Villa saint tropez bernard tapie biography

Bernard Tapie's House

The French businessman, politician and occasional actor, singer, and TV host purchased "La Mandala", one of Saint-Tropez's finest properties, in for a reported €47 million. Tapie is the former owner of sports good giant, Adidas, and French soccer club, Olympique Marseille. He was involved in numerous business scandals, several of his assets were seized in July

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Last month, a French politician and businessman, Bernard Tapie, is showing that the freezing of assets is not limited to Middle East former dictators.

The French daily newspaper Le Monde revealed in July that investigating judges had ordered the seizure of many of the controversial captain of industry's assets.

Ownership of a mansion on Paris' Left Bank and a villa in Saint-Tropez, bank accounts, insurance policies and his stake in a newspaper group were all taken into official hands. The move was widely interpreted as signalling the authorities' belief Mr Tapie was the principal beneficiary of funds acquired by fraudulent means, and he was furious.

"Frankly," an indignant Mr Tapie exclaimed, "I didn't know I lived in a country where you could be executed without being convicted. It's like death before the death."

He claimed the authorities had indicted him to justify confiscating his possessions.

Now 70, Mr Tapie, a metalwor

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