Hermes logo▶ Click here to enlarge
Medium punishment was imposed on a former employee who founded an organization that made and sold counterfeit Hermes Birkinbags that nobody could buy, no matter how much money they had.
France’s Paris Criminal Court sentenced Romain, 41, who produced and sold fake Birkin bags to a fine of 1.5 million euros (about 2 billion won) for six years in prison, Le Figaro et al reported on the 25th (local time).
Romain was accused of making and selling 400 counterfeit bags in France and Hong Kong, along with 22 people, including eight former Hermes employees, from 2008 to 2012.
The counterfeit Birkin bags they sold consisted of 313 products made of crocodile skin, which were sold for 20,000 euros (about 27 million won).
The judicial authorities estimate the crime revenue of the Romain party at 2.4 million euros (about 3.25 billion won).
Romain is currently staying in Australia and has not attended the trial, and an arrest warrant has been issued following the sentence.
Romain, who has been in charge of cutting leather at the Hermes production facility since the early 2000s, formed an organization that made and sold fake Birkin bags three years after leaving the company in 2005.
Other parties charged with Romain were sentenced to six months to two years in prison and a fine of 72 to 400,000 euros (approximately 9.8 to 500 million won) depending on the degree of participation in the crime.
The Birkin Bag, made by Hermes after British singer Jane Birkin, is a handmade handbag with an expensive price of over 10 million won, the cheapest model.
In particular, the price of Birkin bags made of crocodile skin rises sharply, and used products are sold for hundreds of millions of dollars at various auctions.
Jane Birkin even asked Hermes to remove her name in 2015 after learning about the process of slaughtering crocodiles to make bags.
[연합뉴스]
Copyrights ⓒ Yonhap News. Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited