Hermès heir who promised his $13bn fortune to his gardener reveals there may be a catch

The billionaire scion of nan luxury creation location Hermès promised he would time off his $13billion luck to his gardener, but it turns retired location whitethorn beryllium a catch.

Nicolas Puech, 81, made headlines past twelvemonth erstwhile he announced that he was moving to adopt his erstwhile greenskeeper, 51, which would make nan worker nan billionaire's rightful heir.

He was weighted by Forbes successful 2024 arsenic being worth  $13.6 cardinal acknowledgment to his liking astatine Hermes, which has a marketplace capitalization of $248 billion.

But Puech has told a Swiss tribunal he does not actually have overmuch of a luck near to manus out, pinch a judge rejecting his claims that his erstwhile wealthiness head Eric Freymond played a domiciled successful his fortune's disappearance, arsenic reported by Bloomberg. 

Puech's lawyers said successful tribunal that he does not ain the $13 cardinal successful assets of Hermès International SCA (a 5.7 percent stake) which is controlled by his family who has a full nett worthy of about $155 billion.

An appeals tribunal successful Geneva, however, recovered nary grounds that Freymond mismanaged nan fifth-generation heir's money.

Puech claimed he did not recognize he did not ain nan Hermes shares because he relied connected Freymond to person his slope statements.

Puech, who does not person kids and is not married, is said to person referred to his erstwhile gardener - reportedly from a 'modest Moroccan family' - and his woman arsenic his 'children'. 

The determination to adopt his greenskeeper comes disconnected nan backmost of suspected family tensions, which arose successful portion owed to a rival takeover of a important liking successful Hermès shares.

Luxury behemoth LVMH, owned by Bernard Arnault - 1 of nan world's richest group - is said to person acquired a awesome liking successful Hermès aft Puech resigned from his forefather's supervisory board, citing family problems.

Puech had successful 2011 pledged to bestow his luck upon nan Isocrates Foundation - a philanthropic statement he founded which provides grants to 'support nan basal domiciled civilian nine organizations play successful safeguarding and stimulating nationalist debate'.

According to its website, nan instauration 'funds and supports nationalist liking publicity and media organizations committed to strengthening nan section of investigative journalism'.

Meanwhile, nan take of adults is not a emblematic occurrence successful Switzerland, wherever Puech resides for taxation reasons.