which placed 10th of the 21 teams. The biggest success he achieved with his team was third place at the
1989 Portuguese Grand Prix
The 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix (formally the XXIII Grande Prémio de Portugal) was a Formula One motor race held at the Autódromo do Estoril in Estoril, Portugal on 24 September 1989. It was the thirteenth race of the 1989 Formula One World Champ ...
with driver
Stefan Johansson
Stefan Nils Edwin Johansson (born 8 September 1956) is a Swedish former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One between and . In endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing, Johansson won the 24 Hours of Le Mans ...
. The team signed an agreement with Porsche to use the V12 that Footwork then went on to use. However the deal was cancelled when Van Rossem announced the deal on Belgian television prior to the initial announcement. That night he made the news again, as he'd driven his Porsche to town square and set fire to it.
ROSSEM
In 1991, Van Rossem founded his own
libertarian
Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...
protest party
ROSSEM, according to many, to gain political immunity, because of his problems with the Belgian courts. The name of the party stood for ‘Radicale Omvormers en Sociale Strijders voor een Eerlijker Maatschappij’ ('Radical Reformers and Social Warriors for a Fairer Society'). Under the slogans ‘Geen gezwijn, stem libertijn’ ('No nonsense, vote libertine') & 'Geen gezeik iedereen Rijk' ('No whining, everybody rich'), ROSSEM got 3.2% of the votes, or 3 seats in the
Belgian Federal Parliament
The Federal Parliament (; ; ) is the bicameral parliament of Belgium. It consists of the Chamber of Representatives (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). It sits in the Palace of the Nation in the centre of the nation's capital, Brussels ...
in the Parliamentary elections of 24 November 1991. Rossem himself had a seat in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives from November 1991 to May 1995 and the
Flemish Parliament
The Flemish Parliament (Dutch language, Dutch: , formerly called Flemish Council or ''Vlaamse Raad'') constitutes the legislature, legislative power in Flanders for matters which fall within the competence of Flanders, both as a geographic reg ...
from January 1992 to May 1995.
In 2014 he went back to the elections with his party ROSSEM but lost with only 0.3% of the votes for the Belgian Federal Parliament and 0.2% for the Flemish Parliament.
Controversies
* At the swearing-in ceremony of
King Albert II before both houses of Parliament in 1993, he shouted "Vive la république d'Europe, vive Julien Lahaut!" (English: "Long live the republic of Europe, long live Julien Lahaut!"), a reference to communist leader
Julien Lahaut, who had shouted "Vive la république!" in 1950 when
King Baudouin took the oath, and was assassinated a week later.
* In 2004, Van Rossem was a guest on the Dutch television show ''Het Grote Complot – De Wereld Verklaard'' and offended the
Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende
Jan Pieter Balkenende Jr. ( ; born 7 May 1956), commonly known as Jan Peter Balkenende, is a Dutch jurist and politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 20 ...
by calling him a "dick".
In popular culture
Jean-Pierre Van Rossem had cameo roles in the comics series ''
The Adventures of Nero
''The Adventures of Nero'' or ''Nero'' was a Belgium, Belgian comic strip drawn by Marc Sleen and the name of Nero (comic book character), its main character. The original title ranged from ''De Avonturen van Detective Van Zwam, Detectief Van Z ...
'' by
Marc Sleen
Marcel Honoree Nestor ( ridder) Neels (30 December 1922 – 6 November 2016), known as Marc Sleen, was a Belgian comics artist. He was mostly known for his humorous adventure comic '' The Adventures of Nero and Co.'', but also created gag comic ...
, more specifically the albums ''Nerorock'' and ''De Man van Europa''. Around the same time he was also featured in his own
celebrity comics
Celebrity comics are comics based on the fame and popularity of a celebrity.De Weyer, Geert, "België gestript",Standaard Uitgeverij, 2014. They are a byproduct of merchandising around a certain media star or franchise and have existed since the ma ...
series, scripted by himself and drawn by Erik Meynen.
Other information
* Van Rossem claimed to have met
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...
in 1988 at the Bahrain Middle East Bank in
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
.
* In 2002 the politician
Wim Verreycken compared ROSSEM, along with the murder of Dutch politician
Pim Fortuyn
Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (; 19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002), was a Dutch politician, author, civil servant, businessman, sociologist and academic who founded the party Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF) in ...
, as political stunts during a meeting of the
Belgian Senate
The Senate ( ; ; ) is one of the two chambers of the Bicameralism, bicameral Belgian Federal Parliament, Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives (Belgium), Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be ...
.
* Slot Car Racing and JP Van Rossem: Van Rossem put an extraordinary amount of time into slot car racing, including hosting major races in Europe and the United States, where he covered all costs of flying top-rated racers to his races. He bought a raceway in Chicago where he put on races called "The Worlds" in 1988 and 1989. Thousands of dollars were given in prizes, including two
Pontiac Fiero
The Pontiac Fiero is a Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, rear mid-engine, light sports car manufactured and marketed by Pontiac (automobile), Pontiac for model years 1984 – 1988. Intended as an economical commuter car with modest perf ...
s.
Bibliography
* ''Hoe genezen we onze zieke ekonomie?'' (1979,
Metodika)
* ''
Moneytron: How the system works'' (1989)
* ''Is Outperformance of Security Markets Possible with Modern Econometrics?'' (1990)
* ''Staat in staat van ontbinding'' (1990,
Houtekiet)
* ''Proces in duplo'' (1990, Houtekiet)
* ''Mister Junkie & Sister Morphine'' (1991, Houtekiet)
* ''Sonate voor een blauwe vuurtoren'' (1991, Houtekiet)
* ''Libertijns Manifest'' (1991)
* ''Libertijnse Breekpunten: wat willen Libertijnen'' (1992)
* ''Een dode zwaan in Tann'' (1992)
* ''De schat van de Arme Klavers'' (1992,
Loempia)
* ''Hoe word ik stinkend rijk?: Van Rossems beleggings – en belastinggids editie 1993'' (1992)
* ''Wie vermoordde
André Cools?'' (1993, Loempia)
* ''Hoe kom ik van de grond? : Van Rossems Sex – en Bordelengids'' (1993)
* ''De nacht van Christus-Koning'' (1996)
* ''Gevangenisdagboek'' (1999,
Van Halewyck)
* ''De dag van de nachtschade'' (2000, Van Halewyck)
* ''Brigitte, of Het hart van de engel'' (2001)
* ''De maquette : verslag'' (2002)
* ''De onkuise kuisheid van de Boccaccio : studie van het postmoderne nachtleven'' (2002)
* ''Crisis: Hoe lossen we het op?'' (2009, Lampedaire)
* ''De engel in de duivel'' (2009, Lampedaire)
* ''Belgisch uranium voor de eerste Amerikaanse en Russische atoombommen'' (2011, Van Halewyck)
Literature
* Martine Vanden Driessche, ''L'Anversois – Jean-Pierre Van Rossem'' (Marabout, Alleur 1990). With the paragraph (p. 40) describing how he disturbed the lectures of Professor
M.A.G. Van Meerhaeghe.
Filmography
''(This list is not complete.)''
References
*
*
Digital-archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Rossem, Jean-Pierre
1945 births
2018 deaths
20th-century Belgian criminals
Belgian comics writers
Belgian fraudsters
Belgian libertarians
Belgian motorsport people
Belgian non-fiction writers
Belgian republicans
Businesspeople from Bruges
Confidence tricksters
Flemish writers
Formula One team owners
Members of the 48th Chamber of Representatives (Belgium)
Political controversies in Belgium
Political scandals in Belgium
Politicians from Bruges
Sportspeople from Bruges
Writers from Bruges