@HiddenCash treasure hunt barred in Paris: police

New York, New York, UNITED STATES: Kurt Dee from Queens, New York, finds a envelope with money as part of the @HiddenCash scavenger hunt on June 14, 2014 in New Yorks Central Park. The frenzied scavenger hunt for large sums of cash hidden in public hit New York on Saturday, with $2,000 in envelopes stashed across Central Park and Brooklyn. The money comes from wealthy real estate investor Jason Buzi and a group of anonymous friends and began the hunts in San Francisco. A man calling himself, Thierry, spoke to AFP as he hid $1,000 in Central Park before setting out to drop another $1,000 in Brooklyn. Jason was thinking about doing something a little bit different, more fun -- maybe smaller quantities that wont change anyones life, or maybe it will in a different way, depends what they do with it Thierry said. AFP PHOTO/Timothy A. Clary

June 26, 2014
PARIS (AFP) - American philanthropist Jason Buzi will not be allowed to stage his quirky @Hidden Cash treasure hunt in Paris at the weekend, police said Wednesday.

"The distribution of money in public is forbidden by French criminal law" and punishable by six months in jail and a 30,000 euro ($40,000) fine, police said in a letter to Buzi, a wealthy real estate investor.

The Internet-driven treasure hunts have participants track down the envelopes using clues posted on Twitter with the handle @HiddenCash.

The Paris police recalled a similar event in the French capital in 2009, staged by a private company, that led to "public disorder" after it had to be called off at the last minute.

@HiddenCash hunts have taken place in US cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, Houston and Mexico City, and the Paris edition had been set for Saturday.

Buzi and a group of anonymous friends, who have given to charity in the past, came up with the treasure hunts as something a bit more fun.

One treasure hunt has already taken place in London and another is planned in Madrid.