Urssaf Rhône-Alpes has summoned SFAM into liquidation with a view to recovering 11.76 million euros in debts against this former insurance broker for multimedia products, also facing criminal charges for deceptive commercial practices, AFP learned on Wednesday.
The case was adjourned to April 24 before the council chamber (in camera) of the Paris commercial court following a public hearing on Wednesday. Urssaf’s lawyer indicated during this hearing that a previous payment schedule had not been respected.
The SFAM lawyer highlighted a recent settlement of 1.9 million euros.
Asked by AFP, the parent company of SFAM, Indexia, indicated that it had been in negotiations with Urssaf for several months, due to discrepancies between the calculations presented by Urssaf and [la] understanding of the amounts actually owed by the group.
An external audit aims to reach a fair and realistic agreement, the group added.
When requested, Urssaf did not wish to comment.
The representative of the body for collecting social security contributions and family allowances in the Rhne-Alpes region, based in Vnissieux near Lyon, highlighted during the hearing the difficulties encountered during discussions with the SFAM, recalling the numerous proceedings underway against this company.
She also indicated that the tax administration had a debt against SFAM. According to the movable security register consulted by AFP, this debt amounts to more than 1.5 million euros, at the Department of Large Enterprises (DGE), the tax contact for companies whose turnover or total gross assets are at least equal to 400 million euros.
The Indexia group, which notably owns the companies SFAM, Foriou, Hubside and Serena, specializing in services linked to telephones, tablets and other multimedia objects, will be judged at the end of September for misleading commercial practices before the Paris Criminal Court.
Several civil proceedings have been launched by consumers demanding reimbursements for undue deductions which sometimes reached tens of thousands of euros over several years.
The Foriou company (cashback and loyalty programs) was fined 310,000 euros by the Cnil last week for failure to consent to the collection of personal data.
The setbacks have been piling up since a first investigation into the repression of fraud, already for deceptive commercial practices, which resulted in a criminal transaction of 10 million euros in 2019, until the ban in April 2023 on the distribution of any insurance contract , pronounced by the insurance police (ACPR).
Indebted, Indexia had to sell its shares in Fnac Darty in October, of which it held nearly 11%, which served as guarantee for a loan. Its minority shareholders all left the supervisory board and BpiFrance even sold its shares last summer.