Nicolas Rey loses a new trial against the deceased journalist, whose texts he had stolen and betrayed the friendship

“It’s a victory with a bitter taste,” laments Vincent Tolédano, lawyer for journalist Alexandre Comte. In a judgment handed down on Wednesday, the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed the conviction of the writer Nicolas Rey, increasing the compensation for moral damage to 15,000 euros. But the judgment, which comes almost four years after the first judgment, was mainly delivered a month after the disappearance of Alexandre Comte, who died on March 2 at the age of 40. It is also a sadly commonplace story in the world of publishing which no longer counts ghostwriters, plagiarism, counterfeits and confidentiality agreements casting a modest veil over these manners.

In this case, the story begins ten years ago and happily. Alexandre Comte, journalist at Inrocks, meets Nicolas Rey, then a very prominent author, for an interview. The flow passes and the two men become friends. In spring 2017, Nicolas Rey published a collection of short stories with La Martinière in which Alexandre Comte recognizes four of his texts. An agreement is concluded between the publisher and the injured journalist who thereby waives prosecution for counterfeiting. Agreement that everyone had to keep “under the most absolute silence”.

Less than a year later, Nicolas Rey published, Au Diable Vauvert this time, a novel in which he “confess everything”. The old Flore prize has lost its splendor. In these few pages, as on TV or radio sets, he tells how he cheated all his life: at the baccalaureate, by passing his license, by writing a collection of short stories commissioned by his publisher... “The only problem , is that I am a writer who can no longer write. Not a single line anymore. Nothing." Alexandre Comte recognizes himself and threatens prosecution for defamation and invasion of privacy. A few days after the release, a new agreement was concluded, still confidential, in which the journalist abandoned any idea of ​​prosecution for defamation and invasion of privacy while demanding the perfect discretion of the two men on their story and what could have happened to them. oppose. But if Alexandre Comte had still doubted that he was a ridiculous plagiarizer kept in silence, Nicolas Rey tells on the radio about the counterfeiting, the dispute, the past arrangements. A banally sordid story that became fodder for a novel. Better yet, the perfect pitch for its promotion.

Seized by Alexandre Comte for termination of the memorandum of understanding, the Paris judicial court ruled in favor of the journalist, in July 2020, granting the plaintiff 10,000 euros in compensation for moral damage. Nicolas Rey appealed this judgment. “Alexandre Comte has been waiting since this date for justice to finally be done to him,” Vincent Tolédano, his counsel, testifies today. Unfortunately, he will not benefit from this late victory, the court of appeal having taken four years to confirm the conviction of the friend who had betrayed him: he died on March 2, at the age of 40, in his sleep. »