A former head of France’s domestic intelligence service has been sentenced to two years in prison for using agents for the benefit of the LVMH luxury empire and for illicit actions for the group in his retirement, reports The Times.
Bernard Squarcini, 69, a career police intelligence officer known as “the Shark”, was given two further years suspended and a €200,000 fine after a trial that included testimony from Bernard Arnault, the soft-spoken industrial titan who created LVMH.
Among 11 charges, Squarcini, who headed the DCRI, the equivalent of MI5, under President Sarkozy from 2008 to 2012, was convicted for using the agency to identify a blackmailer targeting Arnault, the fifth richest person in the world.
He was also convicted for activities on behalf of LVMH after he set up his own security firm in retirement. These included sending a “mole” to spy for three years on the activities of François Ruffin, a left-wing film-maker and magazine chief who produced a 2016 prizewinning documentary that was particularly critical of Arnault. LVMH paid Squarcini €2 million over the period.
Squarcini denied wrongdoing and testified that he ordered the DCRI operation to protect Arnault and his conglomerate in France’s national interest.
Read more of this report from The Times.
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