French Tax Probe Intensifies Strain at Billionaire’s Empire (1)

A French tax investigation is the latest point of friction in the bitter power struggle within billionaire Pierre Castel’s globe-spanning beer and wine empire.

In a public rebuke to family members, the board of a key holding company in the eponymous Castel Group said the probe should remain “strictly confidential” under its responsibility. Days earlier, the 99-year-old founder’s nephew, Alain Castel, had speculated in a newspaper interview that the potential outcome could be a “colossal” payment of about €1 billion.

Pierre Castel

Photographer: Georges Gobet/Getty Images

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