Thierry Tilly: The Guru Who Manipulated An Entire Millionaire Family
In 2012, the trial against Thierry Tilly took place This character, who on the surface 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 was in charge of manipulating and robbing one of the oldest aristocratic families in the French country, those of Védrines.
The story of how he came to know these nobles and deceive them to the point of being able to do whatever he wanted with them leaves you breathless. It is a case of mental manipulation so aberrant that it can only be fully understood if you continue reading this article.
The story of a decade of psychological manipulation begins in Paris, 1999. One of the members of the old Védrines family, Ghislaine, was the one who had the bad luck to meet the brainwashing guru, and who served as a Trojan horse for Thierry Tilly, making him meet his rich family
Ghislaine was looking for someone to help her update the Paris headquarters of her computer systems secretarial school. 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 because of a simple debt. Ghislaine’s friend had recommended Tilly’s services because Tilly owed him money, and working for de Védrines would settle a debt.
When they met, Ghislaine was bewitched by Tilly’s clean appearance, and this led her to make what was probably the worst mistake of her entire life: trusting him. Ghislaine began to tell him some private details about her life, such as the fact that her husband was depressed or that his son showed no sign of wanting to prosper in life. Furthermore, she told him how a tense situation was developing in the Védrines family due to the inheritance of Ghislaine’s father in 1995.
In 2000 Ghislaine invited Thierry Tilly to a festival in Monflanquin, where she was the main organizer. Ella ghislaine suggested that he go to the castle that her family owned in that town and thus give him the opportunity to meet her. Védrines’ family was not very close-knit, and it was surely this that allowed Tilly to be part of it, as time went by, gaining greater influence over it. This meeting was the precise moment that allowed him to act and change the destiny of those from Védrines forever.
The Védrines family was at that time composed of the following members. Ghislaine and her husband, Jean Marchand, along with her children, François and Guillemette. Ghislaine’s brothers Charles-Henri, a gynecologist and local politician, and Philippe, a retired Shell Oil executive. Her wives were Christine and Brigitte, and Christine and Charles-Henri’s children: Diana, Amaury and Guillaume. The matriarch of the family 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 her family members from the danger they were in. She told them that he was a special agent in the service of France and that he even had connections with NATO.
After some time, and gaining greater trust in Védrines’ family, he finally revealed the threat to them 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 grandmother, believed Tilly’s stories, and began to obey her designs and recommendations. The one 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 deceived, but she did not listen to him and, obeying Tilly, Eventually, 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 ritual of dishonor in front of Marchand, which consisted of throwing a glove and a bouquet of dried flowers. In this way, Marchand was recognized by the family as a member of evil, of the forces that wanted to kill those from Védrines and steal their fortune. Marchand returned to Paris, but upon arriving he saw that his bank accounts had been emptied by Ghislaine, at the request of Thierry Tilly.
At this point, the damage had already been done. The family was immersed in the guru’s spell. He ordered them to empty all their bank accounts and give the money to a mysterious organization called Blue Light Foundation. If they did this, Tilly told them that they would be able to stay safe under the protection of this foundation. The money would go to Jacques Gonzalez, patron of the organization, who would allocate the money to build hospitals in China.
The dismantling of a fortune
For nearly ten years, all the wealth of the Védrines family was dismantled and ended up in this mysterious organization that, of course, was a scam. The money helped Tilly and Jacques Gonzalez afford all kinds of luxuries, several residences, wines, expensive cars and watches, and a comfortable lifestyle. The swindled fortune was around 5 million euros most of that money going to the Cayman Islands.
But economic fraud is not the great evil carried out by Thierry Tilly. This colorful character, who if observed from the photos seems like a normal, ordinary and cool man, managed to carry out the kidnapping of the entire family, doing so 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 from using calendars and watches. This way, guaranteed that the eleven members of the kidnapped Védrines would be completely disoriented she wanted them isolated 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 because of the sacrifices he had been ordering them to make, if he told them to do something, they would do it. They saw it as a truth that undoubtedly had to be carried out.
The case begins to spread through the media
It was from 2008 onwards that, as a result of the strange events that were happening to those in Védrines, and especially the complaints made by Jean Marchand, who The press began to spread what, at that time, was a rumor Already known as ‘les reclus de Monflanquin’ (the inmates of Monflanquin), the solitary and isolated life of those from Védrines was becoming known.
Tilly knew how to take advantage of this, who used it to give strength to the story of the dark forces, which were manifesting themselves in ‘lies’ that they had been kidnapped. Already having a certain prominence in the local press, Thierry Tilly decided to move the whole family to Oxford, United Kingdom In this way, they would be able to avoid risks, keeping them away from any family ties with people from abroad, and being able to keep the situation with the press under control.
Tilly’s word about those from Védrines was already absolute, and she took advantage of this to turn them against each other, in order to have even more control over the family and, furthermore, prevent any escape. He even made Védrines’ brothers believe that one of them, Amaury, had pedophile tendencies. To others that among their own they had infiltrated Freemasons. And even It made them afraid of anyone outside, no matter how harmless they might seem
It is at this moment that the worst of the case occurs, which served in the trial to add torture and acts of barbarity 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 collect a treasure deposited in a Belgian bank account. Christine, called by Tilly as the chosen one, had the mission to bring him and, with him, they could reach the place where the secret was to save the world.
Tilly 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 from their comfort zone. noble life: gardeners, waiters, shop assistants, cleaners…
Despite the mission given to Christine, she was not informed where she had to go to look for the treasure, nor did she know the bank account number. That’s 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, flew into a rage, accusing Christine of her family’s misery, and decided that she would be punished in an especially cruel way.
Christine’s husband, Charles-Herni, and Ghislaine were responsible for torturing her following the guru’s orders. The 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 did not want to cooperate or she was too weak to carry out the mission and that therefore she must suffer.
Furthermore, to reduce her to a simple animal, Tilly only allowed her to do some things at the expense of others. If Christine drank water, she then lost 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 visited her, enraged, threatening her. He told her that she would never see her children again and that she would be handed over to Senegalese soldiers She even physically attacked him.
Tilly’s arrest
Fortunately, the beginning of the end of this hell occurred 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 arrived, he contacted Jean Marchand, Ghislaine’s ex-husband, and Daniel Picotin, a lawyer specializing in sects. By March of the following year, Christine also managed to free herself from her chains, although leaving her husband and her children behind her.
Although years before Jean Marchand had reported the case to the French authorities, the French police He had not been able to do anything without the particular testimony of those who had suffered brainwashing Fortunately, with Philippe gone, they already had enough evidence to begin the search and capture of Thierry Tilly. The British police also decided to collaborate, tapping the phone at the residence in Oxford.
In this way, Tilly unknowingly informed the police that she would soon be taking a trip to Switzerland. An international arrest warrant was signed against the guru, who was finally arrested in Zurich on October 21, 2009. However, despite the arrest of the Leonardo da Vinci of the manipulation, Védrines’ family was still under the influence of him
It is from then on that A therapeutic process of recovery of the mind of those from Védrines begins Daniel Picotin began two missions of what is called exit counseling, a technique invented by Steven Hassan in 1978 that serves to disconnect the washed minds of people who have been trapped in cults. Evoking pre-slavery memories of him, Picotin managed to slowly get the family members back on the ground.
According to one of France’s leading psychiatrists, 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 completed the following phases when he was with Védrines’ family, bringing them to the threshold of madness.
First, 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 evil forces were after them. To strengthen his image as an omniscient guru, he made sure he had answers for 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, making them doubt his own personal life.
The event of the kidnapping, taking the family to Oxford, was what ensured that he had complete control, both physically and mentally, of each of the members of the Védrines family. Furthermore, prohibiting them from using clocks 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 She had a very good memory.
Trial and conviction
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 about 7 hours, during which the accused did not seem to be as concerned as one would expect from a person who was accused of brainwashing, kidnapping, torture and acts of barbarity.
At that time, the French and international press was already calling him the guru of Monflanquin, and the fact that he had defrauded three generations of those from Védrines was widely known in the French country. The 5 million euros swindled from 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 died in 2010.
On November 13, 2012, Thierry Tilly and his accomplice Jacques Gonzalez were found guilty of brainwashing , in addition to various torture 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 those from Védrines, only 220,000 euros could be recovered, with much more suspected to be found in the Cayman Islands.
Thierry Tilly’s lawyer, Alexandre Novion, criticized the sentence, saying that it was too harsh and that it was a sample 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 it was really Jacques Gonzalez who was the manipulator, with Tilly being as much a victim as those from Védrines.
After being imprisoned, Thierry Tilly never has the same cellmates for long, to avoid being manipulated, and he has hardly received any visitors. He has refused to see his father, mainly because he was the one who helped during the trial deny several of the stories that the guru had told to Védrines and investigators. Tilly claimed that his father was a commando diver, and that his mother was a skating champion. The truth is that Mr. Tilly was a retired army driver, and his wife was a licensed midwife.
