Great frauds in history: how Elizabeth Bigley, AKA “Madame DeVere”, spirited away cash
Serial fraudster Elizabeth Bigley AKA, the “psychic” Madame Lydia DeVere, conned people into believing she was the long lost daughter of fabulously wealthy industrialist Andrew Carnegie.
Elizabeth Bigley was born in Ontario, Canada in 1857. In 1879 she was arrested for forgery for passing off worthless cheques to merchants, but was acquitted on grounds of her age and insanity. She later worked in Cleveland, Ohio as a psychic, calling herself Madame Lydia DeVere. In 1889 she was again arrested and this time convicted of forgery and spent several years in prison before being pardoned by the then governor of Ohio (later President) William McKinley in 1893. By 1897 she was back in Cleveland, living under an assumed name, with her new husband Dr Leroy Chadwick. He married her believing her to be the illegitimate daughter of wealthy industrialist Andrew Carnegie.
What was the scam?
The now Mrs Chadwick claimed that Carnegie felt so guilty about not publicly acknowledging her as his daughter that he was willing to give her large amounts of money. After exhausting her husband’s fortune, she persuaded several local banks and wealthy individuals to lend her money. As collateral, she provided promissory notes signed with Carnegie’s name and an unopened package supposedly containing a trust fund of $7.5m ($207m in today’s money) in railroad shares and bonds. In reality, Carnegie was unaware of her existence and the notes were forgeries. The money funded an extravagant lifestyle, which enabled her to borrow even more.
What happened next?
Her generosity with money won her many admirers, but her creditors grew anxious and, by November 1904, banker Herbert Newton sued for repayment of a $190,000 ($5.63m) loan. Carnegie disowned both her and the notes, and her railroad bonds and shares were found to be worthless. Early in 1905 she was arrested carrying $100,000 in cash and sentenced to several years in jail, where she died.
MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Lessons for investors
Estimates suggest Chadwick may have borrowed as much as $1.3m ($29.6m) backed by $12m ($355m) in forged Carnegie notes. Her creditors recovered only a fraction of this. The Citizens’ National Bank, which had loaned $240,000 ($7.1m), was forced into liquidation after its depositors withdrew their money, demonstrating the importance of doing proper due diligence. Even if Chadwick had been a genuine heiress, it was an incredibly irresponsible decision to lend a sum that was four times the bank’s actual capital to a single person.
-
Where did house prices rise and fall the most in 2025?Some parts of the UK have seen yearly property price growth of up to 12.6%, but others have seen values fall by as much as 8.9%, research shows.
-
‘Why I have ditched my Help to Buy ISA for cash savings and the stock market’Without the 25% bonus, my Help to Buy ISA is effectively redundant, says MoneyWeek writer Sam Walker.
-
Luana Lopes Lara: The ballerina who made a billion from prediction marketsLuana Lopes Lara trained at the Bolshoi, but hung up her ballet shoes when she had the idea of setting up a business in the prediction markets. That paid off
-
Who is Christopher Harborne, crypto billionaire and Reform UK’s new mega-donor?Christopher Harborne came into the spotlight when it emerged he had given £9 million to Nigel Farage's Reform UK. How did he make his millions?
-
Why Trustpilot is a stock to watch for exposure to the e-commerce marketTrustpilot has built a defensible position in one of the most critical areas of the internet: the infrastructure of trust, says Jamie Ward
-
The return of Erik Prince, America's notorious mercenaryErik Prince, founder of the controversial private military group Blackwater, was shunned for pushing the boundaries of legality. He has re-established himself
-
Big Short investor Michael Burry closes hedge fund Scion CapitalProfile Michael Burry rightly bet against the US mortgage market before the 2008 crisis. Now he is worried about the AI boom
-
Chen Zhi: the kingpin of a global conspiracyChen Zhi appeared to be a business prodigy investing in everything from real estate to airlines. Prosecutors allege he is the head of something more sinister
-
Who is Jared Isaacman, SpaceX astronaut and Trump's pick as NASA chief?Jared Isaacman is a close ally of Elon Musk and the first non-professional astronaut to walk in space. Now, he is in charge of NASA
-
Defeat into victory: the key to Next CEO Simon Wolfson's successOpinion Next CEO Simon Wolfson claims he owes his success to a book on military strategy in World War II. What lessons does it hold, and how did he apply them to Next?
