Gift: L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt gave Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones £90m as a 'thank you' present, it was claimed today
Liliane Bettencourt (left) and her daughter Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers during the court case against Paris photographer FranÁois-Marie Banier in 2007
A British boss was given £90million by Europe's wealthiest woman, it was claimed yesterday.
The amount was revealed during a legal battle over lavish cash presents allegedly made by L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.
The 87-year-old gave the money to Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones, chairman of the cosmetics and beauty giant, to thank him for overseeing the growth of the company, it was claimed.
Sir Lindsay, 63, was earning £20million in basic salary and had £14million in stock options when he stepped down as the company's chief executive three years ago.
Mrs Bettencourt owns 31 per cent of L'Oreal, the firm founded by her father, and is worth an estimated £9billion.
Her daughter, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, 56, accuses her of frittering away the family fortune and has asked a Paris court to place her under supervision to stop her being 'manipulated' into handing out money.
Ms Bettencourt is no longer in her right mind after being ‘tricked’ into giving a French society photographer £910m, according to Ms Bettencourt Meyers.
She pressed criminal charges against photographer Francois-Marie Banier, 62, but he alleges he was not the only one to benefit from her mother’s extraordinary generosity.
Ms Bettencourt handed over the money because they were longtime friends and she was ‘sponsoring’ his work, he claimed.
But Sir Lindsay also received at least £90m, according to Mr Banier.
Sir Lindsay, 63, was chief executive of L’Oreal for 18 years until 2006 and sales increased from several billion pounds to £15bn a year while he was in charge, driving its global expansion through acquisitions.
The Oxford-educated KBE got his first job with L’Oreal as a sales rep in 1969, selling shampoo in Normandy.
Ms Bettencourt Meyers, who sits on the L’Oreal board, filed a complaint against Mr Banier last year to ensure her mother’s gifts were not triggered by an unscrupulous ‘predator’ out to exploit the elderly lady, according to her lawyer.
But lawyer Olivier Metzner drew a distinction between the cases of the British boss and the French photographer.
‘You cannot compare the case of Mr Owen-Jones with that of Mr Banier because the former never manipulated Ms Bettencourt to obtain money that he could have legitimately asked for,’ he said.
A family friend added: ‘Given the commitment shown by Sir Lindsay at the head of L’Oreal and that he helped increase the value of Ms Bettencourt’s assets by so much, one can understand why she may have wished to thank him.’
Sir Lindsay said in a statement: ‘I cannot comment on this out of respect for the commitment I made not to react one way or another in order not to favour one or other of the parties in this affair.’
Ms Bettencourt has said that her daughter, who is her only child, will receive the bulk of her fortune, but has insisted: ‘I can do what I like with my money.’
Sir Lindsay said: 'I cannot comment on this.'
A family friend said: 'Given that Sir Lindsay helped increase the value of Mrs Bettencourt's assets, one can understand why she may have wished to thank him.'
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