Introduction

Matrix organization

Mergers by absorption

Risks related to the expansion of the scope of criminal liability of legal entities

Validity conditions

Proof of delegation

Exemption from individual liability of delegator

Attribution of offense to legal entity

Delegations of authority

Criminal risk management within business organizations

Complicity in crimes against humanity

Breaches of secrecy

Personal data breaches

Theft

Extortion

Blackmail

Fraud

Misappropriation

Receiving/concealment of unlawfully obtained property (recel)

Attacks on automated data processing systems

Money laundering

Misappropriation by public official (concussion)

Corruption and influence peddling

Unlawful acquisition of an interest

Favoritism

Forgery and use of forgeries

Violation of Criminal Code

Offenses under the Monetary and Financial Code

Offenses under the Commercial Code

Environmental Code violations

Offenses arising from other codes

Types of offenses

Offenses under the Criminal Code, the Commercial Code, or the Environmental Code, Criminal procedure

White Collar Crime (en cours)

To characterize the offense of misuse of corporate assets, the use must not only be contrary to the company's interest but also be for personal purposes or to favor another company or undertaking in which the directors have a direct or indirect interest . The personal interest thus has a dual nature. It may concern the director involved either directly or indirectly. It is not necessary for the ap …

Use for personal ends

To characterize the offense of misuse of corporate assets, the use must not only be contrary to the company's interest but also be for personal purposes or to favor another company or undertaking in which the directors have a direct or indirect interest . The personal interest thus has a dual nature. It may concern the director involved either directly or indirectly. It is not necessary for the appropriation to be permanent: the mere abusive use of the company's assets for personal interest is sufficient .

The assessment of the defendant's personal interest or the interest of the companies in which they may be directly or indirectly interested falls under the sovereign power of assessment of the trial courts, which must characterize the taking of interest . It is not presumed from the fictitious nature of the invoices paid by the manager . Personal interest can be both moral and material and may result, in particular, from the desire to maintain and foster friendships with a third party .

Personal interest is evident when it results from material advantages. Thus, reception expenses and business gifts incurred by a manager using company funds are necessarily in their personal interest when they cannot justify them . The same applies when it is “obvious” that the defendants used company funds for personal purposes, even if their exact use could not be determined . Personal interest is also established when the manager has secretly made three transfers from the company account to their personal account, drawn 35 checks on the company's account, and made two cash withdrawals .

When the manager favors another company, the confusion of assets and administration of two companies, managed by the same defendant, characterizes the personal interest of the latter . Having certain companies provide financial support to other companies in which the manager had an interest, as long as the financial support does not contribute to achieving the general purpose of all the companies, but ensures, solely in the interest of the managers, the survival of the beneficiary companies, characterizes the taking of an interest . Similarly, the conclusion and execution of agreements, signed by public limited companies, of which the defendant was the manager, with a parent company, of which he was also the president and sole shareholder with his son, are carried out and executed in the personal interest of the defendant, who, as the exclusive owner, with his son, of the parent company, could freely decide each year to distribute profits or personally benefit from an increase in the value of his company . By transferring a finance lease (crédit-bail) and a commercial lease, the defendant also acts to favor a company of which he was a partner to the detriment of another company from which he was withdrawing, the first benefiting from the leasing agreementannuities already paid and receiving a much higher rent than the payments to be made to the lease-purchaser .

Cass. crim., 17 June 2015, LawLex202300007208JBJ, which holds that abuse is not sufficient and personal interest must be demonstrated; 20 November 2019, LawLex202200008330JBJ, which recalls that to establish the offense of misuse of corporate assets, it is necessary to characterize either a direct or indirect taking of interest by the company director in the settlement of fictitious invoices or that the latter favored another company or undertaking in which he was directly or indirectly interested.

Cass. crim., 8 March 1967, LawLex202300000107JBJ.

Cass. crim., 25 October 2006, LawLex202300007197JBJ.

Cass. com., 13 December 2005, LawLex202300000035JBJ.

Cass. crim., 20 November 2019, LawLex202200008330JBJ; 1 March 2000, LawLex202300001277JBJ.

Cass. crim., 7 September 2022, LawLex202200008314JBJ; 20 November 2019, LawLex202200008330JBJ.

Cass. crim., 8 December 1971, LawLex202300000106JBJ; 17 June 2015, LawLex202300007208JBJ.

Cass. crim., 30 January 2019, LawLex202200008329JBJ. Also see: Cass. crim., 11 January 1996, LawLex202300007202JBJ, which considers that if it is not justified that they were used solely in the interest of the company, the corporate funds, secretly withdrawn by a corporate officer, were necessarily used in his personal interest.

Cass. crim., 20 June 1996, LawLex202300007561JBJ.

Cass. crim., 31 October 2000, LawLex202300007508JBJ.

Cass. crim., 16 January 1964, LawLex202300000108JBJ.

Cass. crim., 4 February 1985, LawLex202200009861JBJ.

White Collar Crime (en cours)

201. Use for personal ends

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

201. Use for personal ends

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise