Paris prosecutors have confirmed they are investigating financial transactions involving LVMH owner Bernard Arnault and Russian businessman Nikolai Sarkisov. Reuters Remarks that only a preliminary investigation is carried out, which in France “does not necessarily imply the existence of suspicion”, and that the people involved are subject to the presumption of innocence.
A statement sent to Reuters by the Paris prosecutor’s office said the preliminary investigation began in 2022. The ministry declined to comment regarding investigative actions. Bernard Arnault’s representative declined to comment and the agency was unable to contact Sarkisov.
The day before, September 28, the newspaper Le Monde, citing Tracfin, the financial intelligence unit of the French Ministry of Finance, reported that Sarkisov had carried out an operation involving a complex structure of companies in France, Luxembourg and Cyprus, in the following which he acquired real estate in Courchevel, and Bernard Arnault via his private holding company, she would have granted him a loan of 18.3 million euros ($19.4 million) for one of the stages of this transaction.
According to Le Monde, the investigation centers on Sarkisov’s purchase of more than 10 apartments in an Alpine ski resort for 16 million euros ($17 million). The conglomerate LVMH Arnault (LVMH.PA) and associated holding structures own several large real estate assets in Courchevel.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Arnault’s net worth is estimated at $164 billion, making him the second richest person in the world after Elon Musk. He acquired a majority stake in LVMH, one of Europe’s largest companies, in 1989, two years after the merger of Louis Vuitton and Moët Hennessy. The group now includes 75 luxury product brands – alcohol, fashion, leather goods, perfumes, cosmetics, watches, jewelry, but also travel services and luxury hotels.
Tracfin documents indicate that the purchase of real estate in Courchevel was carried out by the company La Flèche, in whose documents Sarkisov’s name is not mentioned. However, the financial intelligence unit believes that the Russian businessman owns it through a network of holding companies. This company purchased real estate from a company called Croix Realty, whose owner Tracfin also considers Sarkisov.
Bernard Arnault, as data from a division of the French Ministry of Finance shows, first provided a loan so that La Flèche could buy real estate, and then he himself acquired this company with the assets it purchased. Tracfin suspects that this scheme was used to “conceal the origin of the funds and make it difficult to identify the real buyer, as well as to conceal the real beneficiary of all transactions, namely Bernard Arnault”.
The investigation will now have to analyze all the transactions and “justify the need for Mr. Arnault to contact Mr. Sarkisov as an intermediary in these transactions”, writes Le Monde.
Nikolay Sarkisov is a Russian billionaire of Armenian origin, one of the main owners (29% of voting shares), member of the board of directors and deputy general director of RESO-Garantia. Since 2013, he was consul of Armenia in Lyon, France, and was relieved of this position in 2019.
Last year, following the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, Tracfin strengthened its control of financial transactions involving Russian investors. A representative of this department of the Ministry of Finance, on condition of anonymity, told Le Monde that the transactions involving Arnault and Sarkisov, which “operated through a complex network of legal entities”, could aim to conceal the origin of the funds used.
The French newspaper quotes a source close to Bernard Arnault as saying that the operation was carried out in full compliance with the law and, “like any real estate transaction”, involved legal parties “responsible for ensuring compliance with all the rules in force”.
Sarkisov’s representatives assured Le Monde that the Russian businessman “was not at all personally involved” in these transactions and that at that time there was “no business connection” between him and Arnault. The French newspaper emphasizes that the Russian businessman is not on the list of people subject to EU sanctions and that this is therefore only an investigation into suspicions of “money laundering”.
