For the past few days, Europe’s richest man, Bernard Arnault, who is also the world’s second richest person and the CEO of one of Europe’s most valuable firms, LVMH, has been the focus of an inquiry.
Arnault, 74, is being investigated in connection with financial transactions involving Russian businessman Nikolai Sarkisov.
According to the prosecutors’ office, the inquiry was launched in 2022. However, the French newspaper Le Monde claimed last week that authorities were looking into Sarkisov’s acquisition of a ski resort in the French Alps using an Arnault loan.
According to the article, Tracfin, a French economy ministry anti-money laundering arm, classified the transaction as a questionable financial transaction.
The commencement of an investigation does not imply guilt for the parties involved, and no one has been charged as of yet.
Arnault’s lawyer has called the allegations of his client’s involvement in the fraudulent sale “absurd and groundless.”
“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,” Jacqueline Lafont, Arnault’s attorney, said in a statement, as per a Fortune report. “Furthermore, who could seriously imagine that Bernard Arnault, who has developed over the past 40 years into the leading French and European company, would pursue money laundering to expand a hotel?”
According to an alleged Arnault partner, the transaction was completed within France’s legal framework. Sarkisov and his brother own the Russian insurance company RESO-Garantia. The Moscow-based corporation is one of the country’s most significant insurance players, providing a wide range of coverage for individuals and legal entities.
According to a representative for RESO-Garantia, Sarkisov had never met or been involved in the transaction under examination.
“The transaction was managed by a small investment unit that invests professionally in European real estate,” RESO-Garantia spokesperson Igor Ivanov said in a statement, adding that some of those properties were based in Courchevel, where the ski resort purchased by Sarkisov is located.
“All transactions were carried out by French companies, through French notaries by French lawyers on all sides,” he said.
RESO-Garantia is also being investigated by French authorities in a separate case involving former French President Nicolas Sarkozy for “influence peddling” after he was appointed as an advisor on a $3 million contract by the business.