On Friday, the clothing brand Kiabi revealed that it had been the victim of “large-scale sophisticated financial fraud”, after information from Franceinfo suggesting an embezzlement of 100 million euros.
Our colleagues explained on Friday morning that a former treasurer of the low-cost clothing brand had been arrested in August by the judicial police, when she left a private jet at Figari airport, in Corsica. South.
A millionaire’s life in Miami
Aurélie B., 39, settled in Florida to work in the luxury sector, was indicted for “organized gang fraud and money laundering”, indicates the media. She has been in pre-trial detention since August 18. Also according to Franceinfo, at the time of her arrest, Kiabi’s ex-treasurer was in possession of $500,000 worth of clothing and jewelry.
It must be said that since her move to the United States in the summer of 2023, the young woman, born in Bordeaux (Gironde) and who has Neapolitan and Corsican roots according to information from American media, has undoubtedly lived his best life: travel, appearance with celebrities, VIP evening, designer clothes, restaurants and luxury villas…
By settling in Florida, she notably converted to events and design in Miami by launching the companies “EBH Group” and “EBH Design and Real Estate LLC”, as evidenced by the Florida government website where The companies are registered, Sunbiz. Aurélie B. had also registered two other companies “Haute Design Media Group” and “Haute Design by Aurélie B. LLC” in Florida on May 30 and June 24, 2024.
An American luxury magazine had even dedicated its front page and published an article on the young French woman five days before her arrest, presenting Aurélie B. as being “ one of South Florida’s most in-demand interior designers “. Last May, she notably fitted out the hangar of the private jet of a famous American DJ.
More than a year before discovering the embezzlement
This millionaire’s life came to an abrupt end during his trip to Corsica last August. According to Franceinfo, Kiabi sought to recover an investment made a year earlier in mid-July, but when the company approached the bank, the money had “ volatilized », using a technique called “rebound accounts”. In other words, money moves from account to account until it can no longer be traced.
Franceinfo specifies that the first elements of the investigation suggest that the ex-treasurer had opened the bank account by usurping the identity of a senior manager of the company. According to public radio, the young woman had already been sentenced in the past to two years in prison by the Paris criminal court for having embezzled 800,000 euros from another company.
The management of the brand declared to AFP on Friday that in July it had discovered that it had been the victim of a “ large-scale sophisticated financial fraud », without confirming or denying the amount of the embezzlement. A fraud which “in no way calls into question the financial solidity of Kiabi and has no impact on the maintenance of (the) annual trajectory” of the company, assured Kiabi. It must be said that this well-known store chain, which relies on a network of more than 600 points of sale in 28 countries, achieved 2.2 billion euros in turnover in 2023.
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