PARIS — The Paris prosecutors office on Thursday said that nine people were being detained as part of an investigation into a suspected decade-long, 10 million euro ($11.8 million) ticket fraud scheme at the Louvre, the world's most visited museum.
The arrests took place on Tuesday as part of a judicial investigation opened after the Louvre filed a complaint in December 2024, the prosecutors' office said.
The loss for the museum over the past decade is estimated to exceed 10 million euros ($11.8 million), it said.
Those detained include two Louvre employees, several tour guides and one person suspected of being the mastermind, according to the prosecutors' office.
The museum alerted investigators about the frequent presence of two Chinese tour guides suspected of bringing groups of Chinese tourists into the museum by fraudulently reusing the same tickets multiple times for different visitors. Other guides were later suspected of similar practices.
The prosecutors' office said surveillance and wiretaps confirmed repeated ticket reuse and an apparent strategy of splitting up tour groups to avoid paying the required ''speaking fee'' imposed on guides. The investigation also pointed to suspected accomplices within the Louvre, with guides allegedly paying them cash in exchange for avoiding ticket checks, it said.
A formal judicial investigation was opened in June last year on charges including organized fraud, money laundering, corruption, aiding illegal entry in the country as part of an organized group, and the use of forged administrative documents.
Investigators believe the network may have brought in up to 20 tour groups a day over the past decade.
