Monday March 6 was supposed to be a great day for Adrien Labi. The British businessman is in Paris to finalize a major real estate sale with Kering. The French luxury giant, headed by François-Henri Pinault, has agreed to pay the astronomical sum of 1 billion euros to buy two buildings located on avenue Montaigne, in the 8e Parisian arrondissement, where real estate prices are among the highest in the capital. A golden transaction for Mr. Labi, who has more than doubled his bet since buying these buildings eight years ago.
But as soon as the sale is signed, the euphoria gives way to amazement. On leaving the notary’s office, police officers from the national tax crime repression brigade arrest him and place him in police custody. An incredible episode that punctuates twenty years of real estate adventures, during which the name of Adrien Labi resonated both in the beautiful Parisian districts and in the courts.
The spotlights turned for the first time in 2015 on the man nicknamed the “ghost of the ‘golden triangle'”. An investigation by “M Le Magazine du Monde” reveals that this businessman, unknown to the general public, owns an immense prestigious real estate heritage in this upscale area of the hypercentre of Paris, the value of which amounts to hundreds of millions of euros. Adrien Labi is already well known to the French tax administration, which has been interested in his arrangements since the mid-2000s. Subject to numerous tax audits, his companies must pay millions of euros in adjustments. But the ghost refuses to pay, exploiting all possible legal remedies.
Two years in prison for his daughter
Gradually, however, the noose is tightening, as the tax authorities send the most serious cases to justice. A first judicial investigation was dismissed in 2010. But, two years later, the Paris Criminal Court condemned for the first time a company from the Labi empire for tax evasion. Tempolux is found guilty of circulating four Parisian buildings between several companies in Luxembourg and France “for tax purposes only”, to avoid 4 million euros in capital gains tax. Adrien Labi, who is not officially linked to any of these companies, passes between the drops. It is his daughter Clarissa who is sentenced to two years in prison, as manager of Tempolux. The court notes, however, that it “appears highly probable” what “was not, on her own, the author of the facts”.
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