Judge orders cognitive checks on Hermès heir who says his fortune was stolen, Reuters sources say

Summary

• A Paris judge investigating the missing 6% Hermès stake of 83-year-old heir Nicolas Puech has ordered an assessment of his cognitive abilities.
• The psychiatric evaluation aims to determine if Puech was mentally impaired, which could lower the threshold for proving the criminal offense of "abuse of weakness" under French law.
• The investigation centers on allegations that Puech's late Swiss wealth manager, Eric Freymond, and LVMH's lawyer, Alexandre Montavon, conspired to covertly amass shares in the 2000s.
• Montavon is under formal investigation for suspected misappropriation of shares for LVMH's benefit & has appealed the order for cognitive checks on Puech.
• LVMH & chairman Bernard Arnault have not been named formal suspects, though LVMH denies any intent to acquire Puech's shares through schemes involving Freymond.
• Prosecutors are examining whether LVMH exploited Puech's vulnerabilities to gain control of Hermès shares worth approximately $9 billion at current market prices.
• Puech filed a €14 billion civil lawsuit against LVMH & Arnault in 2025, claiming he only discovered his shares had vanished in 2022 after ending ties with Freymond.
• Freymond denied any wrongdoing before his death in 2025, while LVMH acknowledged working with Freymond to accumulate Hermès shares but claimed any purchase of Puech's shares was unintentional.
• Reports indicate LVMH paid at least $20 million in commissions to Freymond for services related to the Hermès stock build-up starting in 2002.
• LVMH previously accumulated up to 23% of Hermès before agreeing to liquidate its stake in a 2014 truce following a corporate feud.