Flavio Becca’s Sentence Story
Other local media sources claim that Flavio Becca, a Luxembourg sports and real estate investor, was sentenced to a two year suspended prison term and a EUR250,000 penalty for misusing company funds. Flavio Becca was sentenced to two years imprisonment by a Luxembourg court. He also received a EUR250,000 penalty for embezzlement.
In 2011, tax authorities alerted Public Prosecutor’s Office to the fact that several valuables were being bought through the companies of the entrepreneur. Police searched Mr Becca’s house and found several hundred luxury watches. The total value of the confiscated watches was nearly EUR18 million. Thursday’s hearing saw the judge order the confiscation of many watches. For watches that cannot be seized by police, Mr Becca will be assessed an additional EUR20,000 fine. The prosecution had earlier this year requested a 42-month sentence in prison, a fine equal to EUR250,000, and the confiscation the watches.
Both the prosecution and defense presented their arguments for why Flavio Becca’s initial sentence should either be upheld or reversed on the fourth day of Flavio’s appeal trial. Flavio becca was sentenced to a two-year suspended prison term and a EUR250,000 fine for misusing company funds.
Mrs Lorang, Becca’s lawyer, stated that her client would suffer severe consequences if found guilty of taking company funds. He will be unable to request credit, which will limit his business activities. The prosecution insists that Becca is sentenced for using social goods and they are retaining the verdict from the original trial. Although they dropped the idea of money laundering, they still want all the watches in question to be seized.
842 watches were confiscated by authorities in 2011. Becca bought most of the watches with company funds and claimed they were business investments. Prosecutor Grasso stated that the watches could not be considered investments because they were no longer in the original boxes and did not have the bills. On 6 July, the verdict of appeal was announced.
The Criminal Court of Luxembourg has been dealing with Flavio Becca’s case since then. He is accused of misappropriating funds and misuse of company assets. This includes the purchase of over 850 luxury watches with a value totaling EUR18 million. According to magistrates, a large number of these watches were bought through 18 Becca’s companies between 2004 and 2011. However, the commercial activities of these companies did not have anything to do luxury watchmaking.
Becca’s lawyer Herve Temime pleaded for his client’s acquittal Tuesday morning, on the third day of so-called “luxury watch” trial. Temime pleaded that there is no abuse of public property in the case. He is known throughout France as “l’avocat des puissants”, a famous lawyer who described his client’s business practices in a way that was sometimes “atypical”, but with no ill will. Temime also explained that concealment was not possible after all watches were accounted for. His client also offered to explain the watches to Temime after the search.
The lawyer was critical of the work of the judicial officers, but not the rest of it. According to the lawyer, the search was not worthy of this name. The lawyer said that no concrete inventory was made and that there had not been any expertise on the hundreds of watches. The documents and the cases were not seized by the police. The original guarantees. Temime criticized the fact that he had to ask his client for a photograph of the case from his house during the trial because 10 years ago, the police had not taken one.
According to Becca’s second lawyer, the purchase of each watch was included in the annual accounts. Therefore, it would be incorrect to claim that the promoter was trying to gain personal wealth at the expense his companies. The lawyer also suggested that this was not necessary. His client’s fortune was estimated at EUR400 million in 2009. This number had “significantly” increased to 2019
Temime pointed out that no irregularities were found in balance sheets of companies where the watches were purchased in the 190 tax checks conducted by the Luxembourg administration. It was not possible to prove that Becca received illegal dividends from these businesses. Lawyer added that the fact that some watches were originally recorded as gift expenses prior to 2007 was a mistake made by the accountant. Temime stated in front of a packed courtroom that despite ten years, no concrete evidence had been provided by the public prosecutor’s offices. Temime said that the case was only brought to light by a suspicion of corruption a few years back. The defense has not been proven guilty to this day.
The court of appeal sentenced Flavio Becca to a one-year suspended prison sentence and a monetary penalty. Becca was found guilty for money laundering and misusing company funds. Becca was sentenced to a two-year suspended prison term and a EUR250,000 fine in the first ruling. The charges of misusing company funds and money laundering were also confirmed by the court of appeal. The suspended sentence was reduced by twelve months.
They also decided to seize all 842 luxury watches Becca bought with company funds between 2004–2011. They are worth a combined EUR18 million. Lydie Lorang, Lycca’s lawyer, stated that they will appeal on points. Becca’s spokesperson stated that they won’t comment on the case until they have received the written sentence.
