Colorado Man Legally Changed Name to Bond Villain Le Chiffre Before Killing Dad, Police Say

(Colorado Springs Police; MGM)

A Colorado Springs man legally changed his name to match the James Bond villain from “Casino Royale” before beating his 83-year-old father to death with a baseball bat, police said Friday during a court hearing.

Jean-Joseph Danger Le Chiffre (born Patrick Joseph Sandoval) pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and other charges in the July 2020 killing of Gilbert Sandoval, according to the Denver Gazette. Judge Chad Miller ordered Le Chiffre held without bond ahead of a planned trial.

According to authorities, the 55-year-old former lawyer conspired with his mother, Gabriella Sandoval, to kill his father (from whom she was estranged) after learning that Gilbert planned to slash his son’s inheritance.

“She was tired of how Gilbert treated her, was part of it, and the other part was financial — that Mr. Le Chiffre had been cut out of the will,” Detective Marcus Lehmkuhl testified, adding that she lured her estranged husband to her home and sent him into the basement where her son ambushed him with a Louisville slugger that was found at the scene.

Gabriella Sandoval initially told police that she had killed her husband after he attacked her with a knife — but Lehmhul said she was so frail that officers had escort her around the house because she was so frail. And prosecutors said she recanted her self-defense claims in a deposition last August.

That cast suspicion on Le Chiffre, whose chosen name matches the Bond bad guy played by Mads Mikkelsen in the 2006 film “Casino Royale” as well as the 1953 Ian Fleming novel that kicked off the Bond series.

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