Catch him if you can

When he disappeared from the Hamptons in that fall of 2000, no one had any idea that Christopher Rockefeller had also once been a social magnet in Los Angeles in the late 1990s. Unlike the Hamptons, where Christopher made friends with new money stock brokers and other graspers hungry for a quick score.

In Los Angeles, Tinsel town, after all, he surrounded himself with a coterie of well known names and faces.

“Christopher,” the paparazzi would shout when they wanted a picture of him leaving the clubs late at night.

E.L. Woody, paparazzi/photographer: He had cash money in his pocket— and lots of it, huge rolls. He passed out $100 bills to the waiters to the bartenders, to the valet parkers... just making the big show.

The “big show” was recorded in the countless photos and videos of Christopher posing with celebrities. Like British actor Gary Oldman, MTV VJ downtown Julie Brown, or bad-boy actor Mickey Rourke.

Actors like down-on-his-luck Mickey Rourke couldn’t get close enough to Christopher to his money, and to his promises of fame and fortune.  As he did with Mickey Rourke, Christopher said he would help kick boxing action hero Jean-Claude Van Damme with his movie career. And Christopher even talked to Jermaine Jackson about capitalizing on the name of Jackson’s more famous brother, whose autographed picture hung in the Frenchman’s suite. 

And just as in the Hamptons, in money-rich L.A., Christopher never had trouble finding investors. When he said he wanted to open a clothing boutique in Beverly Hills, he invited one woman to buy in — Maria, who would only talk to Dateline in disguise. 

She says Christopher told her he would lend his obvious stature and business genius to the venture...

"Maria": You think, “Wow, what a great opportunity.”

She would put up some of the money, and they both would reap the easy profits, all this while Christopher dabbled in the movie biz as well. 

"Maria": He said that he was here in the States investing in some serious film projects.

The boutique would be located on glitzy Rodeo drive, just around the corner from where Christopher kept a three bedroom suite at $15,000/a week.

So Maria bought in, $50,000, but by the end $200,000.

George Mueller, L.A. DA’s office: He says that “I want to be business partners with you. If you give me some money now, I will give you the rest of the money to consummate the deal or to become your partner.”

George Mueller knew Christopher Rockefeller’s history and patterns better than anyone. Mueller is chief investigator for the Los Angeles district attorney’s office and says he knew Christopher by a number of names, other than Rockefeller.

Det. Mueller: One was being the nephew of Dino De Laurentiis, and that’s if he was talking to people in the movie industry because he bragged a lot about being the money backer on movies. Or if he was in the fashion industry and wanted to take people there, he was the nephew of Oscar de la Renta. He even portrayed himself as a prince.

It turns out Christopher Rockefeller or whatever his name was not a millionaire playboy— in fact, Mueller says he was simply a con man, and a good one at that. His game was to change his name and identity to appeal to the victims he culled— from the celebrity-obsessed of Hollywood to the money-hungry society of New York’s Hamptons. And Mueller says once in their confidence, he would go in for the kill.

Det. Mueller: Christopher picks and chooses the right individuals to play his game. They’re too embarrassed, or because of their stature in the community, don’t want to come forward and say, “Oh, here I am. I made a mistake. He took my money.”

Mueller says he knew Christopher was conning but didn’t have enough evidence to stop him—so he prepared a search warrant his hotel suite. But as police were ready to move in, as he had done so many times before, the con man simply slipped away.

Det. Mueller: He knew that he was being investigated because when we executed the first search warrant, we just were unlucky and we missed him.

But when Det. Mueller raided Christopher’s suite, he did find the Det. evidence he was looking for— guns, wads of money, the paperwork for a hundred schemes and illegal passports.

But where was Christopher?

You might think he would have gone into hiding, but that wasn’t Christopher’s style. Instead, he embarked on a rich man’s tour of exotic Asian hotspots with an expatriate pal named Charles Glenn.

In home video taken by Glenn and obtained by “Dateline,” the two men are seen living the high life, in Hong Kong, in Jakarta, in China, and in Bangkok. And as usual, wherever Christopher and his best friend went, they had nothing but the best: the best hotels, sometimes staying in the penthouse presidential suite, having the best transportation — stretch limos with even police escorts, the best restaurants where, despite the language barrier—exotic dishes always arrived to pamper the palate. There was shopping everywhere, buying jade and long chains of gold, and Christopher made sure there was a constant stream of beautiful women at hand.

Over time, Charles Glenn observed, his friend Christopher seemed more and more obsessed with his notoriety— even fancying himself a mafia don.

Charles Glenn: He’s always telling me, “I’m the last of the godfather.” Always, you know, like, “Call me godfather or whatever.” I say, “Okay, I’ll call you godfather, whatever you want.”

But apparently, what Christopher really wanted was to get back to his con game.

And so after a month of Asian indulgence, even thought Christopher knew Det. Mueller was on his tail, he made a brazen move: Christopher returned to L.A. and even called Mueller to taunt him.

Det. Mueller: He says, “You know, George,” he says, “You’re a good player. I’m a good player.” He says, “You know, if you’d actually meet me for tea, you would really like me. We could become friends.”

Mike Taibbi, Dateline correspondent: In your first conversation he’s calling you "George"?

Det. Mueller: Yes. And then he even got a little more arrogant and said, “And if you do arrest me I’ll just bail out and flee the country anyways.”

One month after Christopher returned to L.A.,  Mueller arrested him on illegal gun possession and phony passport charges. But, on the eve of his trial, Christopher made good his promise to Mueller: he jumped bail.

And fled— not out of the country— but to New York’s Hamptons—so he could appear on another stage in his most audacious performance yet.