He has been a double actor in the incredible network of occult sales of Hermès bags which has just been dismantled.
For nearly four years, Léo
(the first name has been changed)
, a young 28-year-old actor, played the role of "mule", like a hundred other little hands, for the criminal group which trafficked in the famous mythical bags and extremely rare Birkin and Kelly from the French luxury house.
Ten people were indicted on January 28 in Paris for "money laundering and hidden work in an organized gang" in this extraordinary affair which would have generated, according to the investigators of the 2nd DPJ, tens of millions of euros of dirty money .
The scenario was relentless: the network recruited "false customers" like Léo, able to convince the Hermès salesmen to give them these bags reserved for an elite then resold them in fake private showrooms or abroad - China, States United, Russia, Middle East - at exorbitant prices.
The gains were then reinjected into opaque real estate circuits.
"I could easily fit into the character"
“I knew that the problem behind what I was doing was money laundering, the mafia, admits Léo, an actor who shoots in several French series and films.
It was above all a side job to make me money without damaging me.
The young artist wants to make himself aware of having been a cog in the fraudulent organization.
“Ethically, I was comfortable.
It was also a way for me to denounce the absurd and inhuman commercial policy of Hermès which operates arbitrary selection in its customers and creates scarcity for material.
This shocks me personally.
"
Passed by the Florent course, Léo entered the network as soon as it emerged in 2015. He had been introduced by an American model friend who had been hooked, on a group of expatriates on Facebook, by C., one of the ten suspects, a 29-year-old woman tasked with recruiting and training bogus clients.
Especially in theater schools.
“The network hired foreigners because they can pay for bags in cash,” recounts the young actor.
For my part, what pleased them was that I corresponded perfectly to the profile of the chic client: white, from a bourgeois background, well educated.
As an actor, I could easily fit into the character and resist stress.
"
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Because to acquire a Birkin or Kelly bag, it is a real test: it is necessary to present well, to answer "to a thorough interrogation" on its motivations, to decline its wishes ... In short, to be in the spirit that the mark is made of his clients.
The buyer who does not correspond to the confidential criteria of the luxury house is opposed to an absence of stock or is invited to register on a waiting list which can last more than six months ... Each precious bag is made to the hand by a Hermès craftsman over seven days.
A work of "goldsmith" which generates a demand much higher than the supply.
"I just had to put on BCBG clothes ..."
So as not to arouse the suspicions of the sellers, the "mules" of the network were getting ready and dressed in a luxurious HQ rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré (Paris VIIIth), 100 meters from the Elysee Palace, where they received their instructions before they left. 'be sent to Hermès' three Parisian stores, or even in the provinces.
“C. gave the girls fake Birkin bags that were almost undetectable, I just had to put on BCBG clothes, boots, coats…, says Léo.
She would check me and then explain to me what types of bags were wanted: large sizes 35, black, gold, gray with gold buckles and Togo or Epsom leather.
For sizes 30 or 25, almost impossible to have, all colors worked.
The network provided bank cards or made advance transfers to mule accounts.
Once in the shops, the young actor recited scenarios prepared to justify his desire for a bag: a gift for his mother's 60th birthday, for his foreign girlfriend ... During his mission, Léo was in contact by SMS with the network but he was ordered to write once the sellers returned from the reserve with a bag, the model of which is still imposed.
“The employees are very suspicious.
They observed us through the cameras in the back room, assures the young actor.
We had to buy other Hermès products, self-service ones like perfumes, to give credibility to the profile of the wealthy buyer, not to take pictures.
If they suspected us of belonging to trafficking, they would come back empty handed or with an unsaleable colored bag.
You have to be Catherine Deneuve to have the ideal python bag!
You never know when you're toasted or failed, they just give big smiles.
It is very difficult to be successful.
"
"Put two balls in the leg of a mule"
Out of thirty attempts in four years, Leo has only managed to land a Birkin or Kelly bag on four occasions.
The "false customers" received between 600 and 800 euros from the network for each sale of a rare piece whose price oscillates on average between 7000 and 8000 euros.
But it can be much more: during the investigation, the police found traces of the purchase of a crocodile bag at 45,000 euros.
The mule had pocketed 13,000 euros in commission ...
"On two occasions, I also had to deal with salespeople infected with the network," continues Léo.
I was shown pictures of them before the missions and they too knew how I was dressed.
We still had to play the sale game for the cameras, except that in the end I had the perfect bag.
One of the accomplice sales assistants had worked for Hermès for 20 years and was tired of the others making money and not her.
I also saw by their attitude in the stores that a lot of other customers were wrong, like me.
"
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The bags were then brought back to the Faubourg Saint-Honoré HQ, where the mules were greeted with glasses of champagne.
“The network presented itself as a luxury concierge, but I felt that it was ultra suspicious, says Léo.
One day, I heard a member threatening to put
two bullets in the leg
of a mule which had crossed out with the 15,000 euros advanced by the network.
"
According to the investigation of the 2 nd DYP, the organization was making up to 1 million euros per month thanks to this daring scheme, including during the health crisis, by reselling the parts to an international clientele ready to do anything for French scarcity via an ad system on Whatsapp and a fake luxury company based in Dubai.
“Playing the mule for these networks can constitute concealment of money laundering.
There is no need to play the white knight, insists a source close to the investigation.
Hermès, which is a family house, is the victim in this affair and has done everything right to be attached to its brand image and its distribution system so as not to be devalued ”