The case will call into question the mental health of L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, writes GRÁINNE HARRINGTONin Paris
LAST JUNE L’Oréal celebrated its centenary as one of the world’s most successful cosmetics companies with a lavish party at its headquarters near Paris.
As Liliane Bettencourt, daughter of the company’s founder and majority shareholder, entered the room, thousands of employees rose to give her a standing ovation. Minutes later, her daughter, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers entered, to a second standing ovation.
However, the two women had not been on speaking terms for months, and today their acrimonious dispute is being played out in front of a court in Nanterre, near Paris.
The case will call into question the mental health of Bettencourt (86), whose estimated worth of €17 billion makes her the richest woman in Europe.
Named on Vanity Fair'sbest-dressed list earlier this year, Bettencourt is known as much for her philanthropy as her elegance.
Her daughter now claims her generosity has gone a step too far, citing almost €1 billion worth of gifts which the elderly widow has given to François-Marie Banier, a photographer and artist 20 years her junior. The two met when Banier photographed Bettencourt for a French glossy magazine, Egoïste, in 1987, and discovered a shared love of art.
Bettencourt-Meyers (56) is now suing Banier for abus de faiblesse, or exploitation of frailty, claiming he took advantage of her mother's allegedly fragile mental state to make her sign over seven life insurance policies to his name, along with numerous
other gifts.
Bettencourt-Meyers, a writer and pianist, grew suspicious of the friendship between her mother and Banier following the death of her father in 2007, and filed a criminal complaint.
The case was taken up by the Brigade Financière, the French police financial investigations unit.
Investigators found that Banier had been given cheques and gifts totalling more than €900 million, including paintings by Matisse, Mondrian and Picasso. The lucrative friendship has made him one of the 100 richest people in France.
Banier is a writer and artist, but is mostly known for his photography and celebrity connections.
As a young man, he was known for his charm and good looks, which he used to befriend many of Paris’s glitterati, including Salvador Dali, Yves Saint Laurent and Samuel Beckett.
Today, his friends include actor Isabelle Adjani and Princess Caroline of Monaco. His palatial home in Saint Germain des Prés is where Johnny Depp spends his time when passing through Paris.
Banier now risks three years in prison and a fine of €375,000 if found guilty of coercing Bettencourt.
Bettencourt speaks mainly through her lawyers, maintaining that she is in full control of her faculties and that the gifts were a token of friendship. She has refused to undergo a medical examination requested by judges to prove her competence.
Should she be proven incompetent, she would have to be placed under guardianship and her administrative powers as a board member of L’Oréal would be removed. She has already left her 27.5 per cent share in the company to her daughter upon her death.
In a rare interview with Sunday paper le Journal du Dimanchelast December, Bettencourt claimed her daughter was motivated purely by jealousy.
“My daughter is quite introverted, so an extrovert like François-Marie Banier is quite annoying to her.
“Even before, she was a cold child . . . is she settling old scores? . . . Whatever the case, my daughter must realise that I am a free woman.”