The heiress of the fashion and perfume house Nina Ricci has been sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay heavy fines and back taxes for having hidden millions of euros in HSBC bank accounts in Switzerland.
Monday's ruling was the first involving a famous name in the so-called Swissleaks scandal, in which a former HSBC employee gave authorities thousands of names of suspected tax evaders. Other trials are expected to follow.
A Paris court convicted Arlette Ricci, 73, granddaughter of designer Nina Ricci, of tax evasion and money laundering. The court ordered a 1-million-euro fine and the confiscation of two properties worth 4 million euros.
The court ordered Ricci, a lawyer and two companies to pay millions in back taxes.
