Hermès Celebrates Bust Of Counterfeit Birkin Ring Aided By Actual Employees

Hermes Celebrates Huge Counterfeit Bag Bust

'Real Housewife' Taylor Armstrong recently got busted for owning several fake Birkin bags --and now tons more faux-Hermès bags will be toast, thanks to an international bust on Birkin couterfeiters.

Women's Wear Daily reports that Hermès International is celebrating after French national police dismantled an international crime ring that produced counterfeit versions of several of its bags. Big deal, right? Happens all the time? Well, here's the kicker: some of the accomplices in the crime ring were actual Hermès employees.

A dozen people were reportedly arrested in Paris on Thursday in conjunction with the bust, where police discovered secret workshops where leather sheets were whipped into purses that mimicked the devastatingly-expensive Hermes totes. A lawyer estimated the sales of one branch of the ring at 18 million euros.

Hermès employees reportedly fired two employees as a result of the probe, but the company believes that several current members of staff could also be involved in the insider job.

The bust comes on the heels of both a recent Birkin controversy -- photographer Tyler Shields and his partner-in-crime Francesca Eastwood drew ire for destroying an allegedly-real Birkin for a photo shoot -- and a larger trend of counterfeit busting, as large companies are winning big bucks in crime ring breakups. Burberry was recently awarded $100 million in a counterfeit lawsuit; police in New Jersey also cracked down on a ring that produced fake UGG boots.

To read more click over to WWD.

See some celebs with their (presumably authentic) Birkins below!

Kim Kardashian, March 2012

Celebrities With Hermes Bags

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