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☆ One of Russia's richest oligarchs who now lives in Dubai says Putin's invasion of Ukraine made him a 'pariah'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-02 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

One of Russia's richest men, Andrey Melnichenko, said the Ukraine war had made him a "pariah." Melnichenko now lives in the UAE, where his $300 million Motor Yacht A is moored. His $578 million Sailing Yacht A was seized by Italian authorities shortly after he was sanctioned. AdvertisementAdvertisementOne of Russia's richest individuals said he'd become a "pariah" in the United Arab Emirates where he fled after being sanctioned. Oleg Tinkov managed to get sanctions against him in the UK lifted after slamming Putin's invasion of Ukraine and getting the backing of British business tycoon Richard Branson.

Persons: Andrey Melnichenko, Melnichenko, he'd, Vladimir Putin, I'm, Roman Abramovich, Arkady Volozh, Oleg Tinkov, Richard Branson Organizations: United, United Arab Emirates, Financial Times, Forbes, Chelsea FC, Bloomberg, EU Locations: Ukraine, UAE, United Arab, Russia, Israel, Le

☆ Gabon military coup: What to know about the overthrow of the Bongo dynasty
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Jessie Yeung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

International leaders have expressed concern and condemnation of the coup, some warning their citizens in Gabon to shelter in place. The military’s power grab began Wednesday, shortly after Gabon’s election authority said Bongo had been re-elected president following last weekend’s election. People celebrate following a military coup in Libreville, Gabon, on August 30. Coups in Africa were rampant in the early postcolonial decades, with coup leaders offering similar reasons for toppling governments: corruption, mismanagement and poverty, according to political analyst Remi Adekoya. The Gabon coup has been widely criticized by other African nations and in the West.

Persons: –, Ali Bongo Ondimba, Ali Bongo, Bongo, ”, president’s, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, Brice Oligui Nguema –, Bongo’s, Oligui, Gerauds Wilfried Obangome, “, Brice Oligui Nguema, there’s, Omar Bongo, Gabon's, Omar Bongo Ondimba, Nicolas Sarkozy, Frederic SOULOY, Ali Bongo’s, Remi Adekoya, Moussa Faki Mahamat, Ali, General Antonio Guterres, Guterres, Matthew Miller Organizations: CNN, Agence France, Presse, ” Residents, Bongo PDG, Reuters, Gabonese, Gabon Wednesday, African Union, ” United Nations, US State Department Locations: African, Gabon, Libreville, Ayong, Gabonese, Dakar, Senegal, Span, France, United States, Paris, Africa’s, Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Tunisia, Africa, West, United Kingdom, Spain

☆ Explainer: What do we know about the Gabon military coup?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The opposition had denounced the Aug. 26 vote as fraudulent, which Bongo's campaign denied. Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsWHO IS ALI BONGO AND WHY WAS HE OUSTED? If successful, the Gabon coup would end the Bongo family's 56-year grip on power. It remains unclear how long the transition promised by the military would be or what exactly the officers are planning. Military officers have also seized power in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Chad, and most recently in Niger, erasing democratic gains since the 1990s.

Persons: Gerauds Wilfried Obangome, Ali Bongo's, Bongo, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, Ali Bongo, Omar Bongo, Brice Oligui Nguema, Anait, Alessandra Prentice, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: REUTERS, Military, Central African, Gabonese, Reuters Graphics Reuters, WHO, ALI, Monde, Thomson Locations: Libreville, Gabon, GABON, autocrats, Morocco, West, Central Africa, Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Gabonese

☆ Who is Brice Oligui Nguema, the general named as Gabon's transition leader?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Aug 30 (Reuters) - Gabon's military junta named General Brice Oligui Nguema as transition leader on Wednesday, following the apparent ouster of President Ali Bongo. The elite force is in charge of protecting the president, his family and other high-profile figures. ANTICORRUPTION MANDATEShortly after he took on the new role in 2019, Nguema launched an operation named "clean hands" to crack down on alleged state-led embezzlement. The Bongo family has ruled oil-rich Gabon for over half a century. In an interview with French newspaper Le Monde on Wednesday, Nguema said people in Gabon were frustrated with their government.

Persons: General Brice Oligui Nguema, Ali Bongo, Bongo, Nguema, Gerauds Wilfried Obangome, Ingrid Melander, Anait, Sofia Christensen, Matthew Lewis Organizations: Republican Guard, Thomson Locations: Gabon's southeasternmost, Haut, Republic of Congo, United States, Gabon, Libreville, Paris, Johannesburg

☆ Fact Check-Niger has not banned uranium exports to France and EU
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-18 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The 122-word caption reads in part: “Uranium Ban in Niger Sparks Protests and Energy Crisis in France and the EU’ Niger, with the world’s 7th largest uranium deposits, has banned exports to France and the EU. Despite reported fears of it happening, the country did not declare any plans to halt uranium exports as of the time of writing, Aug. 16 (here). RUSSIAN OILAlthough the European Union has banned certain types of oil supplies from Russia, the region continues to receive Russian oil. In addition, Russian pipeline oil supplies to the EU are excluded from the EU ban. Niger has not announced the halt of uranium exports to France and the EU, as of Aug. 16, and parts of the EU do still receive Russian oil.

Persons: Mohamed Bazoum, Euratom, Read Organizations: European Union, Niger Sparks, Energy, EU, World Nuclear Association, Reuters, Canada, French Le Monde Locations: Niger, France, Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Nigerien, Kazakhstan, French, Bulgaria, Russian, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic

☆ Ukraine hit 2 key bridges with powerful Storm Shadow missiles, and just got a load more of them from France
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ukraine shared images of French-supplied SCALP-EG missiles the day it struck two Crimean bridges. The SCALP-EG, France's version of the Storm Shadow, is a powerful air-launched cruise missile. That same day, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense released images confirming the arrival of SCALP-EG missiles — the French version of the Storm Shadow. Ukraine announced it had damaged two Crimean bridges with a Storm Shadow missile on August 7, 2023 Ministry of Defense of UkraineThe SCALP-EG missile is France's version of the Storm Shadow, which the UK started to give to Ukraine earlier this year. In the tweet, Ukraine said that Russians had only "found" the missiles when the Crimean bridges were struck by them.

Persons: Dmitry Peskov, Le, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Volodymyr Saldo, Ukraine Anton Gerashchenko Organizations: Storm, Service, Ukraine, Storm Shadow, Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, of Defense, Ukraine's Air Forces Day, Eiffel, —, Times, UK's Ministry of Defence Locations: Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Crimean, France, Ukrainian, Kherson, —, Henichesk, London, Russia

☆ Russia built fake trenches along the front lines to lure Ukrainian soldiers into deadly explosive traps, researchers found
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Ryan Pickrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Among them are fake trenches designed to lure Ukrainians into a death trap, researchers found on a recent Ukraine trip. And while many of the trenches are actual Russian combat positions, others have been traps, researchers learned from front-line Ukrainian forces. They have mine trenches," Kofman said, explaining that they attempt to "lure Ukrainian forces into trenches that have been mined" with remote-activated mines "and then blow up the mines." The possibility that the trench Ukrainian infantry are rushing into might be an explosive trap makes things immensely more difficult. Hendrickson said they have come across extremely complex minefields in which anti-tank mines are protected by anti-personnel mines and other explosives surrounded by booby traps.

Persons: we've, Michael Kofman, Kofman, Laurent van der, Ryan Hendrickson, Hendrickson, Franz, Stefan Gady Organizations: Service, Center for Naval, 81st Airmobile Battalion, Le Monde, US Army Special Forces Engineer, Toronto Television, Paratroopers, Center for New American Security, Ukrainian Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Wall, Silicon, Seversk, Russian, Afghanistan

It leaves Kretinsky, who submitted a revised offer over the weekend proposing the equity injection, as the only bidder. The cash injection plan would lead to a 4.7 billion-euro reduction in overall debt, Casino said. Casino is saddled with net debt of 6.4 billion euros and is teetering on the brink of default. The board meeting followed a separate meeting between Casino's creditors and CIRI - France's finance ministry body that helps distressed companies and their creditors draw up restructuring plans. Kretinsky and Ladreit de Lacharriere would control the investment vehicle behind the 1.2 billion-euro equity injection, a source said.

Persons: Daniel Kretinsky, Kretinsky's, Xavier Niel, Jean, Charles Naouri, Kretinsky, Niel, Matthieu Pigasse, Moez, Alexandre Zouari, Casino, Marc Ladreit de, Ladreit, Mathieu Rosemain, Mike Harrison, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Casino, 3F, Attestor, French, Monde, Fnac, Metro, Forbes, Thomson Locations: Czech, PARIS, French, Paris, Casino, Britain, France, Germany

☆ France will start subsidizing their citizens' shoe repairs
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Clothing repairs are favored by sustainability advocates, but they can be expensive. Beginning in October, the country's government will give a 7 euros, or about $7.79, discount for heel repairs and between €10 and €25 for clothing repairs, Le Monde first reported. Sustainability advocates favor clothing repairs as one way to slow the climate crisis and create a circular economy, in which we reuse existing resources and reduce waste. The organization found that the repairs can be expensive — stains cost an average of $17.34 to remove and other repairs cost up to $34. In April, the government doubled-down on discounts for citizens who repaired their home appliances instead of throwing them away.

Persons: Le Monde Organizations: Service, Le, United Nations Economic Commission, Sustainability, Stewardship Council, Mission, Yale Locations: France, Europe, California

[1/3] Writer Milan Kundera is pictured in Prague, former Czechoslovakia, May 6, 1963. CTK Photo/Frantisek Nesvadba via REUTERSPRAGUE, July 12 (Reuters) - Czech-born writer Milan Kundera, author of the novel "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" who lived nearly five decades in Paris after emigrating in disillusionment from his Communist-ruled homeland, has died at the age of 94. French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said Kundera was "a writer and a voice that we will miss". "Milan Kundera's work is at the same time a deep, human, intimate and distant exploration," she said. Fellow Czech writer Karel Hvizdala told Czech Television he saw his friend last November and he was already in poor health.

Persons: Milan Kundera, Frantisek Nesvadba, Kundera, Petr Fiala, Petr Pavel, Pavel, Elisabeth Borne, Milan, Karel Hvizdala, Albert Camus, Daniel Day, Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Philip Kaufman, Timothy Garton Ash, Monde, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Czechoslovakia's, Jan Lopatka, Robert Muller, Elizabeth Pineau, Tassilo Hummel, Michael Kahn, Jason Hovet, Toby Chopra, Kevin Liffey, Mark Heinrich, Nick Macfie Organizations: CTK, REUTERS, Moravian, Prague Spring, Czech Television, Czechoslovak Communist, New York Times, Oxford University, Paris Mayor, Czechoslovakia's Communist, Thomson Locations: Prague, Czechoslovakia, REUTERS PRAGUE, Czech, Paris, Brno, France, Communist Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak, Europe, Central Europe, French, Western

☆ France is banning the sale of fireworks on its biggest national holiday after protesters used them as weapons against police
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-09 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The French government has imposed a temporary prohibition on the sale of fireworks. The ban comes after anti-police protesters used fireworks as weapons during civil unrest. Get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in business, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley — delivered daily. The ban comes after fireworks "became the staple weapon of rioters" during the days of unrest sparked by the police killing of a 17-year-old outside Paris, Le Monde reported. The temporary fireworks ban comes after French lawmakers on July 5 approved a measure that increases authorities' ability to track criminal suspects using their phones.

Persons: Le Monde, Emmanuel Macron Organizations: Service, BBC, Police Locations: France, Wall, Silicon, Paris, Le

☆ French government wants the power to block social media and to tap into cellphones
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( Katie Hawkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

President Macron has said his government needs the authority to block social media to curb protests. First, on July 4, during a meeting with mayors, Macron suggested the government needs the authority to regulate or block social media platforms during major protests. Both left- and right-leaning lawmakers, meanwhile, characterized the comments about blocking social media made by Macron, who is considered centrist, as anti-democratic. Elsewhere in the world, social media censorship has increased in recent years. In an effort to stop people from gathering to protest COVID-19 restrictions, the Chinese government censored discussion of certain cities on social media, according to the BBC.

Persons: Macron, Emmanuel Macron, Monde, Eliska, — Organizations: Service, Police, French, Washington Post, Le Monde, Renaissance Party, Human Rights Watch, Wall Street Journal, Department of Homeland Security, Journal ., New York Times Locations: France, Wall, Silicon, Europe, Spain, Belarus, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, San Francisco

☆ French President Emmanuel Macron slammed for partying with Elton John as France burns in mass riots
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Emmanuel Macron attended an Elton John concert in Paris on Wednesday night. It comes as mass riots are ravaging France following the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old. "While France was on fire, Macron preferred to applaud Elton John." An Instagram picture posted by Elton John's husband, David Furnish, of the couple arm-in-arm with a smiling Macron and his wife, Brigitte Marie-Claude Macron. "France is burning, and the president of France is going to the Elton John concert.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, Elton John, Macron, —, Thierry Mariani, Elton John's, David, Brigitte Marie, Claude Macron, Nahel, Sarah Meyssonnier Macron, Le, Pascal, Dominique Sopo, Sopo, George Floyd Organizations: Service, The Telegraph, Marine, REUTERS, Guardian, BBC, London Metropolitan Police Locations: Paris, France, Nanterre, Aubervilliers, Rothschild, Republic, Alma, Roubaix, London

☆ A French Newsroom on Strike After Appointment of ‘Far-Right’ Editor
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Liz Alderman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In its 75-year history, Le Journal du Dimanche, France’s leading Sunday newspaper, has almost never missed publication. But its operations ground to a halt this week after an editor with a far-right track record was abruptly appointed just ahead of a takeover of the paper by the French billionaire Vincent Bolloré, prompting a mass walkout by journalists and igniting a firestorm in French media and political circles. Mr. Bolloré, an industrialist often described as France’s Rupert Murdoch, has been steadily building a conservative media empire, anchored by a Fox-style news network, CNews. The appointment of the editor, Geoffroy Lejeune, who was formerly at a far-right magazine that was fined for racist insults, raised concerns that one of France’s most prominent newspapers could be transformed into a right-wing platform. The paper did not publish Sunday, only the second time since its founding in 1948, and on Thursday evening the website was still leading with news from last week.

Persons: France’s, Vincent Bolloré, Bolloré, Rupert Murdoch, Geoffroy Lejeune, ”, Lejeune Organizations: Fox, France’s, Journalists Locations: France, Le Monde

☆ Turkish food delivery startup Getir to leave Spain, union says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MADRID, June 30 (Reuters) - Turkish delivery startup Getir will cease its business in Spain and lay off its entire workforce there of 1,560 after failing to raise enough capital in a recent funding round, Spain's biggest trade union CCOO said on Friday. "We condemn the disastrous business management of Getir, which has not known how to grow or have a market strategy in Spain," the union said in a statement. Spain's food delivery market is dominated by Delivery Hero (DHER.DE)-owned Glovo, the Netherlands' Just Eat Takeaway (TKWY.AS) and Uber Eats (UBER.N), all three of which gained market share after Britain's Deliveroo (ROO.L) exited the country in late 2021. Getir Spain did not immediately reply to a request for comment. However, in an April deal, Getir reportedly only raised about $500 million, cutting its valuation almost in half to $6.5 billion.

Persons: CCOO, Britain's Deliveroo, Getir, Le Monde, Flink, David Latona, Sudip Kar, Gupta, Louise Heavens Organizations: Getir, Financial Times, Thomson Locations: MADRID, Spain, Netherlands, Getir Spain, France, Getir France, Istanbul, Getir, Paris

Changpeng Zhao, founder and CEO of Binance, waves as he arrives on stage for a panel session on the second day at the VivaTech Conference in Paris, June 16, 2022. PARIS — Days before French police visited Binance's Paris office, the crypto exchange's top French executive dismissed concerns about U.S. regulatory charges affecting Binance's other operations, comparing them with the flapping of a butterfly's wings. Just days before the raid, CNBC asked Binance France President David Prinçay if he was concerned about charges from the top two U.S. financial regulators against the exchange. Binance's founder, Zhao, dismissed the police statement and reporting as "FUD," claiming it was a "surprise on-site" inspection that was "the norm." Binance faces over a dozen charges from the SEC and a similar slate of allegations from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Persons: Changpeng Zhao, Le Monde, Binance, David Prinçay, Prinçay, Changpeng Zhao's, Binance France's, Zhao Organizations: VivaTech Conference, Le, CNBC, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Futures Trading Commission, of Justice Locations: Paris, PARIS, Binance's Paris, U.S, Europe, French, European

☆ EU antitrust regulators approve Vivendi, Lagardere deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, June 9 (Reuters) - Vivendi (VIV.PA), the French media conglomerate controlled by billionaire Vincent Bollore, on Friday won conditional EU antitrust approval for its acquisition of France's largest publisher Lagardere (LAGA.PA). Vivendi last year announced the deal which would give it control of Lagardere's flagship weekly publications Journal du Dimanche (JDD) and Paris Match. Vivendi said in a statement that it was confident it would finalise those two transactions by the end of October. "The remedies proposed by Vivendi will allow for the preservation of existing competition in those markets, to the benefit of consumers." Reuters reported in April that the remedies were sufficient to help Vivendi gain EU antitrust clearance for the acquisition.

Persons: Vincent Bollore, Margrethe Vestager, Daniel Kretinsky, Yannick Bollore, Foo Yun Chee, Bart Meijer, Sudip Kar, Gupta, Louise Organizations: Vivendi, Paris Match, European Commission, Reuters, Le Monde, TF1, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, EU, Czech, Le

☆ Ukraine is kicking off its big offensive armed with powerful Western tanks and weapons, but breaking Russian lines may be anything but easy
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Ryan Pickrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Ukrainians are armed with Western weapons, including tanks and armored vehicles, but they are facing tough Russian defenses. There appear to be Ukrainian offensive operations against Russian defenses in the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk oblasts, among other locations along the front lines. As some experts have said, the stakes for the Ukrainian offensive are high. Unlike last summer's sweeping offensive around Kharkiv, Ukrainian forces are facing much more heavily defended positions. The think tank added, as Russia makes claims of thwarting Ukraine's offensive, that "the success or failure of this phase may not be apparent for some time."

Persons: —, Klaus, Dietmar Gabbert, Mark Milley, Laurent van der, ISW, Volodymyr Zelenskyy Organizations: Service, Ukrainian, Washington Post, Financial Times, Kyiv hasn't, ABC News, NBC, Institute for, Bundeswehr, Getty Images, US, Joint Chiefs of Staff, CNN, New York Times, 81st Airmobile Battalion, Le Monde, Russian Ministry of Defense, Wall Locations: Ukraine, Donetsk, Russia, Russian, Klietz, Germany, Ukrainian, Kharkiv, Seversk, Novopokrovka

☆ Have We Smothered Warhol With Our Admiration?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Blake Gopnik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In the plush setting of the Brant, it takes an effort to shake off the comfort his pictures now come with and rediscover the discomfort they once served up. Wagstaff, the curator, was maybe registering something important when he worried that Warhol’s painted soup cans might deliver a deathblow to established notions of painting. When Warhol took money to repeat his early icons they did indeed become “dead paintings,” as he once called them, and those gun-toting bohemians only went wrong in seeing this as a cause for rage, not cogitation. The Marilyn retreads they attacked should help us understand that more than almost any other artist, Warhol was willing to recognize how stuff that starts life looking like art can end it acting like currency. (It’s probably Warhol’s first silk-screened painting; one of the treasures at the Brant is that work’s near-identical twin, showing 196 bills.

Persons: Brant, Wagstaff, Warhol, ”, Marilyn retreads Organizations: Le Monde, bohemians Locations: Le

☆ Quiz: How Well Do You Know Karl Lagerfeld?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Louis Lucero Ii | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Everybody knows that you’re nobody until you’re a Halloween costume, and when it comes to Karl Lagerfeld, there’s no shortage of signifiers for would-be cosplayers to draw on. OK, this one was downright sadistic, but in fact, it was 18th-century France that most fascinated the designer. Mr. Lagerfeld furnished his 18th-century townhouse with 18th-century pieces, arranged in a traditional 18th-century fashion. “The 18th century was very vigorous and healthy,” Mr. Lagerfeld once told Le Monde. “It is because of its energy that I love it, and because it has the proportions that best correspond to the way that a human being should live.”

☆ French court to rule on pension age rise as nationwide protests rage on
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Riot police guard the Constitutional Council building during a demonstration against pension reform in central Paris, France, on Thursday, April 13, 2023. French unions are held strikes and protests on Thursday against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform, seeking to maintain pressure on the government before a ruling on the law's constitutionality. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesFrance's Constitutional Council will rule on the legality of President Emmanuel Macron's controversial pension system reforms on Friday, as nationwide protests against raising the retirement age rumble on. While some hope the Constitutional Council will fully reject the bill, many commentators say that is unlikely. Demonstrators march along the vieux port during the 12th day of nationwide strike on pension reform on April 13, 2023 in Marseille, France.

☆ Burkina Faso expels two French journalists
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The two are "journalists of perfect integrity, who worked in Burkina Faso legally, with valid visas and accreditations ... We strongly protest against these absolutely unjustified expulsions," Liberation said in an editorial statement on its website. There was no statement from the authorities in Burkina Faso and it was not immediately possible to reach them for comment. The French foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The junta has since ordered French troops to withdraw from the country and suspended broadcasts by France's RFI radio and television channel France 24. Frustrations over authorities' failure to restore security has spurred anti-French sentiment and helped bring about two military takeovers in Burkina Faso and two in Mali since 2020.

☆ French prosecutors search bank offices over dividend stripping
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The PNF financial prosecution office said in a statement the probe was linked to so-called "cum-ex" dividend stripping, a trading scheme whereby banks and investors swiftly trade shares of companies around their dividend payout day. The searches by French prosecutors are the latest to hit global banks as similar investigations have been conducted in other European countries, including Germany. It was the highest-profile prosecution and longest sentence to date in a series of trials that have also convicted British bankers. It said six German prosecutors were also assisting the investigations. Reporting by Tassilo Hummel, Blandine Hénault and Sudip Kar-Gupta; writing by Silvia Aloisi, Editing by Giles ElgoodOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ French prosecutors search banks in Paris in global tax fraud probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Paris Reuters —French authorities searched the Paris offices of five banks Tuesday, including Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and HSBC, on suspicion of fiscal fraud. The search was part of a broad European probe into the dodging of tax payments on dividends. BNP Paribas and HSBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The French prosecutors’ actions are the latest to hit global banks over the dividend tax fraud scheme. Stock in BNP Paribas rose 0.4%, while HSBC’s stock was flat.

☆ French financial prosecutors search bank offices over dividend stripping - spokesperson
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Close up of young woman inserting her bank card into automatic cash machine in the city. French authorities on Tuesday searched offices of several large banks, including Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and HSBC on the suspicion of money laundering and fiscal fraud, a spokesperson of the PNF financial prosecution office told Reuters. The other concerned banks could not immediately be reached for comment. The spokesperson confirmed earlier reports by paper Le Monde which said the probe was linked to dividend stripping and also hit Exane and Natixis. The PNF said that five investigations were ongoing linked to so-called "cum-cum" practices, through which wealthy clients sought to evade taxes on dividends through complex legal structures.

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