The former right-hand man of Patrick Balkany, Jean-Pierre Aubry, president of the basketball club of Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine) until 2019, was sentenced Friday to a year in prison suspended by the court of Nanterre for presentation of inaccurate annual accounts. He was also fined 30,000 euros.
Sentenced in 2019 to a three-year suspended prison sentence for laundering tax evasion, Jean-Pierre Aubry was indicted in January 2021 for abuse of corporate assets, embezzlement of public assets and illegal taking of interest, for acts committed when he was the leader of Semarelp, a development company in Levallois-Perret chaired by former mayor Patrick Balkany.
An unpaid invoice of 120,000 euros
In December 2015, the auditor in charge of the club’s balance sheets reported several irregularities to the public prosecutor’s office, including ” doubtful debts which motivated the opening of a preliminary investigation in 2016.
Among these, subsidies entered in the accounts but not paid or an unpaid invoice of 120,000 euros for a ” sponsorship service from David T., manager of the Leclerc stores in Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine). The latter was released on Friday from all charges.
Despite the report, Mr. Aubry still presented these reports to the club’s general meeting, the court recalled. During the debates in January, the public prosecutor had accused Jean-Pierre Aubry of having ” artificially inflated balance sheets “. At the helm, Jean-Pierre Aubry pleaded ” negligence, not intent to harm “. The court recognized in Jean-Pierre Aubry’s defense that no personal enrichment had been derived from these offences.
