Nina Ricci heiress jailed for fraud

FASHION and perfume heiress Arlette Ricci has been sentenced to a year in jail, a €1million fine and the confiscation of two properties valued at €4m after being found guilty in Paris of systematic tax evasion.

The Nina Ricci heiress is one of the first to be charged and sentenced after the Swissleaks leak of details of large-scale tax fraud through the Swiss arm of HSBC.

Ms Ricci, 73, was also ordered to repay millions in unpaid taxes, with the exact sum to be decided later. The fisc is demanding she repay €6.7m in unpaid income tax and penalties, €3.5m in unpaid wealth tax ISF and penalties plus another €200,000 fine.

She has consistently denied the charges and can appeal the sentence, which also included a two-year suspended jail term. Her 51-year-old daughter was also given a suspended jail sentence, of eight months.

The Paris court said that “for more than 20 years she showed a particularly determined will” to hide €18.7m from the French taxman in Swiss accounts which she inherited after her father’s death.