Court finds Nina Ricci heir guilty of tax fraud

The heiress of the fashion and perfume house Nina Ricci has been 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.