LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault told a Paris court on Thursday he didn’t know about allegedly illegal surveillance ordered by a trusted associate almost a decade ago, as he testified at the trial of a former French spy chief.
Bernard Squarcini, who headed France’s domestic security services from 2008 to 2012, was later hired by luxury goods giant LVMH as a security consultant.
He is accused of illegally collecting information on private individuals and violating privacy laws while helping the company fight counterfeits and monitor left-wing activists planning to target the company with protests.
Lawyers for Squarcini said he would plead not guilty.
Arnault, one of the world’s richest people, is not accused of any wrongdoing in the trial. LVMH paid a €10 million ($10.5 million) settlement in 2021 to close a criminal probe into the company’s role in the case.
But the case has cast light on the lengths to which the company has allegedly gone to protect its image. LVMH declined to comment on the case and Arnault’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
Replying to prosecution questions on Thursday, Arnault said he was unaware of actions taken by Pierre Gode, his longtime right-hand man at LVMH who died in 2018. He has previously said that Gode hired Squarcini.
“It’s not for me to judge what Mr Gode could have done. I was absolutely not aware,” he told a full courtroom, adding that the company has a clear policy of following the law.
“I imagine he acted according to the (company’s) rules,” he said.
The two-week trial has thrust Arnault into the spotlight at a time when his sprawling luxury empire is grappling with a downturn in the industry and a reshuffling of top management to make way for his children.
Eldest son Antoine Arnault and two other executives were in court watching the testimony.
LVMH paid Squarcini’s consulting firm Kyrnos €2.2 million for services including allegedly searching the background of individuals suspected of counterfeiting luxury goods.
Squarcini also allegedly monitored Francois Ruffin, a French activist who is currently a politician, and members of his left-wing publication Fakir as they planned to disrupt an LVMH shareholder meeting and prepared their satirical, documentary film “Merci Patron”.
The film, which won the French Cesar award for best documentary in 2017, follows family members that lost their jobs at a supplier to LVMH.
Asked about Ruffin in court, Arnault said he watched the film and found it “very funny”.
By Mimosa Spencer and Juliette Jabkhiro; Editors: Stephen Coates and Mark Potter
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