Hermès case: an heir reacts to the death of his banker

Nicolas Puech, one of the heirs of the French house in leather goods Hermès, wants to shed light on the mysterious disappearance of his actions, he said on Monday through his lawyer, after the death of Eric Freymond, his former fortune manager.

Last week, the “Tribune de Genève” and “Le Point” had reported that Eric Freymond, against whom Nicolas Puech had filed a complaint, ended his life.

In a statement transmitted by his lawyer, Nicolas Puech said he learned “with sadness” his death and addressed “his most sincere thoughts to his family”, “despite the public and judicial disputes” who opposed them, but also claimed to want to “shed light” on the disappearance of his titles, which aroused a strong reaction from one of the deceased lawyers.

“The decency and elegance perhaps commanded the mourning of Mr. Freymond’s family,” said Jean Tamalet, one of the lawyers for the Geneva financier, to AFP.

Nicolas Puech, 82, is one of the great-grandchildren of the founder of the leather goods house in rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré. Often presented as in cold with the rest of his family, the octogenarian who resides in Switzerland had inherited six million shares representing 5.76% of the capital of Hermès, which during the current price represents an amount of almost 14.5 billion euros. The Hermès house did not respond to AFP requests.

The fate of Nicolas Puech’s titles is at the heart of a long and complex case with multiple twists and turns, one of the unresolved questions being whether these actions had been sold or not when Bernard Arnault, the boss of LVMH, had discreetly accumulated participation in his competitor.

In 2023, this case had taken a new lap when Nicolas Puech said it was ruined and filed a complaint against his former fortune manager, believing that he had used subtle montages to make his actions disappear. In the press release sent by his lawyer, he explained that Eric Freymond had been “a friend and an advisor with whom collaboration has always been in full confidence” for 25 years.

But “our relationship has unfortunately broke following extreme gravity in connection with my six million titles of the Hermès International company on which all the light has yet to be made,” he added.

Last year, his complaint had “been swept by the Geneva justice” which “innocent of Eric Freymond”, reported the “Tribune de Genève”, but Mr. Puech also filed a complaint in France.

Eric Freymond was not “innocent” by the Swiss justice since she “did not instruct the file,” said Mr. Puech’s lawyer in an email to AFP.

“For the moment”, it is above all necessary to “preserve the meditation of the family, and the quarrels on stories of actions, big money, and small bitterness can pass after,” said Tamalet.

While the file is at the heart of complex procedures, the Swiss financier had been questioned by French justice “at the end of June” and was to “be heard again in September”, retraced Mr. Tamalet, who said he was “unarmeded” by the death of his client. Without revealing details on these interviews, “covered by the secrecy of education”, Mr. Tamalet said that Mr. Freymond “had come out relieved”, and “even galvanized”.

Last week, two other lawyers of the wealth manager had reacted to his death saying that Mr. Freymond had been “broken by the violence of suspicion”.

Contacted by AFP, the police of the canton of Bern did not comment, invoking “the legal provisions” concerning the “protection of the private sphere”. Last week, she had simply confirmed that a “train accident” had occurred near the Gassenay campsite.