The Rootless World of the Super-rich
THE TELEGRAPH: Once, very wealthy people owned big estates in the country. Now they have homes all over the world and flit to and fro in private jets, yachts - or even submarines. Mark Palmer reports

Even before rumours began to circulate that it was haunted, David and Victoria Beckham had never slept a night in Domaine St-Vincent, the estate in Var-Provence they bought three years ago for £1.5 million. This might seem odd for those of us who can only fantasise about a second home in the South of France, but to the money-bags crowd there's nothing unusual about it at all.

In 2006, the super-rich - that exclusive group - like to see themselves as citizens of the world. They flit from one continent to the next, wheeling and dealing at 30,000 ft, always a few hundred miles ahead of the tax man but only a couple of clicks away from their PAs, solicitors, financial advisers, accountants, wives, mistresses and children.

"I was at an amazingly swanky wedding in Paris recently," says Stephen Bayley, the style guru and art historian. "With my pitiable suburban reflexes, I asked another guest where he was from. He said: 'I've just flown in from Ibiza. I have a flat here in Paris, but my real home is Rio. Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to my apartment in New York.' Then he added, and this is the interesting bit, 'In this milieu, we don't commit adultery, we travel'."

Once upon a time, the rich were rooted. They had big estates in the country. They were chairmen of local charities; they hosted the summer fête. Today, they are rootless - international nomads forever in search of fertile ground in which to sow the seeds of another bumper financial harvest.

Wander down the Bishop's Avenue in north London - which boasts Britain's highest concentration of multi-million pound homes - and you'll find the place practically deserted.

"That's one of the problems we have," says Trevor Abrahmsohn, head of Glentree International, a firm of estate agents that specialises in upscale houses in the area. "For a lot of people, this is their third or fourth home and sometimes they lose interest. They can't be bothered to live here and they can't be bothered to sell."

So, where are they? Well, they're everywhere and nowhere. Some follow the sun while others follow their business investments - and the best chance of seeing them in the same room is likely to be at art sales in London or New York. Never has the phrase "jet set" been quite so appropriate to describe this tribe, were it not for the fact that if you want to buy a plane with room for five passengers, there is a two-year waiting list. And never has the gap between the super-rich and the middle classes been so wide >>> Mark Palmer | Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Liliane Bettencourt continuera à gérer seule son argent
Liliane Bettencourt et sa fille, Françoise. Crédits photo : Le Figaro
LE FIGARO: Un juge des tutelles a rejeté la demande de protection judiciaire demandée par la fille de la milliardaire.

Le juge des tutelles de Neuilly-sur-Seine a refusé d'ouvrir une procédure de protection judiciaire visant Liliane Bettencourt, comme le lui demandait sa fille, révèle mercredi le Point.fr . Une information confirmée par l'avocat de la fille, Me Olivier Metzner.

Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers, fille unique de l'héritière et actionnaire principale de L'Oréal, avait saisi la semaine dernière le juge, en parallèle de la procédure engagée au pénal contre l'artiste François-Marie Banier. Elle l'accuse d'avoir abusé de la faiblesse de sa mère pour bénéficier de dons approchant le milliard d'euros. Il aurait, estime-t-elle, profité de sa mère, diminuée par «une affection neurologique».

La demande de protection judiciaire aurait pu aboutir à la mise sous tutelle de Liliane Bettencourt. Selon le Point.fr, le magistrat l'a rejetée en raison de l'absence de certificat médical de Liliane Bettencourt attestant de ce problème neurologique. L'ancienne dirigeante du groupe, contre toute attente, a en effet refusé de se soumettre à un examen médical. Le 13 mai 2008, pourtant, elle avait formellement accepté de s'y plier, afin de prouver qu'elle n'avait pas été «abusé» dans cette affaire et qu'elle avait bien toute sa tête. «Une femme libre et lucide» >>> Flore Galaud (lefigaro.fr) | Mercredi 09 Décembre 2009

«C'est mon premier devoir de fille»
LE FIGARO: Le Figaro s'est procuré la lettre que Françoise Bettencourt a fait porter à sa mère, Liliane, mercredi matin.

La fille de Lilianne Bettencourt, héritière du groupe l'Oréal, a saisi un juge des tutelles d'une demande de «protection judiciaire» de sa mère. Cette décision pourrait aboutir à son placement sous tutelle. Mardi, Françoise Bettencourt a fait déposer une lettre manuscrite d'une page au domicile de sa mère, à Neuilly. En voici le texte :

«Ma chère maman, aussi triste et douloureux que ce soit pour toi et pour moi, je tiens à t'écrire ces quelques mots. Au delà de la femme admirable (...) que tu es, qui a su accompagner le développement de cette belle entreprise fondée par ton père, tu es pour moi et avant tout ma maman. À entendre tous les témoignages qui me sont parvenus, je sais dans quelle situation d'isolement et d'emprise on t'a placée. On a voulu te faire rompre avec ta famille et t'éloigner de tous ceux, amis, employés, qui dans ton entourage étaient considérés comme “gênants”. Tout cela et ta santé, bien sûr, m'obligent à réagir, à ne pas me résoudre à fermer les yeux et à laisser les choses en l'état. C'est mon premier devoir de fille, je le pense profondément. J'ai déjà essayé en engageant il y a bientôt deux ans la procédure qui te contrarie tant mais cela n'a hélas pas suffit. C'est pourquoi je pense n'avoir d'autre choix, aujourd'hui, que de solliciter du juge civil ta protection. >>> | Jeudi 03 Décembre 2009

LE FIGARO: Les dons généreux de Liliane Bettencourt >>> Cyrille Louis | Vendredi 04 Décembre 2009

Le juge des tutelles refuse d'ouvrir une procédure visant à placer Liliane Bettencourt sous "protection judiciaire"
Crédits photo : LePoint.fr
LEPOINT.fr: Le juge des tutelles du tribunal d'instance de Neuilly a refusé d'ouvrir une procédure visant à placer Liliane Bettencourt sous "protection judiciaire", comme le lui avait demandé sa fille, Françoise Meyers-Bettencourt, la semaine dernière. >>> Par Hervé Gattegno | Mercredi 09 Décembre 2009

Writer-photographer Francois-Marie Banier Faces Charges over €1bn 'Gifts'
TIMES ONLINE: A Parisian photographer and friend of celebrities was sent for trial today on charges of manipulating France's richest woman into giving him gifts worth nearly €1bn.

Judges approved a private action against Francois-Marie Banier, 62, who has been at centre of a mother-daughter feud over the fortune of Liliane Bettencourt, 87, heiress to the L'Oreal cosmetics empire.

Mr Banier, a flamboyant socialite and friend of celebrities since the 1960s, is accused by Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers, 56, Mrs Bettencourt's only child, of fleecing her mother during two decades of close friendship. The gifts he received included paintings by Picasso, Mondrian and Matisse.

Ms Bettencourt inherited her fortune — currently estimated at €10 billion (£9 billion) — from her father, Eugène Schueller, who founded the L’Oréal cosmetics company in 1909.

After a police investigation last year, the case was dropped but Ms Bettencourt-Meyers sought a private prosecution on charges of abusing a frail person, an offence which carries a possible three-year prison term. Her lawyers argued at a hearing yesterday that she was mentally impaired.

"Should a daughter ... who sees her mother in decline, under the power of a predator remain silent and do nothing?" Olivier Metzner, the daughter’s lawyer, asked the judges at Nanterre, in western Paris. "Mr Banier considers pain to be a merchandise," he added.

The case, with its airing of family secrets and supporting cast of celebrities including President Sarkozy, has appalled the discreet world of France’s super-rich. Ms Bettencourt-Meyers is accusing the Paris establishment of trying to stifle an affair which they find embarrassing. The judges over-ruled a request from the prosecutor in court yesterday to dismiss the case.

The photographer, whose past close friends included Salvador Dali, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Cardin, confirmed this week that he received the gifts, in cash, life insurance policies and paintings. "These are gifts, which I refused for a long time," he told Le Monde. >>> Charles Bremner and Alexandra Mauviel | Friday, December 11, 2009

Liens en relation avec l’article / Related / Verwandt:

THE TELEGRAPH: Because He Ain’t Worth It! >>>

THE INDEPENDENT: L'Oréal Heiress Gives €1bn to Photographer 'Because He's Worth It' >>> | Monday, December 15, 2008

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Weiblich und milliardenschwer - die reichsten Frauen der Welt >>> Von Alexandra Sillgitt | Samstag, 08. März 2008

Because He Ain’t Worth It!
THE TELEGRAPH: A French judge will examine whether Europe's richest woman, the elderly heiress to the L'Oreal cosmetics fortune, should be stripped of the right to manage her own affairs after she showered gifts worth almost $1.5 billion on a friend.

Liliane Bettencourt, 87, says she was in full possession of her wits when she lavished cash, artworks and life insurance on photographer and socialite Francois-Marie Banier, 62, but her daughter disagrees and has taken her objections to the courts.

Lawyer Olivier Metzner, who represents the daughter, said that he had launched a civil procedure to try and have Mrs Bettencourt declared irresponsible and placed under the authority of a court-designated tutor.

The move is in addition to a separate criminal case in which the daughter, Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers, is pressing charges against Mr Banier, accusing him of taking advantage of an old lady's weakness to extort staggering sums from her.

"We have already taken action against the predator. Now we are taking action to protect my client's mother, to show that she is nothing more than a victim," said Mr Metzner. L'Oreal heiress facing scrutiny over $1.5bn gifts to male friend >>> | Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Filthy Rich and Enjoying Every Minute of It
Filthy rich and proud of it. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMESONLINE: Stock markets across the world may have tanked last year but that didn’t stop the top performing hedge fund managers from making themselves a huge pile of cash.

In fact, the top 25 made £8.275 billion or an average of $464 million (£331m) each in 2008, according to research by Alpha Magazine. That is enough money to pay for 30 hospitals, employ more than 300,000 nurses for a year, or vaccinate every child in poverty from five preventable diseases.

Anyway, here is the list of the top 10, and how they made their millions (billions). Filthy Rich: The 10 Highest Paid Hedge Fund Managers of 2008 >>> | Tuesday, March 31, 2009