Arnaud Lagardère gave up his executive mandates on Tuesday, including that of CEO of the Lagardère group.
A decision which follows his indictment in the context of investigations into the financing of personal expenses by his companies.
Arnaud Lagardère, director of the group of the same name, abandoned his executive mandates, including that of CEO, on Tuesday April 30, after being indicted as part of investigations into the financing of personal expenses by his companies, announced the company.
“As part of his indictment, a provisional measure prohibiting management was pronounced against Mr. Arnaud Lagardère, a measure which he contests and against which he will appeal, but which nevertheless forces him to resign from his executive mandates within the group”, Lagardère said in a press release. Members of the board of directors “will meet very soon” in order to “make all provisional arrangements” to ensure the governance of the group, “while waiting for the possibility for Arnaud Lagardère to take over effective management”.
Arnaud Lagardère is suspected of having “had his lifestyle and personal expenses financed” by several of his companies
Mr. Lagardère, 63, was indicted on Monday following a day of questioning by financial investigating judges. He was heard in a judicial investigation opened by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) in April 2021 on the basis of a complaint from the Amber Capital fund, a report from the Financial Markets Authority (AMF), as well as a report from the High Council of Auditors (H3C, now the High Audit Authority, H2A), according to a judicial Source. The acts were allegedly committed between April 2009 and December 2022.
Arnaud Lagardère is suspected of having “financing your lifestyle and personal expenses by drawing on the funds of the Lagardère SAS and Lagardère companies” (LCM), detailed the judicial Source. For several years, these companies “would have notably taken charge of expenses linked to the buildings he occupies, as well as an inheritance debt and numerous current account advances”she added.
The group, for its part, assured Tuesday that “this indictment essentially concerns facts concerning personal companies belonging entirely to him and not involving any company in the Lagardère group”.
