WORLD> Newsmaker
Aging L'Oreal heiress gave gifts worth $1.45b to shutterbug
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-19 07:51

France's richest woman, L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, has been forced to insist she is of sound mind after she gave more than a billion dollars in gifts to a society photographer.

The top shareholder in the global cosmetics empire with a personal fortune estimated by Forbes magazine at $23 billion, the 86-year-old Bettencourt is one of the world's richest women and a well-known patron of the arts.

She has also, it emerged this month, donated a sizeable chunk of her vast fortune to Francois-Marie Banier, a Parisian artist and photographer to the stars and a long-time family friend of the Bettencourts.

Over the past 15 years, the 61-year-old photographer received artworks, gifts and life insurance contracts worth a total of around a billion euros ($1.45 billion) from his elderly friend.

Terrified of seeing the family billions frittered away, Bettencourt's only child, Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers, filed a suit earlier this month accusing Banier of manipulating her mother. Bettencourt-Meyers, 55, who also sits on the L'Oreal board, accuses Banier of "abuse of a vulnerable person", insisting her mother cannot have meant to throw away such a vast sum.

Her lawyer said she took legal action "to make sure an unscrupulous individual had not taken advantage of her mother, profiting from acts of generosity".

According to officials, Bettencourt has so far refused to undergo a mental health exam. If judges decide to pursue their investigation, they will be able to order a psychiatric expertise with or without her consent.

A source close to the investigation described Bettencourt's state of health as "faltering".

Bettencourt's estate on Wednesday issued a statement stating she was sound of body and mind. "Concerning recent reports in the press, Liliane Bettencourt will make no comment. She does, however, wish to reassure her friends about her excellent state of health," it said.

Bettencourt and her daughter - her only child - long worked hand in hand to manage the family's 30-percent stake in L'Oreal, and retain a controlling share in the world's number one cosmetics group.

According to French media, the pair are no longer on speaking terms.