Bill Pallot, nicknamed “Father Lachaise”, judged for scam in the antique world

The Pontoise court, tried since Tuesday, March 26, Bill Pallot, nicknamed “Father Lachaise”, in a vast affair of swindle that rocked the world of antiques, nine years ago. Son of antique dealer and specialist in French seats, he had become a crook in his spare time, with his accomplice Bruno Desnoues, Graduated from the School of Higher Decorative Arts in Strasbourg and Best Worker in France. Together, they managed to dive several large rich families and even the Palace of Versailles by selling them false old furniture.

In 2008, Pallot and Desnoues sold a chair from the 18th century, claiming that it had been used in one of Marie-Antoinette’s offices in Versailles. The sale price: 530,000 euros. Another chair, presented as his neighbor of cabinet, was acquired in 2011 by the Palace of Versailles for 420,000 euros. A magnificent pair of Louis XV chairs was sold 10 years ago to the brother of the Emir of Qatar for two million euros, on the pretext that they were “More expensive furniture made for the queen”.

The scam started when Bruno Desnoues, an exceptional cabinetmaker, restored a pair of chairs from Barry. The idea of ​​creating replicas from carcasses and patinated wood emerged. Three chairs were then produced and offered for sale via intermediaries of large galleries such as Drouot, Sotheby’s and Maison Kraemer. The fraud was crowned with success, crossing all the dams until it is discovered.