The Palais Vivienne, seen from the outside, on April 5, 2021. – THOMAS COEX / AFP
A search took place Thursday at the Palais Vivienne, property of the collector Pierre-Jean Chalençon, implicated by a report from M6 for the organization of clandestine dinners in Paris, said the Paris prosecutor’s office, confirming information from Brut. According to AFP journalists, three police officers came out of the building in central Paris after spending about an hour there. Later, five other police officers in turn left the Palais Vivienne before leaving in two cars.
The broadcast on Friday of a report by M6 on lavish clandestine dinners in Paris sparked a heated controversy last weekend, one of the organizers, identified as Pierre-Jean Chalençon, claiming to have “dined in the week in two-three underground restaurants ”where he would have met“ ministers ”. The report mentioned in particular a dinner at the Palais Vivienne “around a caviar and champagne menu” at the price of “220 euros per person” concocted by the cook Christophe Leroy.
A “bad trial”
He had ignited social networks during the weekend, provoked reactions from the political class, and led to the opening of an investigation. Since then, Pierre-Jean Chalençon has returned to his statements, explaining that he wanted to make “humor”.
On Wednesday, a search had already been carried out at the cook Christophe Leroy’s. Through the voice of his lawyer, Me Thierry Fradet, Christophe Leroy let it be known that he had “been able to submit a certain number of documents establishing that the services he performed were, as permitted by law, in private homes and not in establishments open to the public (ERP) of the restaurant type ”. “In any case and contrary to what has been claimed in an unprofessional manner, no member of the government participated in the meals”, added the lawyer in a press release, denouncing a “bad trial” against of his client.