LVMH Faces Lawsuit Over Secret Hermès Share Purchase

Luxury conglomerate LVMH and its Chairman Bernard Arnault are facing legal action after court documents revealed a secret 2002 agreement to purchase shares from Hermès heir Nicolas Puech. While LVMH previously denied attempting to acquire Puech's roughly 6% stake against his wishes, records show that the company and Arnault's family holding company paid at least $20 million in fees to Puech's former financial adviser, Eric Freymond, between 2001 and 2009.

Nicolas Puech filed a lawsuit seeking €14 billion in damages after discovering in 2022 that his shares were missing. The missing stake is estimated to be worth $10 billion. LVMH maintains that any purchase of the shares was unintentional and argues that the 2002 agreement was never executed due to authorization concerns.

French prosecutors are currently investigating the disappearance of the shares to determine how the transaction occurred and where the assets are located.