Banier To Stand Trial For Exploitation
Celebrity photographer FRANCOIS-MARIE BANIER is set to stand trial in France next year (10) for exploitation, amid accusations he cheated L’Oreal heiress LILIANE BETTENCOURT out of $1.5 million (?937,500).
Bettencourt’s daughter, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, claims Banier has taken advantage of her 87-year-old mother’s alleged mental frailty to woo gifts from her, including cash, life insurance policies, and pricey paintings by Picasso and Matisse.
In a recent interview with French newspaper Le Monde, Banier, 62, denied the claims, insisting the items “are gifts from a totally lucid woman, which I refused for a long time to accept.”
He added: “What shocks people is that a woman of her standing would break conventions like this. What she gave me is nothing alongside what she taught me.”
Banier will be tried on 16-17 April (10).
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