Just a few blocks away from the trendy Marais district in Paris, businessman Cédric Naudon captivated the media and the elite with an extravagant promise: to buy an entire street and transform it into a global showcase for French luxury, gastronomy, art, and design. Bankers, politicians, star chefs, journalists, and investors all rushed to take part in what appeared to be one of the most ambitious culinary projects in the capital. 

But behind the dream lay a spectacular deception. A Very French Scam uncovers how Naudon — a self-proclaimed financier and master illusionist — managed to fool some of the most influential figures in France while millions of euros in public and private money disappeared. An investigation into a remarkable fraud where the fantasy of Parisian gastronomy turned into a national scandal.