Bettencourt affair in new twist as L’Oréal heiress writes €170m cheque

Daughter reattempts to make France’s richest woman, 88, a ward of court after she invests in company run by TV mogul Only months after they kissed and made up, France’s richest woman, the L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, and her daughter appear to have fallen out again. Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, the heiress’s only child, is reported again to be seeking to have her mother made a ward of court after Bettencourt, 88, invested €170m (£151m) in a company belonging to one of her lawyer’s clients. The two buried the hatchet in December after a three-year estrangement over Bettencourt’s decision to give a society photographer more than €1bn worth of art masterpieces, cash and life-insurance policies. But the second act of what French newspapers call the Bettencourt affair erupted on Tuesday, after Bettencourt Meyers, 57, alerted the authorities, claiming at least one member of her mother’s entourage appeared to be taking advantage of her deteriorating mental state. Her accusations were directed at Pascal Wilhelm, Bettencourt’s lawyer and the man appointed in January to manage her “interests”. The latest spat in France’s long running family feud saw a judge, police officers and five doctors turn up at Bettencourt’s home on Tuesday to check on her health. Their arrival at the house in the chic Paris suburb of Neuilly at 8am – at least two hours before the heiress reportedly makes her morning appearance – was prompted after Bettencourt failed to keep two medical appointments. Le Monde revealed that in March a judge had decided that it was “impossible” for Bettencourt to act in her own interests. It quoted a legal document stating her “cognitive faculties” had changed for the worse and that she suffered from profound deafness. Bettencourt Meyers decided to act again when she discovered her mother had written a cheque for €170m as an investment in a company run by television mogul Stéphane Courbit, who brought the Big Brother reality show to France, and is also a client of Wilhelm. Bettencourt legally named Wilhelm to manage her fortune in January as part of the agreement with her daughter reached last December. However, Wilhelm also remained her lawyer, which Bettencourt Meyers argues is a conflict of interest. The Bettencourt affair, as it became known, began in 2007 after Bettencourt Meyers accused the photographer François-Marie Banier, 63, of taking advantage of her mother’s frailty and sued him for “abuse of weakness”. Secret tape recordings suggested Bettencourt had made Banier her “sole heir”. In 2010, the affair turned from private squabble to political scandal amid allegations – vehemently denied – that Bettencourt had made illegal donations to President Nicolas Sarkozy’s election campaign . It was also revealed that the wife of Eric Woerth, then budget minister, was working for a company managing the heiress’s fortune while Bettencourt had hidden millions from the taxman in Swiss bank accounts. Bettencourt Meyers later dropped the case after her mother agreed to change her will and not see Banier and the photographer renounce the insurance policies. This week, she told lawyers she feared a “new security cordon” was being thrown up around her mother “to the detriment of her family”. France Nicolas Sarkozy Kim Willsher guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 8, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.