WhatsApp founder, Jan Koum, has accused a renowned French interior designer of fraud for ripping off millions from him while renovating his luxury homes in Malibu and St. Barts and two superyachts.

 

 

 

In explosive court documents filed in federal court in Manhattan, the billionaire tech entrepreneur alleged that French designer Remi Tessier ‘brazenly exploited’ their 10-year working relationship by supplying fake luxury goods and inflating prices on items by 10 to 20 percent, as part of a ‘pattern of predation’.

 

 

 

 

Koum, 48, accuses Tessier of charging him eye-watering markups for upscale home furnishings and goods, including €19,550 ($22,800) for a luxury chair which would have cost €12,400 ($14,500) – an 81 percent hike.

 

 

 

 

He claims he was also charged €1,731 ($2,027.67) for an 84-piece set of glassware that was actually worth €1,079.84 ($1,264.98).

 

 

 

Tessier also allegedly supplied cheap or knock-off versions of items, such as a set of pashmina carpets for €642,000 ($751,000) which turned out to be ‘fakes’ made of ‘cheap synthetic materials’ that were worth half the price.

 

 

 

Koum accuses the Paris-based designer of keeping him in the dark during the process and turning their decade-long relationship into a ‘brazen, sprawling fraud.’

 

 

 

He says he also plans to bring a criminal fraud case against Tessier in France.

 

 

 

The court documents seek ‘evidence for use in a foreign preceding’ to find information from the American merchants involved.

 

 

 

The filing names Tessier and his company Dernier Etage SARL, describing a giant betrayal by the designer, a friend of famed art dealer Larry Gagosian who helped design galleries

for him in Paris and Switzerland.