Scamfluencers - The Wildenstein Family Part 1: The Art of the Steal | 222

Episode Date: July 13, 2026

For over a century, the Wildenstein family has quietly dominated the art world, amassing one of the largest private collections ever assembled while most people have never even heard their name. The anonymity isn’t an accident; it’s a strategy. Because what they are hiding is enormous: a sprawling fortune built on secrecy, tax evasion, stolen masterpieces and alleged Nazi collaboration. Four generations of Wildenstein men constructed an empire designed to be invisible. But when one family member’s messy divorce blows the vault wide open, a century’s worth of buried secrets comes spilling out. Now, the women they’ve tried to discard are about to tear it all down.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Audible subscribers can listen to all our episodes of scam influencers ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. Sarah, I know I am literally always talking about how much I love divorce, and I am sure that by now you are sick of it. You know what? I'm not sick of it. I simply am not. I think you always have something funny to say about it, so keep going.

Okay, great. I'll keep going. I think the thing I love most about divorce, especially when a woman divorces a rich and established family is how she can single-handedly begin to take everybody down. I think that type of story is truly just, I love it so much. It makes me so happy. Okay, perfect.

Well, you're in for a treat because today's story combines all the things we love most. Divorce, breathless tabloid coverage of the rich and evil, some culture-shifting plastic surgery, and one woman who wasn't going to let her terrible, rich husband take away the glamorous life that she built. It's the middle of the night in September 1997, and 52-year-old Jocelyn Wildenstein has just landed in New York City from Kenya.

She had straight home to a massive 14-room Manhattan townhouse, and she is full of righteous anger, because she is about to confront her husband. Jocelyn married into the highly secretive, and obscenely wealthy Wildenstein family 19 years ago. And this is a storied family. The Wildenstines have spent more than a century amassing a fortune by dealing European art.

No one really knows how much the family is worth. They don't disclose how much art they have stockpiled or how much wealth they're sitting on. But despite their affluence, most people have never even heard of them. And that is on purpose. They do everything in their power to stay out of the news. Jocelyn's husband, Alec, is part of the newest generation running the Wildenstein dynasty.

But after almost two decades together, the couple has grown distant. They're not even living on the same continent. Jocelyn's been staying at the family ranch in Kenya, while Alec has been traveling around New York and Europe. They agreed to separate, and a few months ago, both filed divorce papers. The divorce proceedings were cordial at first, but before long, things changed. Jocelyn's credit cards were canceled. The monthly allowance she received from Alec was reduced by two-thirds. And then, a few days ago, came the final straw.

Alec faxed Jocelyn to say that she was no longer welcome at their Manhattan home because he was busy entertaining. Buddy, who are you entertaining where your wife can't be there? That's what I want to know. Well, Jocelyn wasn't sure what her husband meant by entertaining, but she refuses to be banished from her own home. So she flew here all the way from Kenya to confront him. She marches over to the elevator with two bodyguards in tow

and makes her way up to the bedroom. What happens next is disputed based on who you ask, but here's the most popular version. When Jocelyn walks into the bedroom, she sees that Alec has company. The 57-year-old art dealer is barely clothed and he's with a younger woman. Much younger.

He's in bed. with a 19-year-old. From there, everything explodes. Before Jocelyn can even get upset, her husband pulls a gun on her. And suddenly, she's staring down the barrel of a pistol. In the chaos that follows, someone calls 911,

and Jocelyn watches as her husband is dragged away in handcuffs. This story, one of the world's wealthiest art dealers pulling a gun on his wife, is about to spark a tabloid frenzy. And it's not just because of the soap opera antics. In the New York Society pages, Jocelyn is best known for having had a lot of plastic surgery, giving her a unique, almost cat-like appearance. Even if you aren't familiar with the story,

there's a pretty good chance you'd recognize her. Sarah, here's a picture of Jocelyn from around this time. Can you describe her? Shut up. This is the cat woman? Sure is. I know her from being on TV all the time and being in every single Ripley's Believe it or Not book or Guinness Book of World Records that you would try and grab as quickly as you can during silent reading in class. This woman is the OG of plastic surgery and is crazy because by today's standards, is she that crazy looking? No. Yeah, she single-handedly stretched the Overton window of stretching your face. Well, the press can't get enough of Jocelyn's appearance and soon,

every tabloid in New York City will have it splashed across their pages. After a century of secrecy and avoiding the press, the Wildenstein name is suddenly everywhere. Once the press starts digging into this famously reclusive family, they'll find a long history of cutthroat business tactics bordering on crimes. And what starts as a page six scandal will soon become darker and far more serious. Because this divorce is about to unmask one of the art world's most powerful families as thieves, frauds, and alleged Nazi collaborators.

I'm Razor Jafri, and in the new season of The Spy Who, we go back in time to meet Benedict Arnold, the spy who betrayed the American Revolution. As America fights for freedom from Britain, Arnold emerges as one of the rebels' greatest generals. But when his loyalty is pushed to the limit, he turns spy and devises a plot to shatter the rebellion and make George Washington a prisoner.

Follow the Spy Who now, wherever you listen to podcast. You can also listen to the full season of the spy who betrayed the American Revolution early and ad-free on Audible. Does it bother you that the world is on fire? Do you also often find yourself choking on your own rage? Maybe you too perpetually feel like screaming bloody freaking murder into your own pillow. Well, hop in Rabel-Razzer. We're going hunting for a manifesto. Listen to Dan Taberski's Manifesto wherever you get your podcasts.

From Audible Originals, I'm Sachi Cole. And I'm Sarah Haggy, and this is scam influencers. Since the late 1800s, the Wildenstein family has quietly dominated the art world. They've played a huge role in how European art is seen, appreciated, and appraised. But most people have never heard of them, and that is by design. Because what they're hiding is enormous. For generations, this family has quietly cornered the art market, controlling how art is authenticated, shaping what collectors' value,

and keeping the true size of their collection a closely guarded secret. But when one of the Wildenstein's goes through a messy divorce in the late 90s, a century's worth of family's secrets starts spilling out, including tax evasion, stolen art, dealings with Nazis, and even a monkey who lives in a bathroom. Four generations of men built an empire on secrecy, and now the women they've tried to discard are about to tear it all down. This is the Wildenstein family Part 1.

The Art of the Steel. The Wildenstein legacy begins more than a century ago. It's 1875 in a fabric shop in the suburbs of Paris, France. Outside, a horse whinnies as it pulls a carriage past women and dresses fit for Bridgeton. Behind the counter stands 24-year-old Nathan Wildenstein. He has a long face with cropped dark hair and a thick mustache. Nathan was born in 1851 and grew up in a rural town near the German people. border, part of a long line of livestock dealers. He comes from a large Jewish family. He's one of

eight children, but here in Paris, he's alone. Five years earlier, Nathan left his hometown when the Prussian army invaded the region. He refused to live under German rule and fled to Paris, even though he knew he'd likely never see his family again. And while he's grateful for his political freedom, he's struggling to find his footing in his new home. The city is in the early days of La Belle epoch, the beautiful era, marked by the construction of the Eiffel Tower and a renewed interest in art. One day, in the middle of his tailoring shift, one of his regular clients, an aristocratic woman, comes in with an unusual request. She has some valuable paintings on her hands, and she wants to know if Nathan will help her sell them. He says yes immediately. We're not really sure why this customer

turned to Nathan for help, of all people, but Nathan, who's a little bored and could use the money, is all in. There's just one problem. He doesn't actually know anything about art. Well, you know, I think he will soon discover that you actually don't need to know a lot about art to scam people. In fact, you can just make shit up and people will believe you as we have learned on the show. Yeah, that we know for sure. Well, Nathan decides he's not going to phone it in.

For the next 10 days, Nathan visits the Louvre and gives himself a crash course in art history. And it pays off. He sells the woman's paintings and pockets a thousand francs for himself, which is an estimated $5,000 in USD today. But the money isn't even the most valuable thing he walks away with. It's a brand new love of art and a desire to learn more. As he researches art trends, Nathan notices that French art from the 17th and 18th centuries are completely out of fashion. Collectors and critics are chasing modern work. works of realism and romanticism by Manet and Renoir, rather than the Rococo artist that Nathan loves.

Which means that, for now, his favorite art is dirt cheap. So Nathan decides to take a gamble. He uses the money that he made from that first sale to buy two more paintings from junk shops, which he then sells to aristocrats for a profit. The art world is a little like the stock market, with collectors and dealers betting on trends and investing in paintings that they think will go up in value. And from the start, Nathan is unusually good at this.

He has a knack for buying up cheap art right before everyone wants it. But he's not just following the market. His taste is shaping it. Every time Nathan convinces a rich collector that 18th century art is valuable, more collectors want it. And they don't have to look far because Nathan's got plenty more paintings to sell them. This is really interesting because it is kind of how art functions in many, ways. Regardless of how much he studied or knew, it is people with wealth creating value through

like scarcity or word of mouth. That is how art is sold and valued. Yeah, man, it's all arbitrary. And with this new career, Nathan becomes one of Paris's culture makers almost overnight. Once he can afford it, he starts dressing the part to entice even more buyers. Picture, extravagant top hats and fancy waistcoats. He genuinely loves the art that he's. He genuinely loves the art that he's selling, and he's able to convince critics and collectors that they should love it too. Before long, Nathan's selling paintings to rich and powerful families from all over the world, from the Rockefellers to the Rothschilds. He starts his own art business, and as he becomes wealthy in his own right, he begins thinking about the thing all rich people eventually think about,

building an empire and securing a family legacy. It's 1918 in Paris, and 26-year-old George Wildenstein is sitting at his desk when a bright red phone rings. He picks it up and chats for a few minutes with an artist he sure is about to take off, an up-and-comer named Pablo Picasso. It's been 43 years since Nathan stumbled into the world of art dealing, and since then, he's made a name for himself across the globe. He opened a gallery in the heart of Paris and another in New York to sell European art to American buyers. And, of course, the most important part of building a dynasty is legacy. So Nathan has done everything in his power to set up his son, George, to take over the company one day. We actually have a picture of the two men from around this time. Can you describe it?

Yes, I mean, listen, this is a classic old-timey history book-ass photo. It's black and white, obviously, very kind of grainy, but they look incredibly wealthy. I know probably not the same era, but it looks down to Abbey to me. They're just wearing kind of dapper suits and hats, and they look moneyed. They do look moneyed. They do look monied. Well, even though George is only in his 20s, he's already known for his sharp eye and great instincts. So his dad decided to let George run a new gallery down the street.

And while George may be a nepo baby, he's desperate to prove that he deserves respect on his own merits. He leans more into modern art than his father, not because he loves it, but because he sees its money-making potential. He's been investing in works by artists like Monet, convinced that they're going to take off. And so far, he's right.

But being successful doesn't mean you're well-liked. Even at his young age, George has a reputation for being much tougher and more cut-throat than his dad, prising profit above almost everything else. At some point, he even sets up a network of spies around France, auction house employees, notaries, and other people embedded in the arts scene. They make sure that George is the first to know when a painting becomes available or what it's being valued at. And while the art establishment finds his methods ungentlemanly, they are incredibly effective. He doesn't strike me as someone who needs to be liked at all.

He seems like one of those people that just steam rolls through whatever he wants to get what he wants. And basically people just end up having to deal with him whether they like him or not. And that's what power is. Yeah, exactly. Well, there is one person in the industry who does like George, his business partner, another art dealer named Paul Rosenberg. Paul is slim with the receding hairline and thick eyebrows. He and George went to the same high school,

and now they run this modern art space as a duo. Together, they go all in on Picasso. They dedicate the first two floors of the gallery to his work, and in exchange, they get first dibs on his new paintings. The red phone in George's office only has two direct lines, one to his friend Paul and one to Picasso. The arrangement works well for over a decade, until personal drama blows it up. In 1933, their partnership ends suddenly, allegedly because Paul catches his best friend George

sleeping with his wife. George is expanding his father's art business into an increasingly powerful dynasty by doing whatever he wants, in business and in life, no matter who it hurts. To George, the break with this childhood friend and business partner is simply a bump in the road. And it's a useful lesson. Anyone outside of the family is disposable. It's the spring of 1934 in Paris's Jewish Cemetery. The Wildenstein family, dressed in black,

watches as a casket gets lowered into the ground. George wipes away a tear. He's here to bury his father, Nathan, the man who founded the family business and passed down everything he knew about art. Nathan died quietly at home at 82 years old. For George, it's a devastating. stating loss, and now he feels the full weight of his responsibility to carry on the family legacy.

It was his father's dying wish, literally. On his deathbed, Nathan told George's 17-year-old son Daniel to honor his parents, emphasizing the importance of family and lineage above all else. In previous episodes, we've had this almost exact situation happened where a dying parent or parental figure says something crazy to someone on their deathbed, how is it so common that someone says something this crazy to you on their deathbed? What a terrible lesson.

Rich people are always doing this. They're so worried about what's going to happen when they die. Well, George is now 42 years old. He's just become the sole head of the family art business. And thanks to his dad's savvy business dealings, George doesn't just run a gallery. He single-handedly controls much of the art market itself. A couple years back, George and his father bought a famous art journal called La Gazette

Beaux-Arre, which reviews and contextualizes works of art. George became its new editor, which means he has the power to print glowing reviews of work that he likes and wants to make valuable for his own profit. He also publishes books about artists whose work he owns and becomes an authority on authenticating art. If you own a Monet or a Chardin, it's up to George to confirm if it's real or not. The Wildenstines are cementing a real monopoly. They're using every lever of power they have to increase their family's wealth.

Yeah, you know, I feel like this is how a lot of incredibly rich families function with whatever thing they pick, like be it a resource or television or media, you know, they pick something that they can really influence and monopolize to their benefit, where they are the ones who are the most important when deciding what's what. Yeah, it's a pretty good routine. Well, around this time, George starts perfecting the skill that will help protect his family's power for generations. Secrecy.

No one knows exactly how rich or powerful the Wildensteins are because no one knows just how much art they actually have. This secrecy isn't just paranoia. It's a powerful business tactic. The art world runs on insider knowledge. Who owns what, how big someone's collection is, So keeping quiet keeps their competitors in the dark. And when no one realizes how much power you have, you can wield it quietly.

The Wildensteins operate without facing any suspicion or scrutiny. Right now, things couldn't be going better. George's teenage son, Daniel, is about to step into the business and continue the family legacy. But soon, the Second World War will threaten this Jewish family's prosperity, and they'll have to decide which side of history to stand on. It's November 1940 at the lavish Hotel du Roy in Aks-Provence, France. Just over a year ago, Germany invaded Poland and ignited World War II. Now, France is falling to German rule.

It's become increasingly unsafe for Jewish families, and many are fleeing the country and the continent to escape the Third Reich. But for now, the Wildenstein's are still here. And today, George is meeting a new client, Carl Haberstock, Hitler's personal art dealer, and the two men are here to make a deal. Okay, let's back it up for a second. Let's back it up.

So you're telling me that this Jewish family is, you know, I understand this is November 1940. It's very clear what Hitler's up to. Yeah, yeah. Everyone knows who Hitler is. It's not like everyone knows what's going on. Yeah. Everyone knows what's happening because it's happening.

He's meeting with his art guy, Hitler's art guy. Yes, he is. Well, I'm going to tell you why. At this point in the war, the Nazis are seizing property from Jewish families to strip them of their assets, including any art that they own. It's estimated that over the duration of the war, the Nazis seize one-fifth of all the art in Europe, some of which is still missing till this day. They keep some of the pieces for themselves and sell others to. to fund their war efforts. George takes a deep breath as he listens to the Nazis

sitting across from him. As a Jewish art dealer, he knows that his safety, and all of the art that he has in Europe, is under threat. In fact, the Nazis have already confiscated some pieces from the Wildenstein's. But Carl has a proposition for George. He tells him that the Wildensteins can keep

their entire art collection and get back everything that's already been confiscated. The Nazis are even willing to let him keep running their Parisian art gallery so long as it's operated by a non-Jewish employee. All they want in exchange is the ability to buy any piece Hitler wants for his personal collection. George meets with Carl for four or five days, and finally, the terms are agreed upon. Not long after they finalized the deal, George and his family, his wife, his 23-year-old son Daniel, and Daniel's young family,

flee France for the United States. In the meantime, their gallery keeps running in Paris, per their agreement. The Nazis quietly return all of the Wildenstein seized artwork, and George allegedly goes even further, buying artwork directly from the Nazis, art that they looted from the homes and collections of other Jewish families. Publicly, they try to hide any whiff of a relationship with the Third Reich during the war. About three years after striking this deal,

George even writes an article denouncing art dealers who collaborate with the Nazis in any way. That is so devious to betray your people that way and then to write an article pretending that you would never do such a thing almost as a way of like getting ahead of if anyone finds out. Insane. Yeah, well, it's unclear whether the Wildenstein's ever actually sold paintings to Hitler. And later, the family will staunchly deny that any of this happened. For now, Georgia's dealings remain a secret. The family is safely living in New York and thriving, and by all appearances, willing to exploit a global catastrophe for their own benefit.

But their dirtiest secrets can't stay buried forever. I'm Razor Jaffrey, and in the new season of The Spy Who, they opened the file on Benedict Arnold, the spy who betrayed the American Revolution. America is fighting to free itself from the British Empire, and one of its foremost generals is Benedict Arnold. He's a smuggler turned battlefield hero, and admired for his aggressive tactics.

But when a war wound, a new wife, debts and politics test his loyalty to the max, he turns spy and devises a plot to shatter the revolution and help Britain capture rebel commander-in-chief. General George Washington. And that plot would make him the most infamous traitor in U.S. history. Follow the Spy Who Now, wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also listen to the full season of The Spy Who Betrayed the American Revolution

early and ad-free unaudible. You there, tis I, Queen Mortuana of the Night Realm, aka Kate McKinnon, and her raven minion Jojo, aka Emily Lynn. If you do not download and binge my show, heads will roll, air apparent on Audible, I will cut off your head! Oh no, maybe just tell them about the guest stars like Richard Kind, Carrie Coon, Jimmy Fallon, at all. But they were in it, and if you don't listen to them, then I will cut off your tongue, then cut off your head, then cut off your head, and then put the tongue in the head hole. Aw, you tried. Listen now exclusively on Audible and download the Audible app today.

You're off with your head! I'm kidding. I feel like a legend. It's 1955, and Daniel Wildenstein is stepping out of a car outside of 122, a famous brothel in Paris frequented by rich society men. The Wildenstines are back in France after waiting out the war in New York. And for Daniel, George's only son, it's time to blow off a little steam. That's why he's here, to splash out on drinks and sleep with beautiful women who are not his wife.

Daniel is in his 30s and has spent his entire life learning about the importance of the family dynasty. Remember how Nathan raised George with the singular goal of prepping him to take over the family business? Well, George raised Daniel the exact same way. From a young age, Daniel's been looped into all of his father's interests. From his love of racehorses to his obsession with chasing art trends, we have a picture of the two men together. Sarah, can you describe them? You know, obviously old-timey photo, black and white, very fancy looking, crown molding in the background.

You know you're too poor to be there. But I would never think these two were father and son. You know, George is sitting down, full suit, perfectly manicured mustache, staring straight ahead at the camera. And he looks, there's no expression on his face. And Daniel is standing there beside his father. again, full suit, perfect hair, staring directly into the camera, no expression. It looks like two men who just made a deal,

not people who are remotely related. Yep, just two obscenely wealthy strangers who look like they want to hunt me for sport. And on paper, Daniel is the perfect heir to the Wildenstein Empire. He has a beautiful young family, a French Jewish wife and two sons, a 15-year-old named Alec and a 10-year-old named Guy.

He has an art history degree from left Sourbon, and some say that he has an even better eye for art than his dad. Now, he's writing and even rewriting art history. He hires scholars and historians to create new books about artists in his family's collection. Like his father, he's doing everything he can to control the market and shape the perceived value of the work that they already own. But Daniel has a very strained relationship with his father, to say the least. George doesn't approve of his son's hobbies,

which mainly include partying and sleeping around. Nathan and George, the family's first two patriarchs, had to work to establish their family's legacy. But Daniel is firmly old money. He was born into more wealth and power than most people can even imagine. And it seems to have gone to his head because while he's just as skilled and cutthroat as his father,

he lacks George's discipline. Daniel wants to have his cake and eat it too, run the art world, be widely respected, and do whatever he wants without consequence. He's using a lot of the same tactics that his father did, like spying. But it seems that he's sloppier about it. In fact, the Wildenstein Company just got sued for wiretapping a rival gallery. It seems like Daniel is, in some sense, kind of following his family's playbook of how to monopolize the art world and to do whatever it takes. takes to be on top. But at the same time, it's like one of these moments where you could tell

it's really going off the rails because they're getting sloppy about it, as you said. Like, getting sued for wiretapping is crazy. Yeah, it seems like in this family, these men are losing like the elegant touch that they have in business as generations go by. And while Daniel thinks it's okay to let loose himself, he exerts total control over the people around him, especially his two young sons who are next in line to inherit the business. Daniel sees his sons less as people and more as future heirs. He's especially strict with Alec, the eldest. Growing up, Alec isn't allowed to have play dates with other children or play sports. And when he graduates high school in a few years, Daniel will forbid him from attending university. He wants Alex's life to be devoted completely to art,

out of the public eye, which is why around this time when Alec is just a little bit of the public eye, which is why, 15, Daniel starts bringing him along to the brothel. He doesn't want either of his sons to get married, because marriage could lead to divorce, and divorce could lead to bad publicity. His reasoning is deranged, but in Daniel's mind, there is some logic behind it. The hope is that if Alec can be satiated in brothels, he won't feel the need for a wife. The whole thing is especially bizarre since this is a family built on legacy. And to keep a legacy going, you need heirs.

Apparently, Daniel just hasn't thought that far ahead. Yeah, I feel like in this time period, it was normal to see marriage as like a business transaction or contract or whatever and then, you know, secretly go to brothels on the side. But being a grown, rich man who's single, to me, would only raise suspicion. So this plan doesn't really make sense to me.

Yeah, there's not a lot of love. in this. But coming from a long line of power-hungry men, it does kind of make sense that Daniel has this insatiable need for control. By the third generation, the Wildenstein men seem to be losing their grip on reality. Daniel is convinced he can control Alex's life right down to his relationships. But when Alec gets older, he'll take after his dad, which means he'll want to play by his own rules too. It's 1977 and we're in Kenya. Alec Wildenstein is 37 now

and for the most part he's actually lived by his father's demands. He works in the family art business, stays out of the press and has never gotten married. His grandfather, George, died more than a decade ago, which means his father, Daniel, now has ultimate control over the Wildenstein clan. Outside of working for the family business,

Alec has one main interest. Africa. Just like the entire continent of Africa. That's why he spends most of his free time here at Old Jogi, a 66,000-acre Kenyan ranch where he collects exotic animals and goes on safari. As if these people can't get any worse, you're now telling me it's the 70s, and these are rich white people who are obsessed with Africa. the homogenous continent where everything is the same.

And let me guess, these people who already live there are so backwards that he has to have this 66,000-acre ranch where he allows himself to collect animals and do his own safaris. This is awesome. Yeah, Sarah, I'm here to hurt you. Well, even though Alec is an adult now, the dynamic with his father has not changed.

Well, he has the feeling of independence all the way out here in Kenya, he's still at his father's mercy, because Daniel controls the family purse strings. Daniel technically owns everything, including the ranch, Alex's cars, and his home in New York. And even though Alec has devoted his life to the family business, Daniel is still its sole proprietor. So Alec is caught in a weird limbo. He's a fully grown adult with access to extraordinary wealth, but he still needs to ask his dad for permission before actually spending it. He has proximity to power, but no real power of his own.

And while George and Daniel both built upon their father's legacies and became well-respected art dealers in their own right, Alec and his brother haven't quite managed to do the same. Sarah, can you read what one art dealer said about them in an interview with The Cut? Yes, they said, The generations are petering out as far as talent goes. The sons don't have the same flair for the art business that Daniel does. They are spending their money, but they're not bringing anything in. Yeah, you know, again, it's just such a cliche family legacy story.

Like, it's so succession where, or even, you know, something like the Murdochs where this patriarch builds something out of seemingly nothing and is able to rise to the top of whatever, but the kids just don't measure up because they never really need it to. Yep, wealth is a horrible disease and they were born with it eating their brains. Well, Alec probably doesn't feel great about this public perception. But he finds real comfort and joy on the Kenyan ranch. And that's why today, Alec is up early and dressed in head-to-tale camouflage for a lion hunt. There are a handful of guests on the ranch, including a friend of a friend, a beautiful 31-year-old Swiss socialite named Jocelyn. We have a picture of her from around this time.

Sarah, can you describe her? Wow. this is as symmetrical of a face as you're ever going to see. I'll say that much. Yeah, she's pretty hot. It's a very glamorous. Her hair is gorgeously blown out. She's looking up at something.

And like she just has such an incredibly beautiful face. Like there's no other way to say it. She's stunning. This is a kind of face people pay to have plastic surgery for, you know? Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Well, after the safari, Alec invites Jocelyn. on a motorcycle ride.

During their ride, he learns that she doesn't come for money. Her father worked at a department store. But she spent her adult life hobnobbing with the rich and famous, dating wealthy men in Paris and traveling all over the world. As they get to know each other, Jocelyn tells Alec how much she loves the outdoors and going on adventures. She waters skis and rock climbs, but she also loves being a socialite

and using her beauty and charm to get invited into places that she couldn't access other words. Sarah, can you read what she later says to a journalist at the cut when talking about why she never pursued a career? Yes, she says, I have different talent. I never worry for my career. I'm very good at decoration. I may be extremely good at decoration. I always find at the right time what I can do.

I mean, listen, I cannot say how good she is at decoration. I never seen her decorating's, but this is clearly someone. someone who is so beautiful, they probably don't have to be that good at anything. Good for her. Well, Alec is smitten. But beside Daniel's directive not to get married, there's one more problem. Alec and Jocelyn are both technically in relationships right now. But that doesn't matter.

Their spark is immediate and undeniable. They have so much in common. Like, how much they both love Africa? Their motorcycle ride ends with a kid. kiss and Alex's fate is sealed. He knows he wants to marry this woman. Over the past century, the Wildenstein's have built up unimaginable wealth and maintained it in part by staying out of the public eye. But when a family is this tightly wound, it only takes one person to pull the whole thing apart. It's April 1978 at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. It's been around a year since

Jocelyn first met Alec on that magical Kenyan safari trip. And since then, they've had a whirlwind romance. Jocelyn once went to her hair salon in Paris to find Alec had filled it with thousands of white orchids. They've shared fancy dinners and I Love You's. And recently, Alec proposed. Jocelyn said yes immediately. The only problem is her new in-laws.

Alex's father, Daniel, is extremely strict and controlling, even though his son is almost 40. Jocelyn is weirded out by their relationship. Daniel still doesn't want his sons to marry. When Daniel found out about the engagement, he did everything in his power to try to stop the wedding. He even told one of Alex's exes to try to win him back. The whole thing is insane as far as Jocelyn is concerned. Remember how one of Daniel's reasons for forbidding his sons from getting married was to avoid bad press from a potential divorce? Well, Daniel just got divorced. and he's remarrying a younger woman, a model named Sylvia, this year.

For a man who constantly preaches the value of privacy in high society, he's pretty messy. Yes, I mean, I feel like in Daniel's mind he can function however he wants because he is the smart one, he's a leader, he's the one who built everything, and the people under him are like exactly that they're under him. Like they don't have the same autonomy. Like he knows what's best for them. He can make the best choices for them because it's all about their,

greater family purpose. So it's obviously going to be hypocritical, but to Daniel, this is something that makes total sense. Yeah, but Jocelyn's not going to live like the rest of the family. She's never really cared about what other people think, and she's not about to start now. So while it's not ideal that her father-in-law is controlling

and seems hell-bent against this union, it will not stop her from marrying the man that she loves. That's why she and Alec are getting married here at a Las Vegas hotel with just one, witness. If the wedding remains a secret, then Daniel can't do anything to stop it. When Daniel taught his sons about the importance of secrecy, it seems like he never considered that they might keep secrets from him. Yeah, I mean, I think he thinks his kids are dumb. Like, he would know everything. Like, he's, like, all seeing, he knows everything. He's the master of this family.

So it kind of blinds him in a way because I don't think he's able to see people as functioning outside of being his Sims, you know? Yeah, he's not really paying attention to anyone. But Jocelyn doesn't need much. She doesn't need a big wedding. She just needs Alec. So the pair exchange idu's and pop champagne. Jocelyn feels nothing but joy as she ties the knot.

The couple returned to Kenya to settle in at the old Jogi Ranch, and maybe to hide from Daniel's wrath. But it isn't just Alex rebellion that's threatening the family legacy. Back in Europe, a journalist is going to start digging into the Wildenstein family, and what he encrovers will be the beginning of the end. It's 1988 in Paris. Hector Feliciano is at the Louvre with a notepad, jotting down thoughts for his latest article. Hector is a Puerto Rican writer who's been working as a cultural correspondent in Paris, writing

about French affairs for the L.A. Times and the Washington Post. Today, Hector is investigating a stolen painting bought by the museum. As part of his research, he talks about the book. to an elderly man who mentions, offhandedly, that about 20% of the art looted by the Nazis remains unaccounted for. Hector's eyes widen. Provenance, the official record of ownership for a work of art, is taken very seriously in the art world. The idea of so much of it being lost doesn't make sense to him. But France has been slow to acknowledge its darker history with the Nazi regime. It was only the year before that the country's national education curriculum was

revised to mention collaboration. So Hector pays a visit to the French National Archives and finds that every document pertaining to Nazi looted art is classified. As a dogged journalist, this only makes him more curious. He starts digging through records and archives to trace where the art went. Some works found their way into private collections. But he discovers that thousands of pieces are hanging in French museums, institutions that were apparently happy to hang the art on their walls

rather than investigate who it really belonged to. After the Berlin Wall comes down, even more documents come to light. Hector starts working directly with the families who had art stolen, learning their histories and helping them track down their heirlooms. Hector later says that many of these families were hesitant to speak out earlier,

partially because of their survivors' guilt. This is so sad for so many reasons, and I know that from learning about Nazis, that art was a huge part of, I guess, their cultural force and stealing art from families that they forcibly displaced. And it's just so sad that, like, one, these museums don't really care, which makes sense considering how much looted shit is in museums to begin with. But it's also just so sad for these families that, like, they survived such an atrocity and feel, like, too guilty to get what's owed to them because they feel guilty for surviving and making it out.

Yeah, it's really sad and complex generational trauma. Plus, all of France is so unwilling to admit what actually happened during the war. It just feels like the shock is just wearing off. And the more hours Hector puts into this investigation, the more personally and emotionally invested he becomes. He eventually quits his newspaper job to focus on writing a book about all this missing art. And in 1995, it's finally published in France with the title, The Lost Museum, the Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art. It details the 20,000 paintings that are still missing and absolutely rocks the French art world.

The looted art was something of an open secret, but the time is ripe to draw attention to it. That same year, French president Jacques Chirac formally denounces the role France played collaborating with the Nazis. In the book, Hector reveals that the Wilver's, Aldenstein's had a relationship with the Nazis dating back to the late 1930s, before World War II even broke out. And he details that meeting between George and Carl at the Hotel du Roy.

Hector calls George a Nazi collaborator. But the book is only published in French, so it doesn't meaningfully dent the family's reputation outside of France. This is just so sad. There's so many layers to how terrible this is. These people were Nazi collaborators from the beginning, and they were also Jewish. It is a very heartbreaking concept, and it's so sad that their quest for wealth overtook what was right, which I know is like, obviously rich people are going to do that, but it is, yeah, it's really depressing.

Yeah, it is depressing. But Hector has stirred public attention to the issue of Nazi looted art, and his work isn't done. When the book comes out, families of Jewish art dealers immediately come forward to claim what was stolen from them. A little more than a year later, the Mousé d'Orsay displays nearly a thousand paintings retrieved from the Nazis at the end of World War II, giving more people the chance to identify art that's rightfully theirs. And Hector keeps digging, discovering the provenance of more and more looted pieces, which means he'll have even more material to include in the English-language version of his book. Hector's kicked up enough of a stir that he secured a U.S. publisher.

The enormity of what Hector uncovered is becoming impossible to ignore. As time goes on, the Wildenstein's will start to make headlines. And when they do, the family's hidden history will capture the attention of the art world, the tabloids, and law enforcement. Hey, Dan Tiberski here. I'm a podcast host, a journalist, and now with my newest project, the author of my own manifesto. Well, it's a manifesto about manifestos. My search for inspiration in a world that feels more infuriating, more out of its freaking mind with each passing hour.

Manifestos are a call to action, an artful scream. They capture our anger and they try to do something with it. This is my attempt to take the manifesto back from mass shooters and nihilists and return it to its rightful place with the warriors, the visionaries, the regular folks with just the right amount of crazy. I compare notes with radicals, secessionists, internet trolls out for a laugh, and punk singers screaming their guts out, all trying to turn their anger into the world they want to see. Listen to Manifesto wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes of Manifesto early and ad-free right now.

Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. It's 1996, and we're back at Old Jogi, the Wildenstein's sprawling, ranch in Kenya. Since their secret wedding almost 20 years ago, Alec and Jocelyn have had a relatively happy marriage. The couple has two children, who are now teenagers, and while Daniel is still technically at the head of the Wildenstein Empire, Alec and his younger brother Guy are essentially running things. Guy handles most of the administrative side of the business, and Alec is in charge of selling artwork. Meanwhile, Jocelyn is singularly devoted to the expansion and upkeep of old Jogi, which has become her favorite place on earth. She lives there almost full-time, and her parents even

stay at the ranch with her, which keeps her from getting too lonely when Alec is away on business in New York or Paris. And Jocelyn has outfitted it to the nines. Remember, she's a decorator. It has 200 buildings, more than 50 man-made lakes, and nearly 400 servants. There's even an elementary school and a high school for the staff's children. An endless array of rhinos, giraffes, and big cats roam the ranch within an electric fence, and Jocelyn has a plexiglass cage built above her bathtub for her pet monkey. You know, I'm sure her marriage isn't great

and she's being treated like shit, but that is no excuse to do colonialism, basically. Yeah. It's messed up. I know what happens all over the world. I know this is how resorts are built, but it is just so upsetting to hear these details. Yeah, I feel bad for the monkey.

Well, Jocelyn and Alec live lavishly on and off the ranch. She recently bought a $350,000 Chanel dress and owns around $10 million worth of jewelry. She estimates that she and Alex spend around $1 million a month and that their yearly wine budget alone is upward of half a million dollars. Today, they're celebrating their daughter's 17th birthday by unveiling the $3 million mansion they built for her at Old Jogi. But even with all this luxury, Alec, Alex, is still under his father's thumb.

Jocelyn has enjoyed the wealth, but she's aware that none of it is really hers. It's all controlled by her father-in-law who's still in charge of the entire family's finances. It is absolutely insane. He is in charge of the entire family's finances. But, I mean, how short of a leash are they on when they're able to do all this crap to old Jogi?

That's probably the only thing they get to do. Well, like any long marriage, there's some strain in the background. Jocelyn is 51 now, and she's been keeping up her appearances with plastic surgery. Like, a lot of plastic surgery. She started getting facelifts in her 30s around the time that she and Alec got married. Alec even went with her a few times to get his own facelifts done. But Jocelyn grew increasingly worried about looking old, so she kept going back. She sees the procedures as regular maintenance.

but some people, including Alec, think that she's gone too far. We have a picture of her from around this time, and it's worth keeping in mind that in the late 90s, visible plastic surgery wasn't as common as it is now, so people find her appearance particularly shocking. Yes, I mean, I don't need to once again mention how prevalent she was in the daytime television circuit, but I will say it is so fascinating because the type of work she's getting,

like, of course, plastic surgery type looks are pretty much normalized at this point. But it's like she doesn't have more work done than people do now, but it's just the technology isn't quite there. She just looks too otherworldly compared to other people. And this photo certainly is not helping because, as you know, everyone called her the catwoman, and here she is posing with like a taxidermied cheetah for like a magazine, I guess. Yeah, they look alike. Yeah, it's like no shit.

Everyone's going to call you a cat woman. You put a cat right there. Yeah, maybe by design. Well, Jocelyn knows that her husband doesn't love her surgery habit, but she doesn't really care. She wants to look young, and she's convinced that her procedures help. It's worth noting that no matter how much ridicule she'll get about her appearance over the years to come,

she always stands by it. She loves the way she looks, and no one can take that from her. But regardless of how great Jocelyn feels about her appearance and her life on the ranch, she's struggling with her marriage. She can feel her husband growing increasingly distant, and she worries that his eyes are starting to wander. Things come to a head the following year in 1997, when Jocelyn's father dies suddenly of pneumonia

while staying with her at Old Jogi. Alec is in New York at the time, so Jocelyn calls him and asks him to come be with her. But he just can't be bothered. It takes him 14 days to finally fly to Kenya to be with his grieving wife. During that time, she keeps her dead father's body in a fridge. She insists that they can't bury him

until they find the perfect ebony coffin. One thing about the story that is really hitting me is that it's kind of like Cronenberg-esque with body horror and weird stuff. Like, there's a lot to react to here. First of all, 14 days to fly to Kenya to be with your grieving wife automatically go to jail. Second of all, the idea of finding the perfect ebony coffin

and keeping your dad refrigerated until then is so twisted. I feel like I would need a degree, like a psychological degree, to unpack what this all means to these people. It's nuts. Yeah, we are now fully through the looking glass. And not long after, the two mutually decide to get a divorce. That's when Daniel steps in. He was against this marriage from the beginning.

And now that it's ending in divorce, which was always his greatest fear, he doesn't hesitate to wage war against Jocelyn. The Wildensteins are not willing to give her anything in the split. Suddenly, Alec cuts off Jocelyn's credit cards and fights to give her as little as possible in alimony. And then, the final straw. She receives a fax informing her that she's no longer welcome

at the family townhouse in New York. That brings us back to our opening scene, and maybe the most dramatic moment in this whole saga. Jocelyn bursting in on Alec and Alec drawing a pistol. Jocelyn won't let Alec push her around, and the ensuing fight is about to make headlines that risk unraveling the Wildenstein's entire empire. It's September 3rd, 1997, in New York City.

Somewhere in Manhattan, Alec Wildenstein steps out onto the sidewalk after spending a night in jail. For the average adult man, spending a night in jail because you had a violent tantrum would already be, humiliating. But for Alec, it is much, much worse. Because this morning, as he makes his way home, he sees his own face splashed across the covers of tabloids all over the city. And Jocelyn's face, too. The tabloids are obsessed with her, dubbing her the catwoman and the bride of Wildenstein. Per Daniel's wishes, the family has always managed to stay out of the press. Now, Alex's arrest has

exposed them to public scrutiny and given the tabloids a story about a secretive rich family, a messy divorce, and a woman whose appearance they can mock endlessly. I feel like this era of tabloids was pretty crazy, to say the least, like 1997. But it is really funny that this family that has maintained their privacy for so long, suddenly people find out these crazy details about them, like almost shattering the illusion of this, quote-unquote, classy family that doesn't have these crazy dramatic problems. And the woman, everyone's calling Catwoman, is a part of it. Yeah, the whole thing is a perfectly written nightmare.

Alec can't even imagine how his father will react or what kind of damage control it'll take to move past this. But what Alec doesn't yet realize is that things are about to get much, much worse. Because the very morning he's released from jail, the New York Times publishes an article highlighting the history of art stolen by the Nazis, and it features the Wildenstein's. The Times leans heavily on Hector's reporting, and the article explains that since the publication of his book in France, a family has come forward trying to reclaim art that they say rightfully

belongs to them, but is now a part of the Wildenstein collection. Daniel, the now 79-year-old, famously pressed shy patriarch, suddenly has a lot to say. Can you read this quote from the article? Yes, Daniel says, I can't understand the claim. It's an absolutely crazy thing, 100 years after an object was bought, to come with a claim without any paper whatsoever. They claim it 50 years later.

They had no claim for 50 years. I tell you something. If tomorrow someone steals a picture from me, I make a declaration to the police that it's stolen. After 30 years, the man who stole it owns it. Okay, so you're saying that this didn't happen, but if you did, Is this like the OJ thing?

Like, I didn't do it, but if I did, like, what? Also, clearly he understands the reasoning behind it, but this type of deflection of like, and you know what, whoever stole it, it's theirs because it's been 30 years. That's not how theft works, bro. Shut up. It is British Museum rules, for sure.

Well, people in the art world are genuinely shocked by Daniel's stubborn and heartless reaction. For years, there have been whispers about the Wildensteins, and now, on the exact same day, the family is hit with two public scandals at once. As he trudges home, Alec has no idea what's about to unfold. Because now that Jocelyn has the press's attention, she's ready to drag the Wildenstein name through the mud.

And what starts as one messy divorce will end with a century's worth of unveiled secrets, including France's biggest tax evasion scandal to date. All thanks to the other women, the Wildenstein's thought they could just throw away. Follow Scamphillencers on the Audible app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes of Scamphillencers ad free by joining Audible. From Audible originals, this is the Wildenstein's Part 1, The Art of the Steel for Scamphalencers. I'm Sachi Cole. And I'm Sarah Haggy.

If you have a tip for us on a story that you think we should cover, please email us at Scamfluencers ataudible.com. We use many sources in our research. A few that were particularly helpful were, the inheritance case that could unravel an art dynasty by Rachel Corbett for The New York Times, what money can't buy by Eric Honingsburg for New York Magazine, and Jocelyn's Revenge by Jonathan Becker for Vanity Fair. Gabrielle wrote this episode.

Additional writing by us, Sachi Cole and Sarah Hacky. Olivia Briley is our story editor. Our senior producers are Sarah Annie and Ginny Bloom. Our associate producer is Charlotte Miller. Our managing producer is Desi Blaylock. Fact-checking by Kalina Newman. sound design by James Morgan. Additional audio systems provided by Augustine Lim.

Our music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Frieson Sing. The executive producer for Audible is Jenny Lauer Beckman. The head of creative development at Audible is Kate Naven. The head of Audible Originals, North America, is Marshall Louis. The chief content officer is Rachel Giazza. Copyright 2026 by Audible Originals LLC. Sound recording copyright 2026 by Audible Originals LLC.