Seven people were indicted as part of an investigation into the management of furnished buildings and hotels intended for emergency accommodation for disadvantaged people in the center of Marseille, the public prosecutor announced on Friday.
Deposits of 10,000 to 80,000 euros
Among the seven people presented before the investigating judge on September 13 and 14, six were placed under judicial supervision and the seventh, the main accused, “was placed in pre-trial detention,” the prosecutor detailed in a press release. Dominique Laurens. The main defendant had operated, between 2018 and 2023, several dilapidated hotels, “some of which were subject to danger orders or were the subject of unfavorable opinions from the security commission for continued operation”, indicated Dominique Laurens.
While he received a total of 10 million euros in public funds over the period, “he is suspected of having misappropriated part of these funds, paid through associations, by overcharging for services accommodation,” she explained. The investigations showed that the amounts collected “were not reused for the maintenance of the buildings but intended to finance new acquisitions”, we can also read in the press release.
The judicial investigation was opened on March 15 for “concealed work and organized gang fraud, receiving stolen goods and money laundering, subjecting vulnerable people to unworthy accommodation conditions,” said Dominique Laurens. The six people placed under judicial supervision are required to pay “deposits in amounts ranging between 10,000 and 80,000 euros”, the prosecution finally detailed.