Van Rossem became famous as a stock market guru with 'Moneytron', an investment company that could offer apparently endless returns. His customers included the moneyed of Europe, including the Belgian Royal Family. Van Rossem also claimed that he had developed a model that could predict the stock market and beat the capitalist system. He invested for the very wealthy and accumulated 860 million dollars for himself. At his most successful, Van Rossem owned a yacht, The Destiny, 108 Ferraris and two Falcon 900 aircraft. Later everything was sold to pay debts. He also printed false shares. In 1991, he was sentenced to five years in prison for fraud; according to him, it was "a way to fuck the system." In prison, he wrote a personal diary, Gevangenisboek, which was later published.
Van Rossem sponsored a Formula One team in 1989, Moneytron Onyx, which placed 10th of the 21 teams. The biggest success he got with his team was 3rd place at the Grand Prix of Portugal with driver Stefan Johansson in 1989.
In 1991, Van Rossem founded his own libertarian protest party ROSSEM, according to many, to gain political immunity, because of his problems with the Belgian Courts. The name of the party stood for ‘Radicale Omvormers en Sociale Strijders voor een Eerlijker Maatschappij’. Under the slogans ‘Geen gezwijn, stem libertijn’ & 'Geen gezeik iedereen Rijk', ROSSEM got 3.2% of the votes, or 3 seats in the Belgian Federal Parliament in the Parliamentary elections of 24 November 1991. Rossem himself had a seat in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives from November 1991 to May 1995 and the Flemish Parliament from January 1992 to May 1995.
ROSSEM 2
In 2014 he went back to the elections with his party ROSSEM but lost with only 0.3% of the votes for the Belgian Federal Parliament and 0.2% for the Flemish Parliament.
Controversies
At the coronation ceremony of King Albert II of Belgium, he shouted 'Vive la république d'Europe, vive Lahaut', as a reference to Julien Lahaut, who had shouted 'Vive la république' in 1950 at the coronation of Baudouin of Belgium. Van Rossem was against the Belgian monarchy.
Jean-Pierre Van Rossem had cameo roles in the comics series The Adventures of Nero by Marc Sleen, more specifically the albums Nerorock and De Man van Europa. Around the same time he was also featured in his own celebrity comics series, scripted by himself and drawn by Erik Meynen.
In 2002 the Extreme Right Politician compared ROSSEM, along with the murder of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn, as political stunts during a meeting of the Belgian Senate.
Van Rossem used the services of a cryogenics company to get his first wife, who was dying of cancer, cryogenized so she might be revived at a later time when the cure would be found. After a few years however, due to financial problems he was unable to pay the costs anymore so he "pulled the plug".
Slot Car Racing and JP Van Rossem: Van Rossem put an extraordinary amount of time into slot car racing, including hosting major races in Europe and the United States, where he covered all costs of flying top-rated racers to his races. He bought a raceway in Chicago where he put on races called "The Worlds" in 1988 and 1989. Thousands of dollars were given in prizes, including two Pontiac Fieros.
Literature
Martine Vanden Driessche, L'Anversois - Jean-Pierre Van Rossem. With the paragraph describing how he disturbed the lectures of Professor M.A.G. Van Meerhaeghe.
