Paris (AFP)

Ten people, including seven former Hermès employees, are on trial in Paris for having manufactured clandestinely and then sold dozens of counterfeit bags from the luxury brand, in particular the famous Birkin model, in 2013 and 2014.

The business started accidentally, after tapping the apartment of a man, then suspected of disposing in Asia of bags stolen from trucks in France, described on Wednesday the president of the 11th correctional chamber, on the first day of the trial.

The investigation then brought to light the existence of an "underground garment workshop" and of an organized "network", with roles assigned to each, continued the magistrate.

In all, the defendants, now aged 30 to 61, are suspected of having produced each year at least ten series of 8 to 10 Birkin bags, the best-selling and most profitable object of the brand , so named because inspired by the Franco-British actress Jane Birkin.

The annual profit has been estimated at more than 2 million euros - from which the remuneration of "labor" must be deducted.

Three friends are suspected of being at the origin of this parallel manufacture: two are employees or former employees of Hermès; the third was responsible, according to the investigators, for the supply of crocodile skins from an Italian supplier in Lombardy.

This man died in 2014 but his brother-in-law admitted having "taken over" from these deliveries.

Five other people, then employees of Hermès, are implicated: a goldsmith, for having supplied the jewelry adorning the bags and four saddlers-leatherworkers, two women and two men (including one retired), for having carried out very meticulous operations assembly, "turning" or the finishing of the bags.

Some of them are also being prosecuted for having stolen scraps of leather, tools, zippers or models doomed to destruction in their workplace, in order to perfect the resemblance. They have all since left the company.

This alleged network also included a woman suspected of having passed the bags between 23,500 and 32,000 euros to tourists from Hong Kong, as well as her daughter, who allegedly ran errands for her.

The trial was initially scheduled to take place in October, but the defense then raised a priority question of constitutionality (QPC), which the Court of Cassation however refused to transmit to the Constitutional Council in December.

The defendants, who acknowledged the facts during the investigation, are prosecuted for counterfeiting by an organized gang and, for some, breach of trust. One of them, resident in Vietnam, did not show up and is the subject of an arrest warrant.

The trial is scheduled to end on Friday.

© 2020 AFP