Heiress begins legal fight for mother’s €1bn gifts to lover

A FRENCH family drama worthy of a soap opera landed in court yesterday, as the daughter of France’s richest women questioned whether her mother has lost her mind and frittered away a fortune on a man known for befriending high-society celebrities.

Francoise Bettencourt Meyers’ two-year legal campaign against the man she accuses of taking advantage of Liliane Bettencourt, her 87-year-old mother, has already included a failed attempt to have her mother put under court-ordered supervision. A judge heard her complaint yesterday.

Bettencourt, heiress to the French cosmetics giant, L’Oreal, has a fortune estimated at $13.4 billion.