66 million euros for a former lawyer in Luxembourg
After a legal whirlwind that lasted nearly ten years and two stays in prison, the former lawyer of the Luxembourg bar was completely cleared by Swiss justice. Back on this case full of twists and turns.
Judicial
After a legal whirlwind that lasted nearly ten years and two stays in prison, the former lawyer of the Luxembourg bar was completely cleared by Swiss justice. Back on this case full of twists and turns.
Jackpot in sight for a former Belgian lawyer from the Luxembourg Bar. After a vast legal battle, the latter is preparing to recover tens of millions of euros after a long legal battle finally won. But at what price does that say? The now white lawyer spent two years of her life behind bars, including at Schrassig, and many more years defending herself in court.
The so-called “Spoelberch legacy” case is a real bag of knots, but we’ll try to summarize it briefly. Farida (known as Fara) Chorfi is a former Belgian lawyer who notably practiced in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. She counted among her clients the illustrious Viscountess Amicie de Spoelberch. This name may not mean much to you, but the latter is none other than an heiress of the world’s leading brewing group AB InBev (Diekirch, Jupiler, Leffe, Hoegaarden, Corona, Stella Artois, etc.).
A heritage of 320 million euros
Suffice to say that when she died in 2008, she left behind a colossal fortune, mainly millions of shares in AB InBev (formerly called Interbrew) with a total value of 320 million euros and placed in various tax havens. A legacy that will go to his two adopted sons, whose father died a few years earlier.
According to our Belgian colleagues from the DH, which relate this incredible story, Fara Chorfi continued to defend the interests of the two heir sons. But the situation between the latter and the lawyer will escalate until they accuse the lawyer of having tried to divert part of the shares placed in a safe of the Natixis bank in Luxembourg and to have them laundered. through various offshore companies.
She will be tried for these facts in Luxembourg and sentenced in 2016 by the Court of Appeal to 24 months in prisont, including 15 suspended, for having tried to defraud Amicie de Spoelberch. However, the public prosecutor was unable to provide proof of the theft of some 815,000 securities, which had evaporated in nature.
40 million on an account in Switzerland
Unlike the Swiss authorities who, thanks to the Swissleaks scandal, which occurred in 2015, managed to uncover the existence of an account registered in the name of Fara Chorfi in the Geneva subsidiary of the financial institution HSBC. According to published information, the account was close to $40 million. It was therefore only the beginning of the trouble for Fara Chorfi who was now suspected of money laundering by the Swiss justice system.
The lawyer was then placed under an arrest warrant and kept in detention for ten months. We are then in 2019, Fara Chorfi is sentenced by the Geneva Criminal Court to 30 months in prison, 15 of which are suspended, for aggravated money laundering and forgery in the titles.
Following the judgment, the Grand Duchy asked Switzerland to arrest the Belgian with a view to her extradition, Luxembourg wishing that she serve the sentence for which she had been sentenced in 2016.
In addition, she was also ordered to reverse the 327,600 shares found to the two brothers and to pay them the tidy sum of 35 million euros, corresponding to the value of the 488,000 shares that had disappeared into the wild. The judgment also mentioned the confiscation of 30 million euros seized during the investigation.
Acquitted of money laundering
As you can imagine, Fara Chorfi appealed the decision. The case will finally land before the Geneva Court of Appeal, which will take its time to re-analyze the case from top to bottom. And his decision is surprising.
Indeed, on January 19, the Court of Appeal simply acquitted the lawyer on the count of aggravated money laundering. According to Time, in the eyes of the judges, there was nothing to establish that the lawyer would have taken advantage of vulnerable heirs before “concealing the proceeds of her deception”. The lawyer has come a long way, the public prosecutor was asking for four years in prison.
“Her dignity as a lawyer is restored”
But that’s not all, the suspects, the adopted children of Amicie de Spoelberch, who demanded, according to the DH, a sum of 250 million euros will simply have nothing! As for Fara Chorfi, she recovers the 35 million that she had previously had to return to the two adopted children. It will also regain control of the 327,600 shares found. All this combined, our colleagues thus evoke a sum of 66 million euros that the former lawyer, now 60 years old, will receive.
“This total acquittal of the aggravated money laundering charge is above all a halt to the criminal crushing enterprise inflicted on our client with unprecedented violence for 8 years. I hope that will be enough to lift it. At least, her dignity as a lawyer is now finally restored”, declared Me Grégoire Mangeat, lawyer for Fara Chorfi, questioned by Time.
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