By
Reuters
Revealed
November 28, 2024
LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault informed a Paris court docket on Thursday he did not learn about allegedly unlawful surveillance ordered by a trusted affiliate nearly a decade in the past, as he testified on the trial of a former French spy chief.
Bernard Squarcini, who headed France’s home safety providers from 2008 to 2012, was later employed by luxurious items large LVMH as a safety marketing consultant.He’s accused of illegally accumulating info on non-public people and violating privateness legal guidelines whereas serving to the corporate battle counterfeits and monitor left-wing activists planning to focus on the corporate with protests.Attorneys for Squarcini mentioned he would plead not responsible.
Arnault, one of many world’s richest individuals, shouldn’t be accused of any wrongdoing within the trial. LVMH paid a €10 million ($10.5 million) settlement in 2021 to shut a legal probe into the corporate’s function within the case.
However the case has forged gentle on the lengths to which the corporate has allegedly gone to guard its picture. LVMH declined to touch upon the case and Arnault’s lawyer didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Replying to prosecution questions on Thursday, Arnault mentioned he was unaware of actions taken by Pierre Gode, his longtime right-hand man at LVMH who died in 2018. He has beforehand mentioned that Gode employed Squarcini.
“It’s not for me to judge what Mr Gode could have done. I was absolutely not aware,” he informed a full courtroom, including that the corporate has a transparent coverage of following the legislation.”I imagine he acted according to the (company’s) rules,” he mentioned.
The 2-week trial has thrust Arnault into the highlight at a time when his sprawling luxurious empire is grappling with a downturn within the trade and a reshuffling of prime administration to make means for his kids.Eldest son Antoine Arnault and two different executives have been in court docket watching the testimony.
LVMH paid Squarcini’s consulting agency Kyrnos €2.2 million for providers together with allegedly looking out the background of people suspected of counterfeiting luxurious items.
Squarcini additionally allegedly monitored Francois Ruffin, a French activist who’s presently a politician, and members of his left-wing publication Fakir as they deliberate to disrupt an LVMH shareholder assembly and ready their satirical, documentary movie “Merci Patron”.
The movie, which received the French Cesar award for finest documentary in 2017, follows members of the family that misplaced their jobs at a provider to LVMH.
Requested about Ruffin in court docket, Arnault mentioned he watched the movie and located it “very funny”.
© Thomson Reuters 2024 All rights reserved.
