Denis Vrain-Lucas sentenced to prison for forgery
- When
- 1870
- Where
- Correctional Tribunal of Paris; Trial proceedings
- Episodes
- 2
In February 1870, the Correctional Tribunal of Paris sentenced Denis Vrain-Lucas to two years in prison for forgery. This conviction followed his sale of thousands of counterfeit letters to French mathematician Michel Chasles, who had paid up to 150,000 francs for the documents. The trial exposed the anachronisms in the forgeries, leading to Chasles's testimony regarding his deception.
Episodes
- Sentencing of Denis Vrain-Lucas
The Correctional Tribunal of Paris sentenced Denis Vrain-Lucas to two years in prison for forgery in February 1870.
- Testimony of Michel Chasles
Michel Chasles testified during the trial that he had been duped by Vrain-Lucas and paid significant sums for forged letters.
Background and detail
Trial and Sentencing. Debate over the authenticity of the letters continued until 1868, leading to Vrain-Lucas's arrest for forgery the following year. During the trial, Michel Chasles testified that he had been duped and had paid between 140,000 and 150,000 francs for the forged documents. In February 1870, the Correctional Tribunal of Paris sentenced Vrain-Lucas to two years in prison for these forgery offenses.
Aftermath. Following his sentencing, Vrain-Lucas disappeared from public view. A letter allegedly written by him from prison in 1871 to Chasles was later published in 2004, though it was identified as an invention. The event was documented in a 1870 publication titled 'Une Fabrique de Faux Autographes,' which detailed the affair.
People involved
- Denis Vrain-Lucas · Defendant
- Michel Chasles · Witness
Sources
- Denis Vrain-Lucas Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-25
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.