Reclusive Hermès Heir Has No Clue Where His $13 Billion Fortune Went
A Swiss court has ruled that the one-time largest shareholder in luxury Hermès stock cannot blame his wealth manager for losing his fortune.
Serene Lee/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty
A reclusive Hermès heir no longer has the billions of dollars he once shockingly promised to donate to his gardener, among other various causes, Bloomberg reported.
A Swiss court ruled earlier this month that Nicolas Puech, an 81-year-old and the largest individual shareholder of Hermès stock, can’t blame his wealth manager for the loss of his sprawling $13 billion fortune in family-controlled Hermès International SCA.
The missing moolah is part of the fallout from Louis Vuitton owner Bernard Arnault’s failed attempt to take over Hermès with Puech’s help over a decade ago. The collapsed control grab made Puech an outcast in his own family, and the whereabouts of his stock are still unknown.
Puech claims his wealth manager, Eric Freymond, committed “gigantic fraud” in the 24-year period that he was in full control of maintaining his bank accounts, and canceled his mandates in 2022.
The court dismissed the billionaire’s misfortune, ruling on July 12 that he could have revoked Freymond’s access at any time and that it was his bad call to put “blind trust” in a wealth manager.
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