Jean-Pierre Van Rossem (29 May 1945 – 13 December 2018) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

stock market

guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...

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 the 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 An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

public figure A public figure is a person who has achieved notoriety, prominence or fame 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 s ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, and member of the

and

Flemish Parliament The Flemish Parliament (Dutch: , formerly called Flemish Council or ''Vlaamse Raad'') constitutes the legislative power in Flanders for matters which fall within the competence of Flanders, both as a geographic region and as a cultural communi ...

Life and career

Van Rossem studied

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

at the

Ghent University Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when the ...

in 1963–67. With his final term paper 'De omloopsnelheid van het geld : theoretische begripsbenadering en praktische toepassing in België' ('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 the application of Statistics, statistical methods to economic data in order to give Empirical evidence, empirical content to economic relationships.M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics," ''The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of ...

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 of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a Private university, private Ivy League rese ...

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, as ...

guru with 'Moneytron', an investment company that could offer apparently endless returns. His customers included the moneyed of Europe, including the

Belgian Royal Family Belgium is a constitutional, hereditary, and popular monarchy. The monarch is titled king or queen of the Belgians ( nl, Koning(in) der Belgen, french: Roi / Reine des Belges}, german: König(in) der Belgier) and serves as the country's ...

. 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 operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...

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 sailing or power vessel used 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 , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

, ''The Destiny,'' 108

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

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 Falcon 50, itself a development of the earlier Falcon 20. Th ...

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, ''Gevangenisboek'' (English: ''Prison'' ''Book''), which was later published.

Formula One

Van Rossem sponsored and later became the majority owner of a

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

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 with driver

Stefan Johansson Stefan Nils Edwin Johansson (born 8 September 1956) is a Swedish racing driver who drove in Formula One for both Ferrari and McLaren, among other teams. Since leaving Formula One he has won the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and raced in a number o ...

. 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 french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

protest party

ROSSEM Radical Reformists and Social Fighters for a Fairer Society ( nl, Radicale Omvormers en Sociale Strijders voor een Eerlijker Maatschappij, ROSSEM) is a Belgium, Belgian Libertarianism, libertarian political party founded in 1991 by the Flemish bu ...

, 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'),

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 (Dutch: , french: Chambre des Représentants, german: Abgeordnetenkammer) and the Senate (Dutch: , french: Sénat, german: Senat). It sit ...

in the Parliamentary elections of 24 November 1991. Rossem himself had a seat in the

Belgian Chamber of Representatives The Chamber of Representatives (Dutch: , french: link=no, Chambre des représentants, german: link=no, Abgeordnetenkammer) is one of the two chambers in the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Senate. It is considered ...

from November 1991 to May 1995 and the

from January 1992 to May 1995.

ROSSEM 2

In 2014 he went back to the elections with his party

but lost with only 0.3% of the votes for the

and 0.2% for the

Controversies

* At the coronation ceremony of King

Albert II of Belgium , house = Belgium , father = Leopold III of Belgium , mother = Astrid of Sweden , birth_date = , birth_place = Stuyvenberg Castle, Laeken, Brussels, Belgium , death_date = , death_place = , signature = Albert II of Belgium Signat ...

, he shouted 'Vive la république d'Europe, vive Lahaut', as a reference to

Julien Lahaut Julien Lahaut (6 September 1884 – 18 August 1950) was a Belgian politician and communist activist. He became leader of the Communist Party of Belgium after the First World War. A dissident during the German occupation of 1940–44, he becam ...

, who had shouted 'Vive la république' in 1950 at the coronation of

Baudouin of Belgium Baudouin (;, ; nl, Boudewijn Albert Karel Leopold Axel Maria Gustaaf, ; german: Balduin Albrecht Karl Leopold Axel Maria Gustav. 7 September 1930 – 31 July 1993), Dutch name Boudewijn, was King of the Belgians from 17 July 1951 until his de ...

. Van Rossem was Republican. * In 2004 Van Rossem was a guest on the Dutch television show ''Het Grote Complot – De Wereld Verklaard'' and offended the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Balkenende Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010. Balkenende studied H ...

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 Belgian comic strip drawn by Marc Sleen and the name of its main character. The original title ranged from ''De Avonturen van Detectief Van Zwam'' in 1947 to ''De Avonturen van Nero en zijn Hoed'' ...

'' by

Marc Sleen Marcel Honoree Nestor ( ridder) Neels (30 December 1922 – 6 November 2016), known as Marc Sleen, was a Belgian cartoonist. He was mostly known for his comic '' The Adventures of Nero and Co.'', but also created gag comics like '' Piet Fluwijn ...

, more specifically the albums ''Nerorock'' and ''De Man van Europa''. Around the same time he was also featured in his own

celebrity comics Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

series, scripted by himself and drawn by Erik Meynen.

Other information

* Van Rossem claimed to have met

Osama Bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

in 1988 at the "Bahrain Middle East Bank" in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. * In 2002 the politician Wim Verreycken, nl 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) ...

, as political stunts during a meeting of the

Belgian Senate The Senate ( nl, Senaat, ; french: Sénat, ; german: Senat) is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be the "upper house" of the Federal Parlia ...

. * 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 mid-engine sports car manufactured and marketed by Pontiac (automobile), Pontiac for model years 1984-1988. Designed by George Milidrag and Hulki Aldikacti as a sports car, it was the first two-seater Pontiac (automobile) ...

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 André H.P. Cools (1 August 1927 – 18 July 1991) was a Belgian politician and a senior figure within the Walloon Socialist Party (PS) in the Liège region. He was assassinated in 1991 and the subsequent investigation uncovered widespread graft ...

?'' (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

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Rossem, Jean-Pierre 1945 births 2018 deaths Belgian non-fiction writers Politicians from Bruges Belgian libertarians Libertair, Direct, Democratisch MEPs Libertair, Direct, Democratisch politicians Belgian republicans Belgian comics writers Flemish writers Sportspeople from Bruges Belgian motorsport people Writers from Bruges Members of the Belgian Federal Parliament Businesspeople from Bruges 20th-century Belgian criminals Political scandals in Belgium Political controversies in Belgium Formula One team owners Confidence tricksters Belgian fraudsters