He told friends – who told the French edition of Vanity Fair – that he was on first-name terms with his idol, the Australian singer Kylie Minogue, then partner to the French actor Olivier Martinez, one of his clients.
Much of the borrowed money has since been paid back, but others told investigators they are still owed substantial sums.
On Monday, Levesque went on trial accused of “abuse of confidence”, fraud and falsifying documents after a French actor reported him to investigators, who accused him of cheating clients out of up to €5m.
To the directors and celebrities who came to him for money to fund their projects, Frédéric Levesque was clever, charming, intelligent and the man who never said non.