French antiques scammers found guilty of fraud with chairman of Versailles

Two French antiques experts have been convicted of building historical chairs, which they claim to have once belonged to French grand pianles like Marie Antoaneta.

Georges “Bill” Palot and Bruno Denues were given four months behind bars, as well as the longer suspended sentences for the sale of a number of fake 18th century collectors, including the Palace of Versailles and a member of the Qatari Royal Family.

As they both have already served four months in a pre -trial detention, they will not return to prison.

Another defendant, Laurent Kramer, who, along with his gallery – was accused of failing to adequately check the authenticity of the chairs before selling them, was justified for fraud by gross negligence.

The decision on Wednesday was the culmination of a nine -year investigation that shook the French world of antiques.

In the Pontoaaz court, north of Paris, the judge also gave huge fines to Palot and Denui, respectively € 200,000 (169,500 pounds) and € 100,000.

Responding to his sentence, Palot said it was “a little raw financial”, but he was glad that his apartment in Paris would not be seized, according to AFP News.

During the trial, the prosecutor’s office claims that Laurent Kramer and his gallery in Paris were to blame for failing to check the authenticity of the objects they purchased before selling them to buyers like Catari Prince Bin Hamad al -Thani, who purchased two chairs for which they belonged to Marie.

But on Wednesday, Kramer and the gallery were justified. They always denied knowing about counterfeits.

In a comment sent to the BBC, his lawyers said the sentence “demonstrated innocence, that the Kramer gallery claimed the first day of this case.”

“The gallery was a victim of counterfeits; he did not know the furniture was fake. He couldn’t find it, as the solution showed,” Martin Reynah and Mauricia Korege said.

“For almost 10 years, our customers have been wrongly accused. They have been waiting patiently for the truth to appear. It has already been done and it is a great relief for them to see their innocence, recognized today,” they added.

In the midst of his career, Palot is considered the best scientist in 18th century French chairs, writing the authoritative book on the subject.

He was also a lecturer at the prestigious Sorbonne University in Paris, with access to the historical records of the Versailles Palace, including inventories of royal furniture existing in the palace in the 18th century.

Palot was able to determine which chairs were not reported in the collections and then made replicas with the help of Desnoues, a prize sculptor and a cabinet, which was hired as the main restorer of Versailles furniture.

“I was the head and Denues were hands,” Palot told the court during the trial in March.

“It went like a breeze,” he added. “Everything was fake, but the money.”

Prosecutor Pascal Rayer said in his closing arguments in the process that the case shone “a rare and remarkable spotlight in the market of historical furniture, revealing a world that is stamped with confidentiality and discretion.”

He said that this reveals the shortcomings of the market and “the conflicts of interests inherent in its structure, especially when experts such as Bill Palot and his accomplice of woodcarving Desnoues are also traders unsolved to the buyer.”

Rayer said the case “led to a whole market interruption, thus emphasizing the need for more stable regulation of the arts market to achieve transaction and fairness of transaction.”

Other cases that have emerged from the murky world of antique relations in France over the past decade include that of the late Jean Lupu, who is also accused of selling fake royal furniture from the 17th and 18th centuries in galleries around the world. He died in 2023 before appearing in court.