Orange CEO Convicted Over $453 Million Fraud Linked to Prior Job

Orange SA Chief Executive Officer Stephane Richard was convicted by Paris appeal judges over his handling of a multi-million euro dispute when he worked for the then-French finance minister more than a decade ago.

Richard was found guilty of aiding and abetting the misuse of public funds and helping the late Bernard Tapie cheat the government out of about 403 million euros ($453 million) in 2008. Judge Sophie Clement handed Richard a one year suspended sentence and a 50,000-euro fine on Wednesday, overturning a lower court acquittal.

“He carried out serious wrongdoing by favoring the interests of Bernard Tapie to ...