A judge in Paris has ordered a psychiatric evaluation of Nicolas Puech, the 83-year-old heir to the Hermès luxury house. Mr Puech says he lost his stake in the company, equivalent to 6% of Hermès and worth around $9 billion. The decision marks a new turn in a case that has drawn in LVMH and its chairman, billionaire Bernard Arnault.
Psychiatric evaluation ordered
According to Reuters, which cited two people with direct knowledge of the decision, a team of psychiatrists has been asked to assess whether Mr Puech has a mental disorder that could have made him vulnerable to financial exploitation.
The offence of “abuse of weakness”
The development could affect the criminal investigation. In France, exploiting a person’s diminished mental capacity or other vulnerability for unlawful financial gain is a specific offence, known as “abuse of weakness”. The same offence was at the centre of the high-profile case involving L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.
Origins of the case
The case dates back to the early 2000s, when the LVMH group worked with Mr Puech’s Swiss wealth manager, Éric Freymond, to quietly build up a stake in its rival Hermès.
According to an earlier Reuters report, LVMH reached an agreement with Mr Freymond in 2002 and paid him at least $20 million in commissions and fees for gathering Hermès shares.
LVMH acknowledges the cooperation but maintains that any acquisition of Mr Puech’s shares would have been unintentional. The group came to control up to 23% of Hermès before agreeing in 2014 to sell its holding, ending a bitter business dispute.
The €14 billion civil claim
Last year, Mr Puech named LVMH and Mr Arnault among the defendants in a civil claim. He is seeking €14 billion in damages from whoever is found responsible in the parallel criminal investigation.
The criminal investigation
Prosecutors have focused on Mr Freymond and Swiss lawyer Alexandre Montavon, who advised LVMH on its acquisition of Hermès shares.
In May, Mr Montavon was placed under formal investigation on suspicion of involvement in the misappropriation of Mr Puech’s shares for the benefit of LVMH. He denies any wrongdoing and has challenged the decision to order the psychiatric evaluation in court.
Positions of LVMH and Bernard Arnault
Neither LVMH nor Mr Arnault has been formally named as a suspect. The group has categorically denied trying to acquire Mr Puech’s shares through schemes involving his wealth manager. Mr Freymond, who died in 2025, had also denied any wrongdoing.
Mr Puech’s account
Mr Puech says he only discovered that his shares had disappeared in 2022, when he ended his relationship with Mr Freymond, whom he had trusted completely for decades.
“He had all the signatures in my name and prepared all the documents,” he told the French magazine L’Express in an interview in 2025.
With information from Reuters
