The former head of France’s domestic intelligence agency went on trial on Wednesday on charges of using his security contacts for private gain, including on behalf of France’s richest man: billionaire LVMH boss Bernard Arnault.
Bernard Squarcini, ex-head of the DCRI security service (France’s General Directorate for Internal Security, since renamed the DGSI), is one of 10 men on trial in the Paris criminal court case.
They relate both to the period when Squarcini headed the DCRI from 2008-12 and to his subsequent return to the private sector, when he worked largely for luxury behemoth LVMH as a consultant.
Investigators say that as early as 2008, DCRI officers were deployed to try and identify a blackmailer targeting Arnault.
He faces 11 charges, including influence peddling, misuse of public funds, and compromising national security information.
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Squarcini’s agency racked up contracts worth €2 million with LVMH, The Telegraph reported. He allegedly used state tools to serve his own interests and shared live investigation details that were meant to be confidential, including about a criminal complaint made by fellow French luxury powerhouse, Hermès.
Other allegations relate to spying on journalist Francois Ruffin—now a leading left-wing lawmaker—and his newspaper “Fakir” from 2013 to 16.
Before his 2017 election to parliament, Ruffin produced a satirical film, “Merci Patron” (or “Thanks Boss”), about Arnault that won a Cesar award—French cinema’s equivalent of an Oscar. The story follows a family that lost their jobs at an LVMH supplier when its work was moved out of France.
LVMH chiefs were worried about Ruffin at the time of the espionage because he had plans to disrupt the company’s shareholder meetings. The company ultimately settled with prosecutors out of court in 2021 for €10 million.
On Tuesday, Ruffin said that the process had “been decapitated” because LVMH itself was not in the dock.
Along with Squarcini, nine other people are on trial—but the LVMH patriarch himself doesn’t face any charges. In a 2019 questioning over the same matter, Arnault, who is worth $164 billion, denied he had any knowledge of the matter.
Squarcini, too, has denied wrongdoing, telling judges that protecting Arnault, France’s richest man, is a matter of national interest.
Arnault is set to appear in court on Nov. 28 as a witness.
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