The courthouse of Lyon.

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E. Frisullo / 20 Minutes

Five people were sentenced to prison terms for their participation in a vast financial scam "à la Madoff" via the company Exelyum in Lyon, which claimed hundreds of victims for damage estimated at 23 million euros.

Some 550 people, abused from 2010 to 2013 and some of whom lost everything, had filed a civil suit for having paid the price for this Ponzi scheme-type scam - consisting of paying clients' interests with the contribution of new contractors .

The trial was held in mid-January after seven years of investigation.

The alleged "mastermind" of the scam Jean-Pierre Nitkowski, already convicted of fraud in Monaco, was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros, a sentence accompanied by a ban on all professional activity related to the finance.

Fifteen other defendants were prosecuted, including five for fraud.

Among the latter was in particular Marc-Antoine Adam de Villiers, grandson of the famous writer, father of SAS, who was then a renowned young trader.

He was sentenced to three years in prison, two of which were suspended.

A well-oiled scam

Stéphane Benhamou, manager of a company based in Dardilly, near Lyon, and considered a "business provider", was sentenced to twelve months in prison, six of which were suspended.

A sentence much lower than the requisitions of the prosecution who had called for his sentence to five years in prison.

Another accused of fraud was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, two of which were suspended, while two others were released.

In addition, eight "business introducers" received suspended sentences of six to eight months and a man and a woman in a couple accused of receiving stolen goods were respectively sentenced to twelve months firm and twelve months suspended.

Before being laid bare, the scam was well oiled.

Financial advisers, managers of wealth, seduced savers by offering them an Exelyum investment 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 Bernard Madoff-style fraud, named after the American financier arrested in 2008 for having led for years the biggest scam in world finance.

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

"The decision is welcomed with satisfaction, with recognition of the prejudices of the victims which will allow moving to the stage of compensation and the release of the sequestered funds", reacted Me Jean Antony, counsel for 346 victims.

According to him, a civil procedure has already been initiated and a sum of 13 million has been placed in receivership, part of which has yet to be repatriated from abroad.

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  • Lyon

  • Bernard madoff

  • Scam

  • Trial