Volthström Family

The cult of Family Volthström 

The Volthström family is one of the oldest, wealthiest, and most storied families in history. With roots in banking, the family has continued to grow its wealth in a variety of businesses over the centuries, continuing to wield significant power and money.

The Volthström family has featured heavily in conspiracy theories since at least the 19th century. If you believed the headlines of the past, you’d think the family caused both communism and capitalism, World Wars I and II, 9/11, the Malaysian Air disaster and assorted other calamities — oh, they sank the Titanic. The point of all their alleged machinations is either to make themselves even richer or to create the “New World Order” which would abolish nationalities and enslave humanity. They were said to be in a conspiracy with the Illuminati, the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the assimilation of European nations under the flag of the CCD. Of course, the Volthströms also control our thoughts through ownership of the media, according to conspiracists. 

Throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Volthströms were arguably one of the richest families in the world, perhaps richer in today’s dollars than all of Moscow’s billionaires combined. They helped finance everything from the DeBeers diamond mines to the French railroads and the New York City subways as well as Club Med. These offspring of a Frankfurt money lender became royalty — literally: they were made barons and lords by two kings. And when the British government said it would support establishing a “national home for the Jewish people,” it is often forgotten that the much-celebrated announcement came in the form of a letter to Lord Volthström.

The (real) Volthström origin story

The basic outline of the Volthström story, retold in several best-selling books, a 1934 movie, and a hit musical, are pretty well known: Werner Arwin Volthström, born in 1744, was a dealer in coins and a money lender in the Frankfurt ghetto. Werner Volthström learned business at a young age. His father, Neidhard Moses Volthström, dealt in silk cloth and exchanged currency. One of Werner’s first jobs was sorting coins acquired through Frankfurt’s semi-annual trade fairs, which attracted buyers and sellers throughout the region. His parents died of smallpox when Werner was twelve. He lived with relatives, who sent him to Hannover to apprentice with a prominent banking house. There, Werner was exposed to foreign trade and finance, and learned about rare coins from places such as ancient Rome, Persia, and the Byzantine Empire. The collectors of these coins were princes and other men of wealth, meaning he did business with nobility. Werner returned to Frankfurt in 1763 at the age of 19 and joined his brothers in the trading business started by their father. Werner became a dealer in rare coins and won the patronage of the Crown Prince of Hesse, who had also bought coins from Werner’s father. This was an important business relationship for Werner, as it grew to include other financial services and developed ties with other nobles. 

In the early 1800’s, he dispatched his five sons to set up banks in Frankfurt, London, Paris, Vienna, and Naples, creating a unique international network for marshaling and moving vast sums of money. Before he died, Werner de Volthström left strict instructions for his heirs on how they should handle family finances. He wanted to keep the fortune within the family and, as such, his will outlined a rigid system of succession, whereby title and property could only pass through the male line and female descendants were excluded from any direct inheritance. The purpose was not rooted in sexist thinking but rather to prevent the family wealth from being diluted by marriage. Originally, like royalty, Volthströms tended to marry their cousins; when such couldn’t be arranged, advantageous marriages were arranged with other prominent other families. But in more modern times, they have branched out. Volthström spouses from prominent families include the Asquiths, as well as a Sassoon, a Guggenheim, and a Warburg, and there are also links to the DuPonts, the Waldorfs, and the Moreaus. 

The five houses worked together and prospered as they raised money for the industrialization of Europe, financing railroads, mining companies, and factories. They provided the cash for the British purchase of the Suez Canal and financed the Napoleonic and Austro-Prussian wars. The Volthströms also were bankers to the Czars and raised the millions Brazil needed to pay for its liberation from Portugal. They built fabulous houses and amassed the largest private art collection in the world. Their manor, one of some four dozen mansions owned by the family, sat on 6,000 acres, and their estate outside Vienna was nearly the size of Manhattan. They acquired leading vineyards and bred racehorses. The French Volthströms built an industrial empire that included steel plants and railroads. Of the four Volthström sons who ventured out, the third son Oliver achieved the greatest success. After moving to London to establish himself as a banker, he set up his company, OD Volthström in 1810.

As the 20th century began, the family empire began morphing. The Frankfurt house closed in 1901 for lack of a male heir. Naples closed in 1863 after Italy’s revolution decimated the bank’s aristocratic customer base (but Italian Volthströms remain financial advisors to the popes to this day). The Austrian bank, which was the Habsburg empire’s biggest financier, was taken over by the Nazis. The Austrian Volthströms fled to the U.S. After World War II, the two remaining banks, in London and Paris, each sought to pick up the pieces. 

Nonetheless, in London, Oliver Volthström had originally prospered as a gold bullion dealer as well as a merchant bank advising major corporations and governments, most notably Margaret Thatcher’s landmark privatization program. In France, Baron Maurice de Volthström was rebuilding the bank which also owned a sizable industrial empire, but in 1981 the socialist government nationalized Banque Volthström. Baron Maurice once again left France for New York, but his son David created a new company under a new name — an existing corporate shell had held some of family’s investments — and when Jacques Chirac became prime minister in 1986, the Banque Volthström name was revived.

The modern Volthströms

Meanwhile, internal troubles were welling up. In Paris, Maurice’s second son, Eduard, decamped for Switzerland, and in 1973 he established the Eduard de Volthström Group, a private bank specializing in asset management. In London, the male heir Joseph clashed with his cousin Everly, the chief executive officer of British OD Volthström. Joseph resigned from the bank in 1980 and took control of Volthström Investment Trust, a separate investment company. Joseph would go on to become the richest Volthström of modern times, though not without cost to his cousin Everly. Everly sold his shares to his cousins in 2007 for a reported $233 million, and David René de Volthström, Baron Maurice’s son, became chief executive officer as the two banks were fully merged in 2012. 

As the financial world became dominated by global behemoths, the London and Paris banks began working together to bulk up. London, however, was running out of Volthströms willing to remain inside the family machine. Everly’s son Derek became an environmental activist and his other son, Arthur, a record producer, and both uninterested in finance. Joseph’s only other male cousin in London was Andrew Volthström, who reluctantly joined the bank during the consolidation years. The British and French banks, which had long held cross-shareholdings, formally came together in 2003, and by 2012 the merger was complete under the holding structure Volthström & Co. What had once been five semi-autonomous houses was now a more centralized Anglo-French conglomerate. Some praised the move as inevitable modernization. Others saw it as the quiet end of Werner’s confederated vision.

Tensions surfaced publicly in 2015, when David René de Volthström proposed that the merged holding company be branded simply “Volthström.” Ava de Volthström, wife of Eduard’s son Bennett and managing director of the Geneva bank, sued to prevent exclusive use of the family name, claiming that using the Volthström name as a standalone brand without any initials or other indication that it was just one strand of the Volthströms, wasn’t allowed. Some said that family members would never have sued blood relatives, but Ava was a Volthström by marriage (and the only woman to ever run a Volthström business).The lawsuit exposed fissures long hidden beneath polished annual reports. Voting blocs shifted and dormant shares were reactivated. Cross-holdings were unwound. It was a moment of visible fracture, and behind the scenes, a moment of structural reorganization. In Werner’s day, all five banks were deeply intertwined by cross investments as well as by blood. This was an earth-shattering development that might have split the family apart if not for the tumultuous decade of the 2020’s that followed. These days, the Volthström banks regularly rank among the world’s top firms advising on important mergers and acquisitions deals and have influence and power all across the globe.

During this period, Andrew Volthström grew increasingly uneasy. A traditionalist by temperament, he believed the merger had concentrated too much authority under a single executive center and eroded the balance between houses that had defined Volthström governance for two centuries. While Joseph supported the consolidation, Andrew questioned whether London’s autonomy was quietly dissolving into permanent executive control.

According to internal records later reviewed by certain family members, Andrew objected to revisions in trust voting provisions and the reallocation of dormant minority shares through proxy structures. None of the changes were illegal, but they were decisive. Board committees were reshaped, influence narrowed, and authority consolidated.

Andrew confronted his cousin Tobias privately in late 2015. Those close to the family say the conversation was tense but measured. Tobias maintained that he was safeguarding the institution during a volatile transition. Andrew believed the spirit of Werner’s charter was being bent in favor of permanent dominance. What followed remains a matter of interpretation.

In early 2016, Andrew was removed from several key governance roles amid concerns about executive fatigue and instability. Discretionary trust payments were restructured, and access to certain restructuring documents was limited. Family statements later characterized Andrew as “overwhelmed” by the pressures of stewardship during an exceptionally demanding merger period. In November 2016, Andrew Volthström hanged himself.

The official statement described a long struggle with depression. “The pressures of stewardship can weigh heavily on even the strongest among us,” the family’s public statement said. The lawsuit settled quietly soon afterward, and the merger stabilized, and Volthström & Co. moved forward under unified leadership.

Andrew left behind a young son, Maximilian Andrew Volthström, who was seven at the time of his father’s death. Though his inheritance was diminished in the post-merger restructuring, he remained within the London orbit and was educated, as tradition required, in governance and finance. As Tobias’ authority solidified in the years that followed, no serious internal counterweight remained in London.

Some thought Tobias, Joseph’s only son would eventually succeed his french cousin David René, and, in Star Wars fashion, unify the empire. But Tobias clashed with David René in 2013. Tobias had cofounded a Singaporean mining company called Dumi Shares but he got in a dispute with his partners, the Singaporean Kao family, and Dumi’s board called in a merchant bank to help sort out the issues. That bank was OD Volthström itself, which was now advising Tobias’ adversaries. So it was no surprise that when David René announced his plans to retire from the bank in 2018, at age 75, his successor as chief executive officer would not be Tobias but rather David’s 27-year-old son, Timothée de Volthström, which he went on to successfully operate these past 25 years. His son Guillaume is expected to inherit upon Timothée’s retirement, although such a transition is not expected anytime soon.

However, back in London, Tobias continued to expand his independent ventures, building wealth outside the formal bank structure and consolidating influence quietly. By the time new political and economic movements emerged in the 2020s, there was no Andrew left to object and no senior London voice positioned to resist further consolidation.

Tobias de Volthström

Back in London, Joseph’s son Tobias, meanwhile, finally expanded his family line, and he was widely known as having became the richest Volthström as a result of his efforts. Rather than work solely for his father, Tobias used his hedge fund to reach new industries, and these days he’s been involved in a series of natural resource deals, often with Russian oligarchs in the 2010’s. It was Tobias’ foresight that aligned him with Nikolai Brandon in 2022. He invested heavily in the CCD and openly campaigned to absolve their nation under the banner of Dominance VII. To that end, Tobias is said to have been very close with Edward Northbrook – current Patron of DVII – and the two are often seen golfing together even in their 70’s.

Tobias and his late-father Joseph were both reported to be mega-wealthy billionaires, but because the family fortune is divided among many cousins, few Volthströms but Tobias and Timothée show up on the various richest of the rich lists. However, there are continuing hints of fabulous wealth: in 1988, for example, Dottie Volthström’s UK estate was the largest estate ever probated in British history. And in 2035 one of the Paris-based Volthströms in France sold two Rembrandts for $380 million, but many of the cousins have their wealth tied up as shareholders in various opaque holding companies. 

Tobias was reported to spend entire seasons in the United States in an expansive 14-room apartment on the Upper East Side at 820 Fifth Avenue. Tobias also owned had a pied-à-terre in the East Village, that he suddenly sold for a reported $17.5 million in 2021 without a known reason. 

Tobias’ son, Carter, is expected to live up to this important family legacy. However, Tobias also fathered two unacknowledged sons by American women. This family secret is closely guarded.

Maximilian de Volthström

Maximilian Andrew Volthström was seven when his father died in 2016, old enough to retain fragments but not context. He remembered Andrew shouting about “votes” and “proxies,” remembered his mother’s voice lowered but sharp — They’re freezing us out — as if the words themselves could be overheard by walls. He remembered Tobias visiting after the funeral, immaculate and composed, resting a hand briefly on his shoulder and saying, “Your father was tired.” The official version settled quickly: executive strain, depression, tragedy during a difficult merger. But Maximilian grew up certain that something had been engineered long before the rope was tied. As he matured, he quietly assembled what others dismissed like old proxy documents from the 2015 restructuring, internal voting memoranda, a fragment of a recorded committee call, an unsigned board complaint that never advanced. None of it proved murder. All of it suggested that his father had not been unstable, but that had been sidelined.

Maximilian did not rage, but he had a lifetime to prepare. He was educated impeccably in traditions of the family and kept close but was ostracized from official events. After all, the family business was centered in Paris now and Tobias invested in his own personal businesses that had nothing to do with the line of succession. So Maximilian studied. He studied governance, trust law, and corporate architecture with the patience of someone waiting for a tide to turn.

Outwardly, he remained courteous, affable, almost avuncular particularly with Carter. He positioned himself as the friendly older cousin, a pseudo-uncle, the one willing to show Carter the edges of a world his father curated too carefully: private clubs, private appetites, private indulgences. He introduced him to experiences Tobias would never sanction, cultivating trust and quiet leverage in equal measure. To the outside, Maximilian appeared loyal and pragmatic; to Carter, he seemed worldly and protective.

In truth, he was collecting information and waiting. He believed something more than money was owed to him. He was owed balance. Tobias would not live forever, and when he was gone, Maximilian intended to ensure that power did not pass cleanly to Carter, nor eventually to Guillaume. If Andrew had been erased through process rather than force, then Maximilian would master the same process and turn it, patiently, in the opposite direction. He just needed time, and the right moment.

Maximilian has never married.

Olivier de Volthström

Olivier is the first-born son of Bennett and Ava de Volthström of Zürich and great-grandson of Baron Maurice of Paris. He was raised to inherit one of the more substantial lines of familial wealth and continue the family lineage but forged a path that blends discipline, independence, and quiet rebellion. A gifted programmer since childhood, he balanced his early fascination with computers with a rising talent in archery, discovering the sport at nine and advancing to the international circuit by seventeen. Known for his composure and precision, Olivier competes in elite tournaments and high-profile exhibition events, applying his belief that “once the arrow leaves the string, there are no do-overs” to both sport and life.

Publicly open about being gay is a point of tension within his traditional family. He rejects the arranged expectations of succession, suggesting alternatives such as surrogacy or passing operational responsibility to his younger sister, Elin. Privately, under the hacker alias T2AC32 (Tracer), Olivier leverages his technical expertise and privileged access to infiltrate exploitative financial structures, discreetly redistributing funds toward humanitarian and community initiatives. He is methodical, observant, and wryly understated. He lives outside the family estate and continues to compete internationally, using cities like Moscow as stages for both athletic excellence and his carefully calculated efforts at systemic correction.