The former businessman Pierre Botton, sentenced for having flouted his association to help prisoners and embezzled money from his companies, must be released from prison at the end of November under the regime of semi-liberty, learned the AFP Monday, November 8 from judicial source.
Read alsoPierre Botton again in court for abuse of corporate assets
Almost twenty-five years after being imprisoned in a case of misuse of corporate assets associated with his name, the former Lyon entrepreneur was again sentenced on June 2, 2020 to five years of imprisonment and 150,000 euros of fine, in particular for the same offense. He appealed but the court ordered his immediate incarceration. In November 2020, his sentence was reduced to three years in prison, with a definitive ban from running a company.
In June, a sentencing judge rejected his request for accommodation, but on October 21, the Paris Court of Appeal authorized the admission of Pierre Botton, now 66, to the regime. day parole from November 22.
"
I am satisfied with this decision which goes in the very good direction and will help Pierre Botton to find the good way
", reacted his lawyer Me Hervé Temime.
Additional penalties
Campaign director and son-in-law of Michel Noir, former RPR minister and mayor of Lyon, Pierre Botton was involved in a resounding politico-financial affair in the 1990s. In 1996, he was sentenced for abuse of corporate assets and bankruptcy at five years in prison including eighteen months suspended. In all, he will spend 602 days in detention. He will then be convicted in other cases.
A few years later, claiming to have been transformed by this prison experience, he had founded an association - “
Les prisons du cœur
” then “
Ensemble contre la réidive
” - aimed at improving conditions of detention and promoting the reintegration of delinquents, becoming an interlocutor. of public authorities. But following an investigation opened in 2017, he was again sent to court. In its November 2020 judgment, the Court of Appeal notably estimated that around 60% of the donations made to the association had been paid to Pierre Botton's company and then used by him for his own expenses. He was also convicted of embezzling the money of a Swiss investor via two other companies.
Read also Abuse of corporate assets: sentence reduced on appeal for the former businessman Pierre Botton
Pierre Botton's placement in semi-liberty comes with an obligation of care and an obligation to reimburse approximately 1.5 million euros to his former companies and to the association, which is now dissolved.
