Valt nu eindelijk het doek voor de frauduleuze 1855.com? Beginnen nu alle geldschieters zelfs weg te lopen?
Zo vaak heb ik er al over geschreven, 1855.com. Zo vaak zelfs dat ik het nu zelfs al blind kan typen. 1855.com is een hele grote wijnwebwinkel in Frankrijk die talloze mooie primeurs van de Bordeaux, Bourgognes en Champagnes verkoopt. Vorige keer schreef ik dat de stichting die was opgericht om 1855.com tegen te houden en te procederen ook niet schijnt te helpen, zo vertellen mij talloze gedupeerden.
Nu heeft het befaamde ‘Decanter’ zich er zelfs mee bemoeit. Na de rechtbank, ministeries in Frankrijk en talloze andere bekende personen uit de wijnwereld.
Hieronder het gepubliceerde artikel van decanter.com die ik kort samenvat:
Jean-Pierre Meyer is een belangrijk persoon in de wijnwereld die veel geld heeft gestoken in 1855.com. Nu wil Meyer zijn geld terugtrekken en volgens mij is dit met de perikelen die omtrent 1855.com zijn.
De 8 tot 10 miljoen wil Meyer uit de organisatie trekken maar volgens de algemeen directeur Hyot heeft dit niets te maken met 1855.com. Volgens Hyot wil Meyer zijn geld uit de holding trekken en heeft het niets te maken met 1855.com en zijn niet te kunnen leveren wijnen.
Nu weten wij als consumenten wel beter en moeten wij deze praktijken proberen te stoppen. Ik heb gelezen van gedupeerden die tot 15000 euro aan wijnen nog tegoed hebben over een aantal jaren maar of die levering ooit zal geschieden?
1855.com important shareholder pulls out
Jean-Pierre Meyers, an important shareholder in internet wine company 1855.com is reported to have pulled his money out of the company.
Meyers is the husband of Françoise Bettencourt, the daughter of L’Oréalheiress Liliane Bettencourt, and sits on the boards of L’Oréal and Nestlé.
He is understood to have invested between €8-10m in 1855.com, from 2004. Françoise Bettencourt has also invested around €1m in the company.
Two months ago he instructed his lawyers to pull his money out of the site but told them to keep it confidential, La Revue du Vin de France has reported.
Fabien Hyon, the managing director of 1855, told Decanter.com, ‘Jean-Pierre Meyers was not a shareholder of 1855 but a shareholder of the founder’s holding.’ The majority shareholder is the holding company,Aphrodite.
Hyon said that Meyers ‘had never been a main source of funding’ for the company, and that the figures quoted by RVF ‘are widely over-evaluated’.
He said that 1855.com benefited from three main sources of funding: ‘its profitability, access to the stock market, and the founder’s holding financial standing.’
Hyon also said that Meyers’ departure, far from weakening the company, is an ‘opportunity to reinforce’ its financial structure, and that new shareholders had come on board.
‘It is a pleasure to announce that a group of new shareholders has joined the founder’s holding: they are authentic entrepreneurs, strongly involved in the development of 1855 for the coming years.’
The reputation and credibility of 1855.com has been increasingly battered due to its failure to deliver customers’ wines. In early August French TV channel France 2 labeled it arnaque – a fraud.
There has been an increasing number of court decisions against 1855.com.
Courts in Bordeaux and Arcachon have imposed fines of €50 a day until 1855 delivers outstanding Bordeaux en primeurs, and in late July Philippe Castéja, president of the Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855, spoke out against the company’s continued failure to deliver.
There has also been a number of court judgments against 1855 in Paris. There are many other cases outstanding against the company.
Furious complaints from customers are not confined to 1855 but also to its subsidiaries – Cave Privée and ChâteauOnline. Dissatisfied customers have recently formed a pressure group, Abus1855, which has over 100 members, with the stated aim of taking legal action to close down 1855 for fraudulent practices.
1855 has required frequent injections of fresh capital. The latest was in July 2012 when €7.5m was injected with three million earmarked to improve wine deliveries.
1855 shares are currently trading on the Paris Bourse at €0.02, valuing the company at €10.66m. Five years ago shares reached a high of €5.
In an email sent to Decanter.com today, the director of the Conseil des Grands Crus Classés, Sylvain Boivert, said the news from Meyers was ’the good news of the day’.
—
Martin
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