Doing Something Desperate

So in 1997, he ended up doing something so unheard of, and so unbelievable, that for a while, no one even thought to question his true identity. This is when he devised his plan to impersonate the missing American boy Nicholas Barclay. He knew that in Europe, he had already gained a reputation for his deceitful ways. So he thought that he could find a way to get to the United States, and continue to do what he did best, fool people.

Bourdin’s Punishment

But as the story goes, it was only a little less than 4 months before his ruse was over and Bourdin was sent to jail for 6 years for perjury and fraud in the Barclay case. One would think that after years of pretending to be someone else, and even being incarcerated for it, Bourdin would change his lying ways. But this just wasn’t the case for this imposter. He would go on for quite some time to pretend to be other people rather than himself. He even said in his defense during the trial, “I am not a criminal. I never wanted to be an adult. I’m just a boy who needs love and attention.” But it would seem that no one believed him, and for good reason.