Arnaud Lagardère, CEO of the eponymous group, indicted for misuse of company belongings | EUROtoday

Published on : 04/29/2024 – 11:13Modified : 04/29/2024 – 11:20 p.m.

4 minutes

Suspected of getting drawn on the accounts of his firms to finance his way of life and private bills for a number of years, Arnaud Lagardère, CEO of the eponymous French group, was indicted on Monday April 29, following an investigation. day of interrogation by monetary investigating judges.

The 63-year-old businessman was indicted for “dissemination of false or misleading information, vote buying, misuse of corporate assets and abuse of power and non-filing of accounts”, the Agency was informed. France-Presse (AFP) a judicial supply. “He was placed under judicial supervision with a ban on management and the obligation to provide a bond of 200,000 euros.”

Arnaud Lagardère arrived shortly after 9 a.m. on the Paris court docket. He got here out round 7:30 p.m. along with his attorneys Sébastien Schapira and Dimitri Grémont, AFP famous. His protection didn’t reply to requests from AFP.

He was questioned in a judicial investigation opened by the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) in April 2021 on the idea of a criticism from the Amber Capital fund, a report from the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) in addition to a report from the High Council of Auditors (H3C, now the High Audit Authority, H2A), in keeping with the identical supply.

Accounting irregularities regarding Arnaud Lagardère's private firms

The acts had been dedicated between April 2009 and December 2022.

Arnaud Lagardère, who inherited the empire constructed by his father, Jean-Luc Lagardère, upon his dying in 2003, is suspected of getting “financed his lifestyle and personal expenses by drawing on the funds of Lagardère companies SAS and Lagardère” (LCM), detailed the judicial supply.

For a number of years, these firms “would have notably taken charge of expenses linked to the buildings he occupies as well as an inheritance debt and numerous current account advances”, she added.

In November 2019, the Letter (previously Letter A) revealed that Arnaud Lagardère refused to publish the accounts of his private holding firm Lagardère Capital & Management (LCM), in order to not “make public his personal financial situation, in particular its level debt”.

“On a number of events”, according to the Letter, the group's shares held by Arnaud Lagardère reached a value lower than that of its debt, “creating a fragile monetary state of affairs vis-à-vis collectors”.

According to a source close to the case, the case is based on accounting irregularities which remained within the scope of Arnaud Lagardère's personal companies and which did not result in financial damage for the Lagardère group (media, publishing, distribution in train stations and airports).

A squandered inheritance

Former deputy general manager Pierre Leroy, pillar of the group, was indicted on April 10 for “vote shopping for, complicity in abuse of company belongings and presentation of inaccurate annual accounts” in particular, indicated the judicial source, confirming partial information from Liberation. Asked by AFP, his lawyer Céline Lasek did not wish to react.

Two auditors were indicted in March for complicity in misuse of corporate assets.

One, also prosecuted for presentation of inaccurate accounts and non-disclosure of criminal facts, was struck off by the H3C in April 2023 for “having licensed, with out reservation” the accounts from 2014 to 2018 despite “vital anomalies”, in keeping with the choice consulted by AFP.

He contests his removing. “He considers that he did his job in accordance with the rules. He committed no ethical or, a fortiori, criminal fault,” his lawyer Frédérique Baulieu informed AFP.

The police officer of the audit workplace launched an investigation on the finish of 2019 and notably revealed 202 million euros in irregular monetary flows between 2014 and 2018, together with 42 million euros in present accounts debited from two actual property firms (SCI), 32 million euros in inheritance debt and 6 million euros in present account debit from Arnaud Lagardère.

In the last decade following the dying of Jean-Luc Lagardère, his inheritor fell into debt, offered the EADS aerospace department and offered a number of media retailers. In 2021, he renounced share sponsorship, a standing created by his father which allowed them each successively to guide the Lagardère group with lower than 10% of the capital, thus precipitating the dismantling of the household empire.

In November 2023, the Bolloré household and its media and publishing large, Vivendi, took management of the Lagardère group.

With AFP