Overview
- The month-long trial began on Monday, November 2, 2026, in the Tribunal correctionnel de Paris with 13 people and three companies charged with tax fraud, organized money laundering, and criminal association.
- Prosecutors say the group routed funds through hundreds of offshore entities and global bank accounts to conceal assets and that the network handled more than €200 million for over 322 taxpayers.
- The prosecution builds on 2018 investigative reporting by L'Obs and Radio France and on thousands of internal Jawer/Hélin documents that were handed to the national financial prosecutor in 2019.
- Among those accused are the organisation's leaders, employees and intermediary advisers including lawyers and accountants, and some lower-level suspects previously accepted plea deals and received suspended sentences.
- The trial is expected to run until early December and could influence related probes in Belgium and Switzerland while sharpening public debates over tax secrecy and enforcement.