num_pages: 396
description: Was the world s wealthiest woman Liliane Bettencourt heir to an estimated thirty-six-billion-dollar L Oreal fortune the victim of a con man? Or were her own family the real villains? This riveting narrative tells the real-life shocking story behind the cause celebre that has captivated both France and the world. Liliane Bettencourt is the world s richest woman and the eleventh wealthiest person on the planet as of 2016. But at ninety-four she s embroiled in an incredible controversy that has dominated the headlines and ensnared a former president of France in the controversy. Why? Thanks to an artist and photographer named Francois-Marie Banier who was given hundreds of millions of dollars by Liliane. Liliane s daughter Francoise considers Banier a con man and filed a lawsuit against him but Banier has a far different story to tell. It s all become Europe s biggest scandal in years uncovering a shadowy corporate history buried World War II secrets illicit political payoffs and much more. Written by Tom Sancton aVanity Faircontributor and formerTimecorrespondent currently living in France The Bettencourt Affairis part courtroom drama; part upstairs-downstairs tale; part business narrative of a glamorous global company with past Nazi connections; and part character-driven story of a complex fascinating family and the intruder who nearly tore it apart.
language: English
title: The Bettencourt Affair: The World's Richest Woman and the Scandal That Rocked Paris
publisher: Dutton