Sergei Dyachenko, 64, who had Italian citizenship, confessed to police that he had bought violins at a flea market in Rome and sold at hundreds of times their true value to his students, the online version of the Il Giornale daily reported.
The scam came to light when one of Dyachenko's students bought a violin for 650,000 euros ($830,000) from his teacher, who claimed the instrument was made in Italy in 1784. However, experts found that the violin was a much newer German model, and worth only 3,000 euros ($3,800).
Police caught Dyachenko after his student came to pay 120,000 euros ($150,000) for a second violin.
The teacher was put under house arrest. He went to bed as normal on Friday, and his wife found him dead during the night.
