A lawyer for Bernard Arnault has dismissed allegations of money laundering that triggered a preliminary investigation by French prosecutors into the billionaire's dealings with a Russian businessman, saying they are "as absurd as they are unfounded."
On Friday, the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office told CNN that Arnault, who owns French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, and Russian oligarch Nikolai Sarkisov were under "preliminary investigation" for their alleged involvement in "transactions likely to constitute money laundering offenses."
The probe was opened last year, the prosecutor's office said. As the subjects of a preliminary investigation, neither Arnault nor Sarkisov are suspects and neither has been accused of wrongdoing.
According to French publication Le Monde, which cited a memo sent by Tracfin, the French economy ministry's financial watchdog, to the prosecutor's office last December, Arnault loaned €18.3 million ($19.3 million) to Sarkisov in 2018 through a private holding company.
In the fall of 2018, Sarkisov used the loan to buy several properties in the Alpine resort of Courchevel, where Arnault's LVMH owns the Cheval Blanc hotel, the memo reportedly said. Some of those properties were purchased through SNC La Fleche, a firm Sarkisov effectively owned through a network of holding companies, according to Le Monde. Arnault later bought SNC La Fleche, the publication added.
CNN cannot independently verify the content of the Tracfin memo.
In a statement that LVMH shared with CNN Saturday, Arnault's lawyer Jacqueline Laffont said the "operation which was carried out to allow the expansion of the Cheval Blanc hotel in Courchevel was perfectly known and was carried out in compliance with the law. The investigation, apparently ongoing, will not fail to prove this."
"Besides, who can seriously imagine that Mr Bernard Arnault, who has built the leading French and European company over 40 years, would engage money laundering to expand a hotel?" Laffont added. She did not elaborate on what the hotel's expansion entailed.
CNN has contacted Tracfin and Sarkisov for comment.
Sarkisov's representatives told Le Monde that the Russian businessman was "not at all personally involved" in the transactions linked to suspected money laundering, and that, in 2018, "there were no known business links between the two men."
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates Arnault's net wealth at $164 billion, which makes him the world's second-richest person, behind only Elon Musk.
LVMH is once again Europe's biggest company by market capitalization, after being briefly dethroned last month by Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk (NVO). Arnault's company encompasses luxury fashion and drinks brands such as Louis Vuitton and Moet & Chandon.
