PARIS — The Paris prosecutors office on Thursday said that nine people were being detained as part of an investigation into a suspected decade-long, 10 million euro ($11.8 million) ticket fraud scheme at the Louvre, the world’s most visited museum.

The arrests took place on Tuesday as part of a judicial investigation opened after the Louvre filed a complaint in December 2024, the prosecutors’ office said.

The loss for the museum over the past decade is estimated to exceed 10 million euros ($11.8 million), it said.

Those detained include two Louvre employees, several tour guides and one person suspected of being the mastermind, according to the prosecutors’ office.

The museum alerted investigators about the frequent presence of two Chinese tour guides suspected of bringing groups of Chinese tourists into the museum by fraudulently reusing the same tickets multiple times for different visitors. Other guides were later suspected of similar practices.

The prosecutors’ office said surveillance and wiretaps confirmed repeated ticket reuse and an apparent strategy of splitting up tour groups to avoid paying the required “speaking fee” imposed on guides. The investigation also pointed to suspected accomplices within the Louvre, with guides allegedly paying them cash in exchange for avoiding ticket checks, it said.

A formal judicial investigation was opened in June last year on charges including organized fraud, money laundering, corruption, aiding illegal entry in the country as part of an organized group, and the use of forged administrative documents.

Investigators believe the network may have brought in up to 20 tour groups a day over the past decade.

Suspects are believed to have invested some of the money in real estate in France and Dubai. Authorities have seized more than 957,000 euros ($1.13 million) in cash, including 67,000 euros ($79,459) in foreign currency, as well as 486,000 euros ($576,374) from bank accounts.

The prosecutors’ office mentioned a similar ticket fraud is also suspected to have taken place at the Palace of Versailles, without providing further details.

In October, the crown jewels robbery at the Louvre draw worldwide attention to the museum, after a team of four people broke in through a window during visiting hours and fled with an estimated 88 million euros ($104 million) worth of treasures. Authorities have arrested several suspects in that case, but the stolen items remain missing.

The top lawyer at Goldman Sachs, Kathy Ruemmler, said Thursday that she would leave the prestigious Wall Street firm amid controversy over her email correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein, which the Justice Department disclosed in recent weeks.

In an interview with The Financial Times, Ruemmler said: “I made the determination that the media attention on me, relating to my prior work as a defence attorney, was becoming a distraction.”

Serving as a close adviser to Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Ruemmler has drawn intense scrutiny for weeks as the Justice Department dumped millions of pages of files related to Epstein, the convicted sex trafficker.

“Throughout her tenure, Kathy has been an extraordinary general counsel, and we are grateful for her contributions and sound advice on a wide range of consequential legal matters for the firm,” Solomon said in a statement. “As one of the most accomplished professionals in her field, Kathy has also been a mentor and friend to many of our people, and she will be missed. I accepted her resignation, and I respect her decision.”

Ruemmler was White House counsel in the Obama administration.

In the emails, Ruemmler exchanged dozens of friendly notes with Epstein for years, including after he was convicted.

In 2015, Epstein requested legal advice in one email exchange.

“Well, I adore him. It’s like having another older brother!” Ruemmler wrote of Epstein in another email.

“Confirm for Hermes bag for Kathy!” Epstein’s longtime assistant wrote in another email in 2016, referring to Ruemmler. Other emails show Ruemmler calling Epstein “sweetie” and thanking “Uncle Jeffrey.”

Ruemmler was also, at one point, listed as a backup executor on Epstein’s will, although she never served any executor role. Her name was removed before Epstein died. She has maintained that she was friendly with Epstein only in the context of being a criminal defense attorney and has said she regrets ever having known him.

On Friday, a spokeswoman for Ruemmler told The Wall Street Journal: “These documents are consistent with what Ms. Ruemmler has repeatedly said: She knew Epstein when she was a criminal defense attorney and shared a client with him.”

The Journal also reported last week that after Epstein was arrested in 2019, one of the first people he called was Ruemmler.

Despite the scrutiny, Goldman Sachs and Solomon stood by Ruemmler. Goldman has said she disclosed her past dealings with Epstein when she was hired in 2020.

Ruemmler is the latest in a wave of high-profile people leaving key business and government roles because of the Epstein files.

On Feb. 4, Brad Karp, the chairman of the law firm Paul Weiss, stepped back from that position. He, too, had exchanged many emails with Epstein over multiple years.

On Sunday, Morgan McSweeney, chief of staff to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, resigned because of the fallout from his having recommended that Starmer appoint Peter Mandelson as the U.K. ambassador to the United States. Mandelson appears repeatedly in the Epstein files.

Mandelson himself was fired as the U.K. envoy to the U.S. in September over Epstein-related revelations.