Two well-known French antique experts, Georges “Bill” Pallot and Bruno Desnoues, have been convicted of creating and selling fake 18th-century chairs falsely claimed to belong to French royalty, including Marie Antoinette.
Both men received four-month prison sentences and longer suspended terms for deceiving high-profile collectors. Their clients included the Palace of Versailles and a member of Qatar’s royal family. However, since they had already served four months in pre-trial detention, they will not serve additional jail time.
Another defendant, Laurent Kraemer, and his Paris gallery were accused of failing to properly verify the authenticity of the furniture before selling it. Kraemer was acquitted of gross negligence.
The court in Pontoise, just north of Paris, also imposed steep fines: €200,000 for Pallot and €100,000 for Desnoues. Pallot called the financial penalty “a little harsh” but expressed relief that his Paris home would not be seized.
During the trial, the prosecution alleged that Kraemer’s gallery negligently passed on forged pieces, including two chairs allegedly bought for €2 million by Qatari prince Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani. However, Kraemer and his gallery maintained they were unaware of the fraud and were ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing.
In a statement, Kraemer’s lawyers said the ruling confirmed what they had asserted from the start — that the gallery had been a victim of sophisticated counterfeiters. “It is a great relief for them to see their innocence recognized today,” they added.
Pallot, once considered the foremost scholar on French 18th-century chairs, authored a definitive book on the subject and taught at Sorbonne University. With access to historical archives at the Palace of Versailles, he identified gaps in royal furniture inventories and used this knowledge to produce convincing replicas.
His partner, Desnoues, was a decorated sculptor and chief furniture restorer at Versailles. Pallot admitted in court: “I was the head and Desnoues was the hands. Everything was fake but the money.”
Prosecutor Pascal Rayer emphasized the wider implications of the case, stating it exposed major vulnerabilities in the historical art and antiques market. He called for stricter regulations to prevent future deception.
This case follows other scandals in the French antiques world, including that of Jean Lupu, who died in 2023 before facing trial for allegedly selling fake royal furniture.
