Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière

Webedia, Fimalac's digital subsidiary, launched a cost-cutting plan in 2020 involving up to 80-90 departures in France, denounced by a union as a 'disguised collective redundancy plan'. Following heavy losses in 2020 and 2021, Fimalac considered selling Webedia from 2022 before abandoning the plan because offers were deemed insufficient.

State of the evidence

Documented

Legal status — source text

Not applicable

Attribution

Indirectly implicated

The transfer of most of the family holding company to Luxembourg resulted in a tax reassessment of €1.95 million. Ladreit de Lacharrière contested the alleged tax motive behind the operation and ultimately secured the cancellation of the reassessment.

State of the evidence

Disputed

Attribution

Directly implicated

ESMA sanctioned Fitch for conflicts of interest concerning ratings of entities on whose boards Ladreit de Lacharrière served, while he indirectly held a stake in the ratings agency.

State of the evidence

Documented

Ladreit de Lacharrière acknowledged responsibility for misuse of corporate assets after paying Penelope Fillon for services considered grossly disproportionate to her salary in 2012 and fictitious in 2013. He was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment, suspended, and a €375,000 fine.

State of the evidence

Admitted by the person

Attribution

Directly implicated

Ladreit de Lacharrière granted François Fillon an interest-free €50,000 loan which Fillon had not declared to the HATVP. This financial relationship intensified questions over closeness between the financier and the politician.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Investigators questioned whether Penelope Fillon's employment and business relationships with François Fillon might have been linked to Ladreit de Lacharrière's elevation to Grand Cross of the Légion d’honneur, an honour proposed by Prime Minister Fillon.

State of the evidence

Documented

In 2017, Mediapart revealed that Alexia Demirdjian, a member of François Fillon's digital campaign team, had been employed for approximately one year by Fondation Culture & Diversité, established by Ladreit de Lacharrière, without any obvious public record of her activities there. In the context of the Fillon affair, this employment sparked suspicions of a fictitious job or political favour.

State of the evidence

Alleged

After François Fillon left Matignon, Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière and Fimalac engaged his company 2F Conseil for several assignments. Based on the judicial case file, Le Monde details €30,000 for a study on family shareholdings, €26,400 for an assignment in Kazakhstan and €42,344 for a trip to Iran, at a time when Ladreit de Lacharrière was also helping prepare Fillon's future presidential campaign.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Political responsibility

Investigations into the Fillon affair documented regular meetings between Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière and François Fillon at Matignon, discussions concerning wealth tax, the civil service and ratings agencies' interests, and internal notes showing the Prime Minister's office's attention to Fitch and its head. Le Monde reported that magistrates had highlighted these connections and 'reciprocal services' in their examination of the overlap between private relationships, economic influence and public decision-making.

Attribution

Personally implicated

Ladreit de Lacharrière and Fimalac participated in the Executive Life takeover arrangement alongside interests linked to Crédit lyonnais, an operation that prompted a prolonged confrontation with US authorities. Civil allegations notably concerned the alleged use of nominee holdings to circumvent US rules governing insurance company ownership.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

In 1992, Le Monde reported that Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière's name appeared in the directory of Cercle Renaissance, an organisation serving as a meeting place for Front national supporters and outside figures. This association created a reputational controversy by making him appear among its participants.

Legal status — source text

Not applicable

Attribution

Directly implicated