 His forgeries had earned him between 5.5 and 7.5 million guilders (or about US$25–30 million today).He used this money to purchase a large amount of real estate, jewellery, and works of art, and to further his luxurious lifestyle.In a 1946 interview, he told Marie Louise Doudart de la Grée that he owned 52 houses and 15 country houses around Laren, among them "grachtenhuizen", mansions along Amsterdam's canals.