C. J. Rackoff

Fanart by DragonspireStudios

"*Never thought of myself as a mastermind. I'm just someone with a knack for reading the wind, and positioning myself so money blows in my direction.*"
—C. J. Rackoff, *Criminal Destiny*

**C. J. Rackoff** is known for being a notorious swindler, embezzler and Ponzi schemer. He is the DNA donor of Hector Amani, the youngest of the eleven clones, as a result of Project Osiris.

## Biography

Rackoff was sentenced to seven twenty-year sentences at the Kefauver Federal Dentention Facility near Haddonfield, Texas. Sometime before Tamara Dunleavy abandoned Project Osiris in 1999, he was visited in prison by her and Felix Hammerstrom, the founders of the project. Hammerstrom spoke to Rackoff and attempted to get him to agree to give a small piece of skin for cloning. Eventually, he gave in when Hammerstrom offered to send him a package of brownies twice a week.

In *Criminal Destiny*, Rackoff was visited once again in prison by Eli Frieden, Tori Pritel, Amber Laska, Malik Bruder and Hector Amani, who were planning to use him as proof of Project Osiris's existence. They then hatched a plan to break him out of prison. Tori and Hector took him on a picnic in the prison's picnic area and Rackoff pretended to have an allergic reaction to the peanut butter sandwiches, was taken to the Kefauver hospital and then escaped down the laundry chute to the workshop next door. Eli hacked into the system, making it appear as if he were simply taken back to his cell, and Malik stole a USPS uniform from George and drove Rackoff (hidden under the mailbags) out of the prison in his mail truck.

However, as they began to drive away, the Surety came into view. Rackoff and Hector turned out to have made a deal against the others and worked to lead the Surety to the clones. He and Hector later traveled to Poseidon Resort and Water Park to seek refuge along with the other clones and scientists of Project Osiris, and it was there that he taught his clone how to cheat at blackjack.

When all eleven Osiris clones had grouped together on Poseidon's main beach, Rackoff came up from behind and greeted them with a tone of false friendliness, telling them that the jig was up. As Malik snorted at this statement, two of the Surety—General Confusion and Screaming Mimi—strode across the sand towards them. However, they were suddenly knocked out by a metal umbrella pole wielded by Amber, and Malik used the distraction to ram his head into Rackoff's jaw. Rackoff then went down, dazed and with swollen, bleeding lips.

After the end of Project Osiris, it's unknown what happened to Rackoff. A segment on *America's Most Wanted* was made about him, and there were reports of him all over the world (including an unconfirmed one in West Cay, Bahamas).

## Personality and traits

"*C. J. Rackoff is a notorious swindler and a complete jerk, but he's also a survivor.*"
—Hector Amani, *Payback*
C. J. Rackoff is intelligent, sleazy, stubborn, and self-centered. He is good at bargaining, which is part of his swindler nature (he refuses to give the clones help unless they break him out of prison). Hector also describes Rackoff as a jerk.

## Physical description

"*He's old and bald and not very tall, with glasses and a fringe of salt-and-pepper hair with stick-out ears. My first thought is:* There must be some mistake. *This guy looks nothing like me.*"
—Hector Amani describing Rackoff's appearance, *Criminal Destiny*

When the clones visited C. J. Rackoff at Kefauver, he appeared old, bald, kind of short, with salt-and-pepper hair behind ears that stuck out from his head. Seeing as he is Hector's DNA donor, they look identical, only Rackoff is decades older. Rackoff also has bony elbows and knees and stands with bad posture. He wore an orange jumpsuit while imprisoned in Kefauver, and had large glasses that magnified his eyes.

While in Poseidon, he was seen wearing a Hawaiian shirt and shorts and had a sunburned head.

## Trivia

* Rackoff is allergic to peanuts.
* He loves double-chocolate brownies (they were the reason he agreed to donating DNA for Project Osiris).
* He made mailbags as his job while imprisoned in Kefauver.
* Malik Bruder states that Rackoff's main complaint while in jail was that no one came to visit him.
* Gordon Korman stated on his forum that the C. J. in C. J. Rackoff would stand for "Calvin James".
* Rackoff funded Project Osiris.
* Rackoff was sixty-two years old when the clones visited him in prison.