'McDonald's Heir' Robbery: A Likely Story

NICE, France (June 29) -- Have you heard the story making the rounds today about Geoffrey McDonald, the 60-year-old "heir to the McDonald's fast-food empire" who got beaten up and robbed at his villa in the south of France?

The tale surged today across dozens of publications and websites, ranging from Le Figaro and Paris Match in France to the Daily Mail in Britain and the New York Daily News, Gawker and The Huffington Post in the U.S.

The part about an American man named Geoffrey McDonald being attacked at his home near Avignon by baseball-bat-wielding thugs, who took $370,000 in cash and jewelry, seems solid.

It's just the part about him being an heir to the McDonald's empire that doesn't appear to check out. Nobody associated with McDonald's in the U.S. has ever heard of Geoffrey McDonald.

An AOL News reporter contacted a spokeswoman at McDonald's corporate headquarters in Chicago, a historian of the McDonald family as well as friends and family of the sole known surviving heir of the two McDonald brothers, who launched the first McDonald's in 1940 and later sold the franchise to Ray Kroc.

Nobody knew a Geoffrey McDonald.

A routine attempt by this reporter to verify the facts by calling Geoffrey McDonald's French lawyer, who was quoted in the Daily Mail, first raised suspicions.

The lawyer, Gilles-Jean Portejoie, has many high-profile clients -- such as French pop superstar Johnny Hallyday -- and a reputation for being very media-friendly. But he wasn't so friendly when AOL News asked him about Geoffrey McDonald. First, Portejoie denied having spoken to any press about the story.

When he was read back quotes attributed to him in the Daily Mail, he conceded that he had answered a few questions but had never said that his client was a member of the famous McDonald family.

He said he had "no idea" if his client had any connection to the McDonald's empire -- and hung up the phone.

The reporter for La Montagne, a French regional daily newspaper who wrote the original story on June 27, was equally mysterious when AOL News contacted him to ask how he knew Geoffrey McDonald was an heir to the McDonald's empire.

"You have to understand how the French police work," said Valery Lefort, then repeated the sentence.

When told that this didn't clear things up, Lefort paused for a moment.

"I am sure the story is true," he said. "But I can't tell you how I know. I have to protect someone."

End of conversation. Lefort's editor at La Montagne said he'd look into it. We're still waiting.

Lisa McComb, a spokeswoman in the media relations department for McDonald's in Oak Brook, Ill., told AOL News today she did not know any Geoffrey McDonald.

"Who?" she asked. "That's not a name that rings a bell. He's not anyone we know about."

Then again, it's unlikely that anyone at McDonald's headquarters would know much. Ray Kroc bought out the two McDonald brothers, Richard and Maurice, in 1961 with a one-time payout of $2.7 million. That ended the real McDonalds' association with the McDonald's empire.

"Ray Kroc totally distanced himself from the McDonald brothers after that," said Jack Marcus, a historian with the site of the original McDonald's museum in San Bernardino, Calif.

He had never heard of Geoffrey McDonald either.

Marcus pointed out that neither Richard nor Maurice ever had children. Richard left everything to his stepson, Gale French, the son of his wife, Dorothy. French was cited in a History Channel documentary about McDonald's as the sole heir.

French, who lives in Massachusetts, has had health problems in recent years and was not immediately available for comment today. But his longtime business partner, Eric Perkins, was stumped when asked about a Geoffrey McDonald.

"That's a first," said Perkins. "I've known the family for 30 years. Gale and his two grandsons are the only surviving heirs I've ever heard of. And I was at the funerals. I don't believe it for a second."