Prosecutors have called for jail time for three women accused of abusing the heiress of the Schlumpf empire, Cléophée Herrmann. Her fortune has now disappeared, leading her to take a job as a waitress.
The prison sentences were requested in Colmar (Haut-Rhin, Grand Est) on June 27 by public prosecutor Éric Haeffele, for a mother and her two adult daughters.
The main accused party is Josiane S., aged 68. She is charged with “abuse of weakness” of the heiress, 34, using a “well-known method” to exploit the heiress’s vulnerabilities, the magistrate said.
This included the “isolation” of Cléophée after the death of her mother in 2001 when she was only 11 years old.
A reversal in family fortunes
The Schlumpf empire was founded by two brothers, Hans and Fritz (the latter was Cleophée's grandfather), who originally came from Switzerland.
The brothers made their fortune in the textile industry in eastern France, before amassing a remarkable automobile collection, which is now held in the Musée National de l’Automobile, Collection Schlumpf, in Mulhouse.
Arlette, who had been Fritz’s widow, died in 2008, and made Cléophée the sole inheritor of the Schlumpf fortune, which was worth €11 million.
The money had come from a 1999 court-ordered payment of proceeds from the sale of the brothers’ vehicle collection to the National Automobile Museum Association (NAMAoM) in 1981.
In addition to the grief of losing her grandmother and mother, Cléophée had also suffered from depression and anorexia, the court heard.
“It is within this context” that Ms S. is accused of “taking advantage of Cleophée's ‘emotional emptiness’…to impose herself as a surrogate mother", and lead a "lavish lifestyle" using the fortune, with the intention of "capturing the inheritance" of the young woman, the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor also ordered the confiscation of all Ms S.’s assets seized over the course of the investigation.
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Daughters also face jail time
The prosecutor also called for 18 months of jail time for Josiane’s daughters, Mathilde H., 33, and Julia H., 40, who also stand charged with handling stolen goods and abusing Cléophée’s weakness.
The magistrate rejected their defence that they had not known anything about their mother’s plans or Cléophée’s emotional state.
Mathilde’s lawyer, Hervé Bégeot, has questioned the allegations, stating in addition that the inheritance was supposed to be €11 million, but that Josiane had only spent €5 million since Arlette’s death.
The rest of the money, he claimed, could have been spent by Cléophée’s late father, “perhaps with other people”.
Cléophée’s father, Patrick Hermann, was estranged from his daughter, and died in 2021.
‘Money always given freely’
In her defence, Josiane said that she had not been aware of Cléophée’s emotional weakness, and disputed the fact that she was “a surrogate mother” to the girl. She said that she had, in fact, been “more friendly” with Cléophée’s father before he died.
Josiane refuted allegations that she had ‘stolen’ or ‘taken advantage’ of the family. For example, she said that a refurbishment of her and her daughters’ flat in Colmar, which cost several hundred thousand euros, had been paid for by Mr Hermann as a gift.
He was a widower who was "happy to have a new family", she said, and retorted that she had “not been the one to write the cheque” for the €120,000 kitchen.
Josiane said that Cléophée had always “given the money freely” and claimed that she “never noticed that she had any health or psychological problems”.
“She was very comfortable in her own skin, except when she had problems with her lovers,” claimed Josiane. “Then, she called me every day. It was more like she dominated her friends [rather than being a victim].”
Cléophée, and some of her friends who were present in court, appeared to dispute this claim.
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Josiane ‘always manipulative’
Josiane’s elder daughter, Julia - who was also accused in court - said that her mother was “always manipulative” and had been especially so during their parent’s divorce, when the daughters were “treated like objects”, she said.
Josiane refuted this, saying: "My daughter Julia has profited from this luxury, but now she’s and now she's knocking me.”
This caused her younger daughter, Mathilde, to leave the courtroom, crying.
Josiane also responded to questions about her taxi rides to luxury shops in Strasbourg.
She said that these had been paid for by the state healthcare system, as she had trouble getting around (she appeared in court using crutches). She said she had merely paid the “supplement” costs for the mobility trips.
‘Being here is revenge for me’
Cléophée herself spoke in court.
She is now a waitress, earning “between €1,200-1,300 per month”, and said she was fighting in the case for her young child, a boy.
She said: “Justice will be done…The worst is behind me [Being here] is revenge for me. I've rebuilt myself, I've had ups and downs, I've understood real life.”
The trial continues.
