Magali Berdah, the former “high priestess of influencers”, acquitted in bankruptcy case

Magali Berdah, former “popess of influencers”, was acquitted on Monday, November 25, in Nice in a bankruptcy case when she was an insurance broker around ten years ago. During the trial at the end of September, the prosecution requested eighteen months in prison, six of which must be placed under an electronic bracelet, as well as a permanent ban on managing a company against this social media figure.

The case concerns the brokerage company BA & CO, created in 2013 by a childhood friend of Magali Berdah, taken over in March 2014 by her mother then placed in compulsory liquidation in 2015, with liabilities estimated at nearly 2.5 million euros. The investigation revealed that between 2014 and 2015 the very vague accounting of BA & CO reported a total of 80,000 euros taken in cash without justification, while 600,000 euros had passed through an account opened in the name of a secretary for circumvent an asset freeze. Intended to pay salaries, this account also contains unexplained luxury expenses (hotels in Monaco, clothes, chocolates, etc.), for a total amount of 27,000 euros.

Magali Berdah presented herself as the commercial director of BA & CO, a simple employee herself put in difficulty by the setbacks of the company, while the prosecution affirmed that she was the de facto manager.

In its decision rendered under deliberation, the Nice criminal court noted the shortcomings of the investigation and concluded that it was not proven that Magali Berdah was the de facto manager. Thus, the police did not establish who had power of attorney over the secretary's account, nor did they include in the file the 63 checks issued from this account on which they wrote that they recognized the signature of Magali Berdah.

“A criminal case is facts and law. There, we wanted Magali Berdah. Perhaps because we said to ourselves that it was solvent, perhaps because, in some way, it was a trophy. The court set the record straight »reacted his lawyer, Franck De Vita.

Shauna Events currently struggling

Only his mother, legal manager during the last year of BA & CO's life and as such already sentenced by the criminal court to repay more than 2 million euros, was sentenced to eighteen months in prison.

Magali Berdah rose to notoriety in 2017, with the creation of Shauna Events, an agency specializing in connecting brands and influencers. Her activity was undermined in 2022, when rapper Booba, whose real name is Elie Yaffa, accused her of deceptive commercial practices. The investigation against her was dismissed, while Booba was indicted for aggravated online moral harassment and twenty-eight internet harassers were convicted in March.

If Shauna Events is currently in difficulty, Magali Berdah announced with great fanfare in October the launch of an international agency on the same model, representing a thousand influencers in around twenty countries.