The courthouse of Lyon Illustration.

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E. Frisullo / 20 Minutes

  • Seven years in prison were requested this Wednesday by the Lyon judicial court against Jean-Pierre Nitkowski.

  • This septuagenarian, already convicted of fraud, is suspected of having mounted a vast financial scam "à la Madoff" between 2010 and 2013.

  • The amount of damage is estimated at 23 million euros, and the number of victims at 450.

A sentence of seven years in prison was requested Wednesday in Lyon against the alleged "brain" of a vast financial scam "à la Madoff", via the company Exelyum.

This scam, estimated at 23 million euros, has claimed hundreds of victims.

In all, sixteen defendants, including six prosecuted for fraud, have been appearing since January 4 before the 17th chamber of the Lyon judicial court after seven years of investigation.

More than 540 people, abused from 2010 to 2013 and some of whom have lost everything, have become civil parties.

Jean-Pierre Nitkowski, in his seventies, is considered to be the “mastermind” of this Ponzi scheme-type scam - consisting of paying clients' interests with the contribution of new contractors - via his company registered in the Seychelles.

He had already been convicted of fraud in Monaco.

Amazing yield

Six years in prison with a deferred deposit warrant were also required against Marc-Antoine Adam de Villiers, grandson of the famous writer, who was then a renowned young trader, and the same sentence against one of the company's commercial directors. .

Among the defendants, is also Stéphane Benhamou, manager of a company based in Dardilly, near Lyon, considered as a "business provider" like several other defendants.

He drew the attention of the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), leading to the opening of an investigation which led to the Lyon trial.

How did the scam work?

Financial advisers, managers of wealth, seduced savers by offering them an investment "Exelyum" offering a staggering return of 3% per month.

As a guarantee, the money placed was supposed to be in escrow.

But the case was in fact a scam à la Bernard Madoff, named after the American financier arrested in 2008 for having led for years the biggest scam in global finance.

Among those abused are retirees who had invested a lifetime's savings and watched them fly away.

Justice

Nice: The boss of a start-up would have defrauded nearly 10,000 donors, a new "Madoff" case?

Justice

The "Madoff" of Yvelines would have defrauded 324 victims for damage estimated at 13 million euros

  • Lyon

  • Fraud

  • Society

  • Trial

  • Justice

  • Bernard madoff