Bail Set at $50M for 'Rockefeller'

The man who calls himself Clark Rockefeller—a German citizen whose twisted life of multiple aliases unraveled after he was charged with kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter—was awarded bail today at a sum befitting a true Rockefeller. A Massachusetts judge set bail at $50 million for the man authorities say is Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, who has been living under fake identities since coming to the US in 1978.

Rockefeller/Gerhartsreiter has also has been identified as a "person of interest" in the 1985 disappearance of a California couple. His attorney concedes that his client has lied about his roots, but says the kidnapping charges are baseless, because both Rockefeller's marriage and custody agreement were invalid. "Sure he told some tall tales," said the attorney. "A lot of people tell tall tales. That's not a crime." (More Clark Rockefeller stories.)