#White-collar crime:
Kiabi victim of a “large-scale sophisticated financial fraud” in July
The management of Agence France-Presse (AFP) confirmed that Kiabi was the victim of a “sophisticated large-scale financial fraud” in July 2024, estimated at 100 million euros. According to Franceinfo, a former treasurer of the brand was arrested in August 2024 and indicted for fraud and money laundering in an organized group by an investigating judge. The “bounce accounts technique”, which involves transferring money through multiple accounts to prevent traceability, was used in the fraud. Kiabi’s management has indicated trusting the judicial and police authorities involved and does not make any reference to the amount of the fraud. > Read article
Parliamentary assistants case: Marine Le Pen and the RN face justice
On 30 September 2024, the trial for embezzlement of European funds involving members of the Rassemblement National (RN) opened before the Criminal Court in Paris for two months. They are accused of having paid the political party’s employees from the European Parliament budget allocated to parliamentary assistants, causing the institution an estimated loss of €3 million. In the dock, 9 former members of European Parliament from the party are charged with embezzlement of public funds, alongside 12 parliamentary assistants referred to the court for having knowingly used or benefited embezzled public funds and accountants charged with complicity in embezzlement of public funds. Amongst the 25 defendants, elected representatives and former elected representatives are also facing ineligibility. The RN is also involved in a preliminary investigation into the illegal financing of Marine Le Pen’s 2022 presidential campaign. > Read article
EDF and its former CEO Henri Proglio acquitted of “favoritism” charges
In a case involving disputed contracts with consultants between 2010 and 2016, Henri Proglio, former CEO of EDF, along with eleven other defendants, was acquitted on 30 September 2024 by the Paris Criminal Court. The court concluded that Proglio’s “criminal intent” had not been established. This decision puts an end to a nearly ten-year-old case in which EDF and Proglio were accused of favoritism. When leaving the hearing, Proglio voiced his satisfaction at the recognition of his innocence. He had been questioned in May and June 2024 about forty-four contracts, each paying between forty thousand and four million euros, linked to lobbying and consultancy missions. In May 2024, the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office had requested a two-year suspended prison sentence and fines for Proglio and EDF. However, the court found that there was no evidence of criminal intent in the consultants’ recruitment process. The eleven consultants involved were also acquitted. > Read article
Four-year prison sentence requested for Marco Mouly, the insolvent “scam king”
Marco Mouly, one of the key figures in the carbon tax scam, was tried before the 11th Correctional Chamber of the Paris Judicial Court for fraud and fraudulent organization of insolvency by debtor in order to escape a conviction of a financial nature. Four years’ imprisonment and a permanent ban on managing a company were requested by the public prosecutor. The prosecution deplores a deliberate “search for impoverishment”, notably by concealing income linked to copyright and influence contracts to prevent repayment of his legal debts. His defense pleaded acquittal on all counts, and the verdict is expected on 12 November. In 2017, Marco Mouly was sentenced in the carbon tax case to eight years’ imprisonment, 1 million euros in damages, and ordered to pay 283 million euros jointly with his co-defendants to the French state. > Read article
