Authorities Charge Louvre Employees in Decade-Long Ticket Fraud Scam
Authorities charged two Louvre employees and seven others for allegedly running a decade-long fraud scheme that scammed the museum out of nearly $12 million.
The nine suspects, whose identities have not yet been made public, included an organizer, tour guides, and two museum employees. They are accused of reusing tickets multiple times to usher in groups, and sometimes splitting up larger groups to avoid paying an extra fee that is usually charged for guided tour groups. Authorities arrested the suspects on 10 February.
Museum officials began suspecting that two tour guides were reusing tickets in 2024, and reported their suspicions to law enforcement in December 2024, EuroNews reported. A formal investigation began on 2 June 2025, according to Le Parisien.
“The public prosecutor’s office said that surveillance and telephone tapping confirmed the repeated reuse of tickets,” EuroNews reported.
Investigators estimated that the network may have brought in up to 20 tour groups a day over the past 10 years, The Guardian reported. The investigation also identified that the group allegedly bribed museum employees to help circumvent ticket controls.
The prosecutor’s office charged the suspects with fraud committed by an organized gang, use of forged documents, corruption, and aggravated money laundering.
One suspect was placed in pretrial detention on several charges. The remaining suspects were released under strict conditions.
Investigators suspect the group may have also been involved in ticket fraud at the Palace of Versailles, outside of Paris.
Some of the illicit funds from the scehme were invested in real estate in France and the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Investigators also seized more than $1 million in cash (with more than half in foreign currency) and more than $500,000 from bank accounts, according to The New York Times.
“A police source told Le Parisien that three vehicles and several bank safe deposit boxes were also seized,” Le Parisien reported in an exclusive story.
The arrests come on the heels of other woes for the museum, most notably the October 2025 theft of royal jewels valued at more than $100 million. The museum has also dealt with the recent closure of one gallery after water leaks were detected, which resulted in damage to a painting, The triumph of French painting by Charles Meynier, and damage to the physical integrity of parts of the museum, according to The Art Newspaper.
The museum has also been forced to initiate multiple partial or full closures since December as part of its staff has gone on strike.
