Tax fraud in Paris: Banker Paul Hottinguer denies fleeing French tax authorities
Paul Hottinguer, 84, is appearing in Paris on charges of aggravated tax fraud. He contests having concealed his residence in Switzerland to escape more than 7 million euros in taxes.
Hottinguer trial: "I lived in Switzerland," pleads the 84-year-old patriarch
Paul Hottinguer, heir to one of Europe's oldest banking dynasties, appeared on Wednesday before the Paris criminal court on charges of aggravated tax fraud and money laundering. According to Le Temps, the octogenarian firmly denied attempting to evade more than 7 million euros in French tax, claiming he had paid it in Switzerland, the country where he says he resided.
The National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) suspects Hottinguer of falsely establishing his residence in Switzerland between 2011 and 2021, using an offshore financial scheme to shield his French income from the French tax administration.
Diaries revealing extensive presence in France
The court president detailed at length, with supporting figures, the number of days the defendant spent in France—far exceeding those spent in Switzerland. In 2013, for instance, Hottinguer allegedly spent only two days in Switzerland, compared to 188 in France, where he regularly organises hunting parties at his château in Seine-et-Marne, a property he inherited at the age of 20.
Faced with this enumeration, the octogenarian invoked his stays in Spain: "I also spent many days in Spain, roughly two months a year," he stated from the witness stand. Described as in good form "but somewhat deaf" and with occasional memory lapses, he maintained his version: he lived in Switzerland during the week and travelled to Paris, in the sixteenth arrondissement, or to Seine-et-Marne, for "long weekends".
Investigators also exploited his personal diaries to establish that the majority of his leisure activities and activities took place in France, not Switzerland.
Mobile phone location data, a difficult argument to refute
The mobile phone location records for his mobile phone in France proved to be another point of contention. Unable to provide a convincing explanation for the frequency of these French locations, the court president reminded him of an obvious fact: "One cannot be in both France and Switzerland at the same time."
The defendant's private communications were also produced before the court. In a telephone conversation with his sister, read aloud at the hearing, Hottinguer describes France as a "horrible country". Questioned from the witness stand about this characterisation, he clarified: "Fiscally, yes." The rest of the conversation reveals other pointed remarks: "We must get out of this country," which he further describes as "socialist" and populated by "welfare recipients".
Investigation sparked by contentious separation
The PNF investigation began following a complaint from the French tax authority in 2019. The latter had itself been alerted by Paul Hottinguer's ex-wife, in the context of a separation described as "highly conflictual".
The trial, which continues until Friday, also concerns the defendant's son, Philippe Hottinguer, and his former assistant, both prosecuted for complicity in tax fraud and money laundering. Philippe Hottinguer is suspected of having devised a financial arrangement involving offshore companies and foundations, allowing him to capture dividends arising from his father's French business activities and subsequently return part of them to him. He denies the allegations.
French tax resident since 2023
Paul Hottinguer also stated that he has been a French tax resident again since 2023, on the advice of his tax adviser, given the time he spends in France since his retirement, which he took approximately twenty years ago.
Also known by the surname Hottinger, the former banker comes from a family whose roots in European finance extend back several centuries. The verdict is expected following the hearings scheduled for this week.
Source: Le Temps