Photo by gabrilu, courtesy Flickr

César's iconic "Le Pouce" (Thumb) at La Défense in Paris.

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Eric Piedoie has been charged with producing 135 fake César sculptures and selling them off through Parisian art dealers Guy Pieters and Laurent Strouk, whom authorities believe were also involved in the criminal enterprise. A search of their businesses uncovered dozens of fake Césars.

Many of the works that were discovered even bore the official seal of approval of the artist’s lover, Stéphanie Busutil, as well as the artist’s thumbprint. Busutil has not been charged with any wrongdoing and says that the dealers, who insisted on the works’ authenticity, misled her into approving the alleged fakes. The brother-in-law of a friend of the sculptor has already admitted to creating stamps that provided César’s thumbprint.

Interestingly, French police only discovered the potential fraud by chance. While investigating the theft of four paintings, including a Magritte and a Chagall, in southern France in 2001, they uncovered information about the César plot by eavesdropping on a telephone call of two suspects.

Read more at the Telegraph.