Bettencourt writes photographer out of will

Bettencourt Drops Defendant From Will
David Gauthier-Villars
August 30, 2010
The Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704342504575459840364302892.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
PARIS—Liliane Bettencourt, the heiress to the L’Oréal SA cosmetics empire, has written out of her will a photographer friend accused of having abused her trust, Ms. Bettencourt’s spokeswoman said over the weekend.

The move by France’s richest woman could affect the trial of the photographer, François-Marie Banier, on charges that he exploited the mental weakness of the 87-year-old Ms. Bettencourt to obtain money and lavish gifts with a total value of about €1 billion ($1.27 billion). In addition, a 2007 will made by Ms. Bettencourt said Mr. Banier would get a large chunk of the heiress’s fortune when she dies.

Mr. Banier has acknowledged receiving the gifts, but denies having abused Ms. Bettencourt’s trust.

The trial, which was delayed indefinitely pending further investigation, has embarrassed President Nicolas Sarkozy and his ruling party, the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire. Evidence being prepared for the trial includes conversations relating to Ms. Bettencourt’s donations to the UMP and to Mr. Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential election campaign.

A prosecutor is looking into the legality of Ms. Bettencourt’s political donations. Ms. Bettencourt has said all her donations were legal. The UMP has said all the money it collected was legal and Mr. Sarkozy has said talk of illegal financing was an attempt to tarnish his reputation. But the probe has drawn attention to his close relations with the wealthy at a time of government cutbacks amid a weak economy.

Mr. Banier’s case follows a complaint made three years ago by Ms. Bettencourt’s only child, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers. She accused him of having abused Ms. Bettencourt’s mental weakness to get assets from her that total €920 million, in the form of life-insurance policies and art works. In 2007 Ms. Bettencourt agreed to leave Mr. Banier an estimated €1.25 billion, or 8% of her fortune, after her death, according to Marion Bougeard, Ms. Bettencourt’s spokeswoman.

A Saturday statement on behalf of Ms. Bettencourt indicated that Mr. Banier was no longer in line for the €1.25 billion. “I have given a lot to François-Marie, and I think it’s enough,” Ms. Bettencourt said, according to Ms. Bougeard. “Other people need my help.”

Writing Mr. Banier out of Ms. Bettencourt’s will could make it harder for prosecutors to show he abused her trust. The case shook Mr. Sarkozy in June after Ms. Bettencourt-Meyers’ legal filings cited recordings of conversations between Ms. Bettencourt and her financial adviser, Patrice de Maistre. In the conversations—secretly recorded by a former butler of Ms. Bettencourt’s—Ms. de Maistre alludes to donations to UMP politicians, including Labor Minister Eric Woerth.

Now, as part of multiple, parallel probes, prosecutors and magistrates in Nanterre and Versailles, both towns near Paris, are looking into Ms. Bettencourt’s political donations as well as into Mr. Banier’s actions. Mr. Woerth, who is spearheading an unpopular revision of France’s pension system that will raise the standard minimum retirement age to 62 from 60, has said he collected only legal donations.

Following the media attention given to the affair, Mr. Sarkozy in July ordered his government to focus on fighting illegal immigration, in particular by dismantling camps of gypsies from Romania and Bulgaria. This law-and-order drive was widely popular with the public. But the deportation of hundreds of gypsies to Romania and Bulgaria has been publicly criticized by the Catholic Church as well as by senior members of Mr. Sarkozy’s UMP party.

Ms. Bettencourt is considering how to reallocate the 8% tranche of her fortune that won’t now go to Mr. Banier, Ms. Bougeard said. One possibility would be to plow more money into her €750 million foundation, which supports humanitarian and cultural projects, Ms. Bougeard said.

L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt writes photographer out of her will
August 28, 2010
Telegraph.co.uk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7969610/LOreal-heiress-Liliane-Bettencourt-writes-photographer-out-of-her-will.html
Mrs Bettencourt’s lawyer, Georges Kiejman, said that the 87-year-old billionairess has decided “enough was enough” and that Francois-Marie Banier should no longer be named in the will.

“Liliane Bettencourt feels she had already given a lot to Mr Banier, so she ended the arrangement which made him her sole named heir,” he said.

Mr Kiejman said the change had been made in France in mid July, and no one else had been added to the will in his place.

Mr Banier, 63, was Mrs Bettencourt’s sole legatee in the will drawn up in December 2007.

He was set to receive around eight percent of Mrs Bettencourt’s fortune, or an estimated 1.25 billion euros, a member of Bettencourt’s entourage said in July.

Mrs Bettencourt’s estranged daughter Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers and grandchildren would have received the rest of her fortune.

The 30 percent stake in the global cosmetics giant that lies behind Mrs Bettencourt’s fortune is already in her daughter’s name, although Mrs Bettencourt receives all dividends.

Among gifts Mr Banier received from Mrs Bettencourt were paintings by Matisse and Mondrian worth £12 million, several cheques and life insurance policies, according to Mrs Bettencourt-Meyers.

Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers alleges people close to her mother, including Mr Banier, have taken advantage of the heiress.

She claims her mother is no longer in a fit mental state to manage her 16 billion euro fortune.

Several judicial investigations are under way into affairs linked to Mrs Bettencourt’s fortune, including allegations of tax evasion and illegal campaign funding.