The head butler of the Élysée Palace has been accused of stealing thousands of euros of luxury tableware used in French state banquets, some of which he allegedly put up for sale on the second-hand trading app Vinted.
The outgoing chief maître d’, named only as Thomas M, and two alleged accomplices will face trial next year over claims that they took Sèvres crockery, glasses and artefacts worth a total of between €15,000 and €40,000.
Among the stolen items were some purchased at the behest of President Macron in 2018, when he placed an order for approximately €500,000 of new china for the Élysée from the reputed Manufacture nationale de Sèvres.
Part of a 19th-century Sèvres set is also thought to have been taken, as well as plates dating from 1969 ordered by Georges Pompidou, the president of the day, and decorated by Serge Poliakoff, the Franco-Russian modernist.
Baccarat champagne glasses and a figurine by René Lalique, the art nouveau jeweller and glass designer, are alleged to have been taken too.
In all, about 100 cups, saucers, ashtrays, plates and other items are said to have gone missing from the presidency over two years, although their disappearance was noticed only recently, prompting security staff to alert the police. The presidency has 70,000 pieces of Sèvres china that are used for state banquets and other official occasions.
The Élysée Palace
ALAIN JOCARD/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The suspect and his accomplices are said to have put the stolen items up for sale on Vinted, enabling officers to trace them. One plate on the site had French air force markings; others were numbered and identified as belonging to the presidency.
Le Parisien newspaper reported that Thomas M had taken to removing the crockery from the Elysée while falsifying the presidential inventory to cover his tracks. He is alleged to have been helped by Damien G, his partner, an antiquarian specialising in tableware, which he sells on Vinted. Sèvres plates can fetch more than €1,000 at auctions.
A Sèvres porcelain collector, Ghislain M, has been arrested and charged with receiving stolen goods amid claims that he bought them knowing their illegal provenance.
Ghislain M’s lawyer, Thomas Malvoti, said his client had admitted his guilt and was “co-operating” with investigators.
“He is a young man of 30 with an unusual character and high intellectual potential,” Malvoti said. “[He is] a history buff and passionately interested in porcelain from the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres. He unfortunately allowed himself to be blinded by his passion and regrets that now.”
Ghislain M has been suspended from his job as a guard at the Louvre, which suffered a theft of its own in October, when royal jewels worth €88 million were taken. He is not suspected of involvement in that burglary.
• How the Louvre museum heist unfolded
According to Le Figaro, Ghislain M has loaned part of his collection for an exhibition of Sèvres porcelain at the Henri II Pavilion, a Renaissance monument in Villers-Cotterêts, east of Paris.
The newspaper said police had raided Ghislain M’s home in Versailles and that of Thomas M in the Loiret département, southwest of Paris. It said almost all the stolen items had been recovered.
The three suspects have been charged in connection with the theft of classified objects and risk a maximum sentence of ten years in jail and a fine of 150,000 euros.
The Élysée is advertising for a new maître d’. The successful applicant must “guarantee efficiency and performance … in setting [the table] for breakfasts, lunches, dinners and buffets organised by the presidency”, the job description says.