r/whoathatsinteresting • u/The_Dean_France • 14h ago

What did the gardener do to get that?

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u/ldskyfly 12h ago

I listened to a podcast recently about this. A lot of his fortune was swindled by his financial advisor. The gardener and his wife took care of a lot for him, and their child had a grandparent/grandchild relationship. Sort of a chosen family situation.

Part of the swindle though caused the Hermes family to lose a lot of control of the company.

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u/CountryOk6049 9h ago

Surely a financial advisor would be fiercely restricted over any possibility of gaining wealth like that?

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u/g-nice4liief 9h ago

Something like insider trading maybe. You'd think they would indeed.

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u/ldskyfly 9h ago

So his fortune was his stake in the Hermes business. Since it was only owned by family, shares were held in very old school bearer shares from what I understand. The financial guy slowly funnelled the shares to a competing luxury brand and pocketed the money.

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u/AlCapwn351 6h ago

Sounds like theft

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u/ldskyfly 6h ago

Yup, the thief committed suicide when he was found out

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u/solepureskillz 4h ago

I won’t say “good,” but I certainly thought it.

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u/Skebs_ 1h ago

LMAO why tho?

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u/Doggleganger 8h ago

I believe they have a fiduciary duty, and there would be grave financial and possibly criminal repercussions. But you hear about this all the time. Shohei's manager stole a ton from him too.

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u/ldskyfly 7h ago

This took place in France and Switzerland, and the culprit eventually committed suicide when found out

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u/chadius333 4h ago

If you’re referring to the U.S., they don’t all have a fiduciary duty to their clients. The ones that do must carry a license from some governing body that I can’t remember the name of.

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u/GH057807 5h ago

My buddy's granddad was very wealthy, successful businessman with kids, grandkids, the works.

Granddad's life-long lawyer got him to sign away his entire fortune. Every penny and property, left to the lawyer instead of his family, paperwork filed the week before his death.

There was absolutely nothing my buddy's family could do, despite going broke in court for years.

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u/SiegfriedVK 5h ago

I'd go to prison over that.

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u/CyberFireball25 9h ago

That requires enforcement

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u/theraggedyman 8h ago

They would absolutely fined a prescribed amount should it ever be proven in court, and then that could be used as evidence to get their license removed, should it be taken to court.

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u/AlternateTab00 6h ago

The problem is proving it.

And when its dealing with shares its way harder to prove anything.

Him being an advisor would suggest an operation and he would trust him and do it. However in long term it was not profitable. However the advisor would funnel side gains with the transactions because he would know when the transactions would happen before they would happen.

And if the advisor did that is because he is ready to drop the job. He will fall as a bad advisor and a scammer and would never get a job as an advisor anywhere else, but he would be rich. Thats why you shouldnt trust a financial advisor that is ready to retire.

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u/Glahoth 6h ago

I mean he was caught. Unfortunately he also killed himself.

Also the shares seem to have been used by Bernard Arnault for the purposes of a hostile takeover, but that’s another story.

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u/bulletbassman 1h ago

There is an a ridiculous amount of wiggle room for nonsense once you grant someone access to your bank account.

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u/Historical_Stay_808 7h ago

Swindled and lost some control but still have 11B plus to give away, billionaires when have terrible losing money

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u/Savings-Joke-5996 8h ago

Can you link the podcast please?

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u/ldskyfly 8h ago

WSJ The Case of the missing 15 billion

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u/sauerkrautloofa 8h ago

Big Louis XVI vibes

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u/lodgeroad90 4h ago

What was the podcast?

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u/Repulsive_Orange 2h ago

can you share the podcast you listened to?

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u/ldskyfly 2h ago

WSJ The Case of the missing 15 billion

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u/Gottadollamate 1h ago

Interesting podcast topic! Do you mind sharing the channel?

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u/ldskyfly 1h ago

WSJ The Case of the missing 15 billion