The Bettencourt affair : the world's richest woman and the scandal that rocked Paris

Sancton, Thomas (Thomas Alexander) 1949- (author.).

Summary: Was the world's wealthiest woman--Liliane Bettencourt--heir to an estimated thirty-six-billion-dollar L'Oreal fortune, the victim of a con man? Or were her own family the real villains? This riveting narrative tells the real-life, shocking story behind the cause celebre that has captivated both France and the world. Liliane Bettencourt is the world's richest woman and the eleventh wealthiest person on the planet, as of 2016. But at ninety-four, she's embroiled in an incredible controversy that has dominated the headlines and ensnared a former president of France in the controversy. Why? [It is] thanks to an artist and photographer named Francois-Marie Banier, who was given hundreds of millions of dollars by Liliane. Liliane's daughter, Francoise, considers Banier a con man and filed a lawsuit against him, but Banier has a far different story to tell. It's all become Europe's biggest scandal in years, uncovering a shadowy corporate history, buried World War II secrets, illicit political payoffs, and much more. Written by Tom Sancton, a Vanity Fair contributor and former Time correspondent currently living in France, The Bettencourt Affair is part courtroom drama; part upstairs-downstairs tale; part business narrative of a glamorous global company with past Nazi connections; and part character-driven story of a complex, fascinating family and the intruder who nearly tore it apart.

Record details

ISBN: 9781101984475
ISBN: 1101984473
ISBN: 9781101984499
ISBN: 110198449X
Physical Description: print
xv, 396 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm
Publisher: New York, New York : Dutton, [2017]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 339-396).

Formatted Contents Note:

Prologue: Lost in the fog -- Part one. Life before Banier -- The founder -- The heiress and the consort -- Poor little rich girl -- Part two. Banier enters the scene -- Portrait of the artist -- Such good friends -- Dark roots -- A generous man -- The Christmas visitor -- The ambitious Monsieur Sarkozy -- The whistle-blower -- Part three. The Bettencourt affair -- The opening salvo -- Sibling rivals -- Sarkozy joins the fray -- Metzner's end run -- Part four. The net spreads wider -- The butler did it -- Behind closed doors -- The Woerth affair -- Filthy rich -- Banier's Année Terrible -- The fixer -- Part five. The endgame -- Bordeaux -- Hardball -- A president in the crosshairs -- Banier strikes back -- Life and death -- The reckoning -- The eye of the beholder -- The wheels of justice -- Farewell to paradise? -- The verdict -- Epilogue: Wings -- Cast of characters.