Delicious
Digg
Facebook
Twitter
Yahoo!
TechnoratiPhotographer and money manager detained in L'Oréal heiress case
French police have detained the celebrity photographer accused of manipulating L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt as well as her money manager and two others in the latest twist in the case of tax fraud and illegal campaign payments that has hit French President Nicolas Sarkozy's government.Both François-Marie Banier and Patrice de Maistre were taken in for questioning.
Bettencourt's former tax lawyer Fabrice Goguel and Carlos Verjano, the manager of an island in the Seychelles that Bettencourt allegedly owns and used for a tax haven, were also brought in to police headquarters.
Police are conducting three separate investigations into allegations of tax evasion as well as alleged illegal donations to Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign.
Police searched the homes of several Bettencourt associates on Monday, including Banier. Banier has been accused of taking advantage of the 87-year-old heiress by Bettencourt's daughter, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers.
"This is an important step because for months we have been saying that Liliane Bettencourt is surrounded by predators," said Olivier Metzner, the lawyer representing the daughter.
On Wednesday, Bettencourt went on national television to say that she had ordered an audit of her companies to show that she was competent to run her own affairs.
Comments
React to this article