Bernard Arnault responds to recent allegations of money laundering

Bernard Arnault responded to recent allegations of money laundering – calling them “absurd and unfounded” on Monday.

Arnault denies wrongdoing

Last week, a French newspaper Le Monde said that a Tracfin report alleges that the chief executive of LVMH may have broken the law as he loaned money to Nikolai Sarkisov to buy real estate at an Alpine resort.

The publication also added that Paris prosecutor’s office is conducting a preliminary investigation into the billionaire’s dealing with the Russian oligarch, as Invezz reported here.

On Monday, though, Jacqueline Lafont – Bernard Arnault’s attorney said the transaction being probed was executed well within bounds of the French law.

Who could seriously imagine that Bernard Arnault, who has developed over the past 40 years the leading European company, would pursue money laundering to expand a hotel?

Sarkisov denies allegations as well

Spokesperson for Nikolai Sarkisov – brother of billionaire Sergei Sarkisov who founded RESO-Garantiya in 1991 also denied allegations of money laundering on Monday.

Igor Ivanov, deputy chief executive of the insurance giant told CNBC today that Sarkisov has never even met Arnault.

Transaction was managed by a small investment unit which invests professionally in European real estate. It consisted of acquiring flats in an old building in Courchevel from various private owners.

LVMH is scheduled to report its third quarter financial results later this month. Its shares are currently trading at roughly the same price at which they started 2023.

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