Philanthropist or Criminal? Christian Gerhartsreiter fooled countless people with his aliases (Seal, 2009). Over decades, he posed as British royalty, a Wall Street high roller, and finally, a member of the famously wealthy Rockefeller family. With an upper-crust accent, he charmed his way into exclusive clubs, prestigious jobs, and even marriage to a wealthy Harvard Business School graduate. His con artist life came to an end when, after he divorced and lost custody of his daughter, he kidnapped her. As the authorities closed in, they uncovered his network of lies. Gerhartsreiter is now serving 27 years to life for the kidnapping—and for the murder of a man in the 1980s (Deutsch, 2013). In what ways could implicit personality theory explain how Gerhartsreiter deceived so many people?

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