Heiress Arlette Ricci faces jail for money-laundering

The heiress of the fashion and perfume house Nina Ricci was sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay heavy fines and back taxes for having hidden millions of euro in HSBC bank accounts in Switzerland.

The ruling was the first involving a famous name in the so-called Swissleaks scandal, in which a former HSBC employee gave authorities thousands of names of suspected tax evaders. Other trials are expected to follow.

A Paris court convicted Arlette Ricci, 73, granddaughter of designer Nina Ricci, of tax evasion and money laundering and sentenced her to three years in prison, with two years suspended. The court ordered a €1m fine and the confiscation of two properties worth €4m.