Billionaire Bernard Arnault Is Accused Of Money Laundering

Billionaire, CEO and chairman of the world’s largest luxury goods company, Bernard Arnault has hit back at allegations of money laundering, after the Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed it is investigating financial transactions between Arnault and Russian oligarch Nikolai Sarkisov.

Officials at the investigator’s office say, a preliminary investigations had been in progress since 2022 and that a report from France’s Tracfin financial intelligence unit connecting with an Alpine real estate purchase by Sarkisov and “likely to characterize acts of money laundering” had been brought to its attention.

Representatives for both Arnault and Europe’s richest man, and Sarkisov, a senior chief at Russian insurance agency RESO-Garantia, have passionately denied any bad behavior.

Fahad Ghaffar Was ‘Cool’ With Billionaire John Paulson. Now, It’s A Legal Battle

However, a preliminary investigation doesn’t justify a crime has been perpetrated. In a proclamation, Arnault’s lawyer, Jacqueline Laffont, said the claims were “absurd and unfounded.”

“The transaction that allowed for the expansion of the Hotel Cheval Blanc in Courchevel is perfectly known and was conducted in accordance with the law and with legal support. The investigation, seemingly under way, will demonstrate these facts,” she said in an emailed statement over the weekend.

“Furthermore, who could seriously imagine that Bernard Arnault, who has developed over the past 40 years the leading French and European company, would pursue money laundering to expand a hotel? I believe the senseless nature of these allegations will be recognized by all.”

In the mean time, French paper Le Monde also detailed, refering to Tracfin, that Sarkisov procured property in the French ski resort of Courchevel using a loan from one of Arnault’s organizations.

RESO-Garantia Representative Chief Igor Ivanov revealed in an interview that, neither the organization, nor Nikolai Sarkisov actually, had been associated with the transaction, and that Sarkisov and Arnault had never met.

“The transaction was managed by a small investment unit which invests professionally in European real estate. It consisted of acquiring flats in an old building in Courchevel from various private owners, with the view to sell them later to a developer once the entire building was bought out,” Ivanov said in an email.

“All transactions were carried out by French companies, through French notaries by French lawyers on all sides. This was a usual real estate deal.”

CNBC