Julien V., 29, incarcerated in Fleury-Mérogis, must probably harbor a lot of regrets. Like that of having spread his life too much on social networks. To have exposed its richness and revealed the keys to its success.
In a long article, our colleagues from Parisian tell the story of this young entrepreneur born in Nice and brought up in the Paris region by a single mother.
This almost thirty-year-old owned no less than three houses, as well as a racing car, a Lamborghini EVO Huracan worth 600,000 euros. Enough to fuel suspicion, jealousy and fantasies. But also desire.
It was with 5,000 euros in his pocket that he left Paris and ten years later became “the prince of the replica”. It was by selling fake luxury watches that Julien V. made his fortune.
24 entries in his criminal record
Theft, the young man commits from the age of 12 years. Mainly flights. Then other mentions will be added to his record. Extortion, degradation, drug trafficking… He will total 24 mentions in a short time. It is by selling fake Disneyland tickets that he is stepping into counterfeiting.
At 14, he no longer goes to school and five years later he goes to China. There he interfered in the world of international trade and began to ship copies of bags from the biggest brands such as Chanel, Dior and Hermès to France.
The work is done as a family, since it is his mother who is in charge of receiving the products and collecting the money from the sale. The traffic will be dismantled and Florence, the mother, will be the only one condemned.
From bags to watches
Stuck but certainly not beaten down, Julien V. finds another way to make money in the fake. “In China, he visits wholesalers, enters factories. Most have only initials as a name, but have the technical resources to produce almost undetectable copies of luxury watches”as reported The Parisian.
It is then that he will provide them with the spare parts and will start by enriching himself with these quality copies accompanied by fake authenticity cards and fake boxes that are almost undetectable, which he sells for around 500 euros. He will then specialize in what are called “doublettes”.
The Frenchman will order real watches, Submariners from Rolex for example, and he will duplicate the serial number. By model, he will pocket between 1,000 and 1,500 euros.
“The first customers were amazed”
“Many people cannot afford to buy this or that luxury watch, because they reach exorbitant prices. by ear. The first customers couldn’t believe the quality of the perfect replicas”he boasts in a self-interview on his website, Prestige Replicas.
Meanwhile, Julien V. will settle in Thailand where he will marry and become the father of three children. In one of his houses, he will even go so far as to install a fake Rolex showroom.
In China, his business runs like clockwork thanks to Kan Kank, responsible for photographing the products, and Jacky and Mimi, a father and daughter, who ship the orders.
For its part, Le Parisien takes care of the promotion and sale of products on social networks such as Instagram, Snapchat, Telegram and also provides delivery addresses. Parcels transit through Germany to avoid being intercepted by customs.
Sales people, like Florian R., who we’ll talk about later, join the team. Some of them will sell up to twenty “doublets” per month by using certain commercial techniques such as “promotion only this day” or “If you find cheaper elsewhere, I’ll line up”.
Influencers like Salade niçoise will also promote its counterfeits. According to Le Parisien, it will multiply its turnover by four.
Julien V. succeeded in marketing extremely rare pieces, such as a fake Patek Philippe produced for 65,000 eurosor even a Rolex Daytona in platinum for 40,000 euros which he will resell for 70,000 euros.
Faced with phenomenally successful counterfeits, the Swiss Watch Federation (FHS) hired private investigators. One of them will take a closer look at Julien V.’s business and will send a very complete report on the Frenchman to customs.
Threat and Harassment
Referent expert for the Rolex Club based in Corsica, Michel Vittini, who is also a great collector’s watch dealer, will take a closer look at these fake watches that are invading France.
“I found that these very well made watches very often had the same serial numberhe explains to Parisian. Little by little, he is building up a database of around sixty disputed serial numbers, which he is publishing in 2020.
The investigation carried out by the Corsican disturbs. His Instagram account is hacked and he will be the victim of several phone calls. His interlocutors will not hesitate to threaten him, insult his deceased wife.
They will even go so far as to threaten him with raping his underage daughter and post pictures of her online. However, Michel Vittini continues to investigate.
This does not hinder Julien V. however. The money collected is hidden in cryptocurrency and all his assets are in his wife’s name, as the law in Thailand requires. At the end of 2019, he inaugurated a Yamaha dealership in Phuket and the press was present.
He will also try to set up a nightclub-chicha in which the French rappers of the moment will perform. They pay 1.2 million to partners who promise him success and prosperity. They will take to their heels with the money and the establishment will never open.
In June 2022, Florian R. one of the counterfeiter’s 39 dealers was arrested while withdrawing two fake Rolexes from a post office.
This is what drew the attention of the French authorities to Julien V. who then turned to their Thai counterparts. On December 14, 2022, the house of Julien V. is searched, but the Frenchman is not there since he is already in prison.
Two months earlier, he had attacked a father who had followed him to take a photo of his Porsche Panamera. The man was beaten up and fell into a deep coma.
The French police go to Samui to interrogate him. They will receive a shower of insults and threats. “I’m going to put 200,000 on each of your heads!”he throws at them. “Fuck the embassy. I’ll kill you all.” “A bunch of civil servants at 1,500 euros! I will never go back to France.”
But Julien V. quickly returns to his words. The Thai prison system being perhaps too hard to live with, he asked to be imprisoned in France. He will finance his return himself in the face of the refusal of French justice to assume this transfer.
12,000 sales
To the examining magistrate, he will say that he has made 12,000 sales. Michel Vittini firmly thinks he is lying. “The corrupted serial numbers that I identified were each used for at least a thousand replicas. At the very least, he therefore produced at least 50,000 Rolexes.”
The fortune of Julien V.? Soaring. According to him, nothing remains of his savings kept in cryptocurrency…
Monday August 28, the one who is indicted for “counterfeiting”, “fraud” and “laundering” made a new request for release. He swears that once his detention is over, he will settle in France, far from this lucrative business on which he has enriched himself for years.
Its Prestige Réplica online store continues to operate, with or without Julien V.
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