He's not a who, he's a what: a confidence man pretending to be a rich man in order to impress some marks. He spent on a fruit plate because some other people gave him that money expecting him to show them how to become as wealthy and successful as he must be since he's such a carefree big spender. It's a classic.
They're just a lot lazier about it nowadays because they can flee to some foreign locale BEFORE talking people out of their money, thereby avoiding any risk of mob justice, tar & feathers, etc.