The case goes into a level of detail rarely achieved for an international financial case of this magnitude. It was revealed in September 2018 by the weekly L'Obs. This procedure concerns the backroom of a fraud adept at juggling countries and millions, bringing together leaders of the organization, employees, business sponsors and nominees.
The legal proceedings are fueled by manna from heaven in the form of thousands of internal Jawer/Helin documents. These were submitted anonymously on a USB key to the National Financial Prosecutor's Office in January 2019.
The defendants are being tried for complicity in tax fraud and organized gang money laundering, as well as criminal conspiracy. The prosecution is suing them for allowing more than a hundred wealthy French taxpayers to evade at least 54 million euros in taxes between 2007 and 2018. For French tax residents alone, the prosecution estimates that the Jawer/Helin structure managed more than 200 million euros in assets. These assets were hidden via 658 offshore companies on behalf of 322 taxpayers.
Before the trial, more secondary defendants chose guilty plea procedures. They received suspended sentences of up to three years in prison and a fine of 240,000 euros.