LV Boss Is Suspected Of Tax Avoidance Or Will Face Tens Of Millions Of Euros Fine.

The picture is France's richest man, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH group Bernard Arnault.

Facts have proved that even the control of luxury goods industry is the largest in the world.

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Bernard Arnault, boss of LVMH.PA, is not everything.

According to the world clothing and shoe net, the Royal Court of Belgium has terminated the investigation of Bernard Arnault Belgium nationality and its Belgian company Pilinvest 4 years ago.

The court said Bernard Arnault was suspected of violating laws and regulations and was facing a maximum fine of up to ten million euros to terminate the investigation.

The incident originated in 2012, when Bernard Arnault was reported to be applying for Belgium's nationality to avoid tax. In 2013, it added 2 billion 900 million euros (about 23 billion 800 million yuan) to its Belgian Pilinvest company. On the same day, it will pfer 48.5% of its Arnault holdings to the Protectinvest foundation to ensure that its family can continue to buy brands and assets to continue operation.

The Fund asked its family, including 5 children, to sell no shares of LVMH group within 10 years after his death.

The court held that the increase and pfer of assets of Bernard Arnault occurred after applying for Belgian citizenship, and coincided with the proposal of French President Francois Hollande to raise the tax rate of citizens earning more than 1 million euros per year to 75%. There is suspicion of changing the nationality to pfer assets and avoiding tax, and therefore decided to file an investigation.

At that time, the lawyer defending Bernard Arnault emphasized that the paction occurred before December 2011, that is, Bernard Arnault applied for Belgium nationality, and the registration time of the Pilinvest company was 1999, and it had always followed the Belgian laws and regulations, and also received the tax permission from Belgium. The Protectinvest fund was established in 2008, when Francois Hollande was not yet the president of France.

LVMH group spokesman subsequently explained that the main purpose of Bernard Arnault's Protectinvest was to protect more than more than 70 companies including LV, Dior, Fendi and Celine.

After all, it was a luxury empire that he had built for more than 30 years, because the group was very important not only to him, but to France.

The reason for choosing to register in Belgium is that there is no concept of private foundations in French law. The Protectinvest fund will only take effect after the death of Bernard Arnault.

According to the world clothing shoes and hats net, Bernard Arnault has two children with its first wife, Anne Dewavrin, namely Delphine Arnault and Antoine Arnault. At present, they are all important positions in the LVMH group as chief executive of the brand.

He had three children with his second wife, Helene Mercier-Arnault, and the youngest was 16 years old.

Although Bernard Arnault has repeatedly stressed that it will retain French citizenship, it has caused a protest in France that its real purpose is to evade France's high taxes and fees.

The French newspaper "Liberation" even rolled out of France with "rich idiots".

The incident was reported for the title.

In response, Bernard Arnault said in an interview with reporters: "I have explained many times, I will always be a French citizen, and will pay taxes in France, but what is the use? Everyone has not heard, so I decided not to apply for Belgian citizenship."

He said that although the profits of LVMH group were 90% from the outside of France, the annual tax paid in France was nearly 1 billion euros. "Personally, I will not disclose the exact amount of tax payable every year, but believe me, it is definitely not a small number".

According to the latest statement issued by the Royal Court of Belgium, the prosecutor considered that if the investigation continued, Bernard Arnault or suspected criminal offences, it was suggested that Bernault Arnault pay a fine to terminate the further investigation, but did not disclose the specific penalty amount.

Bernard Arnault's defense counsel said that although Bernard Arnault still objected to the court's allegations, she had decided to accept the prosecutor's proposal.

According to Belgian law, the maximum penalty for applying for nationality is 3 million euros, while a person familiar with the matter said that Bernard Arnault will face a fine of up to ten million euros.

So far, a LVMH spokesman declined to respond.

It is noteworthy that Bernard Arnault rose to the eighth place in the Forbes wealth list earlier this year, replacing the successor of L'OREAL EPA: (EPA: OR) as the richest man in France.

The total amount of wealth reached US $41 billion 500 million. After the announcement of the Dior acquisition, its value rose by nearly 10 billion to 51 billion US dollars in just a month or so.

In the first three months of March 31st, LVMH sales increased by 15% to 9 billion 900 million euros, and organic revenue grew 13%, exceeding 9% of analysts' expectations.

All sectors of the Group recorded double-digit growth in the counter trend, especially in the fashion leather Department, including brands such as LV and Fendi, which rose by 15% to 3 billion 405 million euros compared with the same period last year.

Although the luxury industry has been warming up in the past half year.

But Bernard Arnault is not optimistic about the future. He said in his performance report last year: "every ten years, there will be eight years of good life and two bad days. The ten year cycle will be bottomed out.

The economic downturn may create opportunities for acquisitions and expansion of market share, but we believe that the second half of this year will be particularly difficult. "

However, thanks to the sustained rebound in performance, the LVMH group's stock price has risen by 27.88% since the beginning of this year, and its market value is currently about 117 billion 600 million euros. It is also the only luxury group in the world with a market value of more than 100 billion euros.

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