By their audacity, their manipulation and their lack of scruples, scammers fascinate us as much as they repel us. A detail that did not escape the cinema studios and digital platforms, who multiply the stories of scam inspired by very real stories, from here and elsewhere. Overview of a successful phenomenon.
Who does not remember the Norbourg affair, this financial scandal that shook Quebec in the mid-2000s? The businessman Vincent Lacroix, then at the head of the Norbourg investment and fund management firm, had embezzled 130 million dollars from the pockets of thousands of small savers.
This incredible fraud, as we only see in movies, has rightly inspired director Maxime Giroux and screenwriter Simon Lavoie. They made it into a thriller telling the mechanics behind this scam and the flaws in the surveillance system, which failed to stop it earlier.
Their feature film, titled norbourg, will be released on April 22 at the cinema. At the top of the bill, we find the actors Vincent-Guillaume Otis and François Arnaud in the respective roles of Éric Asselin and Vincent Lacroix. Against all expectations, the story is not centered on the latter, but rather on the inspector and auditor Éric Asselin.
“It was Vincent Lacroix who found himself in the spotlight. He was the one who was sentenced to 18 years in prison — and served just 3. Few people know that his right arm was pulling the strings. Very cunning, Asselin arranged his exit by negotiating his immunity while allowing the scandal to be revealed in broad daylight, ”explains Simon Lavoie in an interview, confident that he has long been inhabited by the characters of this fraud from home.
Scams galore
Scammers have fascinated audiences and fueled the cinematic imagination for a long time. We think in particular of The Grifters (The scammers1990), but also to Catch Me If You Can (Stop me if you can2002) and The Wolf of Wall Street (The wolf of Wall Street, 2013). But the trend has accelerated lately, especially on digital platforms.
In February and March, Netflix unveiled several big productions of the genre, all inspired by real events, including some that have remained in the top 10 positions on the viewing charts for weeks.
Among them, fiction Inventing Anna (Anna’s Invention), modeled on the true story of Anna Sorokin, a young Russian who, posing as a German millionaire, extorted hundreds of thousands of dollars from members of New York high society to pay for her life as a princess.
The documentary The Tinder Swindler (The Tinder Scammer), which tells the story of Israeli Shimon Hayut, also got a lot of attention. This scammer found his victims on the dating app Tinder, where he posed as a billionaire gentleman with the alias Simon Leviev. He seduced them with grand declarations, gifts and dream trips, then demanded millions from them on the pretext that he was in danger.
There is also the documentary series bad vegan (Bad Vegan. Scam on the menu). This tells the story of New York restaurateur Sarma Melngailis, who embezzled millions to achieve “eternal life”. Or the biographical series Tea Dropout, on Disney+, about Elizabeth Holmes and her company Theranos, which turned out to be a multi-million dollar scam. Without forgetting WeCrashedon Apple TV+, which focuses on the financial disaster of shared office company WeWork.
“Broadcasters have understood that this type of production attracts the attention of viewers,” notes Stéfany Boisvert, professor at UQAM’s School of Media. They rely on our desire to morally judge these scammers, while feeding our fascination for the extreme wealth and fame they have enjoyed. »
Mme Boisvert regrets, however, that the emphasis is often placed on the princely lifestyle of these scammers: high-end hotels, designer clothes, chic restaurants, private planes, heavenly trips, luxury cars, etc. “There is a lot of sensationalism. The fame and wealth of crooks is exploited. »
Result: instead of condemning these reprehensible behaviors, we almost create new idols, according to her.
For example, the luxury accessories and clothing worn by Anna Delvey — aka Anna Sorokin — experienced a sales boom following the release of the Netflix series. The young scammer, still in detention, continues for her part to feed her Instagram account, which has experienced a jump in popularity, and she is preparing a documentary on her life. As for Shimon Hayut, free as the air, he has also experienced a resurgence in popularity on his social networks since the broadcast of The Tinder Swindler.
Mirror of our society
But how to talk about these stories without falling into glorification? “You shouldn’t sell dreams. We must show the consequences of fraud, the suffering of the victims, give them more of a voice,” argues Professor Boisvert.
“Following negative heroes comes with ambiguity and moral responsibility,” acknowledges Simon Lavoie, who wrote norbourg. Like Mme Boisvert, he considers it essential to leave a place for the victims so as not to fall into the glorification of the “bad guys”. On the other hand, for the public to believe the story and understand it, it was necessary, in his opinion, to show how the money embezzled by Vincent Lacroix was used in restaurants, strip bars, unlimited alcohol or all-inclusive trips.
And to those who wonder about the relevance of adapting these fraud stories to the big screen, Mr. Lavoie replies that there is a “duty to remember” there. “We have to show the dark sides of our history, show that it also happens in Quebec, this kind of fraud. We must not forget and remain vigilant. »
“To talk about it is to raise public awareness. These stories show how wealth, visibility and recognition are valued in our societies, so much so that some go so far as to lie, cheat, defraud to get there,” adds Ms.me Green wood. “It also shows how economic crimes are still invisible and poorly punished. »