They were close. They are now facing each other in court. Host Karine Le Marchand accuses the queen of the gossip press “Mimi” Marchand, whose real name is Michèle Marchand, of having taken advantage of a “paparazzade” targeting her daughter to extract money from her. “I want to stop being silent, to suffer the shenanigans between unscrupulous paparazzi and certain police officers”, assures “Complementary investigation” that which denounces the paparazzi and their sometimes borderline methods.
>> REPLAY. From “Here” to the Elysée, watch the investigation “Mimi Marchand, the influential of the Republic”
In this story, it all starts with a teenage stupidity. In February 2020, the daughter of Karine Le Marchand, then a minor, was arrested by police officers from the 16th arrondissement for a minor offence. The host of “Love is in the Meadow” on M6 is then in the middle of filming. She sends one of her friends to the rue de la Faisanderie police station to pick up her daughter, who comes out the same day without any charges being brought against her. The story could have ended there.
Except that Karine Le Marchand receives a phone call from the high priestess of the gossip press: Michèle Marchand, boss of the Bestimage photo agency, whom she knows well, like many celebrities. The latter informs him that a trainee photographer, a “unknown”, according to her, would have taken a series of photos of her daughter leaving the police station, “by chance”, she adds. But “Mimi” Marchand reassures the host and explains to her that she bought these photos for 3,500 euros, to prevent them from being broadcast.
Contacted by “Complément d’Enquête”, a paparazzi, who wishes to remain anonymous, explains to us, however, that these pictures would have no value. “The minor is necessarily blurred and she is not known. Just like the friend of Karine Le Marchand [qui est venue chercher sa fille], he explains. These photos could have been sold to magazines if the host herself had come to pick up her daughter at the police station. But Karine Le Marchand is not suspicious. She then offers a lunch to “Mimi” Marchand, whom she then considers as her benefactress, to reimburse him the sum. Lunch during which the facilitator assures us that she gave him a first deposit of 1,600 euros in cash.
Karine Le Marchand then decides to seize the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), the police force. She has, in fact, doubts about the origin of the leak aimed at the arrest of her daughter, coming, according to her, from the police officers of the police station of the 16th arrondissement of Paris. Maître Mathieu Fabiani, the lawyer for one of the officials, implicated in another case linked to “Mimi” Marchand, confirmed to us that the paparazzi have relations with his client and other police officers that he qualified “friendly”. “There are footballers, politicians, celebrities in this district”, he points out.
The rue de Faisanderie police station is a gold mine for journalists.”
Master Mathieu Fabianito “Further investigation”
Shortly after entering the IGPN, Karine Le Marchand was flabbergasted when she learned that the trainee photographer “unknown” supposed to have taken the photographs of his daughter “by chance” is none other than Sébastien Valiela, one of the most prominent paparazzi of the Bestimage agency and very close to Michèle Marchand. “I felt betrayed”, confides the host.
On August 11, 2021, the boss of Bestimage is in turn heard by the IGPN as part of the investigation opened after the report of Karine Le Marchand. We were able to exclusively consult excerpts from his hearing. Asked about her interview with Karine Le Marchand, she then specifies: “I confirm having mentioned a trainee photographer and the fact that a police officer had communicated the information on the custody of his daughter.” But she first denies having asked the host for money. “I never asked her for money, she never gave me any. (…) She just invited me to lunch.”
But the police have disturbing elements in hand. Text messages, which they present to the boss of the Bestimage agency. “I just got my daughter back, the holidays are starting, how are you? I owe you money, I don’t forget”, specifies Karine Le Marchand in one of these messages. “I know you don’t forget, we’ll see because at the start of the school year, times will be hard, replies Michèle Marchand. I wouldn’t have taken the liberty of chasing you. Can’t we take pictures of you, always very beautiful at the beach, alone but good looking? The IGPN also mentions a more threatening message from the popess of the people press. “It will be too late, it’s annoying for the little one”, she reportedly wrote. An SMS may be likely, according to investigators, to convince Karine Le Marchand to quickly contact “Mimi” Marchand to avoid the dissemination of photos of her daughter.
Faced with the IGPN, she then ends up backtracking during her third audition. “I’ll tell you the truth, I’ve been lying since the beginning of this third audition, she says. Indeed, things happened in accordance with the statements of Karine Le Marchand. I did tell him that I was going to have to buy the photos for 3,000 euros during a conversation before our lunch on February 24, 2020. “During lunch, she actually gave me 1,300 euros, or 1,600 euros from memory, I have a doubt because she had only been able to withdraw this sum from the distributor, she continues. Everything is correct in Karine Le Marchand’s statements.”
Michèle Marchand is finally indicted, on August 12, 2021, for “concealment of breach of professional secrecy” and “extortion of funds”. Contacted by “Complément d’Enquête”, his lawyer, Maître Caroline Toby, did not respond to our questions on Thursday, January 13. Karine Le Marchand is a civil party in this case and ensures that she wants to go to the end of this procedure. “These methods are absolutely unacceptable, enough is enough,” she concludes.
“Mimi” Marchand has also been prosecuted since the beginning of June for her involvement in the resounding interview, broadcast in mid-November by BFMTV and Paris Match, by Ziad Takieddine, during which the sulphurous intermediary withdrew his accusations against Nicolas Sarkozy. The magistrates of the financial center of the Paris court suspect that this retraction could have been bought or at least remotely guided in a fraudulent way.