© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, speaks during a press conference to announce an LVMH sponsorship deal for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Grand Palais Ephemere in Paris, France, July of 2021.
PARIS (Reuters) – A financial transaction investigated in France involving LVMH owner Bernard Arnault was carried out in full compliance with the law, his lawyer said on Saturday.
The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed Friday that it is investigating financial transactions involving Arnault and Russian businessman Nikolai Sarkisov.
Le Monde, citing Tracfin, the anti-money laundering unit of the French Finance Ministry, reported on Thursday that Sarkisov had acquired real estate in a luxurious Alpine resort through a complex transaction in which Arnault, through one of his companies, had granted a loan.
“The operation that allowed the expansion of the Cheval Blanc hotel in Courcheval was perfectly known and was carried out in full compliance with the law,” lawyer Jacqueline Laffont said in a statement to Reuters.
“The media coverage of these leaks and the insinuations that followed have made it necessary to respond. These accusations are as absurd as they are unfounded.”
The prosecutor’s office said Friday that a preliminary investigation had been opened in 2022 and said it would not comment further on an ongoing investigation.
In France, a preliminary investigation does not necessarily imply irregularities on the part of the interested parties, to whom the presumption of innocence applies.
An unnamed Tracfin official told Le Monde that the transactions involving Arnault and Sarkisov, who acted through a complex network of legal entities, could have been aimed at hiding the origins of the funds used.
