The casino’s executive director, Jean-Charles Naouri, was arrested on Thursday at the Paris judicial police facility as part of an investigation into price manipulation and insider trading in particular, AFP learned from a source close to him.
The executive president is interviewed by the Financial Brigade, said this source, confirming information from the JDD. The investigation was opened in 2020 by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) for “manipulation of prices in an organized gang, active and passive private corruption” and “inside trading”. It follows a report from the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) and relates to events dating back to 2018 and 2019.
conciliation procedure
According to a source familiar with the matter, this investigation refers to the links between Mr. Naouri and the Casino group with the press officer Nicolás Miguet. Contacted, Jean-Charles Naouri’s lawyer, Me Marie-Alix Canu-Bernard, did not respond. When asked, Me Sébastien Schapira, who also represents him, could not immediately be reached.
In May 2022, AMF investigators visited the group’s headquarters and the home of Jean-Charles Naouri. Casino formalized this Friday its entry into a conciliation procedure for a period of four months to renegotiate its large debt, announcing its willingness to sell a hundred supermarkets and hypermarkets to the Intermarché group.
Casino, which employs more than 50,000 people in France and 200,000 worldwide under many brands, has been struggling for years to get out of debt, so far without success.
Source: BFM TV
