The Paris prosecutor’s office has revealed an investigation that shakes two of France’s best-known cultural symbols: the Louvre museum and the palace of Versailles. Nine people were arrested on Tuesday on charges of having organized a complex scam linked to the sale of entrance tickets and guided tours, causing damage to the institutions estimated at over 10 million euros. According to investigators, it would be an illegal network that has been active for months, capable of generating hidden revenues by exploiting parallel sales channels and internal passages. Those arrested include two Louvre employees, some independent tour guides and a person believed to be “the coordinator” of the entire operation.
Authorities suspect that the group forged tickets, reused them several times for different people or resold some at increased prices, using internal contacts to circumvent controls. The scam was discovered in December 2024 after a series of accounting anomalies and internal reports from administrative staff. Neither the Louvre nor Versailles have made official comments, but both museums are cooperating with the judiciary. The prosecutor’s office underlined that investigations are continuing to identify other possible accomplices and to reconstruct the actual extent of the economic damage.
The Louvre had already risen to prominence in the autumn of 2025 for a spectacular robbery that attracted global attention, with an estimated loot of 88 million euros. Regarding the ticket fraud, at this stage of the investigation, the authorities have seized over 957,000 euros in cash, as well as 486,000 euros in various bank accounts. The suspects are believed to have invested some of the proceeds from the fraud “in real estate, both in France and Dubai”.