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LVMH chief executive Bernard Arnault has shifted any blame on to his late number two for allegedly approving spying on leftwing activists, in a much-anticipated court appearance.
Testifying as a witness for nearly three hours, Arnault defended the decision to pay €10mn to settle, without admission of guilt, any allegations the group faced to “avoid a media circus”. He accused the activists’ leader François Ruffin, now a prominent leftwing MP, of using the trial for political reasons.
“Mr Ruffin is interested in showing off on my back, and unfortunately it hasn’t worked for him,” Arnault told the court on Thursday.
Arnault, 75, was asked to testify as part of the trial of a former security contractor, Bernard Squarcini, who is accused of illegally spying on Ruffin’s group of activists. Many of the alleged offences took place between 2013 and 2016, when Squarcini, a former chief of France’s intelligence agencies, worked for LVMH.
Some of the issues between the parties reflect wider debates in France. Ruffin made a documentary in 2016 called Merci, Patron (Thanks, Boss!) that highlighted the plight of workers who had been laid off when an LVMH subcontractor shut down a factory. The film heightened anxiety within LVMH about Ruffin and his group, something Squarcini was allegedly tasked with helping to control.
Arnault insisted on Thursday that he had delegated the matter to his second-in-command Pierre Godé, who died in 2018. “Godé had full responsibility equal to mine . . . It is not for me to judge what Mr Godé did or did not do as I was not aware,” he said. “I had a manager who was in charge of all that, and we shouldn’t need to do the work twice.”
Squarcini has denied all wrongdoing, arguing that protecting Arnault was a matter of “national interest”.
The testimony became fractious when lawyers for Ruffin, who is a civil party in the case, questioned Arnault about Squarcini’s efforts to infiltrate the activists, who had intended to confront Arnault about job losses at the 2023 annual general meeting of the group, which owns brands including Louis Vuitton and Dior.
Arnault, one of the world’s wealthiest men, argued that the economic benefits and employment his company had created far outweighed those job losses. Ruffin was motivated by an “ideology” that will always cast capitalism and companies in a negative light, he said.
The luxury mogul advised Ruffin to pick a “more concise” lawyer, refused to answer some questions he called “nonsense” and threatened another civil party lawyer with a defamation suit for raising “rumours” about his private life.
“In terms of employment I have done much more than Mr Ruffin in parliament,” he said. “He doesn’t go there very often from what I hear . . . Is it normal for Mr Ruffin to mess around with justice to promote a new book or film?”
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