Formula One’s very own Wolf of Wall Street has requested euthanasia after experiencing a decline in his quality of life. The Onyx team’s owner, Jean-Pierre Van Rossum, is calling it a day.
Van Rossum conned the stock market in the Eighties by developing a programme called Moneytron that claimed to be able to predetermine winning trades. It was a scam, but Van Rossum spent millions before it was shut down, the Belgian acquiring the Onyx F1 team in the process.
Notable drivers for the Onyx team included the widely respected Stefan Johansson, who had already driven for bigger teams like Ferrari and McLaren in F1. The Onyx team achieved one surprise result, a 3rd-place podium at the 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix at the hands of Johansson.
Van Rossum announced his decision to end his own life in a recent Youtube video, stating that,
“I’ve had a very tumultuous life, but now it’s enough. I am declining and I want to decide on my own when I will stop living. I hope to be able to say before the end of the year: ‘Now is enough’.
I’ve had beautiful women and owned beautiful cars. At one point, I was worth $891 million, and I lost everything by betting against my own system. I will confer with my two sons about my decisions, and I hope they will understand.”
– Jean-Pierre Van Rossum
Around the F1 paddock, Van Rossum has been described as a flamboyant character, a maverick with a degree in economics that conned the sharks of the stock market and ‘looked like a 60’s hippie’. He has made a big decision, and who is anyone to question it?
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