crown jewels

PARIS—French authorities said they’ve detained four more people in connection to the Louvre heist, including a man suspected of being the only thief to remain at large after purloining the nation’s crown jewels.

His tenure followed a nearly two-decade tumultuous stretch for the insurance conglomerate that included near bankruptcy, multiple management changes and the selling off of crown jewels to repay one of the U.S. government’s biggest bailouts.

Barely 24 hours had passed since thieves had broken into the Louvre Museum and stolen France’s crown jewels when the mayor of Langres, a walled medieval town in Eastern France, received a troubling phone call.

"Let no-one be mistaken: the theft of the crown jewels is a resounding wake-up call," said the court's president, Pierre Moscovici.

The auditor released its 153-page report after a team of thieves used low-tech methods to break into the museum last month and steal France’s crown jewels, drawing attention to the Louvre’s porous security.