Bruno Ledoux, majority shareholder of the newspaper at the time, was targeted by an PNF survey for aggravated tax fraud and abuse of corporate goods. Daily recapitalization operations interest justice.
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In 2014, Liberation is on the edge of the abyss. A few days before the bankruptcy, the daily survives thanks to Bruno Ledoux, lessor, then shareholder of the newspaper, whose financial rescue he designed. Eight years later, this episode is at the heart of an investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) for acts of aggravated tax fraud, laundering of this offense and abuse of social goods, opened in 2016 following a referral French tax, according to information confirmed by the PNF in the world.
This preliminary survey on the broad spectrum, entrusted to the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Fiscal Offenses (OCLCIFF), encompasses the sale of liberation and real estate operations around the historic headquarters of the daily, rue Béranger, In the 3
Two men and their myriads of companies are at the heart of investigations. On the one hand, Bruno Ledoux, a businessman who made a fortune in real estate, who entered the capital of Liberation in 2011, then briefly took the head of the daily in 2014 before yielding his shares in January 2019 , to the telecoms group Altice, owned by billionaire Patrick Drahi. On the other hand, his business partner, François Moulias.
Tying complex montages
The PNF survey targets them namely and aims to shed light on the tax situation of Mr. Ledoux and its many companies, some of which are located in tax havens or accommodating tax states. The second, François Moulias, has also been the subject of a complaint from the French taxman, attached to the first procedure. In February 2022, the investigations experienced an accelerator when a series of searches were conducted in France and Luxembourg. They aimed at the homes of MM. Moulias and Ledoux, as well as the societies in which they have interests.
Justice is interested in half a dozen operations, notably involving purchases, transfers and transfers of participation in the capital of these companies. Among them are financial operations around the former Liberation headquarters, which has changed hands several times since its acquisition by Bruno Ledoux, in 2001. Initially held by a cascade of offshore companies registered in tax havens linked to Mr. Ledoux – including the Luxembourg Lupa SA, targeted by French justice as part of the preliminary investigation -, the building was then transferred to the Civil Real Estate Society (SCI) of 11, rue Béranger – Codété by Patrick Drahi and Bruno Ledoux -, at the heart of the PNF survey, before ending up being bought by the real estate investment fund Mark for nearly 80 million euros, in the summer of 2022.
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