Prison sentences requested for three women accused of squandering the Schlumpf family fortune. The trial was held this Thursday before the Colmar criminal court. A mother and her two daughters were judged for abuse of weakness and concealment, accused of having taken more than five million euros from the sole heir of the Schlumpf family, Cléophée Herrmann, now ruined. She works as a waitress in Colmar but “begins to rebuild“.
A legacy of more than 11 million euros
The public prosecutor requested five years in prison including two years closed with a committal warrant against the main defendant and 18 months in prison including six years closed for her daughters with the wearing of an electronic bracelet.
At the end of the hearing, the main defendant felt unwell. It was one of his daughters, a cardiologist, who gave him a first cardiac massage before the firefighters arrived and he was evacuated to the hospital. The court was to deliver its judgment immediately, but it was finally adjourned until October 17.
Judgment reserved on October 17
During the hearing, the girls accused their mother of having manipulated them, assure that they knew nothing. According to the public prosecutor, they also benefited from Cléophée Herrmann’s immense fortune: bank transfers to their account, luxury gifts from Louis Vuitton and Hermès or even vacations in Monaco, Courchevel or Saint-Tropez. One of the daughters assures that it was their mother who had power of attorney over the accounts.
The representative of the public prosecutor denounced a “method known in the sectarian domain” which consists in “isolate the victim“. Two expert opinions point to the vulnerability of Cléophée Herrmann after the death of her mother when she was only 11 years old. The magistrate asks that the three compensate the victim. The lawyers of the two sisters pleaded for acquittal, considering that part of the fortune was robbed by Cléophée Herrmann’s father who disappeared in 2021.
