2023-08-03 15:04:06
His bubble dresses and his love affair with actress Jeanne Moreau shaped the fame of French couturier Pierre Cardin, who built a solid empire over his long career. Since his death at the end of 2020, his family has been torn apart around his estate.
• Read also: French fashion designer Pierre Cardin dies at 98
On the one hand, the designer’s great-nieces, who have rallied most of the Cardin family, want the Cardin group to be sold and denounce “an attempt to spoliate the inheritance”.
On the other, the couturier’s great-nephew, Rodrigo Basilicati-Cardin, who became general manager of the group in 2018 then president in November 2020. This 50-year-old, who says he has worked for nearly 25 years with his great-uncle, wishes respect the wishes of Pierre Cardin, preserve his empire and defend his image”.
Pierre Cardin, visionary creator and jack-of-all-trades businessman, died at the end of December 2020 at the age of 98.
The couturier, who had no children, left a rich heritage: a holding company and subsidiaries, licenses, brands, as well as real estate, particularly in Paris and the south of France.
The group’s assets are estimated between 750 and 800 million euros, depending on the takeover proposals, told AFP Me Jean-Louis Rivière, lawyer for the grandnieces.
The latter accuse their cousin of wanting to “recover the entire individual heritage of Pierre Cardin and the group according to dubious, even possibly fraudulent maneuvers”, summarizes their lawyer.
“Timely” discovery
In question, in particular, a will signed by Pierre Cardin in November 2016 and designating Rodrigo Basilicati-Cardin as sole heir. The latter found this document in 2022 in the Parisian building of his great-uncle.
A “timely” discovery the day following a takeover offer from the group with which “all the heirs, representing 85%, agreed”, underlines Me Rivière.
The validity of this will is disputed before the civil court of Paris.
The battle between the two Cardin clans has also won the criminal field.
An investigation was opened by the Paris prosecutor’s office following a complaint in March by the great-nieces Cardin for abuse of weakness, aggravated breach of trust, fraud, forgery and use of forgery, said a judicial source.
These same Cardins have filed three other complaints since the beginning of the year, including one that was dismissed in June. The other two, one for breach of trust and forgery and the second for fraud and breach of trust, are being analyzed.
In one of the complaints, the grandnieces dispute the conditions under which Rodrigo Basilicati-Cardin took over as head of the holding company a few days following the death of his great-uncle. Their doubts relate to the validity of the deed of transfer of shares that their grandmother Giovanna Cardin would have signed, a few days before her death in March 2000 at the age of 97.
Rodrigo Basilicati-Cardin replied on June 21 with a complaint with civil action for defamation.
“Certain family members, who do not accept that Pierre Cardin has appointed me to succeed him, multiply the procedures and try to mobilize the press, with false allegations whose sole purpose is to harm me and harm the group,” he denounces.
Under the impetus of Rodrigo Basilicati-Cardin, the Pierre Cardin fashion house returned to the official women’s ready-to-wear calendar in Paris last March following a 25-year absence.
By taking up the flagship silhouettes of the visionary couturier, the collection was designed in-house, Mr. Basilicati-Cardin not wishing to invite an outside stylist so as not to “distort” the heritage of his great-uncle. “At the end, he says, Pierre Cardin entrusted me with important advice on his vision of the brand, it’s a treasure that I want to develop”.
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