Original subtitles

[telephone ringing]

-[door opening] -[voice1] Hello?

[voice2] Yes, your Highness, how are you?

[Aga Khan] Yes, hello.

[Gilbert Chikli] You know, I'm calling you on a secure line.

[Jeff Rouhete] He had an extremely calm, controlled, friendly voice.

[Gilbert Chikli] So I've just sent you

a very confidential document.

CONFIDENTIAL

THE MINISTER

MR LE DRIAN

The Minister Le Drian wants to organize a video conference.

[computer ringing]

I see Mister Le Drian in front of me on the screen .

[upbeat music]

I don't know if it's real or not.

The minister tells me, "I need a lot of money."

[upbeat music]

[Aga Khan] 4.8 million.

[automated voice] You've received a payment order of 886,000 euros.

[Gilbert Chikli] I think it is between three or four hundred thousand euros.

[Aga Khan] 5.8 million.

[Gilbert Chikli] It's very important that you pay it immediately.

[upbeat music]

[narrator2] An incredible scam that managed

to extort more than 80 million euros.

[narrator3] The alleged mastermind of these operations,

Gilbert Chikli, Scam King.

[upbeat music]

[Ludovic Elbaz] He's got something in his voice that brings people on board.

He's like a great actor or artist.

It either works or it doesn't.

His latest achievement,

impersonating… Jean-Yves Le Drian.

[Delphine Meillet] The amazing audacity to try everything.

[upbeat music]

[Marco Mouly] After that, it becomes art,

not fraud.

Theatre.

[suspenseful music]

VOICE RECORDING OF GILBERT CHIKLI

[Gilbert Chikli] So, let me introduce myself.

My name is Gilbert Chikli.

I don’t think I’m evil or a bad boy,

but in the end, that's up to others to judge

[violin music]

because Gilbert Chikli isn’t who you think he is.

-[upbeat music] -[children chattering]

[Gilbert Chikli] I was born in Paris, in a little village called Belleville.

At the time, we all lived in a small studio apartment.

Financially we had nothing, absolutely nothing,

SQUAT

and I couldn't accept it.

[dramatic music]

[Gilbert Chikli] I was a very clever boy who had an obsession,

which was to try to alleviate my family’s suffering.

[suspenseful music]

[Gilbert Chikli] In this world, there is only room for clever people.

[upbeat music]

[man1] Can you move the chair a bit to your right please?

Yeah, no, a little less. Good and…

I look horrible.

[Dominic] What type of person are you Shirley?

[Shirley] I'm a mystery… a mystery.

[upbeat music]

Make me look tanned. And thin, make me look skinny.

Otherwise it'll be a catastrophe.

[upbeat music]

SHIRLEY: EX-GIRLFRIEND AND ACCOMPLICE

Money is exciting. It gets my adrenaline going.

I don't get out of bed without money.

I need money everywhere.

[Dominic] Would you say you're a criminal?

Me, a criminal? Not at all.

On the contrary, I'm an angel.

I do good things with money.

So, well, listen.

I live in the truth.

[Dominic] Tell me a little about your relationship with Gilbert.

He gave me this ring when I was 25 and I still have it.

There!

No, I don't want to show you, it brings bad luck.

[mid-tempo jazz music]

[Shirley] In the 90s, I was in Paris,

and I was working for advertising companies

that did false advertising.

It was considered to be a bit of a scam,

but it didn't bother me too much, because

I just smooth-talked over the phone as a clever way to get them to send money.

[upbeat music]

[Shirley] I always hung out with people who make easy money.

When I met Gilbert, I must have been 20 years old.

I was in the car, like usual, driving around

and in a traffic jam, like everybody else, I look around.

And suddenly I locked eyes with Gilbert Chikli.

And he stared right back at me.

Ha!

We hit it off right away.

[soft music]

[Shirley] He was a money maker.

I was always luxurious, very well off in fact.

But Gilbert was from Belleville.

That's why it clicked between us. The rich kid and the bad boy.

Gilbert was always a high roller, a big time player.

He didn't play to win, he played for the thrill.

What I liked about him was his intelligence.

[soft music]

[Shirley] In 2005, Gilbert had a money problem.

Gambling debts.

€200,000 - 300,000.

Lots of thugs wanted to get money out of him.

And he told me: "Shirley, I'm fucked, I need money, how do I get some?"

[suspenseful sound]

[Shirley] That night, I was at my place with him.

I was watching TV.

[reporter] The underground has been evacuated.

The streets of London are filled with ambulances…

[Shirley] When I saw the 2005 London attacks on TV…

[reporter] A total of six explosions this morning in the heart of London.

[tense music]

[Shirley] I immediately thought of creating a scam.

Playing on people's fear

and pretending to be counterterrorism agents.

And it worked… like dynamite.

[Gilbert Chikli] I'm going to tell you a secret.

Human beings are curious.

When faced with a mythical, mysterious person, they'll go all the way.

I never thought for a single second that people would believe me.

Do you know why?

Because the most important thing is that I believed in myself.

[suspenseful music]

[Shirley] Gilbert's role was pretending to be a secret service agent.

Finding people's weakness is the first thing, it's the foundation.

Scaring them, saying we know a secret about them.

And I know a secret about you.

Yes, I know a secret about you.

[Shirley] We play with the psyche of the person we're scamming.

We managed to find out if they were a smoker or not a smoker,

if they had kids, if they cheated on their wives.

We managed to get into their personal lives.

And we got them to give us money,

a lot of money.

[dramatic music]

[Élise Le Guével] My name is Élise le Guével, I'm a journalist.

I have worked for Envoyé Spécial at France2 for seven years.

One night, I'm with a friend,

he's a financial executive at a large French company,

and he tells me,

"A weird thing happened this morning.

Someone from my department received a call

from someone pretending to be the CEO of the company.

And this CEO told him,

"one of your bank's clients is financing terrorism.

We are going to ask you for your help to fight terrorism."

[Pierre] I have been a financial director for many years.

[soft music]

In March 2006,

I went through something that I wouldn't wish on anyone,

the death of my wife, because of depression.

She committed suicide and left me alone with three children.

It was a difficult time for me,

I needed to trust,

to find trust in human nature again.

Two weeks later, I'm at the office.

At some point, a colleague transfers me a call.

telling me "It's the CEO".

[Pierre] Hello?

[Gilbert Chikli] It's Mr Roger on the phone, how are you doing?

[Pierre] And he tells me that I will soon get another call

from a secret service agent.

-[phone vibrates] -MASKED NUMBER

I get that call.

[Gilbert Chikli] Yes, hello. You know I'm calling you on a secure line.

[Pierre] He had an extremely calm,

controlled, friendly voice.

He told me, "Your role will be to make a bank transfer

that will be traced by our team to try to catch them

when they receive the funds."

[Gilbert Chikli] This is called an internal crime,

so if you're fit to handle it,

we'll sit together, otherwise I can contact someone else.

So what I'm asking you for is no contact between you and me.

You have to make this payment on your own.

[Pierre] I'm starting to have to really ask myself questions.

When he felt me hesitate, he told me, "We know who you are,

we know your personal situation is messy at the moment"

He talked to me about my wife's suicide, about my children.

He has information on me, a lot of it.

[Gilbert Chikli] I'm counting on you, send it right now, it's very important.

[Pierre] I hesitate.

I hesitate, but I'm all in.

In total, the attempt involved a little more than 10 million euros.

10 MILLION EUROS

[television sound]

[jazzy music]

[Gilbert Chikli] I learned that I had the ability to do incredible things.

Clearly, I could go so much further.

[Shirley] Gilbert, saw the recipe was making good cakes,

so then he made an entire cake shop.

[soft music]

[telephone ringing]

-[recorded voice] Hello? -Good, are you in front of your computer?

[Recorded voice] Yes.

[Gilbert Chikli] You received a payment order of 886,000 euros.

[phone ringing]

[Shirley] It was a very exciting job that got my adrenaline going.

It felt like I was in a movie.

[Gilbert Chikli] I think it's between 300, 400 thousand euros, more or less.

[Élise Le Guével] Every single French company on the stock market,

the big and small ones are targeted by these calls,

it's on an industrial scale.

[recorded voice] I don't understand.

What time will I receive the bank account details?

[Gilbert Chikli] You should receive them tomorrow.

[Élise Le Guével] These victims don't necessarily seem gullible.

They are professional, competent people who are driven to succeed,

and I think that's the leverage the scammer needs.

He had to be found.

How are you?

And you?

Yes, that's why I'm calling you back. Yes, I was there, I'm calling you back.

[Marco Mouly] When you're young,

there's a top dog, number one, number two, number three.

Gilbert was a number one.

Come on, sit down.

Two minutes, the lawyer just called me.

When they plot, they're going to aim for a lot of money. Why?

Because they have a story and they go for it.

They prepare it and hold on even if it takes time, even if it costs them money.

But they get better, they make it better so it works,

so they'll try the first time.

They'll see if they could grab that dough,

and if they didn't get it, then something is off.

They'll do it again to see what's not working

and they'll do it better until they get the real result they want.

[mid-tempo music]

PHILIPPE HUETZ: CHIEF OF POLICE PARIS POLICE. ERIC MOREAU: MAJOR PARIS POLICE

We're rolling, everyone ready?

-[production] Yep -OK, let's go.

Did you get it?

Maybe [laughs] .

[production] Sniper.

[Dominic] What was your first reaction when you heard about the scam?

At the time, I said to myself, "the bigger it is, the better it works."

That's the first thought I had.

Because well, it's just massive.

We quickly had about 20 or 30 different cases.

We'd never seen a method like this used before.

Always the same.

The secret agent, the CEO,

and "we're fighting terrorism."

The investigation turns into a spider's web.

It's completely international.

The money goes to accounts abroad…

Accounts in countries all over the world

Yes.

I think it's a wonderful scam. The scammer is very talented.

We had to catch him immediately.

[Éric Moreau] We put a wire on the phone line that was used to call some victims.

We find out that the owner of the line is named Shirley.

[Shirley] Éric Moreau.

What an arsehole.

I tell Philippe

that the next morning we'll go find this young woman at her home.

UNDERGROUND

[Shirley] I was in Paris.

I spent the evening with a very good friend who stayed at my place.

Poor guy.

We were awaken by the police.

I had a foot on my back,

I was on the floor,

my head was pressed flat on the ground.

There was a foot on my back I couldn't move,

and they had big guns like this, long guns.

I asked them, "What did I do? Why are you here?"

"Counter terrorism service".

I was speechless.

On the wall facing the door, we see a huge poster of another man.

[suspenseful music]

So I asked her, "Who's the guy in the photo?"

And she tells me,

"It's Gilbert."

As if to say, "You don't know him?"

Well no.

[suspenseful music]

Shirley, in custody,

as soon as she arrives, she doesn't want to say anything.

She says nothing, she knows nothing, she's done nothing.

Then, we realized that Shirley is an extremely jealous woman.

We played with that a bit.

[Shirley] They were telling me that Gilbert was unfaithful.

That I was basically cheated on.

It was a bluff, because…

We don't have that info, we have nothing.

And then,

Shirley,

with a stroke of luck, believes it.

And she tells me, "So he doesn't care about me,

I'll tell you everything."

And then she got going and for 48 hours, she didn't stop.

At first, I really wanted to be quiet and protect Gilbert.

But it was out of the question.

I wasn't going to jail.

So, that's why I told them the whole story.

I had to.

[tense music]

[Éric Moreau] We learn a whole lot of things.

[Philippe Huetz] We know who is behind the CEO scams.

[suspenseful music]

[Éric Moreau] During the interview, we get a call at the station

a guy who was pretending to be one of the

group's investigators wants to speak to Shirley who is in custody.

[inhales]

And the very colleague he's pretending to be is right in front of me.

So…

So, I quickly understand who is on the phone and we start chatting.

And he tells me,

"Come see me in Israel, we will chat."

And he says, "I'll pay you, one-week a vacation

if you put Shirley on the phone."

[inhales]

Obviously, I didn't do it and I didn't get my one-week vacation.

And now we know he is in Israel, so we won't be able to arrest him.

[tense music]

[Gilbert Chikli] I was doing my best not to get caught.

It was a game of cat and mouse.

I was the master of the game .

Good evening. An investigation into a new type of non-violent robbery.

Crooks impersonating CEOs.

La Poste office, Michelin, Intermarché are among hundreds of victims.

His name is Gilbert Chikli.

Today, he's on the run abroad, in Israel.

[dramatic music]

[Shirley] I was sentenced to two years in jail,

to sign in twice a month at the police station,

forbidden to travel, forbidden to leave the country.

Gilbert didn't care.

[Dominic] But were you sad that Gilbert was done with you?

[Shirley] Obviously.

[soft music]

We were good together.

True love.

We could have died together.

[soft music]

ISRAEL 2006

[Shirley] In Israel, he built another life.

In scamming, you can't have any attachments,

you have to be able to leave everything at any moment.

Well, he cut ties with me.

[music]

[Shirly Chikli] My name is Shirly,

I live in Ashdod, Israel.

I am a very simple girl, very nice, very friendly.

Hello?

[Shirly Chikli] I met Gilbert Chikli in 2006.

SHIRLY NUMBER TWO

[Dominic] What do you think about Shirly Chikli?

I don't know, I don't want to know, I won't talk about it.

I am above her.

I buy her, I sell her back,

and I make her clean the floor with her hair.

There you go.

[Shirly Chikli] My father always wanted me to go to school, to be a good student,

and to do everything that's supposed to be done, by the book.

And I was a bit different.

I was looking for a little more.

[soft music]

[Shirly] In 2006, at the time I had nothing, I had zero money on me.

I remember that a friend of mine gave me 70 euros to keep me going,

because I had no money.

And one day we hear on the radio

that two French people stole five million euros, and they are Franco-Israeli.

One of them, perhaps the most famous in France, is Gilbert Shikli.

In his native country he's considered a fugitive, but here he lives like a king.

[Shirly Chikli] I laughed and said to my friend,

I told her,

"Oh my, that's a big fish, if I find him he's cooked."

I go outside, it was right there, on this street,

and a Mercedes pulls up. A silver Mercedes.

[soft music]

I said, "Hello, Shalom."

He said, "Shalom." and looks at me strangely.

And on the dashboard,

there was a magazine in Hebrew.

He said, "Can you tell me what is written inside?"

And I take the magazine

and I see that it's written that two French people got away with five million,

and I laughed.

In my head, I know something's up.

He never told me that it was him in the magazine,

but I knew it was him.

[Shirly Chikli] He was like an angel that came into my life

and only wanted to do good things for me.

[upbeat music]

Gilbert had a special thing about him that when he talks,

everyone is captured by his story.

Like a magician.

He did a lot for me, he spoiled me, presents and stuff,

everything imaginable.

[Dominic] Didn't you ask yourself where the money was coming from?

I didn't care where it came from.

There was something… a new thing in my life that was only good for me.

Why would I ask questions?

[piano music]

After 11 months, we got married, we had a big wedding.

When I arrived in my dress, I felt like I was in a movie.

[mid-tempo music]

There were plenty of my friends who said,

"Shirly, be careful, the police are onto him."

But I loved Gilbert so much that I didn't care about any of it.

[reporter] Gilbert Chikli, who had never talked to the press,

has agreed to an interview with us.

WHILST STILL WANTED BY THE FRENCH POLICE

GILBERT CHIKLI APPEARS IN A SERIES OF TELEVISION INTERVIEWS

He's taken refuge in Israel, feels totally protected, so he'll play with us a little.

[inhales] We all have something inside ourselves.

It works or it doesn't.

You're either gifted or you you're not.

It's like like great actors, great artists, like the greats etcetera.

It either works or it doesn't.

Well, let's say I have a gift that works, so what?

[soft music]

[Élise Le Guével] He functions by being daring.

He can't stop himself from putting on a show.

A scammer's goal is getting a lot of money.

Me, I have money, I've had it, I'll always have it.

So I really think it was all a game.

All these things I've done, they come from me.

Me alone, only me.

I built a thing that multiplied

because it was interesting to thousands of people.

[sharp sound]

[Gilbert Chikli] I am explaining to you that this transfer isn't scheduled,

but it has to be done today to avoid penalties.

So, do what you have to do.

[Shirley] He kept it up, he increased the pace.

He just about made it a job.

There are offices in Israel,

where there are 50 young people who make the calls.

"Hello, I'm the CEO, I would like a wire transfer."

He went from two million euros, to eight million euros,

15 million, 20 million.

It was… well yeah, incredible.

[soft music]

[accomplice x] When Gilbert came to see us, we couldn't understand at first,

ACCOMPLICE X FORMER ACCOMPLICE OF GILBERT

because he wanted us to believe that by pretending to be a CEO,

we could extort huge amounts of money.

It was going everywhere and everyone got in.

It was the new El Dorado.

Gilbert was a leader.

[soft music]

He was simply the genius of this story.

But of course, he also had people doing business research.

There's the blackmailer who leads the accountant on until the transfer is done.

The cashiers, their only job is to get the money

and distribute it to destinations all over the world.

It was intense,

we played the game without thinking about the risks.

For some, it became a thing.

In fact, Gilbert always kept my phone number,

and from time to time, he'd call me to say,

"Hey, well this time, I know it didn't work."

Or, when it worked, he'd call me to say, "I got you."

You see, there's a kind of a game,

"I'm safe, I'm still doing my thing,

you keep trying to catch me, you never will."

Extraordinary.

BY 2009 CHIKLI AND HIS TEAM HAD SCAMMED ALMOST 60 MILLION EUROS

[tense music]

[Thierry Chikli] I'm the third brother.

Since he was born, you could leave him anywhere.

He'd always get by fine, we never worried about it,

nobody ever worried about him, that's for sure.

[sharp sound]

[Thierry Chikli] Everything started in Rue des Noués in the 20th.

It was a small street in Belleville.

It was two tiny rooms, no shower, no bathroom, nothing. It was really horrid.

We didn't have a choice, unfortunately, that's how it was.

My dad was a garage worker,

and my mother, well, no time to work, five children,

it wasn't easy.

So he understood very early that we had true financial worries.

[suspenseful music]

[Thierry Chikli] By powers of speech, he'd leave with empty pockets

and come back with full pockets.

The boy didn't know how to stop.

It really drove my father crazy,

he could never find a solution.

He chained him up.

He chained him up. [laughs]

It's true, it's funny, because today, it seems a bit psychopathic,

we don't chain up children, but he didn't know what to do.

He was too hyperactive, he never stopped.

He realized that not only did he have the gift of gab, he also had talent.

He knew he was such a persuasive force and he could do what he wanted,

when he wanted.

[piano music]

[Gilbert Chikli] I was extremely close to my mother,

she let me get away with everything, and I did anything she wanted.

My mother often explained to me, that I had to get into the game,

and above all, never underestimate the person I was talking to.

[Shirly Chikli] He did everything for his mother.

His mother loved the casino.

Since he was little, every time she lost money at the casino,

he'd go to her house and give her money.

I think he had to make money ever since his childhood.

[Élise Le Guével] His mother used to say to him,

"Every morning, there is a chomp out there for you to find."

He doesn't necessarily see human beings based on their positions,

social status or personality.

No.

It's "Are you a potential chomp or not?"

"Am I going I find a way to rip you off or not?"

"Whoever you are, powerful, humble, small."

That drives him.

[mid-tempo music]

[Philippe Huetz] So, we were waiting.

We were waiting for a mistake, the little thing to get back in the game.

So, my department head was putting on the pressure [laughs].

[Éric Moreau] One day, we get a telephone call.

I recognized Gilbert's voice.

And then like usual, he teases me a little, saying,

"This time, it worked."

There we go.

For 11 millions euros.

[tense music]

[Éric Moreau] I call a contact I have at American Express.

He tells me,

"Your wire transfers just got converted to American Express Traveler's Cheques.

Your traveler's cheques are in a package,

and the package is being shipped by DHL and sent to Tel Aviv

in one week."

[upbeat music]

LAHAV 433

POLICE OFFICER

[production] Dominic, whenever you are ready.

[exhales]

[Dominic] Ready?

Ready.

DAVID KATZ HEAD OF ISRAELI CYBER CRIME UNIT

[mid-tempo music]

[David Katz] I was sitting in my office, just another normal day,

then I'm getting a call from a colleague from the Israeli Customs Service.

And he's telling me,

"Listen, David, we have a situation here at the airport,

we just seized a package,

a FedEx Package containing 1.2 million dollars

worth of Traveler's Cheques coming from Mexico."

I saw the destination and the name was "Chikli".

We checked in our database and we saw that he has double nationality.

[soft music]

The first thing I thought I should do is give a call to my French colleagues,

to see who this Gilbert Chikli guy is.

I understand that there is a much bigger picture than

the only 1.2 million dollars involved in this case.

[mid-tempo music]

[David Katz] We bug the package to wiretap the conversations.

[mid-tempo music]

[David Katz] Then I take one of my detectives.

We give him the clothes of the delivery company,

we give him the package,

and we sent him to Ashdod to make the delivery.

[radio squawks]

We felt stressed because we knew that without a successful controlled delivery

we will not be able to link the suspect,

Mr Chikli, to the frauds,

and we also knew that this is a one-shot chance.

[suspenseful music]

[Thierry Chikli] One day, we were at Gilbert's house.

He was supposed to receive a package.

We are all here, his wife, me, everything is fine but we don't know what's happening

[doorbell]

When he sees a guy coming up at this house and ringing the doorbell,

he opens the door and he sees that something isn't right,

because the person that gave him the package something's off about him.

Then, he sees exactly what's going on, his first reflex was to call UPS,

"No, it's not me, you sent me a package,

I didn't ask for it, I don't whose it is, come get it."

[David Katz in English] We understand that something here is not right.

[radio squawks]

[David Katz] This for me, was the point

to order the police forces to break into the house and to make the arrest.

[suspenseful music]

[dog barking]

[Thierry Chikli] Then it begins, the dogs come into the house,

they searched the aquarium.

When the police found everything, they found two here, three there, two here,

and everything, a good ten phones.

They say, "What's all this?"

" No, I'm a collector."

[laughs] Come on.

We accomplished our mission with him.

[Dominic] Did it feel good?

It felt great.

[reporter] The primary suspect Gilbert Shikli,

for defrauding a series of banks and other businesses.

[tense music]

[in Hebrew] They have no proof, they just want to take us, we don't know why.

[reporter Hebrew] Judge Ezra Kama was not moved,

and determined that Gilbert Shikli could be extradited.

[Shirly Chikli in Hebrew] They're ruining our lives, ruining them,

because of a stupid story, I don't even know who invented it.

[Shirly Chikli] I didn't know what to do, I didn't know what was happening.

I was pregnant, I spent my entire pregnancy all alone.

I was in a very bad state.

I was crying every day with my mobile next to me, waiting for him to call me.

For everything he'd done for me, I'd said,

"I'll always be there for you."

[mid-tempo music]

[Gilbert Chikli] An artist is like a bird.

When it flies away, you will never catch it.

[Philippe Huetz] Gilbert Chikli has no fear of authority.

[Éric Moreau] He spends 20 months in jail, and then he's released on bail.

He contacts a movie producer

and he offers to sell the rights to his story.

The producer accepts.

I think he must have been just as convincing as when he was scamming people.

So, the producer decides to pay the bail,

and Gilbert leaves a few days later.

IN 2009, CHIKLI BROKE THE CONDITIONS OF HIS BAIL.

HE ESCAPED BACK TO ISRAEL USING HIS HIDDEN ISRAELI PASSPORT

SHORTLY AFTER, HE BECAME A CONSULTANT ON THE FILM

[Gilbert Chikli] How much is there in the account?

-[character1] 400 million euros. -[exclaims in excitement]

[Gilbert Chikli in fiction film] Do you think you can handle it?

[Gilbert Chikli] He's manipulating them so easily.

[Gilbert Chikli in fiction film] Contacting you was a good decision.

[character1] Thank you.

[upbeat music]

[Gilbert Chikli in fiction film] Don't tell your mom.

[Shirly Chikli] Vincent Elbaz played him nicely.

He came to our place to see what Gilbert is like,

to see his mannerisms and copied him very well.

[Éric Moreau] I had him on the phone again

when the movie came out, at the premiere.

He called at the film premiere?

[Éric Moreau] Exactly.

I was invited by the producer,

and at the end of the screening he calls.

What did he say?

He tells me he's in Israel.

I tell him, "Oh too bad, you could have come."

[sighs] He answers,

"No, because apparently I have an international arrest warrant on my arse."

He says, "You couldn't tell me?"

-Extraordinary. -[Éric Moreau] Exactly.

DESPITE CHIKLI'S ABSENCE HIS TRIAL GOES AHEAD IN PARIS WITHOUT HIM

[suspenseful music]

[Élise Le Guével] I attended the whole trial.

There were a number of people in the dock,

but not the number one scammer

The one everyone wanted to hear from, Gilbert Chikli,

isn't here,

on the other hand, there is a woman who suddenly arrives,

and we film her without really knowing who she is.

A flamboyant woman, she has a fur coat, and big black Ray-Ban sunglasses.

Why are you filming our case? What's your reason?

[France2 TV crew] Okay, no problem.

[Shirley] I'm the investigator from…

I'm Gilbert Chikli's ex-wife.

Cut that now.

[Shirley] I'm the victim of this case.

They all kept kept it up without me and without giving me any commission.

I am the victim.

There are no victims but me.

[tense music]

So I understand whose lawyers are whose,

and I try to go see Mr Kaminski, Gilbert Chikli's lawyer.

[suspenseful music]

But every break in the proceedings, I see him always on the phone,

very agitated,

and someone next to me tells me,

"It's Gilbert, he's calling him."

[suspenseful music]

Chikli would have loved to be there.

[inhales]

Because he can't bear for there to be a show without him.

It's his show and he is not on stage,

he's not there to defend himself, Kaminski is.

[Dominic] Was it difficult to defend him?

Well, any criminal defense is difficult.

But he was a brilliant phone scammer,

probably top three in the world,

maybe even the best.

At his level, a little French genius.

A little French genius, maybe with criminal cases,

but still a genius.

[Dominic] Do you think that his victims would call him a genius?

I think that from the victims' side,

what must be terrible for them is the shame.

It's the shame of being fooled by a guy who didn't go to college,

who grew up in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Paris,

who picked up a phone, and by picking up a phone,

took millions from them.

Who are the morons? Who are the dummies?

It's the victims!

The victims are stupid!

[Dominic] But they were manipulated by him.

But the victims were manipulated because they are stupid!

We shouldn't twist the story.

[mid-tempo music]

COURTHOUSE

Gilbert Chikli is at the heart of the debate.

He is not here but he is here, he permeates the room.

He is not here but everyone is talking about him,

he's really the centre of what's at stake.

And yes, I wanted to meet him, it was important for me to meet him.

[soft music]

ISRAEL

So we left for Israel without any guarantees.

I only had his address,

[stutters]

and I told myself, you have to go and knock on his door.

[suspenseful music]

We arrive, we wait,

we were going to ring the doorbell and he comes to the street corner.

He says, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

He sees the camera.

So I tell him I am a journalist from France2.

[Gilbert Chikli] Come on, enter, I won't leave you at the door.

Gilbert, of course, knows this house.

[Élise Le Guével] So we settle in.

I'm going to have a drink, a small glass of whisky, because…

[Élise Le Guével] Gilbert…

We have this kind of whisky.

Gilbert acts with me like he does with his victims.

I mean, he senses who's in front of him.

He quickly knew that I felt sorry for the victims.

And when the interview starts, he talks about it right away,

acknowledging his guilt,

looking me in the eyes saying,

"First, I'll like to say I'm sorry. I am sorry for all these victims."

Unfortunately, these victims will have suffered a great deal,

Yes, I'm sorry, I apologize and I feel deep regret for these victims.

[Élise Le Guével] During the interview, I thought,

"He is clever, so clever."

Because he sensed who I was right away.

Well, it was a game, it was funny, then I realized it wasn't.

And then at one point he says to us,

"Hey, I'm going to sing you a little song. Hang on, I'm gonna sing you a song"

♪ I wasn't even 20 years old ♪

♪ I only thought about laughing ♪

♪ I was living in the present ♪

♪ Without thinking about the future ♪

And he starts singing Aznavour.

He says: "Ah, La Bohème, Paris, Montmartre, La Bohème."

And he sings with a beautiful voice, he has a very beautiful, raspy voice.

♪ Without thinking about the future ♪

[Gilbert Chilki] So that's me, I wrote that. You see I… there you go.

And he keeps glancing at us.

He knows exactly what he is doing at that moment.

He knows perfectly well that he's putting on a big show for us.

[guitar playing]

He's a seducer, all the time.

And he always wants to win.

The man in front of me, I don't feel as if he is a retired scammer.

I feel like this is someone who will never stop, who lives for this.

[somber music]

When I leave this house, I ask myself,

"What's his next move? What's he gonna do next?"

And in fact, he was actually getting ready for something much bigger.

[suspenseful music]

[Gilbert Chikli] The human being is afraid of what he doesn't know.

Daring means to shirk away from nothing,

to not be afraid, to be who you want to be.

This is daring.

[soft music]

[reporter] Welcome to Soir3 weekend,

after the three simultaneous attacks that took place tonight.

[suspenseful music]

[Delphine Meillet] It was a dark year of terrorism in France.

Patriotism is pulpable.

This notion of terrorism and menace is everywhere.

It's in the air at the time.

There were French hostages being detained in Syria, in Mali, by terrorists.

Fear is a vulnerability,

and that's typically what Gilbert Chikli likes to exploit.

I think that at one point, he told himself that a telephone call won't be enough…

"So I have to make my story and identity more believable."

So for that, nothing is better than a visual.

[soft music]

[Élise Le Guével] He has to be convincing.

He has to find a minister who is important, but also not the President.

Jean-Yves Le Drian is Minister of Defense,

the second most important person in the country,

responsible for the army and the borders.

[Jean-Yves Le Drian] First, we are in the midst of an exceptional situation.

In terms of theatre of operations, threats and conflict.

ACTUAL WHATSAPP VOICE NOTE BETWEEN CHIKLI AND HIS ACCOMPLICE

[Gilbert Chikli] Anyway, I sent you photos of the person.

We need a perfect resemblance.

And in hard plastic, understood?

[mid-tempo music]

[accomplice x] Latex or hard silicone.

[Gilbert Chikli] Without even putting it on, you see it's him.

Because you take it off, put it on and off, over and over, it doesn't tear.

We just want the mouth to be open, that's all.

It's very simple, that's all.

Thank you my dear, love you.

-[church bell] -[suspenseful music]

SAINT EMILION 2017

My name is Guy-Petrus Lignac,

I'm the owner of a Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé called Château Guadet.

This property has been visited by Prime Ministers, many ambassadors, consuls,

so I'm not surprised when I get calls from these kind of people.

[beautiful clarinet music]

It's the January, 23rd,

[birds chirping]

it's about five minutes to one, and I suddenly get a phone call.

-[bird chirping] -[phone rings]

And it's someone who tells me,

"I am minister Mr Le Drian's secretary,

he wants to talk to you,

but he is adamant that no one may hear or know what you will be talking about.

So he will talk to you over Skype."

I am a little surprised, but okay, why not,

so he hangs up and I hang up.

I have no idea of what the Minister will ask me.

[phone ringing]

[Guy-Petrus Lignac] I press the button.

I see, the minister, Mr Le Drian in front of me.

[slow music]

[Mr Le Drien] I know his face, since we regularly see his face on TV.

Even though he is quite far away from me,

it is the minister's face.

He knows my first name,

It is a very calm voice from someone who's very sure of themselves.

Mr Le Drian tells me,

"Mr Guy-Petrus Lignac,

I have a mission of the utmost importance for you.

Can I trust you?"

So I answer, "Yes sir, Minister, you can trust me."

He explains to me that there are French hostages in Mali,

and that they have asked for a ransom from the French government.

[suspenseful music]

We have to get those hostages out of there.

But he tells me that the French government never pays ransoms.

So I'm going to need you.

And I need a lot of money.

Don't worry, you will be reimbursed.

You know the French State won't let you down.

[sharp sound]

[Bell dings]

[Delphine Meillet] The best person to free hostages is the Minister of Defense.

My name is Delphine Meillet,

I am a lawyer at the Paris Bar. I'm an expert in identity theft.

Everything has always been clear with Jean-Yves Le Drian,

who has a very clean image.

DELPHINE MEILLET JEAN-YVES LE DRIAN'S LAWYER

above reproach.

He's a very respected… respectable politician.

A man really serving the State and the interests of France,

and has been for a long time.

A true, legitimate minister.

[suspenseful music]

When you have the Minister of Defense,

Jean-Yves Le Drian on the phone,

you are immediately impressed and honored.

[soft music]

[phone rings]

[phone rings]

[Aga Khan] Hello?

[Gilbert Chikli] Yes your Highness, how are you?

16TH AUGUST 2016: RECORDED CALL WITH THE AGA KHAN

[Aga Khan] Yes, hello.

[Gilbert Chikli] Hello. You are not alone now?

[Aga Khan] No.

[Gilbert Chikli] Do you want me to call you back later?

[Aga Khan] Yes.

[soft music]

The CEO scam targeted people in positions in the middle of companies' hierarchy.

In 2015, he changes targets.

Now the targets are upper class people.

The VIPs,

very important people with very big responsibilities

and a huge amount of money.

[dramatic music]

The Aga Khan is a billionaire, he's a prince,

a spiritual leader at the head of a Shiite Muslim community called the Ismailis,

and for these people, the Aga Khan is literally the Pope.

Gilbert Chikli says to himself, "I'll take on the Pope, no problem."

[crackling line]

[Aga Khan] Hello?

[Gilbert Chikli] Yes, your Highness, it's me again.

GILBERT CHIKLI DENIES THIS IS HIS VOICE

[Gilbert Chikli] Could you get this information within the next few minutes?

Because tomorrow morning we wrap it up, so I'd like to close the case.

[Aga Khan] I can't tell you how long it will take.

[Gilbert Chikli] But call your bank, they will tell you immediately.

[Aga Khan] I think I have a number to contact you, right? Yes?

[Gilbert Chikli] Yes, exactly.

Because it is important that you send me the whole amount, do you understand?

[Aga Khan] Yes, absolutely.

Listen, I'll look into it right away.

[Aga Khan] I can give you 5.8.

[Gilbert Chikli] Yes, absolutely.

[Aga Khan] 4.8 million

[Gilbert Chikli] Exactly.

[Aga Khan] And four million.

[soft music]

[Gilbert Chikli] It's in your interest, Your Highness.

[Aga Khan] Okay.

I will see if I can contact the bank.

[Gilbert Chikli] Very good. Very good, thank you very much.

OVER THE COURSE OF THREE DAYS THE AGA KHAN TRANSFERED OVER 20 MILLION EUROS

TO THE CALLER'S BANK ACCOUNT

20 MILLION EUROS

[scrambling sound]

[Gilbert Chikli] Creativity is something you put in place,

you invent something that never existed before.

[scrambling sound]

[Gilbert Chikli] I wanted to succeed.

In my mind, I wasn't a crook.

I was a person who managed to convince, that's all.

No more, no less.

[suspenseful music]

[Delphine Meillet] He is using the resources and power of the French State,

the image and authority of a minister on the phone.

He would also make you feel honored to be contacted by the minister,

meaning your are trustworthy, since you were asked to keep the secret.

There are a lots of aspects of humanity being exploited by this scam.

[suspenseful music]

He'll use your sentimental, patriotic feelings,

to put pressure on you with speed,

sense of urgency, danger, responsibility, honor,

and with that all added up, you will give in.

How do you resist? It is very hard.

[soft music]

[Élise Le Guével] It doesn't surprise me that

with aplomb and authority,

and by pushing the right buttons, once again,

"terrorism, help us, France will pay you back,"

he gets them to pay.

Always with the same methods.

Self-confidence, lots of self-confidence.

This is the hardest to swallow, being completely fooled by a scammer.

a jeans seller from Belleville.

Gilbert Chikli never loses composure.

Never.

The only time he gets angry is when he realizes he has been fooled.

[French organ music]

I am Sophie Grenier,

I'm the Financial Director of the Landes Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

I am shall we say, a meticulous person.

I like precision, organization.

I'm like a flight attendant.

[soft music]

On February first, 2017,

I am at the dentist to schedule my next appointment,

and in that moment, I get a phone call.

He tells me that Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian wants to have a video conference.

Well, I have to pick up my son in school,

and at the same time I have to organize,

or at least participate in,

a video conference with the Minister of Defense.

This was very far-fetched.

A Wednesday unlike any other.

So when the time comes, I get connected

and I find myself in front of the Minister of Defense, Jean-Yves Le Drian.

But after the video conference, I think it's a joke, I don't know if it is real.

[Gilbert Chikli] I just sent you a very confidential document,

tell me if you received it?

[Sophie Grenier] Yes, I did.

[Sophie Grenier] To reassure me, he sends me a letter

in which he tells me that this operation is completely guaranteed.

[Sophie Grenier] Let me have a look at it, maybe we can read it together.

[Gilbert Chikli] Yes, go ahead.

[Sophie Grenier] "Following our video conference

concerning the liberation of a French national held in Mali…"

Wow, that's really terrible.

[Gilbert Chikli] Yes.

The letter he sent me isn't justified

and it is full of spelling mistakes.

[suspenseful music]

MISTER SOPHIE GRENIER

[inhales] So, after this call, I ask myself, "what the hell is this?"

This is so strange, what's going on?

I really don't understand, so I start wondering.

So, I call my General manager and I tell him the story.

He says to me,

"Sophie, it's really a scam, it's not possible.

Listen, I'll ask around to confirm that it is really a scam."

So, I call the police.

We have an individual who spends his time, calling embassies and consulates.

MICKAEL MANDINE HEAD OF SCAM AND FRAUD POLICE NATIONALE

He would call around 180 organizations.

[production] Did you think it might be Gilbert Chikli?

I already had in mind that Gilbert Chikli wasn’t far away.

[Dominic] When you heard this story, what did you think?

[stutters] I was shocked.

[stutters] For me, this kind of a fraud…

unbelievable.

To prepare and to wear a mask,

and then target with video calls very high-level officials,

and to persuade them to send money to free prisoners of war.

This is incredible.

One thing for sure, that at that moment,

we all understood that our rival is an expert.

[upbeat music]

[David Katz] We had to find the identity of the man behind the mask.

My mission is to make him believe that I'm going to pay him the money,

and for that he has to give me a European bank account number

that would allow them to trace the whole network.

[soft music]

Since he tried to play me,

I figure that I'm going to play him.

Two days later, I'm at home and he calls me, my mission begins.

[Sophie Grenier] Hello

FEBRUARY 3RD, 2017: RECORDING OF THE PHONE Call BETWEEN SOPHIE AND THE FAKE MINISTER.

GILBERT CHIKLI DENIES INVOLVEMENT

[Gilbert Chikli] Yes, Mrs Grenier, so then, how are you making your payment?

On the internet? Tell me how you will proceed.

[Sophie Grenier] Well yes, I will pay via the internet,

I'm going to connect to my different banks and that's it.

[Gilbert Chikli] What are your banks?

-[Sophie Grenier] I have BNP, -[Gilbert Chikli] Yeah.

[Sophie Grenier] I have the Caisse d'Épargne.

[Gilbert Chikli] So we can take out between 800 and 900 per day then?

-[Sophie Grenier] Yes. -[Gilbert Chikli] Understood.

I'm trying to be very focused on what I say,

not to make any mistake that could lead him to think we're setting a trap for him.

We are on a tightrope.

[Gilbert Chikli] Alright, I'll call you back in exactly half an hour,

Be available.

-[Sophie Grenier] Okay. -[Gilbert Chikli] Goodbye, thank you.

-[Sophie Grenier] Goodbye, thank you sir. -[Gilbert Chikli] Goodbye.

[Dominic] Do you have the impression that he believed you?

Oh yes.

I'm under the impression he believes me, that's what makes it fun tricking a thief.

I go to the police station.

There are several of us in the office.

We set up a listening system and then we wait for the famous phone call.

There's a great deal of tension.

Everyone is looking at my phone, we are all waiting for the call,

nobody moves, there isn't any noise.

[tense music]

MASKED NUMBER

When the phone rings, it is the big moment, the finale.

[Gilbert Chikli] Are you in front of your computer?

[Sophie Grenier] Yes, I am.

MASKED NUMBER

I'm in the middle of doing fake work on a real computer.

[tense music]

So I say, "Give me the account number."

And says, "No, we're going to do it together."

[Gilbert Chikli For the first operation, we have to witness the transfer,

it is very important.

[Sophie Grenier] Okay…

[sighs] Ah, I was thinking that he would give me the account number,

I would hang up the phone and the case would be closed.

It's getting complicated.

[Gilbert Chikli] So, I'm giving you the number. S… four… three.

[Sophie Grenier] S… four… three

I type each number meticulously after he says it.

[Gilbert Chikli] nine, zero

[Sophie Grenier] The room is completely still.

-[Gilbert Chikli] 36. -[Sophie Grenier] Yes.

I'm waiting for the last number of the account.

-[Sophie Grenier] Yes. -[Gilbert Chikli] 83.

[Sophie Grenier] I'm ready to type.

[Gilbert Chikli] 42.

[Sophie Grenier] He gives the last number of the account.

[Gilbert Chikli] 55.

[sound]

And I say, hang on, enter transfer validation.

Oh, I tell him there's a problem.

[Sophie Grenier] Ah, it seems to me like it's not working.

No, it doesn't seem like… no, not working

[Sophie Grenier] At this point he gets angry.

[Gilbert Chikli] This isn't normal.

The line is very good, so check it,

there's no reason it shouldn't work.

-[Sophie Grenier] And he hung up. -[Gilbert Chikli] Goodbye.

I think he understood that he'd been had.

[David Katz] We had the bank account of the fraudster who committed the fraud.

We come to the evidential conclusion

that the man behind the mask is Mr Chikli.

[suspenseful music]

When I realized that this was the same guy

that I was part of the investigations

concerning his first frauds ten years ago,

I was quite surprised,

because to be frank,

you need to be bold to execute this kind of fraud against a victim.

[car engine starts]

We decide to drive to the destination of Chikli's house.

We discovered that Mr Chikli had left Israeli ground for Ukraine.

[suspenseful music]

[Gilbert Chikli] Lose? I don't lose.

Nothing is easy, especially not escaping.

Disappear? Why not?

[soft music]

[David Katz] There is a city in Ukraine called Uman, that

is very important for Jewish pilgrims

who go there to pray on the grave of Rebbe Nachman.

[mid-tempo music]

[Shirly Chikli] He wanted to go to Ukraine to do a… How do you say? Pigrinage? Pigri?

[Dominic] A pilgrimage.

Yeah, that.

He wanted to go to say thank you. No, really.

-[Dominic] It's not true. Is it? -Yes. In Ukraine, in Uman.

[Dominic] He went there for a religious trip?

Yes, he wanted to go to Uman to see the rabbi.

[mid-tempo music]

[Shirly Chikli] He was always there for his family.

He spoiled the children.

Gilbert was like a Robin Hood.

[Dominic] Why?

Because he always wanted to help the poor,

but to help the poor, he had to do something that isn't…

following the rules.

[suspenseful music]

[Mickaël Mandine] In this case, the main victims transferred 73 million euros.

It was pretty incredible.

We are informed that Gilbert Chikli is in Ukraine.

We need him extradited.

[upbeat music]

[Mickaël Mandine] We have to be very quick, before he leaves a second time.

[suspenseful music]

[David Katz]In Ukraine, the sand-clock started to tick

because we had to speed up all the proceedings in order to arrest him there.

[radio squawks]

[Mickaël Mandine] An arrest warrant is issued.

[voice on radio]

[Mickaël Mandine] The Ukrainian police follows every move.

-[recorded voice] I copy your message. -[Mickaël] They stay on him.

[suspenseful music]

[recorded voice, inaudible]

[Mickaël Mandine] I copy your message

[inaudible]

[police] Police!

Hands behind your back.

His face. Hands behind your back.

[Mickaël Mandine] When he gets arrested,

the Ukrainian police took three phones from him.

Inside, all his WhatsApps, all the photos, the videos,

and we find something very precious for us and the investigation.

[mid-tempo music]

[Mickaël Mandine] Despite the blurriness and poor quality of the video,

the figure really looks like Jean-Yves Le Drian.

[mid-tempo music]

[Ludovic Elbaz] Of course, but how many times do I have to ask you?

Let him do what has to be done, and let's get out of here already!

[in Arabic] If he needs something, tell him to call me. Okay. Bye.

So, what do you want to know?

LUDOVIC ELBAZ EXTRADITION LAWYER

I've been a lawyer for ten years,

I have an office in Paris and an office in Israel.

Hello?

I just landed, I'm at Charles de Gaulle airport, and I get a call.

I am told Gilbert and his associate have been arrested in Ukraine.

Arrest warrant, extradition, right now, they're in jail.

I have to react super quickly, get a plane to get back to Ukraine.

When I got my permit to go see them in jail,

it was quite extraordinary.

It's an insane context.

The prison guards are members of the army,

there are 50 prisoners per cell,

there are two-meter tall prisoners covered in tattoos with swastikas in the back.

It's nothing like a French prison.

[tense music]

[phone rings]

[Shirly Chikli] I receive a call from Ukraine.

And he tells me,

"Shirly, Interpol have caught me."

My heart sank.

"I wasn't feeling well, I cried, and I said,

"What? I'm on my way."

I waited for the morning, I went to the courthouse,

and I found Gilbert in a cage.

He tells me, "Shirly, sorry, Shirly, sorry."

I say, "Don't worry, I'm with you."

I grabbed his hand and said, "I won't abandon you.

I will be with you, I'm not leaving Ukraine until you get out of here."

And I did everything I could.

Everything he wanted brought inside, I brought it inside.

I brought him a bed.

So he could sleep well, even vodka, alcohol, everything.

[Gilbert Chikli] Let's toast with the vodka Absolut.

[indistinct chatter and background music]

[accomplice x] Here in Kyiv, in prison.

[Gilbert Chikli] Come on, you're ready?

[accomplice x] To our release God willing.

[Gilbert Chikli] To our release and our millions.

[accomplice x] Positive things.

[Shirly Chikli] I brought him meat.

[accomplice x] Here is our lunch.

I even had a fridge delivered to him.

[accomplice x] Here is the fridge.

Here's your purchase of the day, Gilbert.

[Gilbert Chikli] for today's purchase, I have a fridge so we can have ribeye.

[Gilbert Chikli] Fuck you to those

who thought we were suffering.

We are bosses and we'll keep being bosses. Bam!

[laughter]

[Gilbert Chikli] Fuck the French justice system. Fuck you, I'm not coming.

And even if I come, fuck you anyway.

[accomplice x] Right, thank you, fuck you too.

AFTER SPENDING THREE MONTHS IN A UKRAINIAN PRISON

CHIKLI IS EXTRADITED BACK TO FRANCE

AGAIN

[tense music]

[Gilbert Chikli] Believe me,

I could have done much more than this.

I could have entered any system,

I could have entered a political system, whatever you want.

I swear, this is true.

[sad music]

[Mickaël Mandine] It is certain that if Chikli hadn't been arrested in Ukraine,

we would have faced a new wave of scams.

On the phone we seized, he has masks of several political figures.

[Gilbert Chikli] Can you look at Macron please?

But we mainly notice on his phone

that he is trying to find a mask of Albert of Monaco.

[Gilbert Chikli] You put it down and the plastic stays straight, alright?

Without putting it on, you see that it's the prince.

[soft music]

[Mickaël Mandine] I believe a large scale scam was being put together.

What we saw with Jean-Yves Le Drian,

we would have seen it with Albert of Monaco.

How do I defend the fact that Gilbert had the mask of Prince Albert on his phone?

Maybe he has a particular affection for Monaco.

I don't know.

[suspenseful music]

[reporter] Another trial is starting this afternoon,

of a rather extraordinary scam.

Listen to this, seven people are on trial for having impersonated

the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Was the office similar to yours?

They were… talented, yes.

And unfortunately some people were victims.

They imitated my voice well but it can't be me,

that's it. [chuckles]

Well, it could be a fabulous movie script

but the true story will play out here this afternoon.

[reporter] The alleged mastermind behind these operations, Gilbert Chikli,

King of Scams, a 54-year-old Franco-Israeli.

With just a phone,

getting people to hand him bags with thousands of euros.

It is absolutely humiliating,

and he created extremely severe narcissistic wounds on his victims.

[Delphine Meillet] I discover Gilbert Chikli there in the dock,

and I see he has a sort of fan club there.

He has a sort of support committee and they're so loud

that the judge has to ask them to be silent when he is being questioned.

[suspenseful music]

Gilbert Chikli has a mixture of flamboyance and denial.

"Not at all, look at me, I'm not the genius they say I am,

you're giving me way too much credit.

Look at me, I am tired, I'm I sick, leave me alone."

He was playing a role with the lawyers,

playing a role with the judge, with the prosecutor he knew so well.

[mid-tempo music]

[Gilbert Chikli] I like a challenge, I've always liked a challenge.

It's like a boxing match, you always want to be the world champion.

I don't lose.

Either I win, or I learn.

And when you have this ability, you don't fear anything.

[mid-tempo music]

In fact, I think that Gilbert Chikli is a police fantasy,

and that too much has been made of him.

[Stéphane Sebag] During the trial, we start analyzing the images.

We see a man in make-up,

STEPHANE SEBAG, CHIKLI'S LAWYER TWO

apparently sitting at the desk of a minister,

and the court will ask itself the question as to whether it is indeed Gilbert Chikli.

[suspenseful music]

[Delphine Meillet] He claims the character is much taller and bigger than him,

so it can't possibly be him.

[Stéphane Sebag] The forearms of the person in makeup are hairless.

Gilbert Chikli has hair all over his arms.

He's going to say "You can see my arms, it can't be me."

[mid-tempo music]

We make him listen to the voices recorded by the victims.

From then on, he won't say a single word.

And on the third day of the hearing, we hear the voice recordings.

And I can tell you…

There are powerful and important moments in the hearing and this was one of them.

[phone rings]

[Aga Khan] Hello?

[Gilbert] Yes, do you have an update? It's in your interest, your Highness.

[Aga Khan] Okay.

[Ludovic Elbaz] It's 100% not Gilbert.

[Gilbert Chikli] So I'm calling you because

we have to transfer you the funds…

[Aga Khan] What time can you call me back?

[Gilbert Chikli] In about an hour if you'd like.

[Aga Khan] Okay.

[Dominic] Isn't this Gilbert Chikli?

You can't believe I'm going to answer your question.

Seriously.

[Gilbert Chikli] If I call you back in an hour,

give me the exact costs so I know how much I need to transfer back to you.

Ah, it's extraordinary, because it's really his voice.

There is no doubt. It's incredible,

it's… it's him, without a doubt.

-[Dominic] It's him? -[Sophie Grenier] It's him.

-[Dominic] Are you 100% sure? -Oh yes, I'm sure.

-[Dominic] No doubt? -Absolutely no doubt.

The voice that we heard for two days, Chikli

was exactly the same as the one in the recordings.

It was an exceptional moment.

Everyone recognized the voice, no ambiguity. At all.

[mid-tempo music]

Now justice.

The fake Le Drian sentenced to seven and eleven years in prison

by the Paris Criminal Court.

Gilbert Chikli, 54,

guilty of assuming the identity of Le Drian.

BETWEEN 2005 AND 2017 GILBERT CHIKLI SCAMMED OVER 100 MILLION EUROS

HE WAS SENTENCED TO 11 YEARS IN PRISON AND FINED TWO MILLION EUROS

I felt awful.

I looked at him with tears in my eyes.

I was alone.

I couldn't live like this, without Gilbert.

I go outside to breathe a little, and I see a journalist.

He says to me, "Who are you?"

I told him, "I am Gilbert Chikli's wife."

And he laughs.

I asked him, "Why are you laughing?"

And he told me, "She is Gilbert Chikli's wife."

I didn't even ask who this woman was. I didn't want to believe in anything.

I said, "That's it, stop."

[tense music]

SINCE HIS ARREST IN UKRAINE,

GILBERT CHIKLI HAS STARTED AN ONLINE RELATIONSHIP WITH ANOTHER WOMAN

[Shirly Chikli] For fifteen years, I did everything for him.

I waged war with everyone for him.

After everything you give to someone,

in the end, it's over in two seconds.

My children have suffered everything.

Up till now, my little one, she cries.

She cries at night, she still wants her dad.

She doesn't understand why he is not there.

It wasn't supposed to end like this.

[sad music]

[Élise Le Guével] Gilbert Chikli is colorful, funny, sarcastic, seductive.

He pretends to be Arsène Lupin,

a gentleman thief.

I steal from the rich, I am just clever.

But in fact, he doesn't steal from the rich.

He crushes conscientious people who want to do good.

He wants to be Robin Hood, but he crushed people.

[sad music]

It was a massive blow that would prevent me from holding a pencil

for more than two years.

My boss fired me, I became unemployed.

[inhales]

I started seeing a therapist.

I was really at my lowest point.

He's a guy that has no morals, who destroys lives.

The scammers contacted the entire French administration.

It's an extremely serious scam that could have put French foreign policy at risk.

We have to remember that at the time, there really were French hostages

who were really killed in 2015.

This case could have been much worse.

Chikli could have had blood on his hands, we got very close.

I feel it will never be over for him.

He will die on stage.

[somber music]

[Gilbert Chikli] If I had to leave a message for all who will listen to me,

first of all, I would like to say sorry, from the bottom of my heart.

But I am Gilbert Chikli,

and I will always be Gilbert Chikli,

and I will leave as Gilbert Chikli. That's all.

[upbeat piano music]

SHIRLY NUMBER TWO HAS FILED FOR DIVORCE

AND IS NOW TRAVELING THE WORLD AS A TOP DJ

SHIRLEY NUMBER ONE HAS PUT HER LIFE WITH GILBERT BEHIND HER

AND TAKES TIME FOR HERSELF

SOPHIE CONTEMPLATED A JOB IN THE SECRET SERVICE

BUT HAS DECIDED TO KEEP WORKING AS A CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

GUY-PETRUS STILL PLAYS HOST TO MANY FAMOUS POLITICIANS AT THE CHATEAU GUADET

BUT POLITELY DECLINED TO PAY ANY MONEY TO THE FAKE MINISTER

[bird chirps]

[fast-paced music]

Subtitle Translation by: Adefoluke Adebayo