French billionaire investigated on suspicion of money laundering

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French billionaire Bernard Arnault and Russian oligarch Nikolai Sarkisov have been investigated on suspicion of money laundering at a luxury ski resort in the Alps, Paris prosecutors said. The investigation concerns their activities in Courchevel, a ski resort in the French Alps known as a playground for the super-rich, they said Thursday night.

The French economy ministry's financial intelligence service is investigating but has not yet determined whether any crime was committed, a source close to the investigation told AFP.

The French newspaper Le Monde, citing the financial intelligence service Tracfin, reported that a 55-year-old Russian billionaire bought 14 residential units from a single seller in 2018 for 16 million euros ($17 million at current exchange rates) in a complex transaction involving companies registered in France, Luxembourg and Cyprus.

Although he is believed to be the buyer, Sarkisov's name does not appear anywhere on the books of the company making the purchase. It is believed that a company called La Fleche also purchased three more properties from a second company, which also happens to be owned by Sarkisov. The sale of real estate to himself allowed the Russian billionaire to make a capital gain of 1.2 million euros, the newspaper reported.

According to investigators, Arnault, who runs the luxury LVMH empire and is the second richest man in the world after Ilon Musk according to Forbes, is suspected of lending Sarkisov 18.3 million euros for the deal.

The change of ownership may have been planned "to conceal the exact origin of the funds," the newspaper quoted the Tracfin document as well as the identity of the "final beneficiary." Investigators believe Sarkisov made two million euros from the operation, but it remains unknown to them how much he paid for the loan.

The LVMH company declined to comment on AFP's questions. However, Le Monde newspaper quoted a company spokesman as saying the operation was "carried out in strict accordance with the law". The newspaper also cites people close to Sarkisov who say the capital gains amounted to "only a few hundred thousand euros" and that the Russian oligarch was not personally involved in the operation.

Le Monde reports that according to family lore, Arnault has a special connection to Courchevel, as he learned to ski there as a child and owns a mansion and luxury hotel there. As the newspaper notes, hotel prices in the resort can reach several tens of thousands of euros per night.