Allegedly hundreds of millions of euros were defrauded by some employees and suppliers overbilling for goods and services then syphoning the money off into shell companies
According to Bloomberg, investigators raided multiple properties across France as part of their ongoing investigation into fraud at the Altice Group. It is suspected that some employees and suppliers were running a scheme to defraud the group on a vast scale.
Raids were carried out on 14 companies and 15 homes simultaneously in locations as far flung as the Isle-de-France, Vosges, Corsica and Var. The report said more than 70 investigators were involved from Eurojust, which is a cross-border agency, based in the Hague, that looks into serious crime within the EU.
They also seized about €14 million from bank accounts and assets like vehicles and luxury goods, but so far the investigators have not brought any formal charges.
Investigation into the alleged fraud began in 2023 when Armando Periera and others were arrested in Portugal. Periera co-founded the company with billionaire Patrick Drahi and has been described as Drahi’s “right-hand man”. Drahi delisted Altice Europe in 2021, and now controls the group.
Periera’s home in France was among those raided this week.
Denials of wrongdoing
Periera has denied any wrongdoing but is accused of involvement in a scheme by which suppliers overcharged Altice via procurement and other contracts for goods and services – to the tune of hundreds of millions of euros. The monies were diverted into a complex collection of shell companies which sat between the vendors involved and Altice. Money laundering was allegedly was carried out in France and elsewhere.
Altice maintains it is the victim and Drahi claims he was ignorant of the scheme and is deeply shocked. Pereira reportedly expressed support for the raids this saying he was pleased at progress by the investigation more than two years since it started.
The timing of the scandal could not have been worse. Drahi built the Altice Group leveraging debt when money was cheap but that debt has become more expensive to service as interest rates rose over recent years. He renegotiated Altice’s debt of €24 billion in Europe earlier this year in one of the largest debt restructuring exercises the continent has ever seen. It is expected he will have to repeat the process for holdings outside the EU in the near future.
In October, Orange, Bouygues and and Iliad jointly bid €17 billion to buy SFR, which is Altice’s opco in France, but their bid was rejected for being too low.
