Lefranc received a payment of 350,000 francs

A deposit of 350,000 francs was made on Lefranc’s account at the Banque de France. Its provenance was unknown. The sum was the same as that covering the Lefranc sale of 22 Schloss paintings to Buitenweg. But Lefranc maintained under questioning that the sum was for a painting from the Bonn collection, also stored at Chambon. He could not recall to whom it was sold. It turns out that the payment was traced back to the “Banque pour l’Amérique du Sud”, at 12, rue Halévy, Paris, but the inspectors were unable to identify its source.