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Fouquet or Foucquet, Nicolas, Vicomte de Melun et de Vaux and Marquis de Belle-Isle 1615-80
French statesman

Born in Paris, he was made Procureur-Général to the parliament of Paris by Cardinal Mazarin (1650) and super-intendent of finance (1653). He became very rich, and was ambitious to succeed Mazarin as Chief Minister, but Louis XIV himself took over the position on Mazarin's death, and Fouquet was arrested for embezzlement (1661) and sentenced to life imprisonment in the fortress of Pignerol, where he died.