Arnault’s lawyer calls accusations of money laundering by a businessman “absurd”

“The expansion operation of the Cheval Blanc hotel in Courchevel is well known and was carried out in accordance with the law and with the support of consultants,” Bloomberg quotes Laffont.

Earlier this week, the French newspaper Le Monde reported on the investigation by the Paris prosecutor’s office against the co-owner of the RESO group Nikolai Sarkisov and Bernard Arnault.

It is associated with “suspicious” real estate transactions in the Courchevel ski resort. According to the publication, in 2018, companies created in France, Luxembourg and Cyprus acquired 14 properties in Courchevel in a few weeks for a total amount of 16 million euros, after which they sold them to the Cypriot La Fleche, which is associated with Sarkisov.

At the same time, La Fleche bought three more properties for €2.2 million from SNC Croix Realty, which is also suspected of having connections with co-owner RESO. The prosecution suggests that Sarkisov laundered 1.2 million euros in this way.

After this, Arnault bought all the shares of La Fleche and became its main beneficiary, and a year later all the real estate of the company passed to the management of the Metropole 1850 hotel holding company, owned by the French billionaire.

Deputy General Director for Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations of RESO-Garantia, Igor Ivanov, in an interview with RBC, said that we are talking about the purchase of about 15 apartments in an old building in Courchevel, which they later planned to convert into a hotel . .

According to the top manager, all stages of the transaction were “transparent and understandable”, that is, they were carried out in strict accordance with French law and under the control of local notaries.