The Partouche Empire Strikes Back
Two months ago, a case made a lot of noise in the press around the world of gambling and casinos. Indeed, the Partouche group had been accused of tax evasion and money laundering, just after the arrests of three directors. A case of twists and turns, we are now bringing out the case, because the firm has decided to counter-attack this week. But before bouncing back on this news, it seems wise to remind you a little of the facts …
It Was In March 2018 …
We could then see the shares of the Partouche group fall dangerously, by nearly 20%, in the space of a single weekend. The cause of this sudden change? A shock announcement in the media of the arrest of seven members of the firm. Among these people arrested, we will then find three directors. The authorities had therefore visited the 3 Partouche casinos in Bandol, Cannes, and Grande-Motte, following very strong suspicions of tax fraud and money laundering. It’s a safe bet that 2018 will be much more difficult for the group than expected. If Partouche had declared satisfactory results for 2017, the same will certainly not be the case for the 2018 balance sheet.
Illegal Poker Games
After the investigation we learned that Partouche was in fact concealing large games of poker. The industry giant, number 2 in the casinos of our dear French neighbors, has been in a very bad position since it suffered several attacks from the police. A gloomy affair around a serious case of tax fraud, money laundering and the illegal conduct of games and chance. A police report which is rather worrying for the firm which sees itself accused by the authorities of having organized much larger poker games than what was declared. Games that have taken place in some of the group’s casinos for nearly a year and a half and which in fact took place in a concealed manner. Indeed, those in charge only declared a fraction of the money that was put into play according to the elements that were revealed;
The investigation being in progress, Roulette.be cannot to this day give you more information on these sums for the moment and of precision on these amounts, but we imagine within the drafting that these were exchanged during high-stakes cash-game games, games that could well have involved Partouche executives and public figures …
The Partouche Affair
In recent weeks, the three directors and four other people believed to be linked to these parties have already been arrested. The authorities have obviously wasted no time since and carried out searches, more precisely at one of the Partouche directors at the time. You should know that some people would have therefore received commissions, just to organize or silence the holding of these parties, but also to discreetly manage the money laundering that went with it.
This is undoubtedly news that has seriously tarnished Partouche’s reputation in recent months, and which risks severely limiting its ability to invest again this year. Indeed, if the firm had close projects to officially carry out renovations and other work on all of its real estate stock, it risks having to now direct its priority towards another project which will be explained in front of Justice. Not to mention that he will probably have to think about starting to collect the money that will be used to pay the fine and upgrade his tax record. But the Partouche group has not said its last word, as we can then see this first week of May with a twist in the affair: a counter-attack that we are now going to tell you about.
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