Virtuoso behind violin scam hangs himself
Published: 01 November, 2008, 08:02
A Russian virtuoso violinist, who was arrested in Italy on Friday on suspicion of fraud, has hanged himself. Sixty-four-year-old Sergey Dyachenko was suspected of selling his students fake 18th-century violins.
Police were investigating allegations that Dyachenko had sold one of his students ‘an antique violin’ for 650,000 euros. The violin was later valued at 3,000 euros.
The student said he’d earlier agreed to buy a second violin from Dyachenko for 120,000 euros. They agreed to delay payment. Police arrested Dyachenko as his student was handing over the cash.
Detectives were also investigating allegations surrounding the sale of other instruments by the virtuoso violinist, who had Italian citizenship.
Dyachenko confessed that he'd bought some of the instruments at a flea market in Rome. However, when reselling them to his students, he demanded sky-high prices.
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