French billionaire Bernard Arnault, the world’s second-richest person, is being investigated for alleged money laundering over his business ties to Russian oligarch Nikolai Sarkisov, the Paris prosecutor’s office said late Thursday, according to news reports, with inquiries focused on a luxe ski resort in the French Alps.
Bernard Arnault is reportedly being investigated in France.
Prosecutors said the probe concerns activities at Courchevel, a luxurious ski resort in the French Alps, where Le Monde, citing France’s financial intelligence unit, reported Sarkisov had acquired a number of apartments in 2018 through a complex transaction involving a loan from one of Arnault’s companies, though his name does not appear on the deal.
The complicated deal, undertaken through various legal entities, could have been designed to obscure the origins of the funds, an unnamed intelligence official told the French daily.
The probe, headed by TRACFIN, the French economy ministry’s intelligence service, is preliminary and does not mean any crime has been committed and the prosecutor’s office told news outlets it would not comment further on ongoing investigations.
It was launched in 2022 and the prosecutor’s office told Reuters it involved transactions linked to both Arnault and Sarkisov.
€18.3 million ($19.4 million). That’s how much Arnault is suspected of loaning Sarkisov for the deal, according to Le Monde. Ultimately, the deal allowed Russia’s Sarkisov to net €1.2 million ($1.3 million) in capital gain, the paper reported.
$189 billion. That’s Arnault’s estimated net worth, according to Forbes’ real time tracker. He is the world’s second-richest person after Elon Musk. Arnault oversees luxury goods behemoth LVMH, which includes brands like Louis Vuitton, Sephora, Tiffany & Co., Moët & Chandon, Hennessy, Krug and Christian Dior. He has five children, all of whom work across LVMH’s sprawling empire.
French billionaire Arnault, Russian oligarch investigated in money laundering probe (AFP)