The mystery around Hermès’s 6 million shares, valued at about 14.5 billion euros (R $ 94 billion), has gained a new chapter with the sudden death of Eric Freymond, former Heritage Manager of French heir Nicolas Puech, 82.
Puech, great-grandson of the founder of the Hermès brand and a 5.76% holder of the company’s capital, requested clarification on the whereabouts of his roles after the former counselor’s death. “It was with sadness that I learned of the death of Mr. Eric Freymond, in tragic circumstances,” he said in a statement to AFP. Despite legal disputes, the heir expressed solidarity with the family and asked the Swiss authorities to clarify the circumstances of death.
According to The Court of GenevaFreymond, a 67-year-old banker and patron of the arts, died suddenly last Wednesday (23), near the chalet where he lived in Saanen, in the singing of Bern. Local police have confirmed a “train accident” in the area, but refused to disclose additional details for legal privacy reasons.
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For 25 years, Freymond was considered a friend and trusted man by Puech. The break, according to the heir, occurred after “extremely serious events” linked to the loss of his actions in Hermès. In 2023, Puech claimed to have been “ruined” and accused Freymond of using sophisticated financial financial mechanisms to make them disappear.
The complaints were brought to court in Geneva, but the local court considered the accusations “vague and unfounded” and acquitted Freymond. Still, Puech also filed a similar complaint in France, keeping the case open to this day.
On the defense side, lawyers François Zimeroy and Jessica Finelle mourned the former client’s death and stated that he was “deeply shaken by the violence of suspicions and the hardness of a relentless world.”
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Between mystery and fortune
The dispute between Puech and Freymond gained prominence after the revelation that the heir-the prisoner, single and childless-intended to leave his fortune to his own gardener and all. Since then, the case has attracted the press’s attention in France and Switzerland, especially for the suspicion that the actions had been sold during the attempted LVMH Bernard Arnault of acquiring a slice of Hermès.
Swiss Group reports TamediaIn January of this year, they investigated the riddle of lost fortune, but found contradictions in the versions and no definitive response about the whereabouts of the papers.
With the death of Freymond and the advancement of the age of Puech, the fate of one of the greatest fortunes of the European luxury industry is still involved in uncertainties – and increasingly distant from a clear outcome.
