The icon of French cinema is now determined on his fate. Two months after a trial for “aggravated tax fraud” and “money laundering”, which took place in her absence, Isabelle Adjani was sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of 250,000 euros. this Thursday by the Paris criminal court.
At the hearing on October 19, the national financial prosecutor’s office requested an 18-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 250,000 euros, as well as two years of ineligibility. “Before being a public figure, she is a citizen subject to duties”, affirmed the financial prosecutors, for whom Isabelle Adjani “sought, in a fairly systematic manner, to reduce her taxation between 2013 and 2017”.
The court underlined the “seriousness of the facts”. “These facts demonstrate the desire for concealment vis-à-vis the tax administration of Isabelle Adjani” and “seriously undermine the equality of citizens before taxes, therefore the republican pact,” declared the president, adding that “an actress of undeniable talent, she is no less a taxpayer”.
Her lawyers Stéphane Babonneau and Olivier Pardo had denounced the “trials of intent” and the “beliefs” of the prosecution, pleading the good faith of the 68-year-old star actress and requesting her release. This Thursday, they announced their intention to immediately appeal. “If Isabelle Adjani, who has always affirmed her innocence, does not ask, given her notoriety, to be judged better than other litigants, there is no reason for her to be judged less favorably,” declared Mr. Pardo. “It is therefore with confidence and determination that we will invite him to immediately file an appeal. »
The investigation was opened in 2016 after the name of Isabelle Adjani appeared in the Panama Papers, as the owner of a company in the British Virgin Islands. The investigations did not lead to any prosecution on this aspect but other suspicions were brought to light.
Firstly, two million euros transferred in 2013 by Mamadou Diagna NDiaye, an influential businessman, president of the Senegalese National Olympic and Sports Committee and also a member of the International Olympic Committee.
According to the prosecution, it was a “disguised donation” as a loan, which allowed the actress to evade 1.2 million euros in transfer taxes. For the defense, on the other hand, the sum corresponds to a “declared loan” from a “friend”, in a “context of very significant financial distress”.
Fictitious domicile in Portugal and offshore company
Isabelle Adjani is also accused of having fictitiously domiciled in Portugal in 2016 and 2017, thereby evading 236,000 euros in income tax. Living between the two countries at the time, she made a “mistake” by being “badly advised”, her lawyers argued.
The actress is finally suspected of money laundering, for having received 119,000 euros from an offshore company in an “undeclared” American bank account, a sum then transferred to Portugal. Money used “to make a donation to the family of his housekeeper, so that they can acquire property in Portugal”, his advice argued.
The trial took place without the five-César actress, known in particular for her roles in “L’été humaine” (1983), “Camille Claudel” (1988), “La Reine Margot” (1994) or more recently “Masquerade » (2022). While she was in the United States, her defense requested the postponement of the hearing, citing in particular an “acute pathology”, presenting as a sign of good faith an economy class plane ticket, taken two days before . The court rejected this request, saying it doubted his “real intention” to come to the stand.