It is the story of an heir, noble and rich industrialist, former "white knight" of French employers, who falls into disgrace, splashed by business and now condemned by justice.

Baron Ernest-Antoine Seillière, boss of Medef from 1997 to 2005 and member of the Wendel family which controls the company of the same name, was sentenced by the Paris court to a three-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 37,500 euros. for tax evasion.

In May 2007, some fifteen Wendel managers and executives had made a total net gain of 315 million euros, or 4.6% of the company's capital, from a profit-sharing program called Solfur, without being taxed .

For the court, this considerable profit, linked in particular to the sharp rise in Wendel's share price between 2004 and 2007, was "artificially" placed under a "suspended taxation" regime, making it possible to defer the taxation which should have reached a rate of about 30%.

Thirteen other people sentenced

The defendants crossed the "boundary" between "tax optimization" and "tax evasion", in particular underlined the president, considering that they had "misguided" a legal device, designed by the legislator to facilitate the restructuring of business and economic activity.

Eleven executives and a former tax lawyer were sentenced to sentences ranging from suspended fines to suspended prison sentences plus a fine of 37,500 euros.

The former boss of the investment company, Jean-Bernard Lafonta, was given a four-year suspended prison sentence.

The court, however, remained below the requisitions of the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF), which had claimed during the trial in January and February four years, including two years firm, against Baron Seillière, at the time president of the Wendel's Supervisory Board, as well as five years including three firm terms against Jean-Bernard Lafonta, then Chairman of the Management Board.

Present at the deliberations, the two men and their advisers did not react immediately.

They have ten days to appeal.

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  • Justice

  • Medef

  • tax evasion

  • Court

  • Paris public prosecutor's office