A year after their conviction for abuse of weakness against Liliane Bettencourt, heiress of the wealthy cosmetics group L’Oreal, four of the ten defendants tried at first instance back to Bordeaux on the benches of the Court of Appeal for a retrial , from May 10 to 27
One of the two notaries in question, Jean-Michel Normand, charged with “complicity to abuse of weakness” and had appealed his sentence to twelve months in prison suspended sentence and 100,000 euro fine, finally withdrew his appeal just days before the trial began.
Meanwhile, the “basis of an agreement civil” between the notary and the Bettencourt family “were considered” subject to acceptance of the withdrawal by the prosecution, have we learned Sunday source close to the matter.
Eight men were convicted last year in Bordeaux in the first instance for having abused between 2006 and 2011, the vulnerability of Liliane Bettencourt, now aged 93, suffering from the disease of Alzheimer and placed under guardianship.
Two were finally acquitted: former Minister Eric Woerth, who was also treasurer of the UMP (now Republicans), and Alain Thurin, former nurse of the old lady
.
in addition to Jean-Michel Normand, two others declined to appeal, and a third died recently.
Only four former relatives or collaborators of the billionaire, including his whimsical “confident”, François photographer -Marie Banier, thus appearing before the Court of appeal of Bordeaux, where the sprawling Bettencourt case was disoriented in 2010.
François-Marie Banier, 68, and his companion Martin d’Orgeval, 42 years, vehemently deny abusing the vulnerability of Liliane Bettencourt to obtain life insurance contracts, gifts and artwork, amounted to hundreds of millions of euros.
at first instance, the court had yet ruled that the photographer was exercising “a particularly destructive grip on this old victim in a particularly vulnerable position,” helped by his companion. Worse, according to the judgment, François-Marie Banier had planned long “his criminal project”, breaking family ties to the old lady to better isolate and satisfy “bulimia ownership” of his fortune.
for these facts, François-Marie Banier was sentenced to the heaviest sentence: three years in prison, with six months suspended, fined 350,000 euros and the obligation to pay the billionaire more than 158 million euros in damages. Martin d’Orgeval was sentenced to 18 months suspended sentence and a fine of 150,000 euros
-. One death and transactions –
Other “close” to the wealthy heiress his fortune former manager, Patrice de Maistre, 67, was sentenced to 30 months in prison, 12 of which were suspended, fined 250,000 euros and more than 12 million euros in damages. But the financial waived appeal after concluding a transaction with the Bettencourt family.
sentenced to the same punishment (and 2.9 million in damages), his successor, the lawyer Pascal Wilhelm, 54, has however appealed and is retried in Bordeaux. Like the notary Patrice Bonduelle, 53, charged with “complicity”.
Carlos Cassina Vejarano, 68, former manager of the Seychelles island of Bettencourt, had also appealed, but it is recently deceased. Absent in the first instance, it had nevertheless been sentenced to the prison and a heavy fine.
Struck by a fine of 250,000 euros, the entrepreneur Stephane Courbit, 51, has decided not to appeal. Before the first trial, he had agreed with Bettencourt to return the 140 million euros invested by the billionaire in its activities.
The legal saga was triggered in December 2007 by a complaint for “abuse weakness “filed by the daughter of the billionaire, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers, civil party to the case.
The file was then taken to state affair paces after the broadcast of clandestine recordings made in the office of Liliane Bettencourt by her butler, Pascal Bonnefoy, that revealed tax evasion a the heritage of the Bettencourt family and suggested political interference from the Elysee in the judicial process. Former President Nicolas Sarkozy has finally received a non-place.
afp
No comments:
Post a Comment