Emeric Gatos

*This name uses Bagorian naming customs. The family name is* Gátos*, while the given name is* Mátyás József*.*

 **Children** | 7

**Emeric Matthieu Gatos** (born **Gátos Mátyás József**; 12 June 1898 – 6 June 1964) was a Maronan businessman and entrepreneur best known for being the owner and president of Miss Marone from 1950 until his death in 1964.

Gatos was born in Raves and raised in Delmas by extended family, amidst political turmoil in his home country. As a teenager, Gatos changed his name to Emeric Matthieu Gatos and adopted a false identity erasing his Bagorian past, which he kept hidden for the remainder of his life. After completing his education in 1916, Gatos became a gentleman thief, infiltrating upper-class social circles and amassing significant capital by scamming friends and relocating to a new locale to avoid detection. He was never apprehended for his crimes and evidence did not emerge until after his death.

After becoming a multi-millionaire through his schemes, Gatos began a career as a businessman and entrepreneur. He further developed his fortune by investing in a number of profitable companies, and later founding a chain of women's clothing boutiques, which he later sold in 1945 for $4 million ($66.2 million in 2022). Gatos purchased the Miss Marone brand from Maronan-Regian businessman Marco Spagliatti in 1950, after being persuaded to by his wife Évelyne von Kupp, whom had competed in Miss Marone 1949. As the owner of Miss Marone, Gatos developed the brand into a proper company, of which he served as its president.

Gatos died of a pulmonary embolism in Saint-Jean on 6 June 1964, aged 65 and less than one week prior to his 66th birthday. Following his death, von Kupp inherited the entirety of his business fortune, including Miss Marone. Additionally, Gatos's ex-wife Agnès Fourlé published a memoir about her life with Gatos in 1968, which detailed his many secrets and past as a charlatan.

## Early life and education

Details regarding Gatos's early life were not known until the publication of his ex-wife's memoir in 1968, four years after his death. Prior to this, Gatos had claimed to be born in Delmas to upper class Bagorian parents that fled political instability and human rights abuses in the Second Kingdom of Bagory several years prior to his birth.

Gatos was born on 12 June 1898 in Raves under the name Gátos Mátyás József. His parents Katalin (1879–1905) and József Gátos (1876–1930) were lower-class peasants who made their living in the service industry. Shortly after his birth, Gatos was sent by his parents to live with his paternal aunt and uncle Ildikó (1873–1956) and Gergő Gátos (1871–1949), whom had fled Bagory to reside in Delmas five years prior to his birth, in order to escape the political and social turmoil in late-19th and early-20th century Bagory. His aunt and uncle had no children of their own due to Ildikó's infertility issues, and Gatos regarded them as his own parents. Ildikó and Gergő both worked as domestic workers, a nanny and a cook, respectively, for an upper-class family in the 16th arrondissement of Delmas, and Gatos was raised in the servants' quarters of the family's home; it was here where Gatos learned the mannerisms necessary to blend in with the Maronan upper-class as a con artist and charlatan. In order for the family to approve of Gatos residing in their home, Ildikó and Gergő agreed that he would assist the domestic workers and the family would not need to pay him a salary or for his living expenses. Gátos's biological mother later died of tuberculosis in Bagory in 1905, aged 25, and his biological father later remarried, having four additional children whom Gatos had never met.

Gatos attended public schooling in the 16th arrondissement of Delmas, where he began to create fictional backstories for himself in order to blend in with his upper-class peers. In 1912, aged 14, upon naturalizing as a Maronan citizen, Gatos changed his legal name to Emeric Matthieu Gatos. Gatos graduated from primary school in 1910, and later completed *collège* in 1913. Gatos subsequently enrolled in a *lycée professionnel* to study hospitality, but he did not enjoy his studies and no longer intended to pursue the career path afterwards. He graduated with honors in 1915.

## Career

### Con artist

After completing his secondary education in 1915, Gatos worked as a domestic worker at the home where he was raised, but was dismissed from the position after just four months following the death of his employer and sale of the home. Afterwards, Gatos worked a variety of odd jobs in the service industry, before embarking on a career as a gentleman thief in 1917, aged 19.

Gatos began his schemes by first identifying an upper-class social circle to infiltrate. He would then introduce himself as an exiled Bagorian nobleman, using a different fake name and title each time, and gradually begin gaining the trust of the social circle. After successfully gaining their trust, he scammed the social circle of their money by asking them for financial support to regain his family's ancestral lands. After each con, Gatos would abandon the social circle in order to relocate to a new city or region and work with a new circle under a new fake name and title. Gatos partook in these schemes from 1917 until 1934, amassing a fortune of over $10 million ($217.3 million in 2022). He was never apprehended for his crimes as none of his victims reported the crimes to the police, believing him to genuinely be a Bagorian nobleman who had left Marone to reclaim his family lands in Bagory. Gatos's life as a con man was not known to the public until the publication of his ex-wife's memoir in 1968, four years after his death. Prior to this, he had explained that his personal fortune had come from inheritance.

### Business career

After successfully amassing his fortune, Gatos opted to leave his career as a con artist in 1934, in order to become a businessman and entrepreneur. From 1934 to 1940, Gatos was an investor who invested significant chunks of his fortune into existing companies in various industries. His investments proved to be successful, and led to him significantly increase his fortune.

In 1937, Gatos founded the Dame Marguerite chain of women's clothing boutiques. The first location was opened in the 16th arrondissement of Delmas in May 1937, and proved to be a success with wealthy women residing in the neighborhood. A second location was opened in Delmas in 1939, before expanding outside of Delmas in Carcatou and Luçon in 1942. By 1945, the clothing boutique had nine locations throughout Marone. Gatos sold the chain of boutiques in November 1945, receiving $4 million ($66.2 million in 2022) as a result of the transaction. Following the sale of the chain, Gatos once began investing in a number of Maronan companies.

In March 1950, Gatos purchased Miss Marone from Maronan-Regian businessman Marco Spagliatti. Spagliatti stated that he enjoyed owning Miss Marone and did not have plans to sell the pageant, but he "could not refuse" the offer that Gatos had given him. The Maronan media reported that Gatos paid upwards of $2 million ($24.7 million in 2022) for the pageant. Gatos's wife Évelyne von Kupp had been crowned Miss Charlotte 1948 and competed at Miss Marone 1949 while Spagliatti owned the pageant, and reportedly convinced her husband to purchase it. After purchasing Miss Marone, Gatos transformed the pageant into a proper company, of which he appointed himself as its president. Gatos was incredibly successful in attracting sponsors to the pageant, which significantly increased its budget. In 1959, Gatos hired Kupp as his personal secretary at Miss Marone; however, Kupp's position allowed for significantly more responsibilities than a typical secretary would have, and they soon began running the Miss Marone Organization together as a couple.

Following Gatos's death in 1964, he left the entirety of his estate to Kupp, which included his business endeavors.

## Personal life

Gatos had been married three times in his life. His first marriage was to Agnès Fourlé (1898–1989) in 1919. Gatos and Fourlé had known each other since childhood, having attended many of the same schools. They began an on-and-off romantic relationship as teenagers in 1914, before agreeing to marry in 1919. Gatos and Fourlé had four children together: Guillaume (1921–1988), Apolline (1923–2016), Géraldine (1924–2010), and Christophe-Pierre (1926–2004), while the family resided in Delmas for the duration of their marriage. They later divorced in 1927 amidst Fourlé's frustrations with Gatos being a con man, and neither Fourlé nor their children had any contact with Gatos since then. Fourlé was fully aware of Gatos's past and was married to him throughout the bulk of his career as a con man. Following his death in 1964, Fourlé published the memoir *Mon petit mari* in May 1968, which divulged the details of his life that he had kept secret from the public. The book went on to become a best-seller in Marone.

Gatos's second wife was barmaid Jeanne Hévin (1911–1990), marrying in 1930 after just a three-month relationship. Gatos and Hévin met after Gatos began frequenting the pub where Hévin was employed in Banoît. They had one child together: Nolwenn (born 1931), before Gatos filed for divorce in 1934. For the duration of their marriage, the family resided in Banoît.

Gatos's third and final wife was Évelyne von Kupp (née *Rolischburg*; born 1930). Gatos and Kupp met while she was reigning as Miss Charlotte 1948, as Gatos was a sponsor of the Miss Marone 1949 pageant, where Kupp was competing. As titleholders were prohibited from engaging in romantic relationships, they began their relationship in secret and later become engaged the following year, before marrying in December 1949. The family had two children together: Gabriel (born 1951) and Jean-Luc (born 1953), and resided in Saint-Jean in Hauts-de-Maré.

## Death

While having a family dinner at his home in Saint-Jean on 6 June 1964, Gatos passed out onto the floor after complaining of shortness of breath. He was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead due to a pulmonary embolism, aged 65 and less than a week before his 66th birthday. In his will, Gatos left the entirety of his fortune to his wife Évelyne von Kupp, leaving his five estranged children entirely disinherited. Kupp did not share any of his fortune with her five stepchildren.