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CRIME

Nike fined for putting French shirt on Churchill

American sportswear giant Nike has been ordered to pay thousands of euros by a court in Paris after arranging a stunt that saw a French basketball shirt placed on the statue of Britain's war-time Prime Minister Winston Churchill near the Champs-Elysée.

Published: 2 July 2015 16:09 CEST
Nike fined for putting French shirt on Churchill
The French basketball team posing with the dressed-up statue. Photo: BFMTV

The sportswear firm organized the stunt with event management company Ubi Bene to celebrate the French basketball team’s entry into the final of the European championship on September 19th 2011 and qualification for the upcoming 2012 Olympics in London.

Emblazoned with a number 9, the Nike shirt was the same worn by French basketball champion Tony Parker that year, Le Point reported.

The French team were then photographed in front of the three-metre-high statue, which is located on Avenue Winston Churchill in Paris, just off the Champs-Elysée.

But the 84-year-old sculptor of the statue, Jean Cardot, said he did not give them permission to do so, and took the firms to court.

In a recent judgement the Paris court of appeal ordered the firms to pay Cardot €67,000 each for disrespecting the statue by exploiting it for publicity purposes.

 

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BANKING

Danish bank to pay millions to end French laundering probe

Denmark’s largest bank has agreed to pay a multi-million sum to end legal pursuits in France linked to alleged money laundering in its Estonian subsidiary that resulted in heavy US penalties

Published: 18 September 2024 16:27 CEST
Danish bank to pay millions to end French laundering probe

Danske Bank will pay €6.3million (47million kroner) to end French financial authorities’ investigation.

An independent auditor’s report published in 2018 alleged Danske Bank’s Estonian unit allegedly laundered some €200billion through 15,000 accounts from 2007 to 2015.

The payment was agreed on August 27th with France’s national financial crime prosecutors and validated by a court on Wednesday. The agreement does not involve any admission of guilt.

Danske last December pleaded guilty in the United States and paid a $2billion fine.

The bank last October set aside an amount roughly equal to its US fine in expectation of legal pursuits in several countries.

Probes are underway in Estonia, Denmark, and Britain.

France charged Danske in 2019 with organised money laundering, which it denied, saying it was unaware of its Estonian subsidiary’s activities.

Tracfin, the French finance ministry’s anti-money laundering unit, found suspect movements on two accounts linked to a Franco-Russian businesswoman who has since been handed a two-year suspended sentence.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Danske’s counsel Niels Heering said his institution was “happy to reach this accord which for us is a way to close this chapter”, adding that “cracking down on financial fraud remains a priority” for the bank.

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