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2025 – The Apollonia case: a billion-euro property scandal
Introduction
More than a billion euros at stake. More than 800 victims. Notaries placed under formal investigation, an executive imprisoned, and an exceptional criminal trial scheduled for 2025. The Apollonia case, a genuine earthquake in the world of property and finance, once again illustrates the central role of the defence in white-collar criminal cases.
Based in Marseille and Paris, Vouland Avocats is involved in this strategic trial alongside Thierry Ospital, defending a business lawyer implicated in the case.
1. An extraordinary scandal
€1 billion in losses. The Apollonia case is one of the largest criminal cases in the French property sector. For more than a decade it has destabilised the world of property investment. After 15 years of investigation, the trial will finally open before the Aix-en-Provence criminal court in 2025.
2. How a massive fraud worked
At the heart of the case, the company Apollonia, set up in Marseille in 2006, offered tax-efficient property investment schemes to clients who were often inexperienced.
The promise? To take advantage of tax breaks to build up a property portfolio.
The reality?
- Large-scale falsification of supporting documents (income, contributions, financial statements),
- Systematic overvaluation of properties,
- Manipulation of notarial deeds and bank documents.
The result: many investors, often business owners, professionals or retirees, found themselves over-indebted, with loans they should never have been granted.
3. Notaries and banks in turmoil
The investigation highlighted the central role of certain trusted professionals:
- Three notaries were placed under formal investigation for forgery of public documents and aiding and abetting fraud.
- The banks are accused of failing in their duty of vigilance, having agreed in many cases to finance transactions despite obvious inconsistencies.
The case therefore raises questions that go beyond Apollonia:
How could such practices flourish with the complicity or negligence of legal and financial professionals?
4. The role of Vouland Avocats in the case
Vouland Avocats is defending a business lawyer implicated in these exceptional proceedings.
Our mission:
- To provide the criminal defence of a professional facing a complex accusation combining property law, banking law, criminal law and the law governing advisory services.
- To protect our client’s reputation in the face of media and judicial exposure.
- To master colossal proceedings involving several hundred civil parties, dozens of participants and thousands of documents.
5. A high-stakes trial for business
This trial goes beyond the Apollonia case alone. It raises fundamental questions for the regulated professions and the business world:
- How far does the responsibility of notaries and bankers extend in checking financial arrangements?
- What safeguards are needed to prevent future abuses?
- How should legal and accounting professionals anticipate the criminal risks associated with their advisory work?
The judgment will undoubtedly have repercussions for the banking, notarial and property investment sectors.
➡ Based in Marseille and Paris, Vouland Avocats regularly handles complex litigation: preliminary investigations, criminal judicial investigations and criminal trials relating to economic and financial matters or to company management.