Supermodel Naomi Campbell made waves at the Cannes Film Festival this week when she arrived at a film premiere with an unexpected date on her arm -- convicted swindler Christophe Rocancourt.
Rocancourt, 41, recently spent five years in prison after being convicted of bilking millions from wealthy investors in Los Angeles and New York State's posh Hamptons resort area. He had posed as a member of the famed Rockefeller family and had fooled many of the rich and famous.
Rocancourt is slated to appear opposite Campbell, who has been convicted of assault, in an upcoming movie by racy French filmmaker Catherine Breillat.
Titled "Bad Love," the film will see Campbell perform a nude scene and both actors will deliver lines in Chinese. It is expected to be released in 2009.
Neither has played a leading role in a previous film.
Wednesday's jaunt onto the red carpet at Cannes was one of Rocancourt's first major public appearances since his release from jail. It was Campbell's 38th birthday, and after attending the "Che" premiere with Rocancourt, she was later spotted at a party aboard the private yacht of former boyfriend P. Diddy.
Rocancourt was arrested on fraud charges in February 2001 near Victoria, B.C. while posing as a racecar driver seeking other investors for a major project. He pleaded guilty to defrauding a Vancouver businessman out of $100,000 and did one year in a Canadian prison before he was extradited to the United States.
Police in Los Angeles say he pretended to be a European boxer while he lived there, spending time with movie stars and claiming to be the nephew of filmmaker Dino De Laurentiis.
Rocancourt told numerous different stories to people he met in the Hamptons, most frequently that he was Christopher Rockefeller, the French-raised heir to the Rockefeller fortune.
According to some reports, his acquaintances became suspicious after he made a wine gaffe at a party, confusing an inexpensive California wine with a costly Bordeaux.
In total, he is said to have stolen $1.2 million from investors who believed he was a venture capitalist.
