A French literature professor has come under criminal investigation after allegedly inventing an international gold medal of philology described as equivalent to a Nobel Prize and awarding it to himself.
Florent Montaclair, 55, a lecturer at the prestigious Marie and Louis Pasteur University in the city of Besancon, in the French department of Doubs, is now being investigated after prosecutors opened a preliminary probe on 3rd February in Montbeliard, also in Doubs.
The Montbeliard public prosecutor, Paul-Edouard Lallois, said the investigation concerned alleged forgery, use of forgery, fraud and usurpation of a title.
Montaclair, reportedly a Jules Verne expert, had claimed since 2016 that he received the 'Gold Medal of Philology' from the so-called 'International Society of Philology', presenting it as the equivalent of a Nobel Prize in language science.
Florent Montaclair presents US linguist Noam Chomsky with gold medal in Paris on 30 November, 2016. Montaclair has been accused of fabricating the award. Note: Photo is a screenshot of a video. (Newsflash)
He is said to have received the medal at the Assemblee Nationale, the National Assembly, which is France's lower house, from its then president, Claude Bartolone, at the Palais Bourbon, in the presence of several scientists.
The medal’s existence was first publicly questioned in 2019 by Romanian journalists after a philologist from Bucharest, Eugen Simion, was named as a recipient in 2018. There were reportedly no other recipients after him.
The society’s website listed other alleged laureates including the late Italian author Umberto Eco and American intellectual Noam Chomsky, who told Romanian journalists in 2019 that he did “not remember” receiving the award.
Investigators established that no internationally recognised Gold Medal of Philology existed and that the supposed society relied on a “minimalist” website.
Placed in police custody, Montaclair gave what the prosecutor described as “rather convoluted” explanations and admitted ordering the medal from a French jeweller for EUR 250 (GBP 214), having it delivered to a cultural association in Besancon registered at his parents’ address.
He reportedly denied any criminal wrongdoing, arguing that creating a medal without value was not illegal and rejecting comparisons with the Nobel Prize.
The prosecutor said fraud could be established if the medal influenced his career and noted that the only confirmed benefit so far was receiving the genuine medal of honour of the city of Montbeliard.
The location where the alleged philological institutions are supposed to be located in the United States. Florent Montaclair was accused of fabricating an award from the supposed institutions. Note: Photo is a screenshot. (Google Street View/Newsflash)
The probe also concerns a purported doctorate obtained in 2015 from the alleged University of Philology and Education in Lewes, Delaware, in the US, whose existence is in doubt, according to French media.
In 2018, the French Ministry of Higher Education refused to recognise that diploma when he applied to become a university professor, and an earlier judicial procedure later stalled.
University president Hugues Daussy said he became aware of the inconsistencies in May 2025 and alerted prosecutors in July.
He said: “If there had been an international distinction equivalent to a Fields Medal or a Nobel Prize it would have made considerable noise nationally and internationally, but there was nothing.”
He added: “If everything that is being said is true, it is a veritable novel. I find it staggering.”
The university imposed a disciplinary sanction for “alleged breach of ethical obligations and principles of scientific integrity”, without specifying its nature.
Montaclair's lawyer, Jean-Baptiste Euvrard, said: “As things stand, Mr Montaclair is being prosecuted for nothing. He is neither charged nor under formal investigation,” and said he would contest the sanction.
The offences under investigation carry a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.
(Joe Golder/Newsflash)