Michael Ostrog

Michael OstrogEfn|Casebook lists his aliases as including Bertrand Ashley, Claude Clayton, Dr. Grant, Max Grief Gosslar, and Max Sobiekski.

Jack the Ripper suspect The 1894 memorandum written by Sir Melville Macnaghten, Assistant Chief Constable of the London Metropolitan Police, naming "Kosminski" as one of three suspects in the Jack the Ripper case. The other two suspects he named were Montague Druitt and Michael Ostrog. Ostrog was a professional scammer who used costumes to improve the chances for a successful scam. He also used a variety of aliases for the same purpose, always seeking to surround himself with an air of mystery, and spread all kinds of lies about his life and activities. One of his most creative hoaxes was to repeatedly claim that he worked as a surgeon in the Russian Navy. However, this was just another of his numerous inventions.

Even though in the memorandum of the Scotland Yard chief, Sir Melville Macnaghten, Ostrog was identified as a Jack the Ripper suspect, the investigators did not find evidence of violent crime in his past, much less homicide. His record of illegal activities only included theft and scams, making him a white collar criminal.

In 1894, Ostrog was mentioned in the "Macnaghten Memorandum", as a likely perpetuator of Jack the Ripper's crimes. In 2001, Philip Sugden, an expert on the Jack the Ripper case, located police records in which it was stated that Michael Ostrog had been charged with minor crimes and imprisoned in France in 1888, during the period of the Whitechapel murders. This gives him an alibi that excludes him as a possible suspect.