(Bloomberg) -- Lawyer Claude Dumont-Beghi gained celebrity in France for helping to expose opaque offshore structures used by the Wildenstein family to stash away artworks worth more than €1 billion.
But following a previously unreported ruling last month, she also faces a multimillion-euro tax bill, after being caught hiding her own funds abroad.
As well as pursuing a case against Guy Wildenstein — the art dealer dynasty’s fifth-generation patriarch — French tax watchdogs did some digging into Dumont-Beghi. They found out about a €4.5 million ($5 million) hoard, in an undeclared New York HSBC Holdings Plc account held via a set up in the British Virgin Islands.
Dumont-Beghi was slapped with a €4.2 million back-taxes repayment order nearly a decade ago that she has been fighting ever since — to no avail. After the court defeat on Sept. 30, her final bill could be higher, taking into account interest repayments.
Dumont-Beghi told Bloomberg that the money should be exempt from taxes because it was a “gift” from the godmother of Wildenstein, who had hired her after complaining she was cheated out of a fortune from her late-husband’s inheritance.
Paris judges disagreed, and her appeal was subsequently rejected last month because she broke procedural rules by failing to hire counsel. Dumont-Beghi said by phone that she now plans to lodge another challenge against her tax bill at France’s top court.
On top of the civil tax case, Dumont-Beghi has already faced criminal prosecution over the secret stash — like the art dealer.
Ironically, authorities ultimately prosecuted both Wildenstein and his main accuser for the same crime: tax fraud. While Wildenstein is still seeking to overturn his conviction at France’s top court, the guilty verdict against Dumont-Beghi is now final.
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