After two acquittals in 2017 and 2018, the heirs of the Wildenstein family of art dealers and their advisors were convicted on Tuesday by the Paris Court of Appeal for colossal tax fraud.
Guy Wildenstein, 78, was sentenced to 4 years’ imprisonment, including 2 years under an electronic bracelet, as well as a fine of one million euros. His nephew, Alec junior, was sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of 37,500 euros.
The court of appeal found them guilty of having concealed, on the occasion of the successions of the patriarch Daniel Wildenstein (dcd in 2001) and Alec senior (dcd in 2008) a considerable heritage in trusts, structures under Anglo law -Saxon which house assets entrusted by their owner to a trusted person (the trustee).
Among the assets concerned: a sumptuous ranch in Kenya, New York real estate and master paintings worth a billion euros. Some of the trusts were nevertheless excluded by the Court of Appeal in its decision.
The widow of Alec senior, Liouba Stoupakova, was sentenced to 3 months in prison for complicity in money laundering.
Two lawyers and a notary were given sentences ranging from one year in prison suspended for 18 months, as well as fines ranging from 37,500 to 100,000 euros. Finally, two asset managers were fined a maximum of 187,500 euros.
The defendants were acquitted by the court in 2017 then by the court of appeal in 2018, the courts considering in particular that before 2011 and a law on trusts, there was no sufficiently clear reporting obligation in the law. French.
But on January 6, 2021, the Court of Cassation annulled the decision and ordered a third trial, which took place from September 18 to October 4, 2023.