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| Marcel Strigberger |
Which gets me to Bill Pallot. I’m sure you’ve all heard of this guy. Vanity Fair called him “the world’s leading expert on the works of 18th-century France.” However, Paris Match recently branded him as “the Bernie Madoff of art.”
You see, Pallot and a couple of associates produced a few chairs that they authenticated as historic pieces that once adorned the rooms of the likes of Queen Marie Antoinette and Madame du Barry, the mistress of King Louis XV. They then arranged to sell these chairs to the wealthy and the opulent including the Palace of Versailles and a handful of billionaires such as a member of the Qatari royal family.
After a lengthy investigation, fraud charges were laid and Pallot was sentenced to four years in the slammer and fined about 200,000 euros. A lawyer for Versailles, Corinne Hershkovitch, commented that Pallot and others got off too easily. I beg to differ. Given the circumstances of the “crimes,” I say they should not even have been charged. There ought to be a law exempting criminal proceedings in certain instances, or at the very least there should be legal defences. Let me elaborate.
Firstly, there should be the defence of caveat buyer, or in this case buyer stupidity. Just because some so-called expert says that Marie Antoinette once sat in this chair, is that a good reason to fork over gazillions of euros? Would you do it? I’ll bet the Versailles minions would probably even have reacted positively had they received a call saying there is a special this week on duct cleaning as Acme Inc. is in the Versailles neighbourhood. And Acme of course was the official duct cleaner of Madame du Barry’s château. “Mais oui. Venez.”
Then there should be the defence of buyer’s financial means. Hey, we are talking Qatari royal family and Versailles Palace, not some poor seniors getting scammed by a fake CRA rogue. These guys almost asked for it. The message they projected was virtually, “We’re wealthy, help yourselves.” I say they would have bought these chairs on expert Pallot’s endorsement even if they had stickers on them reading Ikea.
I know the victims’ means don’t generally get taken into account, but I think of Robin Hood. He stole from the rich and gave to the poor. To this day I have yet to see Robin Hood get bad press. Nor have I seen too many people proudly joining the fan club of the Sheriff of Nottingham. I say not guilty.
Another defence should be buyer vanity. People with money to burn will buy anything. I note that there have been a couple of auctions where they sold off Queen Victoria’s clothing, including her bloomers. One such bloomer sale went for over 9,000 pounds sterling. Wow!
And they even had the initials VR monogrammed thereon. Of interest is that the buyer chose to remain anonymous. Not surprised. I wonder if there was some expert out there authenticating these huge (size 46) bloomers. I’d love to see this maven’s business card. “Looking for royal bloomers? Don’t ask Victoria’s Secret; ask Joel.”
I should add that the court also banned Pallot from acting as an art expert for a period of five years. I’d say this imposition was an overkill. He may have some problems getting work with a CV noting a four-year stint for fraud at the Bastille. Actually, the Bastille is no longer a jail, but then again, would Pallot be concerned about accuracy?
I say art is all about vanity, which should also be a valid defence to fraud. Look at the installation of that banana taped to a canvass that sold for seven figures. Art? I get my bananas at Sobeys for 79 cents a pound, and that duct tape at the Dollar Store for $1.25.
If you want one of these suckers cheap let me know: 100 per cent Chiquita. I’ll even leave the sticker on.
I have little sympathy for the on-steroids rich and vain getting duped. After all, even the good book suggests that a fool and his money are soon parted. This was bound to happen. Sacré bleu.
I’m retired from the practice of law. However, given this story, I am considering posting an ad on Kijiji offering to sell an iconic bridge in New York City. We all know the ad will attract some serious interest.
Marcel Strigberger retired from his Greater Toronto Area litigation practice and continues the more serious business of humorous author and speaker. His book, Boomers, Zoomers, and Other Oomers: A Boomer-biased Irreverent Perspective on Aging, is available on Amazon (e-book) and in paper version. His new(!) book First, Let’s Kill the Lawyer Jokes: An Attorney’s Irreverent Serious Look at the Legal Universe is available on Amazon, Apple and other book places. Visit www.marcelshumour.com. Follow him on X @MarcelsHumour.
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