He saw himself as a “
genius trader
” but caused families of the Angevin bourgeoisie to lose millions of euros. Tried in January by the Paris criminal court, Guillain Méjane, nicknamed the “Madoff of Maine-et-Loire”, was sentenced this Thursday to five years in prison, three of which were suspended on probation and two years with flexibility, indicates a lawyer from civil party to Le
Figaro
. He also had one of his properties seized and the debt to one of his sports cars confiscated. His former partner Gaëtan Odart de Rilly d'Oysonville was sentenced to two years in prison, with a three-year probationary suspension and a fine of 50,000 euros.
“It was the perfect deal!”
Justice accused this 41-year-old man of having scammed, with his childhood friend, dozens of investors by convincing them to place their money in a company which only experienced losses between 2012 and 2014. They promised exceptional returns generated through algorithmic trading, guaranteed capital, withdrawals possible at any time and 10% donated to charity. But their investment fund went bankrupt at the end of 2014 and 10.6 million euros were lost on the financial markets, 2 million were used to reimburse certain investors, 1 million ended up in the pocket of an employee in London and 1.6 million in that of Guillain Méjane.
The victims, the clear majority of whom have specific names, come from their circle of acquaintances, with whom a bond of trust had been established. “
I am from the Méjane region and we still talked about it a lot
,” recalled one of them at the bar, before adding: “it
was the ideal deal!
» Ten years later, one of the civil parties did not hesitate to express her anger, still intact, at having been cheated by a man she considered a friend: “
Did the defendants an ounce of conscience and morality?
» While their money evaporated on the markets, the two Angevins lived a sumptuous lifestyle: marriage in Italy, purchase of Ferrari or boat in Singapore. They “
met very rich people
” and wanted “
to be one too
”, they “
succumbed
”, the defense conceded.
During his requisitions, the representative of the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) requested the conviction of Guillain Méjane for "
fraud
", "
illegal provision of investment services
" and "
laundering of tax fraud
", to five years of imprisonment including two years suspended probation, 100,000 euros fine as well as professional bans of five and ten years. In the eyes of the prosecutor, the defendant put in place a “
stratagem
” based on “
several fictions
”, the first of which was the fund itself created under “
questionable conditions
” in Hong Kong at the end of 2011, without financial approval and with its capital a shell company. Against his former associate, Gaëtan Odart de Rilly d'Oysonville, the prosecution had requested the acquittal for complicity in fraud, but a conviction for the two other offenses to three years in prison including eighteen months and a fine of 50,000 euros.
“I lost my footing”
At the helm, Guillain Méjane apologized and “
fully recognized his responsibility
”, ensuring that he “never
”
wanted to “
steal from anyone
” but had been “
overwhelmed
” by a project that went wrong due to “
incompetence
” : “
I lost my footing… In a way I went a little crazy.
» If the losses on the markets were there, Guillain Méjane remained “
optimistic
”, thinking until the end that he could “
remake himself
”, argued his lawyer Mr Thomas Amico. This affair “
is not what people say about it
” but rather “
the story of an immense collective failure
”, he said during his pleading. “
And faced with this failure (...) we wanted too quickly to jump on scapegoats, sometimes by twisting the legal qualifications
,” he wants to believe. His former partner, a 40-year-old engineer, presented himself as a victim, citing the “
trust
” and “
admiration
” he had for his “
childhood friend”.
Contacted by
Le Figaro,
Me Pierre-Philippe Boutron-Marmion, representing the youngest of the civil parties, welcomes a “
decision commensurate with the facts
” which completes a decade-long legal battle. On the other hand, the court considered that the victims also had responsibility for not having sufficiently informed themselves about the investment fund. In terms of damage, they are therefore only recognized at 40%. “
This decision on the fault of the victim is very questionable
,” judges the criminal lawyer.