Olivier Metzner

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Olivier Metzner (born November 22, 1949 in Champ-Haut , Normandy , † probably March 17, 2013 near the Île de Boëdic in the Gulf of Morbihan ) was a French lawyer.

Life

Olivier Metzner was the son of a Protestant farming family in Champ-Haut. The Metzner family immigrated from Prussia in the 19th century . Metzner had a brother who worked as a scientist and a sister who worked as a teacher.

Metzner had been a member of the Paris Bar Association since 1975 . Like other great lawyers of his generation, for example Hervé Termin, Pierre Haïk or Patrick Maisonneuve, he initially specialized in the defense of large and small offenders. The growing importance of criminal law in business life opened up a field of activity in white-collar crime for him in the 1980s .

He defended the former director general of Elf Aquitaine , Loïk Le Floch-Prigent , in the process of the Elf affair, and later Jacques Crozemarie, president of the French society against cancer ( association de lutte contre le cancer ), who charged his company with infidelity Court stood. In 2009 he participated in the defense of Dominique de Villepin in the Clearstream affair . In 2010 he caused a stir with his offensive defense of Jérôme Kerviel , who, as a trader at the bank Société Générale, had caused losses in the billions. With public appeal, Metzner accused the bank of being significantly complicit in the business derailment.

In the same year he represented Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers , daughter of L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt , in her trial against the photographer François-Marie Banier . He had received almost a billion euros in the form of monetary gifts from the aged company heiress. The daughter accused him of having exploited the old mother's emotional weakness in a dishonest manner. He also defended the singer Bertrand Cantat in a court in Vilnius , accused and eventually convicted of the manslaughter of Marie Trintignant .

He represented large corporate clients, in particular, in important economic processes

In 2010 Metzner acquired the Île de Boëdic in the Gulf of Morbihan, which he offered for sale again in 2012. On the night of March 16-17, 2013, he left with his boat; on the morning of March 17th, his body was found floating in the Gulf of Morbihan. An extensive document was found in his house in which he had regulated his estate in great detail. Unconfirmed reports that Metzner to suicide have committed.

swell

  • Le Monde / AFP : Mort d'Olivier Metzner: l'autopsie confirme son suicide , Le Monde, March 18, 2013
  • Pascale Robert-Diard: Olivier Metzner, derrière l'avocat, l'homme secret , Le Monde, March 18, 2013
  • Kim Willsher: Top French lawyer Olivier Metzner's body found near private island , The Guardian , March 17, 2013

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kerviel defense lawyer: French star lawyer found dead , Spiegel Online from March 17, 2013 (accessed on March 20, 2013).
personal data
SURNAME Metzner, Olivier
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH November 22, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Champ skin
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: March 17, 2013
Place of death Gulf of Morbihan