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The Scheme to Hook Up a King With the Wasp Woman and Other Wild Plans

Khalid Elhassan August 31, 2020 34 min

Susan Cabot - Hussein of Jordan — Susan Cabot and King Hussein. Veja

1. From Millionaire to Pauper

Plan Facts - James Reavis behind bars — James Reavis behind bars. Pinterest

When Royal Johnson’s report was released, James Reavis tried to brazen it out and even sued the US government for $11 million. He lost the lawsuit, with the court noting that his claim was “wholly fictitious and fraudulent“, and that his documents had been forged and “surreptitiously introduced” into the records they supposedly came from. As he left the court, he was arrested and slammed with a 42 count indictment that included charges of fraud, forgery, presenting false documents, and conspiracy to defraud the US government.

Reavis’ brazen scheme had finally come undone. Tried, he was found guilty on June 30^th, 1896, and sentenced to two years behind bars, plus a $5000 fine. Following his release, James Reavis drifted around in poverty, pitching investment ideas that found no takers. His wife divorced him in 1902, and he eventually ended up in a Los Angeles poor house. He died in Colorado in 1914, and was buried in a pauper’s grave.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Business Insider, May 17^th, 2016 – Here’s the Story of How the Hunt Brothers Tried to Corner the Silver Market

History Theatre, May 5-June 3, 2018 – Lord Gordon-Gordon

Cracked – Totally W-T-F Criminal Schemes (You Won’t Believe Are True)

Head Stuff – William Chaloner, Master Counterfeiter

Investopedia – Silver Thursday: How Two Wealthy Traders Cornered the Market

KJZZ – Untold Arizona: The Baron of Arizona

Levinson, Thomas – Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World’s Greatest Scientist (2010)

Listverse – 10 of History’s Most Prolific Con Artists and Their Famous Cons

Los Angeles Times, June 7^th, 1987 – Bizarre Lives Bared of Star, Son Accused of Her Murder

Manitoba Historical Society – Lord Gordon Gordon, aka Hon. Mr. Herbert Hamilton and Numerous Other Aliases, c. 1840-1874

Money Inc. – The 20 Most Notorious Con Artists of All Time

MPR News – The Time a Con Man Brought Minnesota to the Brink of War With Canada

Museum of Hoaxes – Lord Gordon-Gordon

New York Post, January 9^th, 2018 – The CIA Arranged an Affair For a King That Produced a Dwarf, and Then Things Got Weird

Times, The, January 18^th, 2018 – JFK Files Reveal That CIA Urged Hollywood Actress to Sleep With King Hussein of Jordan

True West Magazine, November 21^st, 2017 – The Great Swindler James Addison Reavis

USA Today, January 9^th, 2018 – JFK Files: CIA Lined Up Actress For Date With Jordan’s King Hussein During Visit to United States

Wikipedia – James Reavis

Wikipedia – Jonathan Wild

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.