13 August 2026
Victor Lustig: The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower
In 1925, con man Victor Lustig posed as a French official and tricked a scrap dealer into paying for the Eiffel Tower.
In 1925, con man Victor Lustig posed as a French government official and offered the Eiffel Tower for sale as scrap metal. He used fake papers and secret meetings to make the deal look real. Scrap dealer André Poisson paid him. Lustig took the money and fled Paris.
Did Victor Lustig really sell the Eiffel Tower?
Yes, but the sale was a fraud. Victor Lustig did not own the Eiffel Tower and had no right to sell it. In 1925, he posed as a French government official and told scrap metal dealers that the tower would be taken down. André Poisson believed the story and paid Lustig for the fake deal.
Victor Lustig was already a skilled con man before he reached Paris. He used fake names, false papers and careful acting to win trust. A 1936 FBI record said he had used dozens of aliases and had been arrested many times in Europe and the United States. He often looked and spoke like a rich man, which helped him move among people with money. By 1925, he had spent years learning how to make false deals look safe.
The Eiffel Tower scam became his most famous trick. Lustig did not try to steal the tower or move it himself. He sold the right to tear it down and take the metal. That made the story easier to believe. A scrap dealer did not need to own a famous landmark forever. He only needed to believe that the French government wanted the iron removed and sold. Lustig was selling a business contract, not the tower as a private home.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Date | May 1925 |
| Location | Paris, France |
| Key figures | Victor Lustig; André Poisson |
| Outcome | Lustig tricked André Poisson into paying for a fake right to dismantle the Eiffel Tower, then fled France. |
| Status today | The Eiffel Tower still stands in Paris. Lustig died in federal custody in Springfield, Missouri, in 1947. |
Why did the Eiffel Tower scam seem believable?
The story sounded possible because the Eiffel Tower had once been meant to stand for only 20 years. It was built for the 1889 Paris World's Fair. The city had even thought about taking it down before. By 1925, the tower was old, costly to care for and still needed regular work.
The Eiffel Tower was not always seen as a permanent part of Paris. Gustave Eiffel had a 20-year right to use the land after the tower opened in 1889. The tower was due to pass back to the city in 1910, and demolition had been discussed. It survived because it became useful for radio and military signals. Its place in Paris had once been far less secure than it is today. So the idea of taking it down did not come from nowhere.
Later accounts say Lustig read a newspaper story about the cost of repairs and saw his chance. The exact newspaper has not been clearly identified, so that detail should be treated with care. But the wider idea was believable. The tower needed constant paint and repair work. It had also faced real talk of demolition in the past. Lustig built his lie around facts that sounded true. That mix of truth and lies was the key to the scam.
The Bureau's files reflect that this person has used sixty-two aliases during his criminal career.
— Federal Bureau of Investigation, Law Enforcement Bulletin, January 1936 (source)
How did Victor Lustig set up the Eiffel Tower scam?
Lustig made the scam look like a secret government sale. He used fake French government paper and claimed to be a senior official. He invited leading scrap dealers to a private meeting at the Hôtel de Crillon. He then told them the tower had become too costly and would be sold for scrap.
The setting was part of the trick. The Hôtel de Crillon stood on the Place de la Concorde and had the right look for an official meeting. Lustig asked for secrecy, which also helped him. If the dealers spoke to fewer people, there was less chance that someone would check his story. The secret nature of the deal made the scam look important instead of strange. Even the fine hotel helped make Lustig look like a man with real power.
Lustig also knew what the dealers wanted. The Eiffel Tower contained a huge amount of iron. A contract to take it apart would be worth a great deal to a scrap business. He told the men that the government wanted bids for the metal. He then watched them closely. One dealer, André Poisson, showed enough interest for Lustig to focus the rest of the scam on him. The value of the metal gave the dealers a clear reason to listen.
Who was André Poisson and why did he pay Victor Lustig?
André Poisson was the scrap dealer who paid for the fake deal. Lustig made him believe that he could win the right to take down the Eiffel Tower and keep its metal. He also hinted that he wanted a bribe. Poisson paid, and Lustig left France before the fraud was uncovered.
Poisson had reasons to want the deal. Later accounts say he was trying to build his place in the Paris business world. A contract for the Eiffel Tower would have been a huge win. Lustig then added another layer to the trick. He acted like a poorly paid government worker who expected money on the side. The hint of corruption made him seem more real to Poisson, not less. A fake bribe helped make the fake official look genuine.
After Poisson paid, Lustig left for Austria. No public police case followed at once. Later accounts say Poisson was too embarrassed to report what had happened. That story is repeated often, but it comes from later retellings rather than a clear police file from 1925. What is clear is that Lustig got away and soon felt safe enough to return to Paris. The silence after the first scam gave him the chance to try it again.
Did Victor Lustig sell the Eiffel Tower twice?
The famous claim that Lustig sold the Eiffel Tower twice is not fully clear. Strong accounts agree that the first scam worked. They also agree that he came back and tried the same trick again. On the second attempt, a dealer became suspicious and police were warned. Lustig then left France.
This is where the legend becomes less tidy. Some later stories say Lustig sold the tower a second time. Other strong accounts say the second scam failed before he was paid. Smithsonian's 2012 account says he returned to Paris, contacted new scrap dealers and then fled when he thought one of them had called the police. That version does not show a second completed sale. The famous story may make the second attempt sound more successful than it was.
For that reason, it is safer to say Lustig sold the Eiffel Tower once and then tried to sell it again. The second attempt still shows how confident he had become. His first victim had stayed quiet, and the story had not filled the newspapers. Lustig took that silence as a chance to repeat the trick. This time, the risk caught up with him and he left for the United States before another fake sale could be completed.
What happened to Victor Lustig?
Lustig kept running scams after he left France. He later became a major counterfeiter in the United States. Federal agents arrested him in New York in 1935. He escaped from jail, was caught again and was sent to Alcatraz. He died from pneumonia in a federal medical prison in Missouri in 1947.
The Eiffel Tower scam did not end Lustig's career. In the United States, he used more false names and ran other frauds. His biggest later crime was counterfeiting money. Federal agents arrested him in May 1935. An FBI bulletin from the next year said his fingerprints linked him to many arrests in Europe and the United States and to a long list of fake names. By then, Lustig had become a well-known target for American law enforcement.
Lustig even escaped from a federal jail in New York before his trial. He was caught again weeks later and received a 20-year sentence. He went to Alcatraz in 1936. His health became worse over the next decade, and he was moved to a federal medical centre in Springfield, Missouri. He died there on 11 March 1947. He did not die at Alcatraz, despite that version appearing in some later retellings of his life.
Sources
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