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Former French intelligence boss convicted in influencing peddling case involving luxury brand company LVMH

March 8, 2025 GOVERNMENT 0

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ER Editor: So billionaire owner Bernard Arnault of LMVH luxury brand line had used a former French intelligence chief, Bernard Squarcini, to do his bidding against competitors and critics alike, often using illegal means. This over several years, when he was first intelligence boss and then a private consultant for Arnault. Arnault has not faced repercussions for this, but several others have. Why not?

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A reminder that Arnault has been in the flattering crosshairs of Trump and may no longer be around given the suspected nature of his business practices and sourcing of his products (see EO 13818). Yet you can find a version of Arnault recently touting Trump and suggesting he may relocate to the US. Arnault has been showcased in ostensibly flattering ways by Trump over several years, being the only French person to be invited to his inauguration, for example (which was a who’s who of some very questionable people, as are his current cabinet choices). Arnault was also present at the opening of the new Notre Dame Cathedral. He’s been put in the spotlight, in other words. Some perspective —

An Epstein reminder of that same finger point —

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We also recommend FT reporting on Squarcini’s trial and conviction —

Bernard Squarcini’s conviction came after a complex investigation that took more than a decade. It involved events that took place when he headed France’s intelligence service between 2008 and 2012, and when he worked as a private security contractor for LVMH, which is controlled by billionaire Bernard Arnault, between 2013 and 2016 .

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One part of the charges concerned an elaborate scheme to spy on journalist-turned-MP François Ruffin and his activist group Fakir, while Ruffin was making a documentary about LVMH and its boss. In another, Squarcini allegedly sent intelligence agents to uncover a man who wanted to blackmail Arnault in 2008. Another section involved Squarcini using contacts in the justice system to access confidential information about an investigation into LVMH’s in 2010 for failing to properly to disclose its stakebuilding in rival Hermès. Hermes ultimately fended off the attempted takeover, and LVMH was fined €8mn by financial prosecutors in 2013.

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Squarcini’s sentence largely reflected the penalty asked for by prosecutors at the start of the trial. In nearly three hours of testimony during the weeks-long trial at the end of last year, Arnault said he had no knowledge of attempts by Squarcini and his collaborators to infiltrate and spy on Ruffin’s organisation, or to obtain other privileged information for LVMH.

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Bernard Squarcini was found guilty of organizing a bizarre illegal surveillance operation on a gadfly journalist at the request of the luxury company, among other offenses.

SEGOLENE LE STRADIC and LIZ ALDERMAN for NEW YORK TIMES

A Paris court on Friday found France’s former intelligence chief, Bernard Squarcini, guilty of using public resources to benefit the French luxury giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton in a trial that shed light on how the company sought to shield its public image for years.

A man wearing a dark suit jacket and pants. A person holding up a news microphone is nearby.
Bernard Squarcini, France’s former intelligence chief, in Paris in 2017.Credit…Eliot Blondet/SIPA, via Associated Press

Mr. Squarcini, who oversaw France’s spy agency from 2008 to 2012, was hired as a security consultant by LVMH upon leaving his government post. The court ruled that he had abused his power several times to assist the company. It gave him a four-year prison sentence, with two years under house arrest and two years suspended, and ordered him to pay a fine of 200,000 euros, or about 217,000 dollars. His lawyer said he would appeal the ruling.

Among other things, the court found Mr. Squarcini complicit in a bizarre illegal surveillance operation that LVMH conducted on François Ruffin, a gadfly French journalist who began making an unflattering documentary in 2012 about the company and its chief executive, the French billionaire Bernard Arnault. (ER: Ruffin is now an MP on the left side of the political spectrum.)

Though the company was not among the defendants, the two-week trial took an unexpected turn in November when the head judge requested Mr. Arnault to testify as a witness.

In the packed Paris courtroom, the corporate magnate portrayed himself as a successful business leader who had labored to turn LVMH into the world’s top luxury conglomerate, with 75 brands, including Louis Vuitton and Dior, and 200,000 employees worldwide. When Mr. Arnault first took over the company in the 1980s, it had just 10,000 employees.

He denied ever knowing of any illegal surveillance.

Mr. Squarcini was tried alongside nine other defendants — mostly civil servants, police officers and consultants. Two of them were found not guilty.

As the main defendant in the case, Mr. Squarcini was convicted of myriad offenses, including mishandling classified information and complicity in the unauthorized activity of a private investigator. He was found not guilty on a range of other charges.

In its verdict, the court said Mr. Squarcini had, in particular, “misappropriated state resources in order to satisfy the clandestine concerns” of his key client, LVMH. The court added that Mr. Squarcini had “designed and validated a system of close surveillance” of Mr. Ruffin and a satirical publication that he headed, Fakir, whose staff members helped make the film, “Merci Patron,” which portrayed Mr. Arnault as a symbol of corporate greed.

CONTINUE READING HERE

Featured image source, Arnault: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-21/bernard-arnault-places-538-million-bet-on-booming-lvmh-stock

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