Arrests Made in Bettencourt Scandal

I have previously blogged about the Liliane Bettencourt family feud scandal here and here. Most recently, French investigators have arrested four leading figures in the scandal, including photographer Francois-Marie Banier. The four men will be questioned about discussions in the “butler’s tapes” regarding schemes to gain control of and hide Ms. Bettencourt’s fortune abroad.

Ms. Bettencourt’s daughter urges that her mother needs to be declared incompetent, but Ms. Bettencourt claims that her daughter just wants control over L’Oréal. To prove that she is able to manage her family companies and trusts, Ms. Bettencourt ordered an audit of all of her financials to show that they are in good order. However, this attempt to prove her competence backfired because the person she ordered to do the audit, Mr. de Maistre, is on tape as one of the people taking advantage of Ms. Bettencourt. He was also among the four arrested.

See John Lichfield, Arrests in L’Oréal Case Take Sarkozy out of the Spotlight, The Independent, July 16, 2010.

Special thanks to Adam Hirsch (William & Catherine VanDercreek Professor, Florida State University College of Law) and Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this to my attention.