US prosecutors last night brought criminal indictments against two former chairmen of French bank Crédit Lyonnais and four others for alleged fraud in the takeover of a failed California insurer over a decade ago.
The six, including Mr Jean Peyrelevade and Mr Jean Yves Haberer, both former Credit Lyonnais chairmen, were indicted on a range of charges, including conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud and making false statements to US banking regulators, court documents showed.
The alleged fraud involved a scheme to hide the illegal involvement of Crédit Lyonnais, then owned by the French government, in taking over Executive Life Insurance, a California insurance company that failed in 1991 after its junk bond portfolio plummeted in value.
At the time, US law prohibited banks from owning insurers and state law banned foreign governments from owning California insurers.
The other former Crédit Lyonnais officials named in the indictment were Mr Francois Gille, a deputy managing director; and Mr Dominique Bazy, an executive committee member.
Mr Jean-Francois Henin, formerly managing director of Crédit Lyonnais subsidiary Altus, and Mr Eric Berloty, a partner in a French consulting firm that provided financial services for Altus, were also indicted.
US Attorney Ms Debra Yang also revealed the terms of plea agreements reached with French insurer MAAF and its chairman and managing director Mr Jean Claude Seys, as well as settlement agreements with billionaire Mr Francois Pinault and his holding company, Artemis SA.