He turned out to be a very greedy grave robber who was only interested in stealing the treasure of the Laughing King for himself. He never cared about the safety of Gordon, Lady Penelope and Parker, and so he left them trapped inside and didn't tell International Rescue because he was worried it would jeopardize the funding of his expedition. He even went so far as to say they had all died, but when Scott Tracy confronted him, he confessed it was just a big lie.