His death was confirmed by his lawyer, Yannis Sakkas, who was “deeply shocked by the terrible news,” as reported by Bloomberg.
Freymond had previously worked for the billionaire heir for over two decades as a wealth manager before the latter accused him of mishandling his affairs in a 2023 court case.
Puech, now 82, alleged in the case that around 6 million Hermès shares he had inherited had vanished and Freymond had a role in the disappearance.
However, Freymond had denied any the accusation and a Geneva appeals court last year ruled that there was no evidence of mismanagement or deception. But what became of the missing shares remains unresolved.
A longstanding mystery
The dispute surrounding Puech’s Hermès holdings has long been a closely watched mystery in the French corporate world.
A great-grandson of Thierry Hermès, the 19th-century saddle maker whose business has evolved into a fashion empire known for its Birkin and Kelly bags, Puech inherited shares in the firm following the deaths of his mother in 1996 and his sister in 2004, eventually holding a 5.7% stake, according to The Telegraph.
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A branch of the French luxury fashion company Hermès. Photo by AFP |
In 2010, LVMH founder Bernard Arnault revealed he had quietly amassed a stake in Hermès. Instead of joining his family in fending off what they considered a hostile takeover, Puech secretly transferred some of his shares to Arnault, helping the luxury titan accumulate a 23% holding.
Arnault’s maneuver ultimately failed. By 2014, he had agreed to unwind his stake in Hermès. Puech stepped down from the company’s supervisory board that same year, but what became of his shares was never clarified.
The plot thickened with the 2023 court case, where the fifth-generation heir claimed he no longer owns the shares in question and placed the blame squarely on Freymond, accusing him of a “gigantic fraud,” Fortune reported.
According to court documents, Freymond had overseen two Swiss bank accounts that held Puech’s Hermès shares from 1998 to 2022, but Puech retained ultimate control over them.
Puech’s claims were rejected as the court concluded that he had voluntarily entrusted his affairs to Freymond and had the power to revoke their agreement at any point. It also found the accusations vague and lacking in supporting evidence.
“The ‘gigantic fraud’ to which he was victim was undetectable to common mortals,” the court said in its ruling, adding that Puech’s “blind trust” in Freymond was not evidence that the latter had acted dishonestly.
Adding to the uncertainty, Hermès executive chairman Axel Dumas reportedly acknowledged during an earnings call last year that the company has “no way to see and control” the shares.
The latest development came in March, when a lawsuit filed in Washington, DC, alleged that Puech had signed an agreement to sell his Hermès shares to the royal family of Qatar but failed to honor the deal, The New York Times reported.
Puech’s lawyer insists he was not involved in the transaction and “strongly contests” that he was even aware of the deal before it appeared in the media. The status of this lawsuit remained unclear as the filings were submitted under seal.
Forbes estimated Puech’s net worth at US$13.6 billion in 2024, before the Geneva court case concluded. He did not appear on the magazine’s billionaire list this year.
