Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

CRIME

Paris ‘nightlife king’ fined for bribery

The boss of a Paris firm running some of France's best-known restaurants and nightclubs was fined €150,000 for bribery on Thursday by a criminal court.

Published: 8 February 2024 16:57 CET

Paris 'nightlife king' fined for bribery

Laurent de Gourcuff. Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP

Paris Society chief Laurent de Gourcuff, whose company owns restaurant Maxim’s and nightclub Castel among others, is sometimes known as “the king of Paris nightlife”.

On top of the fine, he was banned from running a company for five years and received a two-year suspended prison sentence.

De Gourcuff’s lawyers said he would appeal the conviction for bribery of an executive at the Longchamp racecourse west of the capital, where Paris Society hoped to win concessions including to run the restaurant.

Prosecutors said that during the 2018 bidding process for the 12-year contract, de Gourcuff gained inside information by hosting the marketing and sales director of racecourse management firm France Galop for several meals.

The executive, Fabrice F., also enjoyed a free birthday dinner at one of Paris Society’s restaurants, and was promised a job as operations director at the firm.

He was sentenced to a €30,000 fine and a two-year suspended jail term.

The court case was the result of a criminal complaint from Paris Society’s competitor, Moma Group, which bid unsuccessfully for the racecourse contract.

Prosecutors went ahead with the case even after Moma Group – which runs properties including the Hotel de la Marine on the landmark Place de la Concorde – withdrew its complaint.

They alleged that de Gourcuff and the France Galop executive “willingly overstepped the requirements” of the bidding process, which bar informal contact between the parties.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

'Come back': Champs-Elysees wants to win over Parisians

But one thing seems to be missing amid the throngs of tourists — Parisians themselves.

A true Parisian is rare on the Champs-Elysees, and as one local said, that is not really surprising.

“There’s no place for us — no garden, nowhere to sit,” Xavier LeBrun, 35, told AFP as he watched tourists stream past on the almost two-kilometre avenue during his cigarette break.

The Champs-Elysees is “where Parisians cross to get from one place to another, and that’s it”, he said.

A top tourist attraction, locals have gradually abandoned the Champs-Elysees over concerns that it is too noisy, dirty and expensive, with luxury brands replacing smaller, independent shops.

But that could change if a committee, eager to make the Champs-Elysees attractive to Parisians again, can make its voice heard.

‘Everyone was fleeing’

After five years of work the “Champs-Elysees Committee”, endowed with a budget of €5 million, this week listed 150 proposals including adding green spaces, reducing pollution, and organising cultural events to “revive” the famed avenue.

This handout photo obtained on May 27, 2024 courtesy of PCA-STREAM shows a computer-generated image of an aerial view of the Champs-Elysees district, with the Arc de Triomphe seen rear, transformed by the “Re-enchanting the Champs-Elysees” urban project in Paris. (Photo by PCA-STREAM / AFP)

The starting point for the Champs-Elysees Committee, an association of business and culture representatives, was the “alarming” realisation that the world-famous street was “no longer loved, no longer likeable, deserted by Parisians, and feared by foreigners”, reads the committee’s report.

“Everyone was fleeing,” they wrote.

A giant open-air picnic held on the avenue at the weekend was an example of how the committee plans to address the issue.

“It’s a way of telling Parisians: Come back to the Champs-Elysees,” committee chairman Marc-Antoine Jamet said.

With stores and historic cinemas closing along the avenue due to rising rents and falling sales, “innovation is an absolute necessity”, he said.

The 1,800-page plan seeks to reverse the decline while balancing the needs of locals and tourists.

The committee estimates the cost will be €250 million, but Jamet said the additional tax revenue generated by the changes would be enough to finance all or some of the project.

“These are not costs but investments.”

A self-proclaimed Paris “superfan” who has visited from Pakistan 22 times, 33-year-old Jawwad Channa said he always visits the Champs-Elysees, this time bringing along four friends looking forward to hitting the stores.

“It’s very crowded, but the shopping is amazing,” said his friend Ali Syed, 32.

Shopping will remain a mainstay, but central to the committee’s plan is adapting the avenue to global warming and reducing its carbon footprint by a third over 50 years, with plans to reduce traffic by increasing pedestrian space and doubling bike lanes.

‘Revamp the neighbourhood’

The committee also aims to lower the avenue’s average temperature by one to seven degrees Celsius, creating a “climate sanctuary” during the city’s increasingly common heatwaves.

Proposals include planting 160 trees, installing seating and fountains, and transforming 20 hectares of unkempt gardens into a “true Parisian park”.

Symphony concerts, a “quality” Christmas market and flower stalls are also part of a push for “year-round” cultural offerings to “revamp the neighbourhood”.

Sunday’s picnic, at which thousands turned out on the “world’s largest tablecloth”, came after an event last year when France’s brainiest bookworms battled it out in a mass spelling test at 1,779 desks set out along the avenue.

With France’s presidential palace and National Assembly nearby, security remains a concern, though the proposal includes plans to increase the police presence and establish a 24-hour “health and safety” watch.

“We are going to discuss this with all partners,” said Paris’s deputy mayor Emmanuel Gregoire, adding that discussions would first take place with the police.

“The idea is Paris’s mayor could announce a broad outline in the second half of 2024,” Gregoire said.

Gabin Contentin, 21, said big changes were needed for him and other locals to be lured back.

But if all goes well, he predicted, the Champs-Elysees can “once again be the most beautiful avenue in the world”.

Url copied to clipboard!