The Flimflam Man from Rogue Agent Gets Shipped Home

A portrait of the composer Erik Satie by Jean Cocteau and a Marc Chagall engraving, both missing from the Jacques Doucet Literary Library, turned up at the Millon auction house in June. The seller was identified as Marie-Christine Jacquot. Jacquot’s daughter, Sophie Lesiewicz, had been the Doucet’s deputy director, and was accused of being involved in looting those and other treasures from the library, which is just across from the Panthéon and contains—or, anyway, contained—“the richest collection of manuscripts, books and art involving French writers from the mid-19th century to the present,” according to The Times of London.

And now Lesiewicz is an apparent suicide. She had left the library last year, and had denied any involvement in the thefts. Sympathizers claimed the press had hounded her. Meanwhile, police are investigating an alleged management-run illicit trade in rare works, and the Doucet’s present director, Isabelle Diu, has been accused. “Staff said items from the library collection were being sold to fund other purchases for the institution,” reported the newspaper. Diu has denied any involvement (“I am stunned”).