France’s richest man, LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, testified on Thursday in a trial spreading the influence of the former head of France’s domestic intelligence agency, denying anything about an alleged plan to protect the luxury brand group. denied knowledge of.
Bernard Squarcini, the former head of DCRI Security Services (since renamed DGSI), is one of 10 people on trial and is accused of obtaining private interests, including obtaining confidential information on behalf of LVMH. He is charged with using security personnel for the purpose of
Squarcini faces 11 charges at the Paris Criminal Court, including misappropriation of influence, misuse of public funds and leaking national security information.
“I am here as a witness, just a witness, and I would like to point out that my charges have not been considered at all by the investigating judge,” Arnault said in his opening statement.
The billionaire added that he had “no knowledge” of the alleged scheme.
The charges relate to both the period in which Mr. Squarcini led DCRI from 2008 to 2012 and the period in which he returned to the private sector, primarily working as a consultant at LVMH.
In 2008, DCRI officers were sent to identify a blackmailer targeting Arnault, investigators said.
Other charges relate to espionage against then-journalist François Ruffin, now a prominent left-wing lawmaker, and Fakir, a left-wing newspaper he founded between 2013 and 2016.
Before the 2017 parliamentary elections, Ruffin made the satirical film “Merci Patron” (“Thank You Boss”) about Arnault, which won him the César Award, the French film equivalent of the Oscar.
Mr. Ruffin, whose lawyers requested Mr. Arnault’s testimony, said the process was “decapitated” because LVMH itself was not participating in the trial.
The company settled the case in 2021 and paid a settlement of 10 million euros. Mr. Arnault was questioned by an investigating judge, but neither he nor LVMH were brought to trial.
At the time, LVMH was concerned about the activities of Mr. Ruffin, who was planning to disrupt the shareholder meeting.
But Arnault claimed that the agreement with the investigating judge stated that “the group does not accept any liability” and said the deal was “suggested” by the judge.
Mr Arnault told the court that agreeing to the deal was a matter of “avoiding the ensuing media circus”.
He accused Ruffin of trying to use this trial for personal, media, political, and even commercial reasons.
Mr. Arnault regularly competes with the likes of Elon Musk to be the world’s richest man, and together with his family, he has a fortune of $158.6 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
