Le Chiffre

Paymaster of the Soviet counter-intelligence agency, SMERSH

Le Chiffre is one of SMERSH’s chief agents in France and the undercover Paymaster of the Syndicat des Ouvriers d’Alsace, a communist-controlled trade union. His origin is unknown. He is was first encountered as an inmate of Dachau DP camp in June 1945. Claiming total memory loss, he adopts the name ‘Le Chiffre’ as he is ‘only a number on a passport’. Having lost funds investing in brothels with money belonging to SMERSH, Le Chiffre goes to Casino Royale with hopes to recover his fifty million franc deficit. However, the entrance of Bond and Leiter to the game could cause his plan to fail.

DID YOU KNOW?

Fittingly for a banker involved with investing and hiding criminal proceeds, Le Chiffre’s name means ‘the number’, ‘the figure’, ‘the code’… and sounds like ‘the cipher’.